Brad Swanson

Oh man, I would have guessed Mastro. That's a crazy percentage, I knew I liked Casilla for a reason.

Nationals

Try listening on double speed or half speed, it might take the voice issue away. Also might be hilarious.

Keith Law just started a podcast as well. Behind the Dish. It's good.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone. It's really fun to talk about just how important the Twins are to all of us. I know it's just a game, but it really becomes more than a game to many of us.

Originally posted at your new homepage: Kevin Slowey was Framed! Baseball Reference made their play index free for about a month. I have intended to play around with it for a couple weeks, but I have been busy with work. However, I'm on SPRING BREAK!!!! now, so I have some free time. Let's see if we can find some cool stuff. At the end, I'll decide whether or not to pay for this feature going forward. I know you are on the edge of your seats. Of course, I then immediately got distracted within the split finder and this was the result: QUESTION NUMBER 1 - Who holds the Twins' record for most home runs in a single inning, over the course of a full season? Answer: Harmon Killebrewin 1962 and Jacque Jones 40 seasons later in 2002, with 11 each. Both achieved this feat in the 1st inning. Jones was the leadoff hitter that year, so each of those ding dongs was a leadoff shot. Killebrew hit 48 home runs that season, mostly batting clean-up. He only hit one of those home runs in the 5th inning. Odd. In case you were wondering, the highest total for each individual inning in Twins' history is listed below: [TABLE=class: grid] Inning Player HR Season 1st Harmon Killebrew 11 1962 1st Jacque Jones 11 2002 2nd Tom Brunansky 7 1983 2nd Michael Cuddyer 7 2009 2nd Delmon Young 7 2010 3rd Kent Hrbek 7 1987 4th Harmon Killebrew 9 1967 5th Harmon Killebrew 8 1963 6th Harmon Killebrew 9 1966 7th Harmon Killebrew 7 1963 7th Harmon Killebrew 7 1966 8th Harmon Killebrew 7 1962 8th Justin Morneau 7 2006 9th Harmon Killebrew 7 1961 [/TABLE] One guy appears on this chart quite a few times. The conclusion: Harmon Killebrew was awesome. QUESTION NUMBER 2 - Who was caught stealing the most in a season, as a substitute, in Twins' history? Answer: Denny Hocking in 1997 with 3. Hocking was caught stealing 5 times that season, and only stole 3 bases. He ended his career with 36 stolen bases and 27 caught stealing. That's an elite 57% success rate. But hey, at least he bleached his hair. He also hit a robust .184 as a sub that season. I'm guessing Hocking owns many of the Twins lol-est records. QUESTION NUMBER 3 - Who had the most plate appearances as a leadoff hitter in a season, in Twins history? Answer: Kirby Puckett with 160 in 1985. Kirby Puckett lead off all but one game he played in 1985. In that season, he hit .288/.330/.385. As the leadoff hitter, he hit .243/.300/.297. Puckett was the leadoff hitter for one more season, before settling into the 3-hole. If Aaron Hicks can post OBP and SLG as high as Puckett's figures in 1985, we should all be quite pleased. QUESTION NUMBER 4 - Who was hit by pitch the most at home, in a single season, in Twins' history? Answer: Chuck Knoblauch (1997) and Cesar Tovar (1968), each with 11. I'm guessing that in hindsight, many Twins fans would have been psyched to see those Knoblauch HBPs. Not me. I enjoyed Knoblauch. A.J. Pierzynski (2003), Cesar Tovar (1972) and Shane Mack (2003) were