John Bonnes

Aaron and John sip beer at 612 Brew and talk about Jose Berrios' dominant 11-strikeout start, rainouts and doubleheaders making life difficult for the Twins' pitching staff, Robbie Grossman's on-base skills and overall role, Kennys Vargas' pinch-hit homer, the Twins' young lineup and prospect breakthroughs, how to save $20 on Twins tickets with SeatGeek, what is now a three-way battle for the no. 1 pick, and why Miguel Sano's batting average on balls in play is both good and bad. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

It feels like we're not talking enough about how one of the local kids could be one of the top pitching prospects in this draft. Any other year, we would be wondering if the Twins wouldn't be focusing on him. In fact, I'll do a little speculation here: Could Carlson be the kind of player the Twins target to spend leftover #1 overall bonus money on? He seems like he would be in the right range for that.

Thank you for taking the time to do this interview and write it up Seth. BTW, Moon Palace books is a great little indy book store in SE Mpls. You'll love that event if you visit this site. There are a few other interesting authors speaking as well. Sounds like Law isn't especially bullish on the Twins yet, and I don't blame him. But so far, so good.

Aaron and John talk about Jose Berrios' excellent return to the Twins' rotation, Danny Santana going to Atlanta, Michael Tonkin sticking around at Triple-A, over-working Brandon Kintzler because of a shaky setup corps, upgrading our wardrobe with Bombfell, John Bonnes and Miguel Sano both celebrating birthdays, and the state of superhero movies. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

The most entertaining thing about this move is why they Mets released Wilk: they had to make room for Tommy Milone. Who, of course is left-handed and started for the Twins. I cannot figure out why this team is so damn determined to keep Berrios in AAA.

Twins Daily is very happy to announce that Jeremy Nygaard will be providing occasional insider news/rumors on the Twins deliberations in the upcoming MLB Draft. The first was last Friday which we're copying below. But that won't often be the case; to be sure to get them sign up for the Twins Daily email list at the bottom of this story or in the upper-right hand corner of this page. As most national media publications have started to release their mock drafts, there’s been a lot of momentum in the direction of Brendan McKay from Louisville. That’s probably a fair place to be five weeks from the draft, but I’ve been told that the organization has “cast a wide net” in their search for the top overall selection. College first baseman Pavin Smith of Virginia and prep right-handed hurler Shane Baz of Texas remain in consideration as well as other prominent names such as Hunter Greene, Royce Lewis and Kyle Wright.McKay is an interesting case. At the beginning of the season, the preference for McKay was as a left-handed pitcher. A “bigger Ted Lilly” one scout called him, saying he’d be, at worst, a “solid #3” for a long time. McKay, who should win his third straight John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award, has done nothing but raise expectations this season. As a pitcher, he’s thrown 67.0 innings and struck out 95. Opponents have hit only .172 and his WHIP is 0.84. While other top college throwers came out of the gates slowly, McKay had performed at a very high level all season until giving up nine earned runs over his last two starts. How much should be made of those two starts? McKay has still struck out more than a batter an inning and given up less than a hit and walk per inning pitched. If it’s me - and nothing alarming has happened with his velocity or delivery, and by all accounts, it hasn’t - I’m putting very little stock into two less-than-ideal starts. The thing that makes McKay so intriguing is that along with being arguably the best pitcher in college baseball, he is also arguably the best hitter in college baseball. Everyone knew he could hit - he hit .326 for the Collegiate National Team last summer and hit over .300 in both seasons at Louisville - but he took it to another level this spring. Currently slashing .390/.511/.747 (1.258), McKay has evaluators reconsidering what his long-term positional home should be. Sorry guys, it won’t be as a two-way player. But you’re not getting this exclusive newsletter in your email to tell you that. You’ve read national media that says they’d take McKay as a first baseman. Others say pitcher. It’s conceivable that the Twins select Brendan McKay next month as a “pitcher/first baseman” and truly mean it. You can bump McKay up as a pitcher because if that doesn’t work, he can be a big-league hitter. You can bump McKay up as a hitter because if that doesn’t work, he can be a big-league pitcher. Or as one Twins source told me, it’s “kind of like having a chip on red and black.” The Twins have long had a philosophy of trying to take the best player regardless of position. This is a case where Brendan McKay might just be the best player in the draft regardless of his position. If that’s what the organization truly decides, they will take Brendan McKay, best player available, and figure out the rest later. Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about an up and down week for the Twins, pushing Kyle Gibson, Danny Santana, and Michael Tonkin off the roster, what the time is for Jose Berrios to get a chance, a new rumored name in the MLB draft, Joe Mauer's clutch hitting, how you can win a Michael Cuddyer autographed official baseball from PickAndShovelWear.com and to whom the Twins will turn next for their rotation. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about the Twins' winning April, Miguel Sano's breakout season, Byron Buxton's small steps in the right direction, Joe Mauer's ongoing decline, the impact of a vastly improved defense, class-action concussion lawsuits with Tracy Tool and Bob Parsons of Bye, Goff and Rhode, recapping the first Tuesday Taproom Tour event, and putting J.T. Chargois call-up plans on hold, all presented by the Minnesota Corn Growers. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

