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Awesome news! It's time for May to make his debut, he's certainly earned it. The bummer is I have wedding to attend Saturday night. I've been waiting all season for this debut and it has to come THIS saturday?

I'd rate the day a solid B. The Milone / Fuld trade was a great move by the front office. Flipping a waiver pick up for legit starting pitching depth is quite the accomplishment - not to mention, the flip happend only a few months after they picked Fuld up...incredible. With the dollar amount now official, I'm okay with the Suzuki extension. I didn't love extending a guy off a career year when his numbers point to this being a rare offensive season - but I'm not going to be upset over paying $6 million per year to a solid starting catcher. What keeps the Twins from scoring an "A" in my 'completely made up, no one really cares' grading curve is the lack of movement on the Willingham front. It's entirely possible the Twins didn't have a partner to dance with, but I'd really hoped they'd be able to move Hammer before the deadline. There's always the waiver route in August, I suppose. Correia will be August trade bait - heck, the team could cut and run if someone claims him. At that point, the spot for May, Meyer or Milone would be the most valuable return.

The timing of the annoucement would support that theory. It'll be interesting to see what we can find out when all the dust settles. (Who was in, what an offer was -etc.)

I can't believe all the Rays got for David Price was Smyly and Franklin... I like the trade from the Mariner's point of view, Franklin for Austin Jackson is a nice upgrade that helps them immediately. Of course, Detroit gets much better in the short term too. But the Rays...wow.

I will wait until I see the contract numbers, but my initial reaction to the Suzuki extension isn't a good one.

There was ZERO buzz surrounding the Twins as the deadline approached. Either they played their cards very close to the vest (and something is coming)...or they just didn't play at all. If Suzuki isn't signed to an extension before season's end, this will have been a mighty failure by the front office.

Well, there went Willingham's biggest suitor. I guess the M's or a darkhorse could get something done, but I'd be surprised if he's moved after the Byrd acquisition by NY.

Make it happen, TR

The Vargas promotion is like a cool prize in a box of already good cereal. A nice trade AND Vargas gets promoted? Well, that's just swell.

Love the Fuld / Milone trade. The Twins flipped a waiver pick up into pitching depth. Milone is a solid starter too. He won't be an ace, but this team has shown that pitching depth is NEVER a bad thing.

Oakland is certainly going all in this season - that Lester for Cespedes trade is something I can only get to happen in MLB The Show. Hopefully this keeps up all day, trades are fun.

Maybe we could get Vance Worley for him. (Oops) There might be a long term strategy there. Twins acquire pitcher X, pitcher X fails. Pitcher X subsequently traded to the Pirates. Pittsburgh fixes pitcher X - Twins reacquire said pitcher. I'm kidding, of course, but count me in favor of moving Duensing before the deadline, especially if the notion of DFA-ing at season's end is even on the table. Move him for value now, if possible.

