Brad Swanson

Download attachment: oddtwc.jpg It seems that just about every Twins game is snowed or rained or winded out these days. When is MLB going to wake up and start banning weather from their games?!? If nothing else, the Twins should have no home games in April, just in case it snows. Then, they should have no home games in May because of melting. June would be out due to mosquitoes. September is probably pushing it when it comes to snow again. August can be quite sultry. The obvious solution: The Twins play all 81 home games in a row, immediately following the All-Star break. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]At roughly 3 hours per game, they could fit four games in per day. This means that in about 20 days, the Twins could get all their home games in, without the threat of snow, melt water, dangerous pests and sultry temperatures. If MLB ever got their act together and enacted a plan like this, maybe we wouldn't have to sit through these random days without baseball! Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Without baseball, I decided that it might be fun to cram as many gimmicky ideas as I can into one post. I love gimmicks. Slideshows, top ten lists, poems, bullet lists, other lists. Ok, maybe I just like lists. I still think I am on to something here. Just a bunch of gimmicks all put together. All it needs is a catchy title, and everyone will be hooked. I shall call it: Gimmick Post. Fasten your safety belts, it is going to be a wild ride. Random Top 5 List Here are the top 5 teams in the AL Central as of 4/22/2013: Royals Twins Tigers Indians White SoxThat's right, your Minnesota Twins are in second place. My Minnesota Twins are also in second place. Fun Stat If Aaron Hicks walks another time in April (if the Twins ever play in April again, right? lol), he will set a Twins' rookie record for most walks in April by a first year player. He is currently tied with Jim Eisenreich, who added 23 hits that month. Hicks currently has 3. KWL Chart A KWL chart is an organizational tool that many teachers use with students to help them with a new topic. They can also be helpful with topics we want to explore further. K is what you know, W is what you want to know, and L is what you have learned. Here is a KWL chart that I made, with Brian Dozier as the subject: http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6FD_ZTks9sM/UXWQOBfbPPI/AAAAAAAAAmk/A1u_5KMWJcM/s400/KWLDozier.png Pro-tip - Click on the image to make it bigger. I didn't learn much, but I am happy to know that Dozier has a friend in Josh Willingham. My answer to a hypothetical question posted on the Twins' Facebook page: Question: Why don't all you whiners take your precious retactable roof AND STICK IT WHERE THE SUN DON'T SHINE! Answer: I feel there should be a question mark after your exclamation mark, but I'm just being a punctuation perfectionist. I'm not sure what a retactable roof is either. The irony of this question is that a retractable roof would conceivably be placed in an area where the sun does shine, thus blocking it out. In a sense, you are answering your own question. If the roof was where the sun does not shine, then we wouldn't be able to enjoy the sun anyway, thus making the retractable roof quite useful and not inhibiting to a person who wants to enjoy a nice, sunny day of baseball. That being said, your use of capital letters is very effective. Random Photoshop: Joe Mauer gets a lot of attention for his sideburns. What if he didn't have them? http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kg_xN8x313U/UXWQGeB5LYI/AAAAAAAAAmc/ckMOHi5XaHE/s320/mauernoburns.jpg Yeah, so maybe the sideburns work. A Link to something stupid I wrote: I transcribed my guttural reaction to Ben Revere's catch last week. You can read it here. Random Paint Image: Here is a picture I drew of Target Field, from these past few weeks. I tweeted this out earlier, but no one follows me on Twitter, so here it is again: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1JyDdYbik1M/UXWP75YZV1I/AAAAAAAAAmU/C0En47xQl4E/s320/target+field.png A Link to something not stupid I wrote: I wrote a screenplay a few weeks ago. It is both not stupid and stupid. I think it's satire. I'm not really sure. However, there are many puns. I punned Justin Morneau, Vance Worley, Brandon Boggs, Trevor Plouffe and Anthony Slama. No one is spared! No one! Here it is. Parting Haiku No Twins game today The relentless winter weather is bearing down on us like an unstoppable force, berating us with constant barbs of snow and a biting wind that will chew all the way to our very soul Soon it will be May Perhaps that wasn't a Haiku. If you prefer accurate poetry, you can sub this line where you see fit: Winter weather will not leave. I like my version better. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: jackscott.jpg Just one day after trading away Rick Aguilera, one of the more popular players on the Twins team, General Manager Terry Ryan's bloodlust was cresting and he was hungry for another trade. Who would be his next victim? The Trade: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded Scott Erickson to the Baltimore Orioles for Scott Klingenbeck and a player to be named later (Kimera Bartee). Erickson provided the Orioles with 16 good starts in 1995 and then threw over 900 innings for them from 1996 to 1999. His 1997 and 1998 seasons were particularly impressive, especially when you account for the high run scoring era. Bartee was nothing special, and fittingly, the Orioles drafted him from the Twins in the rule 5 draft after the 1995 season.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Klingenbeck was no sure thing prospect, but I'm sure the Twins were hoping to get more than 77 innings out of him. He posted an 8.30 ERA in those innings, and I'm sure Twins fans were hoping they had seen fewer than 77 innings from him. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! I also wrote about the two Rick Aguilera trades on Tuesday, you can read them here. ~~~ How did I feel at the time? Well, first impressions fade slowly. For me, and for all Twins fans, the first impression of Scott Erickson was a dominant young starter who won 20 games in the 1991 Championship season, finishing second in Cy Young voting. In addition, he wore black socks. He was also sullen and often ornery. By the end, he seemed ready to leave Minnesota. I love Minnesota, so I was not sad to see him go. However, his side of the story is interesting and somewhat perceptive. Why make the trade? Erickson's quotes after the trade are pretty priceless. Here are some I found in an article from the Associated Press: "If we had made an effort to win, go out and get players and make it a lucrative place for free agents, none of this would have happened." It should be noted that Erickson gave these statements while sitting in his Jeep Cherokee. That certainly changes things as a Jeep Cherokee is a comfortable ride and you know he wasn't feeling anything but anger toward the Twins because his plush Jeep seats were keeping him comfortable and that famous Jeep suspension was about to give him a smooth ride. "I feel bad for the guys, it's like the organization has given up on the team. It's a joke." While I found many examples of Erickson being aloof and butting heads with team leadership, I did not find any mentions of actual clashes with teammates. I found some examples of teammates teasing him, but that can't be too surprising. He was kind of an odd duck. Dave Stevens wanted to weigh in, as he did after the Aguilera trade: "It's like a morgue in here." Well said. It was literally a bunch of dead bodies in refrigerators. Hyperbole aside, you can understand why Twins players were frustrated with these moves. Every athlete wants to win, and win now. When an organization trades the team's best reliever and a good starter within 24 hours, morgue analogies start to fly. It's a frustrating situation for players and fans. As for why each team chose to make this trade, The Baltimore Sun was kind enough to summarize each team's rationale. Cute! "Why this would make sense for the Orioles: Erickson long has been renowned for his great stuff, a sinking fastball that would translate into outs on the grass at Camden Yards. He's only 27, and could be a good fourth starter, behind Mike Mussina, Kevin Brown and Ben McDonald. Unlike David Cone, Kevin Tapani or Bret Saberhagen, he doesn't cost the Orioles a major prospect." We'll get to Tapani next week. This proved to be mostly correct, as Erickson was a good 4th starter and did not cost the Orioles a good prospect. I mean, Scott Klingenbeck, AMIRITE? However, he did not see better success in Baltimore, as Erickson posted a 103 ERA+ with the Twins and a 97 ERA+ with the Orioles. "Why this would make sense for the Twins: They want to reduce payroll, and Erickson makes $1.8625 million this year and is in line to make more next year. In addition, Erickson's days as an effective pitcher for the Twins may be over; he doesn't see eye to eye with manager Tom Kelly." Well, the Twins pretty much always want to reduce payroll, right? It's interesting but I have written about four Twins trades now and three were made for largely financial reasons. I'm guessing this won't be the last one either. Erickson's days as an effective starter were hardly over. Not seeing eye to eye with Tom Kelly makes sense because Erickson is very tall. Analysis Simple enough: Erickson didn't want to be here, the Twins didn't want Erickson to be here anymore and the Twins could save some money by jettisoning him and making him someone else's problem. If the Twins didn't want him, they should have taken what they could get for him, even if the return was literally a used diaper filled with sadness. I am willing to bet that the 900 innings that Erickson threw between 1996 and 1999 would have come in handy for the Twins. However, Erickson started having injury issues in the Willenium and was mostly done as a quality starter by age 32. Did Erickson have a point about the organization though? This was the mid-90s. These were truly awful Twins teams. The Front Office was not opposed to bringing in older veterans, especially if they had Minnesota ties. However, it never seemed that the team was willing to do what it took to be an actual contender. Perhaps they were trying, but simply failing. If that is the case, then Erickson is out of line. However, if the team was not fully committed to winning or building a winner, then Erickson's quotes only sting because they reflect the truth. He lived with the Twins in that era, we only watched them. Who won the WAR? Erickson with the Orioles: 13.2 Klingenbeck with the Twins: -1.6 (ouch) Bartee with the Twins: null WAR won by the Orioles! One Sentence Summary Scott Erickson may have had an abrasive demeanor at times, but he may have made some salient points on his way out of Minnesota as well. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: frank+viola+mets+osw2.jpg Back in 1989, the Twins ripped my tiny heart out and traded my favorite person from New York for a bunch of crap that I didn't care about. Let's investigate why they would devastate a child in such a manner. The Trade: BREAKDOWN! On July 31, 1989, the Minnesota Twins traded the truly beautiful Frank Viola to the New York Mets for Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, Tim Drummond, David West and Jack Savage. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Viola continued to be a fantastic human being and pitcher for the Mets over the next two-and-a-half seasons. Aguilera started 11 games for the Twins in 1989, but quickly became their closer the following season. Tapani would become a good, reliable starter for the Twins. Drummond, Savage and West didn't deserve to be in a trade with the great Frank Viola. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ How did I feel at the time? I think it's quite clear that I was upset. In fact, I cried when I heard. That's right, I actually cried. WHO WANTS TO FIGHT ME??? Well, I was seven and I was a kid and I was kind of emotional about my second favorite player. In addition, I hadn't heard of any of the losers the Twins got for Viola and I didn't really care anyway because I loved Frank Viola and I wanted to pitch like him even though I was right-handed and I sucked at pitching. Grrr, it's angering up my blood right now. Anyway, I did cry and I don't even care. I was seven; it was traumatizing. I'LL CRY RIGHT NOW, I DON'T CARE!!! Why make the trade? OK monster, explain why this trade should have been made: "Minnesota general manager Andy MacPhail says he traded Frank Viola partially because he believes the left-hander's ability is diminishing." This came from this New York Times, AP story on the trade. Of course, this statement reveals MacPhail as a heartless monster who doesn't know how to evaluate his talent or understand when he has a wonderful player with a great mustache under contract for a reasonable rate. Here's more: "Anytime you deal a guy who has done all Frankie has done for us, it's tough," MacPhail told the St. Paul Pioneer Press Dispatch. "But the velocity of his fastball was diminishing. It seemed they were catching up with him." Surely, Viola would see diminished returns in 1990, due to this abhorrent decrease in velocity. Oh wait, 20 wins and almost 250 innings is FANTASTIC! FANTASTIC! Good grief., you called him "Frankie," you clearly love him too. Now this New York Times piece on the trade explains why the Mets would make this Shaq slam dunk of a trade, breaking the proverbial backboard of awesome lefties with great facial hair and accents. Or whatever. ''I know we gave up a lot,'' Johnson said, ''but he's one of the best.'' Twins Wanted More Johnson is Mets' manager Davey Johnson and he's clearly a genius. Yeah, he was one of the best. He was coming off a Cy Young season. I guess the Twins wanting more shows that they weren't complete jerkstores, but they should have asked for even more than they did. It's Frank Viola. Ask for the World. Ok, I feel better now. Clearly, I cannot reconcile the fan part of me with the blog-guy part of me on this issue. Analysis Emotions aside, this was a good trade for the Twins. Viola had been signed to a rich contract, but the Twins were not a great team, so shedding payroll was a logical move. It was still a sucky move, though. On the field, the Twins basically turned Viola into five new pitchers. Tapani did a decent job taking the place of Viola in the rotation and Aguilera became one of the best closers in franchise history. The other three guys didn't really pan out, but Aguilera and Tapani alone made this a good trade for the Twins. However, MacPhail was wrong about Viola. His stuff may have been diminishing, but he certainly pitched well for three-and-a-half more seasons, fulfilling that contract as best he could. In 1990, he won 20 games for the Mets and finished third in Cy Young voting. In 1991, he regressed a bit, but still won 13 games. He bounced back and had two more good seasons with Boston in '92 and '93, but was basically done after those two seasons. He and I lost touch after he left for the Red Sox. The trade worked out well, but he was Sweet Music! How could the Twins do this to the fans? How could they do this to the clubhouse? Most importantly, how could they do this me? I deserved better. I pretty much disliked Aguilera for the next few seasons, just because he was acquired for my beloved Viola. Who won the WAR? Viola for the Mets: 9.7 Aguilera for the Twins: 16.1 Tapani for the Twins: 18.7 West for the Twins: 0.0 Drummond for the Twins: 0.9 Savage for the Twins: -1.1 Total for the Twins: 34.6 WAR won by the Twins! One Sentence Summary Frank Viola transcends WAR, so this trade was terrible. ~~~ I also recapped the Tom Brunansky for Tom Herr trade on Thursday. If you want to, you can read it here. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Pinto_Hicks_Bash_US_720.jpg Weekend Recap I'm happy with two of three when the one the Twins lost was at the hands of Felix Hernandez. The Twins looked good this weekend and winning two of every three is a great way to win over 90 games. Not saying that will happen, but...it will probably happen. Josmil Pinto I'm two for two on mini-rants! Two weeks ago, I called for more Danny Santana and I got it (until I was hamstrung. get it?!?!). Last week, I called for more Pinto. Pinto has played in three of the last five games and I hope that trend continues. Actually, no, that trend sucks. He needs to play more than 60% of the time. He needs to play closer to 90% of the games or else his roster spot is kind of a waste. Of course, Chris Herrmann's promotion would have normally ensured more playing time, but the Twins won't have a designated hitter all week. So that sucks. Pinto is the Twins' third best hitter right now. By OPS+, he's actually been better than Joe Mauer and he only trails "Superstar" Brian Dozier. Pinto will be up and down because he's a rookie and he has a lot to learn, but he's going to help the lineup more than he ever hurts it. I watch his approach at the plate, his level swing and his power and I really think he might hit .300 in the future. Talking about batting average will get my smart baseball card taken away, but I still think that's an impressive feat. Aaron Hicks Aaron Hicks is hitting better (he couldn't be any worse) and I'm pleased. His walk-off hit on Thursday may have been a spark to his confidence - he raised his average to nearly .200 this weekend. I hope that Hicks' average continues to rise, but I think it is still important to keep some perspective in regards to his ceiling. I always envisioned Hicks as a .250 or .260 hitter at best. That isn't outstanding, but I also thought he would walk enough to post OBPs in the .350 range. That is very good. In fact, a .350 OBP would have been 45th in the Majors last season. Even in a dreadful 2014 season, Hicks has a walk rate around 18%, which would be in the top ten in the Majors. You can say that he's walking because he's being passive and that is definitely part of it. The other part is that he has a good eye for the strike zone. However, it may be that he's still learning the MLB strike zone right now. Here's a chart: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 589] [/TD][TD=colspan: 4]Actual [TD=colspan: 4]Pitchf/x[/TD] [/TD][TD]O-Swing% Z-Swing% Swing% Z-Contact% O-Swing% Z-Swing% Swing% Z-Contact% 2013 22.50% 61.30% 39.90% 83.10% 22.10% 55.50% 39.70% 82.50% 2014 17.50% 54.90% 35.10% 88.60% 16.70% 54.70% 35.00% 90.60% [/TABLE] O-Swing% is the percentage of pitches a batter swings at outside the strike zone. Z-Swing% is the percentage of pitches a batter swings at inside the strike zone. Swing% seems pretty self-explanatory and Z-Contact% is the percentage of times a batter makes contact when swinging at pitches inside the strike zone. So, Hicks is swinging less. However, some of that comes from swinging at significantly fewer pitches outside of the zone (a good thing). Of course, some comes from swinging at fewer pitches within the strike zone (not so good). While he is swinging less, he is making much better contact on pitches in the zone. Last year, he swung at more pitches in the zone, but made less contact. Now, he's being more selective and making more contact. It hasn't worked all that well for him just yet, but that type of approach could pay off as he gains experience. For the record, his O-Swing% would have been in the top five in the Majors last season, if Hicks had qualified. Hicks clearly owns at least one elite skill that has