each hit 10 times on the road. That's their record to share. Pierzynski was hit a league-leading 27 times in his one season in San Francisco. Wow, hurts donut indeed. Knoblauch was hit by 139 pitches in his career. Tovar was only hit 88 times. QUESTION NUMBER 5 - Who hit the most home runs on a 3-0 count, in a season, in Twins' history? Answer: Pat Meares (1997) and Bobby Kielty (2002), each with 2. Odds are, both guys were benched shortly after the second jack. QUESTION NUMBER 6 - Who had the most RBI in Twins' history, with 2 outs and runners in scoring position, in a single season? Answer: Gary Gaetti with 43 in 1987 In that season, Gaetti came to the plate 93 times in that situation. He hit .326/.376/.581 in those plate appearances. Most strikeouts in the same situation, in a season? Gary Gaetti, with 25 back in 1983. He hit .190/.281/.316 in those situations back in '83, in 89 plate appearances. Looks like someone learned how to be clutch! QUESTION NUMBER 7 - Who hit the most home runs at home in their final season with the Twins? Answer: Kirby Puckett with 13 Puckett hit his final two home runs at the Metrodome on September 4, 1995. I know this because I was there. It was Labor Day, so it was the last day of summer. I got to go to the game, not knowing that it would be the final time I would get to see Kirby Puckett play. He was my favorite player and I just adored him. In the third inning, he hit an opposite-field solo home run. Then, in the 4th inning, he hit a another one, this time with Rich Becker on base. These were the final two home runs that Twins fans got to witness in Puckett's Hall of Fame career. No one would have ever guessed that at that time though. I feel very lucky that I was there. I think it may have been the only game I attended that season. Of course, we all know that Puckett was forced to retire due to glaucoma at the end of that season. He should have hit many more Metrodome home runs. Very sad. Wow, things just got more serious than planned. One more question. QUESTION NUMBER 8 - Who has the highest OBP against same-handed pitchers, in a season, in Twins' history (min 200 PA)? Answer: Right-handed - Kirby Puckett (1995) - .371 OBP and Left-Handed - Joe Mauer (2012) - .392 OBP Here is your daily reminder that Joe Mauer is swell. This was also in Puckett's final season as an active player. He was clearly still a great player and had at least a few more good seasons left in him. Anyone arguing that Kirby Puckett isn't a Hall of Fame player did not watch him play (or did not watch him closely enough) and probably will have to fight me at some point. Not really, I'm pretty nice. Verdict: I will be spending some money in a couple weeks. If the split finder is this addictive, the play index must be even better. Plus, this tool is only 36 bucks for the whole year, and I will probably play with it about 20 hours per week. Doing the math: 20 hours x 52 weeks is 1040 hours 36 bucks / 1040 hours = .03 bucks/hour Conversion to cents: 3600 cents / 1040 hours = 3.46 cents/hour Yeah, it's worth it. And I didn't even use the right tool. I'll do this same exercise with some pitching records in the near future. If you enjoyed this, check out Baseball Reference's split tool. Be careful, it's very addictive. Brad Swanson has a computer and access to the internet. He started his own blog solely to show off his byline skills. You can reach him via telephone, if you know his phone number.

