Brad Swanson

This is unbelievable. I've been reading these for a solid hour now and I have no intention to stop. One scout loved German Gonzalez.

Is this an adopt a prospect thread? I'd be willing.

That was fun. I wish more teams showed this type of creativity. It makes fans feel more engaged.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Hello all. I'm going to try to be more consistent with my posts. I figure, if anyone actually wants to read the senseless ramblings of a madman, the madman should probably be conscientious enough to provide the ramblings in a consistent manner. 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 weekend series briefly and then move into some of the more random stuff, including poems, paint images and shameless self-promotion. I am also planning something for every Friday morning, although the content and format will be inconsistent. I'll also throw up some random stuff during the week, if something strikes my fancy. Enough with the idioms and explanation. Weekend Recap Clearly Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey switches 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. 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 - 2003 Answer 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

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Hello all. I'm going to try to be more consistent with my posts. I figure, if anyone actually wants to read the senseless ramblings of a madman, the madman should probably be conscientious enough to provide the ramblings in a consistent manner. 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 weekend series briefly and then move into some of the more random stuff, including poems, paint images and shameless self-promotion. I am also planning something for every Friday morning, although the content and format will be inconsistent. I'll also throw up some random stuff during the week, if something strikes my fancy. Enough with the idioms and explanation. Weekend Recap Clearly Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey switches 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. 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 - 2003 Answer 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

This is pretty boffo. Sano is so strong and he isn't even fully grown yet. Amazing.

Hi everyone. Thanks for the feedback, I will make sure it is easier to find the rest of my madness in the future. As for the final comment, I'm going to assume that is a question for me to answer in the future, so I'll hold on to it. Thanks!

