Trov

I wonder if MLB will change the draft rules for next year on who is available. Normally, high school player if they choose a 4 year college and not community or junior college, would have to wait three years to get drafted again. However, some teams draft them hoping to sign them out of that three year of no money commitment. If draft is shortened to 5 rounds, that could limit many high school players, as my guess, very few under classmen get much look at in show cases. So the seniors that are on the fence may want to try junior college if rules stay the same to see if they can get drafted next year, where it would be less likely they would get play at 4 year schools that first year anyways. I personally would expect more players drafted from college, as I would expect less info on high school players, and so much can change in a senior year. Sure the top top high school kids will still be there as they were on radar, but I am thinking those fringe guys. Where with college you have hopefully more tape to go off of.

I would assume the draft will be all online or teleconference without any MLB or very limited coverage.

I agree with not using Mauer for intelligence. Not only the lack of changing approach as pitchers and defenses changed, as that may not be that easy with 20 years of doing one swing to then change is not easy. However, one of my biggest complaints of Joe was always his lack of situational batting IQ. He had one plan always, get on base by any means. Well when you in the three whole, you are supposed to drive in runs, so do not take a strike down the pipe and take a walk after than when runner on 3rd and 1 out. Do not go out of zone, but how many times would he take a strike right down middle in that situation only to then walk, and get praise for working a walk, then hunter or cuddy hits into DP right behind him. Well he let a good pitch that should have driven in the run go, not smart in my mind. Remember when he got a ton of backlash for bunting. I never minded him bunting for base hits, but the big time that he got most backlash and then did not bunt for like to seasons. The situation was 2 outs runners first and second, tying run being on second. So a single to outfield should tie it. Double gets you the lead. Joe is supposed to be leader and hitting in three hole. Then what does Joe do, he tries to bunt for a base hit, not getting it, but what if he did bunt for hit, now bases loaded and 2 outs, with go ahead run at second, little better situation, but he basically said, I am not going try to tie the game and let whoever behind me do it. He just showed to me several times he lacked situational IQ and would never think about what would be best for the team to win. I was too old school thinker for me. Sorry, I do not always want to bash Joe, I give him credit for being one of best hitters of all time, but I do not like when people over value him. I also do not like when people undervalue him by knocking him for their want him to be something he was not. That was mainly because the organization wanted him to be more than he was and forced him into being the leader and three hitter.

The problem with the Twins old plan with pitching was every pitcher was the same basically, except for Santana. It was pitch low in zone do not walk people throw strikes. I remember a game I went to with Carlos Silva, he had a 87 pitch complete game, and even had a 3 pitch inning where he gave up a hit. The hitters knew strikes were coming so they were never off balance, for most part. The question was just where was it going to be hit. Then where the biggest problem was when a strikeout was needed, they could not get it. The Twins wanted to basically clone Radke, but he knew how to get strikeouts when he needed. Nothing wrong with pitching to contact with no one on base, but then be able to change it up once runners were on. I do not see a point spending tons of ptiches nibbling the corners when no one on base, unless it is a power hitter up, which now a days have increased.

I am glad someone has put this together. I have always been a huge fan of the percentage of RBI's vs pure RBI's. Nothing I hate more than a guy taking pitches down the pipe when runner on third and less than 2 outs, then eventually taking a walk, or worse striking out. Driving in that run is always better, in my opinion. To me, one good way to estimate this is to look at HR vs RBI numbers. If a player has high HR numbers he should have high RBI numbers, but if they are not then most likely they are leaving a lot of players on base but hitting a lot of solo shots. Look at Trevor Plouffe for perfect example. He had to be one of worst all time with RBI percentage. In 2012 he hit 24 HR with only 55 RBI, that is just terrible ratio. He would hit so many solo, meaningless homeruns, but would strikeout when runners were on. Similarly, in 2015 he hit 22 HR and had 82 RBI, not as bad, but hit into 28 double plays, so he was up a lot with runners on. Jason Kubel on the other hand was amazing at driving in runs when he had the chance, at least from what I remember.