Originally posted at your new homepage: Kevin Slowey was Framed! Baseball Reference made their play index free for about a month. I have intended to play around with it for a couple weeks, but I have been busy with work. However, I'm on SPRING BREAK!!!! now, so I have some free time. Let's see if we can find some cool stuff. At the end, I'll decide whether or not to pay for this feature going forward. I know you are on the edge of your seats. Of course, I then immediately got distracted within the split finder and this was the result: QUESTION NUMBER 1 - Who holds the Twins' record for most home runs in a single inning, over the course of a full season? Answer: Harmon Killebrewin 1962 and Jacque Jones 40 seasons later in 2002, with 11 each. Both achieved this feat in the 1st inning. Jones was the leadoff hitter that year, so each of those ding dongs was a leadoff shot. Killebrew hit 48 home runs that season, mostly batting clean-up. He only hit one of those home runs in the 5th inning. Odd. In case you were wondering, the highest total for each individual inning in Twins' history is listed below: [TABLE=class: grid] Inning Player HR Season 1st Harmon Killebrew 11 1962 1st Jacque Jones 11 2002 2nd Tom Brunansky 7 1983 2nd Michael Cuddyer 7 2009 2nd Delmon Young 7 2010 3rd Kent Hrbek 7 1987 4th Harmon Killebrew 9 1967 5th Harmon Killebrew 8 1963 6th Harmon Killebrew 9 1966 7th Harmon Killebrew 7 1963 7th Harmon Killebrew 7 1966 8th Harmon Killebrew 7 1962 8th Justin Morneau 7 2006 9th Harmon Killebrew 7 1961 [/TABLE] One guy appears on this chart quite a few times. The conclusion: Harmon Killebrew was awesome. QUESTION NUMBER 2 - Who was caught stealing the most in a season, as a substitute, in Twins' history? Answer: Denny Hocking in 1997 with 3. Hocking was caught stealing 5 times that season, and only stole 3 bases. He ended his career with 36 stolen bases and 27 caught stealing. That's an elite 57% success rate. But hey, at least he bleached his hair. He also hit a robust .184 as a sub that season. I'm guessing Hocking owns many of the Twins lol-est records. QUESTION NUMBER 3 - Who had the most plate appearances as a leadoff hitter in a season, in Twins history? Answer: Kirby Puckett with 160 in 1985. Kirby Puckett lead off all but one game he played in 1985. In that season, he hit .288/.330/.385. As the leadoff hitter, he hit .243/.300/.297. Puckett was the leadoff hitter for one more season, before settling into the 3-hole. If Aaron Hicks can post OBP and SLG as high as Puckett's figures in 1985, we should all be quite pleased. QUESTION NUMBER 4 - Who was hit by pitch the most at home, in a single season, in Twins' history? Answer: Chuck Knoblauch (1997) and Cesar Tovar (1968), each with 11. I'm guessing that in hindsight, many Twins fans would have been psyched to see those Knoblauch HBPs. Not me. I enjoyed Knoblauch. A.J. Pierzynski (2003), Cesar Tovar (1972) and Shane Mack (2003) were each hit 10 times on the road. That's their record to share. Pierzynski was hit a league-leading 27 times in his one season in San Francisco. Wow, hurts donut indeed. Knoblauch was hit by 139 pitches in his career. Tovar was only hit 88 times. QUESTION NUMBER 5 - Who hit the most home runs on a 3-0 count, in a season, in Twins' history? Answer: Pat Meares (1997) and Bobby Kielty (2002), each with 2. Odds are, both guys were benched shortly after the second jack. QUESTION NUMBER 6 - Who had the most RBI in Twins' history, with 2 outs and runners in scoring position, in a single season? Answer: Gary Gaetti with 43 in 1987 In that season, Gaetti came to the plate 93 times in that situation. He hit .326/.376/.581 in those plate appearances. Most strikeouts in the same situation, in a season? Gary Gaetti, with 25 back in 1983. He hit .190/.281/.316 in those situations back in '83, in 89 plate appearances. Looks like someone learned how to be clutch! QUESTION NUMBER 7 - Who hit the most home runs at home in their final season with the Twins? Answer: Kirby Puckett with 13 Puckett hit his final two home runs at the Metrodome on September 4, 1995. I know this because I was there. It was Labor Day, so it was the last day of summer. I got to go to the game, not knowing that it would be the final time I would get to see Kirby Puckett play. He was my favorite player and I just adored him. In the third inning, he hit an opposite-field solo home run. Then, in the 4th inning, he hit a another one, this time with Rich Becker on base. These were the final two home runs that Twins fans got to witness in Puckett's Hall of Fame career. No one would have ever guessed that at that time though. I feel very lucky that I was there. I think it may have been the only game I attended that season. Of course, we all know that Puckett was forced to retire due to glaucoma at the end of that season. He should have hit many more Metrodome home runs. Very sad. Wow, things just got more serious than planned. One more question. QUESTION NUMBER 8 - Who has the highest OBP against same-handed pitchers, in a season, in Twins' history (min 200 PA)? Answer: Right-handed - Kirby Puckett (1995) - .371 OBP and Left-Handed - Joe Mauer (2012) - .392 OBP Here is your daily reminder that Joe Mauer is swell. This was also in Puckett's final season as an active player. He was clearly still a great player and had at least a few more good seasons left in him. Anyone arguing that Kirby Puckett isn't a Hall of Fame player did not watch him play (or did not watch him closely enough) and probably will have to fight me at some point. Not really, I'm pretty nice. Verdict: I will be spending some money in a couple weeks. If the split finder is this addictive, the play index must be even better. Plus, this tool is only 36 bucks for the whole year, and I will probably play with it about 20 hours per week. Doing the math: 20 hours x 52 weeks is 1040 hours 36 bucks / 1040 hours = .03 bucks/hour Conversion to cents: 3600 cents / 1040 hours = 3.46 cents/hour Yeah, it's worth it. And I didn't even use the right tool. I'll do this same exercise with some pitching records in the near future. If you enjoyed this, check out Baseball Reference's split tool. Be careful, it's very addictive. Brad Swanson has a computer and access to the internet. He started his own blog solely to show off his byline skills. You can reach him via telephone, if you know his phone number.