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1662-Friday-Mailbag-(5-3-2013)!!!!!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! September 18, 2010. What does that day mean to you? Possibly nothing, perhaps more than that, but ultimately, it was just another day. It was just another day for Kevin Slowey as well. Slowey awoke fresh that morning, went to the ballpark and started a baseball game for the Minnesota Twins. Slowey pitched well, going 6.2 innings, giving up just two runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out eight and improved his record to 13-6. The ball literally jumped from his hand, like a basketball player jumping for an offensive rebound and then throwing down a powerful put-back dunk. Little did Slowey know that he would still be waiting for his next win to this very day. Two and a half years, but only fifteen dreadful starts later, Slowey is still searching for that next win. The path toward that elusive win has been winding, like a snake living in a terrarium that is too small. His travels have taken him all over the nation, but success has not followed. This isn't easy to swallow for the 2005 second-round pick out of Winthrop. He made Minor League Baseball look silly, like a tall guy walking on his tip-toes through a forest of miniature model train trees. It only took him three years to reach the Big Leagues, but he was back in the Minors in just that same short, fleeting, momentary, passing period of time. How Slowey returned to the Minors is a sordid tale, one that is difficult to express clearly and without constant metaphor. A Pittsburgh-native, Slowey was known for his steely demeanor and nerdish leanings. His book learning was frowned upon and his intelligent manner of communicating was spat upon with the disdain of many generations of Proletariat backlash. That Slowey was smarter than those in the room was a demon that seethed within his belly, lashing out repeatedly when Slowey was forced to interact with members of the Media and clownish teammates. Slowey harnessed that demon on the mound, using it as motivation, like an eight-year-old with a father who makes him play a sport for 12 months straight and then watch videotape of his performance to make him a better player even though all he really wants to do is watch some TV. Using that motivation, Slowey became a reliable hand, someone the Twins could really turn to in times of need. Times like when Slowey started games. But Slowey never really fit in with his team. In a lot of ways, he was the Zubaz of Minnesota. He was liked because he was comfortable, but he just didn't look right or fit well or gain the respect of the other pants, so to speak. 2011 would be Slowey's lowest point as a pitcher. He spent the majority of the season battling shoulder and abdominal pains like a warrior fighting a mythical beast while also learning how to love. When he had slain his own body like a two-headed dragon, he was ready to get that next win. However, that next win would be a figurative two-headed dragon, who could breathe both fire and ineffective pitches. At the end of that fateful season, as if written in the stars, Slowey finished without that elusive, slippery, mysterious win and added a 6.66 ERA to boot. This would be Slowey's final season with the Mighty Clones of the North. The force of his potent brain was too much for the Twins' clubhouse. He read Newsweek instead of nothing. The Twins shipped Slowey off to the Rockies of Colorado, both physically and baseballically. Slowey wouldn't last long amongst the mighty mountains of the Northwest, ending his travels in Cleveland, a city where all dreams come true. Alas, Slowey's Cleveland dreams of winning baseball were dashed, sputtered out like one of those old-timey cars that you see at a car show but that also isn't running well and is just a model at this point. Slowey wouldn't pitch an inning for the Indians, spending his season split between the misery of injury and the humiliation of Minor League Baseball. Slowey's tale was as winding as a long, gross rat tail, but was also very close to falling off altogether. Flash forward to just one year later. Slowey had resurfaced in Miami, a city best known for Burn Notice. Through fortitude, hard work, grit, guile, resilience, cunning, wiliness, slyness, command and control, Slowey reached the highest level of the Majors, as if he had climbed his own Mount Kilimanjaro or a really long staircase. Now at the top once more, Slowey was ready to earn that unattainable win, and slay the dragon, oppress the Proletariat and conquer the Zubaz while getting that cameo on Burn Notice that he so richly deserves. Fate is a cruel mistress. Fate is unkind. Fate is a that person who won't move over in the fast lane. Slowey has been dynamic this season, like a magician set on fire while performing card tricks of the Gods. And yet, that win has eluded him, like a green shell from Mario Kart that wasn't aimed quite right. Slowey spent all of April hurling a baseball like he had never hurled before, but at the end of the month, he still sits winless. Slowey still endures. Slowey still burns. Slowey still aches. But Slowey won't relent. Slowey turns 29 today; bittersweet as birthdays always are. As the hands on the clock spin like one of those breakdancing guys who is really good at spinning on his head, it is impossible to forget about mortality. However, few will ever have to wonder what it might mean to never have another win in life. For Kevin Slowey, he has to wonder every day if that last win, way back in September of 2010, will be his last. One last fleeting moment of pure success, drenched with the sweat of hard work and dedication, dripping with the saliva of lessons learned, engorged with the tears of failed expectations and covered in the blood of man. This amalgamation of bodily fluids is all one can really ask for, and all one can really hope for another.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! September 18, 2010. What does that day mean to you? Possibly nothing, perhaps more than that, but ultimately, it was just another day. It was just another day for Kevin Slowey as well. Slowey awoke fresh that morning, went to the ballpark and started a baseball game for the Minnesota Twins. Slowey pitched well, going 6.2 innings, giving up just two runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out eight and improved his record to 13-6. The ball literally jumped from his hand, like a basketball player jumping for an offensive rebound and then throwing down a powerful put-back dunk. Little did Slowey know that he would still be waiting for his next win to this very day. Two and a half years, but only fifteen dreadful starts later, Slowey is still searching for that next win. The path toward that elusive win has been winding, like a snake living in a terrarium that is too small. His travels have taken him all over the nation, but success has not followed. This isn't easy to swallow for the 2005 second-round pick out of Winthrop. He made Minor League Baseball look silly, like a tall guy walking on his tip-toes through a forest of miniature model train trees. It only took him three years to reach the Big Leagues, but he was back in the Minors in just that same short, fleeting, momentary, passing period of time. How Slowey returned to the Minors is a sordid tale, one that is difficult to express clearly and without constant metaphor. A Pittsburgh-native, Slowey was known for his steely demeanor and nerdish leanings. His book learning was frowned upon and his intelligent manner of communicating was spat upon with the disdain of many generations of Proletariat backlash. That Slowey was smarter than those in the room was a demon that seethed within his belly, lashing out repeatedly when Slowey was forced to interact with members of the Media and clownish teammates. Slowey harnessed that demon on the mound, using it as motivation, like an eight-year-old with a father who makes him play a sport for 12 months straight and then watch videotape of his performance to make him a better player even though all he really wants to do is watch some TV. Using that motivation, Slowey became a reliable hand, someone the Twins could really turn to in times of need. Times like when Slowey started games. But Slowey never really fit in with his team. In a lot of ways, he was the Zubaz of Minnesota. He was liked because he was comfortable, but he just didn't look right or fit well or gain the respect of the other pants, so to speak. 2011 would be Slowey's lowest point as a pitcher. He spent the majority of the season battling shoulder and abdominal pains like a warrior fighting a mythical beast while also learning how to love. When he had slain his own body like a two-headed dragon, he was ready to get that next win. However, that next win would be a figurative two-headed dragon, who could breathe both fire and ineffective pitches. At the end of that fateful season, as if written in the stars, Slowey finished without that elusive, slippery, mysterious win and added a 6.66 ERA to boot. This would be Slowey's final season with the Mighty Clones of the North. The force of his potent brain was too much for the Twins' clubhouse. He read Newsweek instead of nothing. The Twins shipped Slowey off to the Rockies of Colorado, both physically and baseballically. Slowey wouldn't last long amongst the mighty mountains of the Northwest, ending his travels in Cleveland, a city where all dreams come true. Alas, Slowey's Cleveland dreams of winning baseball were dashed, sputtered out like one of those old-timey cars that you see at a car show but that also isn't running well and is just a model at this point. Slowey wouldn't pitch an inning for the Indians, spending his season split between the misery of injury and the humiliation of Minor League Baseball. Slowey's tale was as winding as a long, gross rat tail, but was also very close to falling off altogether. Flash forward to just one year later. Slowey had resurfaced in Miami, a city best known for Burn Notice. Through fortitude, hard work, grit, guile, resilience, cunning, wiliness, slyness, command and control, Slowey reached the highest level of the Majors, as if he had climbed his own Mount Kilimanjaro or a really long staircase. Now at the top once more, Slowey was ready to earn that unattainable win, and slay the dragon, oppress the Proletariat and conquer the Zubaz while getting that cameo on Burn Notice that he so richly deserves. Fate is a cruel mistress. Fate is unkind. Fate is a that person who won't move over in the fast lane. Slowey has been dynamic this season, like a magician set on fire while performing card tricks of the Gods. And yet, that win has eluded him, like a green shell from Mario Kart that wasn't aimed quite right. Slowey spent all of April hurling a baseball like he had never hurled before, but at the end of the month, he still sits winless. Slowey still endures. Slowey still burns. Slowey still aches. But Slowey won't relent. Slowey turns 29 today; bittersweet as birthdays always are. As the hands on the clock spin like one of those breakdancing guys who is really good at spinning on his head, it is impossible to forget about mortality. However, few will ever have to wonder what it might mean to never have another win in life. For Kevin Slowey, he has to wonder every day if that last win, way back in September of 2010, will be his last. One last fleeting moment of pure success, drenched with the sweat of hard work and dedication, dripping with the saliva of lessons learned, engorged with the tears of failed expectations and covered in the blood of man. This amalgamation of bodily fluids is all one can really ask for, and all one can really hope for another.

It's a great way to generate page views too. I get about 80% of my traffic from Baseball Reference. Just so we're clear - 80% of 5 is 4.

