twinsfan34

Pretty much agree with the consensus here. If Nix had an offer, it should be honored, and by honoring it, Astros would forfeit next year's pick as over cap. For Aiken, I guess I wish in this case baseball had a Supplemental Draft where he could enter that. It starts with the worst team and they go pick by pick, if you want him, you select him, but you lose that pick in the upcoming draft. Astros aren't allowed a shot at him at the #1 pick, so the Marlins #2 would be on the clock...if they pass, then the White Sox and so on...if he makes it to the 2nd RD, pick #1 in that round, the Astros would have a shot at him (no shot this happens), but under that scenario, they'd lose that 2nd RD pick. Maybe MLB can do draft exceptions like that - the NFL does. Would make sense. Aiken doesn't automatically become a Yankee and it doesn't instigate future draft picks to try to become FA's (e.g. Travis Lee) but negotiate in good faith their drafted team. That way he doesn't lose time (except for the short season now) and it keeps the Draft in tact.

Thanks for the writeup. Good to know who is likely to 'show up' come September. However, man alive, that list is depressing. I don't see any of those players getting over 45 career games. I'm with NicksaViking, bring up pitchers. Don't overwork starters (Hughes, etc) or the relievers for that matter for a season that won't lead to the playoffs. But give some guys who may be contributors or 'hopefuls' a shot at facing some MLB hitters while also preserving some of the players who we know will be regulars in 2015.

Buster Olney wrote this article (sorry, it's Insider) that kind of goes along the same lines as the thought I had based on my research so far. In having 'specialty' pitchers who well, are amazing, but fade out faster - he mentions Johnny Venters, a lights out left-hander for the Braves - who was arguably overused. He's asking for MLB to make rules to limit the use and warmup of relief pitchers. They'll come and go often and quickly - only a few physical marvels, Mariano Rivera, etc will survive most likely. They'll be the equivalent of the NFL running back, which has the shortest career length of all players. http://insider.espn.go.com/blog/buster-olney/post?id=7904 But pitching has really affected this game. Strikeouts are at all all-time high, batting averages are getting back to pre-mound change/Bob Gibson levels (1969 it changed). I definitely don't want the steroid use back - but would like to see Batting averages back up. I suppose Sabermetrics has also influenced hitters to go for the 2B/HR/SO result as it has more value/less risk than choking up with 2 strikes and making contact (single not as valuable) and the risk of a double play. Then there's shifts.

Speaking of Ponying up $$ for Cubans, Jorge Solar, the Cubs top prospect, has been called up. 22 years old. He signed a 9 year, $30M contract back in 2012. http://www.csnchicago.com/cubs/cubs-call-outfielder-jorge-soler-triple-iowa The Cubs are doing great. Never high on Baez, he's on pace to do about what I thought he'd do: hit .220-255, 30-40 HR, 180-220 strikeouts. They've done very well this year. Bryant will start with the Cubs next year, he's not on the 40 man roster, so not called up this year, but he's killing AAA, 21 HR .302 AVG in 222 ABs, 43 HR overall and has 6 games to go. http://mlbfarm.com/player.php?player_id=592178 They're basically experiencing what I hoped the Twins would have this year in their Minor Leagues. And they absolutely fleeced Billy Beane in the Addison Russell trade. A marginal #2/#3 starter for a perennial all-star SS in Addison Russell PLUS Billy McKinney, the best HS bat in the 2013 draft class. Reminds me of the time Billy Beane gave up Carlos Gonzalez and a bunch of prospects to get Matt Holiday for 3 months. And traded him for what ended up being Michael Taylor and his -0.3 WAR. oof.

