Brad Swanson

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Since I am filled with useless snark, I stated back on August 12 that if the Twins could win 30-35 of their next 17 games, they could get back in the Central race. See, the joke is... Anyway, with three games remaining in that 17 game stretch, the Twins will win no more than seven games. Whatever. Perhaps the team isn't good enough to win two games every game. However, the Twins are still on a 72 win pace (actually 71.5 but I'm rounding up to get the fan vote). It's a small improvement, but improvement is always good. Unless it's Home Improvement. The show. Mike Pelfrey What if the Twins had signed Pelfrey to Kevin Correia's contract and Correia to Pelfrey's? I think that having Pelfrey around for a second year wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. He's certainly better than Correia and he is younger too. However, there is simply no way that both guys can be in the rotation next year. The options outside of these two won't make you dance in your underpants, but they are worth giving starts to. Thus, Correia stays due to his contract and Pelfrey will almost certainly be gone. Anthony Swarzak One guy who was nowhere near my starting pitching radar is Anthony Swarzak. Starting pitching radar is a conspiracy theory; Swarzak would know. However, it's hard to look at Swarzak's performance this season and not have a slight inclination to see if he could put together some solid starts. I hesitate to move people from roles where they have found success, but long-man isn't exactly a hot commodity. If Swarzak got a few starts in September, I'd be cool with it. Brian Dozier As Twins Daily member stringer bell stated over the weekend, Brian Dozier is likely the biggest positive development from this season. Dozier looks great at second base and has started to produce surprising power at the plate. You'll see just how good Dozier is below, but needless to say, the Twins have found a solid second baseman. You should read stringer bell's recap, as it's much better and much more detailed. Time for Madness Fun stat - Twins 20/20 Guys No, not eyesight. 20 home runs and 20 steals. Now, we don't really talk about 20/20 guys because some dudes have hit 30/30 and 40/40. However, the Twins need to be graded on a curve. Small market, greedy owner, Metrodome, stuff like that. So, here are the guys in Twins history who have achieved this outstanding feat: Larry Hisle - 1977: 28 HR, 21 SB Kirby Puckett - 1986: 31 HR, 20 SB Marty Cordova - 1995: 24 HR, 20 SB Corey Koskie - 2001: 26 HR, 27 SB Torii Hunter - 2002: 29 HR, 23 SB Torii Hunter - 2004: 23 HR, 21 SB Could Brian Dozier join this group one day? Half-hearted Rant The Ryan Dempster/Alex Rodriguez situation worked up a rant in my brain. I'm more offended by someone throwing a baseball at someone than by someone taking illegal substances. If we are genuinely concerned with player safety when it comes to steroids, why aren't we worried when it comes to chucking baseballs at people. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm against both actions. I just find it odd that steroids = 50 game suspension, throwing a baseball at another human = one delayed start. For many, the issue comes down to "how do I explain this to my child(ren)?" Well, I find one of these instances to be a lot easier to explain than the other. Join me as I walk through two scenarios where I explain these issues to my daughter: Daughter: Why isn't Nelson Cruz playing tonight. After all, he is my favorite player. Me: Well, he took steroids, so he was suspended. Daughter: Why was he suspended for that? Me: Because steroids are against the rules and he took them anyway. He deserves to be punished. Daughter: Why are they against the rules? Me: Steroids make you better at baseball. Daughter: Isn't that a good thing? Me: Well, they also do bad things to your body and they hurt the competitive balance of the game. Daughter: I suppose that makes sense. Now, unless my small child is a tiny libertarian, she is probably fine with this exchange. Here's how I would explain the Dempster issue: Daughter: Why is Ryan Dempster, my second favorite player after Nelson Cruz, allowed to throw a baseball at Alex Rodriguez? Me: Well, A-Rod cheated so Dempster is getting back at him for ruining the integrity of baseball. Daughter: How does throwing a baseball at him accomplish that goal? Me: It's just how things have always been done. Daughter: Didn't we used to ride horses everywhere? Before that, we just walked around. Why don't you walk to work? Me: Well, I have a car. Daughter: But people haven't always had cars. Things change. Things evolve. To me, throwing a baseball at someone is vigilante justice. Shouldn't the police do the policing? Me: Go to bed. My daughter is two months old, so you have to take a bit of a leap here. I simply feel that one action is easier to explain but both actions have no place in baseball. To summarize, I am anti-steroids and anti-beanings. Random Photoshops I wrote about birds playing baseball a couple months ago. I'm not going to link to it because I've linked to it many times before and it's starting to look desperate. That being said, these two should have made the cut Rich Woodpecker http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ouksDoGVLPE/UhqYtZGn_PI/AAAAAAAAA48/-HGMWnzxucI/s1600/richwoodpecker.jpg Drew Bupterodactyl http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-slMKAPZpPLc/UhqYyCI3EHI/AAAAAAAAA5E/LbFKf6hgR-0/s320/drewpterodactyl.jpg The last one doesn't really count because everyone knows that Drew Butera is extinct. Random Top 10 Here are the top 10 second-year players in Twins history, sorted by rWAR: Tom Brunansky - 5.6 WAR Chuck Knoblauch - 5.3 WAR Lew Ford - 4.4 WAR John Castino - 4.4 WAR Jimmie Hall - 4.0 WAR Rich Rollins - 4.0 WAR Tim Teufel - 3.8 WAR Butch Wynegar - 3.8 WAR Denard Span - 3.7 WAR Kent Hrbek/Lyman Bostock - 3.6 WAR Brian Dozier is currently at 3.2 WAR. If he finishes the season as well as he has played in June-August, he'll reach 4.0 WAR at least. That puts him in the top five. He's having a great season. What's ahead? I have a few things in the works. It's the first week of school this week, so no promises. I am currently G-Chatting with my 9-year-old self. I think I might write about that. I'm also investigating a forgotten Twin named John Moses. Finally, I am looking at how I can tie Lawrence Kohlberg's theory of moral development to the above scenarios involving Ryan Dempster and Alex Rodriguez. Crazy stuff; keep your eyes peeled. Parting Thought Are the Twins going to make any tradez? I am bored with this lack of trading. In my fantasy football league, we put in a mandate that every team has to make at least one trade. Everyone hates it. Maybe Major League Baseball should consider something like this. Every team needs to make one trade in July and one in August. That way, all fans get to talk trades. Win win. Have a nice week, everyone!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! If you want to read about the Carlos Gomez/JJ Hardy trade, just click here. Ok, let's all just try to be cool here. The Trade: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded Wilson Ramos, Joe Testa and cash to the Washington Nationals for Matt Capps. I'm not sure Twins fans remember this, but Capps was really good in 2010. He took over as closer and fired off 27 innings of 2 ERA. He saved 16 games down the stretch and helped the Twins make the playoffs. The problem was that he was declining already and the Twins didn't see it. He was much worse in 2011, seeing a huge drop in his strikeout rate. The Twins still didn't see it and signed him again for 2012. He was hurt and awful and hasn't pitched in the Majors since. Ramos is great when he's healthy. He has posted a 112 OPS+ with Washington, but he has only played 198 games in just over three seasons. I'd love to see what he could do in a full season. He's slugging almost .500 this year and is going to be a breakout candidate until he actually breaks out. Testa is playing independent ball now. The cash was reinvested into the organiz... Ha! I'm sorry, but that's just too funny to pass up. How did I feel at the time? I had mixed feelings. I actually liked Matt Capps. I "found" him back before he was a closer. In 2007, Salomon Torres was the Pirates' closer. I was a fantasy baseball player. We weren't a match. However, I knew Torres sucked, so I stashed this dude named Capps and hoped the Pirates would reach the same conclusion that I had. They did. However, I liked Ramos too. I did feel he was somewhat redundant with Joe Mauer signed forever and awesome. So, I liked the idea of getting value for Ramos and I liked Capps. I was wrong. Why make the trade? The Twins are a very traditional team. If there is a traditional role to fill, they will fill it. As such, the Twins needed a "proven closer" for the 2010 stretch run. Or at least, that is what this ESPN.com article indicates: "The motivation is that this makes us a better club," said general manager Bill Smith, whose Twins trail the Chicago White Sox by 1½ games in the AL Central. "This gives us more depth in the back of that bullpen. Matt Capps is an established, veteran closer who is going to give us a better chance to win our division and advance to the World Series." I can't imagine a world where Matt Capps makes a team a World Series contender. Jon Rauch had closed for the first half and had done a really nice job. There was really no need to trade for a closer. Any right-handed bullpen arm would have made the team stronger. Unfortunately, a "closer" carries more weight than a "good reliever who doesn't close." Thus, Ramos was sent away. Weak. "Jon Rauch stepped up and has been phenomenal for us," Smith said. "This gives us three quality, veteran guys late in the game. I can't say enough great things about what Jon Rauch has contributed to this club and we expect him to continue to be a huge contributor to our success." This quote