Brad Swanson

​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. Download attachment: Young_Demon_BlankLook_US_600.jpg 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. ~~~ 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. ~~~ 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. Click here to view the article

Welcome back to Award Season! In my previous installment, I handed out the major NL awards. If you missed it, click here. I also lamented the lack of an actual Awards Ceremony for these important honors. Think of the bowties and suspenders we are missing out on! Danny Valencia would look great in a suit, but he wouldn't get invited to the ceremony so we're kind of just back where we started, aren't we? AL Breakout Player Preseason Pick - Matt Moore Midseason Pick - Josh Donaldson Who should win? - Josh Donaldson Who will win? - This is not a real award. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Download attachment: mvp-trophy-1-8x10.jpg One of the easiest ways to totally nail an awards prediction is to make up an award. In this case, I failed to accurately predict an award that I created. Matt Moore has been great. He's won a bunch of games, has a pretty sweet ERA and a winning smile. He also leads the league with 17 wild pitches. This is the breakout player award, not the "break stuff with your wild pitches" award, Matt! Lol. If I'm going to be real here, he's got a great case for this fake award. He just wasn't as good as Josh Donaldson. Donaldson has been amazing. Now, some might argue that Donaldson broke out last season, but I'd say that going from 1.5 fWAR to 7.7 fWAR counts as an additional breakout. Donaldson is a legitimate MVP candidate on one of the best teams in baseball. He's slugging over .500 and has an OBP approaching .400. He's been extremely valuable to the Athletics and he has had a superstar season. I'm really proud of him. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! AL Rookie of the Year Preseason Pick - Wil Myers Midseason Pick - Aaron Hicks Who should win? - Wil Myers Who will win? - Wil Myers LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! I refuse to provide any context for that mid-season Aaron Hicks selection. I want the record to show that despite Hicks' sub-.200 batting average, despite his extremely poor plate discipline, despite his recent hamstring injury, I STILL thought he would pull out of it and win this award. Choosing Hicks for AL ROY at the beginning of the year would have been a justifiable, but homer-ish pick. At the All Star Break? Stupid homer pick. Stomer Pick. Stomer Simpson Pick. Just hilarious. I'm so glad I did that. Scrapbook!!!! The real winner is likely to come from the Tampa Bay Rays. There are two reasonable candidates, and a third if you include Royals' outfielder David Lough. He's lougher on my list though. OHOOHOHOHOHHH! Lough has been a good defender, but his offensive stats offend me. For me, the award comes down to Wil Myers and Chris Archer. Both guys have played about a half-season. Both guys have been good, but not great. When you look at their peripheral stats, Archer has been good, but maybe a bit lucky, while Myers has been just good. He's slugging close to .500 and showing good plate discipline. He's got a wRC+ around 130. Archer has been good as well. His slightly higher than 3 ERA proves that. However, his BABIP is .245 and that points toward some luck being involved. With both guys so close in performance, I'll break the tie by looking at one of the most controversial stats that exists. There's no way that leads to any sort of discussion or argument. Myers' WAR is higher. There. AL Cy Young Award Preseason Pick - Justin Verlander Midseason Pick - Felix Hernandez Who should win? - Max Scherzer Who will win? - Max Scherzer This is a tough one. Verlander has had a nice season, just nothing special. Anibal Sanchez has probably been the most impressive overall pitcher, but he won't reach 200 innings, which hurts his chances. Doug Fister, Hisashi Iwakuma, Jon Lester and James Shields have all been great. I'd be more inclined to vote for Bartolo Colon if he went by "Bart Colon" and asked us to call him "Big Bart." That act would pretty much cinch my vote for the next few decades. However, I can't get over the lack of strikeouts, the fact that he won't hit 200 innings and the fact that he won't embrace the Big Bart persona. You gotta start eliminatin' somewhere, Big Bart. At the All-Star Break, Felix Hernandez had seized this award in my eyes. He was pitching as well as he had ever pitched and he was already one of the best pitchers of our generation. Since the Break, he hasn't been as great and he was injured for a significant time. He's still tied for second in fWAR for all AL pitchers, but his overall numbers aren't so dominant that he stands out among the rest. I think you can still make a strong case for Hernandez, but he's part of the conversation instead of leading it. Here's the whole conversation: It comes down to Felix, Chris Sale, Yu Darvish and Max Scherzer. I think Scherzer wins the actual vote for sure. His overall numbers are great and the win total will get him a lot of votes. I think the path to get to Scherzer is a lot more complicated than "21 wins is a lot." Who do I like? Here's how I feel: Darvish is the most dominant of the four. His K% is 32.7%, by far the highest of the four. He also issues the most walks of the four, which takes him down a bit in my eyes. In fact, his BB% is at least 50% greater than the other three. Darvish has the highest strand rate of the four, at a staggering 83.9%. Of course, his high strikeout totals will inflate that rate. Rhyming is cool, but I'm removing Darvish from this conversation, even though he's had a great season. Hernandez, Sale and Scherzer have been extremely similar pitchers this season. Just look at this chart: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] [/TD][TD]Scherzer Sale Hernandez Innings 214.1 209 198.1 K% 28.7 26.3 26.3 BB% 6.7 5.4 5.6 ERA 2.90 2.97 2.99 xFIP 3.16 2.94 2.67 BABIP 0.259 0.282 0.315 LOB% 74.4 77.7 75.3 Win-Loss 21-3 11-13 12-9 [/TABLE] Ridiculous. All three have elite strikeout and walk rates. Each has a good ERA and an xFIP that confirms it. Scherzer's BABIP is a bit lower, but his LOB% is also lower. If those two things somewhat cancel each other out, then each has been equal parts good and equal parts lucky. Well, maybe Scherzer has been a bit "luckier" than Sale and Hernandez. I like peripheral stats when predicting for the future, but I like traditional stats when it's time to evaluate actual performance. Maybe that puts be a few years behind the curve, but I like to reward players for what they actually accomplish, not what we think they should have accomplished. Ok, we have to start eliminating players, so Hernandez is out due to the slightly lower innings total. This hurts me as I love King Felix and I think he is the best overall pitcher in the American League. If I had to predict who would be the best pitcher next year, I'd take Hernandez. That being said... Sale v. Scherzer in the finals! The question is, can you really vote for a guy with an 11-13 record over a guy with a 21-3 record when the two are so similar in every other way? Sale might have been a slightly better pitcher this year, but can you completely ignore Scherzer's wins? I can't. I just can't do it. I want to, but I can't. So, for the record: Best AL Pitcher right now: Felix Hernandez - loses this award because he got injured Best AL Pitcher this season: Chris Sale - but ever so slightly AL Cy Young Award Winner - Max Scherer - and he deserves it for more than just those 21 wins.I don't think pitcher wins are the devil, but I don't look at them first. Everything needs a line of succession. If Obama can't fulfill his duties, Biden's in charge. If Biden can't, we call on Boehner. If enough guys get debilitating food poisoning that everyone secretly thinks could be malaria, then Doug, your local garbage man takes over. Meet Pitcher Wins: The Doug the Garbage Man of pitching stats. You don't want him running the country, but in the pinchiest of pinches, you'll have to make due. This concludes the convoluted metaphor section of our exercise. Scherzer wins. AL MVP Preseason Pick - Evan Longoria Midseason Pick - Miguel Cabrera Who should win? - Mike Trout Who will win? - Miguel Cabrera First off, in any other season and under any other circumstances, Josh Donaldson would be right in this conversation. However, the Trout v. Cabrera Round 2 storyline is just too juicy for writers. I guarantee Donaldson will get a lot less publicity than he probably deserves. He's been outstanding and should be just below Cabrera and Trout in this debate. Deep breath. We did this last year, and all the arguments are basically the same: The Tigers made the playoffs; the Angels didn't Cabrera is the best hitter in baseball Trout is a better overall player, when you consider defense and fieldingOf course, Trout has actually improved as a hitter this year, significantly boosting his walk rate and significantly cutting his strikeout rate. His defensive ratings are still good, but not elite this year and he isn't running as much. Some of that change in running is due to his change from leadoff to third in the lineup, but that does count for something. Trout is basically having the exact same amazing season he had last year, just with more walks. If he didn't already command the presence of the saber community, those extra walks sealed his seal deal. Cabrera, on the other hand, did not win the Triple Crown this year. He might lose some votes due to that, which is insane. He's been a better hitter this year in just about every category - batting average, OBP, slugging, and he's right in the same neighborhood in runs, home runs and RBI. The only difference? Chris Davis hit over 50 home runs. That's it. Did Chris Davis' power breakout make Cabrera a worse hitter? Nope, but some will honestly lean on the "no Triple Crown" crutch when they change their vote from Cabrera as MVP in 2012 to Trout as MVP in 2013, when basically nothing else has changed. It's lunacy. I would have voted for Trout last year, for the same reasons why I would vote for him this year. He's a better overall baseball player. His offensive contribution is only slightly smaller than Cabrera's, but the value he adds on defense and on the base paths tips the scales toward him. That's how I felt in 2012, and that's how I feel right now. Just like last year, I don't think Cabrera is an undeserving winner, I just feel that Trout is better. This is Flair-Steamboat back in the 60 minute iron man days. This is Ali-Frazier, it's Agassi-Sampras, it's Kobe-LeBron, it's really good bowling guy-really good bowling guy. No one loses in this situation. We get to watch two of the greatest players of this generation duke it out for one of the most prestigious awards in sports. Regardless of whether your candidate wins, just remember that these are two outstanding players. One has to win and the other has to lose, but they both deserve careful consideration and serious props. That's a wrap! I really enjoyed the 2013 MLB season. There were plenty of award-worthy performances, but just not enough awards to go around. If I ever find my way to Head of State, I will replace all games with award ceremonies. That way, we can truly recognize these great athletes. Even better, I'll just cozy up to Doug and see if I can get him to enact these policies for me. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: workers-watching-skyscraper-under-construction.jpg Good franchises can field bad teams. The Boston Red Sox might have been the most successful franchise of the 2000s, but finished in last place in 2012. The Minnesota Twins were successful during that same decade, but has suffered through two consecutive last place seasons. As hard as it may be to swallow, the Twins need to rebuild. Some fans cringe at that word, some scoff, but the reality is that any last place team needs to rebuild in some manner. That being said, not all rebuilds are the same. So over the next two days, I'm going to look at the five worst teams from 2012 and try to better understand their method for rebuilding. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ~~~Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!~~~ Note: I created some charts for my own purposes. I took the 5 best players on each of these five teams, over the past three seasons. I used fWAR to determine the best 5 players. I just wanted to see if this data indicated anything, and I think it does. Houston Astros - Blow Up the Outside World [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] 2010 - 76-86 [/TD] Michael Bourn 5.8 Indians Brett Myers 4.7 Indians Hunter Pence 2.8 Giants Roy Oswalt 2.5 NOWHERE Wandy Rodriguez 2.3 Pirates 2011 - 56-106 Carlos Lee 3.7 NOWHERE Hunter Pence 3.2 Giants Clint Barmes 2.9 Pirates Wandy Rodriguez 2.3 Pirates Michael Bourn 2.1 Indians 2012 - 55-107 Lucas Harrell 2.8 Astros Justin Maxwell 2.3 Astros Wilton Lopez 2.2 Rockies Jed Lowrie 2.1 A's Jose Altuve 1.3 Astros [/TABLE] The Astros seems to be employing the fantasy baseball "full rebuild." They have basically taken each and every valuable player and traded them for younger pieces. They will hang on to young, cheap players, but anyone else is being used to rebuild their farm system. When you look at their chart, you can see that nearly every valuable player has been moved. The three remaining players are all pre-arbitration. Only Bud Norris and Carlos Pena will make more than 2 million dollars in 2013, and both seem very unlikely to finish their seasons in Houston. The present in Houston is terribly bleak. They will likely have a payroll around 25 million this season, which is comically low. But the future is getting brighter. Their farm system is much improved. Going into 2012, the Astros had a terrible team and a terrible farm system. Only one of those statements is true today, due to their trades. It also doesn't hurt to get the first pick in the draft, which they used to draft a very promising shortstop named Carlos Correa. My biggest issue with this form of rebuild is that teams eventually run out of good players to trade. Right now, Houston might be able to get something for Norris, Lucas Harrell and Jose Altuve. Do they really want to trade those guys? Each is relatively young, each is relatively productive and each is under team control for the foreseeable future. At some point, these atom bomb rebuilds have to start showing MLB results. Correa won't be ready for years. They have the first pick this June as well, but who knows when that player will be ready? This rebuild could take five more years, for all we know. It's a risky endeavor, that is for sure. Chicago Cubs - Mrs Dash [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] 2010 - 75-87 Marlon Byrd 3.5 Mets Geovany Soto 3.1 Rangers Carlos Marmol 2.6 Cubs Randy Wells 2.6 Rangers Carlos Zambrano 2.5 NOWHERE 2011 - 71-91 Starlin Castro 3 Cubs Aramis Ramirez 2.5 Brewers Matt Garza 2.5 Cubs Sean Marshall 2.4 Reds Carlos Pena 2.3 Astros 2012 - 61-101 [TD] Darwin Barney 4.6 Cubs Starlin Castro 3.5 Cubs Ryan Dempster 3.3 Red Sox Anthony Rizzo 2.2 Cubs Alfonso Soriano 1.8 Cubs [/TABLE] The Cubs are one of those franchises that seems to sprinkle good seasons around their general misery. It makes me sad. But it looks like things may be changing. The Cubs do not seem to want to sit around, blow things up and wait to see if their talented prospects pan out. Instead, they are seasoning in some good players here and there, making smart decisions and trying to build the ship as they sail, so to speak. They certainly do not have the payroll of a rebuilding team. They'll likely settle in right around $100 million, but that isn't a crazy figure when you consider their market and fan-base. Their roster is better going into 2013 and they have some pieces that they could move if the team struggles, but who can also contribute if the team experiences some success. They have a nice young core of players, including Starlin Castro, Anthony Rizzo, Jeff Samardija and yes, Darwin Barney. They have some elite prospects in their system and they will pick second in the June draft. It seems that the Cubs are willing to move anyone outside of their young core and farm system. They added depth to their starting staff, and signed guys who can be moved if the 2013 season isn't going well. They went upside with Scott Baker, Scott Feldman and Carlos Villanueva. If one guy hits, they could have a long-term contributor in their rotation. If all three hit, well, that would be nice for the Cub fans. There is obvious risk in this strategy as well. The market for injured pitchers isn't great, and the Cubs exploited that, but they will have to rely on that same market if they decide to try to move those pitchers. Tomorrow we'll look at three other team, including the Twins. Each has taken a far different path towards rebuilding this offseason. Click here to view the article

In case you missed it, a couple of prominent Twins rookies had difficult seasons. Well, difficult might be a massive understatement. Well, massive might be a huge overstatement. I'll calibrate my adjectives later, but we all know that Aaron Hicks and Kyle Gibson performed below expectations. Expectations may have been too high to begin with, but both players struggled to a surprising extent. Download attachment: HIcks_Aaron_landscape.jpg Hicks and Gibson are hardly unique. Many productive Twins players performed poorly in their rookie seasons. In fact, I have eight such case studies that should demonstrate why we can still be optimistic about these two players, regardless of how abysmal they looked in their rookie seasons. First, let's examine the two rookies from 2013: Subject: Kyle Gibson Rookie Season: 2013, age 25 Rookie WAR: -0.8 Career WAR: ??? ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ Gibson debuted at the end of June to tremendous fanfare. He had been mostly great at AAA and the Twins' starting pitching was mostly terrible. Gibson's debut was exciting, appointment viewing, but it proved to be his best start with the Twins. He posted a 6.53 ERA in 10 starts, before getting sent back to Rochester on August 20. Subject: Aaron Hicks Rookie Season: 2013 Rookie WAR: 0.6 Career WAR: ??? By WAR, Hicks wasn't a complete disaster. His defense and speed saved him from negative value. His bat was almost entirely negative, save for a couple of huge, memorable games. Hicks started his Twins' career by hitting .042 in his first 13 games. He pulled things together slightly to post a 63 OPS+. He never pulled it together enough to earn a full season with the Twins. He was sent to Rochester in early August and didn't perform well enough to earn a trip back to Minnesota in September. Now that we've looked at the two disappointing rookies, we can remember how some past Twins compared during their rookie seasons. Subject: Frank Viola Rookie Season: 1982, age 22 Rookie WAR: -0.1 Career WAR: 47.4 Viola didn't have a terrible rookie season, but he wasn't Sweet Music just yet either. He isn't a great comp for Gibson because he was quite a bit younger. However, had Gibson stayed healthy, he may have rocketed up through the farm system like Viola did. Viola was drafted in 1981 and made his debut just about a year later. In Viola's first taste of the Majors, he posted a 4-10 record with a 5.21 ERA in 22 starts. He was actually worse the following year, although he did throw 210 innings. Viola established himself as a reliable starter in 1984, his third season as a Twin. Subject: Johan Santana Rookie Season: 2000, age 21 Rookie WAR: 0.1 Career WAR: 50.7 A bit of a cheat, as Santana was a rule 5 pick who needed to remain on the roster in order to remain with the organization. However, Santana did have a rough debut. He threw 86 innings, started just five games and nearly walked as many batters as he struck out. Of course, he was 21 and had never pitched above A ball. However, he learned on the fly in the Majors and eventually became one of the best pitchers in Twins history. Subject: Matt Garza Rookie Season: 2006, age 22 Rookie WAR: -0.1 Career WAR: 14.7 Garza's debut might have been the most electric debut that I can remember. His hype was huge and his performance was full of nervous energy. Garza got lit up in that first MLB start, but posted a few nice starts later in his rookie season. He finished with a 5.76 ERA and didn't impress enough to earn a roster spot at the beginning of the 2007 season. Subject: Kyle Lohse Rookie Season: 2001, age 22 Rookie WAR: -0.1 Career WAR: 18.9 Lohse isn't the first guy that Twins fans would want to compare a promising young starter to. In my opinion, if Kyle Gibson turns out to be Kyle Lohse, the Twins would be happy. Well, so long as Gibson doesn't act like Kyle Lohse anyway. Lohse made 16 starts in his rookie season and posted a 5.68 ERA. I don't think Twins fans look back fondly on the Kyle Lohse era, but he did provide at least three competent seasons while very young and reasonably priced. Subject: Doug Mientkiewicz Rookie Season: 1999, age 25 Rookie WAR: -1.6 Career WAR: 11.0 Dougie Baseball made his debut at a relatively advanced age and didn't impress at the plate. He posted a 66 OPS+ and struggled to make contact. Mientkiewicz split time with Ron Coomer, which was probably delightful. He spent almost all of the 2000 season crushing AAA. In 2001, he established himself as the Twins' starting first baseman for the next few seasons. Subject: Matt Lawton Rookie Season: 1996, age 24 Rookie WAR: 0.6 Career WAR: 15.0 Like Viola, Lawton wasn't bad as a rookie. He posted a 78 OPS+ and showed the promise of what he would become at maturity. He walked as much as he struck out and he showed some pop and some speed. His defense was pretty good as well. He was just a young player who needed more at bats to reach his potential. It took a few seasons, but Lawton blossomed into a great, and somewhat underrated player. Subject: Jason Kubel Rookie Season: 2006, age 24 Rookie WAR: -0.9 Career WAR: 4.9 Kubel's debut was actually two years prior, but he didn't play enough to exhaust his rookie status and then he suffered his nasty knee injury and missed all of 2005. Upon his return to the Twins in 2006, Kubel hit .241/.279/.386 in 235 plate appearances. He looked overmatched at times, and was not quite the player he was before his injury. He eventually became an average offensive player and his peak season in 2009 was one of the better offensive seasons in recent Twins' history. Subject: Torii Hunter Rookie Season: 1999, age 23 Rookie WAR: 0.8 Career WAR: 49.8 Aaron Hicks is unfairly compared to Torii Hunter. Both are athletic and talented centerfielders but the comparisons might end there. Hicks is a patient, sometimes passive hitter with good speed for stealing bases. Hunter is an aggressive and powerful hitter, with an aggressive approach to running the bases. However, if Hicks' career takes shape like Hunter's did, then all Twins fans will be somewhere between stoked and very stoked. Hunter posted a 73 OPS+ as a rookie, but slowly improved and eventually became a guy who will likely produce over 50 WAR in his career. Will Hicks and Gibson bounce back to productive careers like the eight case studies presented here? Perhaps, as history shows that a poor rookie season is no reason to give up on a talented player. While Gibson may be older than the pitchers presented here, he is similarly inexperienced. His age shouldn't be held against him, as he can still be a productive pitcher for the Twins for the next decade. Hicks was about as bad as a hitter can be, but he still holds promise and could develop slowly. His skill set is too enticing to ignore and he should be given more opportunities from the Twins organization and from Twins fans. Click here to view the article

Welcome to another Minnesota Twins mailbag. There has been so much juicy Twins news in the past month, I just couldn't resist asking questions to qualified Twins analysts. Unfortunately, with the iOS7 upgrade, none of my emails, texts, tweets or vines actually send, so I'll just have to answer my own questions this time. This should be a nice change of pace. Download attachment: Mauer_Joe_Swinging_US_720.jpg Would you move Joe Mauer to first base to alleviate any potential concussion issues going forward? Brad S., St. Paul, MN [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Thanks for reading! First, moving Mauer to first will not remove all risk of a concussion. The Twins used to have this guy named Justin Morneau. He was a former MVP and he played first for the Twins for like a decade. I think he played for Pittsburgh most recently. Anyway, he actually was injured while running the bases, so he could have been a DH and still gotten a concussion. Now, the risk of getting a concussion is still higher behind the plate. So yes, I would move him to first. A, first base is open right now. B, the Twins have a reasonable replacement at catcher in Josmil Pinto. C, Mauer may not hit a lot of home runs, but his .476 slugging percentage would have been sixth among qualified catchers. D, Mauer would be able to play more games at first than at catcher. E, if Miguel Sano breaks camp with the Twins (and I think he will), there will be plenty of over-the-fence power at the other corner. "F, you're a gimp." Maybe so, but this is a low risk move and I'd do it right now. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Would you sign Johan Santana? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Yes, and I'd sign him to a twenty-year contract. I am essentially a completely biased Johan Santana guy. I'd bring him back at any cost and I wouldn't even care if he only served as Bert Blyleven's barber. For me, he's the best player of the last generation of Twins baseball and that includes Joe Mauer (who I love). Having Santana back in Minnesota just makes me happy. What if he somehow recovered from his injury? It would easily be the greatest story in Minnesota sports history. That might be an embellishment, but if Santana could come back for three productive seasons, he could get back on the Hall of Fame pace that he was on back in 2010. His glory days would pretty much all be in Minnesota and he'd be one of two Twins Hall of Famers from this era (Mauer again, save your rage). I'd sign him because I am a huge fan and he seems like a nice guy. At the right price, it's a low risk/high reward/good PR move. If he could actually pitch, it would be a cool bonus. What would your rotation look like in 2014, if no starters are signed between now and April? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Assuming that Santana is not brought back and the Twins decide to eschew their biggest need for another year, their rotation will be gross. Of the available arms, I would choose these five: Kevin Correia Kyle Gibson Scott Diamond Vance Worley Samuel Deduno I need a shower. That rotation will bring the Twins another top-5 pick in 2015. I don't want that. I would rather have a pick in the teens and watch a team win 70-75 games. Normally, I prefer bad teams to be really bad, but four years in a row with no hope is too much for me. Of those five, I'd really prefer that only Gibson is there next year. I'm willing to give Diamond and Worley another chance, but I'm not optimistic with either guy. In all honesty, I'd probably prefer Liam Hendriks to Sam Deduno, but I'm trying to go at least one week without being a stupid idiot. I still think that Deduno is a mirage. Also, he gets hurt a lot. Has anyone pointed that out? At least you can count on Hendriks to be awful every fifth day. What did you think of the World Series? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Excellent question! At one point I thought to myself, "I'd be happy if Carlos Beltran won a World Series." Why? I mean, when I got a promotion at work, Carlos Beltran didn't call me. He probably didn't even read the HR newsletter even though I FedEx'd it to him. It's almost as if we have no relationship whatsoever. As for the series, I find it hard to root for a team that has repeated success. I don't root against them, but I don't really care either. Both of these teams were going for a third title in the past ten seasons, so it was hard to care either way. Boston won. They went a billion years without a title or whatever, so I guess getting three in ten years is cool for them. Trevor Plouffe currently has 48 career home runs. Do you think he will hit 100 in his career? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Nope. Plouffe looked like a legitimate power hitter just about fifteen months ago. His 2013 season was actually pretty decent, and he improved slightly in most offensive areas. His home runs regressed and that hurt his slugging and therefore his OPS, OPS+, wRC+, WAR, OCEAN and every other acronym and acronym+ you can find. Now, he's a year from arbitration and about to be replaced by a younger, sexier, better player. 52 more home runs is not a lot. If Plouffe can just average the 14 he hit last season, he'd get there in four seasons. I'm not sure he's a regular player for the next four seasons though. He can't hit right-handed pitching, his defense is suspect at best and he doesn't do enough well to make up for what he doesn't do well. I think the Twins got the most they could have hoped for out of Plouffe (as a post-prospect, not as a former first-round pick) and I'd be surprised if he ever reaches that soft, round 100. Would you sign Bartolo Colon to fill one of the spots in the Twins rotation in 2014? C. Bolon, Email Land, Netscape An actual question! I can't include the whole question because it was very long. It was very amusing too, although you'll have to take my word on that. I'd probably pass on Colon unless he would be willing to take a one-year deal. Considering his age and appetite, I'd assume he'd want more stability. If he would sign for one-year and say, ten million, I'd do it. The Twins have the money and they need starters. Colon wouldn't transform the team from 96 losses to 96 wins, but he would be their best starter and he would help improve the team. If you believe in the concept of installing a "winning culture," finding a guy who can help propel a team from 66 wins to 75 wins is worthwhile. I can't see why he would want to pitch here, unless he had no other offers. Although, if the Twins could sign him and Santana, we could arrange for Colon to sheepishly return his ill-gotten 2005 Cy Young Award to the rightful owner. Who will be the Brian Dozier of 2014? Brad S., St. Paul, MN You mean ruggedly handsome? If so, I'm not sure. I'll need to wait until the Spring Training mug shots come out. If you are looking for the next breakout player, then I choose Aaron Hicks. The parallels are almost too eerie. Both were rushed to Minnesota before they were ready. Both were Spring Training/media darlings. Both were sent to AAA later than expected and did not return to the MLB team. Both sucked, although Dozier stopped sucking once he was awesome. For those reasons, I feel that Aaron Hicks will be the Brian Dozier of 2014. Thank you very much for indulging me. If you ever have the inkling to ask a question, but want an answer in an indeterminate period of time, just send me a message at kevinsloweywasframed@gmail.com. I spend 100 bucks a month for that email address, but all the Princes that keep emailing me about their kingdoms of riches should balance it all out. Have a great weekend, everyone! Click here to view the article

Welcome back! In my never-ending quest to recap old drafts (feature ends June 4), I present to you, 1993, in all it's glory: Download attachment: HUnter_Torii_Tigers_600.jpg The 1992 draft was a nightmare, but the 1993 draft was like the morning after a nightmare when you realize that none of what you experienced was real and that you are safe in your own bed, but then ohhhh there's blood on your pillow but wait it's just that your tooth fell out because you haven't been to the dentist in years and everything's fine except the tooth. You know, that old tale. 1st Round Picks Oh my, the Twins had 4 this year. They received two picks for losing John Smiley to free agency. If you remember back to the 1989 draft, you remember that Smiley was acquired in a trade for Denny Neagle, so that 1989 draft is the gift that keeps on giving. Also, the Twins received a first and a third when Greg Gagne signed with the Royals. So, the Twins selected Torii Hunter with their first first-round pick, which worked out well. They had the very next pick and selected Jason Varitek. He did not sign. They then got cocky and decided to draft by choosing hilarious names and selected Marc Barcelo and Kelcey Mucker with their next two firsts. Neither made the Majors, but both have funny names. Mission accomplished! ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! where you can also find draft: 1991 and 1992 if you missed them. ~~~ Ah, but what if? Simple - what if Varitek had signed? He would have been the catcher for years, and likely would have bridged the gap to A.J. Pierzynski. Also, Scott Rolen went 46th overall, so he would have been great had the Twins employed a strategy where good players were sought instead of great names. Best Player Drafted Torii Hunter in a landslide. He has produced almost 50 WAR and was an extremely popular player in Minnesota. I wrote something long ago (six months ago) that investigated what could have happened if he had stayed in Minnesota through last season. You can read it hereand enjoy it here as well. Worst Player to Reach MLB A lot of players drafted by the Twins in 1993 made it to the Majors. Many didn't play long, so the career WARs are bunched together. The worst was Kelly Dransfeldt with a -0.6 WAR. The Twins drafted him in the 7th round and he didn't sign. Therefore, the worst Twins draftee/signee is a tie between their 21st and 22nd round picks - Shane Bowers and Rob Radlosky. The fact that both made it to the Majors is remarkable, so we can ignore their stats. The One Who Got Away Varitek. Aren't you paying attention? Best Name Danny Peoples in round 59 of course. Fun Facts The Twins had four first-round picks, as I stated before. Only one donned a Twins uniform. How does one don? Benj Sampson was drafted in the 6th round and marks the first player with a missing letter in his name to be drafted to the MLB. Congratulations Benj! The Twins used their 3rd-round compensation pick on Troy Carrasco, who did not make it to the Majors. The Twins drafted Toby Dollar in the 4th round out of a Texas High School. He did not sign. He then must have had an illustrious career at TCU because he was drafted in the 29th round by the Dodgers three years later. Cost himself a lot of Dollars. Jason Varitek hates Minnesota.All those drafted who made it to the Bigs Torii Hunter, Jason Varitek, Alex Cora, Lance Carter, Danny Kolb, Javier Valentin, Kevin Ohme, Benj Sampson, Dan Perkins, Emil Brown, Ryan Radmanovich, Rob Radlosky, Kelly Dransfeldt, and Shane Bowers One Sentence Summary Even if only Torii Hunter had made it to Minnesota, the 1993 draft would have been a huge success. Click here to view the article

Twins/A's Recap The word "bludgeoned" gets thrown around so often... The Gardy 1000 Is this going to happen? Going into this week, the Twins needed to go 4-10 to finish the season "strong" and give Ron Gardenhire 1000 career wins. As bad as the Twins have been, that seemed reasonable. Star wipe to today and the Twins need to go 3-4 in their last seven to pull it off. Yikes. Anything short of a Spaghetti Jesus miracle and I don't see it happening. If Cleveland can somehow wrap up a playoff spot early this week, then it's possible. I don't see that happening though. Maybe we can convince MLB to add games to the schedule? I'll start a petition. Just let me find my megaphone. The two sides of Oswaldo Arcia We got to see both Good Arcia and Bad Arcia over the weekend. He hit two home runs in the Oakland series and generally looked good at the plate. On Friday he put on some sort of reverse clinic in the outfield, misplaying a couple of balls and generally looking like a future DH. He also slid feet-first into first base on Sunday, which was confusing, but entertaining. He's young, so he'll make mistakes. His defense has been inconsistent, but he seems athletic enough to get better. His offense has been pretty good, as he has a 104 wRC+ as a rookie with little experience above AA. His strikeout rate is a bit high and his walk rate is a bit low, specifically compared to his own Minor League numbers. If he can even those rates out and continue to add power, he'll be spectacular. He's 22. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Rosario back to outfield? While on ESPN 1500 over the weekend, Rob Antony mentioned that Eddie Rosario might be moved back to the outfield, depending on a few factors. My hope would be that this decision is based entirely on how Rosario performs as a second baseman and has nothing to do with Brian Dozier. As much as Dozier has improved this year, he is still an average offensive player. His 99 OPS+ this season proves that. Defensively, Dozier will likely always be better than Rosario. Offensively, Rosario could be special. I like Dozier, but I'm not quite ready to pencil him into the lineup for the next five years. I would hope that the Twins aren't making any decisions based on the current roster because it could still be 2-3 years before the team is truly good. MADNESS Fun Stat/Possibly Wild Theory Since integration in 1947, only 56 pitchers have provided 45.5 WAR or more. Why 45.5? Brad Radke's career WAR was 45.5. He retired at 33, as we all know/cry about to this day. Only two of those 56 pitchers retired younger than Radke: Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax. Is it possible that Brad Radke was the most underrated pitcher of his era? Or, am I just blinded by our shared first name? Here is the entire list of 56. Looking at all the names, it seems that most of these guys are properly rated as great pitchers. I'm not sure Radke is, at least not outside of Minnesota. Just thinking out loud here. Random Plug - Punto Oral History How the H did I miss this? This is like nine months old and I just found it this week. Anyway, it's hilarious and I figured that if I missed it, others probably did as well. It's an oral history of Nick Punto sliding headfirst into first base. It is eminently quotable. If you missed it, you have to read it. GET MONEY! Random Paint Image I'm plagiarizing myself a bit, but here's an image I drew of Johan Santana and Bartolo Colon to immortalize the robbery that was the 2005 Cy Young Award. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QJ5BFfGImKA/UQNtzTcdSEI/AAAAAAAAAKI/YluO9tXKhE8/s320/Santana.png The biggest tragedy of all is that Colon is still pitching and Santana might have to retire. Unfair. Former Twins Update - Rangers On Saturday night, Matt Garza started for the Rangers. He was outstanding for eight innings, but gave up a lead-off home run to Eric Hosmer in the 9th. He was relieved by Joe Nathan, who hammered down the save and helped the Rangers to remain a half-game out of the Wild Card. He was met at the mound by A.J. Pierzynski, who caught the game. It was a former Twin explosion! ROAD TO 1000!!!!! Last week, we discussed Jamey Carroll's quest for 1000 hits and Ron Gardenhire's quest for 1000 wins. Gardy's week didn't go well, as I discussed earlier. Carroll had a tough week of his own. He entered the week with 999 career hits. He had zero hits this week. Of course, he had zero at bats too. That's rough. The Royals should get eliminated from the Wild Card race this week. Perhaps when their fate is sealed, they'll let Carroll take a crack or two at the roundest of all round numbers. Link to Something I wrote I traveled through time to have a AOL Instant Messenger conversation with my 12-year-old self. It was intense. I really gave myself the business for being behind the curve when it comes to sabermetrics. It was almost as if I hadn't heard of Moneyball in 1993. Idiot! Anyway, if you missed this scientific marvel, you can read it here. Parting Thought One more week. As horrible and painful as the last few weeks have been as a Twins fan, the next six months are going to be just as tough. There won't be any Twins baseball to watch, but there will be news of "improvements" to the team. I hope the off-season is more eventful than the regular season was. I always enter the off-season optimistic and I hope my blind faith is rewarded with some shrewd moves. If nothing else, I won't have to see my favorite team get waxed 11-0 for a little while. Have a great week, everyone! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: HS_Byron_Buxton_576.jpg I have reached the end of my journey. Although we've come to the end of the road, still I can't let you go, Twins' drafts. It's unnatural. As such, I wanted to thank everyone for the positive feedback and for simply reading these recaps. I really enjoyed the research and I really enjoyed sharing what I found. I also appreciate the support from Twins Daily and their willingness to put these on the Front Page. I think the proudest moment I have had in my short time blogging is seeing the phrase "Do you remember the Willenium?" on the front of Twins Daily. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] But seriously, more people have read these than I could have ever dreamed and that really means a lot to me. Thanks to this wonderful community of Twins fans. If you missed 2011, just click the year. I don't quote any 90s R&B, but I did disparage the city of Circle Pines. Also, if you missed any from before that, I did try to organize all of the recaps in one place. This is that one place. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Here is 2012: You'll have to forgive me if this final draft recap is a bit hard to read. I am literally crying while typing it. Finishing anything is always bittersweet, plus when I cry, I breathe very heavily and wheeze so that I am literally blowing tears from my mouth while sobbing and sniffling. You can imagine what that does to a laptop. I'm very resilient, so I present to you the final installment of 25 drafts in 25 days, at least until I decide that I am out of other ideas. Oh yeah, 2012 was like a year ago, so this should all be berry fresh. 1st Round Picks BYRON BUXTON! I'm guessing it won't be long until we are all typing his name like that. Buxton was the second overall pick and is currently pillaging Cedar Rapids with his bat and glove. Honesty time - I thought the Twins should have taken Albert Almora. I'm so freaking stupid sometimes (all the time). I just thought Almora was equally toolsy, younger and had a better track record (track record for Pete's sake, we're talking about high school kids, what kind of track record... such an idiot). Obviously, I was wrong. The Twins also added Jose Berrios who looks like he might be the most confident person on the planet, with the 32nd overall pick and Luke Bard, who has an older brother, with the 42nd overall pick. Now, had the Twins drafted Almora with one of these picks, it would have been genius. It would have also been illegal. Ah, but what if? Well, Kevin Gausman is in the Majors... That is an inside joke that I'm not fully sure that I understand. If the Twins had selected any player over Buxton, there would be riots in the streets of Anoka County. One might ask, "did the Gopher hockey team just win another National Championship?" Nope, Twins fans are rioting because people are comparing Buxton to Willie Mays and the Twins selected Albert Almora and his broken hand. Luckily, I am barely in charge of making decisions in my house, much less for the Twins, so it's all good. Best Late Round Pick Oh goodness, I don't know, D.J. Baxendale? He was the Twins' tenth-round pick and he carved up Fort Myers like Razor Ramon. He was such a chico that the Twins moved him to New Britain. He's moving fast, which I think people enjoy. Who'll be the first to reach the Majors? Baxendale is certainly in the lead, as he is currently in AA. However, I'm going to defy all logic and guess that it will be Buxton. Here's how I see it playing out. Buxton just shows up at Target Field one night and stares at Ron Gardenhire until he gets put in the lineup. He then goes 5-5, hits for the cycle, robs a home run, pitches a scoreless ninth for the save, posts a triple-double, assists on two goals, solves the energy crisis and reunites the rest of Nirvana with Zombie Kurt Cobain. He then disappears forever. But more likely, Baxendale since he's already in AA. Best Prospects BUXTON! Jose Berrios just turned 19 and looks to be a player who will continue to rise up through the system and up prospect lists. If I remember correctly, he wasn't a big-time prospect because he wasn't very tall. That's crazy. Regardless, the Twins benefit from this blatant height discrimination as Berrios looks like a stud. Third-round pick Adam Walker has a crud-load of power. He hit a whole mess of bombs in rookie ball last season, and is adding more bombs at Cedar Rapids this season. Walker has huge power, but strikes out a lot. Oh well, so do a lot of guys. Power plays, and he's only 21. He's from Milwaukee, but clearly hated it enough to go to college in Jacksonville, Florida. Fifth-round pick Tyler Duffey is allergic to walks. He has walked just eight batters in 77.1 pro innings. That sounds awfully Slowey to me. Hopefully, he hates books so he can fit in with the other players. Luke Bard throws hard. That's fantastic. He shares half of his DNA with brother Daniel, but that is just science. He is going to try to make a successful conversion to become a starter, but still might have value as a reliever if all else fails.Best Name Alex Liquori in the 39th round. Fun Facts As is common with most recent drafts, the Twins can boast a lot of interesting prospects from the 2012 draft. Including: second-round pick Mason Melotakis, second-round comp pick J.T. Chargois, 4th-round pick Zach Jones, and 11th-round pick Taylor Rogers. 21st-round pick Bo Altobelli is a talented hair-stylist. Not true. The Twins received compensation picks in the first and second rounds for Michael Cuddyer, but just a first-round comp pick for Jason Kubel. 9th-round pick L.J. Mazilli did not sign with the team, but come one, he was a 9th-round pick and none of those guys ever pan out. Right, Frank Catalanotto?2013 Twins? Come on, this is a stupid category. These guys were just drafted. Although, I won't rule out the Buxton scenario I outlined earlier. One Sentence Summary Researching 25 Minnesota Twins drafts in 25 days was really fun; thank you all for reading! Link to the Twins' 2012 draft from Baseball Reference Click here to view the article

Yesterday, I started to delve into starting pitchers who I want the Twins to target in potential trades. I outlined five starters, three from the Cincinnati Reds. If you missed it, click here. Today, I have five more pitchers for you, free of charge! There is oneo legitimate ace on this list who is almost certainly a pipe dream. That being said, it's fun to aim high. Download attachment: Porcello_Rick_Windup_US_720.jpg Rick Porcello - Age 25 in 2014, arbitration eligible until 2016 If the Twins trade for Porcello, we could officially start the tally on who says "Por-cello" and who says "Por-chello." Personally, I say "Por-ceyo" in honor of the Spanish language. Regardless of how you incorrectly say his name, Porcello might represent the best buying opportunity of the ten players I am outlining. Porcello reached the Majors at age 20 and he's more than held his own since then. His career 4.51 ERA isn't dynamic, but he's just 24. He's averaged 174 innings in those five seasons and given up a ton of hits, leading the league in that category in 2012. Why is Porcello worth buying? He's got a great curveball and an improving primary fastball. He's finally getting some strikeouts with the former pitch, almost doubling his strikeout rate using that pitch since 2009. His curve is dynamic and his control is outstanding. His career walk rate is 6%, compared with 2013's AL average of 8%. Porcello gets mad ground balls, posting a career rate of 52.8% and a career-high rate of 55.3% in 2013. The most compelling stat is Porcello's 19.3% strikeout rate in 2013, nearly six points higher than any other year in his career. Add up his sparkling walk rate, extreme ground ball tendencies and improving strikeout rate and you get a 3.19 xFIP in 2013. Outstanding! Porcello will be 25 in December. He won't be a free agent until 2016 and a trade followed by a long-term extension would be an excellent move by the Twins. He's good right now and I think he's going to get better. This is the lowest his value is going to be. Now is the time to buy. David Price - Age 28 in 2014, arbitration eligible until 2016 David Price is really good. It's going to take a lot to get him though. I imagine the Rays don't budge unless Byron Buxton or Miguel Sano are included in a deal. Even if the Twins can talk them out of those stud prospects, the Rays would ask for Alex Meyer or Kohl Stewart and then what's the real point? Price is almost certainly worth those prospects (maybe not Buxton, but even that is worth arguing). He's one of the best pitchers in baseball. His strikeout rate dipped in 2013, but his walk rate plummeted. His ground ball rate in 2013 reverted to his pre-2012 levels and he also missed time with a triceps injury. I love the player, but I don't love him as a trade target. He's too expensive in all ways. He'd cost a blue chip prospect and then hundreds of millions of dollars in payroll-tightening money. Price is great, but I'd still pass. Jeff Samardzija - Age 29 in 2014, arbitration eligible until 2016 Samardzija really harnessed his control in 2012 and transformed himself into a nice pitcher. If you watched him early in his career, you likely would have never seen him coming. In 61 2012-13 starts, Samardzija has a strikeout rate around 24% (20% is NL average), a walk rate around 8% (just about NL average) and an xFIP of about 3.40. His 2013 season wasn't as pretty as his 2012 season, but he did throw nearly 40 more innings and had a slight jump in BABIP to go with a slight decrease in his strand rate. He throws hard too. His fastball sits 94 and touches 98. Also, his slider is nasty. I like Samardzija as a trade target, especially because I think he would be cheaper than just about anyone else on this list. Jordan Zimmermann - Age 28 in 2014, arbitration eligible until 2016 Zimmermann fits the Twins' profile a bit better than the other guys on this list. He really limits walks. His career rate is 5.4% and his 4.6% rate was 8th best in the NL in 2013. He doesn't rack up strikeouts, but he usually settles in right around league-average. His ground ball rate is trending upwards and his innings pitched have increased in each of the last three seasons, hitting 213.1 in 2013. Unlike most Twins pitchers, Zimmermann throws a baseball very hard. His fastball sits 93-94 and touches 97. He also has an effective slider, curve and change. His deep arsenal and great command are very enticing. I'm not sure Washington can keep Zimmermann if they have any interest in keeping Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg. If that's true, the Twins could land a very good number 2 starter if the right trade is proposed. Speaking of the right trade, who would you give up to get these guys? I know I would prefer to keep all the Twins' consensus top four prospects - Buxton, Sano, Meyer and Stewart. If the Twins call around to these teams and find that they all want one of those guys, then I'd start pursuing potential free agents even more aggressively. If the Twins can add two quality starting pitchers this off-season, they can transform the team. If they can pull this massive feat off, look at the potential starting rotation in 2015: Homer Bailey Matt Garza Alex Meyer Kyle Gibson Kevin Slowey That last one might be a joke, but if your first four are as good as those four, then your fifth starter could be just about anyone. I honestly think that rotation could be acquired for about $30-35 million per season and a couple good prospects. Suddenly, the Twins have a ton of young starting pitching in the low minors. If the Reds wanted someone like Jose Berrios (plus more, Bailey is really good), you'd have to make that deal. Isn't the goal with prospects to grow a guy like Bailey? Bailey's grown. You can get him if you give up some of your depth. If the Reds wanted Berrios, Eddie Rosario and a young starter at rookie ball, I'd say "yes, please send me your awesome pitcher, I'd like to have him now." Note: Obviously, the Rosario suspension news throws a bit of a wrench into this plan. However, he's going to be suspended 50 games, not imprisoned for life. These names are all just examples, so please don't yell at me. I don't know if that would be a trade the Reds or Twins would make. I don't know how many of the teams who hold these pitchers are interested in what the Twins could sell. I do know that the rate of prospect success is pretty low. I also know that good MLB players typically remain good. The Twins have a surplus of prospects and a deficit of quality, MLB starting pitchers. It seems like a logical trade-off. Otherwise: "You always talk about future, future. ... But if you only worry about the future, then I guess a lot of us won't be part of it." That's right Johan, but in this case, the "us" would be Joe Mauer, Glen Perkins, and Kevin Correia (joking). If the Twins aren't really careful, the "us" could be Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano. They have to address MLB starting pitching at some point. The time is now. Chant with me: BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! BUY! Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Click here to view the article

Twins/Rays Recap Well, the end was certainly shocking. The Twins were shut out in the first two games against the Rays and were in the process of being shut out on Sunday, when they decided to score a bunch of runs in the 7th and 8th innings. The dagger was Josmil Pinto's three-run bomb with two outs in the 8th, which effectively decided the game. It's fitting that Pinto would provide the most exciting play of the series, as he's been one of the few players actually worth watching this September. The win was insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but did bring Ron Gardenhire within 4 wins of 1000. More on that... Ron Gardenhire's 1000 wins Back in October 2010, the Twins had just finished a 94-win season and celebrated a sixth division title during the past decade. Ron Gardenhire had lead the team to all six titles, in his nine years as manager. He had never won fewer than 79 games, and had averaged just over 89 wins per season. His 803 career wins put him in striking distance of that beautiful round number of 1000. If you had told me that Gardenhire would be the manager for the next three seasons, I would have guessed that he'd have obliterated the 1000 mark and had probably gotten within shootin' range of 1100 - the next beautiful round number. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Instead, Gardenhire needs to go 4-10 in the Twins' last 14 games to reach the 1000-win milestone. The Twins were 6-8 in their past 14 games, so it seems likely that they can pull off this feat. While it seems likely he will get to the milestone, how did we even get to the point where that is in question? In 2010, 1000 wins seemed like a lock, so long as Gardenhire wanted to keep managing the Twins. Unfortunately, the team has fallen so dramatically that Gardenhire might not average the 66 wins per season that he would have needed back in 2010 to reach that round 1000 figure in 2013. Of course, back in 2010, there didn't seem to be a three-year endpoint. However, I'm quite certain that we've reached the point where these 14 games are his last 14 chances to get to 1000 wins. The Twins have three games in Chicago this week. Those are all winnable games. Their final eleven games after the Chicago series include seven against division leaders (four at Oakland and three at home against Detroit). Their final four games are at home against Cleveland, a team contending for one of the AL Wild Card slots. Those non-Chicago teams all have better talent and more reasons to play hard. The Twins might be fighting simply to reward their long-term manager with a round number of wins during what appears to be his swan song season. If the Twins can manage a 4-10 record, Gardenhire will win his 1000 games, but it won't save his job. I don't blame the last three seasons on Gardenhire. He won as many games as anyone could have won with this roster. However, it seems his time has come. The Twins will change managers and move on from Gardenhire. When they get better in the next couple seasons (and they will), it won't be because they changed their manager. Ron Gardenhire proved that he can lead a talented team to a lot of wins. He also proved that he can't take an untalented roster and make magic. He has his strengths and he has his weaknesses but overall, he is a good manager. Above all else, I know that I enjoyed the Gardenhire era. I'm not sure I can ask for much more as a fan. Ahhhhhhhh so much depression, time for fun and madness! Former Twin - Jamey Carroll I assumed that when the Royals bought Jamey Carroll from the Twins, he would propel them to a championship. He still could, but it doesn't look good. He's posted a .097/.167/.161 triple slash in 37 PA. Of course, his -9 OPS+ would still be good for third on the Twins. Kidding! But for real, his career is probably over. He needs one more hit to get to 1000. Round! Fun with the number 1000! In honor of Gardenhire and Carroll aiming for their 1000 of something, here are some fun 1000 facts that I found. I was going to write 1000 fun facts, but I was busy photoshopping Twins player heads onto animal bodies (more on that below). Dee Fondy and Birdie Tebbetts each had exactly 1000 career hits! Darryl Strawberry ended his career with exactly 1000 career RBI. He's the only guy with that quantity!! Jorge Posada and Bucky Harris are the only players with exactly 1000 singles!!! No one has exactly 1000 career runs. No one!!!! On the pitching side, Tom Browning and Ralph Terry have exactly 1000 strikeouts!!!!! And finally, former Twin Jim Hoey ended his career with a 1000 ERA!!!!!!One of those statements is a lie. Baseball Card from the Past Look at how young Gardy looks: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UMSZRY7DUMA/UjYqx598IiI/AAAAAAAABBA/ZrgwY9RQCX8/s320/gardyyoung.jpg This was right after his rookie season in 1981. His hair is tremendous. If he was willing to grow his hair out like that right now, I'd extend him for 30 seasons. Facebook Question Q: Do we have to watch a nightmare happen its not as if the coach of the staff cares at this point. They Con MLB into having ALLSTAR game here. A: It appears this question was written by a malcontent robot Twins fan. As such, I will respond to his question in his native language: 0111100101101111011101010010000001110011011101010110001101101011 Poll Results/New Poll I took a screen grab this time! http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QIsn3mWGvwM/UjYq5D1k-rI/AAAAAAAABBI/rU6tMOZbCYE/s400/GM+Poll.PNG The Clete Thomas of GMs is vague. It depends on what you think of Clete Thomas, right? Those three people who thought they would be amazing as GMs are really confident. I voted for "bad." I'd be bad as a GM. I'd base far too many decisions on animal pun potential and hair length. I'll post a new poll at some point. When I do, please try to vote. Link to Something I wrote - Animals play baseball As I alluded to this earlier, I photoshopped a bunch of Twins player heads on animal bodies. Here's one to get you interested: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hbiUsGvX1fQ/UjYrDXQQwQI/AAAAAAAABBQ/ZkSAqNUyYhY/s1600/Marty+Cordovelociraptor.jpg If you want to know why this exists, what context this falls into and if your favorite Twin made the cut, just click here! You'll be somewhat glad you did. Parting thought - Jumping on a Bandwagon I'm running out of things to say about this team. They're bad. Yep, we know. One thing though - I'm officially in the shut Joe Mauer down camp. There's no sense in having him risk more brain damage to win a couple meaningless games. The team is a lot less fun to watch with Mauer in the clubhouse or at home, but his long-term recovery is worth 14 additional boring games in late September. Have a great week, everyone! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: openingday2013.jpg I'm not going to write about every game or every day of the season. However, I watched a lot of baseball yesterday and I have some thoughts to share. The Minnesota Twins game went about as would have been expected, and I was happy that they made it close near the end. I don't like to get too caught up in one game, but it's just too much fun to write about baseball, so here are some thoughts. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Aaron Hicks Justin Verlander is the best pitcher in baseball, so it wasn't going to be easy. Hicks struck out in all three of his at bats against Verlander. I went back and watched those at bats again and I didn't see anything that worries me long-term. He fouled off some decent fastballs that he probably should have put in play, but he also seemed to get good looks at Verlander's changeup. He got fooled on a curve in the first and a fastball in the third, but most of his swings were good and he didn't seem to be seeing the ball poorly. I called his first pitch swing against Smyly in the 7th. You had to figure he wanted no part of striking out four times in his debut. He was a little out in front of the pitch, but at least he put it in play. His last at bat was encouraging, as he took a couple close pitches to work a five pitch walk. He saw a first pitch changeup in all four of his left handed at bats, and didn't swing at one. If that is the scouting report on him, hopefully he jumps on an early off-speed pitch against Anibal Sanchez on Wednesday. Vance Worley I thought Vance Worley looked great yesterday. The first inning was a bit rough, but he had some bad luck as well. That Torii Hunter single could have just as easily been a double play. Prince Fielder's double wasn't hit well either. After Hunter's lead-off double in the 3rd, Worley was pretty much lights out. He did let the lead-off batter reach in the first four innings, which is something he should not get into the habit of doing, but he was basically effective through six innings. I liked what I saw. Joe Mauer I don't have much to say here except Mauer did not seem to have an issue adjusting to his new spot in the batting order. He had two hits, and probably should have had three. He nearly tied the game in the bottom of the 8th. His approach at the plate is really something to watch. I'm a fan, that's all. Casey Fien Fien looked great. He mowed down the top of the Tigers' order and made it look pretty easy. I'm not sure this means anything long-term, but if Fien can become a reliable late-inning reliever, the Twins' bullpen could be surprisingly good. Wilkin Ramirez Ramirez made the 5,000,000th appearance in MLB history, according to Baseball Reference. You can read about it here. This was exactly the time to use Ramirez. The bases were loaded, Pedro Florimon was up, and the Twins needed runs. Ramirez worked the count enough to allow a run to score on a wild pitch. While Ramirez is not a special hitter, he does have power. He is certainly a better bet to drive in runs than Florimon. Some prefer Jamey Carroll in that spot, but I am guessing Ron Gardenhire wanted a power bat, to try to tie the game up. Here's the controversy. He swung at the first pitch, which many did not like because Smyly had walked the previous two hitters. I don't have a problem with it. The bases were loaded and Smyly is command/control pitcher. Smyly could have easily grooved a get-me-over fastball to get ahead in the count. If he had, Ramirez could have done damage. Instead, Smyly threw a good slider and Ramirez swung over it. Ramirez was early on the next pitch too, but ultimately had a good at bat. Other MLB Notes Bryce Harper hit two home runs. I predicted that he would win the NL MVP. This amazing first game doesn't make him any more or less likely to win, but it was fun to watch him blast those home runs. His power is crazy. His swing is so violent. Oh, he also threw a runner out at home. My favorite baseball archetype is the power-hitting right fielder with a cannon arm. I'm going to enjoy Harper's career. Clayton Kershaw, Chris Sale and Felix Hernandez were all outstanding yesterday. No surprises here, but it's always fun to watch aces dominate. Kershaw took matters into his own hands, hitting a go-ahead home run in the bottom of the 8th. He ended with this line: 9 innings, no walks, 4 hits, 7 Ks, 94 pitches. Outstanding. Chase Utley had a great game yesterday. He was 3-5 with a triple, home run and 3 RBI. As with every example above, it is just one game. However, it would be fantastic to see Utley return to his superstar days of old. He's 34 now, and I think he has had a Hall of Fame career. If he can tack on a couple more great seasons, I am betting that others will agree with me (if they don't already). I really enjoyed Opening Day. Although, I spent the evening at the X, watching the Wild play one of their worst games of the season. Other than that, it was a really fun day and I look forward to sharing my unwanted thoughts with all of you this season. What stood out to you on Opening Day? If you aren't interested in single game notes, I did write about 1989 Donruss baseball cards, if that's up your alley. You can read it here. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: tumblr_ln9564yqSC1qgdggvo1_400.jpg Not all bad teams are created equal. Some teams are bad for just one injury-plagued season. Some teams are bad for a few seasons and then good for a few seasons. Some teams are just chronically bad. Bad teams have the benefit of receiving good draft picks, but other than that, they don't really gain any sort of advantage from being bad. And there are disadvantages. Bad teams can struggle to attract fans and free agents, while also struggling to keep their own home-grown players. Yesterday, we looked at the two worst teams in MLB in 2012, the Astros and Cubs, and saw that they took much different paths towards rebuilding. Today, we'll look at the next three, including the Minnesota Twins. All are very different in their methods this offseason. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ~~~Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed~~~ Colorado Rockies - Hide under coats; hope it all works out [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] 2010 - 83-79 [/TD] Ubaldo Jimenez 7.3 Indians Troy Tulowitzki 6.5 Rockies Carlos Gonzalez 5.8 Rockies Jhoulys Chacin 2.4 Rockies Miguel Olivo 2.3 Reds 2011 - 73-89 Troy Tulowitzki 5.9 Rockies Carlos Gonzalez 4.2 Rockies Jhoulys Chacin 3.6 Rockies Chris Iannetta 3.1 Angels Dexter Fowler 2.5 Rockies 2012 - 64-98 Rafael Betancourt 2.6 Rockies Dexter Fowler 2.5 Rockies Matt Belisle 2.3 Rockies Jhoulys Chacin 2 Rockies Josh Roenicke 2 Twins [/TABLE] The Rockies confuse me. They have had two consecutive bad seasons. They have a couple of superstar players, but both miss a decent chunk of seemingly each season (Troy Tulowitzki and Carlos Gonzalez). They did next to nothing this off-season, other than signing Jeff Francis, and trading for Reid Brignac and Wilton Lopez. These aren't moves that help rebuild a team. They also did not trade anyone for any sort of young player or prospect. Their strategy seems to hinge on healthy seasons from their stars and development from their young pitchers. Their farm system is pretty poor, so there isn't a lot of help coming from that part of the organization. They have good players (I love Dexter Fowler), but they also have old players. On the other hand, Gonzalez is 27 and Tulowitzki is 28. Both are signed forever, so that is good, but there isn't much around them. Michael Cuddyer is overrated, Todd Helton is a billion and I can't think of a third thing. I think that is a bad sign. I can't assess any risk because I have no idea what they are even doing. Minnesota Twins - Some sort of Cobra-Squirrel hybrid [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] 2010 - 94-68 Joe Mauer 5.5 Twins Justin Morneau 4.6 Twins Jim Thome 3.4 NOWHERE Orlando Hudson 2.6 NOWHERE Brian Duensing 2.4 Twins 2011 - 63-99 Scott Baker 4.2 Cubs Denard Span 2.3 Nationals Glen Perkins 2 Twins Carl Pavano 1.8 NOWHERE Michael Cuddyer 1.7 Rockies 2012 - 66-96 Denard Span 4.8 Nationals Joe Mauer 4.1 Twins Jamey Carroll 3.2 Twins Josh Willingham 2.9 Twins Ben Revere 2.4 Phillies [/TABLE] The Twins have certainly struck like a cobra in a few instances this off-season. They added three young pitchers (Vance Worley, Alex Meyer, and Trevor May) in two excellent trades. At the same time, they have been hesitant to trade off other valuable players like Josh Willingham and Justin Morneau. They may simply be lying in wait, looking for the best deal. It is also possible that the market for these two players isn't very good right now. Each has question marks, and each could address them in 2013, raising their trade value. The Twins never really seem committed to a full rebuild, but they have done a nice job of picking their spots and addressing their needs. It is still a work-in-progress, though. Much like the Astros, the Twins could run out of good players to trade. Really, other than Willingham and Morneau, the only realistic trade pieces are Ryan Doumit, Glen Perkins and Jared Burton. Each of those guys might also be worth keeping around. Unlike the Astros, the Twins have more near-ready prospect talent. Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia, Alex Meyer, Kyle Gibson and Trevor May are all top ten prospects who likely will be playing in Minnesota before the end of the 2014 season. The Twins also have some payroll flexibility, and could use the 2013 off-season to truly improve their MLB team, around these young, promising players. Some are starting to say that 2013 is not a rebuilding year. I don't agree with that sentiment, but I do think the Twins are going to relevant as soon as 2014. I see strong parallels between 2014 and that 2001 season that started their AL Central mini-dynasty. There was an uproar about the free agent starting pitchers that were signed this off-season, but the reality is that the Twins likely did not want to sign anyone who would block the young arms who are getting closer to Minnesota each day. There is risk here, and the middle infield is still an issue, but the Twins are amassing resources and making shrewd moves when given the opportunity. Cleveland Indians - Protein Powder [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] 2010 - 69-93 Shin-Soo Choo 5.6 Reds Roberto Hernandez 2.5 Rays Chris Perez 2.5 Indians Travis Hafner 2.1 Yankees Carlos Santana 1.8 Indians 2011 - 80-82 Asdrubal Cabrera 4.6 Indians Justin Masterson 3.6 Indians Carlos Santana 3.4 Indians Jack Hannahan 2.2 Reds Joe Smith 2.2 Indians 2012 - 68-94 [TD] Jason Kipnis 3.7 Indians Carlos Santana 3.7 Indians Shin-Soo Choo 3.1 Reds Asdrubal Cabrera 3 Indians Michael Brantley 2.9 Indians [/TABLE] The Indians seem to be employing a strategy similar to the Cubs. They likely had a better MLB team to begin with, but definitely do not have a comparable farm system. The Indians seem to be targeting their weaknesses and dealing from their strengths. This isn't a unique strategy, but that doesn't make it any easier to implement. The Indians needed to bolster their young pitching, and used Shin-Soo Choo, a great player, to get Trevor Bauer. Bauer has his flaws, but he also has crazy upside. The Indians also signed some good players in free agency, including Nick Swisher, Michael Bourn and yes, Mark Reynolds. They have their core of good players: Jason Kipnis, Carlos Santana, Asdrubal Cabrera, Michael Brantley, Bourn and Swisher. They have interesting arms in Bauer, Justin Masterson, Carlos Carrasco, and Ubaldo Jimenez. They also have two great bullpen arms in Vinnie Pestano and Chris Perez. You could make the argument that the Indians have been rebuilt. They might not be a World Series team, but who knows? A lot of people want to find the next 2012 Orioles or 2012 A's. Likely, there won't be one, but the Indians might be as good a bet as any other team. So, not all rebuilds are the same. Each of these teams had major flaws, and that is why they were the five worst teams in 2012. However, each is employing a different method in their quest to return to relevance. Which strategies will work? Only time will tell. 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Download attachment: face_off-v03-1997-608x455.jpg A couple weeks back, I posted a Gimmick Post with some fun gimmicky ideas and I enjoyed writing it. I have also written some series' recaps here and there, but I usually only have time to hit the weekend series. Both are fun, but I don't have time for both. Frankenstein's monster, let's combine the two. Every Monday, I will recap the Minnesota Twins weekend series briefly and then move into some of the more random stuff, including poems, paint images and shameless self-promotion. Weekend Recap[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Clearly Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey switched faces for the weekend. Granted, their height, build, pitching style, body language, and pretty much everything else looked the same. Regardless, their performances from the weekend can only be explained by a Face/Off situation where Correia needed to pump some information from Pelfrey's incarcerated brother. Pelfrey had his first great start with the Twins on Sunday and Correia had his first clunker on Saturday. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ Starting pitching has been the litmus test all season long. The Twins got two poor starts this weekend and one good start. Not surprisingly, the Twins won Pelfrey's good start and lost Correia and Pedro Hernandez's poor starts. On offense, I get way too excited about home runs. Aaron Hicks hit his first career home run and I actually cheered out loud. I pumped my fist and everything. It was embarrassing and my dog moved to another part of the couch as a result. Chris Parmelee and Trevor Plouffe each hit home runs in the series and I, of course, assumed each was playing really well as a result. They really aren't. Home runs are fun though. Random Top 5 List The Top 5 Lowest Season BB/9 in Twins' history: Carlos Silva - 0.43 - 2005 Brad Radke - 1.03 - 2005 Brad Radke - 1.04 - 2001 Brad Radke - 1.07 - 2004 Brad Radke - 1.19 - 2003Answer to a Hypothetical Facebook Question Q: Twins? in the ALLSTAR game? What? A: The MLB All-Star Game is played every July. All-Star is one hyphenated word and you do not need to capitalize the whole word. Each season, fans get to vote for the players who they feel are the best in the game. Generally, they do a pretty terrible job, but have yet to be fired or even issued a written warning. The Twins will have a player on the ballot at each position. When you get a ballot, either at a game or on the internet, you can select the players who you feel are most deserving. This includes Joe Mauer, if you want to vote for him. If you are basing your All-Star vote on a player's most recent 25 at-bats, you will be disenfranchised. Each team will have at least one All-Star, so if you feel that no one on the team deserves the honor, you will be disappointed to be forced to watch a player from your favorite team, should you choose to watch the All-Star Game. That being said, voting at an actual game is a total calamity, as those little holes are hardly easy to punch. Typically, attempting to punch those holes will end in frustration and/or oversized holes. Random Paint Image http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CTMVUrcHanQ/UYbRLGjl5pI/AAAAAAAAAnc/I8qJKwWklmk/s400/Delmon+Dam.png Delmon Young is back in the Bigs! I drew this during the World Series last year. I can't remember why and it needs to see the light of day. I guess that explains why Delmon is wearing a Tigers hat. Anyway, in this portrayal, Delmon has taken a poor route on a fly ball, wandered out of the stadium and rammed into Detroit's water supply, flooding the city. But then, you probably already knew that from the image. Random Plug Sam Miller is fantastic. He writes for Baseball Prospectus and tends to aim for the lighter side of baseball. In this article, he created the International Conference On Reverse Engineering The Rules Of 21st Century Recreational Activities in order to determine how baseball was fun. I laughed out loud at least three times and considered quitting writing altogether as well. Read it! Random Stat Kevin Correia gave up two home runs in the first inning on Saturday. He had only allowed two home runs in 36 prior innings this season. That's nuts!!! Update on a Former Twin/Something stupid I wrote http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UyDe9GLdFyc/UYbbk4wWlNI/AAAAAAAAAns/RIPNfcIcO6A/s400/sloweywins.PNG Two for one! Kevin Slowey won a baseball game on Sunday. IKR? He hadn't won since September of 2010. I am well aware that I am easily the most excited Twins' fan when it comes to Slowey's success. I thought he was great but the Twins justifiably disagreed. He didn't really produce and if he was a pain in the clubhouse, then I get shipping him off. I hate when the media rips him, but generally ignore it. When Dick Bremer was talking trash about him during a game about a month ago, I got all this random traffic to my blog, with people searching for reasons why the Twins didn't like Slowey and instead finding posts about 1989 Donruss and a picture of Trevor Plouffe squaring off against a baby cow. Regardless, I appreciate the traffic. Thank you, Dick. Anyway, no one wants to see a person fail so spectacularly for so long. Plus, Slowey has been really good this season, posting a 1.81 ERA in 44.2 innings. I'm glad he won and I think he has to be the NL Comeback Player of the Year to this point. So that's nice. The two for one comes with this link: Kevin Slowey never wins. I wrote this on Saturday, and it's probably the worst thing ever written. Not by me, by anyone. But, it's fun, so it's cool. Enjoy. Something not stupid I wrote Back in January, in an effort to celebrate TwinsFest, I ranked my 10 favorite Twins of all-time and drew a Paint image to accompany each player. My proudest drawing ever is included and I would be delighted if anyone wants to guess which Paint I am most proud of. Here is the link: Top 10 Twins. Parting Haiku Home runs are so fun Thrill for both fans and players Ben Revere has none Click here to view the article

Download attachment: HUnter_Torii_Tigers_600.jpg Pining for the past is something we're all guilty of. It's hard to see guys like Torii Hunter, David Ortiz and Carlos Gomez enjoying success with other franchises and not wonder what could have been. When those former players are breaking out or enjoying pseudo-Hall of Fame careers, it's hard to just look the other way. Heck, this one guy keeps writing about guys like Clete Thomas and continuously linking to it. Like this link, which you can click. Since Twins fans seem to be in this mode right now, I thought this would be a great time to catch up with some guys the Twins may have given up on too soon. I'll fill you in on what they're doing right now and how they could have helped in 2014 if the Twins' organization had just an ounce of foresight. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ Player - Brian Bass Year with Twins - 2008 Current Age - 32 What is he up to? Restaurateur Bass owns and operates Brian Bass' Bombastic and Bodacious Walleye Bistro. Since leaving baseball, Bass has used his trademark wildness to his favor, infusing delicious and bold spices into disgusting creatures that have been marinating in lake water and their own filth for their entire lives. It may surprise you, but this fish restaurant has a great meatball stew! Bass may have just one career MLB save, but he always saves the best for last at BBBBWB's with a delicious carrot cake that just dangles in front of the customer's taste buds, basically begging to be hit, I mean, eaten. Did the Twins give up too soon? It seems like it. Owning a restaurant requires a lot of time, perhaps indicating that the Twins and other teams had miscast Bass as a reliever. Had he been given a starter job, he may have used his skills to post an ERA lower than 5.18. In addition, his proclivity toward lean fish dishes could really help some of the more corpulent players on the roster (the fatties). Player - Jim Hoey Year with Twins - 2011 Current Age - 31 What is he up to? Math Teacher Now teaching math to 9th graders in New Jersey, Hoey uses his spare time to try to prove that 7.02 isn't a very high number at all. He's very generous with his students, handing out free passes to anyone who wants one. His height gives him great leverage and allows him to use every inch of the chalkboard. Lauded for his unpredictable style, his students report that they often have no idea where his math is going to go. Did the Twins give up too soon? Yes, and I can prove it using the Pythagorean theorem. With Hoey and his math skills in the fold, the Twins would be at the forefront of the now 10+-year-old sabermetric revolution. Plus, you don't know real pressure until you try to get a group of 14 and 15-year-olds to stop texting long enough to do just one freaking practice problem. Player - Luis Rivas Years with Twins - 2000-2005 Current Age - 34 (I know, it seems impossible, but he's just 34!) What is he up to? Real Estate Agent Ironically, Rivas is really great at making contact with potential buyers. His clients describe him as a having a "careful approach," an "attention to detail," and an "obscene unwillingness to make any mistakes." In addition, he's really fast so you could imagine him adding more sales as he matures. He just opened his own agency but some are worried that he may be too young for that responsibility. Time will tell. Did the Twins give up too soon? Obviously, yes. It took a long time, but Rivas owns his own business now! Who on the Twins owns their own business? Joe Mauer's brother? That doesn't count. His new real estate experience will help him actually find home plate from time to time too. If nothing else, he could help Aaron Hicks find a place in Rochester. Player - Rob Delaney Year with Twins - 2009 Current Age - 29 What is he up to? Abstract Artist Well, he's drawing and painting stuff. Honestly, it looks like a lot of colors but I can't really make heads or tails of it. I'm told it's really good, so I totally agree with that sentiment. If I had known that Delaney was so creative, I might have appreciated his one game with the Twins a bit more. He pitched that one game, popped up with Tampa Bay the following year for a gutsy and brave seven-walk in five innings performance and then disappeared into the art shadows. It was brilliant artistry. I think. Did the Twins give up too soon? You know, I'm not sure. I don't really understand art. One time, I thought some art was good and I later found out that the art was actually bad. It was really hard for me. If Delaney was on the active roster, he could always explain his performance as "artistic" and I'd pretty much have to take his word for it. I bet some of his teammates would be in the same boat. OH! Maybe we could get him to paint a picture of the whole team in a boat. An image like that could really tie the room together/unify the team. Player - Jeff Gray Year with Twins - 2012 Current Age - 32 What is he up to? Law Student Gray is currently studying law at Missouri State University. While he's early in his coursework and it really isn't going all that well, his advisors are confident that he will become a better law student as he gets older for "no particular reason whatsoever and based entirely on zero facts." The thick skin he grew while drawing the ire of every single Twins fan will help him as a law student as every single friend and family member will get immediately sick of the constant talk of law and law-related matters that all law students are legally required to engage in...at all times. Did the Twins give up too soon? It seems like it. His new knowledge will make it a lot easier to settle debates within the Clubhouse, keeping things loose. Who gets the corner locker? What type of non-walleye food to provide? Should everyone wear pants or should no one wear pants? Why not have Gray litigate? Plus, as an added bonus, Gray will create a unified sense of scorn as he explains the difference between libel and slander for the 500th time. Do you miss these former Twins? Do you wish just a couple were still around? Can you tell that I have a thing against law students? If you are a law student, I deeply apologize for this slander. As we can clearly see, these players could be providing value for the Twins right now. Instead, they are all off engaging in other pursuits. It's disappointing, but perhaps these five former Twins found their true callings. I'm happy for each of them. Except Jeff Gray. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Morneau_Justin_Smiling_US_600.jpg There has been a lot of talk about trading the Twins established MLB players for prospects in recent weeks. This concept has become a bit more complicated due to the Twins' relative success this season. A terrible team is an easy seller while a great team is an eager buyer. The Twins are neither great nor terrible. The difficulty for the Twins' front office will be determining who is a part of the future and who is expendable. I don't intend to try to make that determination. I'll leave that to everyone else. However, I remember an episode of Gleeman and the Geek from last season, when our heroic hosts were discussing this very topic. John wanted to use current Twins prospects to determine a fair value for current Twins players. I loved it. It seems like such an intuitive way to explain what type of return they would be willing to accept. I figure I can do the same just in case for some strange reason the Twins decided to give me all the power involved in making their trades. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Check out this cool Kevin Slowey time line I made! ~~~ For the record this would be a terrible decision, as I would make wild determinations based on factors like name hilarity, hair length, eye black wearing and stirrups. However, if I decided to use the good part of my brain instead of my heart/ bad part of my brain, here is what I would anticipate if the Twins got offers for current Twins, using current Twins prospects as a hypothetical return. If this is too plagiarism-y (from that Gleeman and the Geek), just go ahead and ignore/delete/savage. We'll go from smallest return to largest, just for fun. Drew Butera for Tom Brunansky right now This is just mean. Why? Trade Approved. But seriously, be nice. Mike Pelfrey for Tim Atherton If Pelfrey can be traded for any young pitcher, I'll take it. Atherton has had a unique path to where he is right now, but as a 23-year-old at low A, he is the type of pitcher who could be reasonably acquired for Pelfrey. Pelfrey is only signed until the end of the season. While Atherton is no great prospect, he is young and has pitched reasonably well. For Pelfrey, I'd take just that. Trade Approved. You have to take anything you can get for Pelfrey. Jared Burton for Nelvin Fuentes I'd want a bit more for Burton. Fuentes is a pitcher with a bit more upside and he misses bats. He also has barely pitched above A ball and is 24-years-old. I'd want more upside in a Burton trade, simply because he is under contract for another two seasons and the Twins don't really have anyone who can step into his role. However, they have plenty of guys they could try in that role, and a good offer would be hard to pass up. Trade Approved. It's not a perfect return, but there are always random guys who can become setup men, as Burton proved last season. Kevin Correia for Nelvin Fuentes I'm not sure the return for Correia should be much different than the return for Burton. Correia is still relatively young and can be reasonably relied upon as a fifth starter, but he is nothing special. At 5 million in 2014, I might just keep him, rather than trade him for an A ball prospect. If Correia somehow became the Twins' fourth or fifth starter next season, he'd look a lot more attractive. Trade Denied. I think Correia will be worth keeping for the second year of his contract. Ryan Doumit for Logan Darnell Doumit is perfect for the Twins. He can spell Joe Mauer behind the plate and is one of the Twins' best hitters, despite being just about league-average (101 OPS+ in 2013). On other teams, with a more traditional backup catcher situation, Doumit would be a DH/corner outfielder who can't play outfield all that well. He fits best with the Twins, but if another team offered a AA or AAA pitcher with a good chance to reach the majors, I would find it to be a fair return and let that team figure the rest out. Trade Approved. Chris Herrmann could reasonably replace him in the lineup right now and an extra arm in the system is a worthy return. Glen Perkins for Matthew Summers I'm not sure it's fair to use terms like "proven closer" and "established closer" with Perkins, but "dominant left-handed reliever" is apt. The fact that he has been closing for the Twins is a nice boost, as closers do tend to bring greater returns than non-closers. However, teams seem to be learning that trading for closers is a exercise in futility (save for the Red Sox). Summers is a low-level prospect with big upside, so there is something intriguing here. Trade Denied. Are you kidding? Perkins is fantastic, the Twins should keep him. Justin Morneau for Hudson Boyd and Jason Wheeler Seeing Morneau hit one home run on Wednesday night and give air high fives almost made me completely flip on my feeling that the Twins should trade him for anything. Emotionally, I like Morneau as a player and enjoyed watching him become an MVP. In order to trade him, I'd want two pitching prospects, but I know that realistically, they wouldn't be top 25 prospects. Boyd sits right on the edge and Wheeler looks like he could be a solid reliever, if nothing else. This is the type of trade that is both reasonable and fair, however for emotional reasons... Trade Denied. I'd have to be blown away to trade one of the most popular players in recent history. Josh Willingham for Mason Melotakis Melotakis seems like he will either be a great reliever or a decent starter with upside. That kind of uncertainty is scary to many and as a result, many would be unwilling to part with a very popular player like Willingham. However, Willingham is 34 and while his OBP is still good, his power and batting average have dropped significantly. I was not a fan of trading Willingham last season, and I don't think the return would have been much better. Melotakis is the type of risk-reward player the Twins could target, should they decide to move Willingham. Trade Approved. An Oswaldo Arcia-Aaron Hicks-Chris Parmelee outfield can work for a season or two, until Byron Buxton is available. Adding another high-upside arm is tough to pass up. Trevor Plouffe for Taylor Rogers and Hudson Boyd I'd aim very high for Plouffe. He's cheap, relatively young and has big power potential. He might sail the occasional throw at third and his OBP is not ideal. However, he has enough going for him to make me look for two lower level prospects with high upside, one of whom I am certain can start. Rogers seems to have the stuff to start and Boyd still has big upside. Trade Approved. Good luck getting another team to offer it though. Joe Mauer for Miguel Sano, Alex Meyer and Niko Goodrum Yep, that much. He's a franchise player and I am irrational about him. Mauer probably isn't worth that much right now, but I don't think the Twins would take anything but a "Godfather" offer, as Bill Simmons would say. Even so... Trade Denied. I just love him too much. If you know the Twins system well, you'll see that I did not offer any top 10-15 prospects for Twins current players, save for Mauer. That doesn't mean the Twins can't net top 10 prospects from other teams. The Twins system is loaded, and others are not. If the Twins decide to sell at the deadline, I would not be expecting huge returns. However, every little bit helps. Alexi Casilla was acquired for J.C. Romero. Jason Bartlett was acquired for Brian Buchanan. Nick Punto and Carlos Silva were acquired for Eric Milton. These aren't sexy names, but they were useful players who helped the Twins win divisions. If the Twins can make smart trades at the deadline, it shouldn't matter who they trade and who they keep. What does everyone think? Where am I waaaaaaay off? What trades do you feel are fair? Click here to view the article

If you gave me a list of outcomes from this weekend's series with the Yankees, I would have ordered their likelihood as such: Yankees sweep.Yankees spontaneously combust; Yankee dust sweeps Twins. Yankees win 2 of 3; Twins win game 2 because all Yankees oversleep. Yankees win 2 of 3 fair and square. Twins win 2 of 3 because all Yankees lock their keys in their cars. Twins win 2 of 3 fair and square. The universe ends abruptly. Twins sweep.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Of course, watching the Yankees yesterday, they suck. The Twins still took care of business and it was fun to watch the Yankees look like a Little League team for a magical Sunday. Here are a few more thoughts from the series: Brian Duensing A couple weeks ago, I posited that if Brian Duensing can't get lefties out, he has no value. Why is Duensing struggling? I looked at his splits versus lefties over the past four seasons: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] PA H% BA OBP SLG 2010 153 15.6 .161 .217 .239 2011 187 20.9 .217 .242 .280 2012 178 24.3 .250 .294 .384 2013 83 29.5 .303 .358 .400 [/TABLE] H% is the percentage of batted balls that went for hits. You can see that his four-year trend does not look great. His hit rate has climbed like... like, really tall stairs and his BA/OBP/SLG have climbed alongside. However, here's another chart that tells a slightly different story: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] PA K% BB% K/BB xFIP BABIP 2010 153 22.2 4.6 4.86 3.13 .204 2011 187 20.3 3.2 6.33 2.89 .261 2012 178 15.7 5.1 3.11 4.04 .274 2013 83 24.4 6.1 4.00 2.63 .400 [/TABLE] Duensing's peripheral stats aren't quite as depressing. In fact, by xFIP, he is actually better against lefties than he has ever been. The increase in his walk rate would be troubling if the sample wasn't so small. His BABIP is sky high and his strikeout rate is higher than ever, so if he has been only unlucky, there is no reason to think he can't return to an being an effective lefty specialist. However, if he is simply getting more hittable, then it might not matter how much his BABIP drops. Again, the sample is small. Roster Moves Oswaldo Arcia got a couple days off this weekend, and he needed them. It looked like he was trying to hit a home run every time up and he was yanking his head toward right field instead of watching the ball hit his bat. Then, he got optioned to AAA on Sunday. I can't say I hate the move, although I would rather see Arcia make adjustments while facing MLB pitching. I understand why the move was made though. I don't really get the Chris Parmelee demotion. Perhaps Parmelee's time to get consistent at-bats with the Twins has passed. He's clearly not in the current plans and he's lost playing time to Clete Thomas of all people. Now, it seems Chris Herrmann and Chris Colabello are coming up and they should both get consistent playing time. Thus, there has to be an odd Chris out. Parmelee may never get a solid two months with the Twins, ever. Things certainly seem to be pointing in that direction. I don't really care about Eduardo Escobar. Mostly because... I like Pedro Florimon I just like him. I know he really isn't a good hitter and he probably isn't a long-term solution at short, but I just like him. He plays great defense and makes some really spectacular plays. He also makes some really tough plays look easy. He's quite streaky at the plate, but he can get some hits here and there. He's second to only Joe Mauer according to Fangraphs' WAR, so he clearly provides value. The Twins will likely look to upgrade at short in the coming seasons, but I wouldn't mind if Florimon is around for a bit longer. Enough love, time for Madness! Random Plug - Grant Brisbee is at it again Brisbee presents a series of images that show what errors look like. It's fantastic. If you read my blog, you probably have noticed that I try to create silly posts like these. However, Brisbee is on a completely different level of silliness and I can't match him. You should just go read/look at this article and have a good laugh. Photo Breakdown! - Oswaldo gets gum Lost in the shuffle of Michael Tonkin's successful debut was a quest for a specific piece of gum that was caught on camera in the background. Here's the proof: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yIGhsns5Jic/UeLhlLwCwMI/AAAAAAAAAyU/0vEGpKQGuXA/s320/arciagum1.PNG If you look, Arcia is pulling out massive quantities of gum. I find it unlikely that he will chew all of them. http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kSHdaqVy-c8/UeLhjAzZKAI/AAAAAAAAAyM/mZ1c4G81qps/s320/arciagumpoint5.PNG Now, he seems to be sorting through, likely looking for the flavor of his choice. I hope he finds it. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HSy-eQRzORw/UeLhltzu-TI/AAAAAAAAAyc/IiZI-pOq_0c/s320/arciagum2.PNG It looks like he has, as he conscientiously puts the pieces he will not chew back in the bucket for the next guy. What a dude! Poll Results! Which Twin is most likely to be traded this season? 36 votes Josh Willingham - 10 votesKevin Correia - 6 votes Mike Pelfrey - 2 votes Ryan Doumit - 7 votes Justin Morneau - 11 votesLosing Morneau would be sad, but hopefully the Twins can bolster the farm system at his expense. I support trading all these players, but I love to wheel and deal. I've added a new poll; please vote when you have a moment. LOL FSNorth http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oS45_Jx58wU/UeLggXoUtNI/AAAAAAAAAyA/7QwgeLgJhi8/s320/lolfsnorth.PNG Hey FSN, what does Paul Goldschmidt look like? Who does he play for? HAHAHA! lol. It is an impressive list though. Link to something stupid I "wrote" Speaking of silliness, I created an all bird all-star team. I think there's some dignified subtlety and I hope you enjoy it. Can birds play baseball? You'll find out. Links to something good I read Twins Daily is dominating the trade deadline talk and speculation. Each MLB team will be featured and sleeper prospects and dream targets are discussed. You can find a new one each day on the front page. Twins Daily member Jorgenswest has also posted some great articles looking at what reasonable return would be for some of the Twins players who may be traded. He looked back at deals for similar players and analyzed those returns. If you didn't see these articles already, you should really check them out. The level of research is really helpful and impressive. He has written three as of now: Brian Duensing Glen Perkins Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey Parting Chart - All-Stars I realized that not only are Joe Mauer and Glen Perkins both from Minnesota, but they both graduated from high school in 2001, as well. Guess who else graduated in 2001? That's right, I did. I played baseball when I was young, too. Now, I'm not going to lie and say I remember playing against Perkins or Mauer or anything like that, but it's certainly possible. Anyway, I created this little chart that highlights our baseball accomplishments, as we will always be linked in baseball history. [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] Joe Mauer Glen Perkins Brad Swanson High School Cretin-Derham Hall HS Stillwater Area HS Mounds View HS Class of 2001 2001 2001 College None University of Minnesota University of Minnesota Position Catcher Closer Left Couch MLB Debut 4/5/2004 9/21/2006 4/1/2015 Salary 23 Million 2.5 Million Less than Mauer made yesterday Best Known For Humble Midwestern charm Twitter Presence Putting Twins player heads on bird bodies All-Star Selections Six One Zero Most Impressive Baseball Feat 2009 AL MVP Pitched for Team USA in 2013 World Baseball Classic Caught a spike on a root in center field; hyper-extended knee Endorsements Land O'Lakes Milk Minnesota Twins Ticket Packages Voted for Nader in 2000 Facial Hair Sideburns Neckbeard Can't grow [/TABLE] And now you know that we are three completely different people. Have a nice week, everyone! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: perkins.jpg Last week, I investigated which position players on the current 40-man roster can help a potential Twins playoff team. If you want to read it, click here. In my mind, the first possible contending season is 2014, although I feel that could be a bit of a stretch. For the purposes of this post, I am going to look at 2014 as the first year of the turnaround, which might be putting too much faith in the rebuilding process. There are some very interesting position players on the 40-man roster. Pitchers, not so much. Again, we will start at the bottom and work our way up. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] First, there are a few minor leaguers who are not on the 40-man roster, who likely will be a part of the 2013 and 2014 teams. Pitchers can really come and go, especially cheap pitchers. However, I don't see these arms as huge contributors, beyond potential middle relievers or spot starters. There are also a few AAA starters who could get a shot, but none really interest me long term. There is one exception: Kyle Gibson John Sickels of SB Nation wrote extensively about Gibson this past week. You should read it. In this piece, he states that Gibson still has the ceiling of a number 2 starter, if all things click. Gibson was drafted as a low ceiling, low floor pitcher. The fact that he will be fully recovered from Tommy John surgery in 2013 will give us a good idea of how close he gets to that ceiling. I see him as a mainstay in the Twins rotation starting in 2014 and I think he can contribute significantly as a young, cheap command specialist. I am very high on Gibson. Luis Perdomo, Jeff Manship, and Kyle Waldrop To save your time and mine, let's lump these three together. Nothing to see here, let's just move along. Lester Oliveros Oliveros has actually pitched well in AAA this year. He is young enough (24) to get a shot. If he can maintain his AAA strikeout and walk ratios, he could be an effective reliever. He hasn't maintained those rations when in the MLB in the past, but he is worth a look. I doubt he is pitching high-leverage innings on any playoff team though. He also had Tommy John surgery this week, so he won't be doing much of anything in 2013. Pedro Hernandez He has really good minor league walk rates and really poor minor league strikeout rates. I'll go out on a limb and say he has about zero upside. He could spot start here and there, but lots of spot starts don't typically equate to fantastic team success. Carlos Gutierrez According to Wikipedia, Carlos Gutierrez is an American former CEO and former U.S. Cabinet Member who is currently a Vice Chairman of Citigroup's Institutional Clients Group. He has previously served as the 35th U.S. Secretary of Commerce from 2005 to 2009. I don't remember any of this. He lost most of this season to injury and he will be 26 next season. His business skills must be pretty good though. Deolis Guerra Ah, the Crown Jewel! The most intriguing piece in the Johan Santana trade might finally be MLB ready. He is actually posting his highest walk rate since he was 19 years old and his strikeout rate is not good enough to mask it. It seems like we have been hearing about him for 50 years, but he is only 23 years old. If he can get his control in order a bit, he might be able to help in the bullpen. Of course, you can say that about quite a few pitchers and sometimes, it still doesn't work out. Alex Burnett Speaking of not working out; zing! That is unfair. His walk rate has dropped each of his three MLB seasons. But, his strikeout rate has dropped as well. In fact, he currently sports a nifty 1:1 strikeout to walk ratio. Nifty is the wrong word, I think I was looking for terrible. His ERA and WHIP aren't bad though. I do not know what to think of Alex Burnett. I think there have to be better options. Tyler Robertson Man, Robertson is a hoss. He is left-handed, doesn't throw all that hard, but has a good strikeout rate since being called up. Currently, he is walking too many batters to have long term success. If Glen Perkins closes next year, having a second lefty to go with Brian Duensing could be useful. The thing with all these bullpen guys is that they are so interchangeable. Many are so much the same that you can use just about anyone and get similar results. In 2012, the Twins drafted a bunch of college relievers. These guys could move fast and take the place of these mediocre relievers that are currently playing for the Twins. Most of these draftees throw a lot harder too. PJ Walters 6.47 ERA in 87 MLB innings over 4 different seasons. The best thing that ever happened to his 2013 chances of playing with the Twins was the long term injury he is almost over. Oh, he also has an ERA over 4.5 in over 500 AAA innings. That seems like a big enough sample. Anthony Swarzak Swarzak isn't a bad guy to have around. A long man/spot starter can have value, if used properly. Instead of having a 13 man pitching staff, a properly used long man/spot starter can help increase the bench players on the offensive side. Ideally, an 11 man pitching staff would be used. This doesn't seem likely though. Times have changed and the long man/spot starter has a lot less value these days. Swarzak isn't terrible, but he can't start long term. So, he doesn't really have much value. Matt Capps Capps was once a useful reliever. Back when he was young and cheap, the Pirates used him as a closer and he had success. Washington signed him to a short term deal, he had success as a closer there and they parlayed him into a young, promising catcher. Let's not discuss that. Now that he is free agency eligible, he has not been a useful reliever. However, some team is going to sign him to a super cheap contract next year and he could pay off. He has good control to go with a decent strikeout rate. It isn't crazy to think that he could help a playoff team as early as next year. He will only be 29 and if he was just injured the last two years, he might return to the pitcher he basically was from 2006-2010. Carl Pavano I think Pavano is done with Minnesota. He might not retire, but he has been injury prone almost his entire career and will be 37 next year. I actually forgot how well he pitched in 2010, but that magic is almost certainly gone. Oh well, at least he had a mustache. Cole De Vries I have devoted a decent amount of words to Cole De Vries in my weekly notes. I am not a fan. He nibbles and he has no out pitch. As a AAA starter who can come up in a pinch, he's fine. On a playoff team, you really don't want a guy like this in your rotation. A team like the Yankees could use him I guess, since they can score a million runs and they are pretty much a lock for the playoffs every year. The degree of difficulty is just a touch higher here in Minnesota. Samuel Deduno I plan to spend a lot more time discussing why I have no faith in Sam Deduno, but not here. Let's just say that it is better for everyone involved if he regresses to the mean during September. His strikeout to walk ratio is below 1. I realize this isn't the only stat that matters, but come on. He isn't going to have long term success, based on the history of well, baseball. He was compared to R.A. Dickey and Justin Verlander during a recent Twins broadcast though. Not bad company. Casey Fien He's fien. Well, that was irresistible. Actually, he has been more than fine since getting called up. His minor league track record is actually pretty good, although he didn't start pro ball until age 22. He didn't have any MLB success in the past, but his minor league peripherals seem to have come with him to the MLB this time around. His hit rate is super low and he hasn't thrown a lot of innings, so he could certainly come back to Earth a bit. It seems like giving him a chance in 2013 wouldn't hurt too much. The point I made about younger relievers coming up does affect his long-term value a bit though. Brian Duensing Now we get to the "two players" portion of the roster. In this case, Duensing is one player in the rotation and one player in the bullpen. That one player in the bullpen is a lot better than that one player in the rotation. He likely was only put in the rotation this year because there were so many injuries. He is clearly better off as a lefty specialist. I made a crude Carlos Beltran reference in my weekly notes column on Monday, but basically Duensing vs. right handed batters = nonstop Carlos Beltrans. It is best to leave him where there are not nonstop borderline hall of famers facing him. As a lefty middle reliever, he can have some value. Liam Hendriks Liam Hendriks seems to be two different players as well. AAA Hendriks is dominant, MLB Hendriks loves home runs. He is still young and promising enough to figure it out. If he does, he can be a 3 or a 4 in a good rotation. I hope he doesn't have to ever masquerade as a 1 or a 2 though. A playoff Twins team in 2014 likely depends on Hendriks at the end of the rotation. Scott Baker There are two Scott Bakers as well, because I love this gimmick. Scott Baker healthy is great. Scott Baker injured is injured. Unfortunately, Scott Baker injured seems to be more common. It is a shame because his season last year was really fantastic. He was finally getting good results to go with his excellent peripheral stats. Scott Baker injured showed up and then stuck around through the offseason. Hopefully, he can come back from Tommy John and pick up where he left off. I am a huge advocate for finding out if he can as a Twin. I hope they sign him to a one or even two year deal and see what he has. He will only be 31 next year, so he could still have 4-5 good years left. At this point, given his injury history, it is very hard to rely on him as an impact player going forward. If anyone on this list can exceed expectations, it is Baker. Scott Diamond Every statistical bone in my body says that his success cannot be sustained. His strikeout rate is just way too low. Throw in the fact that he wasn't much of a prospect at any point and the fact that he was taken in the rule 5 draft, and it just doesn't add up. However, I have a hard time arguing with his results. He just doesn't walk anyone, ever. He basically is the left-handed Brad Radke (or at least he has been for half a season). I want to see it repeated at least once. If he has a comparable season in 2013, then I will be ready to admit that he is a statistical anomaly. Anomalies exist, so it is certainly possible. I still don't think a good Twins team is relying on Scott Diamond to pitch a Game 1 or Game 2 in the playoffs, but maybe Game 3? A pretty decent statistical comparison for Diamond is Mark Buehrle. Although, Diamond actually gets more groundballs and has a lower walk rate. Again, he has to repeat it, but it's possible. Jared Burton Jared Burton was a really nice find. He has cut his walks down significantly since his days in Cincinnati and it has made him into a really good pitcher. His surface stats are fully supported by the peripheral stats. Having a good, cheap set-up man or closer is very valuable. He does hit free agency in 2014, which is worrisome. It is especially worrisome if he closes next year. Saves are expensive. It is possible that he falls victim to the young relievers that are coming down the line as well. If he pitches like he has this year, he can help any team. If he gets expensive, I hope it happens elsewhere. Glen Perkins The brightest star in the Twins pitching sky just happens to be a failed starter. This is not entirely unique, as a lot of relievers are failed starters. Not all failed starters take to the bullpen as easily and dominantly as Perkins has. He has good stuff, a good strikeout rate and a good walk rate. I also think he has something that some would argue does not exist: the closer mentality. I will always believe that some pitchers just can't handle the 9th inning, regardless of the numbers not supporting that claim. Arguing against the concept of a closer mentality argues against the concept of human psychology, in my opinion. Ok, that is a separate subject for another day. Perkins is great though. There really isn't much more to say. He looks calm on the mound, he throws a good fastball and he isn't afraid to go right at hitters. I really like him and I am glad they locked him up cheaply for a few years. In summary In my opinion, the following players will play a significant role on a future Twins playoff team: Glen Perkins, Kyle Gibson, Scott Baker (if resigned) The following players could play a significant role, if the Twins contend in 2014: Jared Burton The following players could play a smaller but maybe not significant role on a good Twins team: Brian Duensing, Liam Hendriks, Scott Diamond It is too early to tell, but these young players are exciting and could contribute: None The remaining players either will not be around, or will not contribute positively. What do you think of this list? Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Plouffe.jpg The Twins split their four-game series with Texas this weekend. Unfortunately, I missed the Sunday game due to something called a "Couples Shower." I was not aware of such a thing, but have since decided that these should be outlawed completely. I won a game of Bingo where all the numbers were replaced with wedding terms. I was told I could pick any prize I wanted, so I chose "watching the Twins' game." This was met with laughter, which was followed by my sadness. Total abomination. Where were you on this one, James Madison? Anyway, I watched the other three games. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ Trevor Plouffe I've stressed patience with Aaron Hicks, but I'm losing patience with Trevor Plouffe. Check out his career lefty/righty splits: [TABLE=class: grid] [TD=align: center]I[/TD] [TD=align: left]Split[/TD] [TD=align: center]G[/TD] [TD=align: center]GS[/TD] [TD=align: center]PA[/TD] [TD=align: center]AB[/TD] [TD=align: center]R[/TD] [TD=align: center]H[/TD] [TD=align: center]2B[/TD] [TD=align: center]3B[/TD] [TD=align: center]HR[/TD] [TD=align: center]RBI[/TD] [TD=align: center]BB[/TD] [TD=align: center]SO[/TD] [TD=align: center]BA[/TD] [TD=align: center]OBP[/TD] [TD=align: center]SLG[/TD] [TD=align: center]OPS[/TD] [TD=align: center]TB[/TD] [TD=align: center]GDP[/TD] [TD=align: center]BAbip[/TD] [TD=align: center]tOPS+[/TD] [/TD] vs RHP as RHB[TD=align: right]215 [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right]659[/TD] [TD=align: right]594[/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right]129[/TD] [TD=align: right]27[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]23[/TD] [TD=align: right]64[/TD] [TD=align: right]47[/TD] [TD=align: right]147[/TD] [TD=align: right].217[/TD] [TD=align: right].281[/TD] [TD=align: right].386[/TD] [TD=align: right].667[/TD] [TD=align: right]229[/TD] [TD=align: right]10[/TD] [TD=align: right].247[/TD] [TD=align: right]86[/TD] [/TD] vs LHP as RHB[TD=align: right]110 [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right]242[/TD] [TD=align: right]217[/TD] [TD=align: right][/TD] [TD=align: right]58[/TD] [TD=align: right]14[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]13[/TD] [TD=align: right]32[/TD] [TD=align: right]20[/TD] [TD=align: right]42[/TD] [TD=align: right].267[/TD] [TD=align: right].335[/TD] [TD=align: right].521[/TD] [TD=align: right].855[/TD] [TD=align: right]113[/TD] [TD=align: right]7[/TD] [TD=align: right].274[/TD] [TD=align: right]137[/TD] [/TD] vs LH Starter[TD=align: right]69 [TD=align: right]62[/TD] [TD=align: right]268[/TD] [TD=align: right]247[/TD] [TD=align: right]32[/TD] [TD=align: right]59[/TD] [TD=align: right]15[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]14[/TD] [TD=align: right]36[/TD] [TD=align: right]19[/TD] [TD=align: right]52[/TD] [TD=align: right].239[/TD] [TD=align: right].296[/TD] [TD=align: right].478[/TD] [TD=align: right].774[/TD] [TD=align: right]118[/TD] [TD=align: right]7[/TD] [TD=align: right].249[/TD] [TD=align: right]113[/TD] [/TD] vs RH Starter[TD=align: right]171 [TD=align: right]148[/TD] [TD=align: right]633[/TD] [TD=align: right]564[/TD] [TD=align: right]86[/TD] [TD=align: right]128[/TD] [TD=align: right]26[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]22[/TD] [TD=align: right]60[/TD] [TD=align: right]48[/TD] [TD=align: right]137[/TD] [TD=align: right].227[/TD] [TD=align: right].296[/TD] [TD=align: right].397[/TD] [TD=align: right].693[/TD] [TD=align: right]224[/TD] [TD=align: right]10[/TD] [TD=align: right].257[/TD] [TD=align: right]94[/TD] [/TABLE] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 4/28/2013. Is it possible that Plouffe is just a good platoon player, and nothing more? I still want to see Plouffe get about 550 at bats this season, but I'm not sure he will earn that chance. Eduardo Escobar is hot right now, and getting him some time against right-handed pitching might not be a bad idea. Plouffe has a full season's worth of plate appearances against right-handed pitching, and the results are not pretty. If you consider that his defense has been shaky and his throws are always adventurous, there are many reasons to be concerned. Aaron Hicks I vowed to not write about Hicks until there was something new to discuss, and I finally feel that Hicks is doing things that need to be discussed. He seems to be turning the corner, but I refuse to speculate about his confidence level or concentration level, as I am not inside his head. However, his competence level is up and that is something I can clearly see. He made a variety of impressive plays this weekend. The four most memorable plays were probably his delayed steal on Friday, his awesome diving catch on Saturday and his 2 RBI double on Saturday; he also showed off his strong, accurate arm in the second inning of Saturday's game, firing a laser to second to get Nelson Cruz trying to stretch a double. However, two other plays caught my eye, each with more subtle impact. The first play occurred in the second inning of Friday night's game, when Hicks played a ball perfectly off the wall and nailed the cut-off man. Pedro Florimon threw a rocket home to get Geovany Soto at the plate. Hitting the cut-off man is obviously important, but sometimes guys with big arms will try to throw too much, so to speak. Hicks is a flamethrower, but still seems to understand the importance of good, fundamental baseball. The second play was on Saturday and directly led to the Twins' first run. Hicks was on first after reaching on an error. Eduardo Escobar hit a rocket to left, and Hicks read the play the whole way. He used his great speed to get to third without a throw. It was an aggressive and correct play and when Brian Dozier hit a long fly to center in the next at-bat, Hicks scored easily. These are two excellent examples of how Hicks' defense, baserunning and arm make him a more valuable player than his offensive stats may ever show. Brian Dozier So far, so good. This applies both to his move to the leadoff spot and his move to second base. He looks fluid at second and provides a decent amount of range. He doesn't seem to have any issues turning double plays. At the plate, Dozier has been great since moving to his new spot in the lineup. The type of hitter we (as fans) have to hope Dozier is (good plate discipline and good contact) is suited for that part of the order. I fully expect Hicks to return to the leadoff spot at some point, but having Dozier there for now makes sense. Eduardo Escobar Is Escobar the new Alexi Casilla? He's short, small, and plays excellent defense. He can play all infield positions. He's right handed and a switch hitter. He seems gregarious and seems to enjoy playing baseball. He's probably my favorite player and I'm not sure why. It all adds up. Let's just get some space between his front teeth and call it a day. I fully expect Escobar to cool off, but having a new, cheap Alexi Casilla isn't a bad thing. While on this topic, I wrote about Casilla's HOF candidacy on Saturday. Alex Meyer I think we have reached full "get excited" mode with Meyer. Here are his stats so far this season: [TABLE=class: grid] [TD=align: left]Year[/TD] [TD=align: center]Age[/TD] [TD=align: center]W[/TD] [TD=align: center]L[/TD] [TD=align: center]ERA[/TD] [TD=align: center]G[/TD] [TD=align: center]GS[/TD] [TD=align: center]IP[/TD] [TD=align: center]H[/TD] [TD=align: center]R[/TD] [TD=align: center]ER[/TD] [TD=align: center]HR[/TD] [TD=align: center]BB[/TD] [TD=align: center]SO[/TD] [TD=align: center]HBP[/TD] [TD=align: center]BF[/TD] [TD=align: center]WHIP[/TD] [TD=align: center]H/9[/TD] [TD=align: center]HR/9[/TD] [TD=align: center]BB/9[/TD] [TD=align: center]SO/9[/TD] [TD=align: center]SO/BB[/TD] 2013[TD=align: right]23[/TD] [TD=align: right]2[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.64[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]22.0[/TD] [TD=align: right]21[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]8[/TD] [TD=align: right]26[/TD] [TD=align: right]1[/TD] [TD=align: right]94[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.318[/TD] [TD=align: right]8.6[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.0[/TD] [TD=align: right]3.3[/TD] [TD=align: right]10.6[/TD] [TD=align: right]3.25[/TD] [TD=colspan: 2]2 Seasons[/TD] [TD=align: right]12[/TD] [TD=align: right]6[/TD] [TD=align: right]2.68[/TD] [TD=align: right]29[/TD] [TD=align: right]29[/TD] [TD=align: right]151.0[/TD] [TD=align: right]118[/TD] [TD=align: right]48[/TD] [TD=align: right]45[/TD] [TD=align: right]6[/TD] [TD=align: right]53[/TD] [TD=align: right]165[/TD] [TD=align: right]6[/TD] [TD=align: right]615[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.132[/TD] [TD=align: right]7.0[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.4[/TD] [TD=align: right]3.2[/TD] [TD=align: right]9.8[/TD] [TD=align: right]3.11[/TD] [/TABLE] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 4/28/2013. Small samples aside, the strikeouts and walks are definitely encouraging. A slightly lower walk rate would be nice, but a K:BB ratio over three is always positive. If Meyer keeps this up, he'll probably be in Rochester at some point. I still think it's a stretch that he gets to Minnesota this year, but next season seems very likely. Twins' fans have longed for an "ace" since Johan Santana was traded away. Meyer has that potential. Get excited! Other MLB Thoughts Bryce Harper Good gravy. I picked Harper as my NL MVP prior to the season. I also predicted a 40-40 season, which is very unlikely because he doesn't need to steal bases anymore. The MVP part seems very reasonable. However, I called the power even earlier. Here is the first sentence that I wrote about Harper when I chose him as last seasons' NL Rookie of the Year: " I think Bryce Harper hits 40 home runs next year." You can click the quote if you want proof. I wish I hadn't written "I think" because