Vargas looks the part. Obviously, he's a bit limited in his positions though. DH/1B at most. Hughes - I honestly don't think the Angels have the prospects to make it work. Not that I would entertain it. I think (my feeling) Hughes and the Twins are a good marriage and neither would prefer to end it any time soon. I'm not as bullish on Dozier as some. That said, I think he's the right type of player to bring about a winner though. Plays hard, like-able by teammates, teammates respond to his leadership, and I believe will continue to grow as a player. He's a .230-.245 hitter (in over 1500 PAs), but I believe he can start to lay off of some poor pitches and make himself a .260 hitter. It's not great, I know, but with his BBs and power for 2B - he still has quite a bit of value as a .260 hitter. So I wouldn't actively shop him and I wouldn't trade him unless someone knocks my socks off - e.g. a top 25 prospect at AA or higher and 2 more in the top 150. The Vargas situation complicates the Pinto situation. I see both, at least until Pinto proves he's at least an average MLB catcher, as needing lots of ABs and both offer the most value (by least subtraction) at DH. Mauer, moving to 3B at least for one season (could be two more with Sano's status up in the air) would help. And I think, if Mauer feels he could do this, he will. That leads to Plouffe 2.1. Can he be a LF, slash, backup 3B, backup 2B type of guy? Prospects possibly in reach for ST 2015 and through 2015: AAA SP - Alex Meyer, age 25 SP - Trevor May, age 25 C/DH - Josmil Pinto, age 26 OF - Aaron Hicks, age 25 AA SS/2B - Jorge Polanco, age 21 OF/2B - Eddie Rosario, age 23 3B - Miguel Sano, age 21 OF - Byron Buxton, age 21 SP - JO Berrios, age 21 SP - Tyler Duffey, age 24 RP - Mason Melotakis, age 24 SP - Taylor Rodgers, age 24 A+ RP - Brandon Peterson, age 23 RP - Nick Burdi, age 22 RP - Todd Van Steensel, age 24 Outside of these guys, I don't see any other "prospects" (not counting those over age 25) as having a 'shot' at making the Twins roster in 2015. Where would any of these guys fit with the Twins needs?

I wonder if he curled his bat more (e.g. Gary Sheffield, Julio Franco) it would help prevent him from dropping his hands so much in the load phase of his swing.

Good discussion. I'm a 'stats' guy. Love WAR for the weighted system it offers. I'm not quite on board for how the metrics are kept for defense (UZR) just yet. As many others pointed out, positional weighting can really put a player in a very good light when the position is particular weak for that year. e.g. Donaldson, Gordon. For those who don't think Gordon is a good defender - the guy impresses the crap out of me. One hop off the fence, no hesitation, on a rope, right on the bag. Time after time. He probably turns 60-70 doubles a year into singles or 7-4 put out. If he was a catcher, his 'pop time' would be under 1.4 secs (for catchers, pop time is pitch from ball received to 2B). Heyward also...a 6'4" galloping ghost. Basically a faster Ken Griffey, JR. (also tall, at 6'3"). Now are their values as high as they should be for WAR? I don't know. I don't think so. But they are elite defenders from the eye test. SABR doesn't like the SB...but I do. I wish there was a better way to metrically track going 1st to 3rd base on a single to the outfield for a runner. Stuff like that. To be an elite SB player, e.g. 50+ SB talent at 90%+ success rate is going to cause more damage than most metrics will currently track. I like war, but you have to appreciate linear weights, weighted outcomes, and so forth to get at all excited about WAR. If those don't give you a mental 'up' then WAR won't. I'd then resort, for just being impressed with defense for what it is and then, for hitters, go with OPS+.

I was actually looking for this article the day Buxton was shut down. My mind was aggregating the injuries. I was then comparing the other top systems: Cubs, Pirates, Astros. Cubs - have fared the best in avoiding the injury bug. Twins have had it the worst though. Then the Pirates, highlighted by Taillon's TJ and top 2013 pick Austin Meadows injuries. A quick glance over can be found by going to MLB's top 20 prospects per team. Twins: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=min Cubs: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=chc Astros: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=hou Pirates: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/prospects/watch/y2014/#list=pit