Download attachment: Pelfrey_Mike_walking_US_720.jpg The Twins raised some eyebrows during the offseason after they signed Mike Pelfrey to a two year, $11 million deal. While there was little doubt the Twins needed to address their rotation questions, there was doubt whether the answer to those questions was Mike Pelfrey - not to mention the need to commit to 2 years of Pelfrey in order to get a deal done. From an outside perspective, you can (sort of) see what the Twins were trying to do in signing Pelfrey back into the fold. After three seasons of rotating AAAA caliber starters and residing at or near the bottom of the AL in ERA, innings pitched and strikeouts, the Twins were looking for a veteran innings eater to provide a bit a stability. The consensus was, now a full year plus after Tommy John surgery, Mike Pelfrey would be primed to return to his career averages. From 2008 – 2011, Pelfrey had averaged just over 195 innings per season while posting an average ERA of 4.24. Pelfrey had shown flashes of a return to that consistency during the latter months of 2013. Pelfrey made 16 starts from May 31st through September 6th. During this time he posted a 7-9 record while totaling 93.1 innings (averaging nearly 6 innings per start) with an ERA of 4.05. Those numbers aren’t going to excite anyone, but as a 4th or 5th starter, they’d be perfectly serviceable. While Pelfrey did fade in his final three starts of 2013, the middle of the season seemed to mark a return to form for Pelfrey. Armed with this information and the assumption that another year of recovery from Tommy John surgery would allow for better control and velocity from Peflrey, the Twins re-upped the righty, hoping he and Kevin Correia could anchor the back of their newly improved rotation. That was the plan. Unfortunately, something has gone awry. Pelfrey has been underwhelming through his first 4 starts of 2014, posting an ERA of 7.32 over 19.1 innings of work. He’s frequently found himself with elevated pitch counts early in games and has yet to throw more than 5.1 innings in any start. That’s hardly the result the Twins were expecting from the big right hander when they signed him to a two year deal this offseason. So, the obvious question is, what happened? In short, Pelfrey’s control seems to be lacking in the early season. Through 4 starts, he is walking batters at a rate of 6.86 / 9 innings (15.3% BB) that’s more than double 2013’s walk rate of 3.12 / 9 innings (7.8% BB). In addition, Pelfrey is striking out batters at reduced pace from his career average of 5.09 K/9 – his rate of 3.66 K/9 is currently a career low. It’s logical to assume that a decrease in control could correlate with an increase in Pelfrey throwing more off speed or breaking pitches. Perhaps he’s working on his secondary pitches early in the season and just hasn’t quite ‘fine tuned’ the offerings? Unfortunately, the opposite seems to be true. Per FanGraphs, Pelfrey is throwing his fastball an astounding 81% of the time this season, up considerably from 72.6% in 2013 and 62.6% in 2012. Making matters worse, this season opponents are hitting .296 against the pitch Pelfrey is throwing 80% of the time. Interestingly, Pelfrey’s groundball to fly ball rate is a off quite a bit from his career average (he currently has a GB/FB rate of .93 while his career average is 1.49) while opponents are hitting flyballs 42.3%, up from his career average of 32%. Naturally, an increased fly ball rate has decreased his groundball percentage to 39.4%, down from a career average of 47.7%. When throwing a sinking fastball nearly 80% of the time, you simply should not have fly ball rates as high as Pelfrey does - this ties back into the earlier observation of Pelfrey’s control issues. He’s leaving his sinker up and over the plate, which is allowing opponents to put the ball in the air, rather than generating a groundout as planned. In fact, a quick look at Pelfrey’s pitch locations from last night’s start against the Rays illustrates this point quite nicely: Download attachment: 1.png The gray plots are Pelfrey’s sinker – that’s far too many sinkers up in the zone, especially for a pitcher who isn’t using many secondary pitches. As with all evaluations done this early in the season, small sample size could be clouding the bigger picture. Given Pelfrey’s reliance on his sinker, he should see his fly ball rates begin to normalize, which should help lower his numbers overall. I emphasize "should", as any improvement is dependent on Pelfrey returning to some form of consistent control. If he continues to struggle with walking batters and locating his sinker, Pelfrey’s current role with the Twins could be short-lived. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Burton_Jared_Walking_US_720.jpg The Twins fell to the Blue Jays on Tuesday night due in large part to the wheels falling off the Phil Hughes strikeout express in the 6th inning. After cruising through five innings, limiting the Jays to four hits while striking out five batters, Hughes suddenly couldn’t retire a single batter and was forced from the game clinging to a 2-1 lead with two runners on and no outs. Those runners went on to score (plus one more for good measure), which left Hughes with a disappointing stat line of 5.0 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5K and left his ERA at a far too high 7.20. I’m not here to talk about Phil Hughes, however. In my opinion, these "one bad inning" outings are just something Hughes needs to work through (or the team needs to be ready for). With as poor as the pitching has been over the past three seasons, we’ll take the bad with the good when it comes to Phil Hughes and hope he figures it out in the meantime. My bigger concern from last night’s game comes from the ninth inning when Jared Burton entered the game. Burton retired the first two Blue Jay batters relatively quickly before walking the next three batters in just as rapid fashion. Brett Lawrie stepped to the plate and well… I thought about linking the video, but I don't want to subject Twins fans to THAT again. Let's just say it was 9-2 in short order. Tuesday was Burton’s fourth appearance of the season and it continued a frightening trend for the righty set-up man, one that dates back to 2013. To put it simply – he’s been crushed. (All numbers that follow were obtained from Fangraphs on 4/16/14) Burton finished 2013 with 2-9 record with an ERA of 3.82. For comparisons sake, Burton finished 2012 with a record of 3-2 with an ERA of 2.18. That should raise a red flag immediately. While relievers are prone to up and down years, Burton’s 2013 was so much worse than 2012 that the Twins management and front office had to be concerned about the righty heading into 2014, even if they never publicly said anything. Delving a little deeper into the numbers doesn't make things look any better for Burton. He finished 2013 with a xFIP of 3.94, showing that his inflated ERA wasn’t the product of bad luck or a few bad outings – rather it was an accurate measurement of his performance. With an opponent batting average allowed of .240 (up from 2012’s .183) and a BABIP of .294, the writing was on the wall. Burton may just be out of gas. I think Twins management was influenced by Burton’s outstanding 2012 numbers and therefore were willing to take a chance that he could turn in numbers closer to his careerbest season – rather than 2013’s effort. Early season indicators seem to show that as a mistake. While the season is young and sample sizes are extremely small (especially for relievers) Burton has done little to show that 2012 Jared Burton will ever be coming back. He currently boasts an ERA of 14.40, with a xFIP of 6.94 (That’s depressing. It means Burton has been somewhat unlucky and that his ERA should ONLY be nearly 7…), opponents are hitting .300 off him and his BB/9 has risen, while his K/9 has been cut in half. In short, he’s walking more batters, striking out fewer batters and then letting everyone else hit .300 off of him. Ouch. With a plethora of young arms in AAA that look to be ready for the show, I hope the Twins don’t let Burton flap in the breeze much longer. Michael Tonkin or Casey Fien could easily take over Burton’s role as the 8th inning bridge to Perkins, and Deolis Guerra, Ryan Pressly and Logan Darnell are all just a phone call away. Things like this happen with relievers. Sometimes their stuff just stops working - for whatever reason. In reality, the Twins were lucky to get a career best season from a minor pickup in 2012. Whether Burton is hurt or simply out of gas, the choice remains the same. Something must be done with Burton and I believe the sooner the Twins make a move, the better off they'll be. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Gibson_Kyle_600-321.jpg Kyle Gibson was lights out Wednesday night as he held the Mariners scoreless over six innings. He scattered seven hits, but only walked one while striking out three to turn in his 8th dominant performance on the year, improving his overall record to eight wins and seven losses. The problem is, there doesn’t seem to be any middle ground when it comes to Gibson’s starts. Either he’s lights out, like he was in Seattle (6.0IP, 7H, 0ER, 1BB, 3K) or he’s knocked out, like his outing against the Yankees on July 4th (2.0 IP, 6H, 5ER, 1BB, 0K). One or two starts with such a variance wouldn’t mean much. Starters have bad outings, as even staff ace Phil Hughes has thrown a clunker or two this season. Gibson, however, isn’t just having one or two all or nothing starts. Seemingly every start is defined by the all-or-nothing principal. Take a look at this years' splits: (A blank space in the charts below indicates a value of zero). [TABLE] Split G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR SB CS BB SO SO/W BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB ROE BAbip tOPS+ sOPS+ in Wins 8 216 198 5 41 5 [/TD] 1 1 17 28 1.65 .207 .270 .247 .517 49 8 1 3 .237 58 85 in Losses 7 136 124 40 47 11 2 5 1 9 12 1.33 .379 .419 .621 1.040 77 5 1 2 2 .385 213 125 in