Fun article, but I am not going to look up fwar for players I think of, if they do not meet the number, so sorry. First, comments on the list in the article. I agree with Mack and Tovar and Koskie for sure. I think Radke was not underrated, at least not by Twins fans. If he was by national media it was because he was never a media guy and just wanted to fish when he was not playing. I am going to say something very controversial, as all things are when it comes to Joe. I think he was overrated in areas of his game and underrated in others. The problem with Joe and his underrated is that people wanted him to be something he was never going to be. That being a power hitter, run producer, and leader. He was overrated as a defensive catcher, he won gold gloves because he could hit and was not terrible as a defensive catcher. However, when you look at him as a catcher he could throw guys out and control baserunning, although he should have tried to throw behind runners. He was not good at blocking pitches in dirt and would let plenty of wild pitches past him he should not have. That being said, he was one of the best pure average and on-base guys the Twins have ever had. The Twins always put him the 3 hole, when he should have been in the 2 hole or even the lead off spot, but he was managed by people that said best "hitter" bats 3 hole even though Joe never fit that spot. Joe would frustrate me so much in his lack of situational decision making as a hitter. Not sure if it was all him, or leadership telling him, but he would constantly do things that were counter to producing runs. Mainly taking strikes when runner was on third with less than 2 out and eventually walk, when he could have hit the strike to try and produce the run and not leave it to someone behind him. Now that my Joe vent is over, he was still one of the best hitters of all time and just because he was not a power hitter he still was great, and just lacked the personality stars have. My number one underrated players, from the 2000 era, is Nick Punto. He was amazing on defense, and just because he did not put huge numbers on offense he did not get the gred he deserved. When he was hitting well the team was winning. He would never drive fear in the other teams, but when Nick was going well the team was winning.

I know international players, except for Canada, aka USA jr. are not subject to draft, but I really do not understand why. I mean, why is Canada so special, is it because there is a Canadian team? I personally, think there should be a separate draft for international players, or add them to normal draft and just add some rounds.

I never saw the first two, and only remember Herbek in the end of his career. Joe was fine, if he would have played whole career there he most likely would have got some gold gloves. Doug was the best I ever seen play in Twins uniform on defense, got to love the bare hand batting and sitting in lucky spot on floor of dugout too for Dougie baseball. I have always said, good defending first baseman never get enough credit. Sure you can put the heavy hitter there than can only catch good throws and just blame all the bad throws on the one throwing, but a good defender saves so many bad throws and turns them into outs. Half of amazing stops require amazing grabs from first basemen because it is not easy to get a good throw on amazing stops. Without those grabs by first basemen the amazing stop means nothing. As long as Sano does not look like he did in RF, I think he will hit enough. Twins have heavy fly ball pitching, and teams trying to hit more fly balls too so hopefully the weak infield defense does not mean anything.

The overall ratings get skewed in games because certain attributes give greater weight to the overall. I agree MVP baseball was best baseball game, and was way ahead of its time. It was the first game that used throws going offline even slightly, and a good AI. It took the Show many years to even catch up, and still from my last experience with the Show it still lacked some of the things that made MVP the best. That being said, nothing like some of the classics RBI or baseball simulator, where the 3 outfielders and 1 infielder that is not assigned to go to a base all move in same direction at same speed. I remember the RBI baseball decisions that had to be made, do I move infielder out for short fly, or outfielder in. Pick wrong and in the park home run was very easy as the ball would bounce and roll away from the fielders.

My guess is if a season is played, the trade deadline will be moved to end of August, depending on how they play out the season. It will be interesting if a season is to start if teams will make early trades to get maximum value. Really, if the season is played it will be shortened and quick starts will play a huge factor. Imagine last year if season was shorted by 60 games, Washington would not have even made playoffs, assuming they had same terrible start.

I brought this up before, but depending on when or if season starts, there will be a lot of questions the players have. Worst case, no season at all, what happens with 1 year contracts, were they served? What happens with service time, does it accrue? What happens with arbitration, will another year be added, do you use the 2019 stats to decide worth? I have seen players being optioned to AAA recently, is that because the assumption is season was going to start soon and the figure is they would accrue service time if they are not optioned? Should players that still have option years that would not need to be waived be optioned to stop service time, would that raise a grievance? There are so many questions. The CBA may have the answers and I am sure lawyers on both sides are looking into it, but it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out. Even if half a season is played, many of the same questions will come up with service time. Think the questions about option years and contracts would be moot, but for many young players service time is a big thing.

