John Bonnes

Today's the day of Twins Daily's "Touch Em All" Pub Crawl sponsored by Three Olives Vodka and Maestro Dobel Tequila. You're too late for one of the t-shirts or Twins tickets (they were sold weeks ago), but that doesn't mean you can't join us and hang out and talk baseball. You'll also get to witness a Gleeman and the Geek podcast recording in-person, you lucky ducks. Here's the itinerary:We’ll meet up at noon at Barrio Tequila Bar in Lowertown, which also has been awarded some of the best Mexican food in the Twin Cities. They’re hinting at an all-you-can-eat taco special to gear us up for the trip ahead and a raffle for some free pizzas from Papa Johns. Also, Aaron Gleeman has promised to show us videos of his cat. From there we’ll jump on the new Metro Transit Green Line to the U of M and Campus Pizza. There will be more food, drinks and a raffle for DiamondCentric t-shirts. Parker will also entertain us with outtakes from the Twins Daily photo shoot by Twin Cities Business Journal. Our third stop is DiNoko’s BarZia in downtown Minneapolis, home of Chicago Style Deep Dish pizza. There will be yet more specials for the t-shirt wearing crowd and a raffle of four highly sought after Twins Daily Winter Meltdown Pint Glasses. Nick Nelson will impress us all by not rapping. Finally, we’ll end where we did last year – at Mason’s Barre & Restaurant. If you were with us last year or at the Meltdown or at the Home Run Derby party, you know they always take care of us. We’ll also have a very special raffle….. At each bar, you’ll be able to get a stamp on your hand. Anyone who is at Mason’s and has all three of the other stamps will be eligible for a special drawing for two pairs of front row Twins tickets for a game later this year. Finally, you’ll be going to a Twins game with us all where we’ll watch Alex Meyer or Trevor May pitch a perfect game while various Twins players buy us rounds of cocktails*. We spend enough time online or listening to each other on podcasts. It’s time to meet up. Please get in early so we can make sure we see you there. *Not totally guaranteed. Hell, none of this it totally guaranteed. We’ll do the best we can. Click here to view the article

To the writers above - thank you. This has been an incredibly gratifying week. I really hope we all hear more from you.

First, thank you very much for that breakdown. That is much more clear. The question is whether we should be focusing on the first year of those 90 loss seasons or the last year. Unfortunately, for this data, it's the last, which puts the "reubild" out to the end of the decade. I don't feel like that's accurate in this case - there are signs of a steadily improving organization and talent level just below the surface of the majors. But it shows that it ain't easy to bounce back from 90 loss seasons.

I watched that whole game and somehow never noticed who the opposing team was. :-) Thanks.