No Dec. 3 71 68 10 3 2 1 3 13 4.33 .147 .183 .191 .374 13 2 1 .182 14 9 [/TABLE] 　 That’s a startling difference. He’s essentially allowing opposing batters to hit 170 points higher in average in losses while also seeing opponents' OPS double (!) Obviously, in a loss, starters are going to post worse numbers than they do in wins, but the splits are not typically this wide or dramatic. Initially it looked like Gibson’s struggles were attributable to home/road splits. In his home starts since the beginning of the season, Gibson has had only two "clunkers" Home Starts: [TABLE] Date Innings Earned Runs 4/11 6.1 1 4/17 8.0 4/30 6.2 5 5/16 7.0 1 5/28 6.0 6/7 7.0 7/4 2.0 5 [/TABLE] His road starts have been a bit rougher: Road Starts: [TABLE] Date Innings Earned Runs 4/5 5.0 1 4/22 3.0 7 5/5 7.0 5/10 2.0 6 5/23 5.0 5 6/2 6.0 4 6/13 7.0 6/18 7.0 6/24 2.0 7 6/29 8.0 2 7/9 6.0 　 　 　 [/TABLE] Early in the season, the solution seemed simple. For whatever reason, Kyle Gibson struggled away from Target Field. However, Gibson’s last few starts have made that assessment inaccurate. He’s turned in quality outings in Texas, Boston and Detroit while his last dud came at home. It’s clearly not as simple as home/road struggles. So, let’s dig a bit deeper. Maybe this is all just a matter of pitch selection? [TABLE] Date Opp FB% FBv SL% SLv CB% CBv CH% CHv 7/9/2014 @SEA 7/4/2014 NYY 57.70% 90.9 23.10% 83.7 3.90% 79 15.40% 83.3 6/29/2014 @TEX 67.40% 92.2 24.20% 85.5 2.10% 80.5 6.30% 84.5 6/24/2014 @LAA 62.00% 92.6 20.00% 85 2.00% 82 16.00% 84.1 6/18/2014 @BOS 56.90% 92.1 20.60% 84.9 3.90% 81 18.60% 84.1 6/13/2014 @DET 60.00% 91.5 24.60% 83.9 2.70% 78.3 12.70% 82.5 6/7/2014 HOU 65.10% 89.9 18.90% 83.8 2.80% 77.3 13.20% 82.1 6/2/2014 @MIL 62.30% 92.1 31.20% 84.3 2.60% 79 3.90% 83.3 5/28/2014 TEX 67.30% 91.5 20.60% 84.7 5.60% 79.7 6.50% 82.7 5/23/2014 @SFG 51.40% 92 26.40% 85.5 9.70% 81 12.50% 83.8 5/16/2014 SEA 68.80% 90.9 12.50% 84.1 1.00% 78 17.70% 83.2 5/10/2014 @DET 56.30% 91.7 33.30% 84.6 10.40% 83.2 5/5/2014 @CLE 69.00% 90.5 7.00% 85.6 7.00% 79.4 17.00% 82.7 4/30/2014 LAD 64.40% 91 19.80% 82.4 3.00% 79 12.90% 83.2 4/22/2014 @TBR 68.60% 90.8 24.40% 82.9 7.00% 82.7 4/17/2014 TOR 80.00% 90.9 11.40% 83.7 8.60% 82.9 4/11/2014 KCR 67.00% 91.3 19.00% 83.2 3.00% 78.7 11.00% 83 4/5/2014 @CLE 69.10% 90.4 13.40% 82 [TD] 17.50% 81.8 [/TABLE] That big block of data does have some interesting points. Mainly, in wins, Gibson is using his fastball between 60%-70% of the time while in losses the fastball usage resides at 51%-57%. Why is Gibson shying away from his fastball in losses? It looks like he’s struggling to locate the pitch. Here’s Gibson’s Pitch F/X data from his 7/4 start against the Yankees: http://twinsdaily.co...ntid=8196&stc=1 　 Look at the gray squares, which indicate Gibson’s sinker. As you can see, Gibson struggled to locate his sinker, leaving many balls out of the zone. That caused him to fall behind and then have to come into the zone with a different pitch (since his sinker control was off) – thus resulting in a fireworks performance courtesy of the Yankee bats. The trend repeats in his 6/24 start against the Angels. http://twinsdaily.co...ntid=8197&stc=1 　 Again, there’s little consistency in the location of his sinker and not surprisingly the results are very similar to the start against the Yankees. Finally, look at the Pitch F/X data from his 6/29 start against Texas and the start yesterday against Seattle. 　 http://twinsdaily.co...ntid=8198&stc=1 http://twinsdaily.co...ntid=8199&stc=1 A majority of his sinkers are low in the zone and are grouped nicely. Greater control yielded a better result. Admittedly, that’s a lot of data to comb over to simply reach the conclusion that Gibson is better when he can control his pitches. That policy applies to every starter in the league, outside of maybe Sam Deduno who in fact may be better when he has no idea where the ball is going. What’s startling is just how different the results are when Gibson is struggling with control and when he’s on. Every starter will battle control issues from time to time and even the best starters get knocked around a bit, but I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a player as all or nothing as Kyle Gibson. Hopefully, Gibson can improve on these results as he continues to learn and grow. He’ll need to learn how to pitch when his best stuff just isn’t with him – even Kevin Correia and Ricky Nolasco can turn in quality outings when their command is evading them. It seems like Gibson’s struggles may simply be because he hasn’t figured out how to work with what he has on any given night. We hope that as he pitches further into the season, he’ll figure things out and we’ll stop seeing so many "boom or busts" starts from the Twins’ righty. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Plouffe.jpg The Minnesota Twins are currently 2nd in the AL in runs scored (86), 1st in OBP (.353) and 1st in walks (82). They also lead the AL in runs per game at 5.76. That’s not too bad for an offense that was routinely picked to finish towards the bottom of the league in nearly every category. Yes, it’s only April and the sample size is incredibly small – but it’s a good start. The offense has been bolstered by improved performances from multiple players including a breakout season from Chris Colabello and a surprising return to relevance from Jason Kubel. While Colabello is a great story and Kubel’s rebound is encouraging, the player that has been most impressive and, in my opinion, most improved, so far this season has been Trevor Plouffe. Through 67 plate appearances in 2014, Plouffe is hitting an impressive .308/.418/.436 with an OPS+ of 147. Plouffe has 4 doubles, 1 home run and has taken 10 walks to start the young season (he averaged just over 30 walks a season over the past 3 years). He’s more than doubled his walk rate from 2013 while cutting his strikeout rate by almost half. Of course, all early season statistics come with the caveat of small sample size and potential regression. A look at Plouffe’s advanced metrics; however, indicate Plouffe is taking a different approach at the plate this season. Perhaps Plouffe’s breakout campaign isn’t merely a run of good fortune, but the product of a new and improved player? Plouffe has been much more disciplined at the plate this season, as evidenced by his early season walk totals, but there’s more to this discipline than just taking more walks. Per PITCHf/x Plouffe’s O-swing% (the percentage of balls Plouffe swings at outside the strike zone) sits at 12.5%. He’s reduced that by over 50% from 2013’s O-swing% of 26.2%. In addition, Plouffe is simply swinging his bat less overall. His swing% sits at 35.2%, down from 43.1% in 2013. His Z-swing% (the percentage of balls Plouffe swings at in the strike zone) remains relatively unchanged from 2013 (58.6%) to 2014 (58.2%) while his overall contact % is nearly identical (81% in 2013, 79% in 2014). What does all of that mean? In short: Plouffe isn’t chasing bad pitches while he’s also being more selective in the strikes he does attack. This has resulted in an increased OBP and has helped Plouffe become a key piece in the offense’s early season success. It’s likely that pitchers will eventually catch on to Plouffe’s new approach and start throwing him more strikes and daring him to put the ball in play. For previous seasons’ Trevor Plouffe, this could have posed a problem as he was a notorious pull hitter. Teams could easily counter this by pitching him away, resulting in a weakly hit ground ball or shifting the defense to the left side, forcing Plouffe into easy outs. Luckily, Plouffe’s improvement has not solely come on taking more walks; he’s also driving the ball to all fields. Compare 2013’s spray chart: Download attachment: 1.png 　　 To 2014: Download attachment: 2.png 　Plouffe’s ability to use all fields is reinforced by his red hot BABIP of .364. While that number is sure to regress slightly as the season progresses other numbers indicate that the increased average isn’t a mirage. For example, Plouffe’s line drive rate has increased this season (29.5% up from 24.7%) as has his groundball rate (40.9% up from 38.6%) while his fly ball rate has decreased (29% down from 36.7%). Line drives and ground balls tend to lead to hits more than fly balls do, so an increase in those categories should show an increase in BABIP (and, in turn, batting average). We’ve seen Plouffe go on red hot streaks each of the past two seasons, so it’s easy (and understandable) to take a "wait and see" approach when it comes to the impressive early numbers he’s been putting up in 2014. I think what we’re seeing from Plouffe is more than just an early season hot streak. He looks to be a more disciplined and patient hitter this season. In addition, he’s making better contact and using all fields to put in the ball in play. I think this is the start of a new Trevor Plouffe – one that should be a building block for the Twins in the coming years. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Fien_Casey_Standing_US_720.jpg When a team is mired in a rut of three losing seasons, it’s easy to overlook players who are achieving beyond expectations – especially when those players are relief pitchers. After all, who cares if you have a lights out righthander when the team is constantly down 6-0 by the third inning? For that reason, you could be forgiven if you’ve missed what Casey Fien has been doing over the past three years with the Twins. Since the Twins signed Fien as a minor league free agent from the Detroit Tigers organization, he’s developed into one of the better relief pitchers in baseball. In 2014, Fien is posting career best numbers.The 6’2" righty currently boasts a 3-1 record with a 1.89 ERA and 13:4 strikeout to walk ratio. His strong start helped him take over the 8th inning role from Jarod Burton in early April and he’s kept the role absolutely locked down through sheer dominant performances all season. Fien has only allowed an earned run in 2 of his 20 outings (oddly enough, both against