Welcome to the third installment of my (fake) mailbag. In the past, I have used this space to answer the tough questions that no one seems to want to actually ask me. Today, I have a treat! Actual questions! Well, not all of them. See if you can spot the fakes. Which flavor ice cream is Anthony Swarzak? ~ @ERolfPleiss on Twitter Now, this is a question! Well, he's certainly vanilla. That isn't a race-based statement, I just think he is kind of boring. However, he does sprinkle in some surprises here and there. He is also known to be a little strange and believes in Bigfoot. That's cool, but certainly not normal. He'd never be my first choice, but likely would not be my last choice either. That eliminates anything with coffee in it. Anthony Swarzak is a Take 5 McFlurry. It is vanilla-based and would be better with chocolate but the Kaisers at McDonalds won't make you one with chocolate ice cream. Again, not racial, I just prefer chocolate ice cream in all instances. Back to Swarzak ice cream. The Take 5 contains pretzels, caramel, peanuts and peanut butter. Each is delicious and together they form a winning combo. The addition of the Take 5 almost makes the vanilla ice cream tolerable. However, McDonalds is a corporation, so good luck getting a consistent amount of Take 5 in your McFlurry. Most times, you are left with a lot of vanilla ice cream. That's Anthony Swarzak, mostly vanilla ice cream, with some tasty treats every so often. Torii Hunter made some statements welcoming Aaron Hicks to the line of great Twins centerfielders and said he'd hit for power not just be a slap hitter. So who was Torii dissing most? ~ TwinVike61, Twins Daily member Torii Hunter seems to love nothing more than hearing Torii Hunter talk. In this instance, I believe he was aiming his comments at Ben Revere. I believe this to be true because Hunter is linked closely as some sort of mentor to Denard Span. I can't remember seeing the same thing with Revere and Hunter. Therefore, Revere is probably the slap hitter that Hunter refers to. In reality, Revere is a slap hitter with no power, so I guess Hunter is right. Hunter will almost certainly be on MLB Network when his playing career ends. I will almost certainly continue to not watch MLB Network with sound. If the Twins were forced into a situation where a position player was needed to pitch, who would they use and why? ~ Brad S, St. Paul, MN This question requires a lot of thought. First, I think the way the roster is constructed, we would only see a position player pitch if a game went to a lot of extra innings. There isn't a Drew Butera on the team that you would feed to a hungry team that has already scored 20 or so runs. Let's eliminate all the obvious names. No way the Twins risk Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau, Oswaldo Arcia, or Aaron Hicks. Each player is either too established or has too much upside. Hicks reportedly can hit 98 on the radar gun, but still, Jose Canseco. Anyone likely to start the game is unlikely to pitch, due to fatigue and whatnot. That takes out Chris Parmelee, Trevor Plouffe, Pedro Florimon and Brian Dozier, although throwing Florimon to the wolves wouldn't really mean much in the cosmos. Jamey Carroll is probably too old and Ryan Doumit only looks old, but is too frail. This leaves Eduardo Escobar and Wilkin Ramirez. Escobar has a pretty decent infield arm, so he might be the choice. However, I'd go with Ramirez for three reasons. First, he seems like a good guy. Second, he knows his spot on the team is tenuous at best, so he'll do what it takes to stay. Third, he's a pinch hitter/fifth outfielder and would be easy enough to replace (sorry Wilkin). So, my prediction is that if the Twins ever find themselves in the 18th inning of a game with no pitchers left to use, Wilkin Ramirez will take the mound and the remaining crowd of 56 will be super pumped. How many more days until Kevin Correia turns back into a pumpkin? Or would he be a totally different type of squash? ~ @ERolfPleiss When's his next start? Kidding! I actually delved quite deeply into Correia's stats earlier this week. To sum that piece up: I have no idea what statistical analysis is. However, three stats concern me. His strikeout rate and home run rates are very low and his strand rate is very high. The strikeout rate is too low for sustained success. The home run and strand rates are way out of line with his career numbers. Most 32-year-olds do not suddenly establish new baseline numbers. There are a few pieces of the equation that point toward Correia sustaining some level of this performance and not regressing all the way back to his pre-Twins days: Elite walk rate - he basically allows no runners via walk BABip isn't crazy low - he hasn't been lucky with non-home runs Relatively normal hit rate - guys get on base, just not via walk If those numbers maintain, he can remain successful to some extent. If he starts walking batters, then things can change rapidly. Finally, to address what type of squash Correia is - he is a cucumber, because I didn't know that was a type of squash and I wanted to share that new knowledge. Will any player ever top Joe Nathan's Twins career saves record? ~ Brad S, St. Paul, MN Prolly not. The reality is that long-term, established closers are a luxury that teams with middling payrolls should simply not afford. Glen Perkins is a fine closer and will likely rack up a bunch of saves in the next few seasons. However, if he ever truly establishes himself as an elite closer, the Twins should trade him as soon as they can, considering a reasonable replacement is available. The Twins' philosophy in last June's draft was to select a boatload of college relievers, convert many to starters and collect the profit. However, some of those college relievers-turned starters will convert back to relief. A few could become elite relievers, capable of replacing current set-up men and closers. If this is the case, the Twins would then be able to trade their established players for other needs or prospects. In a perfect world, no reliever even approaches Nathan's record because Nathan himself probably should have been traded long before he reached the record that he now holds. Unpopular opinion perhaps, but think of what the Twins could have gotten for Nathan after a couple of those dominant seasons. If you do drugs, what do drugs do? ~ @ERolfPleiss l don't do drugs. Drugs make me sick. They're bad for your body. Up with hope, down with dope! That being said, drugs mimic the brain's natural chemicals. However, because these chemicals are no longer in the proper quantities or being released as the brain is used to, drugs tell your brain to take more drugs, which leads to addiction. Your brain doesn't get it because it used to like these chemicals, just not like this, man. Now the brain is all confused and disjointed and things start to go all haywire and wonky. Haywire + Wonky = bad. The message is clear: No!!!!!!!!! Drugs Please use three Twins player names as verbs. ~ Brad S, St. Paul, MN Fine, but you'll have to use context clues to determine what each verb means. Mikey Pelfed his steak. He ate it anyway. Even though he was really nervous, Joey really Mauered his spelling test. He celebrated with milk. Trev really Plouffed that ball. It almost went through his legs twice. Brad Swanson is the butternut squash of blog-guys. He really Pelfed this mailbag. If you have a better answer to any of these questions or future question for him to answer, please respond in the comments. 10Q.

