scottz

I, for one, am going to rush right out and buy a ticket to watch one of our potential bright young stars of the future, PJ Walters, as he makes his season debut with the big league club. Uhhhhhh... Maybe it is best to make sure Gibson is truly ready or to delay his clock...but the hints of early season optimism around a team that was an overachieving .500 club 10 days ago are fading fast, if not already gone altogether. PJ Walters may be a great guy, but he isn't sparking any interest.

Great night for a ballgame! Sunday looks even more likely that they won't play. 4/17's system is pushing farther south, so the Angels' series seems to be less in danger of snow. Just flurries. Take that, L.A. Angels.

Probably not. But if they have an option to play in cool and dry vs cool and snow, then I think they should consider it. Not that they will. Just my thought. But again, that's 6 days out. The weather models can't be fully trusted at that timeframe. I'm just thinking ahead, especially if (I think when) Sunday's game doesn't happen.

It shouldn't get "cold" (i.e., 10 degrees)...just miserable (say, in the 30s).

They should probably play Friday with whatever flurries are still happening, because they aren't going to want to play Sunday in the steady rain/freezing rain/snow. They should also start considering the game on the 4/17 against the Angels, too, since that is the only time they come to town this year as well. If the weather models hold (no sure thing 6 days out), that will be an inch or two of snow during game time as well, on top of another inch or two during the day on 4/17 prior to game time. Day/night doubleheader on 4/16 might be better.

That's the spirit!

I agree on football...I love watching it, but I don't want my son to play...though I'd probably not stop him if he wanted to.

You know what, you're right - it is just like when a manager makes an example of one player's mistake for all to see...except you know...you're not the manager at Twins Daily, I'm not a player on your Twins Daily team, and I made no mistake. Other than that, it is identical, and I commend you for both your analogy and your ability to view things from perspectives other than your own. Kudos, my skipper...er...my brother! You can believe what you wish about the intent of my post. I told you what my intent was and you - because you know me so well - are able to discern the "real" intent. Yeesh. I gave it the title I did, because the comment from the other thread was the inspiration for my thought to ask what everyone's level of play was. Not to take a jab at anyone...I guess until I started reading your posts. Then I felt compelled to jab. Scott Zilka

Good stuff!! Time will tell how accurate you are, but solid predictions.

In your mind, you imagine wrong, my brother. Really, you know nothing about me other than I played baseball until I was 15. You certainly don't know how I conduct myself at a ballgame. Lesson to my brother: throw away your broad brush - it's sloppy. Seth and my brother, Haddyz - The point of my post here was to simply find out who played what level of ball. I've seen plenty of subtle mentions of who might have played, and I was just curious what the various TD members had for hardball experience. That said, I did not and do not mean to imply that actually playing the game for many years and/or at a higher level than typical does not add greatly to overall baseball knowledge. Of course it does, as it does for anything. For example, someone with a degree in structural engineering and 10 years on the job knows a lot more about building bridges than someone who has a passion for taking photos of old bridges - we could all agree, yes? And although no one would hire the photographer to design the structural plans for a new bridge, simple observation cannot be undervalued as a path to having insight on how something works. Indeed, the 2nd paragraph I quoted from Seth is a great argument for observational knowledge. A typical average my brother on the street has an opinion on what the weather might be tomorrow, and he may be right because if one pays attention to the skies and wind for long enough, one can pick up a good amount of information and, with reasonable accuracy, make a fairly accurate prediction. Now, my brother doesn't understand the atmospheric dynamics that are driving his forecast in the same way that the local meteorologist does, yet they can come to a similar conclusion. Substitute baseball for weather. Anyway, thanks to all for throwing out your baseball experience.

So says somebody on one of these threads somewhere. I think having played can help your baseball knowledge, but you can pick up an awful lot about the game by watching, listening and reading. For this thread, please state your highest level of baseball played. No softball or kittenball stats, please. No school-affiliated ball, but I played summers and my last year was the summer of my age 15 year in the Babe Ruth league. I was a 6'0, 140 pound, R/R 3B/OF. All glove, no hit, with a questionable glove. I played in the All-Star game because the third baseman who was supposed to be there got sick and I was home when they called. I also pitched one game and threw a 2-hitter. We lost 4-2. As such, I know everything about baseball.

I can't envision what exactly would happen if this were to occur, but I'd love to see Joe Benson go hog wild at whatever level he is at, starting from day 1 of spring training.

i went with 70-79, but i'd take the under on that all day long.