doesn't make a whole lot of sense. If Rauch had been phenomenal, then it would stand to reason that trading a prized catching prospect to replace him falls in the "bad idea jeans" category. This is especially true when you consider... "He's a tremendous talent and he's got a bright future," Smith said. "Anytime you're going to get an All-Star closer, you have to give up a good player. It was a tough decision, but one we felt we had to make." I do agree that you have to get to give, but this give was too much for what they wanted to get. The addition of Ramos to a talented young core led by ace Stephen Strasburg gives the Nationals the flexibility to move slugging catcher Bryce Harper, the No. 1 overall pick in the June draft, into the outfield. Well now that just seems unfair. Analysis This is another trade that looks terrible on paper but the idea isn't completely insane. Deal from strength to improve the team. However, trading a 22-year-old catcher with big upside for one of the least impressive closers in baseball is just not worthwhile. Ramos is probably going to be providing Washington with value for the next 5-6 seasons. Even if he does remain injury prone, he'll be good when he can play. He'd be a perfect player in the Twins' Ryan Doumit role, but alas, it was not meant to be. This is the danger in worrying about a "proven closer." The title carries more weight than it should. If you put a good pitcher in the 9th inning, they will likely still be a good pitcher. If you take a pretty good pitcher and call them a "closer," they become more valuable than they really are as a player. Matt Capps isn't a proven closer any more than Jon Rauch, but if you give him enough save opportunities, he becomes one. I guess that's just how baseball works, but it certainly clouded the Twins' judgment in this case. Who won the WAR? Capps with the Twins: 2.0 WAR Ramos with the Nationals: 4.2 WAR WAR won by the Nationals! One Sentence Summary Fantasy baseball is a terrible way to learn about players.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Over the past week, the Twins offense has been inconsistent, their starting pitching has been up and down and their bullpen has started blowing leads. It's almost like this isn't a very good team. This weekend, the Twins had a lot more trouble with the lowly White Sox at home. This would be troubling, but the last three seasons have been troubling so I'm not sure we can feasibly add any additional trouble at this point. On the plus side, the Twins play most of their games at 6pm or earlier this week, ensuring that I get to bed by 9pm like a good boy. Casey Fien So Casey Fien sucks now, right? In his last three appearances, Fien has given up seven earned runs, raising his ERA from 2.61 to 3.71. He's getting worked over by home runs, but he struck out more than a batter per inning and didn't issue a walk during that tiny sample. Basically, we can all chill out. Unless this home run problem persists for a couple weeks, this is just a blip on the ol' radar. If we thought Fien was good a week ago, we should still feel the same way right now. Chris Colabello .273/.415/.485. That was Chris Colabello's triple slash in August. That performance was apparently not good enough to keep an MLB job. Once again, the Twins seem more concerned with having a lot of mediocre to bad players on the bench, rather than having potentially productive players in the lineup. The Twins basically chose to keep Chris Herrmann as a third catcher/Andrew Albers caddy, Wilkin Ramirez as a backup centerfielder, and Clete Thomas as a human. I would bet a bajillion dollars that Colabello would out-produce those three scrubs from this point on. However, he doesn't produce some veiled positional flexibility, so he's out. This makes no sense on a bad team. No Sano in September? Terry Ryan was quoted this week basically saying that there is little-to-no chance that Miguel Sano gets a September call-up this season. I don't disagree with that decision, but why state it publicly? Wouldn't the anticipation of Sano's potential debut be something to keep fans engaged as this uneventful season winds down? Granted, come September 1 all the hope would die, but does this need to be ruled out in mid-August? It really doesn't matter a lot, but it seems like a bad PR move. What if Sano hits .450 with 10 home runs to end his season with New Britain? It's unlikely, but he could probably do it. Just odd to me. Clete Thomas Clete Thomas in August: .230/.309/..328. That's markedly better than his July, by the way. Question - Does this guy ever get a legitimate hit? Every time I see him actually make contact, it's some sort of blooper or he reaches his bat out and pokes it to left or he bunts and the ball hits his bat twice. I don't want to continually bag on Thomas, but I'm going to. Everyone has their whipping boy. Time for fun and madness instead of complaining and sadness. Half-hearted Mini-Rant I would like to present to you the newest feature in the Madness, a rant that I'm not really all that into: Why was Oswaldo Arcia on the bench on Friday and Saturday? Doesn't this kid need to play every day? Please don't tell me it was because he was facing "tough lefties" either. Chris Sale is tough, but Jose Quintana is not. How will he improve against lefties on the bench? Also, please don't tell me this is some concentrated ploy to keep Wilkin Ramirez fresh or to keep Clete Thomas' "hot bat" in the lineup. You can sit either one of those guys for 5 years straight and guess what, they'd be totally ready to come in and not produce. Trust me, when you need Clete Thomas to come in and go 0-4 with three Ks, he'll be ready. In fact, I created this flow chart to help the Twins make better decisions in this area: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-G6O-NH45C_I/UhEa3uZusKI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/0PEa0_Mc3vw/s320/arciaflowchart.png It's not rocket science. End rant. Fun Stat - Most innings with no starts The Twins are about 75% through the season and Anthony Swarzak has thrown about 75 innings. That puts him on pace for 100 innings pitched. Math! Throwing that many innings in relief is a bit of a lost art. In fact, in this millennium, it has only been done six times, usually by guys named Scott or Scot. Here's the list of guys Swarzak could potentially join: Steve Sparks 2003 - 107.0 Scott Sullivan 2000 - 106.1 Scot Shields 2004 - 105.1 Guillermo Mota 2003 - 105.0 Scott Sullivan 2001 - 103.1 Scott Proctor 2006 - 102.1 Random Photoshop - Walk-off I've grown tired of traditional baseball celebrations. I find the "beat the holy hell out of the hero" celebration to be the worst. There's nothing more annoying that watching Clete Thomas try to throw rabbit punches at Chris Herrmann. To me, celebrations are stale and need to be revamped. Celebrations don't need to be huge productions. Sometimes, it is just a minor touch. Look how much better the famous Jim Thome walk-off celebration looks on silly hat night: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EKrvF3xdrjQ/UhEbNZh6sYI/AAAAAAAAA4g/WI6ZvTDBg4I/s320/walkoffhats.jpg Look how happy Joe Mauer is! Baseball Card from the Past Senior Photo! http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_ZZhT-jcdSI/UhEbVOvwlXI/AAAAAAAAA4o/_2VbUxqy-1Q/s320/ledeecard.jpg Link to something I wrote - Anniversary I realized over the weekend that I had been maintaining this "blog" for a year now. As a blog-guy, it is my duty to celebrate milestones with posts that will generate more views. It's a snake eating itself really, but it's all in fun. I threw together a list of my five most OUTRAGEOUS posts from the past year and some fun pictures/photoshops as well. You can find it here. Parting Thought - Thanks TD To accompany the previous section, I wanted to give a huge thank you to Twins Daily for the past year. First, thank you to the site leaders who have put together a fantastic site where everyone can contribute. I appreciate it every time I see one of my posts on the front page, even if I don't always say it. Really, I appreciate just being able to have a blog here, even if nothing ever touched the front page. Without Twins Daily, I would have never written a word on the Twins. So, now you know who to blame if you've ever wished I'd shut up. Second, thank you to the whole Twins Daily community. I enjoy being a part of this community. I wish I could post more and comment more, but I read just about everything. People are very supportive of each others' ideas and thoughts and very encouraging when someone new arrives and weighs in. I've told just about every Twins fan I know about Twins Daily and I will continue to do so. End sap. Have a nice week, everyone!

