Cap'n Piranha

I believe I recall Provus saying a lot of the people left. Can't say I blame them, given how this was mismanaged.

I agree with this, and that was what I was trying to get at--a Rosario-Buxton-Hicks outfield is one of the three best, if not THE best, defensive outfields in baseball. Even if both of those would have been hits, and even if they would have resulted in the same outcomes, that's not going to be the case throughout the year. We took an elite strength, and reduced it to maybe a strength. If JRM can't push Zuke out of the starting spot at some point this year, that's a problem.

A tour guide told me that there are three things in Victoria--newlyweds, flowerbeds, and soon-to-be-deads.

Listening on the radio, so can anyone let me know if Hicks would've gotten to any of the balls this inning?

Casey Fien has an infinite WHIP. FWN

Definitely slower-paced, but the Butchart Gardens are phenomenal, The Empress is dripping with history, and there's a growing culinary scene too.

Hey, Baltimore has a great defense! Cory Provus just told me so, using the fact that they had the fewest errors in the AL last year as the only proof he needed!

In my opinion, nothing in Canada compares to the combined W--Victoria and Vancouver.

I mean, or neither. That's good too Zuke.

Provus just said that Suzuki is trying to get Escobar to third. How about this--it's the third inning, it's 0-0, and you have no outs; why not go for the RBI base hit instead?

My goodness. Why don't you sit the next couple of plays out.

I have to disagree here. The phrase "why not put Nolasco out there" should only be used when one is referring to the waiver wire.

He's on pace to bat 1.000 for his career! Clear out a wing in Cooperstown! FWN!

in 2 innings, Earvin has struck out 3 batters. Tommy Milone had that many or fewer strikeouts in 10 of his 23 starts last year. FWN!

Based on these 2 innings, Baltimore should start it's Tillman for Cy campaign right now.

Twins on pace to go 0 for 4,374 this season, with 3,500 k's. This has been your fun with numbers update.

If the game is delayed, why did they do the national anthem? Also, say the game has to be postponed until tomorrow--do they do the anthem again, or is that permanently crossed off the list?

Agree. If (and it's a big if) Meyer, Burdi, and Chargois can all be meaningful bullpen arms by July/August, TR's gamble of not adding relievers will look pretty damn good.

Please read the whole post, and understand the point I'm making. I never said you're more likely to make the playoffs with a lower payroll. I said a higher payroll does not guarantee a playoff spot. I then definitively proved that. In 6 of 10 seasons since 2006, the majority of playoff teams were not in the top 10 of payroll, and the majority of teams in the top 10 for payroll did not make the playoffs. In 3 of the other 4 years, 50% of the playoff teams were in the top 10 for payroll--in 2 of those years the majority of top 10 payroll teams still didn't make the playoffs, in the other 2, exactly 50% of the top 10 payroll teams made the playoffs. I have never said that I don't think payroll makes it easier to make the playoffs. It does. But it guarantees nothing, and simply going out and spending will not ensure the Twins or any team make the playoffs. The one year out of the past 10 that the Twins were in the top 10 for payroll, they finished with 99 losses and the second worst record in the league. Payroll is not a silver bullet, and pretending otherwise is naive. In the past 10 years, there have been 88 playoff teams, 38 of which were in the top 10 of payroll. If those 33% of teams got 33% of the spots instead, that would be 29 spots, so being in the top 10 of payroll in reality only gets one more spot per year, so let's stop pretending spending obscene amounts of money drastically increases any team's odds of making the playoffs.

Sure, but I wasn't making a comparison of the Twins to the Tigers. I was making a comparison of payroll, and it's correlation to postseason success; specifically, that there isn't any. Here's the number of teams from the top 10 in payroll that made the playoffs in each of the last 10 years--2009 was the only year where more than half the field was comprised of teams from the top 10 payroll teams. 2015: 4 2014: 5 2013: 4 2012: 3 2011: 3 2010: 3 2009: 5 2008: 4 2007: 4 2006: 3 My only point is to stop treating payroll like some panacea to missing the playoffs, as its more likely you'll miss the playoffs with a top 10 payroll, than make it.

And for that 175M the Tigers got 74 wins, a last place finish in the Central, and were the second to worst team in the AL. Of the top 10 teams in payroll to start last year, only 4 made the playoffs, where they combined to win 7 games out of 36 played. Stop with the "higher payroll equals more wins" line of reasoning, it's just not the end-all-be-all of win determination it used to be.

TR can be unfair to me every day of the week and twice on Sundays if I get $12M over 4 years.

I'm fine with Span in CF if ALL of the below conditions are met; 1) The Twins are adamant about keeping Buxton in AAA to start the year 2) The other options the Twins are considering to start are Robinson or Cuddyer 3) It's a 1 year deal 4) TR promises not to extend Span, barring a complete meltdown by 2 of the Rosario/Hicks/Buxton/Kepler group. I'm intrigued by Johan as a bullpen guy, especially if he agrees to change his name to Earvin, so the dread-locked one can change his name back to Johan. Hilarity ensues.

I'd much rather we turn Polanco into a 2B, as that's where the greater opportunity is with the Twins right now. In the two seasons he's been allowed to play more than 120 games, Escobar has put up .721 and .754 OPS's. He's entering his age 27 season, and still has multiple years of cheap team control left. Nick Gordon will start at High A, and could be only 2-3 years away from the bigs. Brian Dozier, in the 3 years he's played more than 120 games has put up OPS's of .726, .762, and .751. He'll turn 29 next year, and is about to start getting more expensive. We have no good 2B prospects in the system right now. I would love it if TR challenged the prospects to make the engine go, and traded Dozier and Plouffe this offseason, letting Sano and Polanco start in their places.

At Low A in his age 19/20 season, Vielmas OPS'd .636. Didi Gregorious (who was 4th amongst all qualified SS this year in WAR, and has a similar below-average offense, good-to-great defense profile) in his age 20 season OPS'd .694 at low A and .561 at high A. Last year, Vielma in his 20/21 season was at high A, and OPS'd .627, whereas Gregorious was at .791 at high A, and .704 in AA. That being said--Gregorious played in the Cali league for high A; both years he was there, ever team OPS'd over .729. Last year in the FSL, no team OPS'd over .700. Both Vielma and Gregorious were in the Midwest League for A ball, except when Didi was there, 10 team OPS'd over .700, and in 2014 when Vielma was there, only 6 did. Vielma is not as good offensively as Didi, but he's certainly not far off, and can clearly be a valuable contributor if he continues to progress.