It was great. Hopefully the podcast gives a sense of the how social the crowd was. They seemed to really have a good time and I think a lot of them met new people. The next one should be even better.

Aaron and John are joined by 100 listeners at Northgate Brewing to watch the Twins thump the Rangers, answer Twins questions and generally mess around. Whether you attended the event or just listened to the podcast, we would love your feedback on this episode. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

I'd lean toward putting him back into a starting role as soon as possible. It's far too early to be giving up on him as a starter. His performance last year was ... odd. A 1000+ OPS against right-handed hitters? If, by next year, it looks like starting pitching isn't working out, then bullpen. This year, he still has options, so the Twins can let him get back up to speed in AAA. You move a guy to the bullpen when you must, either for his sake or for the organization's, and not before.

Yes, Ugh. It was a typo. I've fixed it. It's $45.

Aaron tells me tickets are almost gone for this event and sales are cutting off soon! Join the TD and BP gang at a Twins game AND hear live from Twins GM Thad Levine right after the trade deadline! Baseball Prospectus is coming to Minneapolis! You're invited to join them and members of the Twins Daily community for a pregame Q&A with Twins GM Thad Levine, a meet-and-greet with Baseball Prospectus writers and then watch a Twins game with the whole gang. And tickets are on sale right now! Here are the details and everything that is included: The event is Saturday, August 5th. The game is at 6:05 but everyone will gather at 3:00 inside Target Field for the meet-and-greet and Q&A sessions.The Q&A session will be with members of the Minnesota Twins front office, including General Manager Thad Levine, followed by one with BP staff members, including editor (and Gleeman and the Geek host) Aaron Gleeman.Twins Daily members Parker Hageman and John Bonnes will also be part of the panel, and we hope we can get the whole gang there to chat Twins before and during the game.The "during the game" part means you also get a ticket to the Twins game that night in the right field grandstand.You'll also get a special coupon for $15 to be used toward a new Baseball Prospectus Premium or Super Premium subscription or your next Premium or Super Premium renewal.Finally, bring your kids because they qualify for a free back-to-school themed giveaway.The cost for everything - the ticket to the game, the $15 coupon plus the special event beforehand - is just $45. They went on sale at BP a week or so ago, so they're starting to run short, but they still have some available for the Twins Daily community, so I suggest you go grab them this week. The event is likely to sell out, and sales will need to be cut off soon regardless. There is no way to get these at the door, so this is your chance! Grab them here! Two of your favorite sites are coming together to celebrate the Twins at Target Field. How could you not be there? Click here to view the article

Aaron and John, courtesy of the Minnesota Corn Growers, console each other about Byron Buxton, wonder why Twins fans can't appreciate Miguel Sano, try Chef Jeff's Duck Pastrami at the Iron Door Pub, raise eyebrows at the Twins pitching (especially Phil Hughes), remind you to hang out with them and Thad Levine, detail some (not so) minor league injuries and rudely interrupt Bianca's date. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher, or GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

It kind of blows my mind that this could happen. Official scorers calls are already the cause of so much (mostly faux) outrage. Can you imagine if it meant a team like Venezuela missed the WBC playoffs? Holy cow. It also is amazing to me that Mexico didn't advance because they didn't get one out before a walkoff hit. I had no idea.