Welcome to the third installment of my (fake) mailbag. In the past, I have used this space to answer the tough questions that no one seems to want to actually ask me. Today, I have a treat! Actual questions! Well, not all of them. See if you can spot the fakes. Which flavor ice cream is Anthony Swarzak? ~ @ERolfPleiss on Twitter Now, this is a question! Well, he's certainly vanilla. That isn't a race-based statement, I just think he is kind of boring. However, he does sprinkle in some surprises here and there. He is also known to be a little strange and believes in Bigfoot. That's cool, but certainly not normal. He'd never be my first choice, but likely would not be my last choice either. That eliminates anything with coffee in it. Anthony Swarzak is a Take 5 McFlurry. It is vanilla-based and would be better with chocolate but the Kaisers at McDonalds won't make you one with chocolate ice cream. Again, not racial, I just prefer chocolate ice cream in all instances. Back to Swarzak ice cream. The Take 5 contains pretzels, caramel, peanuts and peanut butter. Each is delicious and together they form a winning combo. The addition of the Take 5 almost makes the vanilla ice cream tolerable. However, McDonalds is a corporation, so good luck getting a consistent amount of Take 5 in your McFlurry. Most times, you are left with a lot of vanilla ice cream. That's Anthony Swarzak, mostly vanilla ice cream, with some tasty treats every so often. Torii Hunter made some statements welcoming Aaron Hicks to the line of great Twins centerfielders and said he'd hit for power not just be a slap hitter. So who was Torii dissing most? ~ TwinVike61, Twins Daily member Torii Hunter seems to love nothing more than hearing Torii Hunter talk. In this instance, I believe he was aiming his comments at Ben Revere. I believe this to be true because Hunter is linked closely as some sort of mentor to Denard Span. I can't remember seeing the same thing with Revere and Hunter. Therefore, Revere is probably the slap hitter that Hunter refers to. In reality, Revere is a slap hitter with no power, so I guess Hunter is right. Hunter will almost certainly be on MLB Network when his playing career ends. I will almost certainly continue to not watch MLB Network with sound. If the Twins were forced into a situation where a position player was needed to pitch, who would they use and why? ~ Brad S, St. Paul, MN This question requires a lot of thought. First, I think the way the roster is constructed, we would only see a position player pitch if a game went to a lot of extra innings. There isn't a Drew Butera on the team that you would feed to a hungry team that has already scored 20 or so runs. Let's eliminate all the obvious names. No way the Twins risk Joe Mauer, Josh Willingham, Justin Morneau, Oswaldo Arcia, or Aaron Hicks. Each player is either too established or has too much upside. Hicks reportedly can hit 98 on the radar gun, but still, Jose Canseco. Anyone likely to start the game is unlikely to pitch, due to fatigue and whatnot. That takes out Chris Parmelee, Trevor Plouffe, Pedro Florimon and Brian Dozier, although throwing Florimon to the wolves wouldn't really mean much in the cosmos. Jamey Carroll is probably too old and Ryan Doumit only looks old, but is too frail. This leaves Eduardo Escobar and Wilkin Ramirez. Escobar has a pretty decent infield arm, so he might be the choice. However, I'd go with Ramirez for three reasons. First, he seems like a good guy. Second, he knows his spot on the team is tenuous at best, so he'll do what it takes to stay. Third, he's a pinch hitter/fifth outfielder and would be easy enough to replace (sorry Wilkin). So, my prediction is that if the Twins ever find themselves in the 18th inning of a game with no pitchers left to use, Wilkin Ramirez will take the mound and the remaining crowd of 56 will be super pumped. How many more days until Kevin Correia turns back into a pumpkin? Or would he be a totally different type of squash? ~ @ERolfPleiss When's his next start? Kidding! I actually delved quite deeply into Correia's stats earlier this week. To sum that piece up: I have no idea what statistical analysis is. However, three stats concern me. His strikeout rate and home run rates are very low and his strand rate is very high. The strikeout rate is too low for sustained success. The home run and strand rates are way out of line with his career numbers. Most 32-year-olds do not suddenly establish new baseline numbers. There are a few pieces of the equation that point toward Correia sustaining some level of this performance and not regressing all the way back to his pre-Twins days: Elite walk rate - he basically allows no runners via walk BABip isn't crazy low - he hasn't been lucky with non-home runs Relatively normal hit rate - guys get on base, just not via walk If those numbers maintain, he can remain successful to some extent. If he starts walking batters, then things can change rapidly. Finally, to address what type of squash Correia is - he is a cucumber, because I didn't know that was a type of squash and I wanted to share that new knowledge. Will any player ever top Joe Nathan's Twins career saves record? ~ Brad S, St. Paul, MN Prolly not. The reality is that long-term, established closers are a luxury that teams with middling payrolls should simply not afford. Glen Perkins is a fine closer and will likely rack up a bunch of saves in the next few seasons. However, if he ever truly establishes himself as an elite closer, the Twins should trade him as soon as they can, considering a reasonable replacement is available. The Twins' philosophy in last June's draft was to select a boatload of college relievers, convert many to starters and collect the profit. However, some of those college relievers-turned starters will convert back to relief. A few could become elite relievers, capable of replacing current set-up men and closers. If this is the case, the Twins would then be able to trade their established players for other needs or prospects. In a perfect world, no reliever even approaches Nathan's record because Nathan himself probably should have been traded long before he reached the record that he now holds. Unpopular opinion perhaps, but think of what the Twins could have gotten for Nathan after a couple of those dominant seasons. If you do drugs, what do drugs do? ~ @ERolfPleiss l don't do drugs. Drugs make me sick. They're bad for your body. Up with hope, down with dope! That being said, drugs mimic the brain's natural chemicals. However, because these chemicals are no longer in the proper quantities or being released as the brain is used to, drugs tell your brain to take more drugs, which leads to addiction. Your brain doesn't get it because it used to like these chemicals, just not like this, man. Now the brain is all confused and disjointed and things start to go all haywire and wonky. Haywire + Wonky = bad. The message is clear: No!!!!!!!!! Drugs Please use three Twins player names as verbs. ~ Brad S, St. Paul, MN Fine, but you'll have to use context clues to determine what each verb means. Mikey Pelfed his steak. He ate it anyway. Even though he was really nervous, Joey really Mauered his spelling test. He celebrated with milk. Trev really Plouffed that ball. It almost went through his legs twice. Brad Swanson is the butternut squash of blog-guys. He really Pelfed this mailbag. If you have a better answer to any of these questions or future question for him to answer, please respond in the comments. 