I might be alone here, and possibly too sentimental, but I don't want to see Gardenhire managing another team. I've been critical of him at times, but I generally like him and hope he stays on after 2013.

I definitely feel bad for him. He's 33 and his career is over. The thing he loves most is no longer something he is physically able to do. I'm sure the money he has earned helps, but man, I'd hate for my career to be over in a couple years, when I'm 33.

Jason Parks is starting a new podcast next week with Mike Ferrin, called Fringe Average, it should be pretty good. I also like Marginal Prospects, which Kiley McDaniel just started. It is more prospect focused. I listen to The Baseball Show with Rany and Joe and Effectively Wild as well. Both are enjoyable, but Joe Sheehan can be a bit overbearing at times. Effectively Wild is my favorite, as I'm a big Sam Miller fan. Baseball America does a podcast which usually discusses prospects as well. Some of their guys are a bit hard to listen to, but overall it is good.

This doesn't bother me at all. Burnett was nothing special. Guys like him grow on trees.

I remember Sunday, April 5, 1992 very well. I was more than somewhat aware that the Twins' Opener was the next day. I had been a huge Twins fan since I was like four-years-old. By 1991, I was nine and I had started collecting baseball cards, going to the occasional game and I was about to start a tradition of skipping school on Opening Day. Well, not really skipping school. You can't really skip school in 3rd grade. However, my devious plan was to fake being sick, in order to stay home and watch the game on television. It was a brilliant plan, but not exactly a unique plan for children of various ages. I mean, it's basically the plot to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. But, I hadn't seen that movie yet, so no help there. Now, I had never stayed home sick before. I missed a week with chicken pox, but never missed school for a cold, the flu or anything like that. I certainly never faked sick, as I was way too ingrained as a teacher's pet/golden child to do that. As a result, I had no idea how to even approach the idea of staying home from school sick. Luckily, my brain had developed enough where I had that deception center firing and I started to develop a plan. I knew this would take all of my cunning, and I knew that I had to lay the foundation early. That Sunday morning, I woke up and immediately started with some subtle, fake coughing. Not a lot of coughing, and nothing too horrible sounding; you can't overdo it after all. I just wanted that cough on my Mom's radar. I was a pretty boisterous kid, and usually very active. So, I just kind of laid around all day. I didn't want to do anything outwardly notable, as I wanted my malaise to be what got me noticed. Sure enough, my Mom came to see if I was feeling ok. I said, "yes, I just have a little headache and I'm tired" and we all went on with the day. The plan carried into the evening. Normally, I was all about staying up late. Not on this evening. I announced to anyone listening that I was off to bed, at a surprisingly early time. My Mom came to check on me, and I admitted that I wasn't feeling great. She felt my head, proclaimed that I "wasn't warm" and let me be. I had planted the seed, and now I needed to plan the events that would transpire the following morning. I laid in bed and calculated my every move. It had to be done just right, so that I would be able to stay home, but still watch the game. It was intense. However, part 1 of my plan was completed. When I woke up, I purposely stayed in bed longer than usual. I have always been a person that wakes up immediately to my alarm. I don't mess around with snooze and I don't screw around in the morning. I'm all business, and everyone around me knows that. When I didn't head downstairs at my usual time, my Mom came to look for me. I confessed that I was ill and might need to stay home. I braced myself for a negotiation, but to my surprise, my Mom simply said "of course, go back to sleep and I'll call school." Success! Part 2 of my plan had been carried out. Not only was I one step closer to watching the Twins' Opening Day game, I was also able to get some freaking sleep. We really make kids get up early for school! I woke up a few hours later, and I started the third and final (and most challenging) portion of my plan. My Mom wasn't just going to let me watch TV all day. I needed to wait