Sponsored by Ticket King Coming to town are the AL Central leading…..ROYALS?!? Yup. 6.5 game back after the All-Star break, the Royals started their second half by losing their first four games – and have won 17 out of the 21 games since. Combine that with a Tigers team that has gone 2-7 on their latest road trip, and you have Royals wearing the division crown, albeit only since Monday.Leading their charge has been the same unit that has been doing so all year: their pitching. Overall, the Royals have a 3.56 ERA this year (compared to the Twins mark of 4.35) but they’ve been even better since the break, posting a 2.80 ERA over those 25 games. (You don’t want to know how THAT compares to the Twins.) Given those numbers, the pitching matchups look a little better than you might have hoped. Let’s go through them each and figure out which ticket you like the best: Friday – Danny Duffy vs Ricky Nolasco Duffy is the 25-year-old tough luck southpaw with a 2.57 ERA but a 7-10 record. He seems to be good in shorter outings, which is fine give the solid KC bullpen. But the real story here is the return of Ricky Nolasco to Target Field. Twins Territory is hoping that his first half struggles (5.90 ERA and 6.3 K/9) were due to a conceled elbow injury instead of Americanleaguitis. The organization would probably be happy just to confirm that the elbow injury really is just a strain, seeing as he’s still in the first year of that $49 million deal. If you’re looking for the most important game for the Twins hopes in 2015, this is probably it. Saturday – Yordano Ventura vs Phil Hughes KC’s fireballer faces the Twins defacto ace. Hughes had an excellent outing this week versus the Athletics, finally ending the Twins losing streak versus Oakland. Ventura is no slouch (3.45 ERA) but if you looking for the game the Twins are most likely to win, this is your choice. Sunday – Jeremy Guthrie vs. Tommy Milone This is Twins fans first chance to see Tommy Milone pitch for their team in person. If you were distracted at the trade deadline, Terry Ryan absolutely stole this 27-year-old left-hander and his 3.52 ERA from the A’s for Sam Fuld. His initial outing was encouraging, giving up just two runs in six innings, albeit versus the punchless Astros. Milone is not going to be an ace, but he could be a significant arm for the Twins for the next three years. Plus, his ERA is lower than that of any other starting pitcher currently in the rotation. If you’re curious and risk-adverse this is the game to target. If you’re curious and a little more adventurous…… Monday – Jason Vargas vs. Trevor May Twins fans waited a month or two longer than they hoped for May’s promotion from Rochester – and then wished they had waited a bit longer. With two outs in the second inning, May started walking the incredibly patient Oakland lineup and didn’t make it to the third inning, finishing with seven walks in two innings. Things went better in relief a couple of days later, but he still has twice as many walks as inning pitched. Still, he’s just 24 years old and straight-up earned that promotion in Rochester with a 2.84 ERA and 94 K in 98.1 IP. He belongs here, but he’s going to need to show he can throw the ball past some hitters while it’s still in the strike zone. If you want to help a kid who looked like he could really use some support, bring your warmed up and enthusiastic vocal chords to this game. Twins fans need to make him feel at home. ~~~ Wow, Friday night’s Twins tickets are a little scarce, but there are still some nice seats down the right field line. Saturday looks like the budget conscious night; there are lots of cheaper Target Field seats available in the third deck for Phil Hughes’ start. Sunday looks like a great day to work on that tan. Plenty of lower level Twins seats are available to feel the sun on your shoulders. But of all the games, Monday has the best Target Field seat selection. And don’t forget! All of your seats are 10% cheaper and support Twins Daily if you use the code DAILYDOUBLE. Whatever your needs (football is coming….), your local ticket supplier, Ticket King, can help. Click here to view the article

On a day-to-day basis, Twins Daily talks Twins, but what fuels Twins Daily is Community. That’s what I (and most of us) find even more rewarding than our baseball obsession. That’s true of other sports, too. I don’t know how many times The Voice of Reason™ and I have gone out to watch a sporting event just because we wanted to be in a crowd. These are the memories that stay with me, good or bad. Downtown in ’91. Joe Carter’s heart-breaking blast in a South Street bar. The Vikings taking a knee with friends in our basement. The North Stars grinding their way to the Stanley Cup Finals as I worked at William’s Pub. Sam Cassel getting hurt in 2004 as my friends and I shook our heads.The moment makes them memorable, but so does the shared sense of community. THAT is what I really value about sports. That is why “we cheer for laundry,” as the cynics say, but they miss the point. It isn’t the laundry that is important. It’s the “we.” That’s why we’re launching VikingsJournal.com today. We believe in sports. We believe in community. We believe in we. And I think you’re going to find the same excellence, love, passion, intelligence, independence and civility that define Twins Daily, only we’re going to bring it to the most popular sport and the most popular team in the state, the Vikings. So please stop by today and check out our excellent writers and comment on our forums and encourage the football bloggers and try and win yourself one of a couple dozen free pizzas. In the new reality, communities don’t hoard their members. They share their passion. If football is a passion of yours – or if community is passion of yours – stop by. We’ll welcome you all over again. Sincerely, John, Brock, Seth, Nick, Parker, Bo, AJ, Arif and Joe --- Speaking of pizza, the Twins won yesterday so Friday you can get a 1/2 price large or extra-large pizza at PapaJohn.com using the promo code 'twinswin'. Click here to view the article

Since you have the data, let me as a slightly different question. Of teams that lost 90 games in a season, what percentage made it to the playoffs after 1 year, 2 years, 3 years, etc.? So, for instance, say we look at the teams that lost 90 game in 2010, 2011 and 2012: 24 Teams had 90 losses in those 3 seasons. Of them, 4 made it back to the postseson the next year. That's 25%. 18 of those teams have had up to two years to bounce back, and of those, 5 have (that includes those that bounced back in 1 year). That's 28%. 12 of those teams have had up to three years to bounce back, and five of them have (again, including those that bounced back in years 1 or 2). That's 42%. BTW, among those teams that haven't yet, there are Washington, the Royals and Seattle, all of whom could do it this year.