10Q.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Do you like meaningless stats? Do you enjoy cherry-picking? How about fallacy? Are you enamored with Kevin Correia and his shockingly awesome start to this season? Do you like being asked questions? I thought it might be fun to look at Kevin Correia's stats, with an eye toward history and multiplication. If you think that sounds fun as well, please keep reading. Pro-rated stats The Twins have played 22 games this season. Correia has started five games and stands to start about 28 more (give or take, depending on whether the Twins move to a one-man rotation or something bizarre like that). Wait, let's explore that. If the Twins decided, "hey, let's see if we can't make Kevin Correia's arm explode" and allowed him to become the full-time starting pitcher, he would get 140 more starts. Right now, he is winning three of every five starts and losing once in five. This would be his record if those numbers held (which I am pretty sure they would): 87-29 Hmm, that's an awful lot of losses. He would probably lead the league. Here is how many strikeouts he would have, averaging 15 for every 5 starts: 435 That's a lot. However, that would be over roughly 1050 innings, and thus not very impressive but really impressive. Nolan Ryan struck out a modern record 383 batters in 1973, and did so in 700 fewer innings. Not nearly the workhorse Correia could become under this scenario though. Ok, this is just not realistic. I mean, if any team is going to a one-man rotation, wouldn't the Twins be the last team you would expect? Let's try to be normal here. If Correia keeps this pace and gets 28 more starts, here will be his final numbers on the season: 9.9 rWAR, 2.1 fWAR (THATS A JOKE DO YOU GET IT?) 240 IP, 20-6, 2.23 ERA, 225 hits allowed, 59 ER, 33 BB, 99 K, 0 balks, 0 wild pitches and 0 hit-by-pitch. I'm quite certain that FanGraphs.com would 404 as well. Find players with crazy rate stats like Correia's Pro-rating stats is easy. It's basically multiplication, which any eight-year-old can do. Six-year-olds? Not so much, but six-year-olds lack in a lot of areas, if we are going to honest with ourselves. Using Baseball Reference's season finder, we can pinpoint just how many pitchers have stats like Correia's and how they compare. I'll start with his rate stats, which currently sit as such: SO/9 - 3.7 BB/9 - 1.2 HR/9 - 0.5 H/9 - 8.4 14 pitchers have posted a season with those stats, since 1901. It hasn't been done since 1942 which simply means that Correia is a throwback. Tiny Bonham, Babe Adams, Slim Sallee, and Noodles Hahn have the most ridiculous names from the list. Oh, and Al Orth. So, it's rare. I am sure many pitchers have put up comparable stats over 36 innings though. Correia's walk rate alone is masterful. I wonder how many pitchers have had a walk rate that low for a full season... 93 is that number, most recently Cliff Lee just last season. Brad Radke did it four times and Carlos Silva once, for a nice 4:1 Brad to Carlos ratio. The highest season ERA on this list is Radke's 4.49 back in 2003. The best ERA from someone who didn't pitch when all people who were photographed looked surprised that their photo was being taken even though you had to sit for like, a really long time, is Greg Maddux, when he posted a 1.63 ERA back in 1995. On the flip side, Correia's strikeout rate is quite low. Historically low, one might say less than confidently. It's not really that historic. Actually, it has happened 2,237 times since 1901. Rather than be thorough and comb through the data, let's cherry-pick, as you all tacitly agreed that you enjoyed it. Since 1961, this feat has been accomplished 261 times, which is much more manageable for me. The worst ERA of that group belongs to Livan Hernandez, who posted a 6.05 ERA in 2008, at the age of 67. Carlos Silva was second, at 5.94 back in 2006. The best ERA of this bunch belongs to Joe Horlen, with a 2.06 ERA back in 1967. Correia's current ERA would be the 4th best since 1961 with a strikeout rate as low as 3.7 per nine innings. Since 1961, only five names appear on both lists, and one is a 2005 Carlos Silva, which has an oak-y finish. Correia currently has a 179 ERA+. This number is astronomical. Just how astronomical? Well, only 68 pitchers have posted such an astronomical number since 1901. Just glancing at the list, Randy Johnson did it 58 times and Pedro Martinez did it 57. I could be counting poorly, as I was hit in the nose with a dodgeball while putting eye drops in. Regardless, if Correia can keep up that number, he will join some elite, blurry company. Other Fun Facts/Miscellany Correia is currently tied for 100th in the MLB in strikeouts. Anibal Sanchez struck out 17 in one game. Correia is tied for 7th in fewest walks, just ahead of Kevin Slowey. Correia is 20th in ERA, just ahead of Kevin Slowey. If you rearrange the letters in Kevin Correia, you get Cevin Korreia. Kevin Correia's fastball sits at about 90, or roughly 20 MPH faster than you can throw (probably more or even a lot more). Joe Mauer is his catcher (I think), so that probably explains everything. Correia was a Giant, then a Padre, then a Pirate, now a Twin, always a shapeshifter. Correia's GB% is 45.8%, which makes him a fly ball pitcher, no matter what Beck Bremleven tries to tell you. The proudest I have ever been of an analogy is from my Correia signing post. See if you can find it! Sumitup Kevin Correia is pitching better than anyone expected. Anyone. If someone tries to tell you that they envisioned this level of performance, you have my permission to tie their shoes together, but only as a lesson. Please draw their attention to the tied together laces and explain to them the lesson you have taught them. I mean it, no one needs to get hurt just because they are a filthy liar. His numbers are fun to look at because they are so unexpected. I look forward to seeing what craziness his numbers will bring in the future. Seriously, no one make anyone trip on their laces.