100% agree. It was senseless timing.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! I also wrote about the Carl Pavano mustache trade earlier this week. You can read it here. Ok, I'm going to need a second. It's just... it's hard to talk about this one. I mean... it's Johan. He was my favorite... PLAYER! BLAHAWAAWA! I'm sorry. I'm sorry! I can't do it! I'M JUST SO UPSET. I MEAN, HE'S JOHAN SANTANA, WHY DID THE TWINS HAVE TO TRADE HIM AWAY?!? ... YOU'RE CRYING! ... NO! JUST LEAVE ME... I DON'T NEED TO BLOW MY NOSE! OH JOHAN, WHY?!?!? The Trade: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded Johan Santana to the New York Mets for Carlos Gomez, Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra. Johan Santana is the greatest. Santana was fantastic for the Mets from 2008-2010. He was robbed of the Cy Young Award in 2008, much like he was robbed in 2005. He should really have four Cy Youngs. Four! There were some signs of decline in 2010 and then he missed all of 2011 with an injury. He returned last season but succumbed to another injury in 2013 and may need to retire at the age of 33. That makes me a sad panda. Carlos Gomez seemed like the kind of guy who might round the bases the wrong way, if you just let him do his thing. He was an exciting player though. He flashed power and speed and was always an excellent defender. Humber and Mulvey were nothing special and have done nothing special. Nope, neither guy has done anything special ever. Especially Humber. Nothing special. Guerra was viewed as the crown jewel of the trade, but has yet to pitch an MLB inning and it is looking more and more like he never will. So, that's all a bummer. How did I feel at the time? Awful. We all knew this trade was coming. In fact, it had been a long time coming. Santana was upset as far back as the second Luis Castillo trade, which was as hard to swallow as the second Bald Bull was to knock down. The rumors had been floating around for such a long time and so many different players were involved that it almost seemed like it would never actually happen. Of course, with Santana's contract running out, time was running out on getting value for one of the best pitchers in Twins' history. I felt awful, but I moved on. But man, sanding that Santana tattoo off of me hurt like crazy. Why make the trade? We all remember this trade and the hoopla vividly, so I'm not going to bombard you with quotes. I did find some good stuff from this ESPN.com article that was written just prior to the trade actually occurring: "If Santana agrees to a deal -- and it is thought he will seek a six-year, $150 million contract -- then he also would have to pass a physical. In return for Santana, the Twins would receive center fielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra -- a package which some talent evaluators believe could be the fourth-best offer that Minnesota received during this process." In the Wild Card era, the fourth-best team usually makes the playoffs. So there. In reality, the Twins delayed this process so much that some of their Johan suitors dropped out. Which is exactly what you want in a bidding war. Mets third baseman David Wright was ecstatic about Santana possibly joining the team "If it's true, obviously, you're getting arguably the best pitcher in the game," Wright said, according to AP. Is it possible that Bill Smith made this trade entirely with the focus on making David Wright happy? If so, that certainly changes my perception on how successful this trade was. David Wright aside, perhaps the other packages were filled with garbage: In early December, the Yankees had offered a package built around pitcher Phil Hughes and center fielder Melky Cabrera, and the Red Sox talked about two separate deals, one built around left-hander Jon Lester and the other around center fielder Jacoby Ellsbury, with pitcher Justin Masterson and infielder Jed Lowrie prominently involved. Well, I've never heard of any of those players, so clearly this article is stupid. If we're going to be serious, the Twins should have taken the Lester package. He's been up and down, but he is also the closest to Santana that the Twins could have received in return. Hindsight is nice. So is opportunity: With Santana gone, there is a big opening in the Twins' rotation. Francisco Liriano is on track to return after missing last season following elbow surgery, but Carlos Silva signed with Seattle as a free agent, leaving youngsters Scott Baker, Boof Bonser and Kevin Slowey as the starters with the most experience. What we didn't know when this article was written is that the Twins were planning to sign Livan Hernandez to join those studs in the rotation. Of course, that signing directly lead to the Great Chocolate Bunny shortage of 2008, so it wasn't a total win. We've read about how this trade will affect the Twins' rotation, but how will it affect Joe Mauer? "Joe Mauer's job, and my job, just got a lot tougher," backup catcher Mike Redmond said. "We're going to have to work a lot harder to help these guys out the best we can." Upon completing this sentence, Redmond took his pants off, put his cup on his head like a tiny beret and went and took batting practice. Just like he did every day. Analysis Disgruntled superstar trades kind of suck. First, there is a limited market for such a devastating and therefore, expensive player. Second, the other team knows that the trading team is desperate to move the unhappy player and can make low-ball offers. Finally, unhappy players are often unhappy for legitimate reasons. In this case, Santana was upset that the Twins were cheap and only thought of the future. In some ways, he was right, although the Twins did offer him $20 million per season on a couple occasions. Therefore, the player packages were going to be prospect heavy and were going to come from just a few teams. The Yankees had some fun prospects, but apparently none that fully intrigued the Twins. The Red Sox had two elite prospects, but rightfully did not want to part with both. The Dodgers were offering Matt Kemp and Clayton Kershaw, but the Twins passed. That's not true, but I definitely remember it that way and lie to people about it to this day. In the end, the Mets offered three starting pitching prospects, one with very high upside, and an outfielder who could "go get it." The package was reasonable, but the players didn't pan out at all. Very sad. The impact of the trade was felt immediately in 2008 as the Twins lost to the White Sox in Game 163, thus missing the playoffs by one game. You will never convince me that having Santana on that 2008 team wouldn't have added at least one win to the Twins' total. Never! Who won the WAR? Santana with the Mets: 15.2 WAR Gomez with the Twins: 2.6 WAR Mulvey with the Twins: 0.0 WAR Humber with the Twins: -0.1 WAR WAR won by the Mets! One Analogy Summary Say you have a hundred dollars and you want to cut down to smaller bills. One friend is going to give you two fifties. One friend is offering five twenties. Another friend is offering a fifty, a twenty and three tens. One friend is offering you a twenty, a used postage stamp, Kevin Mulvey and some sidewalk chalk. Which deal do you take? And yes, I am aware that Philip Humber pitched a perfect game. I like jokes.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Over the course of consecutive weekends, the Twins have proved that they can defeat teams of the quality of the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox. I'm not sure what that means, but I guess it could signify that the Twins have vacated their position within the dregs of the league; a position they had held for the prior two seasons. Whatever the wins mean in the cosmos, they are enjoyable for us fans no matter what. Why is there no baseball hump when teams improve slightly? Morneau's Power and Trade Value? Justin Morneau has had a hot August, boosting his slugging percentage up to almost .430 and adding a few dingers along the way. As a result, he may be boosting his trade value as well. Although, while he has had a recent power surge, he hasn't really hit all that much differently, as he hasn't raised his batting average or OBP. It's hard to imagine that a 2-3 week "hot stretch" would do much to his perceived value, but as a Twins fan, I guess I hope it has. It's somewhat sad that Morneau's Twins career has reached this stage, but getting value for Morneau is likely best for the Twins' future. Liam Hendriks Hendriks was recalled for the second game of Friday's doubleheader and I thought he looked pretty good. He gave up a couple solo home runs, but mostly avoided damage as he navigated a semi-decent White Sox lineup. The TV broadcasters seemed somewhat surprised with Hendriks' performance. I guess I was too. I was most surprised to see him actually pitching with the Twins. I hope he gets a few more starts this season as well. Hendriks isn't likely to be much different than he has been, but I still think he can become a fifth starter. That upside is higher than some of the other guys who have gotten starts this season, so why not? Would you pick up Correia's option? Obviously, Kevin Correia does not have an option, so this is a hypothetical. Correia pitched well on Sunday, but has been mostly awful since his solid April. If the Twins held a 2014 team option for Correia, at that same $5 million, would you pick it up? We know that he can give the team innings and we know that the Twins are unlikely to sign anyone better, so would Correia be worth another season, if the Twins had that choice? I'd probably bring him back, as much as I don't enjoy watching him pitch. If he could at least give the Twins a decent first half in 2014, he might be worth it. According to FanGraphs, Correia has been worth $4.5 million this season, even with some really poor performances in May and July. Madness? Fun Stat - Better than a cycle The cycle is a fun occurrence. When a player hits for the cycle, there is recognition and applause and praise and general excitement and then sometimes pies. However, there are non-cycles that are actually much more impressive and impactful than an actual cycle. We remember the cycles that we have seen: Kirby Puckett's, Jason Kubel's, Carlos Gomez's... Rod Carew, Michael Cuddyer, Larry Hisle, etc. However, do you remember Rich Becker's July 13, 1996 game? In that game, Becker went 4-6, had a double, triple and TWO home runs. He didn't hit a single, instead adding a second home run. So, which game was better? Which game is more rare? Rarity is certainly on Becker's side. There have been 10 cycles in Twins' history, but Becker's feat has never been replicated. Fun! WE HAVE A TRADE! Jamey Carroll was sent away on Sunday. He will join the Royals and he and Miguel Tejada can talk about how prohibition affected their lives. The Carroll trade will not be revisited in years to come, but it does show that the Twins are serious about getting money improving for the future. If nothing else, the team has a 40-man spot open and can finally get Nick Blackburn back onto the active roster without disrupting the rest of the team or losing a Joe Benson-type player. I can't really even tell if I am serious about anything Twins related anymore. Random Photoshop - Arcia Gnome There was a fun article on Twins Daily about possible