I see you're posting a lot of short entries in your blog. In general, short posts like this will get a lot more response in the forum than in your blog. If you want to shoot me an email at John At Bonnes dot com I'll be happy to walk you through how to do that.

This is a better return than I would have expected at the trade deadline, let alone in August. Ryan has cleared a lot of chaff and bolstered the pitching depth too. Really nice.

The Minnesota Twins have announced that they have traded Josh Willingham to the Kansas City Royals for 23-year-old minor league pitcher Jason Adam. Adam was promoted to AAA last month after making 18 starts at AA, striking out 89 in 98.1 IP and walking 30 en route to a 5.03 ERA. In AAA, he has served solely as a reliever, posting a 2.35 ERA in 8 games, striking out 11 in 15 innings. He was a 5th round pick for the Royals in 2010. Prior to the season, the 6’4” right-hander still projected as a possible middle-of-the-rotation starting pitcher, albeit one who has struggled with his command, resulting in some very high hit rates. He was ranked as the 9th best prospect in the Royals system by both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus prior to the season. He will report to AA-New Britain with the Twins and will return to starting.Josh Willingham signed with the Twins prior to the 2012 season, ostensibly to fill the gap left by the departure of Michael Cuddyer. Initially, his 3 year/$21 million contract looked like a bargain. His right-handed pull swing seemed well-suited for Target Field as he slugged 35 home runs and won his first career Silver Slugger Award. But the next two years were plagued by injuries and sluggish performance. He hit just .208 last year with 14 home runs in 2013. This year, he has 12 home runs and a .210 batting average after a prolonged slump in late June and early July, albeit with a .345 on-base percentage. In his last game with the Twins, he hit a two-run home run, extending the Twins lead to 4-1 in a 6-1 win over the Athletics. Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about Kevin Correia's long-awaited departure, Trevor May's shaky arrival, upside vs. known quantities, Joe Mauer's impending return, Francisco Liriano and Vance Worley thriving together, playing Danny Santana at shortstop, the good and bad of Twitter, penthouse plans, and car-buying 101. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click on the "play" button below. Click here to view the article

On MLB Trade Rumors, it reported that Darren Wolfson tweeted that signs pointed that way and he would be surprised if it was Kris Johnson instead. Seth is reporting that it is happening.

Good stuff. We have struggled with/debated game stories for two years. I agree that it would be a good thing to add and I think we'll get there. Is there any niche content that everyone would like to see more of? I'm thinking something like the Offseason Handbook or Seth's Prospect Handbook.

Last week I used this space to tell you what Twins Daily is. Today, I’d like you to tell me what Twins Daily should become. Let me tell you a secret: a lot of the time, we don’t really know what we’re doing. That’s actually good news, as it has forced us to try stuff, from podcasting in a bar to publishing e-handbooks to t-shirts to pub crawls to live hangouts to the new videos you’ll see in our minor league updates.But I think there’s a lot more that both the writers and the rest of the community can provide. So give us your big ideas. I’d love to hear what more you crave from the site, ranging from content ideas to stuff that is truly off the wall. Don’t be timid. Assume our resources are unlimited, because with this community, they might just be. We’ll worry about making it possible. Thanks for any feedback you provide, both positive and negative. Let’s hear your big ideas. Sincerely, John Click here to view the article