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Do you like meaningless stats? Do you enjoy cherry-picking? How about fallacy? Are you enamored with Kevin Correia and his shockingly awesome start to this season? Do you like being asked questions? I thought it might be fun to look at Kevin Correia's stats, with an eye toward history and multiplication. If you think that sounds fun as well, please keep reading. Pro-rated stats The Twins have played 22 games this season. Correia has started five games and stands to start about 28 more (give or take, depending on whether the Twins move to a one-man rotation or something bizarre like that). Wait, let's explore that. If the Twins decided, "hey, let's see if we can't make Kevin Correia's arm explode" and allowed him to become the full-time starting pitcher, he would get 140 more starts. Right now, he is winning three of every five starts and losing once in five. This would be his record if those numbers held (which I am pretty sure they would): 87-29 Hmm, that's an awful lot of losses. He would probably lead the league. Here is how many strikeouts he would have, averaging 15 for every 5 starts: 435 That's a lot. However, that would be over roughly 1050 innings, and thus not very impressive but really impressive. Nolan Ryan struck out a modern record 383 batters in 1973, and did so in 700 fewer innings. Not nearly the workhorse Correia could become under this scenario though. Ok, this is just not realistic. I mean, if any team is going to a one-man rotation, wouldn't the Twins be the last team you would expect? Let's try to be normal here. If Correia keeps this pace and gets 28 more starts, here will be his final numbers on the season: 9.9 rWAR, 2.1 fWAR (THATS A JOKE DO YOU GET IT?) 240 IP, 20-6, 2.23 ERA, 225 hits allowed, 59 ER, 33 BB, 99 K, 0 balks, 0 wild pitches and 0 hit-by-pitch. I'm quite certain that FanGraphs.com would 404 as well. Find players with crazy rate stats like Correia's Pro-rating stats is easy. It's basically multiplication, which any eight-year-old can do. Six-year-olds? Not so much, but six-year-olds lack in a lot of areas, if we are going to honest with ourselves. Using Baseball Reference's season finder, we can pinpoint just how many pitchers have stats like Correia's and how they compare. I'll start with his rate stats, which currently sit as such: SO/9 - 3.7 BB/9 - 1.2 HR/9 - 0.5 H/9 - 8.4 14 pitchers have posted a season with those stats, since 1901. It hasn't been done since 1942 which simply means that Correia is a throwback. Tiny Bonham, Babe Adams, Slim Sallee, and Noodles Hahn have the most ridiculous names from the list. Oh, and Al Orth. So, it's rare. I am sure many pitchers have put up comparable stats over 36 innings though. Correia's walk rate alone is masterful. I wonder how many pitchers have had a walk rate that low for a full season... 93 is that number, most recently Cliff Lee just last season. Brad Radke did it four times and Carlos Silva once, for a nice 4:1 Brad to Carlos ratio. The highest season ERA on this list is Radke's 4.49 back in 2003. The best ERA from someone who didn't pitch when all people who were photographed looked surprised that their photo was being taken even though you had to sit for like, a really long time, is Greg Maddux, when he posted a 1.63 ERA back in 1995. On the flip side, Correia's strikeout rate is quite low. Historically low, one might say less than confidently. It's not really that historic. Actually, it has happened 2,237 times since 1901. Rather than be thorough and comb through the data, let's cherry-pick, as you all tacitly agreed that you enjoyed it. Since 1961, this feat has been accomplished 261 times, which is much more manageable for me. The worst ERA of that group belongs to Livan Hernandez, who posted a 6.05 ERA in 2008, at the age of 67. Carlos Silva was second, at 5.94 back in 2006. The best ERA of this bunch belongs to Joe Horlen, with a 2.06 ERA back in 1967. Correia's current ERA would be the 4th best since 1961 with a strikeout rate as low as 3.7 per nine innings. Since 1961, only five names appear on both lists, and one is a 2005 Carlos Silva, which has an oak-y finish. Correia currently has a 179 ERA+. This number is astronomical. Just how astronomical? Well, only 68 pitchers have posted such an astronomical number since 1901. Just glancing at the list, Randy Johnson did it 58 times and Pedro Martinez did it 57. I could be counting poorly, as I was hit in the nose with a dodgeball while putting eye drops in. Regardless, if Correia can keep up that number, he will join some elite, blurry company. Other Fun Facts/Miscellany Correia is currently tied for 100th in the MLB in strikeouts. Anibal Sanchez struck out 17 in one game. Correia is tied for 7th in fewest walks, just ahead of Kevin Slowey. Correia is 20th in ERA, just ahead of Kevin Slowey. If you rearrange the letters in Kevin Correia, you get Cevin Korreia. Kevin Correia's fastball sits at about 90, or roughly 20 MPH faster than you can throw (probably more or even a lot more). Joe Mauer is his catcher (I think), so that probably explains everything. Correia was a Giant, then a Padre, then a Pirate, now a Twin, always a shapeshifter. Correia's GB% is 45.8%, which makes him a fly ball pitcher, no matter what Beck Bremleven tries to tell you. The proudest I have ever been of an analogy is from my Correia signing post. See if you can find it! Sumitup Kevin Correia is pitching better than anyone expected. Anyone. If someone tries to tell you that they envisioned this level of performance, you have my permission to tie their shoes together, but only as a lesson. Please draw their attention to the tied together laces and explain to them the lesson you have taught them. I mean it, no one needs to get hurt just because they are a filthy liar. His numbers are fun to look at because they are so unexpected. I look forward to seeing what craziness his numbers will bring in the future. Seriously, no one make anyone trip on their laces.