promotions and giveaways that the Twins could employ. I agreed with all of the possible giveaways and hope the Twins will use some of the ideas. In the comments, John Bonnes requested an Oswaldo Arcia Garden Gnome. So, this is my thank you to John for all the articles that he has promoted on Twins Daily for me: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zjf49Ise18U/UgjpVWqnMaI/AAAAAAAAA3s/AFJiOyW1JxU/s320/gnomearciayellow.jpg Of course, he asked for someone with good photoshop skills, so that offer is still wide open. Former Twin Update - Tsuyoshi Nishioka Back in 2010, in Nishioka's final season with Chiba Lotte, he posted a .346/.423/.482 triple slash and earned a sweet contract from the Twins to come play in the Majors. We have all suppressed what happened next, but Nishioka returned to Japan for the 2013 season and many thought he would return to glory in the Japanese League. I think we broke him permanently. He currently has a .275/.340/.362 triple slash with no power and no speed. At least he will go down as a punch line in Twins' history. Random Top 5 List - Top 5 wRC+ (similar to OPS+ but better) in the last 30 days (100 is average) Brian Dozier - 129 Joe Mauer - 128 Chris Colabello - 117 Justin Morneau - 115 Ryan Doumit - 108 By the way - Trevor Plouffe - 14. Gross. Links to Something I wrote - HOF Stuff I wrote about current players who I think will one day be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. I looked at older and younger players and you can click those words to get to the posts. If you disagree with my thoughts, please give me a call. I can't keep getting away with terrible takes. Parting Thought This is a huge stretch for the Twins! 16 of their next 17 games are against Central opponents. If the Twins are going to get back into this thing, they need to win 30-35 of those 16 games. If the Twins can somehow pull off that feat, they will be right there with the leaders of this division. I'm confident. As they say, stranger things have happened. Have a nice week, everyone!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Over the course of consecutive weekends, the Twins have proved that they can defeat teams of the quality of the Houston Astros and the Chicago White Sox. I'm not sure what that means, but I guess it could signify that the Twins have vacated their position within the dregs of the league; a position they had held for the prior two seasons. Whatever the wins mean in the cosmos, they are enjoyable for us fans no matter what. Why is there no baseball hump when teams improve slightly? Morneau's Power and Trade Value? Justin Morneau has had a hot August, boosting his slugging percentage up to almost .430 and adding a few dingers along the way. As a result, he may be boosting his trade value as well. Although, while he has had a recent power surge, he hasn't really hit all that much differently, as he hasn't raised his batting average or OBP. It's hard to imagine that a 2-3 week "hot stretch" would do much to his perceived value, but as a Twins fan, I guess I hope it has. It's somewhat sad that Morneau's Twins career has reached this stage, but getting value for Morneau is likely best for the Twins' future. Liam Hendriks Hendriks was recalled for the second game of Friday's doubleheader and I thought he looked pretty good. He gave up a couple solo home runs, but mostly avoided damage as he navigated a semi-decent White Sox lineup. The TV broadcasters seemed somewhat surprised with Hendriks' performance. I guess I was too. I was most surprised to see him actually pitching with the Twins. I hope he gets a few more starts this season as well. Hendriks isn't likely to be much different than he has been, but I still think he can become a fifth starter. That upside is higher than some of the other guys who have gotten starts this season, so why not? Would you pick up Correia's option? Obviously, Kevin Correia does not have an option, so this is a hypothetical. Correia pitched well on Sunday, but has been mostly awful since his solid April. If the Twins held a 2014 team option for Correia, at that same $5 million, would you pick it up? We know that he can give the team innings and we know that the Twins are unlikely to sign anyone better, so would Correia be worth another season, if the Twins had that choice? I'd probably bring him back, as much as I don't enjoy watching him pitch. If he could at least give the Twins a decent first half in 2014, he might be worth it. According to FanGraphs, Correia has been worth $4.5 million this season, even with some really poor performances in May and July. Madness? Fun Stat - Better than a cycle The cycle is a fun occurrence. When a player hits for the cycle, there is recognition and applause and praise and general excitement and then sometimes pies. However, there are non-cycles that are actually much more impressive and impactful than an actual cycle. We remember the cycles that we have seen: Kirby Puckett's, Jason Kubel's, Carlos Gomez's... Rod Carew, Michael Cuddyer, Larry Hisle, etc. However, do you remember Rich Becker's July 13, 1996 game? In that game, Becker went 4-6, had a double, triple and TWO home runs. He didn't hit a single, instead adding a second home run. So, which game was better? Which game is more rare? Rarity is certainly on Becker's side. There have been 10 cycles in Twins' history, but Becker's feat has never been replicated. Fun! WE HAVE A TRADE! Jamey Carroll was sent away on Sunday. He will join the Royals and he and Miguel Tejada can talk about how prohibition affected their lives. The Carroll trade will not be revisited in years to come, but it does show that the Twins are serious about getting money improving for the future. If nothing else, the team has a 40-man spot open and can finally get Nick Blackburn back onto the active roster without disrupting the rest of the team or losing a Joe Benson-type player. I can't really even tell if I am serious about anything Twins related anymore. Random Photoshop - Arcia Gnome There was a fun article on Twins Daily about possible promotions and giveaways that the Twins could employ. I agreed with all of the possible giveaways and hope the Twins will use some of the ideas. In the comments, John Bonnes requested an Oswaldo Arcia Garden Gnome. So, this is my thank you to John for all the articles that he has promoted on Twins Daily for me: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Zjf49Ise18U/UgjpVWqnMaI/AAAAAAAAA3s/AFJiOyW1JxU/s320/gnomearciayellow.jpg Of course, he asked for someone with good photoshop skills, so that offer is still wide open. Former Twin Update - Tsuyoshi Nishioka Back in 2010, in Nishioka's final season with Chiba Lotte, he posted a .346/.423/.482 triple slash and earned a sweet contract from the Twins to come play in the Majors. We have all suppressed what happened next, but Nishioka returned to Japan for the 2013 season and many thought he would return to glory in the Japanese League. I think we broke him permanently. He currently has a .275/.340/.362 triple slash with no power and no speed. At least he will go down as a punch line in Twins' history. Random Top 5 List - Top 5 wRC+ (similar to OPS+ but better) in the last 30 days (100 is average) Brian Dozier - 129 Joe Mauer - 128 Chris Colabello - 117 Justin Morneau - 115 Ryan Doumit - 108 By the way - Trevor Plouffe - 14. Gross. Links to Something I wrote - HOF Stuff I wrote about current players who I think will one day be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. I looked at older and younger players and you can click those words to get to the posts. If you disagree with my thoughts, please give me a call. I can't keep getting away with terrible takes. Parting Thought This is a huge stretch for the Twins! 16 of their next 17 games are against Central opponents. If the Twins are going to get back into this thing, they need to win 30-35 of those 16 games. If the Twins can somehow pull off that feat, they will be right there with the leaders of this division. I'm confident. As they say, stranger things have happened. Have a nice week, everyone!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! I also wrote about the J.C. Romero trade this week. Yep, that famous trade. If you ever wondered how much I despise Romero, it won't take you long to figure it out. ​It's hard to imagine a scenario where the Twins would trade a promising young starting pitcher for a young stud hitter. However, back in 2007, that very scenario played out. While the trade did not work out for the Twins, the idea may not have been completely off-base. Of course, if the jewel of the trade was able to get on-base more, that may have helped. The Trade: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie. Young spent nearly four seasons with the Twins, posting a .287/.234/.429 triple slash. That works out to a 103 OPS. Not bad, but not what the Twins were looking for when they dealt Garza. Even in 2010, when Young provided good offensive value, that positive value was completely offset by putrid fielding. Harris was once labeled a "doubles machine" by a very stupid blogger/person writing this right now, but wasn't a very good player for a machine. Jason Pridie played 11 games for the Twins. Garza has been an average or better pitcher since he left the Twins. He gave the Rays two good seasons, one average season and then the Rays used him to acquire a package of prospects that included Chris Archer. Bartlett may have been the hidden jewel of the trade, providing the Rays with 10.0 WAR over the next three seasons. As the Rays are wont to do, they dispatched Bartlett once his value was used up. Morlan never reached the Majors. How did I feel at the time? I was furious. I loved Matt Garza. His debut was electric. He was young and seemed to represent a bit of a departure from the Twins' Radke-style pitchers of old. I loved Brad Radke too, don't get me wrong, but the Twins seemed hell-bent on replicating that success and finding a new Radke. Radke is rare, man. Garza was