I’ve often pointed out that official scorers affect only statistics, not the outcome of a game. However, recently official scorers were put in a position in which they could affect the outcome of the World Baseball Classic, when earned runs were used as a tiebreaker in deciding which team moved on to the next round. In the first two rounds of the World Baseball Classic, two teams advance to the next round. In the event of a tie for second, a tiebreaker game is played. However - with four teams playing round robin - the only tie for second place has to be a three-way tie. So a tiebreaker procedure is used to either anoint one team to move on and have the other two play it off (if the tied teams are 2-1) or to eliminate a team and have the other two play (if the tied teams are 1-2).The latter is what happened in Jalisco, Mexico. I was the official scorer. My wife, Brenda Himrich, made the press box announcements in Spanish. She was in the modified press box in the upper deck while I was in a room at the top of the first deck. I’d tell her my scoring decision via walkie-talkie, and she announced it to the press in Spanish. Brenda is obviously a lot smarter than I am. Not only can she speak Spanish, she was up on the tiebreaker procedures more than I was. As we walked into the stadium on Sunday, the final day of scheduled games, she told me that earned runs could be used as a criteria for the tiebreaker. “No way,” I thought, but it was “Way.” I was glad I wasn’t aware of that over the first three days. Official scorers try to ignore situations in which their call could have a bigger impact than just a player’s batting average (a hitting streak, no-hitter, league leadership, etc.). It’s hard to ignore these things sometimes. But for me, my ignorance over the first four games served the same purpose. At least earned runs weren’t the first step in the tiebreaker. The first was runs allowed per number of innings (including partial innings) played in the field. The runs allowed would be only in games against the other teams involved in the tiebreaker. I liked that it included innings in the field; otherwise, the team batting last more often than another team had was at a disadvantage. The next step was earned runs allowed per number of innings in the field. The next step was team batting average. If there were somehow a tie after this, the standings would be determined by the drawing of lots. In the first game on Sunday, Puerto Rico beat Italy to go 3-0. If Mexico beat Venezuela in the second game, the tiebreaker would have to be used to eliminate one of the teams. I calculated the situation at that point, which the MLB public-relations rep took in case it was needed. Here was the situation: Download attachment: stew 2017-04-13 graph 1.jpg It looked bad for Italy. Even if Venezuela lost to Mexico, Italy would lose out if Venezuela gave up 9 or fewer runs. If Venezuela lost and gave up 10 runs (and if they were all earned), Italy would prevail on the basis of fewer earned runs. If Venezuela gave up 10 runs but one were unearned, the teams would be tied for earned runs per inning, and it would come down to team batting average. Venezuela had an edge there, but a bad night at the plate and in the field could do them in. Venezuela fell behind 8-1 after four-and-a-half innings against Mexico, and I focused on how many runs it would give up. Mexico got another run in the top of the sixth and had runners at second and third with two out in the top of the seventh when Chris Roberson hit a grounder off Jose Altuve’s glove (clear hit) to score both runners and make the score 11-6. I figured Venezuela would have to win the game, and it almost did, making a series of comebacks that fell short and losing 11-9. Brenda called me on the walkie-talkie to report that the media, including MLB Network, were announcing that Mexico and Italy would play in the tiebreaker Monday night. I wasn’t needed in the meeting to confirm this, so we took off. (The Venezuela-Mexico game had gone 4 hours, 44 minutes and ended at 12:52 a.m.) Other officials hung around for the post-mortem, which wasn’t quick. The issue was that Mexico had put itself in a position of elimination by allowing 9 runs. The meeting went at least three hours and culminated with a call to Commissioner Rob Manfred. Mexico thought it was credited with 9 innings against Italy, but it was only 8 innings. The issue of the partial inning made the difference. Italy had allowed 1.05 runs per inning in the field, Venezuela 1.11, and Mexico 1.12. Had Mexico been credited with 9 innings against Italy, Mexico’s total would have been 1.06. Download attachment: stew 2017-04-13 graph 2.jpg By a thin margin, Mexico had the highest runs allowed per inning. Mexico protested that it should receive a partial inning against Italy; even 1/3 more of an inning would have been enough for them to move ahead of Venezuela. But innings are measured in outs, and Mexico didn’t record any outs in the ninth against Italy, so it did not