for the exact right moment to declare that I was feeling "better." About an hour before game time, I went and ate some food. I figured, if I could always pretend that the food had magical healing powers. After lunch, I went back to bed for a few minutes. I then wandered into the living room and sat next to my Mom. She was taking a break from cleaning up after me and my brother and sister, with a little television of her own. This was not in the plan. I am very non-confrontational. I didn't want to take the step of asking my Mom to stop watching her show. It was bad enough that I was being so deceptive. THIS WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN! I sat there, just hoping that things would work out. Right as the game was about to start, my Mom said "wait, isn't the Twins' game on today?" I meekly responded with a "yes" assuming my evil plan had been figured out. I readied myself to head back to bed, to get rest and "recover" from my illness. However, my Mom, being consistently awesome, put the game on, told me I should lay down, and then watched the game with me. When Kirby Puckett hit s a 3rd inning home run, we both cheered and I think I forgot all about my "illness." The Twins beat the Brewers 4-2 and I was pumped. When the game ended, I went back to bed, figuring I should at least pretend to rest up. My Mom checked on me a little later and I admitted that I was feeling much better and would probably go back to school the next day. She smiled and told me that she was glad I felt better and then went off to do any number of things that she did for us when we were little. I couldn't help but feel bad, but I enjoyed that time, watching the game with my Mom. And so a tradition was born. Each year that school interfered with the Opener, I would fake an illness and stay home. Sadly, I don't think any game was as enjoyable as that first one. My Mom went back to work shortly after the 1992 Opener, as she had been laid off a couple years prior. Luckily for my brother, sister and I, my Grandmother would come to watch us after school, until I was old enough to keep an eye on the house for everyone. Regardless of who was in charge, you can bet that I was home to watch that first Twins game of the season. Traditions change over time. Once I reached high school, I didn't put as much thought into my plan. I'd just say I had a stomachache and go back to sleep for a few hours. In college, I would just skip class. Oddly enough, I became a teacher. However, my school seems to like to accommodate my Twins schedule, as our Spring Break has coincided with each Opener since I started teaching. What a perk! For the past 21 years, I have not missed a live Twins opener. Sure, I could tape or DVR the game, but it's just not the same. I need to experience the first game live. This Monday will be my 22nd straight season. My school is on Spring Break again and I will be home in front of my TV, watching when Vance Worley throws the first pitch of the season. It's a Ripken-like streak, no doubt, but this will also be my final time sharing this tradition alone. My first child is due in June. She will be 10 months old next April. You can guarantee that she will be sitting right next to me when the 2014 season opens. Once she gets old enough to make her own decisions, I'll just have to hope that she chooses to watch those games with me. As important as I know school is, I'll gladly call her school on those future April mornings, to let her stay home and watch the game with me. Even if she isn't interested in baseball, I hope that she will sit and watch the game with me anyway, much like my Mom did when I was nine-years-old. Going back to my Mom, I used to feel bad for lying and deceiving just to watch baseball. The reality is, my Mom was smart and she likely knew what I was doing all along. It was no coincidence that she knew exactly when that 1992 Opener was starting. I mean, where do you think a nine-year-old gets the kind of smarts it takes to pull off a brilliant plan like mine? Ultimately, it is one of my fondest memories and a tradition that I look forward to each year. It was completely worth the make-up work that came with the second day of the season! What are your Opening Day Traditions? If you enjoyed this piece, please check me out at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Not everything I write is sentimental. In fact, I drew a ridiculous picture of Kevin Slowey and Mike Redmond that you can enjoy.