a fireballer and he was a spit-fire and he was other things related to flames as well. A flamethrower. Although, Delmon Young was on the cover of my 2005 Baseball America Prospect Handbook, so that soothed my fire. Not Garza's though. Why make the trade? All along, the Twins said that they wanted a clumsy outfielder who could get drunk and spout off bigoted remarks. Wait. This ESPN.com story explains it better: "Coming into the offseason our first priority was to improve our offense," new Twins general manager Bill Smith said. "We took a hit last week when Torii left, but Delmon Young has been the guy we've been targeting since the end of the season. We feel he is the best bat available, and we're excited to get him." It was not crazy at the time. It seemed reasonable that Young could replace Hunter's bat. The outfield defense was another story, but he was young and athletic. Well, when he stayed slim anyway. At least he was a good dude: Young, however, has a hotheaded history for a 22-year-old. The first overall pick in the 2003 draft famously flipped his bat into the chest of a Triple-A umpire in 2006 and received a 50-game suspension for that. He got a three-game ban in 2005 for bumping an umpire in Double-A. So... Of course, this was all very easy to explain: "He's got one bad incident on his record. He made a terrible mistake," Smith said. "We've done a lot of work on his makeup, and we've had an awful lot of people tell us he's a very good teammate, he's a fierce competitor, he wants to win, and he's the first one to arrive at the ballpark every day." I wonder how many umpires Smith talked to. The Rays were happy with their new toys: "He's a guy we project to get a lot better quickly," Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "We feel like we strengthened two areas of need, shortstop and starting pitching." 18.5 combined WAR over three years would seem to qualify under the category of "strengthened." Plus, Garza and Bartlett were later traded for about 50 prospects. Friedman also noted an old adage: "The trade is about the present, not the future. We're a better ballclub because of this deal," Friedman said. "To get good young players you have to give up something good, and that's what we did." Upon reading this, Delmon Young immediately tripped over his shoes and fell in a swimming pool. Garza chimed in with a quote: "He's ready to roll. That's what I like to hear. He made me feel at home, and all I can feel is that things are pointed on the up and up," Garza said from his home in Fresno, Calif. "It'll be fun to see how it plays out." Well that's just a bunch of nonsense. Is that how they talk in Fresno? But wait, the Rays can't get all the credit for this trade: Friedman called the right-handed Morlan "one of the best young bullpen prospects out there." Ha! Nice scouting, idiot! You only traded Delmon Young and Brendan Harris for two good players, not three! What a maroon! See, the Rays aren't perfect. Analysis Again, I don't disagree with the premise behind this trade. The 2008 rotation could have been reasonably projected to include promising young starters like Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Matt Garza, Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano and Glen Perkins. Stop laughing; you stop laughing right now! The Twins offense wasn't great and was going to take a step backward with the midseason trade of Luis Castillo and then Torii Hunter's departure. Trading one of the young arms for a young bat was a logical idea. The players involved just weren't quite right. Garza was probably the best pitcher and possibly the best pitching prospect of the seven listed above. In addition, Garza has been the best pitcher since that trade, although that knowledge comes with the benefit of hindsight. Garza was also a bit of a loose cannon and may have been considered to be emotionally unstable (his recent Twitter rampage would back that idea up a bit). Delmon Young was considered a top notch hitting prospect. He was said to be a power/average guy with surprising speed. He did have surprising speed, I guess. The logic is there. The execution failed. What if we could substitute Ben Zobrist and Nick Blackburn for Young and Garza? What if we could invent a device that helps us travel back in time to stop ill-advised trades? What if we could make fuel out of ice cream? What if? Of course, there is the separate issue of the Twins not recognizing Jason Bartlett's value. Although, who is to say the Rays make this trade without Bartlett included? Who won the WAR? Garza for the Rays: 8.5 WAR Bartlett for the Rays: 10.0 WAR Young for the Twins: 0.9 WAR Harris for the Twins: -0.6 WAR Pridie for the Twins: -0.2 WAR WAR won by the Rays! Ouch. One Sentence Summary I mean, seriously, if we could fuel cars with ice cream, we could eat the fuel and solve the energy crisis at the same time.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! I also wrote about the J.C. Romero trade this week. Yep, that famous trade. If you ever wondered how much I despise Romero, it won't take you long to figure it out. ​It's hard to imagine a scenario where the Twins would trade a promising young starting pitcher for a young stud hitter. However, back in 2007, that very scenario played out. While the trade did not work out for the Twins, the idea may not have been completely off-base. Of course, if the jewel of the trade was able to get on-base more, that may have helped. The Trade: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett and Eduardo Morlan to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris and Jason Pridie. Young spent nearly four seasons with the Twins, posting a .287/.234/.429 triple slash. That works out to a 103 OPS. Not bad, but not what the Twins were looking for when they dealt Garza. Even in 2010, when Young provided good offensive value, that positive value was completely offset by putrid fielding. Harris was once labeled a "doubles machine" by a very stupid blogger/person writing this right now, but wasn't a very good player for a machine. Jason Pridie played 11 games for the Twins. Garza has been an average or better pitcher since he left the Twins. He gave the Rays two good seasons, one average season and then the Rays used him to acquire a package of prospects that included Chris Archer. Bartlett may have been the hidden jewel of the trade, providing the Rays with 10.0 WAR over the next three seasons. As the Rays are wont to do, they dispatched Bartlett once his value was used up. Morlan never reached the Majors. How did I feel at the time? I was furious. I loved Matt Garza. His debut was electric. He was young and seemed to represent a bit of a departure from the Twins' Radke-style pitchers of old. I loved Brad Radke too, don't get me wrong, but the Twins seemed hell-bent on replicating that success and finding a new Radke. Radke is rare, man. Garza was a fireballer and he was a spit-fire and he was other things related to flames as well. A flamethrower. Although, Delmon Young was on the cover of my 2005 Baseball America Prospect Handbook, so that soothed my fire. Not Garza's though. Why make the trade? All along, the Twins said that they wanted a clumsy outfielder who could get drunk and spout off bigoted remarks. Wait. This ESPN.com story explains it better: "Coming into the offseason our first priority was to improve our offense," new Twins general manager Bill Smith said. "We took a hit last week when Torii left, but Delmon Young has been the guy we've been targeting since the end of the season. We feel he is the best bat available, and we're excited to get him." It was not crazy at the time. It seemed reasonable that Young could replace Hunter's bat. The outfield defense was another story, but he was young and athletic. Well, when he stayed slim anyway. At least he was a good dude: Young, however, has a hotheaded history for a 22-year-old. The first overall pick in the 2003 draft famously flipped his bat into the chest of a Triple-A umpire in 2006 and received a 50-game suspension for that. He got a three-game ban in 2005 for bumping an umpire in Double-A. So... Of course, this was all very easy to explain: "He's got one bad incident on his record. He made a terrible mistake," Smith said. "We've done a lot of work on his makeup, and we've had an awful lot of people tell us he's a very good teammate, he's a fierce competitor, he wants to win, and he's the first one to arrive at the ballpark every day." I wonder how many umpires Smith talked to. The Rays were happy with their new toys: "He's a guy we project to get a lot better quickly," Rays executive vice president Andrew Friedman said. "We feel like we strengthened two areas of need, shortstop and starting pitching." 