translated to the Majors. If he can continue to improve his plate discipline (being more aggressive when getting good pitches), he could settle in as that .350 OBP center fielder that would be very valuable. His line drive rate is up and he's hitting fewer fly balls (good with his speed). His walk rate is way up and he's actually striking out less often. He's making minor strides and I hope they start to pay off for him. Brian Dozier Some chucklehead on Facebook had the nerve to point out that nine of Brian Dozier's home runs have been solo home runs and then he added "#not clutch" just to further prove that he's a chucklehead. Dozier has six home runs when leading off an inning, should he have asked to not lead off those innings, chucklehead? Dozier is hitting .275/.385/.500 with runners in scoring position. That looks pretty good to me, what do you think, chucklehead? Dozier's OWn% (a stat that looks at what a team's winning percentage would be with a team full of just that player, a stat my brother told me about this weekend, a stat that is awesome) is .693. Basically, a team full of Brian Dozier's would win 112 games with his 2014 production. Is 112 wins good, chucklehead?This one goes out to all the chuckleheads out there: if you can't enjoy Brian Dozier's 2014 season, then you should probably give up being a fan. You'll never be satisfied. Madness Former Twin Update - Bronson Arroyo Oh wait, he's not a former Twin at all. This past offseason, it seemed almost inevitable that Arroyo would sign with the Twins. First, he was a perfect fit. He's a veteran and veteraniness is very important in the Twins' clubhouse. Second, he "pitched to contact" and limited walks. It seemed like a match made in heaven. The Twins signed Mike Pelfrey. Arroyo took his grit to Arizona instead. Boo. Arroyo started slow and had a 9.95 ERA after his first three starts. He's been great since then. His ERA is down to 4.15 and he's doing that weird leg kick thing that leads to cool baseball cards like this one: Download attachment: arroyo.jpg See, the leg kick is so great, it can turn the whole world silver. Good Deed of the Week Glen Perkins is a notoriously nice person. Or at least that's how it seems on Twitter. He's from Minnesota, so you know he's great. Anyway, with Aaron Hicks' confidence reaching a low (probably) and Hicks getting questioned by pretty much all of his bosses, Perkins did the nice thing and blew a save on Thursday so that Hicks could come up later and win the game with a walk-off hit. That is the kind of good deed that only a Minnesotan would ever think to do. If Perkins had been born just a few miles East in Hudson, Wisconsin, he'd have probably just eaten a bunch of cheese curds or something. Just kidding. Minnesota and Wisconsin are basically the same place. Poll Results My most recent poll ended last week. I wondered who you thought would hit at least 20 home runs this season. This poll had 62 votes. Here are the results: Brian Dozier - 47 votes Josmil Pinto - 39 votes Joe Mauer - 2 votes Josh Willingham - 3 votes Chris Colabello - 19 votes Jason Kubel - 20 votes Oswaldo Arcia - 12 votes Trevor Plouffe - 20 votes Frank Stallone - 4 votesStallone beat Mauer. That's awesome. For the record, I only voted for Dozier and Pinto. I think Arcia will come close too, provided he comes back relatively soon. Kubel won't reach 5. I put up a new poll, please support democracy and vote immediately. Random Baseball Card from the Past Download attachment: Robidoux-Funderburk-Prospect.jpg I hate that card. Nothing personal against Funderburk (or Robidoux for that matter; great name). I hated cards that had two guys on two different teams. It made it impossible to sort by team. When you're a kid with baseball cards, you have to sort the cards a different way every day. Or was that just me? Anyway, when it was time to sort by team, these cards would really cheese me off. It was a real dilemma. I'd usually sort by the team I liked better or the player's team that I liked better. It was unsettling. Why this specific card? Just wait until Friday. Suspense! Plugging My Way Last week, I completed a four-part look back at the past 8 years in Twins' center field history. With Aaron Hicks hitting a bit better this weekend, perhaps the tale will have a happy ending after all. If you didn't read this saga, here are links to each part: Part 1 - Torii Hunter leaves, Carlos Gomez arrivesPart 2 - Goodbye Gomez, enjoy the Denard Span era Part 3 - Span and Ben Revere are traded, Aaron Hicks takesover Part 4 - Aaron Hicks flounders, what is the situation now?5000 words on something you probably remember because it didn't happen that long ago. However, I might have hidden a secret code in one of the parts?!?! What if I did? You should probably read them just in case. Parting Thought I'm really enjoying this team. Even if they go into the tank and fall off their current pace, I'll still enjoy watching this team. The younger guys on the team are fun to watch. Brian Dozier is a freaking superstar. The starting pitchers are more effective. Even though the Twins aren't as talented as other teams in the AL, they actually have some players who would be starting on any team. This is really starting to feel like the first step back in the right direction. I'm all jacked up. Have a nice week, everyone! Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Cuddyer_Michael_US_Batting_720.jpg Travis Lee was being a real jag and didn't want to sign with the Twins after the 1996 draft. The Twins did not want to duplicate that jaggery in 1997. They had a strict "no-jag" policy in '97, opting instead for super nice guys. In the end, the Twins drafted two very popular players and one (perhaps) unfairly unpopular player. They also drafted a guy who they would later draft much higher and with much worse results. Stay tuned! 1st Round Picks The Twins had two, as the aforementioned jag did not sign. The Twins had the 9th overall pick, and used it to draft Michael Cuddyer. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] "Cuddy," or "Cuddy Bear," as he would be affectionately called, took some time to get it going, but ultimately became a useful and versatile player, albeit one with a very red face. With their Lee pick, the Twins drafted Matt LeCroy. He looked like a teddy bear, so the Twins completed the Cuddy Bear/Teddy Bear combo successfully. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! In the last few days, I have posted a few more draft recaps at my blog. If you missed them, and want to read about them, you can find them here: 1994, 1995, 1996. ~~~ Ah, but what if? I know that Cuddy was very popular, but Lance Berkman went 16th overall and was roughly four times the player as Cuddyer (by WAR, which I know, I know, it sucks, but just handle it, k?). Berkman has a semi-decent Hall of Fame case and a no-doubt Hall of Fame nickname - Big Puma. Would he have become Big Puma in Minnesota? He'd probably be Berky or LancePants, so I think everything worked out perfectly for all stakeholders. Best Player Drafted Well, well, well, if it isn't Mr. Nick Punto! Punto narrowly edges Cuddyer out by WAR, mostly because he was a great defensive player with good on-base skills and he battled just slightly more than Cuddy. Honestly, Nick Punto drew a lot of ire from fans, but was never the worst player on the team and not nearly as embarrassing as Denny Hocking and his frosted tips. (Unprovoked Hocking shot alert!). Of course, Punto didn't actually sign with the Twins. He went back to school (he's smart) and was drafted in the 21st round by the Phillies the following year. He would then come to the Twins in the 2003 Eric Milton trade. Worst Player to Reach MLB 25th-round pick Adam Johnson, who posted a -1.1 career WAR. You may remember Johnson as a first-round pick, but that would come a few years later. In fact... The One Who Got Away I'd argue that Johnson is the one who got away. If the Twins had signed him back in 1997, he wouldn't have been around to draft in the first round in 2000. If not him, Punto, but he eventually found his way back to the flock. Best Name Tagg Bozied in the 50th round. Much like the Terminator, "he would be back, later." Fun Facts The Twins drafted future backup quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo in the 34th round. He should have been in soap ads; seems like a huge missed opportunity. Michael Restovich, the Twins' second-round pick, went to Mayo High School. When you think of it, it's a Miracle that he Whipped himself to the Big Leagues. Right? The Twins drafted Tim Sturdy in the 23rd round. Oddly enough, he was 7' 5" and 155 lb. Michael Cuddyer was arguably a better pitcher than Adam Johnson The Twins drafted David Justice in the 49th round, which was later deemed illegal, as Justice was an established player with the Braves. It was worth a shot.All those drafted who made it to the Bigs Nick Punto, Michael Cuddyer, J.C. Romero, Matt LeCroy, Michael Restovich, Kevin Frederick, and Adam Johnson One Sentence Summary LEAVE NICK PUNTO ALONE! Click here to view the article

I'm not really one to brag, but this mailbag is starting to take on a life of its own. I have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR questions from people who are not me. Sure, three of those questions are from the same person, but who are you to pick nits? In fact, what would you do? Wha-wha-wha-what would you do? I know what I'm going to do. Answer these questions: I really enjoy reading your blog - keep up the good work! Anyway, I saw something that the Twins intend to ship (Andrew) Albers to a Korean team for cash considerations. Why would the Twins ship their Minor League Pitcher of the Year, and one of their most promising young prospects off for nothing? Seems kind of crazy for me. Emailer, Webspace First, thank you very much for the positive feedback. I really do appreciate it. I take very little about this blog seriously, but the nice things that people say are truly valued. I also appreciate the constructive criticism. The invitations to shove "x" into or up "y" are not quite as cool, but I have a strict policy in my life to consider everything. So...Albers...right! On the surface, it makes almost zero sense. Albers might have been the best human interest story of the 2013 season. His first two starts didn't come with the fanfare of Kyle Gibson's debut, but Albers delivered A+ results. However, after those first two starts, Albers managed just a 5.70 ERA in 8 starts. He barely averaged 5 innings, gave up 58 hits and only managed 21 strikeouts. Albers isn't a strikeout pitcher, but a strikeout every other inning is paltry, if we're being kind. Then, you have to consider the fact that the Twins likely have just one spot open in the rotation, with Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes, Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey already penciled in. That left Albers, Vance Worley, Scott Diamond, Kyle Gibson and Sam Deduno to battle for the fifth spot. Albers would likely have been near the bottom of that list, so the Twins did him a solid and let him pursue a season in Korea where he'll get to pitch and maybe build himself some value for an MLB return. I imagine that when he is ready to come back to the Majors, the Twins and Albers will be mutually interested. Although I cannot read your mailbag before it is posted, I have a follow-up to a question I am guessing you will answer about Andrew Albers. If you could ship one Twins player to Korea, who would it be and why? Thanks, big fan - http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jyNLzmzNez0/UvGnkkFf_vI/AAAAAAAABQI/Ewi4GXqjffQ/s1600/449262809_67838bd97d_o.jpg Is this Airplane? Well, the ideal candidate signed with the Phillies, so he's out. If I'm going to start selling humans, I'd prefer to make a big score and get out of the game ASAP. Thus, I'm selfishly selling Joe Mauer to Korea for 25 million bucks. I'd have all the money I need to live or at least all the money I'd need to get myself a sweet one-hour documentary about wasting a fortune in a short period of time. I'd be hated in Minnesota and likely in the U.S., but I could just build a gold wall to keep angry people away. I'd also build a catapult, but that's just for fun. Here's a three-pack from @TalktoContact, the always entertaining Twins podcast. Follow them on Twitter and listen to their podcast. If you do, I will be your friend. Which current Twin forecast to make the 25-man roster is the edgiest? Does anyone have attitude? Grit? Edge. Attitude. Grit. I can't find these words in Excel. I literally have no idea how to sort these columns. I'm going to try to answer this anyway. I'm not sure that anyone has "grit" or "edge" but I do think that some of these players have "Minnesota Grit," a term I just invented that some will certainly find offensive. Brian Dozier and Trevor Plouffe had long hair, so that counts. Sam Deduno eats necklaces, so he's got MG (Minnesota Grit, acronyms sell, baby!). Typically, these terms are used to try to attach value to an otherwise valueless player because he plays really hard. Or, it's used to describe the guy on the team who is most likely to mix his chaw with sunflower seeds and dirt from the infield. I don't think the Twins have one of those guys, so I'll go with Sam Deduno and his own version of pica. How is it possible that Gardy and Rick Anderson both still have their jobs? Why is Anderson Andy? I wish he was Ricky. Gardy and Ricky has a nice ring. Gardy and Andy is a mouthful. Seriously, say it out loud right now. Now try yelling it. Is your boss coming over? Anyway, I think they have their jobs because it is very hard to pinpoint why the Twins currently suck. Well, that's not fully true. They suck because they don't have a lot of talent. In my opinion, you fire a coach or coaches when a team performs poorly relative to their talent level. If the talent level is low and the team performs at a low level, then the World makes sense. If the talent level is high and the team performs at a low level, then heads should roll. The Twins have a few talented players, but they don't have a talented team. Firing Gardy would be a symbolic move or a move that panders to those who think that "something has to change." Terry Ryan would be blaming the poor performance of his untalented roster on the manager, which might or might not be justifiable. If the Twins want to make a symbolic or pandering move, that is their prerogative. I just don't think that type of move would fix the issues with the team. Of course, the team is getting better, which brings us to... What would have to happen for Gardy to get fired during the 2014 campaign? What about AFTER the season? For Gardy to get fired during the season, he'd have to lose the clubhouse. There would have to be negative and troubling reports in the papers and on prominent blogs (read: not this one). He would have to get publicly questioned by a good player and since the Twins don't have a lot of good players, this would be quite difficult. Gardy is a players' manager, so I don't see this scenario playing out. For Gardy to get fired after the season, the Twins would have to lose another 96 games (or more). That symbolic, pandering move I mentioned earlier? That would look pretty good to the front office after another terrible season. If it meant that Terry Ryan and other prominent members of the front office could keep their jobs, then I think they would fire Gardy for self-preservation. I know I would. In fact, if my company told me, "you need to fire Ron Gardenhire, or we'll find a new teacher to take your place," I'd do it immediately. It would be unprecedented. For the record, I think the Twins will win 70-75 games in 2014 and Gardy will keep his job. This is all on the record. Is Josmil Pinto Chris Parmelee? Thanks, I love reading. Brad S., St. Paul, MN That question is confusing. I think it needs a comma...or a dash...or a hyphen...or something else... This obviously refers to each player having crazy hot Septembers and bringing hot, crazy expectations with them to spring training the next year. It seems some are fearful that Pinto will flop in his season-starting debut, much like Parmelee did. I get it. However, we're talking apples and oranges here. These are two completely different players. It isn't even about their talent or performance or pedigree or what have you. It's as simple as the fact that they are two completely different human beings with different DNA and genes and pheromones and everything. There are a billion examples of a player having a good September call-up and then being a good player going forward. There are a billion examples of a player having a terrible September call-up and then being a good player going forward. You can mix and match good with terrible in those phrases all you like. In fact, I'm creating a turn-based iPhone app for that very purpose. Boring Words with Friends. The fact remains that each player is an individual. So, no, Pinto is not Parmelee. He's Pinto. And you know what, that's pretty neat. Are you excited for pitchers and catchers? I know I am. Brad S., St. Paul, MN Not to disagree with myself, a loyal reader, but no, not really. I know this is the symbolic start of the baseball season, but it's not a real start of the baseball season. I love playing catch, I kind of love watching pros play catch, but I'm not a fan of reading about players playing catch. Once the actual spring training games get going, I'll be excited for about an hour. Then some scrub like Gloob Newstrom will step up to the plate wearing number 87 and I'll remember why I never make it through a full spring training game. I'm excited for Opening Day in April though. Sorry to be such a bummer. It's part of my new plan to end every post on a bummer. NOT! Here's a rare photo of Ron Gardenhire in concert: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-6rD-dIbrRD8/UvGkw24YUPI/AAAAAAAABP8/iLcu1CrfyMM/s1600/gardysings.jpg Oh, evenflow. Have a great weekend, everyone! Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Click here to view the article