I've been reading a few old books, mostly interviews of great pitchers as I am putting together historic rosters for a PS3 game called MLB 14:The Show and so I am researching all the pitch types - what did Addie Joss through? What did Herb Score & Sam McDowell throw? How about Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax? Bill James & Roby Neyer's Guide to Pitchers has been incredible helpful - an interesting book/read if you want to know who had the best particular pitch over historical periods and all-time. All that to say, my research and study has led to many interviews where pitchers pretty much said they had 'this pitch' or 'that pitch' and the like...'from God' or 'the baseball Gods' or 'I was just meant to pitch'. And it would seem to fall in line with the number of injuries. Some just are blessed with the physical body to be a pitcher - arguably the hardest action on any professional athlete. The other thing I noticed was that most pitchers didn't throw a curveball or their screwballs or any thing with heavy wrist action but maybe 5-15 pitches a game. It was mostly a 'hop ball' (rising FB) or a 'heavy fastball' (sinker) or a what we know today as a cut fastball as well as lots of changeups to palmballs. We also saw a LOT of knuckleball pitchers. The curveballs, sliders, screwballs, etc were mostly used 'only as needed' type of scenarios - up until Sandy Koufax and Bert Blyleven types. JR Richard and others would throw slider, slider, slider, fastball, slider, slider, fastball, slider, slider....done at age 30. Then the 80's we see Roger Craig and others put a greater emphasis on splitters and forkballs and sliders and so forth. There were mostly rotator cuff injuries before, but not, the elbow injuries are becoming more and more prominent (more so than shoulder injuries even). That said - baseball is becoming a pitcher's game. How many arms will teams need though? Will a MLB team need 20-25 pitchers per year to get through a season, as injuries would take their toll each year with the idea of having to have pitchers with great sliders, curves, etc. (heavy wrist action pitches) The trick, I guess, would be if we run out of arms - e.g. not enough pitchers to meet that 20-25 pitchers per club needed? Versus having a team of 12-16 pitchers who have command, offspeed, cutters, fastballs, and another non heavy wrist action types of pitchers? Does the former (heavy wrist action pitchers) have enough supply and provide lower ERA (or opponent run production) than the latter? Most likely. So it's probably not good for individual pitchers, but would still be advantageous as it gets a better result in the box score.

Twins don't need the money. But seriously, that's where you pick up the phone...hear the pitch...and you laugh until they hang up.

Man alive. I have no words. Diving wrist injury. Sliding wrist injury. Hit by pitch. Hit by pitch. Hit by pitch. Diving for ball in outfield - concussion and knocked out. And he's only played 30 games!! Get him the Barry Bonds elbow guard, the Jeff Bagwell batting glove guard, and DH him the rest of the year. We already know he's a GG capable defender. Otherwise, shut him down. Get him healthy. And 0-for-3...3 strikeouts. Brutal.

If he's healthy tonight...and presumably, if Buxton is as well, it'll be interesting to see who starts in CF tonight...and the other 19 games remaining to follow. My guess is the golden child, Buxton, but then also curious where Rosario then starts LF, 2B, etc.

I also am glad of how the Franchise is going. Moving the vets that needed to be moved. And moving prospects up. The good thing is many of our prospects are now within striking distance (AA) MLB - Arcia is 23. Vargas is 23. Santana is 23. AAA - Hicks is 24. May is 24. Meyer is 24. AA - Polanco is 20. Buxton is 20. Rosario is 22. Sano is about to be 21.

Beat. Appreciate this. Hope it was as fun for you to do as it was for myself to read.

I love Escobar's hustle. When he hits a ball to the OF...he's thinking 2B or 3B every time...forces the action. Then on the bases...on balls in play, again, forces the issue. Dozier does too. Santana as well. Those guys make other teams execute in the field. Reminds me a bit of the 'piranhas' we had back in the day. But these guys have more power/ability and are younger (Tyner, Bartlett, Castillo, Punto). Add Buxton, would really force teams to be 'perfect' in the field with those 4 on the basepaths with any regularity.

Davo, any idea the 40 man roster situation with the recent trades of Correia and Willingham? As Buxton is not currently on the 40-man roster...would need to be to be called up I believe. If the slots are open, this is plausible, even if unprobable.