I remember Sunday, April 5, 1992 very well. I was more than somewhat aware that the Twins' Opener was the next day. I had been a huge Twins fan since I was like four-years-old. By 1991, I was nine and I had started collecting baseball cards, going to the occasional game and I was about to start a tradition of skipping school on Opening Day. Well, not really skipping school. You can't really skip school in 3rd grade. However, my devious plan was to fake being sick, in order to stay home and watch the game on television. It was a brilliant plan, but not exactly a unique plan for children of various ages. I mean, it's basically the plot to Ferris Bueller's Day Off. But, I hadn't seen that movie yet, so no help there. Now, I had never stayed home sick before. I missed a week with chicken pox, but never missed school for a cold, the flu or anything like that. I certainly never faked sick, as I was way too ingrained as a teacher's pet/golden child to do that. As a result, I had no idea how to even approach the idea of staying home from school sick. Luckily, my brain had developed enough where I had that deception center firing and I started to develop a plan. I knew this would take all of my cunning, and I knew that I had to lay the foundation early. That Sunday morning, I woke up and immediately started with some subtle, fake coughing. Not a lot of coughing, and nothing too horrible sounding; you can't overdo it after all. I just wanted that cough on my Mom's radar. I was a pretty boisterous kid, and usually very active. So, I just kind of laid around all day. I didn't want to do anything outwardly notable, as I wanted my malaise to be what got me noticed. Sure enough, my Mom came to see if I was feeling ok. I said, "yes, I just have a little headache and I'm tired" and we all went on with the day. The plan carried into the evening. Normally, I was all about staying up late. Not on this evening. I announced to anyone listening that I was off to bed, at a surprisingly early time. My Mom came to check on me, and I admitted that I wasn't feeling great. She felt my head, proclaimed that I "wasn't warm" and let me be. I had planted the seed, and now I needed to plan the events that would transpire the following morning. I laid in bed and calculated my every move. It had to be done just right, so that I would be able to stay home, but still watch the game. It was intense. However, part 1 of my plan was completed. When I woke up, I purposely stayed in bed longer than usual. I have always been a person that wakes up immediately to my alarm. I don't mess around with snooze and I don't screw around in the morning. I'm all business, and everyone around me knows that. When I didn't head downstairs at my usual time, my Mom came to look for me. I confessed that I was ill and might need to stay home. I braced myself for a negotiation, but to my surprise, my Mom simply said "of course, go back to sleep and I'll call school." Success! Part 2 of my plan had been carried out. Not only was I one step closer to watching the Twins' Opening Day game, I was also able to get some freaking sleep. We really make kids get up early for school! I woke up a few hours later, and I started the third and final (and most challenging) portion of my plan. My Mom wasn't just going to let me watch TV all day. I needed to wait for the exact right moment to declare that I was feeling "better." About an hour before game time, I went and ate some food. I figured, if I could always pretend that the food had magical healing powers. After lunch, I went back to bed for a few minutes. I then wandered into the living room and sat next to my Mom. She was taking a break from cleaning up after me and my brother and sister, with a little television of her own. This was not in the plan. I am very non-confrontational. I didn't want to take the step of asking my Mom to stop watching her show. It was bad enough that I was being so deceptive. THIS WASN'T PART OF THE PLAN! I sat there, just hoping that things would work out. Right as the game was about to start, my Mom said "wait, isn't the Twins' game on today?" I meekly responded with a "yes" assuming my evil plan had been figured out. I readied myself to head back to bed, to get rest and "recover" from my illness. However, my Mom, being consistently awesome, put the game on, told me I should lay down, and then watched the game with me. When Kirby Puckett hit s a 3rd inning home run, we both cheered and I think I forgot all about my "illness." The Twins beat the Brewers 4-2 and I was pumped. When the game ended, I went back to bed, figuring I should at least pretend to rest up. My Mom checked on me a little later and I admitted that I was feeling much better and would probably go back to school the next day. She smiled and told me that she was glad I felt better and then went off to do any number of things that she did for us when we were little. I couldn't help but feel bad, but I enjoyed that time, watching the game with my Mom. And so a tradition was born. Each year that school interfered with the Opener, I would fake an illness and stay home. Sadly, I don't think any game was as enjoyable as that first one. My Mom went back to work shortly after the 1992 Opener, as she had been laid off a couple years prior. Luckily for my brother, sister and I, my Grandmother would come to watch us after school, until I was old enough to keep an eye on the house for everyone. Regardless of who was in charge, you can bet that I was home to watch that first Twins game of the season. Traditions change over time. Once I reached high school, I didn't put as much thought into my plan. I'd just say I had a stomachache and go back to sleep for a few hours. In college, I would just skip class. Oddly enough, I became a teacher. However, my school seems to like to accommodate my Twins schedule, as our Spring Break has coincided with each Opener since I started teaching. What a perk! For the past 21 years, I have not missed a live Twins opener. Sure, I could tape or DVR the game, but it's just not the same. I need to experience the first game live. This Monday will be my 22nd straight season. My school is on Spring Break again and I will be home in front of my TV, watching when Vance Worley throws the first pitch of the season. It's a Ripken-like streak, no doubt, but this will also be my final time sharing this tradition alone. My first child is due in June. She will be 10 months old next April. You can guarantee that she will be sitting right next to me when the 2014 season opens. Once she gets old enough to make her own decisions, I'll just have to hope that she chooses to watch those games with me. As important as I know school is, I'll gladly call her school on those future April mornings, to let her stay home and watch the game with me. Even if she isn't interested in baseball, I hope that she will sit and watch the game with me anyway, much like my Mom did when I was nine-years-old. Going back to my Mom, I used to feel bad for lying and deceiving just to watch baseball. The reality is, my Mom was smart and she likely knew what I was doing all along. It was no coincidence that she knew exactly when that 1992 Opener was starting. I mean, where do you think a nine-year-old gets the kind of smarts it takes to pull off a brilliant plan like mine? Ultimately, it is one of my fondest memories and a tradition that I look forward to each year. It was completely worth the make-up work that came with the second day of the season! What are your Opening Day Traditions? If you enjoyed this piece, please check me out at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Not everything I write is sentimental. In fact, I drew a ridiculous picture of Kevin Slowey and Mike Redmond that you can enjoy.