I've been writing so much about free agency lately, it's sick! Last week, I addressed the position players the Twins should target. This week, I've been counting down my top 30 starting pitching targets for the Twins. If you missed any of this mini-dynasty, I'll provide you some links below. Since I wrote these, things have changed, but most of my ideas aren't super player-specific, more of an overall philosophy. Translation: please click the links below so I can feel cool. Now that all the shameless self-promotion is clear, we can get back to the starting pitcher countdown. Here are the top ten starting pitching targets for the Twins, in my opinion (which should be obvious because I am writing this): [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Download attachment: Feldman_Scott_Pitching_US_720.jpg 10. Scott Feldman Nothing sexy about Scott Feldman. This is not an indictment on his looks either, he just doesn't excite me as a pitcher. His walk rates are generally good, his strikeout rates are in the Twins Zone and he's reasonably young. His ground ball rate was great in 2013 and with the Twins' good infield defense, he could be a decent fit. If Feldman is the second or third best starting pitcher the Twins sign, the off-season could be categorized as a success. If he's the crown jewel of the 2013 off-season? Yawn. Links to more thoughts on free agency Infielders Outfielders and Catchers Relief Pitchers and Starting Pitchers 30-21 Starting Pitchers 20-11 9. Bronson Arroyo HOT RUMOR!! If news reports are to be believed, Bronson Arroyo is somewhere in the Twin Cities area, lurking, waiting to sign a contract with our beloved Twins. Be on the lookout for a man in his late 30s with long hair and likely carrying an acoustic guitar and silly-walking like in Monty Python. Do not approach Arroyo, as he could recede back to Cincinnati if spooked. I've already started to talk myself into Arroyo on the Twins, so that pretty much means he won't sign here. I was concerned about his age and lack of strikeouts, but overall, he looks like a pretty valuable pitcher. He's thrown over 2000 innings in the past 10 seasons and he's transformed from a control-enthusiast to a control-specialist. He'll be 37 next season and all pitchers are healthy until they aren't healthy any longer. If he does sign here, I'll be interested in the contract he receives. Anything more than two years or more than $10 million per season will elevate my levels. Stay below those thresholds and I'll be chill. According to Baseball Reference, his nickname is Saturn Nuts. I'm sensing a love-hate relationship starting here. If he even sings once, I want his contract voided. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! 8. Ervin Santana Not a huge fan. He throws hard but that doesn't translate to strikeouts, so what's the point? His career strikeout rate is lower than Scott Baker's. It's only slightly higher than Kevin Slowey's. Santana is also prone to wildness and home runs. He's averaged over 200 innings the past four seasons, so he certainly has value. He's a good pitcher, I'll say that. He's reportedly looking for 5 years and over $100 million. That's crazy. Fans can harp on the Twins for being cheap all they want, but signing Santana to a contract that averages over $20 million per year is irresponsible. I'd rather my team be cheap than crazy. 7. Scott Kazmir Kazmir will be only 30 next year. That's insane. I remember being jealous of my friend Brad because he had Kazmir on his fantasy team. That was in 2005. I've been jealous for 9 years now. After completely falling apart in 2010-2011 and then missing all of 2012, Kazmir rebounded really nicely in 2013. He still throws basically as hard as he ever has and he still has great stuff. His 4.04 ERA in 2013 isn't special, but his 3.36 xFIP shows that he may be a huge upside signing. His 2013 could end up looking like a huge fluke, but I'm not sure that it will. He'd be a lot higher up my list if I could just get one more year to look at him. The Twins won't have that luxury, so if they want him, they need to be bold. I like him, I'd go 3-4 years if needed. 6. Ubaldo Jimenez Is Jimenez consistent? Here are his last 5 xFIPs - 3.59, 3.60, 3.71, 4.98, 3.62. I can explain the 4.98! Strikeout rate dipped, walk rate spiked, strand rate dipped, ground ball rate plummeted, home run/fly ball rate spiked. There, it all makes sense now. Why did all of those rates change so dramatically in 2012? I'm not sure. His 2013 looks a lot like his 2009, 2010 and 2011. If his 2012 had matched, he'd be looking at a massive payday. Instead, he'll have to settle for a tremendous payday. It's a subtle difference, I agree. I'm not worried about him as a pitcher, but he's far too rich for the thrifty Twins, so he rates a bit lower than others. 5. A.J. Burnett Burnett would probably be number 1 on my list if there was any chance that he would actually sign here. His combination of high ground ball rate and good strikeout rate is so enticing. He has also really gotten his control under control (ugh) as he has aged. Of course, none of this matters as Burnett is reportedly unwilling to pitch anywhere that isn't within walking distance of his home in Maryland (exaggeration). Now there are reports that he may retire. Regardless of what he chooses to do, he won't pitch for the Twins in 2014. What if the Twins just went insane and offered him 2 years, $36 million? I bet he'd consider that. If things really fall apart and all their targets sign elsewhere, I'm not so sure that wouldn't be a smart offer to make. They have the money, right? 4. Dan Haren We would feel a lot differently about Dan Haren if we called him "Dangerous" Danny Haren like I want us to. That would give him an edge. Instead, he's a fairly boring option. He doesn't throw hard, he's had some recent ups and downs and he isn't really a big name anymore. He is consistent though. His xFIP has been 4 or below since 2005. His ground ball rate has been diminishing and his strikeout rate is dipping (as a trend, it was up a bit last season), but his walk rate is strikingly consistent, and low. His 2012 and 2013 seasons were disappointing, likely as he learned to deal with that diminishing ground ball rate. He seemed to figure it out in the second half of 2013, posting an 3.40 xFIP as his strand rate and BABIPs stabilized. He averaged well over 200 innings from 2005-2011 and he's still just 33. He never really relied on power stuff, so his age is less of a factor. He signed a one year, $13 million dollar deal for last season and a similar deal would be very reasonable for the Twins. 3. Ricky Nolasco You know how some pitchers outperform their peripheral stats? Nolasco consistently underperforms relative to his peripherals. His walk rates have always been excellent and his strikeout rates were consistently good until they weren't any more. His career 3.52 K/BB ratio is just fantastic! His career 4.37 ERA is not. His career xFIP of 3.75 is good! His dipping K rate is bad. He's a yoyo. He's averaged nearly 200 innings in his last three seasons and he is coming off his best season ever in 2013. He'll be 31 next year and should be looking to cash in. For a reasonable contract, I'd be interested. I worry his contract offers will exceed "reasonable." Oh, he's a slider enthusiast, and I'm not so sure we like that 'round these parts. 2. Josh Johnson OH HOT DAMN A LOCAL BOY! Johnson was atrocious last season, his first with Toronto. Perhaps he didn't get used to drinking maple syrup every day? If you look closely, there are easy ways to explain away his poor performance. First, his strand rate was extremely low - 63.3% compared to his career rate of 74.2%. Second, his BABIP was .356, an astronomical number even if you don't believe in BABIP. Third, his home run to fly ball rate was 18.5%, over twice has high as his 8.2% career value. Add all those misfortunes together and you get a 6.20 ERA but a 3.58 xFIP. He'll be just 30 next season and won an ERA title only four short seasons ago. "BUY LOW," shouted the man. The Twins should offer one year and $whateverittakes million to get Johnson. If it takes two years, go for it. Three years? Yeah, maybe. 18 years? Don't be stupid. 1. Matt Garza I've written this before, but Garza's debut is one of my fondest memories of recent Twins past. He was just such a delightful spaz that evening. I enjoyed his competitive personality and while he may legitimately have a screw loose, he is a solid pitcher. His 2013 was rocky, but he was coming off of a couple legit injuries. In 2011 and 2012, he looked like a budding ace. He had great strikeout rates, improved control and a suddenly solid ground ball rate. His ground ball rate plummeted last season, but his line drive rate jumped far beyond his career norm. I imagine those rates will even out. With a relatively stable strikeout rate, and ever-improving walk rate and no real noticeable loss of velocity, Garza would be an excellent target for his age 30-34 seasons. A five-year deal seems more than reasonable and I'd pay him big money. Would the Twins do it? Would they bring back someone they once jettisoned for Delmon Young? I have no idea. I Googled "Matt Garza Twins hate" and found nothing. It seems the waters are clear. Garza isn't an "ace" but he's a very good pitcher and would anchor this rotation. Projections seem to fall in the 4 years, $60 million range for Garza. The Twins might need to exceed that. Personally, I'd go 5 and 80 and hope he wants to come back. That's a lot of money. Deep breath. Special Note: Masahiro Tanaka. I learned long ago to stick to what I know and I know nothing of Japanese baseball. If he's as good as advertised, he'd be number 3 on this list. Since I can't speak of him with any authority or come up with any "jokes" about him, I'll just leave him here. So there we are. Tons of free agents rated and reviewed for your reading pleasure. Who will the Twins actually sign? I have no clue. I hope they are shockingly active. I'd love to see Garza, Johnson and Arroyo on this team next year. How wild would that be? Terry Ryan shows up at Spring Training with an earring. He starts calling everyone "playa." Constant Finger Guns. It would be amazing. Make it happen, TR. Click here to view the article

State of the Team 1994 Record: 53-60, 4th in the BRAND NEW AL Central 1994 Overview: STEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-RIKE! 1995 Outlook: Will there be a season? If so, where will Shane Mack be? Players Lost - Free Agency The seeds for the 1994 off-season were planted in 1993 when the (at the time) current collective bargaining agreement expired without a new agreement. A strike was a legit possibility and looked more and more likely as the 1994 season continued. On August 12, 1994, the strike began. On September 14, 1994, Commissioner Bud Selig cancelled the rest of the season and the playoffs/World Series. He was World Serious. So, the 1994 off-season was super weird. No one was really sure how long the strike would last and some players retired and some left for other baseball pursuits. Kent Hrbek retired, which sucked. Shane Mack left for Japan, which sucked. The Twins lost two of their four best offensive players and they really weren't very good before that. Welcome to the Scott Stahoviak era! Don't get too comfortable. The Twins also lost Jim Deshaies and Rich Garces. Deshaies was a dishaster and Garces was a failed prospect who had a four-season stretch of effective pitching about four years later. Players Gained - Free Agency The Twins didn't really sign anyone of note, although they did sign some players who I had heard of. First, the Twins brought in Kevin Maas, likely in an effort to replace some of the power that was retiring/leaving. Maas didn't play in the Majors in 1994 and really, he barely played in 1995. He made it through 22 games before being cut loose and signing a Minor League deal to return to the Yankees. He never reached the Bigs again. They also signed Greg Harris, a starter who had some relative success earlier in his career. Harris threw 32.2 innings, posted a dope 8.82 ERA and was gone by August. He will be forever remembered by me like this: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KIGn8LoXers/UmqcpXrwXEI/AAAAAAAABEg/y8e1cqXbzR8/s320/greg+harris+card.jpg Jerald Clark was another '94-absent player, although he actually produced for the Twins in 1995. He hit .339/.354/.550 in 113 plate appearances. He hurt his knee in mid-June and never played MLB baseball again. Finally, the Twins signed Riccardo Ingram, who had 10 plate appearances in 1995 but will be best remembered for having a cool name. TRADEZ! The strike brought one of the weirdest trades in MLB history and one that would have literally made the Twins Daily forums explode with vicious and delicious rage. Dave Winfield was traded on August 31, for a player to be named later. When the season was cancelled, there was no real reason to complete the trade. So, some executives from the Indians took some executives from the Twins out to dinner and paid the bill. AT THE HENNEPIN COUNTY TAXPAYERS EXPENSE, probably. Biggest Splash The Twins claimed Rich Robertson off waivers from the Pirates. In 1995, he threw 51.2 innings and had a 3.83 ERA. Not bad! However, as we learned from American Beauty: look closer. He walked over 5 batters per nine innings and he barely struck out more than 6 batters per nine innings. Not surprisingly, Robertson was a train wreck of an earthquake of a disaster in 1996 and 1997, starting 57 awful games and posting an ERA around 5.5. Ah, the mid-90s. Biggest Miss Shane Mack left for Japan after the 1994 season. He likely made that decision at least partially because of the strike. I have no idea if the Twins tried to keep them or if they were allowed to try to keep him, but it would have been great if he had stayed. My Own Personal Heartbreak Back to Mack. I retroactively loved Shane Mack. I didn't appreciate him as a kid because I was Team Kirby and Mack was like his second fiddle. I should have made room in my heart for Kirby Puckett and Shane Mack, but that is my regret. I'll work it out in shock therapy. Had Mack stayed with the Twins for even three more seasons, he probably would go down as one of the best Twins of all-time. He was still a very productive player during his two seasons in Japan and he was even still pretty good when he came back to the States in '97 and '98. He dealt with a lot of injuries, but he played well when healthy. It's a shame that the strike stole Shane Mack from us. I blame everyone. Arbitrary Overall Assessment: F An F for the Twins and an F for baseball. Seriously, there was no 1994 World Series. I mean, how do things get that bad? Labor strife and management control over employees are historical problems, but we're talking about a professional sport. Millionaires and billionaires and blah blah blah. I'm just glad that things have been relatively peaceful ever since. Sports strikes are among the most baffling occurrences on Earth, at least to me. I understand crop circles better. I understand Sasquatch sightings better. I understand Matthew McConaughey better. The Twins get an F, but I'm not sure what more they could have done differently. The strike sucked, to state the obvious. Next week, we'll look at the 1995 off-season. See you then! Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Click here to view the article

After the 2009 season, the Twins decided to make a smart move and deal from outfield depth to address a position that had been a weakness on the team for the better part of 20 years. Just one year later, the Twins decided, "meh, shortstops are for dorks" and traded that same player away for a couple of relievers. Buckle up folks, it's very hard to be even remotely positive about this trade. The Trade: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded J.J. Hardy and Brendan Harris and cash to the Baltimore Orioles for Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobson. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Harris and Jacobson never played for their new teams, so we can just move past them. Hoey was one of the worst Twins relievers in recent memory. He only threw 24.2 innings for the Twins. In those innings, he posted a 5.47 ERA, which was actually a career low! He walked 13 batters and only struck out 14. He nearly posted a 2.0 WHIP. He was brutal. After a disappointing 2010 season with the Twins, Hardy bounced back in 2011. He hit 30 home runs for the Orioles and was worth 4.3 WAR. His offense slipped to an 82 OPS+ in 2012, but his defense and power helped make him a 3+ WAR player anyway. In 2013, He has been somewhere in between 2011 and 2012, but would still be much better than Pedro Florimon and Tsuyoshi Nishioka sharing a uniform and trying to use their four arms to their advantage. How did I feel at the time? Not pleased. I thought acquiring Hardy was a very smart move and I wasn't happy that the Twins gave up on him after a season. I was not on the Nishioka bandwagon at all and I didn't think that trading away a power-hitting shortstop is the kind of thing a good team does. I'm not going to state who was right or wrong. Why make the trade? That is a question that I can't really answer. Here's an ESPN.com article that tries it's best to make sense of the senseless. "We're looking for a little more offense to our regular shortstop position, and we're confident he can provide that," Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail said. "We also talked to other shortstop targets." I love it! Adding a great offensive shortstop is a great way to improve a team. We sure are lucky that MacPhail is back and making shrewd moves. Wait. This is what the Orioles did. Oops. Well, I'm guessing the Twins were targeting some high upside arms, right? Hoey and Jacobson are two hard-throwing minor leaguers who could eventually help replenish Minnesota's bullpen. Yeah! Hard throwing. Now I get it. Let's bring in some hard throwing relievers. They will certainly match the value of a good shortstop. They'll pitch like 60 innings apiece and all will be well. The question remains: who are these people? The 27-year-old Hoey was 4-0 with a 3.38 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 21 1/3 innings at Triple-A Norfolk. He pitched for Baltimore in 2006-07, going 3-5 with an 8.13 ERA. Well that doesn't look promising. Although, there was nowhere to go but up, I suppose. What about the other guy? The 24-year-old Jacobson was 8-1 with one save and a 2.79 ERA and 67 strikeouts in 71 innings at Class A Frederick. The Orioles got him in August 2009 from Detroit in a trade for Aubrey Huff. Hmm. Not terrible. Of course, this ignores the fact that Jacobson was 24 and repeating A ball. Whatever, the Twins needed relievers, as they were about to lose Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier. Of course, the Orioles needed relievers too, as evidenced here: The Orioles also reached a preliminary agreement with pitcher Koji Uehara on a one-year contract for $3 million. The deal is pending a physical. The 35-year-old Japanese righty was 1-2 with 13 saves and a 2.86 ERA in 43 games for Baltimore last season. Three million was only slightly less than what the Twins were going to pay Nishioka. Uehara was only good as an MLB pitcher, not good as a class A pitcher. So, it just depends on which league you value more. Download attachment: JJ Hardy.jpg Analysis If you want to even try to make sense of this move, then you are trying very hard to be positive. However, the logic behind the move must have gone like this: Nishioka is coming, Guerrier and Crain are gone, this will balance things out. Hardy wasn't great in 2010 and the relievers acquired were young. There is a hint of logic there. A hint. I'm not willing to go any further than that. The reality is that the Twins finally had a decent shortstop and they basically gave him away. They gave him away much like they gave Jason Bartlett away just a few years prior. It seems that the Twins aren't able to see a good defensive shortstop, unless it is very obvious. As I type this, Pedro Florimon is manning the Twins' shortstop position and he certainly is defense-only. However, Bartlett and Hardy might not make their defensive prowess as apparent as Florimon does. They were both extremely solid but maybe didn't always look the part. Whatever the issue was, the Twins let two very valuable players slip away. Of course, Hardy wasn't defense-only. He has great power at a premium defensive position. Hardy could bat 5th, play short and probably do so for another 3-4 years. He'd be around when the Twins get good again. Instead, the Twins will likely have a gaping hole at the position for the foreseeable future. That being said, he's not a superstar. True, the Twins let him get away, but he isn't without some major flaws. He's inconsistent and he doesn't get on-base at even an above-average rate. He's still a whole lot better than Nishioka, Hoey and Jacobson. Who won the WAR? Hoey with the Twins: -0.6 WAR Hardy with the Orioles: 10.9 WAR WAR won by the Orioles! One Sentence Summary Did anyone really think that the Orioles lost anything related to this trade? Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!I also wrote about that Francisco Liriano trade from a million years ago, if you want to read about it. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: GIBSONMVP_med.jpg End of year awards are fun. That is really all they are, but fun is fun. So I thought I might share my award winners and have some fun. My 5th grade gym teacher always said, "if you had fun, you won." So, I win. Fun = Won. We'll start with the most fun award and move down the list. NL Cy Young Award - R.A. Dickey He lead the league in Batters Faced. Need I say more? Yes? Ok. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Well, this was super close for me. I thought Johnny Cueto and Clayton Kershaw were right there. According to BaseballReference.com, Clayton Kershaw is nicknamed "The Claw" and that almost convinced me to select him. However, now that I am in my 30s, I am trying to not let nicknames sway me. Plus, R.A. is a nickname too. Dickey throws a cool pitch. If you know me well, and none of you do, you know that I love novelty. Kershaw is your prototypical left-handed, dominant pitcher. Cueto is an outstanding right-handed pitcher. Dickey was a Twin. When he was a Twin, he had some success. He also had a lot of failness. Failure. Now, he is inning eater. He also led the league in strikeouts and innings pitched. He had consecutive 1-hitters. The late-career emergence is impressive. With three candidates who have such similar resumes, I tend to vote for novelty and no one is more novel than R.A. Dickey, at least not this year. NL Rookie of the Year - Bryce Harper I think Bryce Harper hits 40 home runs next year. That is not why I am selecting him. He is 19. When I was 19, (insert story of immaturity and weak strength here). He hit 22 home runs and had an OPS+ of 119. I am told he had the greatest teenage season of all time. Beyond being a good hitter, he played great defense, as he received a lot of his surprising 5.0 bWAR from his defense. He gets criticism for doing hilarious things like blowing kisses and pointing bats, but really, isn't he everything people want in a player? He plays really hard. People tend to like that. Although, it seems like they like that less when it is a really talented player who is playing hard. When Nick Punto or Matt Tolbert makes that "I'm running as fast as I can" face, they get praise. Harper didn't seem to get his due gamer-cred. Perhaps he will in the future. For me, the combination of immense talent, hard work, and effortful effort, makes him a generational talent. I am looking forward to watching him for many, many years. Hopefully never as a Yankee. NL MVP - Buster Posey This was an interesting race. You could make good, logical arguments for Posey, Yadier Molina, Ryan Braun, David Wright, and/or Andrew McCutchen. Braun's offensive numbers are very impressive, as are McCutchen's and Wright's. The latter two fell off a bit as the year went on. Braun got stronger. But, so did Posey. I swear that every time I turned the Giants on, Posey was driving in a run. I know that RBI are evil, but I can't shake that anecdotal evidence from my dome. Molina is just a fantastic catcher and is starting to be a better offensive player. With many things being equal, I think that being a catcher on a playoff team matters. Posey was just slightly better than Molina, so that would be my pick. Posey is like Joe Mauer 2.0. I know I wrote about this before, but it is just so true. If Mauer had power, he'd be Posey. In fact, if you combine their names, you get Pouer. Think about it. Posey is just outstanding, and has been since his extended debut in 2010. He hits for average, gets on base, hits for power and plays most of the games (some at first). Most of his value comes on offense, but he isn't a horrible catcher. That sounds a lot like Pouer to me. He also led the NL in WAR, so he must be selected by any sane person with a access to decimals. AL Cy Young Award - Justin Verlander I just realized that I always add Award to the end of this award, but none of the others. Is that true of everyone? I choose Verlander because he is the best. See Thursday night for proof. He also led the league in batters faced, strikeouts, innings pitched and then also threw in ERA+ for the pitching QUADRUPLE CROWN. (I made that up.) David Price is right there. He led the league in ERA and had 20 wins. I just think Verlander is better. If Price had thrown 25 more innings, I think his ERA would have been higher. I have no way to prove that, but I don't have to either. Verlander could win the next 4 Cy Young Awards and it would not surprise me a bit. He is a true workhorse and probably the best pitcher in baseball. He throws hard and has good control. There is a lot to like. The fact that he maintains and sometimes exceeds his early game velocity in later innings is impressive. He throws a lot of pitches and it doesn't seem to affect him. He seems like the type of pitcher that could be dominant for a long time. AL Rookie of the Year - Mike Trout I am kind of surprised that I haven't come across any articles that are arguing for someone else. You know, someone saying that Player X is actually the Rookie of the Year for such and such reasons. People love to do that kind of stuff just to poke bears. Wait a minute, I should do that! Actual AL Rookie of the Year - Yu Darvish Have you seen how many pitches this guy has? He has, like, 7, and each cuts in and out. Therefore, if you take the number of pitches he has and multiple by the number of cuts, it is literally like he has 400 pitches. Ok, my heart isn't in this. Just Kidding, Actual Actual AL Rookie of the Year - Mike Trout Trout is just too obvious. He hit 30 HR, stole 49 bases, had an OBP around .400, and played a ridiculous center field. He led the league in WAR by a extremely large margin. He had one of the greatest rookie seasons of all time. It was like he was shot out of a cannon, but then just stayed in motion for 5 months. When he finally hit that fat guy in the stomach, he had amassed stats that are jaw-dropping and perhaps a little iconic? AL MVP - Mike Trout Miguel Cabrera won the Triple Crown. No one should even attempt to take that away from him. Anyone arguing that leading the league in those three categories doesn't mean anything, is just trying too hard. Cabrera was the most dominant offensive player this year. In fact, he is probably the best overall offensive player in the game right now. People tend to criticize him for his lack of base running and defense, but then ignore the fact that he is one of the best contact and power hitters, lumping those two things together to downplay his overall dominance. I read a lot of opinion pieces on the AL MVP race. Pretty much everyone picks a side and then states that their choice is the obvious choice. There is no obvious choice in this race. You can pick Cabrera, explain why and be either right or wrong. You can do the exact same thing with Trout. My point would be that base running and defense matter to me. In addition, he plays a more difficult position. There are a few arguments to which I simply do not subscribe. Cabrera agreeing to play third base does nothing for me. He could have just as easily agreed to DH, and their offense would have been just as good and their defense likely would have been better. He also does not get extra credit for mediocre play at a position, just because he wanted to. Trout is just naturally awesome in center, and I think that is a lot more impressive. The Tigers making the playoffs means nothing to me as well. The Angels had a better record, but played in the much better division. I wonder how well the Angels would have finished if they would have played Kansas City, Minnesota and Cleveland over 50 times. You can't say for sure, but it is enough of an argument to remove that factor from my decision. Also, the Angels won more games than the Tigers. I don't like that argument, but I get it. I don't get the "Trout didn't play in April" argument or the "Cabrera was awesome when games mattered" argument at all. Had Trout played more games, he likely would have accumulated more stats. While he should be slightly penalized for playing fewer games, that fact should even that part out. Cabrera was awesome in September, but Trout was awesome in June. Last time I looked, all those games count the same. I get the pressure of September, but I don't think that is enough to sway this decision. Ultimately, either choice makes at least some sense to me. I will not be upset, regardless of who wins. (I might cry just a bit, but quickly recover. Likely just alligator tears.) For me, Cabrera was the most impressive offensive player this year, with Trout trailing slightly behind. Since offense is not the only part of baseball that matters to me, his defense and base running push him past Cabrera. This does not mean that I don't value Triple Crown stats. This does not mean that I am not completely impressed with what Cabrera did this season. This does not mean that I think the Triple Crown is stupid and/or overrated. This does not mean that I think RBI is a terrible stat. This does not mean that I think WAR is the only important stat. This does not mean that Cabrera did not have a truly amazing and historic season. It just means that I think Trout's season was better. Sometimes, that is all there is to it. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Kubel_Jason_Thinking_US_720.jpg Welcome to the new millennium!!!!!! Do you remember the Willennium? In 1999, the Twins finally added B.J. Garbe to their system. Coming off that massive high, the Twins had the second overall pick in 2000 and had to be pumping their collective fists and raising their collective roof. The Twins also had a second first-round pick, for reasons we will get to shortly. After two straight disappointing first rounds in 1998 and 1999, the Twins had to get that second overall pick right. Did they? ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ 1st Round Picks Sadly, no. The Twins selected Adam Johnson, a right-handed starter out of Cal State Fullerton. Johnson had previously been drafted by the Twins in 1997, but did not sign. Elephants and Twins' scouts never forget, so when given another chance to land Johnson, they jumped. Johnson flopped. He only appeared in nine games and posted an ERA over ten. At least he has a unique name. But wait! The Twins were awarded another first (and a second for that matter) when Mike Trombley signed with the Orioles in the prior off-season. Mike Trombley was worth not one, but two picks! Wild. The Twins drafted Aaron Heilman out of Notre Dame, but he chose to go back to school instead of signing with the Twins. Outstanding. Ah, but what if? What if Johnson decided to be an accountant while in college? More appropriately, what if Johnson had signed three years prior? If he was already safely in the system, perhaps the Twins would have drafted a position player. Chase Utley was the 15th overall pick and I love Chase Utley. Imagine having Utley in the lineup for the last decade or so. I know he gets hurt a lot, but he certainly would have made the team a lot better. Adam Wainwright was drafted two picks prior to Heilman and I choose to believe that the Twins wanted him all along. If you believe, anything can be true. Best Player Drafted Kubes! I was actually surprised that Jason Kubel was drafted in the 12th round. I always assumed he was a second-round pick. I guess I just fail to see all 1s. Kubel's career WAR is just above six, which seems very low. He doesn't get much credit for his baserunning or defense. He has been an above average offensive player each year and was on a path to stardom before a nasty knee injury changed that path. He was a personal favorite of mine, and I fondly remember that game when he blasted a grand slam to complete the cycle against the Angels. Worst Player to Reach MLB Adam Johnson! Of course Adam Johnson! The answer to every "worst pitcher" question is Adam Johnson. The One Who Got Away Paul Maholm was the Twins' 17th-round pick but did not sign. I was never very impressed with Maholm when he pitched for Pittsburgh, but he has been pretty good for the Braves since they acquired him. I think the Twins would love to have a guy like Maholm right about now. Best Name Tagg Bozied again, just as it was in the 1997 recap. Oh yeah, the Twins drafted him twice too, this time in the second round! Fun Facts The Twins drafted Johnson and Bozied a combined four times and received -1.1 WAR for their troubles. The Twins used their second-round Trombley pick on J.D. "The Real Deal" Durbin. I am all for having personality. In fact, I'd probably give myself an obnoxious nickname too. But, you gotta back it up too. Durbin was still kicking around independent baseball last year, but hasn't thrown an MLB pitch since 2007. Adam Johnson debuted roughly one year after being drafted. He pitched his final MLB game on my 12th birthday, going one third of an inning, giving up six hits and six earned runs. He did get Carlos Pena to pop out. I've totally met Twins' 20th-round pick T.J. Prunty. Jealous? Fifth-round pick Edgardo Lebron is of no relation to NBA star LeBron James, as they have completely different names. Seriously, Mike Trombley was worth two picks!All those drafted who made it to the Bigs Paul Maholm, Jason Kubel, Aaron Heilman, Daniel Davidson, Jason Miller, J.D. Durbin, Josh Rabe, and Adam Johnson One Sentence Summary Adam Johnson (while making the head-shaking motion). If you are interested, I have recaps from 1998 and 1999 as well. Just click on the years and you will be transported to a wonderful new world filled with bad jokes, silly puns and petty insults aimed at baseball players far superior to me. Link to the Twins' 2000 draft from Baseball Reference Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Nolasco_Ricky_Peace_720.jpg Weekend Recap The series started well but ended poorly. Kyle Gibson was excellent on Friday, but Sam Deduno and Ricky Nolasco got boomed like dynamite. Oh well, losing 2 of 3 in Detroit would have to fall into the "expected" category. Who did stuff that was notable? Let's find out! Ricky Nolasco On May 28, I asked if we should be worried about Ricky Nolasco. Since that day, Nolasco has made four starts. He's thrown 24 innings, given up 12 earned runs, 29 hits and 8 walks. He also has 21 strikeouts in that span, but his ERA is still 5.66 right now. I'll go ahead and answer my original question: yes, we should be worried about Ricky Nolasco. [/hr] Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! [/hr] My biggest concern is that the Twins will be very slow to yank him from the rotation if he continues to struggle. Nolasco has been durable and inconsistent for basically his entire career. The Twins can rely on him to make his starts, but if better options are present, should they want that reliability? More importantly, Nolasco is under contract for three more seasons after 2014 and I imagine he'll get many opportunities to improve his performance. I think this is justifiable, but at some point, the Twins have to examine the sunk cost and determine if there are pitchers in the organization who give the team a better chance to win. I'm not sure we're at the point of replacing Nolasco. That said, if Kyle Gibson was having Ricky Nolasco's season, is there any doubt that Gibson would be in Rochester? it's not a perfect hypothetical, but it's interesting to consider. Trevor Plouffe/Deibinson Romero Trevor Plouffe is on the disabled list with what MLB At-Bat referred to as a "side injury." An injury to an entire side sounds extremely painful, although I have no idea how one injures an entire side without slipping on ice, flying into the air and landing completely on your side. You know what, I can't really describe it in words, here's a picture: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Ucy2HvJxtMM/U54KrFgZ-PI/AAAAAAAABfU/D-bMu2AO1Sk/s1600/sidecomic.png That looks bad. It sounds like he could miss significant time. It's a shame because Plouffe has hit pretty well this year (100 OPS+, exactly league-average) and he was placed on the DL on his 28th birthday. The Twins recalled Pedro Florimon to take his place and he'll slot in on the bench where the fact that he won't get any hits is expected because you're not allowed to get hits when you are on the bench. The Twins do have a third baseman at Rochester who could have taken Plouffe's spot quite nicely. Deibinson Romero has been in the organization since 2006. He's slowly climbed through the Minors and he's batting .310/.406/.452 in 62 games with Rochester this year (through Satuday). Romero isn't on the 40-man roster, so that might be the justification, but it seems that if Romero isn't getting his chance in this tailor-made situation, he may never get a chance with the Twins. Too bad. I'd be interested to see if he could translate some of his MiLB OBP skills to the Majors. Josh Willingham I was looking forward to Willingham's return from injury, mostly because I wanted to see how much he had left in the tank. I hoped he would hit for some power and become a trade chip at the deadline. Now, I might lean toward bringing him back for a season or two. Willingham displays "old player skills" in that he draws walks and hits for power. These are skills that older players can maintain if they maintain health. Obviously, Willingham is a health risk, but if he were to sign at a decent number and agree to move to DH, he could be a useful piece as the Twins transition in more young players. We know his power plays at Target Field and he likes playing in Minnesota. It seems like a good fit. That said, if someone offers a good prospect at the deadline, I'd take it and hope the love we let go finds his way back home. It would be so poetic. Former Twin Update - Vance Worley Vance Worley returned to the majors on Sunday and because it is apparently super fun to troll Twins fans, he decided to have an awesome debut. Worley went seven innings, allowed zero runs on five hits with five strikeouts and no walks. Frick. It's just one start to I'm going to resist the impulse to throw my horn-rimmed glasses through the window, but a Worley success story would be about as frustrating as any former Twin finding success elsewhere. Worley legitimately gave the Twins no reason to put him in the MLB rotation after spring training. They got him through waivers near the end of Spring Training and could have used him in AAA. Instead, they sold him to Pittsburgh. Yes, the team that everyone rips for being cheap actually sold a player for money because they also apparently like to troll Twins fans. The reason they sold him (beyond cash being fun and the perfect way to buy stuff)? The Rochester rotation would have been too crowded. Scott Diamond has a 6.94 ERA with Rochester. The rotation was just too crowded! I don't think Worley turns into anything truly special, but he's just 26 and he would have been an interesting choice to replace one of the ineffective Twins' starters. Worley is one month older than Kyle Gibson. One month. Fun Stat - Nolasco's "Adjustments" I can't remember where I found this stat, but I'm going to share it anyway: MLB Leaders for most times adjusting pants: Ricky Nolasco - 25,000 Everyone else - much less Interesting. I noticed that he adjusts his pants a lot, but I had no idea how elite he truly was. Random Animation Is it time to replace Sam Deduno with Trevor May? Perhaps this creepy animation will help me express my feelings on the subject: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--jqVxfdmu1k/U54Lg8msDdI/AAAAAAAABfc/2iL-PsX3cdY/s1600/dedunotomay.gif 2 things - I promise not to do that again and Sam Deduno's head is bigger than Trevor May's. That part isn't my fault. KWL Chart - Kendrys Morales http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KIHPYZ0-0sU/U54Ll1DjboI/AAAAAAAABfk/6kVEchYIS34/s1600/KWL+Morales.png Pro-tip: Click it and it gets bigger. Baseball Card of the Week In honor of the Twins facing Joe Nathan this past weekend, here is an early Nathan baseball card: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vFx9UzmuJw8/U54LunEVmCI/AAAAAAAABfs/1vTMs4ltg4Y/s1600/nathan+rookie.jpg This was from the era when Fleer was trying to capture what baseball would be like if every player was constantly zoned out and looking off into space. Plugging My Way Last week, I wrote about Joe Mauer's historic slump. I looked at the number of players who performed as well or better than Mauer through age 30 and how they performed from 31 and on. I think the "research" is somewhat interesting, so here's the link for anyone who likes things that are "interesting." In addition, check back on Friday as I will examine how the present would be different if the Twins had drafted Mark Prior instead of Joe Mauer back in 2001. I'm taking a slightly different perspective, so be sure to check it out! Parting Thought The Twins head to Boston this week, which means non-stop reminders that David Ortiz hated playing in Minnesota. I'll be honest, it's gotten stale. Maybe he should start talking about how much he hates Seattle. They gave up on him first! They traded him for Dave Hollins! Anyway, I hope Ortiz hits fewer than four home runs in this series, because watching him round the bases for 45 minutes is not how I want to spend my weeknights. Have a great week, everyone! Click here to view the article