Looks like Ft Myers is making room by promoting Byron Buxton to AA A move we expected 4 months earlier... #WhatMightHaveBeen

I think if you get one in the ribs, you won't do it again. Would have to check if the any player got one in the ribs, did he also try the same act again. I don't mind the Harper thing. If it riles you up to do better as a Braves player, all the more. If it gives some 'cohesive us vs them' to the Nationals, go for it. I do find it funny though that if this is sort of 'a surprise' as Harper has tussled with a lot of people, including his manager (Matt Williams, and maybe Davey Johnson?) on occasions, including telling him how to set his lineup and who should play. He said Span should sit, ironically, Span has outplayed and outslugged Harper (Span's .412 to Harper's atrocious .363 SLG%). http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/nationals-journal/wp/2014/06/30/bryce-harper-says-matt-williams-should-keep-ryan-zimmerman-in-left-field/ I kind of wonder if Harper wouldn't be better off spending some time at AAA, for development. Maybe he's just hurt. But then again, either way...he does already have 1322 PA and is a .268/.350/.460 in those MLB PAs. So he's still a good player, but definitely seems to be falling short of the annually predicted 40+ HR seasons he was to have and that he'd likely be better than Mike Trout.

Two days after walking 7 hitters in 2 innings, Trevor May throws a No Hitter (in AAA)...has to be some sort of MLB history there. It was a combined No hitter with Logan Darnell of a rain out delay from earlier in the year. Amazing. Box: http://www.milb.com/...=g_box&sid=milb

Two days after walking 7 hitters in 2 innings, Trevor May throws a No Hitter (in AAA)...has to be some sort of MLB history there. It was a combined No hitter with Logan Darnell. Box: http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2014_07_24_rocaaa_dubaaa_1&t=g_box&sid=milb

His last 4 starts... 18.2 IP 13 H 7 R 3 ER 1 HR 10 BB 26 K 1.45 ERA For the season numbers go here... http://www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=thorpe000lew

I love TwinsDaily I visit TwinsDaily at least 3-5 times a day. I read a bit of what TD is. And as far as what it wants to be - well - I imagine you guys are doing what like doing. Parker seems to really like the analytical stuff - or subtleties in pitching to SD Buhr seems to cover (perhaps lives in Cedar Rapids) Kernels baseball - has some "deeper than the boxscore" insights. Content - Websites I visit milb.com, espn.com, mlb.com, fangraphs.com, mlbfarm.com, and any other website related to minor league baseball. I have the MiLB At-Bat app on my phone and I have most of the top 50 prospects teams' followed on my phone. I check all the Twins Minor League Teams. I feel since this is not a "Online Newspaper" and the fact that there's already tons of coverage for the MLB club (perhaps certain press privileges too) - we don't need 'extra' Twins coverage. I think the Twins part, the MLB club, could be more of a "forum" type feel while TD could develop other areas as the "go to" website for those areas. 1. Minor League Coverage Maybe some beat writers for specific teams - much easier access to photo opps, interviews, "more than the boxscore" insights or game accounts. If a writer or writers keeps a single team or two teams can perhaps give a fuller scope/view of the development of those teams/players.Further MiLB coverage as a whole - Matchups/Players to watch for in the games. e.g.2. Articles/Forums The Articles, at some point, shouldn't be so busy (this page: http://twinsdaily.com/). Similar to the right side of ESPN where you have 10 hyperlinks. Then have the pictures (currently on the articles) at the page for that article. I feel I miss so much content - I often find it weeks later - because I couldn't find everything that was written the day it was written. The Forum route leads to the Index page (http://twinsdaily.com/index) which leads to MLB or MiLB, which is fairly readable. So I feel I miss the Articles because they're so bulky at this point. Articles by Topic type - similar to http://fangraphs.com - I'd love to see the Articles in a sort of sorted column for it's content type - whatever those may be - Twins - MiLB - Analytics - NotBaseball - Fantasy Baseball categories, etc - whatever is decided. 3. TwinsDaily - The Community TD is kind of a community, we recognize the names of the contributors and the commentors - many of us do. And many of us, myself included, are Twins fans from afar (I'm in Dallas). But even those in the TC area - it seems they'd like ways to connect for a beer, a game, or whatever. Maybe that's linking Meetup.com or if members wish, much like SABR, to put general contact information. Either way - perhaps a more visible or 'user friendly' way to have this visible or a part of TD might be useful. Heatmaps (city only) or whatever people are comfortable with location wise. We can put it in our signatures as well. But it looks like some people are wanting something more crowd sourcing up to the minute type of setups. Can log on, find people, I'm here. Some do this on the game threads. Maybe just encourage it to be done there as well, then PM, etc.4. Fantasy Sports As far as Fantasy Baseball. I might be able to help there. I'm a database engineer for a Fantasy Sports startup (in our 2nd year) and we're developing the baseball for next year. We have the NFL and NBA right now. The nice thing about our drafts is they're weekly and you can have as many of your 'friends' on your list (compete against) as you want. As you participate in a 10 team league, 1 human against 9 computers and you get a fantasy score per week. You can win $$, no cost. The website is Skyllzone.com. Can try the NFL or NBA this Fall/Winter...see if you like it. Could have a TwinsDaily GlobalLeaderBoard. Willing to try to help try to make this something if they want something more than a season-long roster for a fantasy draft. Personally, with the length of the MLB season - I think it's a better format. Also, Yahoo and ESPN formats are kinda isolated to only a max of 20 teams. This way you can get 200+ people in the same 'competition' and access their scores/stats, etc.P.S. If anyone signs up, can PM me and I can help get you started, answer questions, etc. as far as the NFL season. MLB is still in development. (actually would love some Fantasy Baseball input for our platform released next spring) 5. Twins Daily - What can we do for you? How can I support you guys? What are things you guys would like from us? I personally could do more than just comment on a lot of things. And I would be willing to do more if I have something that would make TD better.Does TD have a "wish list"?