get credit for a partial inning. Venezuela and Italy played the tiebreaker, a great game in which Miguel Cabrera tied the score with a home run in the top of the ninth. Venezuela scored two more runs and held on for a 4-3 win, eliminating Italy and sending Venezuela to the second round. In the post-game reception MLB had for us, we discussed other missed opportunities for Mexico. In the top of the ninth, Mexico had runners on first and second with no out. Another run for Mexico would mean another run against for Venezuela. However, pinch-runner Manny Rodriguez didn’t advance on a long fly to left-center. He did when the next batter flied out, but had he advanced on the former he would have scored on the latter. I was happy that I scored the first four games (from Thursday to Saturday) in blissful ignorance about the possible impact of one of my scoring decisions. But when we got home, I looked at the tally a little closer and also at the scoring decisions I had made. Two things stood out. First, we came really close to having earned runs per inning become a factor. If Mexico had given up fewer runs in its final game, it would have made it to the tiebreaker game. The tiebreaker steps would have been used to determine whether Italy or Venezuela was eliminated. And if Venezuela had given up just 10, instead of 11 runs, to Mexico, then Italy and Venezuela would have been tied in the first tiebreaker step, total runs allowed. This would have brought it to the second step, earned runs allowed per innings in the field. Italy would have prevailed by 1 run over Venezuela (had Venezuela would have given up only 10 runs to Mexico). Later I went over the scoring decisions I had made, and one stood out. In the Saturday game between Italy and Venezuela, I called what I would describe as a “tough” error on Italy shortstop Gavin Checchini on a hard grounder hit by Jose Altuve. Altuve scored, and, because of my decision, the run was unearned rather than earned. With just a couple of tweaks in the score of the Venezuela-Mexico game, this call could have been the determining factor. Teams have the right to appeal scoring decisions immediately after the game, and I was surprised that Venezuela did not appeal it. I thought they might appeal for the purpose of getting a hit for Altuve, the normal reason a player or team challenges a scoring decision. In this case, though, the stakes were greater. One of Venezuela’s competitors was getting off without an earned run, which could be, and nearly was decisive. All I could think of was that Venezuela hadn’t paid attention to the tiebreaker procedures. It seemed others had not, either, until it was time to do the final tally. The tiebreaker steps were different from the previous World Baseball Classic, in 2013. According to Society for American Baseball Research member Bob Timmerman, the first tiebreaker step used then was “Team Quality Balance,” which was runs scored per innings at bat minus runs allowed per innings pitched. This run-differential method was less likely to produce a tie and send it to the second step, whatever it was. However, in 2013 a brawl broke out in a Canada-Mexico game. Canada, with a large lead, broke one of those sacred unwritten rules by bunting, and the Mexico pitcher threw at the next batter, setting off a fight. Beyond that these unwritten rules are a load of crap, the World Baseball Classic organizers apparently switched the tiebreaker steps to discourage running up the score. However, that ignores that teams should still score as much as possible for the purpose of adding runs allowed to their competitors’ totals. However they do it, in my opinion, anything influenced by the official scorer should be out of it. Scoring decisions are subjective, and it shouldn’t come down to a 50-50 call being decided one way or another. The games were long but were exciting. It was a great tournament and experience. Stew Thornley is a baseball historian and one of the official scorers of the Minnesota Twins home games. You can find more of his research and writing at StewThornley.net. Click here to view the article

Aaron and John talk about the Twins' excellent first week, reunite at Tin Whiskers, rehash the decision to carry 13 pitchers, debate the logic and mysticism behind the Twins' batting order, detail the Baseball Prospectus event at Target Field, wonder about the struggles of Byron Buxton, talk way too much about Michael Tonkin, explain why Aaron bought another Casper mattress, evaluate the Twins' improved defense, and discuss college tours. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Or just click this link.http://traffic.libsy...3?dest-id=74590 Click here to view the article

As a team, they're striking out nearly as much as they walk: 23 BB/25 K. And that's including Buxton's abysmal start. They supposedly brought in Castro for his leadership as much as his glove. Is it coincidence that just as he is being uber-patient at the plate, that the whole team is? (Probably. But still....)