tarheeltwinsfan

Thank you Tom. Great job!

Nick, Thank you for these weekly wrap ups. They are always informative and interesting and well written. I look forward to these wrap ups next season.

The fans will be engaged when the team is. Both groups have a way to go in my humble opinion.

I bet it matters a whole lot to Davis.

Are Mauer's rankings of fielding percentages as a catcher (fifth) and as a first baseman (eigth) among Twins' players only or for all MLB? If all MLB, when you add that to being the only MLB catcher to win 3 batting titles and a .306 lifetime batting ave,....well, that clearly says HOF to me.

Seth, I really enjoy your write ups about the Twins minor league prospects. Thank you.

Mauer was worth 23 million a year to me. Of course it was not my money.

Derailed.

Back on track.

Derailed.

No comment.

I realize that many are drafted, but few excel. However that does not mean that the draft is merely the luck of the draw, does it? I would contend that sabermetrics are not very helpful in predicting the future major league success of a high school or college baseball player. So I ask, what information most accurately predicts future success in the major leagues? Can it be quantified?

I am going to celebrate Joe Mauer this week, whether he chooses to retire this season or not. He is a superb baseball player, a class act, an involved family man, and from all accounts, a good man. All of us should all be so lucky as to have that said about us when our time to "retire" comes. When he does retire from actively playing, I hope he remains part of the Twins family for a long time. Thanks for the memories, Joe, and best wishes for a long, healthy life.

How do we as semi-intelligent, "slightly more informed than most" Twins' fans rate last year's "Veteran Leaders" signings? Here are my grades: LoMo - F,;Lynn - F; Rodney F..for me extremely agonizing and frustrating to watch him pitch and interact with others; Reed - D; Sanchez -F; Odorizi -C. I know we are not in the clubhouse, nor around the players...and I may be completely wrong here, but based solely on what I saw on the field and heard in interviews, expecting any of the first 3 named above to come in to a new team and be positive team players was a mistake. I would suggest more emphasis should have been put on looking for positive leadership personalities than was done last year. You may say, "Well Tarheel, leadership is baloney...it is HR's and strikeouts that count"...but ask yourself this question: What do successful businesses look for in recruiting new employees? I submit one key criteria for a successful business, or military unit, or any successful organization of people, or a successful team is positive leadership resulting in teamwork...not just the "experience" of having jumped from one business to another business for 10 years. Good leaders put team first. Good leaders successfully encourage others to have the common goals...Good leaders are necessary for a team to win year after year in baseball. Sustained winning in baseball, or business, is part skills, yes, but there must exist a desire to achieve team greatness....There is no "I" in team. The same team goal must be winning the World Series, which originates from a team filled with positive mindsets., which makes the team members work harder than ever before, and leaders to encourage each other to achieve greatness...not just "making it to the good life of wealth"...but to put individual accomplishments aside with the common goal of achieving team greatness. Where are the Kirby Pucketts, the George Pattons, the Michael Jordans on the current Twins' team? Read what the following have to say about great teamwork: "Individual commitment to a group effort - that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work." Vince Lombardi; "Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships." Michael jordan; "Teamwork is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results." Andrew Carnegie; "To me, teamwork is the beauty of our sport, where you have five acting as one. You become selfless." Mike Krzyzewski. Remember, "Teamwork makes the dream work."

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

If your outgo exceeds your income, Then your upkeep will be your downfall.

Peanuts.

Kiriloff and Lewis are ready. Gatorade is going to make the jump. It's time for you to get excited.

OK, OK. I have now read Fan Graphs' definition of and explanation for WPA. In my previous comments I have successfully exhibited my ignorance of WPA to all the readers of TD. Perfect! I will now change my name and join the ignorant posters protection plan.

Please explain more. This seems to give a pitcher credit for something he has no control over, i.e. his team's lack of ability to score runs/ The less his team scores, the more credit the pitcher gets. What am I missing?

Bunt some Buck.

What?

Please compare Gonsalves WPA of .157 with last night's WPA of Ordorizi (.240) and then compare the innings pitched, hits, BB, SO, earned runs, etc. and explain to me why Ordorizi's WPA was so much higher than Gonsalves' WPA today.

No one else may agree with this, but I would put Lewis at SS and leave him there.

I hope to see Chris Williams and Junior Severino in this list next year.