I was sure of it. His power is insane. Just look at his swing: Can't embed, click here! The controlled violence he creates with that swing is unreal. If he doesn't hit 40 home runs this year, next year, the year after that, and every year going forward, it will be due to injury or a strike or the collapse of baseball as a sport. Otherwise, there's just no way. Matt Moore While I'm patting myself on the back, I called Matt Moore as an AL breakout player before the season. It was an easy call, as Moore has tons of talent and was considered a prospect on par with Mike Trout and Harper prior to last season. It's coming together for Moore and Tampa Bay this season. Check out these stats from April: [TABLE=class: grid] [TD=align: left]Year[/TD] [TD=align: center]Age[/TD] [TD=align: center]W[/TD] [TD=align: center]L[/TD] [TD=align: center]W-L%[/TD] [TD=align: center]ERA[/TD] [TD=align: center]G[/TD] [TD=align: center]GS[/TD] [TD=align: center]IP[/TD] [TD=align: center]H[/TD] [TD=align: center]R[/TD] [TD=align: center]ER[/TD] [TD=align: center]HR[/TD] [TD=align: center]BB[/TD] [TD=align: center]SO[/TD] [TD=align: center]ERA+[/TD] [TD=align: center]WHIP[/TD] [TD=align: center]H/9[/TD] [TD=align: center]HR/9[/TD] [TD=align: center]BB/9[/TD] [TD=align: center]SO/9[/TD] [TD=align: center]SO/BB[/TD] [TD=align: left]2013[/TD] [TD=align: right]24[/TD] [TD=align: right]5[/TD] [TD=align: right]0[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.000[/TD] [TD=align: right]1.13[/TD] [TD=align: right]5[/TD] [TD=align: right]5[/TD] [TD=align: right]32.0[/TD] [TD=align: right]13[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]4[/TD] [TD=align: right]3[/TD] [TD=align: right]15[/TD] [TD=align: right]38[/TD] [TD=align: right]338[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.875[/TD] [TD=align: right]3.7[/TD] [TD=align: right]0.8[/TD] [TD=align: right]4.2[/TD] [TD=align: right]10.7[/TD] [TD=align: right]2.53[/TD] [/TABLE] Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table Generated 4/28/2013. Those stats? They're real, and they're spectacular. They also might be a bit lucky, but that doesn't change them one bit. St. Louis Cardinals Oh yeah, the Cardinals are pretty much always good. I thought Cincinnati would easily win that division and I figured San Francisco and Atlanta for the two Wild Cards. However, I failed to remember that St. Louis is always good. Matt Holliday, Carlos Beltran and Yadier Molina are probably all Hall of Famers. Allen Craig, Matt Carpenter and Matt Adams are nice, young players, although Adams is hurt right now. However, St. Louis' pitching is what I am drawn to. Shelby Miller is having an excellent season, and showing why he was such a coveted prospect. Jamie Garcia and Lance Lynn have been great. Jake Westbrook has been lucky good, but that works for now. Adam Wainwright has a 37:1 K:BB ratio! The bullpen is excellent, led by Edward Mujica (terribly underrated) and Trevor Rosenthal (terrifying fastball). The Cardinals are always balanced and always good. I always forget that too. Washington Nationals: The Nationals went through a bit of a swoon recently, but it is way too early to give up on them. ESPN should especially know better. Check out this screen grab I got on Friday: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9hXcK-enuP4/UX3aWuqoVEI/AAAAAAAAAm0/3xZycXMqlq8/s400/no+wash.PNG I think two Mets teams would be too much for Mets fans to handle. Have a nice week everyone! Click here to view the article

It's been said that all good things must come to an end. Sadly, this will be the final Monday Madness of the 2013 season. I know. Don't blame me though; I'm not the one who decided against a 12 month MLB season. It's time for a break from Twins baseball. After the month of September that we've all endured, a little break might not be the worst thing. I'll try to infuse some fun and positivity in this final Monday Madness of the 2013 season. The Gardy 1000 Well, that was a huge embarrassing failure. Wait, I said I'd be positive. Um. The Twins made a valiant effort to get Ron Gardenhire his 1000th career win. They needed to go 3-4 this week and they only missed it by 2 games. Two isn't bad. That's only about 1% of a season. It's such a small sample. Josmil Pinto Here's some real positivity. Josmil Pinto had a wonderful September debut. In fact, only Chris Parmelee has had a better September debut than Pinto, when looking at OPS and only including players with 50 plate appearances in September. We can ignore the Parmelee part, but knowing that Pinto looks good makes me feel good about next season. Having Pinto gives the Twins more options at catcher. If the Twins can enjoy another 3-5 years of above-average offensive production from their catcher, the rebuild will be somewhat easier. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ Mike Pelfrey A recent Terry Ryan interview shocked and awed everyone when he admitted that he was interested in bringing Mike Pelfrey back for the 2014 season. Pelfrey hasn't been a highlight of the 2013 season. He's been one of the more frustrating players for me to watch. He dug himself a big hole in April and May; did he dig out of it? [TABLE=class: grid, width: 492] [/TD][TD]April May June July August September ERA 7.66 5.90 4.66 3.25 3.60 7.45 WHIP 1.93 1.66 1.24 1.34 1.40 1.86 K% 6.5 14.5 15.4 18.1 14.4 21.3 BB% 6.5 9.2 2.6 7.8 10.5 7.5 K:BB Ratio 1.0 1.58 6.00 2.33 1.38 2.86 BABIP .370 .337 .333 .309 .279 .431 LOB% 54.7 69.1 62.0 83.3 74.7 56.2 xFIP 5.57 5.11 3.18 4.45 4.74 3.63 [/TABLE] Well, kind of. In April and May he was a disaster. In June, he was pretty good. He didn't walk anyone, but he was a bit unlucky so his ERA wasn't great. In July, he was worse, but had some strand rate luck and looked better than he actually was. He was pretty bad in August, but finally got some good BABIP luck. In September, he's been pretty poor again, but has a crazy high BABIP and has been generally unpleasant to watch. Basically, he's been really inconsistent. The only reason to sign a guy like Pelfrey for another year would be if you could rely on him for consistently decent innings. The Twins can't rely on him for that. Cut him loose. Oh, and dig up, stupid. Madness Fun Stat Anthony Swarzak threw 96 innings this season without starting a single game. This has only happened 461 times since 1901. Juan Berenguer accomplished this feat in 1989 and 1990 and no one had done it in a Twins' uniform since then. No one in baseball had done this since 2006, when Scott Proctor threw 102.1 innings without starting. Swarzak is a rare bird, especially in this current era. Random Paint Image The Playoffs are starting this week and that means National Coverage. No more Dick and Bert, no more Coom-dog, no more Anthony LaPanda. Here's a dramatization of what I think could happen during the TBS studio show, if things really fall apart. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ghgPaY_jRe4/UkiFf4e5_qI/AAAAAAAABCc/HEaSgMTTIPo/s320/Gallagher.png Look, if you don't get that reference, then you clearly didn't watch as much Comedy Central as I did as a kid and you don't think Dennis Eckersley looks like a certain watermelon-smashing comedian like I do. And really, that's your problem. Former Twin Update - Francisco Liriano Francisco Liriano finished the 2013 season with 16 wins and an ERA just slightly above 3. He has been one of the major reasons why the Pirates season is still in progress. In fact, he'll start the Wild Card game on Tuesday against the Reds and their lefty-heavy lineup. Lefties have hit .131/.175/.146 against Liriano in 138 plate appearances this season. Before the season, who would have ever thought that Francisco Liriano would be starting a playoff game in 2013? Answer to a Hypothetical Facebook Question Nope, not today. It's impossible to find anything positive on the Twins Facebook page. It's my problem really. I only go there for this bit, so it only affects me once a week at most. I can handle complaints. I can handle negativity. I can't handle hostility. There isn't a single Twins fan who has any right to be hostile. No one should be calling Joe Mauer a wimp. No one should be calling for Gardy and Anderson to be hit with bricks. Since 99% of the Facebook comments are hostile, I'm not doing it today. Instead, I asked my 8-year-old cousin to give his thoughts on the Twins' 2013 season: "It was really fun. I actually got to go to two games! They won the second game!" Off-season Plans Monday Madness is ending for the year, but I've got loads of off-season stuff planned. I've got recaps, pumas, predictions, previews, video games, candy, treats, ice cream, lobster and much, much more. This week, I've got two guest columnists doing season recaps and I have a mailbag coming on Friday. I'm going to try to have some fun this off-season, if you want to join me. Parting Thought The Twins 2013 season was unpleasant. The franchise is in a better place than it was in 2012, but there is still a lot of work to be done. I'll do as much work as the Twins allow me, but a more likely scenario would involve the Twins' current decision makers working to improve the team. I have confidence. I think that strides were made this year that weren't seen on the field. If the organization continues down a similar path, I believe the Twins will be a good team in the near future. I've always held that 2014 will be the first year in the on-field turnaround and I stand by that. I really feel that we just suffered through the last 90-loss season for awhile. If I'm wrong, you can all hurl tomatoes at me when I run on the field during a 2015 game. Have a nice off-season, everyone! 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Download attachment: 14127.jpg If you like tomfoolery... I buy MLB the Show every single year. I always think that I won't and then I do. I buy it, play it a lot, then completely forget about it. In fact, here is an easy to use monthly breakdown of my MLB the Show usage: March - Buy the game, play it often. April - Continue to play the game, less often, tell myself "I'll just play this one for the next two years and [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]buy the newer version every other year." May-February - Completely forget about MLB the Show, place disk under a couch, in a cereal bowl or on a shelf. Late February - See a commercial or read a review for the next MLB the Show, tell myself "Eh, I don't really need to buy this." Early March - See some extremely minor change in the new game that makes me want to buy it. March - Buy the game, play it often.Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Using this information, you can logically conclude that I am in the "play it often" stage of my MLB the Show development cycle. In fact, I did buy the game. I stopped on my way home from work Wednesday and I bought it. I played it for a little bit that night, then really got into it on Friday, when I didn't have to work. It's fun. It always is. The minor change that convinced me to buy the game this year is about as minor as it gets. They finally decided to give players numerical ratings instead of vague bar graph ratings! Yeah! This is nice because it is now much easier to see which players are better than others. This is important to me for some reason. I'm 30. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to see what Sony thinks of the Twins. In looking at the player ratings, there are some questionable ratings, along with some downright comical ratings. All of the ratings are out of 99. Joe Mauer leads the way with an overall 93. He also has a clutch rating of 99, so take that, haterz1! Mauer also leads the way with a 90 contact rating, an 82 arm strength rating, a 90 fielding rating, and a 99 handsome rating. In short: Sony ♥ Joe Mauer The Twins best pitcher, according to Sony, is Glen Perkins, with an overall rating of 90. He has the best control on the team, at 90, and the highest K/9 rating with an 81. He also has a fielding rating of 6. Interestingly, whenever a ball is hit to Perkins in the game, he falls down and splits his pants. Nobody's perfect. The Twins best starter is Vance Worley, with his 84 rating. Their top Canadian player is Justin Morneau at an 86. The best bad player on the team is Esmerling Vasquez at a baffling 74 overall rating, the same overall rating as Trevor Plouffe, Brian Duensing and Kevin Correia. Are you still with me? Let's look some of the Twins' best ratings: Stamina - Scott Diamond - 90 Velocity - Mike Pelfrey - 82 Break - Casey Fien - 90 BB/9 - Scott Diamond - 87 Power - Josh Willingham - 78 ? Durability - 88-year-old Jamey Carroll - 84 Speed - Darin Mastroianni - 77 Horseplay - Anthony Swarzak - 99 (see below)http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-as8M6JW5Aok/UTvFX193jNI/AAAAAAAAARg/hw-dl-a66tk/s320/Swarzak_finished.png This opens itself to a debate. Is Anthony Swarzak good or bad at horseplay? He did crack ribs as a result of horseplay, but what is the true goal of horseplay? Perhaps we can come back to this, at another time. A few other things I learned from the game: Pedro Florimon and Brian Dozier are equally good fielders - 59 Kevin Correia is a better strikeout pitcher than Mike Pelfrey - 46 to 43 Jamey Carroll has "A" potential, and stands to get better as he gets olderNow, not all Twins players are in the game. If a player wasn't in the MLB last season, they do not appear. So, Aaron Hicks, Joe Benson, Rich Harden, Kyle Gibson, and so forth, are all MIA. But, you can make players, which is a tedious chore. I made Aaron Hicks, based on his current Spring Training performance. Here is the result: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YMNhE8FoW0c/UTvFw1F_BDI/AAAAAAAAARo/7pzuAWSuTYw/s320/photo+(19).JPG Not sure I captured his eyes perfectly, but everything else seems about right. If Sony has anything to say about it, here is the Opening Day lineup: [TABLE=width: 134] Mastroianni CF Carroll 2B Mauer C Willingham LF Morneau 1B Doumit DH Parmelee RF Plouffe 3B Florimon SS [/TD][TD] [/TABLE] Apparently, Ron Gardenhire works for Sony. Here is the rotation: Worley Diamond Correia Hendriks Pelfrey Looks to be fairly accurate actually. I might flip a few around, but those five seem pretty likely. Of course, if you take the five best starters by rating, it would look like this: Worley - 84 Pelfrey - 78 Diamond - 77 De Vries - 76 Correia - 74 Prior to a roster update, De Vries was an embarrassing 81 overall, and was the Twins' best starter. They addressed that issue within the first 24 hours of the game launch. His rating is still much too high. Apparently Sony loves players from Minnesota as much as we all do. You like former Twins? Here are some of the more notable ratings I found when looking around: Danny Valencia - Clutch - 71 - lol Tsuyoshi Nishioka - Fielding - 81 !!!! Yep, Nishi's in the game; get excited! Delmon Young - Speed - 36 - HA! Delmon Young - Clutch - 92 - Come on Delmon Young - Fielding - 58 - *spit-take, fall-over-in-chair, choke-on-gum, pants-fall-down, head explodes* Denard Span - Fielding - 53, worse than Delmon, but wait Carlos Gomez - Fielding - 46, so yeah Luke Hughes - Spring Training - 99 (see below)http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-peU0kD_jYFU/UTvGRpvy-iI/AAAAAAAAARw/iEsPUScnqzQ/s320/Hughes_finished.png I want that hat. The worst former Twin I could find is Eric Komatsu, at an emasculating 55 overall. Most of the computer generated minor leaguers are better than Eric Komatsu. Jeff Gray is nowhere to be found, but I am sure we can all agree that he would be a -84. But, my favorite part of this whole exercise was finding Nick Blackburn, pitching as the Ace of the New Britain Rock Cats. In fact, Sony didn't even put his picture in the game, opting to computer generate him. http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hiugLXh00TE/UTvGb2v5qqI/AAAAAAAAAR4/zKfwGk6n4Fo/s320/photo+(17).JPG Not terrible, but Blackburn's real face isn't that fat. His K/9 is worst on the team, but you already knew that. ~~~ If you prefer real baseball news to tomfoolery, I analyzed the Kyle Lohse signing that hasn't happened yet. You can read it here: Kyle Lohse signs with [MLB Team]. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Rosario_Eddie_batting_US_720.jpg I didn't catch any of the Twins' series with Seattle this weekend, so it seemed a bit disingenuous to write about it. I'm sure everyone will survive a week without stupid photoshops and my silly antics. Instead, I present to you another draft, one day early. If you missed my 2008 or 2009 summary, you can click the year and check them out. I did declare my secret love for a player, so that is certainly worth seeking out. Here is 2010: 2009 was the final Twins' draft to produce a Twins player. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Obviously, these recent drafts are quite recent and thus there is plenty of time to produce some MLB players in the future. It just hasn't happened yet. As such, these recaps need to change a bit. As Shannon Hoon said, "when life is hard, you have to change." Life is hard, so even though I just made changes a few drafts ago, further changes are needed. I'm not sure why you need to know this. Perhaps I couldn't come up with a good opening. We'll never know. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ 1st Round Pick The Twins selected The Alex Wimmers, a right-handed starter out of The Ohio State University, with The 21st overall pick. The Twins went consecutive drafts selecting college starters who appeared close to MLB-ready with picks in the early 20s. Wimmers, and Kyle Gibson the year prior, have not made their MLB debuts. Wimmers looked fantastic in his pro debut back in 2010. Since then, he has had a lot of troubles throwing strikes and then he had Tommy John surgery in 2012. Wimmers is likely to miss almost all of this season. He may return for some winter ball, but he'll basically be starting over as a prospect next season. Even so, if he recovers from his injury and can get his command back, he could be playing for the Twins by 2015. If that happens, this was a good pick. If not, it was an unfortunate pick. Ah, but what if? This is a little tougher now, due to the youth of these players. However, Christian Yelich was drafted two picks after Wimmers and he looks like a can't miss prospect. Yelich can flat-out hit. Of course he's an outfielder and the Twins have like 455 outfielders/outfield prospects. If the Twins preferred a pitcher, they could have taken Jesse Biddle (27th overall), Zach Lee (28), Aaron Sanchez (34), Noah Syndergaard (38) or Taijuan Walker (43). Each is considered a good prospect, while Sanchez and Walker are elite. Of course, they also could have taken Peter Tago (47) because he has a cool name. Best Late Round Pick I like 10th-round pick J.D. Williams. He was drafted out of Brooks-DeBartolo Collegiate High School in Tampa, Florida. I always like schools that sounds like law firms, so this one makes me happy. Williams wasn't anything special for Beloit last season, but he has been great with Cedar Rapids this season. Sure, he's repeating a level and he's 22 and in the Midwest League, but blah blah blah, I don't care. If he can keep developing as an outfielder (he signed as a shortstop) and keep developing as a hitter, then he'll be one of the best 10th round picks from this draft. That's something, right? San Diego drafted Houston Slemp with their 10th round pick and I'm pretty sure that's a fake name. Just some perspective. Oh, 10th round isn't late enough for you? You ingrate. Fine. A.J. Achter was drafted in the 46th round, which is pretty freaking late. Achter was drafted out of Michigan State and just recently earned a promotion to AA New Britain. If he even sniffs the Majors out of the 46th round, he'll be the best 46th round pick ever!!!!! That may not be true, but I refuse to do research. This isn't school. Who'll be the first to reach the Majors? This is tough. There are quite a few guys at New Britain, but none are very exciting. I'm going to guess Eddie Rosario, simply because I think he is the best prospect and therefore, he has the best chance to actually reach the Majors. Rosario was the Twins' fourth-round pick and he's real and he's spectacular. The man can hit. He's only at Fort Myers, so he won't be a Twin soon, but his talent should carry him to Minnesota before anyone else in this draft. Best Prospects Gold Silver Rosario, for reasons I just explained. Seriously, I just explained them. Second-round pick Niko Goodrum and not just because he has a sweet name. He's a shortstop and he's starting to hit. He was carried off of the field on a stretcher a few nights ago, but hopefully he will be OK and can resume his breakout season. I love him. I love him like a milkshake. Wimmers. I know he was wild and I know he is hurt, but he had number 3/4 upside when he was drafted and if he can recover from his injury, there's no reason he can't recover his ceiling. 5th-round pick Nate Roberts. OBP machine/mustachioed mofo.Best Name James Buckelew, the Twins' 45th-round pick. Fun Facts 3rd-round pick Pat Dean has two Baseball Reference pages. Seriously. Here's the other one. Four Twins' 2010 draftees are currently pitching for New Britain: Dean, Achter, 6th-round pick Logan Darnell, and 7th-round pick Matt Hauser. 9th-round pick Kyle Knudson is also playing for New Britain, but he is not a pitcher, so the others probably razz him. Twins' 23rd-round pick Dallas Gallant has the most Texas name of all time. That Law Firm High School I talked about earlier? J.D. Williams wasn't the only Twins' 2010 draftee from that school. The Twins also selected Kelvin Mention in the 36th round. These two jokers make up half of the players ever drafted from this Firm. The Twins drafted Lance Ray in the 8th round and Jared Ray in the 38th round. I don't think they are brothers, but there is certainly a Ray of hope that they are.2013 Twins? None, but perhaps a couple in 2014? Eh? EHH? One Sentence Summary If Niko Goodrum needs a house family, he is welcome at my house - although he is playing 250 miles away and should probably have a home by now. Link to the Twins' 2010 draft from Baseball Reference Click here to view the article