The Scott Diamond Matrix? I made you a matrix: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 439] [/TD][TD]Plus Command Average Command Plus Stuff Jordan Zimmermann Sam Deduno Average Stuff Scott Diamond Rich Robertson [/TABLE] I chose to use the word "average" to be kind to all stakeholders. By average, I mean not plus. By plus, I mean great. In hindsight, these words would have been fine. Moving on, when you look at Jordan Zimmermann's numbers, you don't see a pitcher that much different from Scott Diamond. He doesn't strike out a ton of batters, although certainly more than Diamond. He gets ground balls and limits home runs. When you watch the two, especially when they pitch against each other, you can see the differences clearly. Zimmermann has better stuff. His fastball is better, he locates that fastball better and his secondary stuff is better. You wouldn't necessarily see that on paper, but it's hard to ignore when watching the two throw baseballs at batters. I threw in Sam Deduno and Rich Robertson to complete the matrix, not to take shots. Diamond will never have Zimmermann's stuff, so his margin of error is smaller. Deduno will never have Zimmermann's command, so he needs to rely more on his stuff. Rich Robertson is retired, so he will really struggle to get MLB hitters out. Pedro Florimon is pretty cool. Pedro Florimon has become pretty much what I had hoped he would become. In fact, I'm on record in the pro-Florimon column prior to the season's start. Don't believe me? Pudding. See, I'm so amazeing. Whoops, spelled that wrong. Cancelled out. Regarding Florimon, he's a steady, sometimes spectacular shortstop who can hit above .220. His plate discipline has improved, as his strikeout rate has decreased and his walk rate has increased. By any WAR-type measure, Florimon has been worth around one win this season. This projects to a 2.5-3.0 WAR player by season's end. I'll take that at shortstop, especially at a league minimum salary. Chris Parmelee is underwhelming. I was in the middle of writing about how I don't think Chris Parmelee is getting better when he lined a double off the top of the wall in the 6th inning of Game 1 on Sunday. I thought to myself, "Brad, he's got a nice swing, he hits some doubles, give him a chance." Then FSN put the "Chris Parmelee - 6th double on the season" graphic up. I feel my original thoughts are confirmed. Parmelee isn't getting better. I still think it would be wise to give him at least another month of starts. By July, if he is still hitting like he is right now, I'd switch to Oswaldo Arcia and improve the team. Photoshop/Baseball Card from Past: Twins Daily member chuchadoro enjoyed my FSN girls/Gary Wayne photoshop but said that he prefers Keith Atherton to Gary Wayne. Fair enough. I dug up an Atherton card and made him this: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--PcrjmzAqXc/UbTmbouf8KI/AAAAAAAAAuA/SlpdH5KJS-Y/s320/foxsportsathertongirls.png You know what? I think we're on to something. Former Twin Update: Francisco Liriano More like Fantastic Liriano! Through 36 innings with Pittsburgh, he's posted an ERA of 1.75 with a 1.17 WHIP. He currently has a walk rate lower than he has posted since 2010. He is also posting a higher strikeout rate than in any season since before his TJ surgery. I don't think the Twins should have signed him, simply because of their history, but I am not surprised that he is pitching well. He isn't this good, but he should help the Pirates as they try to make the playoffs for the first time in 20 years. Random Facebook Question - In reference to 1st-round pick Kohl Stewart Q: Great! So we'll see him in 6 years? That's if he doesn't go play QB for Texas A&M and go pro right? A: Oh, you are just the best kind of fan. Does everyone remember the scene at the end of Major League 2 when "Wild Thing" comes out of the bullpen to face Parkman in the ALCS and that one annoying fan has been razzing him for months? Vaughn basically tells the fan to "stick it" but with more colorful language. So, fans like these should be repeatedly told where they can stick comments like these and they should be told these things directly by the players. My proposal: One offensive fan per game. At the beginning of the game, the fan stands in the outfield while each player on the roster walks past telling that fan what the fan's "loyalty" means to him. Basically, it's the hockey playoffs "props" line, but with insults and possibly curse words added in place of handshakes. The fan has to just stand there and take it. It's certainly controversial, but I know I would enjoy it. It might get me to a game in person too. Top 5 List - Why is Clete Thomas batting second? Clete Thomas wears number 11 and 1 + 1 = 2 2 people think it's a good idea, so that's where he'll bat Batting second enhances his arm accuracy and arm strength Lineup is alphabetical (this could be refuted using knowledge) This turkey was put in charge of making the lineup:http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yCzQ2Pn4Sto/UbTlcm6i7FI/AAAAAAAAAt4/kFuYkJl51A0/s320/turkey1.jpg Link to Something I wrote: I found some fun Twins batting records a couple months ago. You can read it here. The only reason I post this now is that I promised to find pitching records and I still plan to do so. Perhaps this week. I appreciate your patience, I am very busy photoshopping Keith Atherton and Gary Wayne's head in places. Poll Results! I had posted a poll on my blog and I have the results! Question - Which Twins Prospect do you look forward to the most? - 157 votes Byron Buxton - 78 votes Miguel Sano - 53 votes Alex Meyer - 5 votes Frank Stallone - 21 votesOuch, I would have expected Meyer to fare better than Stallone, but you never know until you collect the data. Buxton surged ahead of Sano in the past week or so. I posted a new poll, please take a moment to vote. Democracy! Parting Haiku: Here come the Phillies Ben Revere is back for now Straighten your hat, man Have a great week! Click here to view the article

Welp. The Minnesota Twins weren't really supposed to be good or even decent this season, so a 2-7 homestand isn't crazy. It's more disappointing after what seemed like a such a positive start. Regardless, this franchise is clearly trending upward, even if this past week doesn't reflect that. The thing that struck me the most from the weekend was another shaky Scott Diamond start. I looked at Diamond's stats from the first half of 2012 (when Diamond was a borderline Ace), the second half of 2012 (when Diamond was good, but not great), and the start of this season (when Diamond looks like he might be regressing). What is different? [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] (Back in February, I did a detailed breakdown of Diamond's 2012 and concluded that 2012 Scott Diamond was a good pitcher and if he can replicate what he did in 2012, he could have long-term success. You can read it here) Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Here's a chart with Diamond's peripherals: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 612] [/TD][TD]K% BB% LOB% GB% LD% FB% HR/FB HR/9 BABIP xFIP ERA 2012 1st Half 13.9 3.7 79.3 59 20.3 20.7 14.8 0.91 0.285 3.57 2.61 2012 2nd Half 11.6 4.9 68.6 48.9 21.5 29.6 9.5 0.86 0.298 4.23 4.31 2013 9.8 5.5 70.6 47.4 19.7 32.8 13.3 1.36 0.318 4.62 4.99 League Avg (2012) 19.8 8 72.5 45.1 20.9 34 11.3 1.02 0.293 4.01 4.01 [/TABLE] 2013 Scott Diamond has looked a lot more like the 2012 second half Scott Diamond. He's getting fewer ground balls, and more of his fly balls are going over the fence. His walk rate is ticking upward and his strikeout rate is ticking downward. These numbers need to start reversing or Diamond will have a very difficult time replicating his 2012 success. I looked at some PitchF/x data as well. The samples are small, so there isn't much significance. However, some trends are evident. Looking at this chart, it appears that his curveball is as good as ever: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 322] CB O-Swing% O-Contact% SwStr% 2012 48.2 52.4 15.2 2013 46.7 48.6 15 Average (2012) 29 63.8 9.1 [/TABLE] Batters still swing at a very high percentage of his curves outside the zone and they still make little contact. In addition, they swing through many of these pitches for strikes. That's good! However, this chart shows there are other concerns with the curve: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 307] CB LD% FB% HR/FB% 2012 24.8 27.4 11.6 2013 19.4 35.5 36.4 [/TABLE] Mainly, batters are hitting more curves in the air and many more over the fence. That's bad! It's still early, but not a great sign so far. Let's look at his change: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 323] CH Contact% Zone% SwStr% 2012 79.6 38.2 9.9 2013 90.6 46.4 4.4 Average (2012) 79.7 44.9 9.1 [/TABLE] His change was a pretty average pitch last year, but as his third pitch, it worked. This season, players are making better contact and rarely missing that pitch. He's throwing it in the zone more, and it's getting hit more. Not a great combo. Finally, here's a very small chart regarding his fastball: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 171] FB GB% 2012 56.5 2013 48.3 [/TABLE] Basically, the decline of Diamond's ground ball rate can be almost fully correlated to the decreasing percentage of ground balls Diamond has coaxed with his fastball. If you add it all up, Diamond has basically been this pitcher in 2013: A league-average ground ball pitcher, with low strikeout totals and a good walk rate. In 2012, Diamond was a ground ball pitcher with low strikeout totals and an elite walk rate. These aren't major differences, but enough to turn a good pitcher into a shaky pitcher. All that being said, it is still very early and I won't be convinced that Diamond is a different pitcher until at least a full season passes. Analysis! Now on to the Madness: Random Paint Image http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6BrODrCoooM/UZliXDRYS1I/AAAAAAAAAsI/fqKRIHNotTU/s320/Scott+Diamond.png I choose to remember this Scott Diamond, being ceremoniously carried off the field by his teammates after a series of spectacular starts. Random Plug/Former Twin Update - Randy Ruiz Ben Noble of Puckett's Pond posted a feature on a former Twin. I fondly remember Randy Ruiz and I hope you do too. Plus, Ben's a really good dude and a great writer. If you remember Randy Ruiz as fondly as I do, you should check it out. Random Photoshop Byron Buxton hit a walk-off grand slam on Wednesday night. It was a bomb. Buxton has basically become the "next big thing" and fans are starting to clamor for Buxton's debut sooner rather than later. I don't know anything about his realistic ETA, but I do know that Nikola Pekovic of the Minnesota Timberwolves was clearly impressed, as he updated his crazy tattoo after he heard about Buxton's feat: http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DpPLNpMv5iw/UZlieopHsqI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/iTQH5x5MDA0/s320/pek418.jpg Good gravy, that tattoo is crazy. Answering a random question from the Twins' Facebook page: Q: Best movie ever...where is The Beast? For context, this question was posted in reference to a picture of "Squints" and "Ham" from The Sandlot. A: The Beast probably died 10-15 years ago. A dog of that size likely had a lifespan of about 8-10 years. The dog was likely at least 2 or 3 when the movie was filmed and the movie is now 20 years old. Thanks for asking though, it's a super uplifting topic to discuss. While on the topic of The Sandlot, how come only two of the actors were present for this weekend? What are any of those guys doing right now? Shouldn't the Twins have been able to get 5 or 6 of those guys, at minimum. I bet if you give them free airfare, 20 bucks and the chance to talk to people who think they're cool, they'd all be there. Typical cheap Twins, slashing payroll and stiffing Sandlot actors. Embarrassing. Random Top 12 List Here are the Twins' leaders in wRC+ for the month of May (as of 5/19/2013): Joe Mauer - 228 Oswaldo Arcia - 132 Trevor Plouffe - 123 Justin Morneau - 123 Jamey Carroll - 115 Pedro Florimon - 112 Ryan Doumit - 108 Aaron Hicks - 89 Chris Parmelee - 74 Eduardo Escobar - 55 Josh Willingham - 55 Brian Dozier - 19Something I wrote I'm not going to link to them, but I have been recapping the past 25 Twins' drafts over the last week or so, and I'll have 1997 posted on Twins Daily tomorrow. I have been posting a new draft recap each day, on my blog - Kevin Slowey was Framed! This seems like a good time to thank Twins Daily for putting my 1993 recap on the front page. A lot of people read my recaps as a result; far more than I could generate on my own. I think it is downright amazing that John, Seth, Nick and Parker are so willing to share their hard-earned following with all of us aspiring writers. Thanks to everyone who operates this site, it is hands down my favorite site on the internet. Something stupid I wrote I'll link to this though. I'm not sure this even qualifies as writing, but it is stupid. What is Oswaldo Arcia doing with his arms? I have 13 theories, and a bonus Paint image to boot. Also, I did start a Facebook group for some reason. There are six likes, which is five more than I expected. If you are interested, you can find and like it here. Haiku The Twins may be down I refuse to frown or drown Haiku should not rhyme Have a nice week everyone! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: knoblauchyankees.jpg An unhappy superstar hoping to rekindle the team success he achieved in his rookie season. A budding dynasty looking to add a couple final pieces to a championship-level team. Later, batteries. You know what I'm talkin' about. The Trade: BREAKDOWN! The Minnesota Twins traded Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees for Brian Buchanan, Cristian Guzman, Eric Milton, and Danny Mota. Knoblauch played four up-and-down seasons with the Yankees, but won three World Series Championships.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] He famously lost the ability to throw from second to first, and thus was no longer the overall excellent player he was in Minnesota. He was still an excellent offensive player in '98 and '99. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! I also wrote a summary of the Kevin Tapani trade earlier this week. You can find it here. Guzman became the Twins' starting shortstop in 1999, at the age of 21. He remained in that role for six seasons and he was at times a very exciting player. Milton immediately entered the rotation and gave the Twins 165 starts over the next six seasons. He will also be the subject of one of these features in a few weeks. Buchanan debuted in 2000, showed some power, but was gone by 2002. Mota pitched 5.1 innings for the Twins in 2000 and was out of baseball after the following season. How did I feel at the time? Angry. The Twins had completed their fifth straight losing season and now they were trading their best player? What gives? After the '94 season, Kent Hrbek retired. After the '95 season, Kirby Puckett retired. In '95, the Twins traded Scott Erickson, Kevin Tapani and Rick Aguilera. It was adding up to be too much. I distinctly remember being very angry about this trade. Why make the trade? This trade had been coming down the tunnel for quite some time. Knoblauch famously asked for a trade late in 1997, tired of losing, as evidenced in this article from the Star Tribune: "Finally, late in 1997, the Twins were swept in Kansas City, and on the long, depressing ride from the ballpark to the airport, Knoblauch called his agent and said he wanted a trade. 'I was just dejected,' he said. 