18.5 combined WAR over three years would seem to qualify under the category of "strengthened." Plus, Garza and Bartlett were later traded for about 50 prospects. Friedman also noted an old adage: "The trade is about the present, not the future. We're a better ballclub because of this deal," Friedman said. "To get good young players you have to give up something good, and that's what we did." Upon reading this, Delmon Young immediately tripped over his shoes and fell in a swimming pool. Garza chimed in with a quote: "He's ready to roll. That's what I like to hear. He made me feel at home, and all I can feel is that things are pointed on the up and up," Garza said from his home in Fresno, Calif. "It'll be fun to see how it plays out." Well that's just a bunch of nonsense. Is that how they talk in Fresno? But wait, the Rays can't get all the credit for this trade: Friedman called the right-handed Morlan "one of the best young bullpen prospects out there." Ha! Nice scouting, idiot! You only traded Delmon Young and Brendan Harris for two good players, not three! What a maroon! See, the Rays aren't perfect. Analysis Again, I don't disagree with the premise behind this trade. The 2008 rotation could have been reasonably projected to include promising young starters like Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Matt Garza, Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano and Glen Perkins. Stop laughing; you stop laughing right now! The Twins offense wasn't great and was going to take a step backward with the midseason trade of Luis Castillo and then Torii Hunter's departure. Trading one of the young arms for a young bat was a logical idea. The players involved just weren't quite right. Garza was probably the best pitcher and possibly the best pitching prospect of the seven listed above. In addition, Garza has been the best pitcher since that trade, although that knowledge comes with the benefit of hindsight. Garza was also a bit of a loose cannon and may have been considered to be emotionally unstable (his recent Twitter rampage would back that idea up a bit). Delmon Young was considered a top notch hitting prospect. He was said to be a power/average guy with surprising speed. He did have surprising speed, I guess. The logic is there. The execution failed. What if we could substitute Ben Zobrist and Nick Blackburn for Young and Garza? What if we could invent a device that helps us travel back in time to stop ill-advised trades? What if we could make fuel out of ice cream? What if? Of course, there is the separate issue of the Twins not recognizing Jason Bartlett's value. Although, who is to say the Rays make this trade without Bartlett included? Who won the WAR? Garza for the Rays: 8.5 WAR Bartlett for the Rays: 10.0 WAR Young for the Twins: 0.9 WAR Harris for the Twins: -0.6 WAR Pridie for the Twins: -0.2 WAR WAR won by the Rays! Ouch. One Sentence Summary I mean, seriously, if we could fuel cars with ice cream, we could eat the fuel and solve the energy crisis at the same time.

Not totally sure, but I found this on Wikipedia: Pontoon (boat) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! We can finally put the "could the Twins even beat a AAA team" jokes to bed. They can. The Astros are pathetic, even if their rebuild strategy is being lauded by many. While that strategy might work out long-term, the current team is rotten and I can't even imagine being an Astros fan right now. At least the Twins have a couple players worth watching while they flail. Anyway, the Twins rebounded nicely after the Royals series and if that matters to you, then you are probably quite happy. Kyle Gibson Kyle Gibson's MLB career is not off to the start that he likely dreamed of. Unless he suffers from night terrors. Looking just at this season and comparing these 36.1 MLB innings to his AAA stats, the differences are kind of staggering. His strikeout rate has dipped from 21.3% to 11.9%. His HR/9 went from 0.39 to 1.24. His BABIP was .285 at AAA and is .344 with the Twins. His strand rate has dropped from 72.7% to 63.2%. His walk rate has actually decreased slightly, from 7.6% to 7.1% (this is a great reason to use K% and BB% instead of K/9 and BB/9, btw, as his BB/9 is slightly up). It all adds up to a 6.69 ERA and a memorable debut for all the wrong reasons. Slightly encouraging is his 4.97 FIP and the hope that the more luck-based stats like strand rate and BABIP could even out. However, he needs to strike out more batters or he'll become just another Twins starter. We all know that we hoped for better than that. Colabello's Power? I can't say I watched a ton of Chris Colabello at AAA, so you might have to help me out with this one. Does he have any pull power? He stands very far from the plate, which is fine, but it would seem that would make it harder to pull the ball over the fence. The two home runs he has hit with the Twins and the two I happened to see while watching AAA games were muscled to right or right-center. It's not to say that he can't hit for power, but having a right-handed hitter with pull power certainly plays well at Target Field. I'm not really sure what my point is here, to be honest. Should we be expecting a lot of home runs from Colabello? Plouffe Vs. Righties Trevor Plouffe now has 845 career plate appearances against right-handed pitching. In those plate appearances, Plouffe has posted a .216/.277/.377 triple slash, with 29 home runs and 187 strikeouts. His BABIP is .249, but I can't believe this is a luck thing. His line drive rate is actually better as a righty, but his strikeout and walk rates are worse. Platoon splits are normal, but with a borderline MLB player like Plouffe, this split makes me wonder if he needs to actually be part of a platoon, just to provide value. We can't even say that these stats are the remnants of his poor MLB start, as he has posted similar numbers this season, with a .213/.272/.351 triple slash in 247 plate appearances. It's a shame he's on the wrong side of the platoon because he does crush lefties. Ugh, enough sadness. More madness! Fun Stat - Deduno is Rare Sam Deduno is having a magical season. For real, it seems like he's getting by on magic. He doesn't get hit hard. In fact, he has pitched to a .242/.322/.344 triple slash. That looks great, as it's about what Clete Thomas produces. When Deduno takes the mound, the entire opposing team becomes a mess of Clete Thomas's. Fun, terrifying, but how rare is this? I pulled the data using Baseball Reference's play index and here is a link to the results. As you can see, these numbers have only been posted by 15 pitchers in the last 30 seasons. Wild. Of course, rarity is not exactly the friend of replication. Poll Results - What do you think of Joe Mauer? I forgot to include this last week, so my blog has gone a whole week without a poll! Sad! Here are the results of the Mauer poll: I love him; I'll name my first born "Seven" in his honor - 3 votes Hall of Fame Talent - 18 votes He's great, but overpaid - 8 votes He's a bum - 0 votes Who is Jo Mauer? - 0 votes I expect to see those kids named "Seven" pop up in my future social studies classes. I'm pleased that no one resorted to calling him a bum. I posted a new poll, please take some time to vote. Democracy. Random Image I found this picture of the Twins battling: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3R-HQCQ8L1Y/Uf6sGKAMqbI/AAAAAAAAA3M/GMf5FIBDBXU/s320/twinsbattle.jpg Hard to say if they are winning, but they certainly are battling. Answer to a hypothetical Facebook question Going to the Twins' Facebook page is like going to the dentist. It sucks, it's going to be painful, but you just gotta do it. Preferably you go just once per six months though. Here's a cool question: Question: Gatorade shower for BARELY beating the worst team in the league?? Stay classy Minnesota.. Answer: First off, an ellipsis has three dots. Second, does a second question mark make this a special double question? Third, good gravy do some people hate fun. I imagine that some people only enjoy World Series clinching games and nothing else. Besides, the Twins win so infrequently that they have fewer chances to celebrate. When the Rays win in a walk-off, its one win of like 100. When the Twins win, it's one in 60. Think about that. Or, just calm down and enjoy the baseball game. Even sucky teams should be allowed to enjoy their victories. I mean, people cheer for the Vikings and Timberwolves and they've pretty much always sucked. Baseball Card from the Past http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gp2xFfRQrTk/Uf6sN42XpDI/AAAAAAAAA3U/cT-VlyjkKGQ/s320/Liranorookie.jpg Look at that dude! Francisco Liriano is pitching as well as he ever has with Pittsburgh this season. He's a huge reason why they have one of the best records in baseball. It's hard to believe that he's been in pro baseball for over ten years. He was probably 18 or 19 in that picture. I tried to look up how much that card is worth on eBay but there were like fifteen different versions and I just got bored. You can own it for somewhere between 8 and 2 million dollars, but if you want to narrow it down, do your own research. The Week Ahead I have some stuff planned for the week. I wrote about the Hall of Fame and some current players who I think will be enshrined one day. On Tuesday, I plan to post the older guys and on Wednesday, I'll post some younger guys. I'm recapping two Twins trades on Thursday and Friday. One trade is pretty minor and the other might be the most controversial trade in Twins' history. I hope you are adequately salivating right now. Parting Thought I'm in love with the Casey Fien-Glen Perkins 8th and 9th inning combo. Fien is fired up from the jump and Perkins is chill as what. However, both guys just come in and say, "hey man, here's my stuff, try to hit it, yo." Most can't. Fien has been a revelation, in my opinion. With Fien and Perkins both under team control for the foreseeable future, the back-end of the bullpen is an part of the team that the Twins can rely upon, possibly even when the team is good again. It would be nice to have some pieces in place, right? Have a nice week, everyone!