Cleveland) and has rarely even yielded a hit. Take a look at his game logs from 2014: [TABLE] Date Opp Rslt Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR HBP ERA Mar31 CHW L3-5 [/TD] 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Apr2 CHW L6-7 H(1) 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0.00 Apr4 CLE L2-7 1.0 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 10.12 Apr6 CLE W10-7 H(2) 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 7.36 Apr10 OAK L1-6 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.79 Apr13 KCR W4-3 W(1-0) 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.40 Apr17(2) TOR W9-5 W(2-0) 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.50 Apr20 KCR W8-3 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4.05 Apr23 TBR W6-4 W(3-0) 2.1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3.00 Apr25 DET L6-10 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.70 May Opp Rslt Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR HBP ERA May1(2) LAD L3-4 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2.45 May3 BAL W6-1 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.25 May4 BAL W5-2 H(3) 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2.08 May7 CLE L3-4 L(3-1) 0.2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 2.63 May9 DET W2-1 H(4) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.45 May11 DET W4-3 H(5) 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.35 May15 BOS W4-3 H(6) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.20 May16 SEA W5-4 H(7) 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2.12 May20 SDP W5-3 H(8) 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 2.00 May21 SDP W2-0 H(9) 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.89 19.0 12 4 4 4 13 1.89 [/TABLE] 　 That’s a lot of zeroes. Fien is currently 12th in WAR among AL relievers (0.6) and ranks 17th BABIP (.222), 16th in BB/9 (1.89), and 16th in FIP (.233). Those rankings become even more impressive once you factor in that most of the players ahead of Fien are other team’s closers (Glen Perkins, Greg Holland, Koji Uehara – etc.). In short, outside of the true elite bullpen arms (i.e., closers) there are not many relievers pitching better than Fien in 2014. Of course, whenever a player is having a career year, the talk always turns to regression. How soon will the player "return" to his career averages and how far will the "fall" be? Thankfully Fien’s overall numbers show that if he does experience any regression this season, it might not be that dramatic. Take a look at his numbers since joining the Twins ‘pen: [TABLE] Year [TD=width: 25%]K% [TD=width: 25%]BB% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]BABIP [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]2012 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]22.7% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]7.5% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%].229 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]2013 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]29.9% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]4.9% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%].280 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]2014 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]18.3% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]5.6% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%].222 [/TD] [/TABLE] Essentially, Fien’s advanced numbers all point towards one thing: consistency. Even if Fien’s early season hot streak cools, he’s still a high strikeout, low walk reliever who should continue to excel in late game situations. The question then turns to what the Twins should do with Fien going forward. He’ll be (Super-2) arbitration eligible at the end of this year, and is under team control through 2019. He’s 31 years old, so the Twins should be cautious about locking him in to a long term deal – especially given how volatile relievers can be (See: Valverde, Jose), but he’s clearly providing value for the team in the short term. He could be a potential trade asset for the team if they fall out of contention before the trade deadline* or the team could simply choose to retain Fien and enjoy the quality arm out of the bullpen. *As an aside: Do you know how nice it was to type "IF they fall out of contention by the deadline" and really mean IF – winning baseball is fun. We should do it more often. Casey Fien is quickly becomeing a fan favorite. His enthusiasm and fire on the mound is a blast to watch. This season he’s become the very definition of a "bulldog" out of the ‘pen for the Twins and is one of the few Twins pitchers who is not afraid to attack hitters and pound the strike zone with scorching fastballs. Fien has elevated his game to a new level this season – whether he can maintain this strong start remains to be seen but either way the Twins (and Twins fans) have to be enjoying the fantastic output from Casey Fien so far. Click here to view the article