That might be true. I'm not informed enough to determine if he is a good GM or a bad GM. My whole point all along is that we can (and maybe should) be critical about the bad moves the team has made, but there isn't some grand conspiracy to steal money from fans. The payroll decision, the lack of quality free agent signings, the Santana trade, and down the line, were potentially bad baseball decisions and perhaps bad business decisions. None of that means they are deliberately harming their product to save money, which was an argument that was being made earlier in the thread and I continue to harp on even though we've mostly moved on. Sorry about that. Mike, I respect your passion and I understand your frustrations. I really don't mean to argue with you on this topic. I appreciate the back and forth and hope you feel the same way.

Honestly, I have no idea what the philosophical differences were. Maybe ownership disagreed with Bill Smith on how to rebuild the team. Maybe they felt the team had cratered as a result of the moves that he made. Maybe they regretted giving him the job in the first place. It's also possible that Ryan decided he wanted his job back and they wanted to give it to him. I really don't know. But, I think each of those examples is equally likely to the idea that Smith was fired and Ryan was put in charge with the strict orders to cut payroll. I'll admit that money probably played a part, as I am sure ownership was at least somewhat (justifiably) unhappy about spending 113 million dollars on a 96-loss-team. While I can understand that you are rubbed the wrong way, in regards to those moves you cited, Ryan also came back to a terrible team, with a terrible farm system and an inflated payroll (considering the state of the organization). If he were truly gutless, he wouldn't have accepted the job. In addition, it was Ryan and his regime that selected Santana in the rule 5 draft and chose Joe Mauer over Mark Prior. If those two transactions hadn't happened, those decisions and issues wouldn't have been around for Ryan to hide from.

Yes, it probably is. In the opinion of those that think this is a grand conspiracy, is Terry Ryan a conspirator or a puppet? Terry Ryan is also the architect of the successful Twins' teams of the 2000s, which is something I don't think he is receiving enough credit for.

If my choices are that Terry Ryan is leading a conspiracy to steal money from taxpayers by cutting payroll or that he made a poor choice and signed a bad pitcher, then yes, I believe that Correia was a conscious choice, made in an effort to improve the rotation. However, I don't feel that they necessarily felt Correia and Pelfrey were the best available options, but perhaps the best available options for the Twins and their free agency philosophy. Again, I am not saying I agree with any of their decisions. It is entirely possible that the Twins were too tentative with their offers. Perhaps they overestimated the costs of these players or got bad information from agents. In the end, I do believe they signed these pitchers with the intention of improving the team.

Made Mike Redmond's Marlins. Time to Celebrate.

I don't intend to defend their methods or decisions, I'm simply stating that I don't think there is some grand conspiracy to bilk the people of Hennepin County out of money. They just made some arguably bad decisions. If the Twins use scouting instead of stats, they will make questionable decisions in the eyes of those who prefer stats. That doesn't mean they are lying about their intentions to upgrade the pitching staff and it doesn't mean that the Pohlads are a group of Music Men trying to steal our money.

Wow, I just read that this might mean the end of his career. Terrible news.

This makes me so sad. Johan was one of my favorites and one of the more charismatic players of recent Twins past. I still hope that he can recover and resume what was going to be a Hall of Fame career.

I like WAR as much as anyone, but if the Twins don't use WAR to make their decisions, then these calculations don't really mean a whole lot. If they use a different set of data to arrive at the decisions they make, then we could fault them for using bad data, but they still make the decision that they feel is best and sign the players that their information tells them to sign. It is entirely possible that the Twins did all their homework, looked at a variety of factors and arrived at the conclusion that they should sign Correia and Pelfrey and pass on McCarthy and Marcum.

I like Escobar too. If Florimon doesn't hit in the first half, I'd like to see Escobar get the 2nd half at bats.

People seem pretty down on Worley. Of all the starters acquired this off-season, I am most excited to watch Worley pitch. His 2011 season was really good and he's only 25. He had a rough Spring, but still has a lot of promise. I think he's absolutely the Twins' best healthy starter and therefore he should start Opening Day.

I find it very hard to believe that the organization would spend money on players that they didn't think would help the team win. You can argue that their choices may have been misguided or perhaps even incorrect, but they did acquire five significant starting pitchers this off-season.