Negative. A straight pull of stats, readily admitted. But I don't think there's any massaging that would make the right-handed pulled ball numbers make Saunders look any better, even if Correia's looked worse upon adjustment. (For the record, Saunders numbers were the first listed in all cases.)

Blind taste test on career numbers. In one glass, you have Joe Saunders. In the other, you have another cola, and the bane of a large area of Twins Territory, Kevin Correia. Take a sip!: In 4927 plate appearances, opponents have hit .276/.330/.433, for an OPS of .763, K/9 of 5.1. Now, rinse. Have a cracker. Cleanse your palate. In 4634 plate appearances, opponents have hit .272/.335/.429, for an OPS of .764, K/9 of 6.0. Balls pulled by right handers are killers for both (.439/.435/.797, OPS 1.232 vs .423/.420/.776, OPS 1.196). I know they have largely pitched in different leagues and these are just the stats I happened to grab, and I know I'm no Alfred Einstein, but what is the attraction to Joe Saunders? Is it that in 2008, he had a 3.41 ERA and was 17-7 (for a team that won 100 games)? Because if it is, I just can't help but look at pretty much every other year in his career. If anybody has some stats that might change my mind, I'll listen, but until then, I see a left-handed version of Kevin Correia type numbers. And in Target Field, a left-handed Kevin Correia type is worse than a right-handed Kevin Correia type, in my opinion.

On the positive side, when I want to take my son to a game, we'll just be able to go down to Target Field and find tickets for dirt cheap from somebody on a street corner.

What could he bring? I don't know...the rage of a good portion of the remaining fans?

Knobler says Worley is part of the deal.

Amazing to think about 1) what did they get for him? 2) who will roam our OF come opening day? Arcia? Roberts? Hicks? or do they go Mastro and make us wait longer on the kids?

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/12/phillies-acquire-ben-revere.html

People are snarky and mean on websites like this because they can be. There have been more than a few studies that show how being anonymous to others correlates with some pretty bad behaviors, and ultimately, most of us on here are not personally known to the others. There's not much that can really be done about it other than to not allow yourself to sink to the same level when confronted with intentionally mean words. If enough people do this, the culture of the board becomes one of reason and respect, even in the face of differing opinions.

I have a source that says faceless people on internet forums are petty and juvenile. Scott Zilka

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/11/reds-could-trade-zack-cozart-or-didi-gregorius.html I like Cozart - don't know much about Gregorius. And I'm not sure I love the idea of losing Span as a trading chip and not getting back a pitcher. However, I think most agree that the middle infield could use some help. Would a trade centered on Span for SS be acceptable to you? If nothing else, I think it is a good thing to have buzz centered around Span to as many teams as possible. If the Braves/Mariners/whomever think that Span is being discussed with the Reds/other teams, then theoretically, those teams might have to offer more than they would otherwise. Discuss!

1) Scott Diamond had a solid year and was the best pitcher on the major league staff in 2012. Does the front office think he can be more than "solid"? That is, can he be significantly better than he was this year? 2a) Who is the highest ranking member of the front office who is fluent in Spanish or any language other than English? (Note from scottz: I have no idea of the answer to this...if anyone on TD knows, please feel free to reply.) 2b) Would the team be better served by having more language-speaking abilities in the front office, given baseball's global-reach? 3a) Is there a specific full-time role for stats-based player evaluation within the front office? Who handles that role? (Note from scottz: Again, if anyone here knows, feel free to reply.) 3b) Would the team be better served by having a full-time stats-based evaluator?

Hypothetical: Assuming availability and that the Twins were able to agree with these players, but could only sign one, would you rather sign Carl Pavano (37 in 2013) for 1 year/$5 million or James Shields for 3 years/$36 million? What about Pavano or Brandon McCarthy for 3 years/$24 million? What about Pavano or Carlos Villenueva for 3 years/$20 million? The dollars are just random off the top of my head, no analysis, whatever, so don't criticize my imaginary estimates. But not going after one of the "unimpressive" guys on this list means that we're talking about a Pavano-level guy as being the free agent signing. They simply cannot be taken seriously if they go into the season next year with a rotation featuring Scott Diamond and Sam "crazy fastball" Deduno, along with LiAAAm Hendricks and Pavano-level FA and Kyle Gibson. I've been hoping to see Gibson on the squad since shortly after they drafted him, but expecting him to slide into the #1 or #2 spot doesn't really sound like a great plan to me. You have to get one legitimate outside arm to recapture the attention of your ticket-buying fan base, two to compete.