Steven Buhr

I confess. It's been a while since I posted anything on this site. Like... a couple of years maybe? There are reasons for that, but you honestly don't care. Anyway, I had some time today while I was waiting for the Vikings game to start. For the last couple of years, I would typically use that free time to work on one of the books I've been writing. But I'm taking a little rest from all that for a few days. Instead, I had a thought... Let’s FIX the College Football Playoff! I mean, the first weekend of the CFP is in the books, and almost nobody is happy, right? Okay, as a Hawkeye fan, I'm not all that interested in the whole topic, but it's all over my social media timelines, so I can't avoid the complaints. “It’s not fair!” Alright, SOME of that whining is coming from Alabama and Mississippi because they felt that even after losing in embarrassing fashion to Vanderbilt and Kentucky, their SEC membership status should have gotten them into the playoffs. Well, boo-hoo, go away. But, sure, the bracket was flawed. The primary reason is that the negotiations that convinced all the conferences to sign off on this thing in the first place resulted in a provision that the four byes should automatically be reserved for conference champions (but I bet nobody in that room would have predicted Boise State and Arizona State would be two of the first set of teams to get byes out of this deal). So, yes, as soon as those two teams got the 3rd and 4th seeds, there were going to be problems. But we can fix some of them, at least. What if… instead of simply seeding the playoff, and sending the teams on their way to play their assigned games, we let each team, in order of their seed, decide whether they want to trade spots with another lower-seeded team? Oregon thinks Penn State got a better deal because they got a walk-over warm-up home game and a quarterfinal matchup with Boise State? Fine, Ducks, Tell the Nittany Lions (or any other team on the board) that you want to swap places with them. Then, we’ll move on to Georgia and ask them… and so on, until 12th seeded Clemson finds out what slot is left for them at the end. Sound ridiculously impossible? It’s not. Well, it may be ridiculous, and it may be impossible, but it’s honestly not both. Let’s imagine how it might have played out this year. Set the stage: The CFP Committee starts calling the lucky 12 schools bright and early on Sunday, December 8 (or maybe even late Saturday night). They tell each program what their seed is and tell them to get their head coach and maybe two other people on a plane for New York to participate in the “CFP Bracket Extravaganza,” the live television rights to which the CFP has sold for a zillion dollars to Disney/ABC/ESPN. The format is simple… and dramatic. At the appointed prime-time hour, Oregon will go “on the clock.” They will have FIVE MINUTES to announce whether they wish to keep the spot in the bracket that they’ve earned by being the 1-seed (and host of the Rose Bowl in the quarterfinals) or TRADE that spot for any other spot in the bracket. Once they make their decision (or the giant clock above the stage in Madison Square Garden hits 0:00), Emcee Scott Van Pelt announces, “The Georgia Bulldogs are on the clock!” and cameras focus in on Kirby Smart, his Athletics Director, and the M.I.T. kid they’ve hired to quickly analyze their chances of beating every other team in the CFP field. You have to admit, this would be great theater! Not ready to admit that? Okay. Let’s play it out. Here’s the “big board” we start out with: Everyone just assumes Oregon’s Dan Lanning and his cohorts will keep the Ducks’ spot and then take in a Broadway Musical, but just MAYBE they’ve looked at the board and feel envious of Penn State’s route through the bracket. “We sit around for three and a half weeks getting rusty and then get Ohio State or Tennessee after they’ve worked their kinks out against one another the week before? Meanwhile Franklin’s guys at PSU get a home walk-over game and then Boise Freaking State in the quarters? That’s not right!” Lanning complains to his AD, although there would be conflicting reports concerning whether he actually said “Freaking.” The intern they brought along from Microsoft can be seen on camera nodding his head at Lanning. He also doesn’t have to work too hard to convince his AD. After all, swapping with the Nittany Lions means the Ducks will get an extra home game out of this deal! And we all know that there’s NOTHING Athletics Directors of big-time college football programs covet more than an extra home football game. So, the fifteen talking heads that ESPN has on hand get their first shock. “Oregon swaps their seed with Penn State!” Van Pelt announces and then has a laughing fit before composing himself to add, “The Georgia Bulldogs are on the clock!” Cameras switch to the Georgia table