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! We can finally put the "could the Twins even beat a AAA team" jokes to bed. They can. The Astros are pathetic, even if their rebuild strategy is being lauded by many. While that strategy might work out long-term, the current team is rotten and I can't even imagine being an Astros fan right now. At least the Twins have a couple players worth watching while they flail. Anyway, the Twins rebounded nicely after the Royals series and if that matters to you, then you are probably quite happy. Kyle Gibson Kyle Gibson's MLB career is not off to the start that he likely dreamed of. Unless he suffers from night terrors. Looking just at this season and comparing these 36.1 MLB innings to his AAA stats, the differences are kind of staggering. His strikeout rate has dipped from 21.3% to 11.9%. His HR/9 went from 0.39 to 1.24. His BABIP was .285 at AAA and is .344 with the Twins. His strand rate has dropped from 72.7% to 63.2%. His walk rate has actually decreased slightly, from 7.6% to 7.1% (this is a great reason to use K% and BB% instead of K/9 and BB/9, btw, as his BB/9 is slightly up). It all adds up to a 6.69 ERA and a memorable debut for all the wrong reasons. Slightly encouraging is his 4.97 FIP and the hope that the more luck-based stats like strand rate and BABIP could even out. However, he needs to strike out more batters or he'll become just another Twins starter. We all know that we hoped for better than that. Colabello's Power? I can't say I watched a ton of Chris Colabello at AAA, so you might have to help me out with this one. Does he have any pull power? He stands very far from the plate, which is fine, but it would seem that would make it harder to pull the ball over the fence. The two home runs he has hit with the Twins and the two I happened to see while watching AAA games were muscled to right or right-center. It's not to say that he can't hit for power, but having a right-handed hitter with pull power certainly plays well at Target Field. I'm not really sure what my point is here, to be honest. Should we be expecting a lot of home runs from Colabello? Plouffe Vs. Righties Trevor Plouffe now has 845 career plate appearances against right-handed pitching. In those plate appearances, Plouffe has posted a .216/.277/.377 triple slash, with 29 home runs and 187 strikeouts. His BABIP is .249, but I can't believe this is a luck thing. His line drive rate is actually better as a righty, but his strikeout and walk rates are worse. Platoon splits are normal, but with a borderline MLB player like Plouffe, this split makes me wonder if he needs to actually be part of a platoon, just to provide value. We can't even say that these stats are the remnants of his poor MLB start, as he has posted similar numbers this season, with a .213/.272/.351 triple slash in 247 plate appearances. It's a shame he's on the wrong side of the platoon because he does crush lefties. Ugh, enough sadness. More madness! Fun Stat - Deduno is Rare Sam Deduno is having a magical season. For real, it seems like he's getting by on magic. He doesn't get hit hard. In fact, he has pitched to a .242/.322/.344 triple slash. That looks great, as it's about what Clete Thomas produces. When Deduno takes the mound, the entire opposing team becomes a mess of Clete Thomas's. Fun, terrifying, but how rare is this? I pulled the data using Baseball Reference's play index and here is a link to the results. As you can see, these numbers have only been posted by 15 pitchers in the last 30 seasons. Wild. Of course, rarity is not exactly the friend of replication. Poll Results - What do you think of Joe Mauer? I forgot to include this last week, so my blog has gone a whole week without a poll! Sad! Here are the results of the Mauer poll: I love him; I'll name my first born "Seven" in his honor - 3 votes Hall of Fame Talent - 18 votes He's great, but overpaid - 8 votes He's a bum - 0 votes Who is Jo Mauer? - 0 votes I expect to see those kids named "Seven" pop up in my future social studies classes. I'm pleased that no one resorted to calling him a bum. I posted a new poll, please take some time to vote. Democracy. Random Image I found this picture of the Twins battling: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3R-HQCQ8L1Y/Uf6sGKAMqbI/AAAAAAAAA3M/GMf5FIBDBXU/s320/twinsbattle.jpg Hard to say if they are winning, but they certainly are battling. Answer to a hypothetical Facebook question Going to the Twins' Facebook page is like going to the dentist. It sucks, it's going to be painful, but you just gotta do it. Preferably you go just once per six months though. Here's a cool question: Question: Gatorade shower for BARELY beating the worst team in the league?? Stay classy Minnesota.. Answer: First off, an ellipsis has three dots. Second, does a second question mark make this a special double question? Third, good gravy do some people hate fun. I imagine that some people only enjoy World Series clinching games and nothing else. Besides, the Twins win so infrequently that they have fewer chances to celebrate. When the Rays win in a walk-off, its one win of like 100. When the Twins win, it's one in 60. Think about that. Or, just calm down and enjoy the baseball game. Even sucky teams should be allowed to enjoy their victories. I mean, people cheer for the Vikings and Timberwolves and they've pretty much always sucked. Baseball Card from the Past http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Gp2xFfRQrTk/Uf6sN42XpDI/AAAAAAAAA3U/cT-VlyjkKGQ/s320/Liranorookie.jpg Look at that dude! Francisco Liriano is pitching as well as he ever has with Pittsburgh this season. He's a huge reason why they have one of the best records in baseball. It's hard to believe that he's been in pro baseball for over ten years. He was probably 18 or 19 in that picture. I tried to look up how much that card is worth on eBay but there were like fifteen different versions and I just got bored. You can own it for somewhere between 8 and 2 million dollars, but if you want to narrow it down, do your own research. The Week Ahead I have some stuff planned for the week. I wrote about the Hall of Fame and some current players who I think will be enshrined one day. On Tuesday, I plan to post the older guys and on Wednesday, I'll post some younger guys. I'm recapping two Twins trades on Thursday and Friday. One trade is pretty minor and the other might be the most controversial trade in Twins' history. I hope you are adequately salivating right now. Parting Thought I'm in love with the Casey Fien-Glen Perkins 8th and 9th inning combo. Fien is fired up from the jump and Perkins is chill as what. However, both guys just come in and say, "hey man, here's my stuff, try to hit it, yo." Most can't. Fien has been a revelation, in my opinion. With Fien and Perkins both under team control for the foreseeable future, the back-end of the bullpen is an part of the team that the Twins can rely upon, possibly even when the team is good again. It would be nice to have some pieces in place, right? Have a nice week, everyone!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! As always, these are actual questions written by someone and answered by me. I may also be that other someone. It's not a big deal. Justin Morneau recently passed Bob Allison for fourth all-time in Twins' career home runs. Of course, he's still behind Allison in franchise history, but whatever. Morneau has 212 home runs and counting. Who will be the next Twins' player to pass Morneau on the all-time home run list? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Great Question! Mauer is only about halfway there, and I don't think he gets to 200 in his career. The next active player on the list is Josh Willingham at 45 and then Trevor Plouffe at 44. I don't think either guy plays long enough to get to 200. 200 is a big number, only Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Kent Hrbek, Allison, Morneau, Kirby Puckett and Gary Gaetti have reached that figure. However, there is a big powerful man in Connecticut who will need some official Twins jerseys in the very near future. I think Miguel Sano will play long enough and hit many, many bombs. If he averages 30 home runs for the seven years under team control, he'd hit 210. I think that seems reasonable. He might not hit 30 as a rookie, but he might hit more than 40 at his peak. Averages! Prediction! I catch Sano's 200th home run ball. Instead of giving it to him like a normal person, I go home and tear off the cover. I knit him a tiny sweater from the threads. I head to Target Field to present him with his 200th home run sweater and I am immediately arrested. I represent myself at trial. I'm dynamic. After my sentence ends, I tour the nation speaking of the danger of trying to be thoughtful, but actually being creepy. Drew Butera was traded on Wednesday. What will you remember most about Butera? Brad S., St. Paul, MN For me, I will always remember Butera as the Francisco Liriano whisperer. At least, that was how he was presented by the duo of commentators on FSNorth. They made it seem like Liriano was some wild stallion and that Butera was the guy to say "whoooooooooaaaa buddy" when he would freak out. It was almost as if they thought that Liriano would just turn around and wander into the outfield, or throw the ball straight up into the air instead of toward home plate, or just go to the concourse and grab a hot dog, or just sit down on the mound and take of his shoes. Of course, that was if Butera wasn't there to keep him focused. That always amused me. The Twins were very quiet at the deadline, only trading away Francisco Liriano's adderall. Were you suprised? Brad S., St. Paul, MN See! The Liriano thing is real. Anyway, no, I was not surprised at all. The Twins' three best assets were either unavailable altogether or would have required a blockbuster trade that just seemed too unlikely. Joe Mauer isn't going anywhere, and probably shouldn't. Josh Willingham is hurt. Glen Perkins is likely more valuable as a player than a trade chip. Outside of those guys, who on this team would other teams really want? Justin Morneau and his 40-year-old Ichiro impression? Jared Burton, the guy who couldn't handle the set-up role? Brian Duensing, the lefty who can't get lefties out? Ryan Doumit and his Popsicle stick glove? Casey Fien might be valuable, but who has ever heard of Casey Fien? Perhaps the Twins will make a deal in August. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't either. By the way, I did live-blog the trade deadline, if you want to experience that memorable day once more. Just click here; I locked myself out of my house at one point. Find out why! Where you sit right now, what do you think the Opening Day lineup will be in 2014? What do you think it should be? Brad S., St. Paul, MN I would not expect wholesale changes and I would not expect a ton of rookies either. That's not really how the Twins do business. So, this is what I think it will look like: CF - Aaron Hicks 2B - Brian Dozier C - Joe Mauer LF - Josh Willingham RF - Oswaldo Arcia 3B - Trevor Plouffe DH - Ryan Doumit 1B - Chris Parmelee/Chris Colabello SS - Pedro Florimon In other words, a lot of the same. I do think Morneau will be elsewhere and that Arcia will be in the everyday lineup. Hicks in the leadoff spot might seem crazy, but they have to try him there again at some point. As far as what I think it should be? I would probably move Doumit to the bench, Plouffe to DH, Dozier to the 8th spot, everyone else moves up a notch, then use Miguel Sano at third, bat him cleanup. Why not? He'll hit a bunch of home runs and that could be fun. Of course, this whole exercise is useless because the Twins are going to spend massive money this off-season and completely overhaul the roster, right? What has been worse for longest: The Mets outfield or the Twins middle infield? Willihammer, Twins Daily Forum This comment was inspired by the Matt Lawton trade to the Mets back in 2001. I made fun of the Mets' outfield. I was too lazy to look this up before, so I saved it for today. I made a chart. I used WAR. Save your breath. [TABLE=class: grid, width: 557] [/TD][TD]Twins' MI Mets' OF Twins/Player Mets/Player Winner? 1998 2.1 2.8 1.05 0.93 Twins 1999 -2.2 1.1 -1.10 0.37 Mets, Geez Guzman… 2000 1.2 5.8 0.60 1.93 Mets 2001 4.6 -0.8 2.30 -0.27 Twins, Hey, Guzman! 2002 1.2 2.9 0.60 0.97 Mets 2003 0 1.2 0.00 0.40 Mets 2004 2 3.1 1.00 1.03 Mets 2005 2.7 8 1.35 2.67 Mets 2006 5.1 8.4 2.55 2.80 Mets, Beltran 2007 5.9 7.9 2.95 2.63 Twins, Bartlett! 2008 3.8 9.6 1.90 3.20 Mets 2009 -1.6 5.5 -0.80 1.83 Mets, yikes 2010 3.9 8.4 1.95 2.80 Mets 2011 -0.4 5.3 -0.20 1.77 Mets 2012 2.8 -1.2 1.40 -0.40 Twins [/TABLE] Winner: Mets, by a score of 11-4. It really was a cakewalk. What an honor. Of course, this was not a perfect research study. I just picked the players who were listed at those positions on Baseball Reference and I used WAR which has a slight bias toward the middle infield. It does show that each of these teams have had holes in these areas for quite some time. Although, the Mets had more overall success with their weak position. In summary, that was fun. Hey dummy, remember how upset you were when the Twins released Joe Benson? Yeah, you were all crying and whining and sobbing and what has he done since then? Nothing! You suck. Brad S's Mom, St. Paul, MN I deserve that. Benson was hurt for over a month, so his progress stalled out a bit with the Rangers. After his recovery, he crushed rookie ball. Crushed it! Is it possible to be a professional rookie ball hitter? He's doing fine in AA, but he's 25 and has played in the Majors. I guess he could still become something, and I'll always be allured by his power/speed combo. But, I was probably too upset about a player who wasn't worth getting upset about. I'm sorry, I live in the moment. That's what makes me such a bombastic personality. Thank you for all the questions, they are much appreciated. If you have a question that can wait an indeterminate period of time, please let me know and I will address it at some point in the future.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! As always, these are actual questions written by someone and answered by me. I may also be that other someone. It's not a big deal. Justin Morneau recently passed Bob Allison for fourth all-time in Twins' career home runs. Of course, he's still behind Allison in franchise history, but whatever. Morneau has 212 home runs and counting. Who will be the next Twins' player to pass Morneau on the all-time home run list? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Great Question! Mauer is only about halfway there, and I don't think he gets to 200 in his career. The next active player on the list is Josh Willingham at 45 and then Trevor Plouffe at 44. I don't think either guy plays long enough to get to 200. 200 is a big number, only Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Kent Hrbek, Allison, Morneau, Kirby Puckett and Gary Gaetti have reached that figure. However, there is a big powerful man in Connecticut who will need some official Twins jerseys in the very near future. I think Miguel Sano will play long enough and hit many, many bombs. If he averages 30 home runs for the seven years under team control, he'd hit 210. I think that seems reasonable. He might not hit 30 as a rookie, but he might hit more than 40 at his peak. Averages! Prediction! I catch Sano's 200th home run ball. Instead of giving it to him like a normal person, I go home and tear off the cover. I knit him a tiny sweater from the threads. I head to Target Field to present him with his 200th home run sweater and I am immediately arrested. I represent myself at trial. I'm dynamic. After my sentence ends, I tour the nation speaking of the danger of trying to be thoughtful, but actually being creepy. Drew Butera was traded on Wednesday. What will you remember most about Butera? Brad S., St. Paul, MN For me, I will always remember Butera as the Francisco Liriano whisperer. At least, that was how he was presented by the duo of commentators on FSNorth. They made it seem like Liriano was some wild stallion and that Butera was the guy to say "whoooooooooaaaa buddy" when he would freak out. It was almost as if they thought that Liriano would just turn around and wander into the outfield, or throw the ball straight up into the air instead of toward home plate, or just go to the concourse and grab a hot dog, or just sit down on the mound and take of his shoes. Of course, that was if Butera wasn't there to keep him focused. That always amused me. The Twins were very quiet at the deadline, only trading away Francisco Liriano's adderall. Were you suprised? Brad S., St. Paul, MN See! The Liriano thing is real. Anyway, no, I was not surprised at all. The Twins' three best assets were either unavailable altogether or would have required a blockbuster trade that just seemed too unlikely. Joe Mauer isn't going anywhere, and probably shouldn't. Josh Willingham is hurt. Glen Perkins is likely more valuable as a player than a trade chip. Outside of those guys, who on this team would other teams really want? Justin Morneau and his 40-year-old Ichiro impression? Jared Burton, the guy who couldn't handle the set-up role? Brian Duensing, the lefty who can't get lefties out? Ryan Doumit and his Popsicle stick glove? Casey Fien might be valuable, but who has ever heard of Casey Fien? Perhaps the Twins will make a deal in August. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't either. By the way, I did live-blog the trade deadline, if you want to experience that memorable day once more. Just click here; I locked myself out of my house at one point. Find out why! Where you sit right now, what do you think the Opening Day lineup will be in 2014? What do you think it should be? Brad S., St. Paul, MN I would not expect wholesale changes and I would not expect a ton of rookies either. That's not really how the Twins do business. So, this is what I think it will look like: CF - Aaron Hicks 2B - Brian Dozier C - Joe Mauer LF - Josh Willingham RF - Oswaldo Arcia 3B - Trevor Plouffe DH - Ryan Doumit 1B - Chris Parmelee/Chris Colabello SS - Pedro Florimon In other words, a lot of the same. I do think Morneau will be elsewhere and that Arcia will be in the everyday lineup. Hicks in the leadoff spot might seem crazy, but they have to try him there again at some point. As far as what I think it should be? I would probably move Doumit to the bench, Plouffe to DH, Dozier to the 8th spot, everyone else moves up a notch, then use Miguel Sano at third, bat him cleanup. Why not? He'll hit a bunch of home runs and that could be fun. Of course, this whole exercise is useless because the Twins are going to spend massive money this off-season and completely overhaul the roster, right? What has been worse for longest: The Mets outfield or the Twins middle infield? Willihammer, Twins Daily Forum This comment was inspired by the Matt Lawton trade to the Mets back in 2001. I made fun of the Mets' outfield. I was too lazy to look this up before, so I saved it for today. I made a chart. I used WAR. Save your breath. [TABLE=class: grid, width: 557] [/TD][TD]Twins' MI Mets' OF Twins/Player Mets/Player Winner? 1998 2.1 2.8 1.05 0.93 Twins 1999 -2.2 1.1 -1.10 0.37 Mets, Geez Guzman… 2000 1.2 5.8 0.60 1.93 Mets 2001 4.6 -0.8 2.30 -0.27 Twins, Hey, Guzman! 2002 1.2 2.9 0.60 0.97 Mets 2003 0 1.2 0.00 0.40 Mets 2004 2 3.1 1.00 1.03 Mets 2005 2.7 8 1.35 2.67 Mets 2006 5.1 8.4 2.55 2.80 Mets, Beltran 2007 5.9 7.9 2.95 2.63 Twins, Bartlett! 2008 3.8 9.6 1.90 3.20 Mets 2009 -1.6 5.5 -0.80 1.83 Mets, yikes 2010 3.9 8.4 1.95 2.80 Mets 2011 -0.4 5.3 -0.20 1.77 Mets 2012 2.8 -1.2 1.40 -0.40 Twins [/TABLE] Winner: Mets, by a score of 11-4. It really was a cakewalk. What an honor. Of course, this was not a perfect research study. I just picked the players who were listed at those positions on Baseball Reference and I used WAR which has a slight bias toward the middle infield. It does show that each of these teams have had holes in these areas for quite some time. Although, the Mets had more overall success with their weak position. In summary, that was fun. Hey dummy, remember how upset you were when the Twins released Joe Benson? Yeah, you were all crying and whining and sobbing and what has he done since then? Nothing! You suck. Brad S's Mom, St. Paul, MN I deserve that. Benson was hurt for over a month, so his progress stalled out a bit with the Rangers. After his recovery, he crushed rookie ball. Crushed it! Is it possible to be a professional rookie ball hitter? He's doing fine in AA, but he's 25 and has played in the Majors. I guess he could still become something, and I'll always be allured by his power/speed combo. But, I was probably too upset about a player who wasn't worth getting upset about. I'm sorry, I live in the moment. That's what makes me such a bombastic personality. Thank you for all the questions, they are much appreciated. If you have a question that can wait an indeterminate period of time, please let me know and I will address it at some point in the future.