Poulson pitched 1 inning tonight for Elizabethton. 1 IP 0 H 0 R 0 ER 1 BB 0 K http://www.milb.com/milb/stats/stats.jsp?gid=2014_08_08_dnvrok_elirok_1&t=g_box&sid=milb

Glad to see it, but kinda surprised the Twins would announce it this early...in affect tipping their hand and them being able to prep their hitters more than they would should he had been a 'day before' callup type of scenario.

You can't teach someone to pull or not pull. You CAN say, dont try to pull that outside corner pitch...you'll, at best, roll over it and ground out somewhere. And if you're getting pounded there...for strikes, you'll have to learn to hit it. OR like David Ortiz, creep up on the plate so that 'outside corner' pitch is now 'down the middle' of your swing plane...but now you have to be able to swing at inside pitches. So it's a bit more about the pitch recognition AND the game plan the pitchers are using on you. With Arcia, I feel he's not aware of what the pitcher was trying to do against him the in the previous at-bat and what that pitcher has found as successful. Tom Kelly, in maybe two broadcasts, I know at least one, he showed us what a hitter is supposed to be thinking/doing when he's up and when other teammate at hitting. Is the guy having trouble locating his fastball...I believe Colin McHugh was pitching for the Astros...when TK was commenting. McHugh couldn't locate his fastball, something he normally pitches about 40% fastballs (brooksbaseball link) but because he couldn't locate his FB, he threw sliders about 60% of the time. Then location...he showed how it was tailing on him. Good hitters are better adjusted for their next at bats. The Twins, especially the young Twins, need to show improvement here. This is where a guy like Molitor is valuable in the dugout (although he's been at 1B a lot lately)...providing that mindset. When Arcia is up there...he needs to look for a fastball counts. Willie Mays or even a guy who only hit at the high school level like myself, I had different swings and approaches based on the count. If a guy got me down 0-2 or if I was ahead 2-0. I had a 'pitch' I was looking for and I would 'load' my swing or shorten up based on those counts and the pitcher's strengths for that day/game. I would like to see more of these improvements.