It was unpleasant. I do believe you are correct that this is punishment for generations of women-only showers that most women probably loathed as much as I did.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1643-Weekend-Thoughts-4-28-2013

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! The Twins split their four-game series with Texas this weekend. Unfortunately, I missed the Sunday game due to something called "Couples Shower." I was not aware of such 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. 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 lead 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, 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, lead 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!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! The Twins split their four-game series with Texas this weekend. Unfortunately, I missed the Sunday game due to something called "Couples Shower." I was not aware of such 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. 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 lead 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, 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, lead 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!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Earlier this week, I wrote about Joe Mauer and his Hall of Fame career. I was really taken by just how well Mauer stacks up against catchers throughout history, players from this era and Hall of Famers in general. If you didn't read it, you can find it here. If you did read it, you can find it there too, but you probably shouldn't read it again. Read this instead. I thought, well, this is probably an exercise that I could complete for a lot of players, to see if anyone's greatness is being overlooked. Using Baseball Reference's amazing play reference, I shall set out on a journey to find an overlooked player and rightfully adjust everyone's attitudes on his playing career. If I can truly change the minds of the masses, then I will become the most powerful baseball blog-guy of all time. If I can do this successfully, my legacy will be cemented right next to that DIPS guy and whoever invented OPS. This is my one chance, and I cannot blow it. History awaits. Now, to pick the perfect candidate... Alexi Casilla seems like a good choice. Here are some Sexi Lexi facts: Casilla is a middle infielder Casilla debuted in 2006 at age 22 Casilla is 28 and in his eighth season Casilla is not a power hitter Casilla is not a good hitter Casilla's has two skills - baserunning (?) and throwing the ball while completely parallel to the ground Casilla has played exactly 500 games in his career. Round! How does Casilla compare to his contemporaries in the middle infield? Casilla has had 1794 plate appearances in his career. Between 1988 and 2912, there are 121 middle infielders with roughly that many or more plate appearances. Casilla ranks 100th in OPS+, right ahead of Pat Meares. We are not off to a good start here. He's 114th in home runs, 116th in RBI, 119th in hits, 94th in OBP, 104th in slugging percentage and 98th in batting average. This isn't going well. Well, this isn't Casilla's game. He's not a hitter, he's a speed guy! I'm guessing he'll be great in the speedy categories like doubles (114th), triples (95th), stolen bases (59th), and runs (114th). Hmm. He does have the second fewest at bats on this list, so it's pretty obvious that he just needs a chance to hit more, right? Is it possible that Casilla just stacks up better against everyone? Perhaps his skills do not compare favorably to other speedy infielders, but will look shockingly tremendous against plodding corner infielders and stupid outfielders. Let's see how Casilla ranks within a different sample: Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, From 1961 to 2012, Played 85% of games at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF or DH, (requiring At least 1750 plate appearances), sorted by greatest Adjusted OPS+: Casilla ranks 1209 out of 1331 players. Crud. Oh oh, maybe stolen bases! Casilla ranks 498 out of 1331 players. Blast, then crud. So what? Casilla's young. I bet a lot of guys started their careers as bad hitters who offered little on the bases because you can't steal first and got hurt a lot or was just benched due to better options. The only way to know for certain is to check Casilla against other Hall of Famers, during their first eight seasons. Let's see how good they were before they hit their stride. There were 123 players in this sample: Batting Average - 3rd from last - ahead of Ozzie Smith! OBP - 10th from last - ahead of Ozzie Smith and Robin Yount! OPS+ - Last OPS - 3rd from last - ahead of Ozzie Smith! Was Ozzie Smith good? Fewest Strikeouts - 36th! - although in a LOT fewer at bats Walks - Last, but not that far behind Brooks Robinson and Roberto Clemente! Hits - Last, but strangely only 65 fewer than Harmon Killebrew Doubles - 2nd from last, ahead of Killebrew, although Killebrew played like no games in his first five seasons... Runs - Very last RBI - Super Last Home Runs - 4th from last, somehow Games played - 2nd last, 12 more than Killebrew WAR - Last, comically so Ok, so maybe Casilla was comparable to Smith, who still had about a 28 WAR advantage on Lexi. Killebrew was three years younger when he debuted, so he gets a pass. Although, I'm not ruling out Casilla hitting over 500 home runs now. Perhaps jumping to Hall of Famers was a bit premature. This really means nothing, when you think about it the exact way I am. Perhaps Casilla is a late bloomer. I bet lots of guys were. We need a more apt comparison to his current self, with the understanding that he is going to definitely explode as a player within the next few seasons. It stands to reason that if Casilla is working on a Hall of Fame career, his first eight seasons will compare favorably to other middle infielders after eight seasons. Most of the time, Hall of Famers are judged against their positional counterparts. When Casilla has his mid-career explosion, he will surpass his peers and cement his legacy. That makes perfect sense. Lots of prominent players will be low on this list, I bet. Alexi must be better than some notable players. So, let's find out! I am very optimistic. (Redacted) Look, I don't see why I need to include these stats at all. He's pretty much last in every counting stat and nearly last in all the rate stats. So what? Stats aren't everything. There's the eye test too, you know. Plus, I thought RBI didn't matter and batting average was all luck. What really matters is that Alexi has heart and hustle. He also has a pretty nice smile and I just don't feel you are respecting that. Respect his smile! You know, I'm not sure why I am even bothering with this anymore. I've clearly failed and will have to wait for another chance to establish myself in the realm of good blog-guys. Maybe when I write about 1987 Topps baseball cards later this week, no one ever does stuff like that. However, I do present to you one final stat, and a stat that no one can argue with. If this doesn't at least get you partially on my side, I'm not sure what will. In fact, I'll feel sorry for you. I said it. I even put it in a chart for the real stat-heads. [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] Rank Player Balls Thrown While Horizontal for outs 1 Alexi Casilla I think like 2 tie-2 Everyone Else Probably zero [/TABLE]

