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I think Parker made a very compelling case for it in this article, check it out for yourself... http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/minnesota-twins/jose-berrios-is-tipping-his-pitches-r5099

Hey...

His control could be better, but he was also tipping his pitches in his arm path last year. It goes behind his back and allows hitters to see his grip. I'd guess this is probably a bigger issue out of the windup than the stretch, sure enough hitters OPS'd almost a 100 points more with bases empty (usually you'd expect hitters to be better with runners on). If he can gain a bit more control, that will really help, but he also has got to get that arm path problem fixed. No pitcher can get away with tipping their pitches.

This 100x. Someone probably already posted it but Bautista has hit 349/429/895 at Target Field in 21 games. We can hope our offense will develop into a playoff level offense, or sign him for 3 years and virtually guarantee it.

Just order about a dozen more TC Bear costumes, some Kirby Puckett cut-outs, and make sure Bert and Jack clear their schedules. Oh yeah, and Dozier... other than that... tough sell. I don't envy the boys in the marketing department these days. Frankly, I thought their "Ticket to Summer" idea was practically genius. Come for the experience of a baseball game, not to watch a quality baseball game. Nevermind you could go over to St. Paul and get a similar experience for a fraction of the price.

YES!!! McLeod!

Should be fine, everybody will be communicating via electronic devices anyway... That reminds me, who is going to transcribe group commentary for the game thread? Haha, no but really, people seem to become pretty fast friends at these things, that is unless you're pining for Gardy the sequel.

Thanks Brock!

So I got my ticket, but I have a question... what do we need to bring the day of the crawl? Our email receipt of payment, or is our name some how on a list. Please let me know what I (and others in my party) should bring. Thanks!

Love the design, perfect for this year. Maybe we should have crafts time at one of the stops where we can make our own bag masks.

The biggest improvement this team can make in the next 18 months will need to come from players already in this organization (outside of the bullpen and maybe a starter or two). There aren't obvious trade chips who would drastically improve the 25-man roster. This boat has been adrift a long time, it might take a couple years to repair the engine and get the rudder properly attached... even assuming we order the right parts. /metaphor Another thing to keep an eye on... if we go more than a week or two after the last game before announcing the new management team I will be very scared. Given the time they've had, they should have already made the switch so the new FO can see how the club operates in-season.

Plouffe is a sunk cost. They should be playing Sano, Vargas, and Mauer as much as possible. We need to see if Vargas figures into the plans next year. We know what Trevor can do. We are not going to get much from him until after the season, and even then may just have to non-tender him.

Another game with no strikeouts for Polanco. Refreshing.

Downward plane. Drink!

I've been a very tough critic of the Twins coaching staff, but Dozier has been on fire lately and I think a lot of it has to do with a new bat hitch. So kudos to them. Kepler looks like he has a plan up there. We gapped a ton of balls in that Cleveland series. I'm not sure how much of that is on the coaching staff, but there's a lot to like lately. Now only if we can get Mr. Sano going.

This kid looks absolutely fantastic. SSS and all, but still to see a K/BB ratio of 8/9 in 75 PA's entering today is terrific - and he has some pop in his bat for a small guy. He squares up a lot of balls all over the zone, and doesn't chase too much. Escobar is a pretty good SS option, but I hope they give Polanco plenty of PAs the rest of this year. If he keeps it up, then we should install him at SS. Yeah, 2B would be ideal but we're not moving Dozier and hopefully Sano can be serviceable at 3B - and should be given every opportunity to prove it the rest of the year (assuming he breaks out of this slump). It's a stretch, but it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up hitting leadoff or third for this team at some point (depending on where they slot Dozier and Mauer).

Very nice work here! Nerds (me included) could pick nits about accounting for draft position, outliers, or other variables... but still this is tremendous stuff. It should be printed in Strib or Pioneer Press. A few questions spring to mind, since you've already compiled much of the data... 1. If you throw out the top 2 or 3 players for each team, how do the ranking look? 2. Who is the most consistent? Who produced the most ML +WAR players? 3. What about over/underperforming their slots? I think average WAR by draft position is available, that might be interesting? For the most part, I don't have much vitrol for whom the Twins have selected. I usually look at the video for many of the players we pick and many others each year, and usually think... yeah these new Twins look pretty good. However, I do wonder how the Twins compare to development vs. other teams? Maybe the problem isn't that they are picking the wrong guys, but that they are not coaching them as effectively as other clubs? Are they doing biometric analysis, injury prevention analysis for pitchers, pitch recognition/selection training for hitters? Case in point... I recently watched the Fastball documentary. Very interesting, highly recommend it. One point they made that seems straightforward but has big implications was how the faster a guy throws the less his ball drops. That's why high velocity fastballs seem to ride/jump up, because they end up higher than your'e used to seeing. So, if you're facing Cabrera from Atlanta, who throws 100 mph, you need to factor this in - not just in terms of being quicker but SWINGING HIGHER. Last night Sano struck out and when I watched the replay frame by frame his bat appeared to be on time, but he was under the ball by a few inches. If that pitch was 92 he probably would have crushed it, assuming his timing was slowed down a bit. By the way, mechanically Sano's swing plane is awesome, it's deep/back and very flat which allows him to wait longer on pitches and hit them hard even if his timing isn't right on. So, the takeaway is when you're facing a guy who throws hard... obviously you have to be quicker, but you also have to make sure you swing above where you normally would. Maybe this is rube stuff and they are doing all this, in which case please tell us! This team has always been big on "fundamentals" which has become too vague of a term. Sure, swing/pitching/fielding mechanics are important - but so too is anticipation and being prepared. I wonder how much time/resources the Twins spend on the cerebral part of the game. Some guys maybe do better if they just react (see ball hit ball), but at this level, you should want every edge available. That means pre-thinking things, trying to pick up 'tells', knowing tendencies. As Ted Williams said... "Did I guess? Hell yes!"

Why hire a search firm when they have media guides?

Good write up by the Strib's Phil Miller yesterday (link: http://www.startribune.com/the-new-deal-er-younger-breed-of-techies-replacing-baseball-lifers-in-gm-roles/388040342/). It had a very familiar theme... "...general managers today are selected for their ability to integrate all sorts of input from a variety of departments into a coherent plan of action.” That’s because the job has less to do with baseball, and more to do with management, than ever before. “The job is about ideas — collecting them, sorting them and implementing them. Using all the tools at your disposal to uncover ideas that will lead to finding better players and winning baseball games,” Bowden said. “That means analytics, that means medical advancement, and traditional scouting, too. By combining all the information together, the game is making fewer mistakes than ever before in identifying [on-field] talent.”

Winner!

Burning questions... is this how Eduardo Nunez gets to games, and so, how long before his helmet falls off? #mopeds

Also not relevant to baseball or MN/BOS... but ICYMI... this Mackelmore video is all kinds of awesomeness:

On this day 10 years ago... link: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/MIN/MIN200707210.shtml Twins beat the Angels 5-2. Twins hit 3 bombs and Neshek gets the win behind a strong outing from Bonser. Twins infield features a trio of Punto, Castillo, and Bartlett. Fun to look back at those old teams sometimes.

Now he just has to work on being a more consistent-type poster.

Or maybe it was Nunez. I forget.