First observations: The site looks REALLY good on mobile. I usually didn't bother stopping by on my iPad because I never really liked the "feel" of the site before, but this design is much nicer on the portable devices, IMO. I like the style, some things will take a bit to get used to - but overall, a very nice upgrade. Kudos to all involved!

When a team is mired in a rut of three losing seasons, it’s easy to overlook players who are achieving beyond expectations – especially when those players are relief pitchers. After all, who cares if you have a lights out right hander when the team is constantly down 6-0 by the third inning? For that reason, you could be forgiven if you’ve missed what Casey Fien has been doing over the past three years with the Twins. Since the Twins signed Fien as a minor league free agent from the Detroit Tigers organization, he’s developed into one of the better relief pitchers in baseball. So far in 2014, Fien is posting career best numbers.The 6’2" righty currently boasts a 3-1 record with a 1.89 ERA and 13:4 strikeout to walk ratio. His strong start helped him take over the 8th inning role from Jarod Burton in early April and he’s kept the role absolutely locked down through sheer dominant performances all season. Fien has only allowed an earned run in 2 of his 20 outings (oddly enough, both against Cleveland) and has rarely even yielded a hit in each appearance.Take a look at his game logs from 2014: [TABLE] Date Opp Rslt Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR HBP ERA Mar31 CHW L3-5 [/TD] 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 Apr2 CHW L6-7 H(1) 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0.00 Apr4 CLE L2-7 1.0 3 3 3 0 0 0 0 10.12 Apr6 CLE W10-7 H(2) 1.0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 7.36 Apr10 OAK L1-6 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.79 Apr13 KCR W4-3 W(1-0) 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 5.40 Apr17(2) TOR W9-5 W(2-0) 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 4.50 Apr20 KCR W8-3 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4.05 Apr23 TBR W6-4 W(3-0) 2.1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3.00 Apr25 DET L6-10 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.70 May Opp Rslt Dec IP H R ER BB SO HR HBP ERA May1(2) LAD L3-4 1.0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2.45 May3 BAL W6-1 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.25 May4 BAL W5-2 H(3) 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2.08 May7 CLE L3-4 L(3-1) 0.2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 2.63 May9 DET W2-1 H(4) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.45 May11 DET W4-3 H(5) 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.35 May15 BOS W4-3 H(6) 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.20 May16 SEA W5-4 H(7) 0.2 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2.12 May20 SDP W5-3 H(8) 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 2.00 May21 SDP W2-0 H(9) 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.89 19.0 12 4 4 4 13 1.89 [/TABLE] 　 That’s a lot of zeroes. Fien is currently 12th in WAR among AL relievers (0.6) and ranks 17th BABIP (.222), 16th in BB/9 (1.89), and 16th in FIP (.233). Those rankings become even more impressive once you factor in most of the players ahead of Fien are other team’s closers (Glen Perkins, Greg Holland, Koji Uehara – etc.) In short, outside of the true elite bullpen arms (I.E. closers) there are not many relievers pitching better than Fien in 2014. Of course, whenever a player is having a career year, the talk always turns to regression. How soon will the player "return" to his career averages and how far will the "fall" be? Thankfully Fien’s overall numbers show that if he does experience any regression this season, it might not be that dramatic. Take a look at his numbers since joining the Twins ‘pen: [TABLE] Year [TD=width: 25%]K% [TD=width: 25%]BB% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]BABIP [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]2012 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]22.7% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]7.5% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%].229 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]2013 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]29.9% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]4.9% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%].280 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]2014 [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]18.3% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%]5.6% [/TD] [TD=width: 25%].222 [/TD] [/TABLE] Essentially, Fien’s advanced numbers all point towards one thing: consistency. Even if Fien’s early season hot streak cools, he’s still a high strikeout, low walk reliever who should continue to excel in late game situations. The question then turns to what the Twins should do with Fien going forward. He’ll be arbitration eligible in 2015, and is under team control through 2019. He’s 31 years old, so the Twins should be cautious about locking him into a long term deal – especially given how volatile relievers can be (See: Valverde, Jose) but he’s clearly providing value for the team in the short term. He could be a potential trade asset for the team if they fall out of contention before the trade deadline* or the team could simply choose to retain Fien and enjoy the quality arm out of the bullpen. *(As an aside: Do you know how nice it was to type "IF they fall out of contention by the deadline" and really mean IF – winning baseball is fun. We should do it more often.) Casey Fien has always been one of my favorite players for the Twins. His enthusiasm and fire on the mound is a blast to watch. This season he’s become the very definition of a "bulldog" out of the ‘pen for the Twins and is one of the few Twins pitchers who is not afraid to attack hitters and pound the strike zone with scorching fastballs. Fien has elevated his game to a new level this season – whether he can maintain this strong start remains to be seen, but either way the Twins (and Twins fans) have to be enjoying the fantastic output from Casey Fien so far.

