TwinsTakes-RD

Ok. Thanks. I thought they took out or were taking out the fake to 3rd move.

Ok. Thanks. I didn't know. I think the score dictated the move a little but the thing I like most about it, and I did react negatively at first, is they are looking to take advantage of anything or anywhere they see an advantage. The pitcher wasn't paying attention to Torii and both he and Molitor noticed it so they see there might be a chance to make a play, put it on and it didn't work out. I like that Molly is confident in his players. It makes for more fun watching the games from now on.

It took a great play to get him out and he could've (or should've) had a bigger lead. I don't know if they ever showed how far the 3rd baseman was from 3rd though. Molitor did say he thought Torii could've had a bigger lead as well. Speed isn't the only factor in stealing bases. Maybe the biggest factor but not the only factor. The pitcher was looking down when he started his windup.

I'm sorry. I should've specified that I meant the pitcher instead of starting his windup, started their move towards whatever base the pick-off attempt was going to. The main thing I'm asking about is the fact that he never steps until after he throws.

One question to the umpires who have commented. Is it a balk if he does that same play towards 1st, 2nd or 3rd? If yes, then why is home any different?

I'm not Heck-bent on saying it was a balk. That's just my opinion of the rules as I read them and the way I read the rule is you have to step toward the base your throwing to. I interpret that to mean any base including home "plate." He didn't step until after he threw the ball. If he does that to any other base, is it a balk? I think it is. Should the rules be different for home plate? I don't think so but that's another discussion altogether. It does appear they are different though. I'm just happy to have a discussion about baseball. The peculiar thing about all of this is we're talking about the balk (or not balk) and we should be talking about the play more than anything. Are we happy they were aggressive with the bases loaded and Kennys Vargas up? It was exciting, risky and it's nice to know they are exploring any options to score. Now maybe that's because they've struggled so far this season with the pond full of ducks but hey, maybe not!

No he didn't. He never stepped until after he threw the ball.

The term "home base" is used 29 times in the 2014 Official Baseball Rules and in section 2.0 it says: "A BASE is one of four points which must be touched by a runner in order to score a run; more usually applied to the canvas bags and the rubber plate which mark the base points." He altered his throw to get the baserunner out.