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Earlier this week, I wrote about Joe Mauer and his Hall of Fame career. I was really taken by just how well Mauer stacks up against catchers throughout history, players from this era and Hall of Famers in general. If you didn't read it, you can find it here. If you did read it, you can find it there too, but you probably shouldn't read it again. Read this instead. I thought, well, this is probably an exercise that I could complete for a lot of players, to see if anyone's greatness is being overlooked. Using Baseball Reference's amazing play reference, I shall set out on a journey to find an overlooked player and rightfully adjust everyone's attitudes on his playing career. If I can truly change the minds of the masses, then I will become the most powerful baseball blog-guy of all time. If I can do this successfully, my legacy will be cemented right next to that DIPS guy and whoever invented OPS. This is my one chance, and I cannot blow it. History awaits. Now, to pick the perfect candidate... Alexi Casilla seems like a good choice. Here are some Sexi Lexi facts: Casilla is a middle infielder Casilla debuted in 2006 at age 22 Casilla is 28 and in his eighth season Casilla is not a power hitter Casilla is not a good hitter Casilla's has two skills - baserunning (?) and throwing the ball while completely parallel to the ground Casilla has played exactly 500 games in his career. Round! How does Casilla compare to his contemporaries in the middle infield? Casilla has had 1794 plate appearances in his career. Between 1988 and 2912, there are 121 middle infielders with roughly that many or more plate appearances. Casilla ranks 100th in OPS+, right ahead of Pat Meares. We are not off to a good start here. He's 114th in home runs, 116th in RBI, 119th in hits, 94th in OBP, 104th in slugging percentage and 98th in batting average. This isn't going well. Well, this isn't Casilla's game. He's not a hitter, he's a speed guy! I'm guessing he'll be great in the speedy categories like doubles (114th), triples (95th), stolen bases (59th), and runs (114th). Hmm. He does have the second fewest at bats on this list, so it's pretty obvious that he just needs a chance to hit more, right? Is it possible that Casilla just stacks up better against everyone? Perhaps his skills do not compare favorably to other speedy infielders, but will look shockingly tremendous against plodding corner infielders and stupid outfielders. Let's see how Casilla ranks within a different sample: Spanning Multiple Seasons or entire Careers, From 1961 to 2012, Played 85% of games at C, 1B, 2B, 3B, SS, LF, CF, RF or DH, (requiring At least 1750 plate appearances), sorted by greatest Adjusted OPS+: Casilla ranks 1209 out of 1331 players. Crud. Oh oh, maybe stolen bases! Casilla ranks 498 out of 1331 players. Blast, then crud. So what? Casilla's young. I bet a lot of guys started their careers as bad hitters who offered little on the bases because you can't steal first and got hurt a lot or was just benched due to better options. The only way to know for certain is to check Casilla against other Hall of Famers, during their first eight seasons. Let's see how good they were before they hit their stride. There were 123 players in this sample: Batting Average - 3rd from last - ahead of Ozzie Smith! OBP - 10th from last - ahead of Ozzie Smith and Robin Yount! OPS+ - Last OPS - 3rd from last - ahead of Ozzie Smith! Was Ozzie Smith good? Fewest Strikeouts - 36th! - although in a LOT fewer at bats Walks - Last, but not that far behind Brooks Robinson and Roberto Clemente! Hits - Last, but strangely only 65 fewer than Harmon Killebrew Doubles - 2nd from last, ahead of Killebrew, although Killebrew played like no games in his first five seasons... Runs - Very last RBI - Super Last Home Runs - 4th from last, somehow Games played - 2nd last, 12 more than Killebrew WAR - Last, comically so Ok, so maybe Casilla was comparable to Smith, who still had about a 28 WAR advantage on Lexi. Killebrew was three years younger when he debuted, so he gets a pass. Although, I'm not ruling out Casilla hitting over 500 home runs now. Perhaps jumping to Hall of Famers was a bit premature. This really means nothing, when you think about it the exact way I am. Perhaps Casilla is a late bloomer. I bet lots of guys were. We need a more apt comparison to his current self, with the understanding that he is going to definitely explode as a player within the next few seasons. It stands to reason that if Casilla is working on a Hall of Fame career, his first eight seasons will compare favorably to other middle infielders after eight seasons. Most of the time, Hall of Famers are judged against their positional counterparts. When Casilla has his mid-career explosion, he will surpass his peers and cement his legacy. That makes perfect sense. Lots of prominent players will be low on this list, I bet. Alexi must be better than some notable players. So, let's find out! I am very optimistic. (Redacted) Look, I don't see why I need to include these stats at all. He's pretty much last in every counting stat and nearly last in all the rate stats. So what? Stats aren't everything. There's the eye test too, you know. Plus, I thought RBI didn't matter and batting average was all luck. What really matters is that Alexi has heart and hustle. He also has a pretty nice smile and I just don't feel you are respecting that. Respect his smile! You know, I'm not sure why I am even bothering with this anymore. I've clearly failed and will have to wait for another chance to establish myself in the realm of good blog-guys. Maybe when I write about 1987 Topps baseball cards later this week, no one ever does stuff like that. However, I do present to you one final stat, and a stat that no one can argue with. If this doesn't at least get you partially on my side, I'm not sure what will. In fact, I'll feel sorry for you. I said it. I even put it in a chart for the real stat-heads. [TABLE=class: grid, width: 500] Rank Player Balls Thrown While Horizontal for outs 1 Alexi Casilla I think like 2 tie-2 Everyone Else Probably zero [/TABLE]

I was actually surprised at how well he fares against other catchers. You can make the case that he is a top 3 all-time offensive catcher right now, even without gaudy power numbers. His elite OBP really helps.