Sponsored by Ticket King You only have 24 hours to buy Target Field tickets for this classic matchup: the resistible force meets the movable object. You’ll also have an opportunity to see a pair of starting pitching prospects that raced their way through the minors. They’ll just be pitching for the other team. (Zer)Offense The Padres are a noncontender in the National League, despite having the second best team ERA (3.10) in baseball. That isn’t easy, but the Padres have managed with the worst offense in MLB. But sometimes “worst” isn’t descriptive enough. Charlie Beattie’s (@TheUnplayable) writeup in the $1 Twins Official Scorecard for this series included this historical tidbit: There is a difference between being the worst and being the worst by a lot. The Padres are the latter. They’ve scored 52 fewer runs than the 29th ranked team, the Cardinals. How big of a difference is 52 runs? There is also a 52 run difference between the Cardinals and the Baltimore Orioles – who rank 12th in MLB in runs scored. The Padres are as many runs away from the 29th team as the 29th team is from the 12th. Of course, that lineup will be facing the Twins, whose pitching staff ranks 27th in ERA. However, the Twins will have their two veterans, Phil Hughes and Kevin Correia, throwing in this series. When the team starts a series in Oakland on Thursday, the starting pitchers will likely be chosen from a number of hopefuls in Rochester. Could that mean callups – finally - for either Trevor May or Alex Meyer? Time will tell. But In San Diego, Time Has Trouble Getting A Word In Edgewise Twins fans who are frustrated by the wait for May or Meyer may want to avert their gaze from the opposing mound this series. Or, perhaps dream about what might yet be. Because the Twins are going to be facing two guys who were far from the majors just a few months ago. On Wednesday night, they Twins will face right-hander Jesse Hahn, who started the year in AA. In 2013 he gained a little prospect status in High A with the Rays, but not so high that they had any trouble dealing him to the Padres in a seven-player swap this offseason. Before that, Hahn was a sixth round draft pick who had Tommy John surgery soon after being drafted. But the Padres pushed him fast, promoting him straight from AA after a 2-1 start. It’s worked. In nine major league starts he’s had seven quality starts, just as many wins, a 2.01 ERA and 54K in 53.2 IP. Last week manager Bud Black said he planned on giving Hahn between five and ten more starts before he is shut down for the season. That’s a roadrunner-quick ascension. But still not as fast as the guy who the Twins are facing on Wednesday afternoon. On May 1st of this year, Odrisamer Despaigne (pronounced the way it looks) didn’t have a major league contract. He was a 27-year-old defector from Cuba and signed with the Padres the next day for a $1 million signing bonus. He threw two games in AA and was promoted to AAA for five games. He was promoted to the Padres on June 23rd and has already started seven games, earning a 2-3 record, a 2.68 ERA but only 23K (and 17 BB) in 43.2 IP. To be fair, both of these pitchers are older than May or Meyer who are both 24 years old. And one could argue that neither is as important to the future of the Padres as May or Meyer are to the Twins, which might explain whey the Twins are seemingly being much more careful. But the stark difference in philosophy between the organizations is striking. Wow – there are not a ton of tickets available for Tuesday night. Welcome to a summer night in Minnesota. You might want to act fast if you want anything below the third deck. The day game on Wednesday has more options and is supposed to be a flawless day to play hooky. All are an even better deal if you use the promo code DAILYDOUBLE, which will get you 10% off and supports Twins Daily. Whatever your needs, your local ticket supplier, Ticket King, can help. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Professor BAseball 600-321.jpg Aaron and John preview the Minnesota Twins offseason by reviewing possible free agents, talk a little about the TwinsCentric Offseason Handbook, tip their collective cap to Jim Rantz and then give a quick tutorial on how struggling organizations can take advantage of MLB's transaction rules. Here are: the podcaststhe rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Cricket-Australia_24.jpg John and Aaron are reunited to talk Minnesota Twins. But the podcast starts with the two catching up: John's trip, the death of Aaron's youth, John's Bar Mitzvah adventures, how Aaron picks up waitresses and how cricket teams could use a sabrmetric intervention. Then they move onto the Twins, catching up on the moves John missed, wondering how anyone can justify the Twins payroll and starting rotation, the disappointing Hall of Fame votes and the BBWAA's ongoing (an largely successful) struggle to make itself irrelevant. Here are: the podcaststhe rss feed if you want to subscribe and the podcast on iTunes. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Click here to view the article