© At any time during the pitchers preliminary movements and until his natural pitching motion commits him to the pitch, he may throw to any base provided he steps directly toward such base before making the throw. Rule 8.01© Comment: The pitcher shall step ahead of the throw. A snap throw followed by the step directly toward the base is a balk. and © The pitcher, while touching his plate, fails to step directly toward a base before throwing to that base; Rule 8.05© Comment: Requires the pitcher, while touching his plate, to step directly toward a base before throwing to that base. If a pitcher turns or spins off of his free foot without actually stepping or if he turns his body and throws before stepping, it is a balk. Is this not what Guthrie did? He threw before he stepped! I say it's a balk.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p style="text-align: center;">BREAKING: The <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MNTwins?src=hash">#MNTwins</a> to name Paul Molitor as new manager tomorrow at 10 a.m. CT press conference! <a href="http://t.co/nnv04Ju6Rc">pic.twitter.com/nnv04Ju6Rc</a></p><p style="text-align: center;">— Minnesota Twins (@Twins) <a href="https://twitter.com/Twins/status/529338861831196673">November 3, 2014</a></p></blockquote> Can “The Ignitor” light a fire under this franchise and turn it into a winner? Paul Molitor was named the new Manager of the Minnesota Twins yesterday. He signed a 3-year deal and will be introduced at a press conference today at 10am that will air live on MLB.com and TwinsBaseball.com. It took Terry Ryan and the front office about a month to hire the man thought to be the top candidate for the job even before Ron Gardenhire was fired. The Twins did their due diligence in looking inside and outside the organization for candidates to fill the job making sure there wasn’t a better man for the job. In the end, Paul Molitor was the man they wanted to take control of this team for the next three seasons. The naysayers will ask many questions about this hiring. Is Paul Molitor the best person for the job? Should they have hired someone from outside the organization? Should he have some prior managerial experience? Is being a part of the so-called “Twins Way” a bad thing? Can he change Twins baseball back to a winning culture? Is Paul Molitor the best/right person for the job? Paul Molitor is a Hall of Famer who played for 21 seasons and has been around baseball for more than 40 years so I can’t imagine anything will come up that he won’t have already seen or dealt with. He’s already been an instructor with a lot of the players in the Twins system and on the current roster yet he will still be a new voice in the locker room. As a HOFer, he will have instant respect from every player that is currently in and/or comes into the Twins system and to the major league roster. Should the Twins have hired someone from outside the organization, with prior managerial experience who isn’t part of “the Twins Way?” Some think it’s wrong for the Twins to keep hiring from inside the organization. They interviewed many candidates from outside the organization and in the end, felt like Paul Molitor was the right person for the job. It’s about finding the right person not finding the right person from outside the organization. On prior managerial experience, I give you this from an article posted yesterday on TwinsBaseball.com: Matheny, Mattingly and Farrell have taken their teams to the postseason and Farrell won the 2013 World Series with the Red Sox. Weiss and Ventura haven’t done as well as they didn’t come into as good of a situation as the other three but it does show that prior managerial experience isn’t a prerequisite to being a major league manager. “The Twins Way” takes on different meanings to different people. To me, the Twins Way means drafting well and developing those draft picks into major league players while now, because of Target Field, being able to supplement the roster with free agents when needed. I believe they got away from that for awhile and that’s a big part of the reason the Twins have struggled the last 4 seasons. They had no talent to bring up in those seasons and because they were losing, free agents decided to go somewhere else. Can Paul Molitor change Twins baseball back to a winning culture? Paul Molitor is a natural leader who may be a perfect fit for the Twins. He played every position as a major league player other than catcher and pitcher and his awareness and instincts are a big part of what made him a great player who got better as he got older. He will instill that awareness into his players and turn this team into a contender. Even though the Twins just had their 4th consecutive season of 92 or more losses, there are a lot of positives in Dozier, Santana, Hughes, Gibson, prospects coming, etc…. They aren’t that far away from being a .500 ball club that could be on the cusp of contending for the division, playing in the postseason and, ultimately, winning a World Championship. THANKS for reading my Takes on the Twins! Please leave a comment on your Takes because that’s what this site is all about: My Takes, Your Takes, TwinsTakes.com! You can find us on facebook, twitter and google+ so follow us and let us know what you think!

I forgot to post this back when I wrote it a couple weeks ago so better late than never, maybe? It's on here if anyone wants to read it and comment about it.

Hmmm...favorite Twin? It depends on what you mean by favorite. On the baseball side for the player I enjoy watching, it's Joe Mauer. On the all-around side for personality and entertainment it's Glen Perkins! I think that means I have an opener and a closer! BOOM! Favorite Pizza - Sausage and Black Olives! GO TWINS! 2nd place in the Central Division!

CONGRATS on 1000 WINS, Gardy! I hope you get ejection number 68 tomorrow! I'm sure the t-shirts are ready for it! Haha!

Why baseball? It's an easy game to watch and one of the greatest things about baseball is it will lull you to sleep in a way and then, at any given moment, something exciting will happen, be it a home run, a great defensive play, a big hit, a comeback, a strikeout, a bad call that the manager doesn't agree with, etc... I think it's best summarized as: In any inning of any game, any player can make the big play, offensively or defensively, and be the hero of the game. I remember plays like when pitcher Bobby Korecky had to hit because the Twins lost the DH spot in the lineup and he got a hit in his only major league at-bat. It's funny you have Tommy Watkins on there because I remember him as having a great little run with the Twins too. Why the Twins? They are my team and always have been. Some injuries and some questionable moves have them in this bad run of baseball for the past 4 or so seasons and I think it's because they started thinking the wrong way about developing players from within. Maybe it was the rise in payroll or the GM at the time but it appears they've gone back to "The Twins Way" and it's only a matter of time to see this team consistently battle for the division and playoffs again. I'm like you, Seth. I'm a positive fan. I think the Twins can win anytime and anywhere. Is this the season they get out of the basement of the Central Division?

Nothing like blogging once a year! Geez! Get with it!