To me, the correct approach is what Ted Williams said many years ago when asked the key to hitting. He famously said, "pick a good pitch to hit and don't miss it." Sounds simple, but the way I break it down is this. Go up with a plan, whatever it is, and stick with it. Hopefully you can be good enough to foul off pitches that are borderline. Then you should get a pitch you like. Hitters that are good at hitting fastballs will want to hit first pitch more often, as fastballs on first pitch are most common, unless pitcher is "pitching backwards" However, to go further, do not just swing because you have timing right, you should also look a zone. If it is not where you want, okay may be a strike may not. If it is fine you have two more, if it is a ball great. Mitch Garver talked about his plan at the plate last year. It was to look middle and swing at those pitches and take any borderline ones. So unless first pitch was middle he would take. He would even take borderline with 2 strikes. Sure sometimes he got rang up, but in his mind he could not hit those pitches well, so why do the pitcher a favor, make the umpire make the call. Other players have different approach where they will fight off those pitches. Either way they have a plan. Sure, Eddie his plan is swing at anything and everything, but that is his plan. I have no issue players swinging first pitch or not, as long as they have a plan for the at bat. Take Buxton for example, when he is struggling, or maybe even when doing well, I feel he never thinks out his at-bats. I have said many times when he walks up to plate, here comes slider off the plate, and he swings, then again and he swings, then again and he swings. Out on three straight chases, because the book on him is slider away. So his plan should be, look inside or at least middle. Anything away, just leave it, if it is a fast ball that clips corner good on the pitcher, but he has better odds taking outside first pitch than he does to swing at it.

It boggles my mind to imagine how in perfect world keeping those three and they developing the way they did. Pressly was only one that was close to what he was when Twins got rid of him. Hendricks as mentioned had to of changed things to develop way he did, assuming it is all natural, he was out of Twins organization well before the advanced thinking FO we have now. Looking at spin rate, pitching up in zone, and all those new found ways to get guys out was VooDoo to Gardy and company. Anderson, until he shows he was not a flash in a pan it was just great story for him, much like Dobnic for us.

I think this season, whenever it starts, will be a hear were Arraez will need to make adjustments. With spray charts leading to shifts this day in age, it is not far fetch to imagine defenses like suggested above. When this started happening with Joe later in career, why it took that long, he struggled a lot. He worked his whole life to smoke balls up the middle and to left field, with little times pulling the ball. He was praised for his ability to find the hole, until defenses said, "well if you always hit up the middle or to left field, we will finally start putting players there." This made matters worse for him when so many people tore Joe down for trying to bunt for hits, I will not go deep into that issue, but point is Joe took awhile to adjust and never really did as well as we hoped he would. Arraez, on the other had, I feel will make needed adjustments to continue to find holes. He is great at fighting off pitches he does not want to hit waiting for the one he does. He seems to go up there with a plan of looking at defense and says this is the pitch I want to hit in that spot. I agree with Jimbo above, that if 3B will play way in trying to stop possible bunts and allowing middle infiled to play extra deep, Arraez will look to just serve the ball over 3b head. Arraez reminds me of the savey old softball player that knows how to put the ball where they want to get on. Only time will tell if he really is or because scouting is much less in minors and now he will be looked under a microscope if he can make the needed changes as defenses change to him.