Download attachment: pierzynskitwins.jpg The 2004 season marked two important Twins milestones. First, the team was coming off playoff runs in consecutive seasons for the first time in over thirty years. Second, the Baby Jesus, Joe Mauer was primed for his MLB debut. As a result of the second milestone, the Twins were looking to unload a popular, but expendable catcher, seemingly entering his prime. The Trade: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded A.J. Pierzynski to the San Francisco Giants for Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano and Boof Bonser. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! I also reviewed the Dave Gassner trade, which you probably remember because Shannon Stewart and Bobby Kielty were involved. You can read it here. Nathan immediately became the Twins closer and a dominant closer to boot. He saved 260 games over seven seasons with the Twins, posting a 2.16 ERA and 0.956 WHIP. Liriano made his MLB debut in 2005, but really made waves in a thrilling 2006 season. He threw 121 innings, striking out 144 batters and posting a 2.16 ERA before succumbing to Tommy John surgery. He was never quite the same, but did post a very good 2010 season with the Twins. Bonser spent parts of three seasons with the Twins, finishing with a 5.12 ERA in just under 400 innings. Pierzynski had a disappointing 2004 season with the Giants, clashing with teammates and posting a mediocre 86 OPS+. He was released at the end of the season and signed by the White Sox, where he played for the next eight seasons. How did I feel at the time? I wasn't super happy, but I wasn't super upset either. I had taken to referring to Pierzynski as "All-Star A.J." because he made the All-Star team and I am super creative. I was also very aware that Joe Mauer was going to be with the Twins the following season and an expensive backup like Pierzynski wasn't a luxury the Twins would be willing to afford. Plus, getting three players for one seems like a good idea. It's literally three times the players. Why make the trade? "It's one of those things that was eventually going to happen," Pierzynski said, reached on a golf course in Hawaii. "I was one of the first guys people had talked about. And they've got the guy coming behind me." That quote is from an AP story I found in an ESPN archive. It's passive-aggressive enough, but not too disparaging. You know for a fact that he knew Mauer's name. However, it does perfectly explain why this trade made sense for the two teams. "That's all part of the reasons we decided to make this trade," general manager Terry Ryan said. "We're dealing from a position of strength. We've got some talent at catching come up and some financial concerns, as far as making sure the pieces fit." Again, "some talent" is Joe Mauer. Plus, Pierzynski was due salary arbitration and was set to make a huge raise. In fact, he went from $365,000 in 2003 to $3.5 million in 2004. That is not an insignificant number, considering Pierzynski would have likely split time with Mauer, and possibly even backed him up. This MLB.com story gives some great quotes about the players the Twins were acquiring. On Nathan: "He's got a good arm and gets people out," Ryan said. "He had a good year with the Giants and he's playoff tested." "He's a stud," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Everything I've heard is he's a horse with a great arm. He should be a big part of our bullpen." Like me, you're probably wondering if the Twins petitioned the league to allow a horse to pitch. Gardy was speaking figuratively. We all learned how playoff tested Nathan really was, right Alex Rodriguez? Ouch. That was cold. On Bonser, considered at that time to be a better prospect due to his closer proximity to the Majors: "He's a young right-handed pitcher with a good arm and good stuff," Ryan said. "We think he's got the strength and stamina to be a future starter in the big leagues." The stamina part was either wrong or a mean, sarcastic joke. He did have a fun name. On Liriano, the wild horse (figurative horse again): "The left-hander has an excellent arm," Ryan said. "We've got a good look at him in the instructional league and we liked what we saw." I'd say! It's borderline remarkable that they plucked a 20-year-old Liriano out of A ball and he made the impact that he did. From the Giants' perspective, this trade was logical: "While it didn't come up easy to give up Joe, we feel we've got some alternatives within the organization," San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean said. "It's not often you can send a right-handed reliever and two unproven prospects for a front-line, All-Star catcher." On paper, that does make a lot of sense. The players involved just didn't line up that way. Here's what Kyle Lohse thinks about the whole thing, if you care: "I like him. He did just about anything you could to get a win," starting pitcher Kyle Lohse said. "He called a great game for me. It's kind of sad. It makes you wonder who else they'll keep and who they won't try to sign. It'll be pretty interesting." No one effing cares what you think, Kyle Lohse. Sit down and shave that ridiculous soul patch. And of course, A.J. did manage a slight dig on his way out: "It's outside, so that'll be very nice," he said. "Playing in the Metrodome all these years gets kind of old and kind of stale." Boom! Roasted. Analysis I'm quite certain the Twins are happy with how this trade worked out. Pierzynski's a nice player, but he's no Joe Mauer. In addition, adding Joe Nathan stabilized the bullpen for about a million years. Honestly, if Mariano Rivera didn't exist, it's possible that Nathan would be considered the best closer of this generation. Liriano never fully reached his potential in Minnesota, but fans will never forget his rookie season when he set the Metrodome ablaze and dominated with that ridiculous slider. Boof is a silly name, which we all look back at fondly. The Giants would probably like a couple do-overs when it comes to this trade. First, they would probably not make it at all. Second, since they actually made the trade, they probably would not have released Pierzynski after one season. He was not great in 2004, but then, he wasn't that much better from 2005-2011. He never posted an above-average OPS+ during that time. In fact, he didn't have an above-average offensive season until 2012, when he posted a career-high 119 OPS+ at age 35. The perception of Pierzynski as a player was quite different with Chicago. He was a pain, but he was a productive and wily pain. It's amazing what a punch to the jaw and a terrible call from an ump can do to change a player's perception. Who won the WAR? Pierzynski for the Giants: 0.3 Nathan for the Twins: 18.4 Liriano for the Twins: 9.5 Bonser for the Twins: -0.3 WAR won by the Twins! One Sentence Summary Widely considered one of the best in Twins history, this trade ultimately netted the Twins arguably their best closer of all-time, one extremely talented and frustrating pitcher and a guy named Boof. Click here to view the article

The 2001 season was the first in what would become a nearly decade-long turnaround of the Twins' franchise. For the first time in ages, the Twins were in a position to buy, rather than sell, at the trade deadline. This exciting season was about to get more exciting! Two separate trades signified that the Twins were going to finally do whatever it took to give Twins fans a taste of the postseason. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! I also wrote about the Todd Walker or Butch Huskey trade, depending on who you ask. You can find it here. The Trades: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded Mark Redman to the Detroit Tigers for Todd Jones. The Minnesota Twins traded Matt Lawton to the New York Mets for Rick Reed. Jones spent one half-season with the Twins. He threw only 19.1 innings and recorded just two saves. He left for Colorado as a free agent at the end of the season. Reed posted an ERA over five in 12 starts with the Twins in 2001. In 2002, Reed won 15 games for the Twins and posted a 3.78 ERA. He regressed in 2003, at the age of 38, and did not pitch another MLB game after that season. Download attachment: Lawton 1.jpg Redman was injured when traded, so he started only two games for the Tigers in 2001. In 2002, Redman threw over 200 innings and posted a nearly league-average 101 ERA+. Redman had his finest season in 2003, posting a 117 ERA+ in 190.2 innings for the World Champion Florida Marlins. Lawton posted a .246/.352/.366 triple slash in 48 games for the Mets in 2001. He was traded to the Indians that off-season, and had a couple more productive seasons with the Indians. He played his best baseball as a Twin. How did I feel at the time? It was cool, I have to say. I liked Matt Lawton, so I was sad to see him go. However, I was excited that the Twins were seemingly trying to win more games rather than save more money. Since these trades happened just two days apart, it was hard to separate them. The upgrade from Redman to Reed was significant, and I knew that. Jones was a welcome addition for me, as I hated the Twins bullpen at that time. LaTroy Hawkins was a train-wreck and Bob Wells is my all-time least favorite Twins player. Todd Jones was a proven closer, and I didn't know any better when I was 18. Why make these trades? The Jones trade came first. Terry Ryan clearly explained why he made this trade in this AP story I found on ESPN: "We need some immediate help," Minnesota general manager Terry Ryan said. "This is a situation where we have a chance to win and we want to take it. It's a good feeling to be on this side, looking to add rather than to subtract." It was a good feeling. The Twins were good. They weren't great, but they were good. They were just a game out of first place and adding a decent pitcher to the bullpen made a lot of sense. Redman was just 27 and was a former first-round pick. However, Ryan explains why he was expendable at that time: "Unfortunately, what he's going through now, he can't help us," Ryan said. "You've got to give him time to heal. It's too long for us to wait." It's a bit surreal to see this in print. The Twins putting the future aside at the expense of the present? It was not the M.O. of the front office prior to this season. In a way, this gives hope for the 2014 and 2015 seasons, if the Twins can get things together a bit. Todd Jones didn't seem impressed with Mark Redman, according to this story from The Blade (awesome name): “I'm mad I wasn't able to bring the Tigers a little more in a trade,” Jones said yesterday after being dealt to the Minnesota Twins for left-handed pitcher Mark Redman. “That's my fault.” Hmm, good thing they weren't going to be teammates. Redman was quite a bit better than Jones the following year, so maybe Jones should have been more happy about the deal. Two days later, the Twins traded away Matt Lawton. Here's the rationale, from an AP story I found on CNNSI: "We're looking to stabilize our pitching staff," Twins general manager Terry Ryan said. "We've struggled since the break. We felt like Reed was the best available. If you're going to get pitching of his caliber you have to give up something." "He's savvy, he throws strikes, he's a veteran," Ryan said. "He's been through the postseason and the World Series." The rationale makes sense to me. The Twins had other outfielders, and were reportedly still trying to trade for Dmitri Young. The Twins didn't have enough pitching, so getting Reed and his veteran savvy was savvy in itself. The Mets were happy to add to their offense: "I think we have had enough pitching to keep us in the game but not nearly the offense," GM Steve Phillips said. "We need to address that. I understand the importance of pitching to winning, but if we don't score runs at a pace that allows the pitching to be rewarded, it doesn't matter." The Mets' offense was putrid. Only Mike Piazza posted an above-average season. Their outfield was Benny Agbayani, Jay Payton and Timo Perez. Yikes, that's gross. I'd definitely rather have Lawton than those dudes. Analysis Both these trades made sense. The Twins' bullpen was poor. Eddie Guardado was good, but every other arm was poor. Todd Jones was not poor. A reliever really can't have a ton of impact in two months, but Jones certainly performed better than an injured Redman. Plus, adding Reed two days later pretty much negated any hole that Redman's departure might have created. Reed wasn't The Franchise, but proved to be a solid starter the following season and an important piece on the Twins' first playoff team since their 1991 World Championship. Redman's loss was never really felt. His 109 ERA+ as a rookie in 2000 was promising, but he only eclipsed that number once in his career. I remember Lawton as a popular player. He had great on-base skills and was a decent power/speed player. He was also 29 and the Twins replaced him with Brian Buchanan, who posted a really solid .274/.342/.487 triple slash in 2001. Lawton's loss was probably felt more by the fans than the team. Who won the WAR? Jones for the Twins: 0.3 Redman for the Tigers: 2.7 WAR won by the Tigers! Reed for the Twins: 3.6 Lawton for the Mets: 0.3 WAR won by the Twins! One Sentence Summary The Twins were on the verge of an eight-year stretch of good baseball; these trades didn't affect that a whole lot but signaled a new direction for the Franchise. Click here to view the article

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. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! 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 - 102.1Random 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! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Benson_Joe_Dugout_US_720.jpg I had intended to run some errands this afternoon, then I saw this tweet: Joe Benson is a member of the Texas Rangers organization... — Seth Stohs (@SethTweets) May 25, 2013 I was confused, but I knew this was an option. The Twins needed a 40-man spot for the immortal P.J. Walters, and Benson has been injured or terrible ever since his 2011 September call-up. Even in earning his 2011 promotion, he had basically played two full seasons at AA to get to Minnesota. That is still a confusing move. Then this tweet came along: Joe Benson was placed on outright waivers and claimed by the Rangers — Rhett Bollinger (@RhettBollinger) May 25, 2013 He was just outright waived, which pretty much says all you need to know about how Benson was looked at within the Twins' organization. In a lot of ways, he probably earned his reputation, after failing to grow as a player since leaving AA. Just take a look at how Benson has moved since September 2011: ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ September 2011: Promoted to MLB, plays in 21 games, hits .239/.270/.352 and strikes out a lot (23-years-old, no experience above AA). Benson was also fined by Ron Gardenhire for wearing a suit in the clubhouse. This was a joke, but still extremely stupid and an event that led to various eye-rolls from yours truly. Winter 2012: Baseball America lists Benson as the 99th best prospect in baseball. March 2012: Benson is assigned to AAA, Terry Ryan has this to say: "We just need to control the emotional part of his game; he gets a little excited," Ryan said. "We don't want to change his personality, I can tell you that, because he brings a little edge to him." April 2012: Benson gets off to an extremely slow start in Rochester, hitting .190/.286/.354 May 2012: Benson is sent to AA New Britain, where he does not hit any better. May 24, 2012: Benson has surgery to repair his broken left hamate bone, which sidelines him for six weeks. June 28, 2012: Benson returns to active play. July 16, 2012: Benson returns to New Britain. August 2012: Benson returns to not hitting well, hitting .109/.169/.200 in 14 August games September 2012: Benson is not part of September call-ups because he needs surgery on his left knee, which sidelines him for four months. March 2013: Benson does not perform well in spring training, is assigned to AAA. April 2013: Benson hits .217/.278/.337 at Rochester, begins losing starts to Clete Thomas. May 2013: Benson hits .162/.230/.221. May 25, 2012: Benson is put on outright waivers by the Twins and claimed by the Texas Rangers. That is a pretty sucky timeline for Benson. Not only is he not hitting well throughout, but he keeps getting injured and keeps falling further and further from the Twins' good graces. I don't have many quotes or anecdotes regarding Benson beyond the two I shared at the beginning of the timeline. However, it is pretty clear that Benson did not fit in well with this organization. I really bristle at the Terry Ryan quote. I understand the desire to have Benson control the emotional part of his game, but if that is something he has been trying to do over the past two seasons, it isn't working. I won't claim this move was made due to Benson's personality, but if it was, then I really don't like it. I despise moves made based on personality. I mean, I named by blog after Kevin Slowey. However, there are definitely baseball reasons that justify this move, and I really hope that those were the only determinants. Getting back to Benson the player: he clearly has a lot to work on. He isn't hitting at all. Since he can't hit, he can't show off his good power and he can't utilize his good speed on the bases. His inability to hit has landed him on the bench, which makes it impossible to display his excellent range, speed and ability in the outfield. It's hard to look back at Benson's 2011 season with New Britain and not be intrigued. He hit .285/.388/.495 with 28 doubles, 16 home runs and 13 stolen bases. At his peak, I thought Benson could become a 20/20 player with an OBP around .350. When you add all that to his centerfield-quality defense and strong arm, the potential is a great player who provides a ton of value. None of that works if Benson can't put the bat on the ball. A fresh start in Texas might be just what he needs. He'll join a new organization which may not hold any of the preconceived notions and opinions that Benson may have earned in Minnesota (perhaps, justifiably). Texas can already boast one outfield reclamation project in Nelson Cruz, and Benson is even younger. Benson won't become a Ranger if he doesn't succeed at improving his hitting. Maybe spending time with a new coaching staff will click with Benson and he'll work out the issues that are holding him back. I hope it happens, as I think there is a solid MLB player within Joe Benson. This was a move made out of necessity. The Twins needed to replace some struggling starting pitchers and made the determination that Benson would be the odd man out. Personally, I think there were better options, but I don't get to make those decisions. At this point, it was a justifiable move, but a move that could certainly come back and haunt the Twins. If Benson figures out the one area of his game that isn't working right now, he has enough talent and loud enough tools to "put it all together" and become the player the Twins promoted back in September of 2011. Click here to view the article