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7083/7391488130_34fbc8d668.jpg http://www.twinstakes.com/wp-content/plugins/compfight/images/cc.png Yzukerman via Compfight Bottom of the 33rd is a book about Baseball's Longest Game. The full title of the book is Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption and Baseball's Longest Game by author Dan Barry. It is obviously a book about baseball but it's so much more than that. Bottom of the 33rd is a book about life, life in baseball, life around baseball and how life is for everyone involved in the game of baseball from the owners, general managers and players of the teams to the employees who make the games happen all the way down to the fans that come to the games and cheer their teams on. All of these people have lives outside the game and reasons for being around the game. I was told about the book by a fellow Twins fan at a game so I read the book not knowing the teams involved or even the year the game was held. All of that would be revealed as I read the book and that may be the best way to read it anyways. You find out who the teams are, who the players are and what got them to this point in their careers and what will become of them in the rest of their careers as you read the book. Do they become Hall of Famers or do they only get a cup-of-coffee in the major leagues? Do they play for your favorite team? What do they do after their careers are finished? You may see a name that reminds you of another player and wonder if they are related or if they were teammates with one of your favorite players. You will be reminded of why you love the game of baseball. We all love reminiscing about the past especially when it comes to sports. We love to remember stories of when we were kids and baseball was fun no matter what the outcome of the game. We were able to go and experience a professional game in person and I always thought I might see something special whenever I went to a game. It could be a no-hitter, someone could hit for the cycle or hit three home runs or make the greatest defensive play you've ever seen OR it could be the longest game in professional baseball and you were there and you stayed for the whole game. We hear "It's just a game!" all the time when it comes to sports. Author Dan Barry does an excellent job showing the reader that baseball is more than a game. Baseball is life to these players, coaches and umpires. For the majority of the fans, it's just a game and doesn't affect their lives too much. The players, coaches and umpires sacrifice so much time it can affect every relationship in their life. It's their livelihood so it means everything to them. Winning and losing or success and failure can literally change those lives! I highly recommend Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption and Baseball's Longest Game.* It's like being there and might be even better because of the history revealed about the lives surrounding that game. *This is an affiliate link. That means I make money off of any sale that comes from that link. That's not why I'm reviewing this book though. I put this review on my site because I want everyone who comes to my blog to get something good out of it and if you buy this book, I think you will thank me for turning you on to it. That's my take, what's yours? Robb

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7083/7391488130_34fbc8d668.jpg http://www.twinstakes.com/wp-content/plugins/compfight/images/cc.png Yzukerman via Compfight Bottom of the 33rd is a book about Baseball's Longest Game. The full title of the book is Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption and Baseball's Longest Game by author Dan Barry. It is obviously a book about baseball but it's so much more than that. Bottom of the 33rd is a book about life, life in baseball, life around baseball and how life is for everyone involved in the game of baseball from the owners, general managers and players of the teams to the employees who make the games happen all the way down to the fans that come to the games and cheer their teams on. All of these people have lives outside the game and reasons for being around the game. I was told about the book by a fellow Twins fan at a game so I read the book not knowing the teams involved or even the year the game was held. All of that would be revealed as I read the book and that may be the best way to read it anyways. You find out who the teams are, who the players are and what got them to this point in their careers and what will become of them in the rest of their careers as you read the book. Do they become Hall of Famers or do they only get a cup-of-coffee in the major leagues? Do they play for your favorite team? What do they do after their careers are finished? You may see a name that reminds you of another player and wonder if they are related or if they were teammates with one of your favorite players. You will be reminded of why you love the game of baseball. We all love reminiscing about the past especially when it comes to sports. We love to remember stories of when we were kids and baseball was fun no matter what the outcome of the game. We were able to go and experience a professional game in person and I always thought I might see something special whenever I went to a game. It could be a no-hitter, someone could hit for the cycle or hit three home runs or make the greatest defensive play you've ever seen OR it could be the longest game in professional baseball and you were there and you stayed for the whole game. We hear "It's just a game!" all the time when it comes to sports. Author Dan Barry does an excellent job showing the reader that baseball is more than a game. Baseball is life to these players, coaches and umpires. For the majority of the fans, it's just a game and doesn't affect their lives too much. The players, coaches and umpires sacrifice so much time it can affect every relationship in their life. It's their livelihood so it means everything to them. Winning and losing or success and failure can literally change those lives! I highly recommend Bottom of the 33rd: Hope, Redemption and Baseball's Longest Game.* It's like being there and might be even better because of the history revealed about the lives surrounding that game. *This is an affiliate link. That means I make money off of any sale that comes from that link. That's not why I'm reviewing this book though. I put this review on my site because I want everyone who comes to my blog to get something good out of it and if you buy this book, I think you will thank me for turning you on to it. That's my take, what's yours? Robb