'The losing got to me. I wasn't handling getting beat up on a pretty consistent basis.'" Tom Kelly clearly wanted him to stay, so he employed some reverse psychology: "When the request leaked to manager Tom Kelly, any vision of a graceful exit vanished, Knoblauch said. He remembers the manager suggesting to the media -- Kelly doesn't remember saying this -- that Knoblauch wanted out of Minnesota because he didn't think his teammates were good enough." "When TK made that statement, it was like a seismic shift, because he had a lot of control over the organization," Knoblauch said, seeming stunned, still. "I love him, looking back on everything, I do, but I just think people pay attention to what he says -- the people of Minnesota, the fans. And I think that's why there was so much hate or hostility toward me when I came back. He probably thought I was abandoning them ... but I just wanted to win." This explains his desire, but doesn't necessarily excuse it. Of course, if Kelly did say that, then he was being a lame-o. The Yankees were a match because they were trying to build a dynasty and had some impressive prospects. This LA Times article outlines how Terry Ryan felt right before the trade: "I think everybody involved would like to have that happen," Twin General Manager Terry Ryan said. "The Yankees would like to have that happen. I've said we would like to get this done as soon as we can. I think everybody in the organization would like to have this behind us." This was a difficult situation for Ryan. He had a superstar who publicly wanted out and not a lot of teams in the bidding. The Yankees were offering a good package (which included 3 million bucks, so you know that helped) and it was best for the Twins to get it done before the 1998 season started. According to this article from the New York Times, Knoblauch wanted to go the New York, so that worked out well: ''I think New York would be a great place to play,'' he said. ''When you open the season, you want to know you're going to be competitive and going to have the chance to win. I think if you ask any Yankee players right now, they'll tell you they got a chance to win. I think every player wants to have that.'' Of course, something clearly changed for Knoblauch when he started playing there. There is simply no way that his throwing issues weren't mental, and the biggest change from good-throwing Knobby to bad-throwing Knobby was the change of scenery. However, you can see why New York would have been the choice for a player who wanted to win. Analysis This was a fantastic trade for the Twins. They unloaded an unhappy player and acquired two six-year starters. Guzman did not develop as many had hoped, but he did provide good value at a premium position for over half a decade. The trade worked for the Yankees too. They got two very good offensive seasons from Knoblauch and he helped them win three straight World Series titles by filling a need on their team. He retired much sooner than anyone would have guessed, but did so with four championships on his resume. So, the trade worked for both teams. Why did it hurt so much? Why do Twins fans still hate Knoblauch? Why is it possible that one of the greatest Twins of all time may never be enshrined in their Hall of Fame? No one likes to feel slighted. Knoblauch was smart enough to see that the Twins were not going to win anything significant in his career. He made a calculated and understandable decision to ask for a trade to a better team. He did what was best for Chuck Knoblauch, but he did it at the expense of the millions of fans he had in Minnesota. He never said anything bad about our state or the Twin Cities, but he certainly was not fond of the organization by the end. He hurt his fans in Minnesota when he spoke the truth, mostly because it was a truth that we didn't want to face. I was angry with him when he was traded, but I understand things from his perspective now. The Twins were bad and they weren't getting any better. He did sign a contract with the team, but he also watched as that team shipped off many of his teammates, while they were under contracts the Twins had agreed to. Loyalty goes both ways; sometimes it goes neither way. Who won the WAR? Knoblauch for the Yankees: 7.4 Milton for the Twins: 14.7 Guzman for the Twins: 7.5 Buchanan for the Twins: 0.3 Mota for the Twins: -0.1 WAR won by the Twins! One Sentence Summary If I ever saw Chuck Knoblauch on the street, I'd chuck a battery at him; a battery of respect. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: 676955.jpg With the conclusion of my landmark 25 drafts in 25 days feature, I decided that I needed to stop relying so heavily on gimmicks. It's time to do some real analysis and actually offer something of value. No more insulting everyone with silly lists and bad photoshops. It's time to take things very seriously. So, here's a fake mailbag: What do you think of the Kohl Stewart pick? ~Prospect Guys, Twins Daily (question likely aimed at someone with more knowledge/street cred/common sense) [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] I love it. Considering the players who were available, Stewart was the best pick. Obviously, if any of the "big three" had fallen to four, I would have liked for the Twins to jump on them. However, with those three drafted, it seems that Stewart was clearly the best available prospect and he filled a need to boot. While Stewart is unlikely to contribute to the Twins within the next few years, he certainly helps add to the excitement for the future. If fans can be patient for a year or so more, things will start to turn around. Teams with oodles of top prospects improve. Unless they're the Royals. Then they don't. Kansas City is a nice place though. ~~~ Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! ~~~ Also, even if Stewart never reaches Minnesota, it can still be the right pick. The MLB draft is so hard to predict and taking a teenager is no sure bet. Stewart can flame out and still be the right choice. Things change; that's the way it is. Clete Thomas was called up recently. Don't you think he deserved it? Don't you expect him to be freaking fantastic? ~Everyone, Twitter No and no. Clete Thomas played well at AAA but unless he's bringing AAA pitchers with him to Minnesota, I don't see his MLB career taking off any time soon. Thomas is a replacement level player who can play center field if needed. Hopefully, he'll be around to spell Aaron Hicks from time to time and nothing more. I don't expect him to help the team win and I don't expect him to do anything of significance. I also don't think he'll be on the team at the end of the season. Summary: Not a fan. I also don't think he "earned" a call-up. Sure, he played well for Rochester, but he's 29. He's not part of the future and he doesn't help enough in the present. It's great that he mastered AAA but that's all his performance means. I don't really care that he is on the active roster, so long as he doesn't start playing regularly. Basically, stay off my lawn, Clete Thomas. What do you think of the Fox Sports North Girls? How would you improve their role with the Twins? ~Wife, St. Paul, MN Well, I have one idea: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MPeREQtthSA/UbE_6J6pBpI/AAAAAAAAAtQ/9LPH4uEu4zM/s320/foxsportswaynegirls.png Replacing the Fox Sports North Girls with three Gary Waynes could be profitable. Byron Buxton? ~B. Swanson, St. Paul, MN Excellent question. Yes. Holy smokes this guy is crazy. It seems like his legend grows every day. Keith Law rated him as the second best prospect in baseball. Jason Parks seems somewhat smitten. The experts and scouts are comparing him to Eric Davis, Mike Trout and Willie Mays. Yowee. Is there any harm in this? I don't think so. Honestly, the fact that he is building a legend when so far from the Majors kind of makes it more fun. Even if he flames out (and I don't see that happening) we will at the very least have this legendary figure that we will remember for a long time. I love it. I love larger than life figures. Can you imagine Buxton's MLB debut? How electric is that crowd going to be? He isn't going to be a normal prospect; he's gone mainstream. The average top prospect is still a relative unknown. My father-in-law sent me a text about Buxton this week and his Twins texts are usually devoted to talking about how Joe Mauer doesn't hit home runs or misspelling names like Donit and Parmesan. He wants to release Aaron Hicks. Just release him. Buxton has crossed over. He's the Enrique Iglesias of the Twins Minor Leagues. If he wants to Bailamos, I'll do it. Just watch me. What's your deal with Aaron Hicks? ~Haters, Everywhere There is a classic scene in the classic movie Little Big League when classic character Billy Heywood watches his favorite player get a seeing-eye single for his first hit in what must have been ages. Billy gets very excited and turns to his pitching coach as if to say, "see, I told you so." The wise pitching coach basically points out that if Billy is this excited about a seeing-eye single, then what does that really say about his favorite player? I now realize that I act in the same way when Aaron Hicks gets a hit. It's quite sad. I've basically turned into a 10-year-old MLB manager, which is pretty much everything I hate. Every Hicks hit ends with me pumping my fist, running around my living room and doing the Charleston. Billy ends up releasing his favorite player; what will happen to me? I so badly want Aaron Hicks to break out or just string together a few good games in a row. He's certainly playing better than he was in April, but he's still not great. Now Clete Thomas is around to bogart at bats with his weird eyes and I feel threatened. Hicks has made improvements, but maybe not enough. I don't know anymore. I feel as though I have been constantly defending him and the Twins' decision to keep playing him. It's exhausting. I still don't see any reason to send him to AAA, but I've also clearly snapped. I wrote this "piece" a few weeks ago which basically called for the limitation of free speech. Free speech is one of my favorites! I've gone mad. I just hope I don't have to be the one to tell Hicks that he has to go to Rochester. I would be an odd choice for a variety of reasons. What is the one thing you would do to improve baseball? ~@bridman77, on Twitter Two words: Magnets everywhere. Thanks for reading everyone, have a nice weekend! Click here to view the article

If you've been reading my blog for the past few weeks, you are well aware that I have recently become obsessed with Eduardo Escobar. Not in a weird way. I just want to see more of him. Not in a weird way. I think he deserves more playing time. Last year, Escobar received just 179 plate appearances, but also had one of the most memorable plate appearances of the season, when he laced a walk-off double to give the Twins their first win of the 2013 season. That 1/179 exciting moments ratio led the team, I'm quite certain. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Anyway, I think Escobar has something. I see it when I watch him. He just has an "it" factor that makes me want to look even closer. Not in a weird way. I think it's worth finding out if I am correct also. Therefore, I am starting a campaign called "The Eddie 400," at least until someone finds evidence that he hates being called "Eddie." I made a logo and at the end I'll explain how you can also support this important promotion. http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-azXCFfvNMkQ/Usm7KeSBHyI/AAAAAAAABJY/8SYkgOIX-5E/s1600/Eddie400.jpg Before that, I want to make sure this is truly something we all believe in. Therefore, I have come up with a handful of valid reasons to give Eduardo Escobar 400 plate appearances in 2014. Read on! He's a switch hitter This guy can bat right-handed and left-handed! How impressive is that! Some guys on this team can barely bat with their dominant hand, much less both. In fact, last year he barely had a platoon split. He hit roughly .270/.333/.430 from both sides of the plate. Most of his damage was done at AAA, but he didn't get regular playing time in the majors, which is totally not his fault. DON'T LOOK AT HIS MLB SPLITS. He's always smiling http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0rBK-1_S0v0/Usm7Smun6vI/AAAAAAAABJg/FgsOxgG1phA/s320/EddieHappy.jpg See, look at that winning smile! He has an infectious personality, that is apparent. Oh, you're not convinced with one picture. Well, here's a photo collage I made: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cTbSA2aNMuo/Usm7ZK7-8kI/AAAAAAAABJo/_Le870ecQ9I/s320/escobarsmilecity.png See, winning smile. It's prevalent. This guy will make the clubhouse happier. A happy clubhouse is a healthy clubhouse. He won't be that happy playing once a week. No one would be. He certainly can't infuse the clubhouse with smiles from Rochester. He has defensive versatility It's not just that Escobar is good at defense; he also plays a lot of positions. He's primarily a shortstop, but he can handle second and third too. He can even serve as an emergency catcher! I'm pretty sure he could play in the outfield too. What versatility! Brian Dozier is the second baseman, but even he needs a day off here and there. When he does, BAM!, enter Escobar. Say 10 games. That's 40ish PAs; we're 10% to 400. Trevor Plouffe needs days off too and he might need some DH time to boot. BAM!, more Escobar. Say 25-30 games, 100 PA, and we're nearly halfway there. Hello Pedro Florimon. I like you. I even wrote about why I like you before last season. Read it! That said, hitting is not your strength and your fielding can be inconsistent. BAM! MORE ESCOBAR!! If they simply split roughly 125 games, Escobar would get 60ish, with 200 or so PA and we'd be on the verge of 400 plate appearances. See, Escobar's defensive versatility practically screams for more PT. He's vibrant I can feel his charisma from my couch. When he's on the field, he's vibrant. When he's in the dugout, he shines. When he's in the clubhouse, he...well I don't know because I'm not allowed. When he's in Rochester, he's sad. Just look at his face, even after being named Player of the Week: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DZhyAH4AN6Q/Usm7fh-Jm_I/AAAAAAAABJw/KjDMvsvctmA/s320/escobarplayerofweek.jpg Scroll up and look at the collage again. LOOK AT IT! Which Escobar do you want? He's young Escobar will be 25 next season. He's two full years younger than Pedro Florimon. I don't want this to become an indictment of Florimon, but we all know his shortcomings. It's possible Escobar has similar shortcomings, but he's two years younger so it's at least a bit more likely that he can develop and overcome those shortcomings. You are what you are at 27; the world is your oyster at 25. Think about it. He's approaching arbitration eligibility Tick Tock. That's Escobar's free agency clock and it is ticking away dangerously. He's out of options and if he spends the entire year on the major league roster, he'll be right on the edge of being a Super-2 arbitration case. If the Twins don't figure out what they have in Escobar this season, they'll never know. I'm not sure they can deal with that kind of regret. Regret is a powerful emotion. He's popular and beloved I found an article from Mike Berardino last March that has some really great Escobar-related quotes. I'll just share them without comment. Twins General Manager Terry Ryan: "He's a pretty good baseball player, it looks like to me," Ryan said. "He's got some energy. He can steal a base. He's all right." Former Twins reliever Luis Perdomo: "I don't like snakes, but I like Escobar," Perdomo says. "He's a pretty good guy, a funny guy. He's happy all the time, never angry." Also, we find out in that article that Escobar is close friends with the Guillen family. BONUS POINTS! Here are some quotes from another article, this one from ESPN, after Escobar was traded to the Twins: White Sox DH Adam Dunn: “He’s such a good kid,” Adam Dunn said. “He’s such a good part of this team. He keeps everybody loose and we really enjoyed having him. He’s a lot of fun. They’re going to really enjoy him over there.” White Sox OF Jordan Danks: “He’s definitely going to be missed,” Jordan Danks said. “When I first signed in ’08, he and I came up together so I’ve played with him pretty much at every level. He’s the same guy that I met whenever I first signed. He’ll be sorely missed.” White Sox Manager Robin Ventura: “I think it’s a little tough in here after a good win like this because Escobar’s a big part of what we’ve been doing,” Robin Ventura said. “It’s more than just numbers and how you play, it’s the attitude he brings. It’s a tough one team-wise. He’s kind of like a little brother or a son to most guys. The Twins love him too; remember the "C'mon" story? Here's the Berardino article and I'll just give you one Gardenhire quote for free: "I don't know what he says half the time, but I love him," Gardenhire said Sunday. "He just entertains me. He's one of the happiest guys I've ever seen at the ballpark. Always smiling, always laughing." Everyone loves this guy, now let's let him play some baseball! Final quote, from the first article and from Escobar himself: "When you're happy, be happy. You get a base hit in the game, be happy. I'm always happy playing." I love him. Finally, why not? Really, what do the Twins have to lose? Games? They've done that already. Plenty. Why not see what they have in the guy they traded Francisco Liriano for? Escobar is billed as a solid, if not better defender. Florimon is a great defender, but could Escobar be better? One thing I know for certain, Escobar is just as likely to post a 68 wRC+ as Florimon did last year. Plus, he's two years younger, has a winning smile, is loved by his teammates and manager and I already made the logo. There's simply no downside here. The 2014 Twins aren't making the playoffs, so why not see what they have in Escobar? It's a shark move. The New Terry Ryan who wears a leather jacket makes shark moves. It just makes sense. Now that you are 100% convinced, you can show your support for "The Eddie 400" in a number of ways: Get the logo tattooed on your forehead. If not your forehead, your stomach, but then you have to keep your stomach exposed at all times.Create leaflets and hand them out to friends, co-workers, and anyone who looks angry on the streets.Fly to Venezuela and inform his hometown; gather their support.Change your name to "Eduardo Escobar." Purchase business cards.If those ideas don't suit you, perhaps you could just download the logo from above and make it your Twitter or Facebook or whatever avatar? Tell your friends about Eddie. Post on the Twins' Facebook wall. Tweet at Dave St. Peter. Do everything humanly possible to create awareness of this important campaign. Together, we can ensure that Eduardo Escobar gets 400 plate appearances in 2014. I can't do this alone. I need you. Not in a weird way. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Click here to view the article