I doubt the whole season will be canceled. Too much money involved to do that. Of course, if the virus extends for months then that changes my analysis. I would expect a few different possibilities. First, if it is only 2 weeks, they can either start as normal, they were starting earlier than normal, but of course this may be affected by other uses of facilities. They could just cut off those 2 weeks and treat like weather delays by either doing double headers down the road. If it goes into May or June, then I would think the league would get a knew schedule put together with a shortened season. This will have a ripple affect the longer the suspension is. First, will players get paid and service time? As mentioned how will that be decided, will it be prorated to time played like back in 95? Most likely not same because that was a player strike, this is a league ordered decision. So players will demand pay at minimum, but will a contract year tick then? What about having a player under good team contract now they lost that, or service time? Players will not want to give up that time, because they will be 1 year older for FA then. How would you decided that for each player, would a player that was expected to play as a rookie would he get it, a player in his second year that has bounced up and down, would he get it? Rosters were not set so you cannot simply say if they were on active roster or not. So many questions that will have to be decided and will make it harder the longer this lasts.

I learned in college many years ago about kinetic linking, which is much of what this article is about. The concept is that each small movement works like a chain to get to the final movement, and you use your large muscles, glut, quad, lats, ect. to get more energy for your small muscles. This is very important for pitchers, boxers, or anyone that uses shoulder movement. Many people would think get shoulder strong to throw harder, but it is get legs strong and work them correctly to throw harder. It just took this technology for many people to buy into and understand how it all works. It is something that has been known for a long time, but having a science guy know something and telling a non-science person that it works is harder without evidence you can show that person.

I would use player historical data, both majors and minors. Of course you would have to reflect minors data to limited games. It is not perfect, but think that would be best. You can take out the years that 1 injury ended a season or left it out completely, but you could even take other players that had suffered a similar injury and similar recovery to get some date to expect. Of course each person is different, so again not perfect, but better than assuming they will play 150 games each season when over, say 8 years of a career they only played on average 100.

When I saw the headline I thought I was going to not like the article, but you flipped it on me. I agree with Buxton, those singles he turns into doubles really affects those things. I agree Arreaz numbers may not look great, but he is not the type of hitter that numbers can predict, if they could he would not even be a MLB player. He follows the hit where they are not, not hit as hard as can. Sure a 5 hopper through the hole may not look great, or a slap flare over the infield, but he gets on that is what counts.

I get that leg kicks can be bad, but there are players that have had great careers with leg kicks. Now if it becomes a major problem hopefully he is open to fixing it. To me, until it becomes a problem do not change it, the old saying if it is not broke do not fix it. Sometimes you can do more harm doing things like that.

I have believed for a long time, Buxton's biggest problem is his willingness to try something different. He keeps making changes to swing, leg kick, approach, ect. that he just cannot stick with something and make small adjustments. What also did not help is the change in organization philosophy, and his endless injuries.

I am more of a fan of having good bats off the bench than stacking. The stacking can backfire just as much as it helps. First, I am fine with intentional walks from time to time, more runners on base and all. However, think about this. You have normal set up of say Kepler, Polanco, Cruz, I see no one walked if you bring in lefty, which doubt you would to just face Kepler. So change it up, Cruz, Eddie, Donaldson, not sure if that is order just giving example. They bring in top righty, pitcher to Cruz, walk Eddie, then Donaldson, I am fine with that, Donaldson gets to hit with runner on. I would not want a 3 side stacked, maybe 2 in a row but 3 I think will backfire, assuming they do not have good splits.

I hope the pitchers put up huge seasons that lead to need for big contracts, even if Twins do not sign, if they have huge seasons good for this one.

Nice article. It is nice read up on what these surgeries mean. Sounds like he should be back to normal, but could linger into the future. I would not be surprised if this is his last season here. I know I will not be cheering him on based on his Astro time. I do not wish him any ill will though and hope Twins perform well.

If we can get at least a couple MLB starting players out of the group that is all you can ask for. Sometimes you will get all-stars, and even fewer you will get Hall of Famers, but if each draft you can get 2 decent starters or more, it really is a good draft.

I did not get a chance to watch him yesterday, but I do enjoy a good pitcher over just a thrower. Pitchers age well, throwers do not. A pitcher with good change of speeds and movement can get good hitters out. Sure, will he hang a pitch from time to time, all do. I love listening to Katt do announcing as he talks about using the whole strike zone, something that fell out of favor for down in the zone sinkers for ahwile, but now is back to pitching up at top, if not out of the zone. Mixing speed, location, and movement will keep hitters off balance, unless they are the Astros and can see the future.