I like the idea of an overlay - simply putting the stats on the screen so those that are interested can have that information readily available. Maybe that would cause some fans to say, "What's BABIP?" and then look it up for themselves as well. I'd still like to see broadcasters take advantage of opportunities to advance the discussion when they arise. The FIP example from the post for instance - you don't have to go into detail or start a long discussion on it - but I don't know that pretending like it doesn't exist is the best way to go either.

I agree on the playing time issue. I had hoped Pinto and Suzuki would split time 50/50 - but I wonder if Suzuki's strong start has complicated thigns a bit? I'm sure it's hard for Gardy to sit a veteran catcher like Suzuki, who plays superior defense to Pinto and is hitting just as well (for now). If / when Suzuki cools, I'd expect Pinto's time behind the plate will go up.

During Saturday's Fox Sports North telecast, Dick Bremer and Jack Morris were discussing the Minnesota Twins rotating crew of misfits in the the outfield. More specifically, they were talking about how injuries to Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia have caused the team to play a 1B/DH hybrid in RF (Colabello) and whatever middle infielder they can find in LF (Nuñez, Escobar, Bartlett). Dick then went on to say (I'm paraphrasing a bit here, but the context is the same): Imagine if the Twins pitchers had average defense behind them. There have certainly been more runs allowed and charged to the Twins starters because of these out of place defenders - just imagine what the starters' ERA could be if not for the poor defense behind them. The funny thing is, you don't have to imagine. There is an advanced metric built to tell you that very thing. It's called Fielding Independent Pitching (or FIP) and it does exactly what it sounds like. It gives a rating of what a pitcher's ERA should have been, assuming all balls in play were fielded with an average defense. The very thing that Dick and Jack were wondering about was able to be easily answered but they either a) were not aware this stat existed or were unwilling to discuss this "advanced metric" on air. For what it's worth, Mr. Bremer - here's the answer to your question: [TABLE=class: rgMasterTable, width: 978] [TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]#[/TH] [TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray]Name[/TH] [TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]W[/TH] [TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]L[/TH] [TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]IP[/TH] [TH=class: grid_line_breakh rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]ERA[/TH] [TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]FIP[/TH] [TH=class: rgHeader, bgcolor: gray, align: right]xFIP[/TH] [TR=class: rgRow] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular]Samuel Deduno[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]0[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]2[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]23.2[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]3.42[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]2.91[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3.89[/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: rgAltRow] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]2[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular]Phil Hughes[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]41.1[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]3.92[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3.30[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3.84[/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: rgRow] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular]Kyle Gibson[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]38.0[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]4.74[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3.95[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]5.06[/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: rgAltRow] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular]Ricky Nolasco[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]2[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]44.2[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]5.64[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4.60[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4.18[/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: rgRow] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]5[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular]Kevin Correia[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]1[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]38.1[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]6.34[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]4.41[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]5.03[/TD] [/TR] [TR=class: rgAltRow] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]6[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular]Mike Pelfrey[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]0[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]3[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]23.2[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_break, align: right]7.99[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]7.52[/TD] [TD=class: grid_line_regular, align: right]6.56[/TD] [/TR] [/TABLE] Deduno, Gibson, Nolasco and Correia would all have better numbers, while Mike Pelfrey would be horrible either way and Phil Hughes would still be solid. This whole discussion raises a larger point, where should the worlds of advanced metrics and statistics meet with the traditional broadcasting presentation? While statistics like WAR, BABIP and O-Contact % may be a bit above the casual baseball fan's head right now, there are clearly moments where other advanced metrics - such as FIP (even xFIP) and OBP could provide great context to the game. Each broadcaster seems to fall on a different spectrum when it comes to discussing advanced statistics and their usefulness during a broadcast. Dick Bremer, for instance told Twins Daily last year that: "I think the new math in baseball tends to exclude a lot of people because a lot of people don't understand it...yet". While the broadcasters for the Houston Astros have fully embraced sabermetrics and have worked the discussion into the fiber of the broadcast. The answer, as with most things, lies in the middle. Are most fans ready to be inundated with WAR, BABIP and sabermetric talk during radio and television broadcasts without any explanation? I'd wager not. However, broadcasters can (and should) be willing to advance their viewers understanding when an opportune moment arises. Yesterday, for instance, Dick and Jack could have simply changed their wording slightly and they would have easily been able to describe FIP to the audience and provide a great moment of clarity and understanding for the statistic. When Brian Dozier makes his next unbelievable play - that's a great time to discuss his Ultimate Zone Rating (UZR) or his Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) and how it compares to the rest of baseball. I believe that when these advanced stats are provided within the context of the game, as it's happening, they'll go from "excluding the fans" to enlightening them, it's all just a matter of embracing the opportunities as they present themselves. Where do you fall on this discussion? Are sabermetrics too much for the "casual fan" or does baseball need to begin adapting its broadcasts and presentations around the new world of statistics?