Where were you when the Twins became a completely different franchise? In the last 72 hours or so, the Twins have doled out $73 million in long-term contracts, surpassing their previous off-season record by nearly $300 billion dollars (if you believe some fans). On Wednesday, the Twins signed Ricky Nolasco to a four-year deal, and tonight, they added former Yankee Phil Hughes to an increasingly (and suddenly) talented starting rotation. Hughes will earn $8 million for the next three seasons, earning a longer contract than many experts had Download attachment: Huges_Phil_Headshot_US_720.jpg predicted. The Twins have to bank on a change of scenery transforming Hughes into a completely different pitcher. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Over the course of his career, Hughes has been an extreme fly ball pitcher in a park that is probably smaller than the park in your neighborhood. As such, he has been very home run-prone, averaging in his career 1.29 home runs per nine innings. The move to Target Field could help suppress those home runs. Park Factor stats compare the rate of stats at home vs. the rate of stats on the road. For home runs in 2013, Yankee Stadium had a 9th-best HR Park Factor of 1.128, greatly favoring hitters. The HR Park Factor at Target Field in 2013 was 0.802, 27th in the league. The great thing about this normalized stat is it takes out the types of players each team has, so the fact that the Twins don't hit a lot of home runs as a team is factored in. This seems to indicate that Hughes' biggest bugaboo could be neutralized to some extent. Although by definition extreme fly ball pitchers will always be somewhat more home run-prone. Hughes might be classified incorrectly as a strikeout pitcher. His career rate of 19.7% is slightly above average, but also just slightly higher than Scott Baker's 19.1% rate. That said, Hughes does throw hard. He consistently sits 92-93 with his fastball and can touch 95. He has a low-80s slider that he has developed over the years and uses as an out pitch. He had a 31.3% strikeout rate with that pitch in 2013. His fastball was crushed for a .917 OPS last season, but the home ballpark change and crazy high fastball BABIP of .337 would point toward improvement with that pitch in coming years. His split stats are encouraging as well. He doesn't really have a noticeable platoon split, as his career OPS against lefties is .760 and his career OPS against righties is .743. His walk rate and strikeout rate are better against righties, although his rates against lefties are not bad either. He actually allows home runs at a higher rate against right-handed batters, which you might not have guessed. Moving to Target Field won't help that final rate much, but the rest of the stats are encouraging. His home/road splits really catch the eye. His career ERA at home is 4.96 and his career ERA on the road is 4.10. At home versus lefties, he surrendered a .831 OPS, basically equivalent to facing Hunter Pence in every at-bat. In contrast, lefties had an OPS of just .681 on the road, or an entire lineup of Brandon Crawfords. Against righties, Hughes gave up an OPS of .781 at home and an OPS of .700 on the road. All these splits were even worse last year, and he still had an xFIP of 4.35. Target Field won't fix everything, but New Yankee Stadium was not doing Hughes any favors. Hughes will always give up his share of home runs. All fly ball pitchers do. However, with his good strikeout rate, better-than-good walk rate, and good raw stuff, it is conceivable that Hughes could greatly improve his performance with the Twins. Add the fact that he'll be just 30 when this very reasonable contract ends, and you get a shark move from a GM who has never been described as any sort of vicious predator animal. In my free agent starting pitcher preview, I wrote the following: Who will the Twins actually sign? I have no clue. I hope they are shockingly active. I'd love to see Garza, Johnson and Arroyo on this team next year. How wild would that be? Terry Ryan shows up at Spring Training with an earring. He starts calling everyone "playa." Constant Finger Guns. It would be amazing. Make it happen, TR. I had the wrong names, but the level of activity matches. I hope the Twins beat writers can get used to being called "playa." Blow the smoke off those finger guns, TR. In fact, why not reload those babies and sign a catcher next? Why stop there? Bronson Arroyo is still available. Scott Kazmir isn't going to get a larger deal than Hughes and the Twins still have money to spend. If that happens, you can expect to see Terry Ryan in a leather jacket all summer long, no matter how hot it gets. Ray-Bans too. Personally, I'm basking in the glow of a Twins team that is actually committed to getting better. I'm getting excited to an uncontrollable point. You can analyze the talent of Nolasco and Hughes until sundown. In fact, both guys might completely flame out next year. What you can't say any longer is that the Twins won't spend money to win baseball games. They just sunk $73 million into the rotation and greatly improved the team in the process. I'm starting to think this team could win 75-80 games next year. I need to sit down. Wait, I am sitting down. I need to lie down. It's all just too exciting. Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Click here to view the article

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

Download attachment: Nolasco_Ricky_Peace_720.jpg The Twins made a big splash back in December, signing Ricky Nolasco to a 4-year, $49 million contract with a team option for a fifth year. It was the largest contract the Twins had given to a free agent and it marked a change in philosophy related to building a team. The Twins were no longer going to simply rely on home-grown talent and smaller signings. They wanted to sign a player who could lead their rotation for a couple of years while guys with more talent, but less experience, ready themselves for the majors. Two months into the season and Nolasco has a 6.12 ERA and 1.575 WHIP in ten starts. He had a 3.70 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in 33 starts in 2013. What happened? Some posit that Nolasco will heat up as the weather improves. Of course, that is just a narrative. It was pretty nice on Sunday and he got rocked. Nolasco pitched a gem in his third start as a Twin, throwing eight innings of one-run baseball in 50-degree temperature. If convenient narratives won't help us figure out if we should be worried, perhaps we could look to...stats?!? I know, stats are for nerds. In some cases, using these nerdy stats, we can figure out if a player is as bad as he seems. In the case of Nolasco, there are some interesting stats that point in many different directions. I broke them into a few categories. Split Stats Before we get too deep into our analysis, let me just state that Nolasco has been better in May. Take a look at this chart that compares April and May: [TABLE=class: grid, width: 440] [/TD][TD]ERA FIP xFIP WHIP K% BB% HR/FB% BABIP LOB% GB% April 6.67 5.27 4.66 1.75 9.7 6.7 13.9 0.355 66.7 50.5 May 5.58 4.09 3.79 1.4 20.5 5.3 11.6 0.333 66.7 31.6 Career 4.45 3.8 3.77 1.3 19.1 5.5 10.4 0.309 68.6 41.7 [/TABLE] He hasn't been outstanding in May, but most of the important indicator stats have improved since a pretty awful April. That said, there are still some individual stats that will give us a better understanding of how an effective pitcher in 2013 became a volcano of misery in 2014. Ok, that's a bit dramatic. How about a science fair volcano of misery? [/hr] Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! [/hr]Luck Stats Home run-to-fly ball ratio (HR/FB%) measures how frequently a fly ball becomes a home run. Research has shown that pitchers (and batters for that matter) tend to have their own rate at which fly balls become home runs. When the figure deviates, there's some luck at play. Nolasco has a career mark of 10.4%, just about average in the majors. When that rate is four points higher than usual, it means that an extra 4% of fly balls go over the fence instead of nestling softly in a glove. In raw numbers, we're talking about one extra home run per month, but it still makes a difference. BABIP is another luck-based stat where a player sets his own baseline. Nolasco's BABIP is quite out of line with his career mark. In April it was really high and in May it's been just quite high. Those figures aren't doing him a lot of favors, and it was especially unforgiving in April because his strikeout rate was very low and thus more balls were being put in play. Again, the raw numbers might only get us to four or five more hits that Nolasco gave up as a result of his high BABIP, but again, every little bit counts. Even if these stats only account for a small amount of Nolasco's bad performance, they do matter. These two stats point toward some bad luck for Nolasco and thus, we shouldn't worry too much. Of course, these aren't the only stats that matter. Skill Stats Can someone remind me, is a giant drop in strikeout rate good or bad for a pitcher? Without my baseball encyclopedia handy, I'll just have to assume it's a bad thing. That ten point drop in strikeout rate could be explained a lot of different ways: not hitting spots, trying to involve infielders, Rick Anderson is Satan, etc. Whatever the reasons behind the drop, the drop itself was very troubling. While Nolasco hasn't been much better in May, the return of his strikeout rate is a good sign for the future. His walk rate has been pretty stable. However, Nolasco has always had great ability to limit walks but it didn't always (or even frequently) translate to a great ability to limit runs. So, we can be pleased about his walk rate, but it hasn't been a great indicator of his success in the past either. Bummer. These skill-based stats explain a lot in April. Nolasco's ability to strike out batters almost completely vanished in April. It was almost as if he was being threatened by Kevin Correia or something. When the rate returned in May, he was better, although the luck-based stats were still not in his favor. Again, these things appear to be positive going forward. Although, there are a few more stats to look at. Shoulder Shrug Stats LOB% or left on-base percentage (I call it strand rate just for further confusion) is a stat that calculates the percentage of baserunners left on base by the pitcher. This is another stat that has an individual baseline. Nolasco's strand rate is lower than his career figure, but not by much. The discrepancy may account for some of his struggles, but not much. The shoulder shrug comes in when you look at his career figure compared to the typical league average, which usually comes in around 73-74%. Why does Nolasco strand runners so poorly? Who knows, but I doubt he figures it out at this stage of his career. Nolasco's ground ball rate is all over the place, so who knows what to think so far. His season figure is in line with his career rate, but his career rate isn't all that great. He had seen his ground ball rate rise to respectable territory from 2010-2012, but it has dropped back down in the past two seasons. I don't think the Twins can rely on Nolasco to be a ground ball specialist at this point. That said, with a decent defense behind him, a fly ball pitcher can have success. Do the Twins have a decent outfield defense? Well, come on, you know the answer to that. xFIP or expected fielder-independent pitching is a great way to look at how a pitcher would have performed if we lived in a perfect world where ballparks and home runs were normalized and puppies and kitties flowed out of water faucets but we still had access to water in other ways. Nolasco's xFIP looks great, as it always does, but that hasn't really helped Nolasco in the actual performance department. If the Twins thought this would be different in Minnesota, I have a water faucet to sell them. Shoulder shrug. Finally, there doesn't appear to be anything related to his repertoire that is hurting his performance. His velocity is right in line with the past couple seasons and he's not throwing anything too much more or less than he threw it before. His stuff is the same but his results have been poorer. I guess that, more than anything, is a reason to be optimistic. Conclusion Of course, this all falls into the small sample size realm where we aren't allowed to draw any conclusions ever. However, these stats all exist and while they don't really tell us anything going forward, they can explain why things happened the way they did. His strikeout and walk rates are more in line with his career average, but his ground ball rate, home run-to-fly ball rate and BABIP are out of line. This could explain some of the discrepancy between his April/May and career ERAs. While no single stat explained a huge portion of his struggles, when you add up all the little bits, it kind of starts to make sense. Think of it this way. If someone gave me just one slice of pizza, it would barely fill me up. If I had six slices of pizza, I'd be comatose on the couch with sauce on my face and my shirt off. Ricky Nolasco is dealing with the equivalent of six slices of pizza. Think about it. I'm not sure Nolasco will ever be worth the contract he was given, but I feel pretty confident that he will perform better going forward than he has thus far. But then, I live in a puppy/kitty faucet, shirtless, covered in pizza sauce kind of world. Click here to view the article

The new site looks amazing! Excellent work to everyone who contributed and big thanks to Brock for all the hard work. One quick question - how do I accumulate "warning points?" BECAUSE I HAVE TO HAVE THE MOST!!!!!!

The Twins are on fire. They have won back-to-back series for the first time since late May/early June. In doing so, they have put a little cushion between themselves and the last place White Sox. The Twins really capitalized on the Indians' pathetic defense (most notably Lonnie Chisenhall, who I feel very sorry for at this point) and won two of three games over the weekend. Winning four out of six games is a major accomplishment with this roster. All this forced positivity is exhausting. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Don't trade Morneau? Wally Fish of Puckett's Pond wrote a really great piece pleading with the Twins to keep Justin Morneau. I certainly appreciate that point of view, but I do not agree with it. I made a chart of where Morneau ranks in some of the more important basic and advanced stats, among qualifying first baseman (29 total): [TABLE=class: grid, width: 576] [/TD][TD]Avg OBP SLG HR RBI wOBA wRC+ fWAR Morneau 0.276 0.334 0.409 7 52 0.325 104 0.7 1st Rank 11 16 26 29 14 26 27 20 [/TABLE] This chart does not support keeping Morneau at any price near what he is making this season. Of course, almost everyone would agree with that. There are really only three reasons to sign Morneau beyond this year: Popularity - the fans love him. Low payroll - might as well spend money somewhere Best they can do - who would replace him?Personally, I think those are all terrible reasons to keep a relatively unproductive player on the roster. I'm an emotionless robot, so I have no time for sentimentality. In addition, I hate spending money just to spend money and I hate the idea the organization can't find someone better. Lyle Overbay has been roughly the same player as Morneau this season, and he makes $1.25 million. I don't care about keeping the payroll low to layer the owners' pockets, but I also don't like the idea of throwing money away on an average, or below average, player, just because he's been here for a long time. According to Fangraphs, Morneau has been worth about $3.6 million this season and was worth $1.2 million last season. If the Twins can sign him to a reasonable contract, say 2 years, $14 million, then sure, go ahead. A longer or more lucrative contract is a waste of money. Don't trade Perkins! I am going to get emotional about Glen Perkins. I love to watch him pitch. He's one of the few things I enjoy about this team, especially now that Aaron Hicks is back on the strikeout train. The at-bat Carlos Santana had against Perkins on Saturday night was amazing. It's important to mention that Santana has great plate discipline. Anyway, Perkins got ahead of him and then tried to finish him off with two straight sliders down-and-in. Santana laid off, but I'm not sure many other hitters would have. Those pitches ran the count full. At which point, I'd like to think Perkins just thought to himself "F it, I'm blowing him away." He rifled a 97 MPH fastball at Santana's eyes and he couldn't resist. It was fantastic. If the Twins are offered a top 50 prospect or a productive young MLB player for Perkins, I guess they would have to take it. I'd be sad, but I'd move on. I'd become a fan of his new team too. Plouffe batting 2nd? Right now, the Twins lineup means next to nothing. The team is generally pretty bad and regardless of how you order this lineup, they won't score many runs. However, Trevor Plouffe is second on the team in slugging and his on-base percentage isn't very special at .320. Wouldn't it make more sense to move Plouffe to the clean-up spot and Justin Morneau up to the second spot? Morneau has a slightly higher OBP and a lower SLG. Eh, it wouldn't matter; who cares? Ideally, the Twins would just bat Joe Mauer in all nine positions. Wait. (Movie idea: baseball team only plays best player, uses series of masks to make it work; hijinks.) OK, I'm back. Jason Kipnis You know what would be great? If Eddie Rosario becomes Jason Kipnis. That guy is a player. Time for Madness... Animation! Guess who learned how to make simple animations this weekend? http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7aXQy1vhenU/UexFN7vIKNI/AAAAAAAAAz0/vE8J2RXlpko/s320/foxsportswaynegirls_a.gif I promise to only use this power for good: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jPnK5IbJ1Mk/UexFUDvagVI/AAAAAAAAAz8/plqUyR8ZJY4/s320/correiadance.gif See? Fun Stat! The lowest slugging percentage in July from a player in Twins' history (minimum 50 PA)? Alexi Casilla back in 2009. He posted a robust .163 SLG that July, but he did produce one double. Star wipe to 2013 where Clete Thomas has a .146 SLG and zero extra-base hits. If he can maintain that awesome rate, he'll be the new record holder! I've said it once and I'll say it again: Clete Thomas looks great in a Rochester Red Wings uniform. Baseball Card from the past/Upcoming post http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s0VVFewBR1s/UexE05kwIGI/AAAAAAAAAzs/i_YaEkojcqs/s1600/1987alf.jpg We all remember Alf's illustrious career with the Dodgers. However, we don't remember the journey he took to get there. Later this week, I'll be chronicling his meteoric rise, sudden fall, and late resurgence. Check out my blog later this week for more. Former Twin Update - Jose Mijares In 33.1 innings with the Giants, Mijares has struck out 38, walked 10, eaten 65 pork chops and has a 2.43 ERA. His BABIP is .357, so it's possible that he's actually been better than that sparkling ERA. Mijares was hardly popular in Minnesota, but he had his moments. This is probably the best he's ever pitched. Way to go, Terry Ryan. 3 Things about Casey Fien! http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rbwO2fvyiiY/UexEtgVDUmI/AAAAAAAAAzk/ZJf-WcjyOYQ/s320/3+fiens.PNG Last weekend, I wrote in my phone "screen grab Fien 3 things from Sunday - bottom 7, first batter" and now I'm not sure why. Take a look at the photo and try to let me know what I was thinking. It might have actually been Swarzak-related, in which case I was probably going to make a Bigfoot joke. Not sure. LMK. Link to something I wrote Last week, I reflected on the AL and NL award predictions that I made back in March. I changed everything! It was wild. You can find these literary masterpieces here: American League National League Have fun. Responsibly. Parting Poem - Goodbye Justin Oh Juuuuuuuuustin You are so great Oh Juuuuuuuuuuuuuustin You were MVP Oh Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuustin You will be missed Oh Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuustin Thanks for the prospect Oh Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuustin Have a nice week, everyone! 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I can't believe that October is upon us! The 2013 season went by so quickly. I am already enjoying playoff baseball and I thought that while I enjoy playoff baseball, I could answer a few questions that have been burning a hole in my inbox. As always, these are actual questions from actual readers of the Word documents that I use to compose my rough drafts. Download attachment: alamat-email1.jpg What is your outlook for the 2014 Twins? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Initially, I thought that 2014 would be that year when the team starts to get good. I kind of envisioned a 2001 Twins team of sorts, where they are better than they had been, but still not good enough to make the playoffs. My expectations have changed a bit, mostly because the Major League team was so bad in the second half of 2013. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Originally posted at The Slow However, I do hold out hope that the 2014 Twins could win 75-81 games. A lot depends on what the Twins do in free agency and with trades this off-season. If they can make some smart trades and pick up a piece or two, I think a 10-15 game improvement is possible. The Twins were 36-45 after 81 games. That 72-win pace doesn't meet my 75-81 number, but it shows that for half of the season, the Twins weren't terrible, they were just bad. Of course, the second half did happen and they only won 30 more games, for a 60-win pace. With a healthy Joe Mauer (hopefully), natural development from rookies like Oswaldo Arcia, Josmil Pinto, Aaron Hicks and Kyle Gibson, and the Twins' solid bullpen, I think the team can be a lot better than they were in 2013. If the Front Office picks up a good starting pitcher, then I really do think that 81 wins is possible. Likely? No. Brad, you are my idle. I kneed to know, who are you rooting for in the playoffs? Brad S., St. Paul, MN I tend to root for fan bases instead of teams. I am a fan, not a team. So, I usually gravitate toward the teams with the most tortured fan base. Generally, I pull for the team with the longest championship drought. I do have some exceptions though: I can't openly root for New York, Boston, Chicago or Los Angeles. Those fan bases have too many other successful teams in other sports. So, the Red Sox and Dodgers are out. I don't care for the Tomahawk Chop, so the Braves are out. It's a political stance I suppose, but really I just find it annoying. The Cardinals won a World Series like five days ago, so they're out. Technically, the Tigers have the longest World Series drought of all the AL teams. They also have a player on their team who I am not fond of. He shall remain nameless, in case his family reads this. Let's just say, I've heard things. Unpleasant things. The Rays have never won a World Series, so they seem like the logical pick. However, their fans are kind of sucky and the team hasn't been around very long.That leaves the Pirates in the NL and Oakland in the AL. Pittsburgh fits because they have a tortured fan base. Although, it is worth mentioning that the Steelers and Penguins have been really good the past decade. A Pittsburgh-Oakland World Series would be an advertiser's nightmare, but I would eat it up. I love how rowdy the Oakland fans are. Plus, have you been to Oakland? Would you go back? Let's give them something to enjoy. I can only assume that some other idiot will ask you who you are rooting for in the playoffs, but I want to know who you think will win the 2013 World Series. Mostly so I can point out how wrong you were when it doesn't happen. Brad S's Mom, St. Paul, MN I'll start by eliminating teams for arbitrary reasons: Tigers - Miguel Cabrera is hurt Red Sox - Clam chowder is gross A's - Moneyball Pirates - Tired of plundering Cardinals - They're old? They're probably old. Braves - Tomahawk chop againThat leaves the Rays and the Dodgers. I like the Dodgers because they have Clayton Kershaw and I like the Rays because they are the smartest team in the history of civilization and they embrace math. If I was going to send my child to a school run by one of these teams, I'd pick the Rays. This isn't school! It's baseball, nerd! The Dodgers win because they know how to be cool. Yasiel Puig and whatnot. Do you know any talking pumas who also write about the Twins? Brad S., St. Paul, MN I actually did meet some talking pumas recently. In fact, I convinced each of them to write a Twins' 2013 season summary. Paul is an eternal optimist and you can read his review here. Peter says he's more realistic, but sometimes I think he's just negative. You can read his review here. If you enjoy their opinions, check in with my blog as I am working out twin 8 year, $184 million contracts for Paul and Peter to contribute regularly. The Twins outrighted Cole De Vries, Shairon Martis, Clete Thomas and Josh Roenicke from the 40-man roster earlier this week. Who will be joining them on the wrong side of the 40-man before the start of 2014? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Those four guys are a good start. You won't regret losing any of them, if another team is doing a bunch of drugs and decides to claim them. If I had to guess, I'd say that the following fellows will be joining them at some point in the near future: B.J. Hermsen, Eric Fryer, Doug Bernier, and Darin Mastroianni. It's not a huge list and it's probably incomplete. I think that if the Twins need roster spots, there are plenty of other guys who could be gone. Mike Pelfrey shouldn't be retained, but who knows? There are plenty of replaceable guys on this team, that's why they haven't eclipsed 66 wins since 2010. Are you surprised that Ron Gardenhire will manage the Twins in 2014? Brad S., St. Paul, MN Not in the least. The Twins organization is very loyal and I think we all know that at this point. In some ways, it's a heelish move. I think the general fan attitude was that a change was needed or "heads should roll" if you prefer ancient justice to tactful sentiments. It could be that the team made this decision to stick it to the fans. More likely, it seems that this was a move made out of loyalty. I guess that's fine. It's not the statement that I would try to make though. If I had been the GM, here's how I would have handled Gardy's extension. Step 1 - Announce that the team has a new manager, but that he prefers to work under a mask Step 2 - Introduce said manager at an elaborate press conference Step 3 - Invite a fan to shake hands with the new manager at the press conference Step 4 - After the handshake, crush the fan over the head with the Golden Septor Step 5 - Call for the new manager to unmask, revealing Ron Gardenhire, but with a shaved head and black goatee Step 6 - Mudhole stomp the fan for 3-5 minutes, with Rick Anderson helping stomp the mudhole Step 7 - Declare Gardenhire the "Macho King" Ron Gardenhire and proceed with the season as suchFor me, that's just a better way to do things. I hate to question the Front Office though. I'm a traditionalist. Thanks for all the questions! If you ever truly want to ask me a question, you can send me an email at this fancy new email address: kevinsloweywasframed@gmail.com. Or, you can send me spam like everyone else. Click here to view the article

Weekend Recap Hey, two series wins in a row. The Twins out-slugged the slugging Rockies over the weekend, pulling to within six games of .500 with a ten-game homestand on the other end of the All-Star Break. They received a pretty balanced attack from their offense as just about every player contributed in some way. The offense has been so poor recently, perhaps this is a glimpse of what is to come in the second half. We can hope, right? Kevin Correia I'm starting to wonder if the Twins should hang on to Correia for the rest of the season. With Ricky Nolasco out indefinitely, Sam Deduno better suited for the bullpen, Yohan Pino and Kris Johnson mediocre at best and Mike Pelfrey donated to Derek Jeter, the Twins might need Correia for the remainder of the season. This is counter to basically everything I have written about Correia this season, but I can't argue with his results over the last two months. Since his poor start against Boston on May 14, Correia has made eleven very solid starts, posting a 3.22 ERA and averaging just over six innings per start. It's easy to dismiss a couple good starts, but eleven? Even if the Twins decide to promote Alex Meyer and Trevor May, they still have room for Correia. When you consider that Meyer might pass his innings limit by September, Correia may be needed even if Nolasco returns in August. I'm all for giving younger players opportunity, but I'm not convinced that Pino, Johnson or Logan Darnell can out-produce Correia for the remainder of 2014. Of course, my entire perspective changes if the Twins are offered a good prospect for Correia. Then, I'll finally get my Yohan Pino shirsey. Even with Correia's improved performance, I'm not sure that a team will offer a good prospect. Jared Burton Burton's ERA is down to 4.82. That's pretty good. Since May 1, Burton has an ERA of 3.49 and his strikeout-to-walk ratio is 3.33. He hasn't been dominant like he was in 2012, but he's been steady like he was in 2013. I'm not on the "release Burton" bandwagon, as I think he might be the Twins' second most talented right-handed reliever on the roster. Releasing Burton would hurt the bullpen, so the Twins should hang on to him. I'd still like to see Michael Tonkin join the Twins very soon, but I don't feel Burton is the player to swap him out for. Josh Willingham In 2013 and 2014, Willingham has batted .209/.347/.381, good for a 102 OPS+. Willingham has been better in 2014, getting on base more and providing more power. His batting average is insanely low, but his BABIP is freakishly low too. His line drive rate is about four percentage points below his career-average and his ground ball rate is nearly nine percentage points below his average. Willingham's bad luck is going to become the Twins' bad luck if they are serious about trading him. It would be fantastic if Willingham could receive some positive baseball karma. He's been injured a lot recently, his luck stats are all going against him and he might get traded from a place that he really likes. Hopefully, he'll start to get some good luck, mash for a few weeks, get traded to a contender for a good prospect and then win a World Series. He seems like a legitimately good guy, so that would be the best-case scenario for all parties. Former Twin Update - Justin Morneau We failed. Morneau lost the Final Vote to Anthony Rizzo and will not be in the All-Star Game on Tuesday. As a result, I ripped up my tickets, baked them into a cherry pie and fed it to anyone in Minnesota who voted against Morneau. Congratulations! The better player defeated the better story. Whoopie! By the way, morons, you still got it wrong. If we were really going to take the best player, you got the wrong Anthony. Anthony Rendon has been better than Rizzo. Regardless, Morneau was cool enough to compete in the Home Run Derby and hopefully he wins. When he wins, I hope he melts down the trophy, bakes it into a cherry pie and feeds it to anyone in Minnesota who voted against him. Adieu Scott Diamond The Twins released Scott Diamond over the weekend, ending his Twins career. In a perfect world, he latches on with another team and puts together another MLB run. It's shocking how quickly his career fell apart. He was so good in 2012 but he couldn't sustain the one thing that he did at an elite level that season. When Diamond was able to Maddux everyone, he was great. When he was just simply "good" at limiting walks, he didn't have the same level of success. Alas, 2012 was fun and we'll always remember his flash of dominance. Random Top Five List - Fewest First Half Walks I am obsessed with Phil Hughes' ability to limit walks. While he has been getting hit around a bit lately, his elite walk rate should help him turn things around when the hits stop falling in. Here are the top five fewest walks in a first half in Twins' history (minimum 75 innings pitched): Carlos Silva - 2005 - 5 walksBrad Radke - 2005 - 10 walksBrad Radke - 2004 - 10 walksBob Tewksbury - 1998 - 11 walksPhil Hughes - 2014 - 11 walks2005 - "The Year of the No Walk." I have a way with words. Baseball Card from the Past Download attachment: 391_kirby_puckett.jpg This was my favorite baseball card as a kid. I started collecting around 1988, when I was five or six. I got the 1988 Topps complete set for Christmas and I opened it up and started sorting like a madman. The fact that there were two Kirby Puckett cards in the set blew my mind. I liked this card better because it was an All Star card. I always wanted to get this specific card signed, which sadly did not happen. However, I did accumulate about 25 copies of this card via trades, so at least I have a bunch of them somewhere. Futures Game Recap! Can Jose Berrios start the first game after the All-Star Break? Can he start every game? Seriously, that inning was impressive. It was one inning, but it was super impressive. Alex Meyer was impressive as well and he might actually be ready for the Majors in the near future. Before the 2013 season, the Twins had exactly zero impressive starting pitching prospects. Now, they have Meyer, Berrios, Kohl Stewart, Lewis Thorpe and Trevor May. Each seems likely to contribute and impress at some point in the future. This wasn't really a recap of the game, but the other players in the game aren't on my favorite team so I loathe them and hope their hair turns to snakes. That is, unless the Twins trade for one of them, then I hope for reverse hair snakes. Oh, Joey Gallo seems strong. All-Star Fan Fest Recap! My wife, daughter and I went to Fan Fest on Saturday. We arrived shortly before 7pm, right about when all the fun was beginning. It was an impressive display. There looked to be a lot of activities that a younger version of myself would have really enjoyed. There were batting cages, fielding drills, men writing their names on things, etc. My daughter isn't old enough to partake, although we did take her picture with the World's Largest Baseball. My wife also went 3 for 3 at trivia kiosks and won a couple prizes. She really wants me to give them away on the blog. Maybe in a few years when they hold absolutely zero value. Celebrity Softball Game Recap! Oh wait, I did not watch this. Parting Thoughts I am very excited for the All-Star Game on Tuesday. I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to attend in person. I have admitted in the past that the player intros are my favorite part, but if the game is exciting, I might enjoy the actual baseball just as much. Even if the game isn't exciting, I'll be very happy that I shelled out hard-earned dollars for tickets. It's the experience! I am also excited that the Twins enter the break having won 5 of 6. They might not make the playoffs in 2014, but they might play reasonably relevant games in September for the first time since 2010. It's funny how low my standards have fallen, but what can you do? Have a great week, everyone! Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Arcia_Oswaldo_HighFive_US_720.jpg SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! SWEEP! Oswaldo Arcia On June 4, I declared my desire to legally adopt Arcia. Since that day, he is 4 for 46 with 18 strikeouts. I withdraw my application. Not because I don't want to adopt him, but because it seems to be affecting him adversely. He has been hit by three pitches since that day, likely from jealous pitchers. A 4:3 hit to HBP ratio either means a batter is struggling or has been breaking a ton of unwritten rules. Arcia has been struggling mightily. He was recently benched for Chris Parmelee and that didn't help things whatsoever. The Twins could certainly send Arcia back to Rochester. That's how they handled his slumps last year. However, I'd recommend keeping him in the lineup to give him the chance to work though his struggles. Arcia appears to be a pretty streaky hitter, but he's been consistently excellent in AAA. Knowing that, the Twins need to figure out if Arcia can adjust in-season against MLB pitching. I feel pretty confident that he'll be able to get it together if he's allowed to keep swinging through his slump. Kendrys Morales Speaking of slumps. Morales had just two hits last week. He scored and drove in one run apiece. I'm sure that if I betray myself and look at the Twins' Facebook page, there will be many calling him names and loathing that he was ever signed. Ah, but it's just a slump. In fact, Morales had just four hits from June 16, 2013 to June 22, 2013, proving that he just really hates that week. Morales didn't have a spring training and he's only played a handful of games. He posted a 123 OPS+ last year, despite that one-week stretch in mid-June. He's a good hitter, he'll hit. Glen Perkins Perkins blew the save on Friday, but managed to find the will to win. He was a little shaky on Saturday, but got the job done. I saw a few individuals questioning whether or not we should be worried about Perkins. Emphatically: no. Perkins currently has the highest strikeout rate and lowest walk rate of his career. His BABIP is thirty points higher than his career figure and his strand rate is nearly ten points lower. Perkins is dominant and there's simply no reason to worry about his performance in the least. STOP WORRYING! Former Twin Update - Kevin Slowey The end of an era! The Miami Marlins DFA'd Kevin Slowey to make room for some super prospect or something. I hate that we live in a world where talent trumps Slowey, but I guess I'll have to learn to live with it. Slowey did that cool thing he does where he put up a much better FIP than ERA. That's so Slowey. His 5.30 ERA wasn't cutting it for a surprisingly good Marlins team. Normally, this is where I'd advocate the Twins taking a look at him, but I don't have the strength for a fake fight right now. Random Top Five List 2014 AL Ground Ball Rate Leaders Dallas Keuchel - 63.7% Justin Masterson - 59.8% Jarred Cosart - 56.7% Kyle Gibson - 55.8% Sonny Gray - 55.0%Clearly, Gibson owns one elite skill. He has always had the ground ball reputation and it's manifesting in 2014. I'd love to see his strikeout rate jump a tad, but elite ground ball pitchers are able to have some level of success without a ton of strikeouts. However, Gibson's strikeout rate is significantly lower than those on this list and the guys who are in the 6th through 10th positions. Something to keep an eye on. Half-Hearted Mini-Rant - West Coast Baseball So the Twins are in Anaheim for some baseball this week and I am not pleased! What's with these 9 PM start times? Doesn't baseball know I have a job? Doesn't baseball know I can't stay up past 11pm or I'll be somewhat tired and irritable? Hey baseball, can we try to start these games at a reasonable hour? Hey lawmakers, why not get off your lazy keisters and do something about this problem? My solution? Eliminate time zones. If it's 7 PM here, it should be 7 PM everywhere. No one wants to do math to figure out when games start. No one likes to count. The sun won't cooperate? Forget the sun, let's blow it up! We'll be just fine without your heat and light, sun. Look, this is America, we can do anything! I refuse to believe that we can't engineer a better sun right here on our soil. And, we can work on it from 8-5 and it will be super easy to call our friends in Estonia after work because the times will be the same and we can all watch the Twins game together as a culture. This needs to happen. New Poll! Last month, I put up a poll and asked who would win the Twins' Cy Young Award in 2014. The results are striking, but not shocking: Phil Hughes - 63 votes Sam Deduno - 4 votes Kevin Corr...hahahahahahahahahaha - 3 votes Glen Perkins - 7 votes Kyle Gibson - 2 votes Ricky Nolasco - 2 votes Brian Dozier - 24 votesI appreciate the irreverence of those voting for Dozier. Hughes appears to be the runaway choice and he also appears to actually be running away with this fake award. Making fun of Correia seems to have inspired him and I'll gladly take full credit for that. I have added a new poll and if you respect the democratic process, you will vote. If you don't respect that process, you can still vote. The process respects you. Plugging My Way Last Friday, I pondered how things would be different if the Twins had drafted Mark Prior instead of Joe Mauer. It's interesting, to say the least. Here's the full text. If you just want the chain of events, here you go: Twins draft Prior Twins win 2003 World Series George Steinbrenner develops cyborg player technology MLB expands to 90,000 teams Prior retiresIt's all pretty logical. Parting Thoughts Watching the Twins beat the White Sox all weekend was very satisfying. Before the season started, I questioned how anyone could think that ratty White Sox team would be better than the Twins in 2014. They're closer than I thought (the Sox are a bit better than "ratty," I guess) but I still think the Twins are better. Oh, and that Adam Eaton is going to annoy the daylights out of me for about a decade. He's scrappy. Have a great week, everyone! Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! [/hr]Twins win and so do you. On Monday, get a half price large or extra-large pizza from PapaJohns.com by using the promo code 'TWINSWIN'. Click here to view the article