Great article, Jeremy! I love the incite into the scouting by professional sports teams. Does anyone else think it's crazy that the scouts only "turn in 900" guys when 1500 guys are drafted? That's 40% of the draft! Did they see those guys and just didn't like them so they don't waste time ranking them for their room? Or are there players they never see?

Obviously we'd like to see more power from him but the OBP is nice for where his average is and he's been playing good defense at 2nd with only 4 errors (8 errors at SS so far) and has some good base-running ability. Do you normally see players power numbers decrease as they enter pro ball from college? Going from metal bats to wood bats being the main reason? and/or are the minor league ballparks bigger than most college parks too?

What were his comps in the scouting reports coming out of the draft?

The Twins think a lot of Levi to start his career at High-A ball. Did they error in putting him at that level or was it something they saw in him that they thought he'd figure it out eventually? Is this decent run in June the beginning of him figuring out High-A pitching and how to play the professional game? Also, what do you look for as a best and worst case scenario (barring injuries) for Levi's first professional season? Best case - finishing the season in Ft. Myers while showing some more power with extra base hits and being on the verge of promotion to New Britain. Worst case - struggling through the rest of the High-A season and having to repeat High-A next season and/or being demoted to Beloit at some point. Should we be ok with either of those and maybe even a case between those where he starts to show some promise and has to repeat High-A next season and doesn't get to AA New Britain until 2014?

I like this quote from MoneyBall:

It's hard to believe the rankings we get from any site, but ESPN & Baseball America have the most authority so that's what we go with. At least with ESPN, they have a couple guys who've worked for Major League clubs in the past in Keith Law & Kiley McDaniel so they are probably as close as it gets to seeing what a scout thinks about players. I like Kevin Goldstein but I don't know what he's done to give him any authority to what he does. He talks about baseball prospects & I like hearing about baseball prospects. "Who the hell is Mel Kiper?" The Baseball draft is so different from any other draft. 1238 players were drafted in this year's draft because it went down to 40 rounds from the usual 50 rounds so it used to be over 1500 kids drafted. There's 2 rounds in the NBA draft, and 7 rounds in both the NFL and NHL drafts so that doesn't come anywhere close to what happens in the MLB draft. If each team has 20 scouts, each scout would look at 60-75 players or maybe they would be responsible for those 60-75 players but scout a lot more than that. I'm not saying this is what they do, I'm just showing the math of it. Feel free to correct anything or tell me how it really works. I would imagine they've all built up some networks and hear about certain players and then go out and scout them but how many times does a scout see a player before the draft prep is finalized? Also, do Twins scouts see the players in Florida as much as they see the players in Minnesota or as much as the Marlins scouts see the players in Florida? I assume every team has regional scouts in the same areas. Then how often do the BA/ESPN Scouts see those players? Is that why a player like Mitch Brown "drops" on draft day from his ranking? So they look at over 1500 players throughout the year and isn't it considered a good draft if 2 of a team's picks makes it to the majors from a draft? That's like a 4% rate! That shows just how hard it is to find baseball players through the draft, not great players....just players! The percentage for finding a great player might be under 1%. Will there be 12 great players out of this draft? or 15 out of last year's draft? It'd be interesting to see where the players in BA's top 500 are in 5 or so years and then compare that to the actual draft of the top 500 players drafted.

Maybe I should've said "Do we think the Twins can change a pitcher?" I think the Twins just want them to throw strikes! The whole "pitch to contact" concept has been blown out of proportion. THROW STRIKES! Get ahead in the count! If you do, then go for the strikeout but don't be afraid of throwing in the zone! How can any pitcher not already know that?