where Smart and buddies are also laughing. Then, he doesn’t even fill out a card or press a button or whatever method the Disney people have come up with to communicate the teams’ decisions. He just stands, waves his hand at the stage and shouts, “No, we’re good! Thanks!” Instead of walking to the microphone, Van Pelt just takes one step onto the stage and shouts, “Boise! You’re up!” Now, NOBODY is going to expect Boise State or Arizona State to give up the byes that, let’s be honest, they did not earn on the football field. But Spencer Danielson has done some homework. Well, that or he just looked up at the huge display board and realized that instead of facing the winner of Penn State and SMU, he’s looking at the prospect of a quarterfinal game against Oregon! “Boise State swaps their seed with Arizona State,” Van Pelt announces. “What say you now, Sun Devils?” The cameras immediately pan to the ASU table where one member of their contingent is shown saying one word. It clearly started with an F, and it probably wasn’t “Frig.” They chat about it, but the reality is, they can’t make a move. In all likelihood, someone at that table said (or at least silently thought), “Hell, we’re not going to beat anyone we play, anyway. Let’s just stay where we’re at. At least now we’re going to play in the Fiesta Bowl. So, we’ll get Oregon in our back yard. Who knows? Maybe we’ll get lucky.” “Arizona State keeps their current spot. The Texas Longhorns are on the clock!” The cameras show Steve Sarkisian in a heated debate with AD Chris Del Conte. Kirk Herbstreit states the obvious to the TV audience (hardly a rarity, I know) “The Longhorns should move up and grab that bye away from Penn State.” “They should, yes, but there seems to be some disagreement at their table,” Rece Davis points out. You don’t think Del Conte is refusing to give up that first-round game in Austin, do you?” The rest of the panel laughs. The clock shows less than ten seconds left when Sarkisian leaps to his feet and yells, “We’ll take that bye from Penn State!” Del Conte stands up and stalks out of the room. “The Texas Longhorns will swap with Penn State. Penn State is on the clock,” Van Pelt announces. Then he adds, “Stay tuned to learn whether Coach Sarkisian will be coaching that game for the Longhorns.” Once again, the talking heads are unanimous concerning Penn State keeping their new spot and hosting Clemson. “Ironically, that would give them a potential quarterfinal game with Boise State… just like they would have had if everyone had kept their assigned seeds,” Nick Saban points out. Five seconds later, Van Pelt announces, “Penn State has swapped their seed with Notre Dame.” “What!?” several voices cry out into hot mics. “They must have really wanted to get a shot at Indiana,” Desmond Howard laughingly comments. In an interview with Holly Rowe after the announcement, PSU coach James Franklin did, indeed, say, “We simply felt more comfortable with a first-round matchup against the Hoosiers than with Dabo Swinney’s group at Clemson.” Asked by Rowe whether the difference was great enough that they were willing to accept a potential quarterfinal game against Georgia rather than Boise State, Franklin replied, “Honestly, you know, five minutes isn’t a lot of time, and things were happening so fast. We started as the six seed, then we were number one, then we dropped to five. It was hard to keep up. And then we were on the clock! So we didn’t have an opportunity to discuss that aspect of the decision. But at Penn State, we’ve always preached focusing on one game at a time, without regard to whoever might be next on our schedule.” “Well… clock management has never been Franklin’s strong suit,” Saban comments after Rowe’s interview concludes. As the telecast cuts to commercial, the entire table of ESPN analysts are laughing. On returning from commercial, Rece Davis catches the TV audience up. “While we were gone, Notre Dame decided they are not afraid of the 12th seed in the playoff and will happily host the Clemson Tigers that Penn State wanted no part of. Immediately after that announcement, Ohio State indicated they would stand pat with their number eight seed. Ninth seeded Tennessee is now on the clock, and are considering whether they are fine with their contest with the Buckeyes or would prefer to try their luck elsewhere.” “Tennessee has swapped its seed with Indiana. Indiana is now on the clock.” Van Pelt announces. Nobody on the telecast blamed the Vols for choosing a date at Penn State over traveling to OSU. The consensus being that, seedings aside, almost the entire panel would have preferred playing Penn State rather than the Buckeyes. The Hoosiers immediately decided they wanted no part of a rematch with Ohio State, opting instead to swap with 12th seeded Clemson. SMU, faced with keeping their new matchup with Oregon or swapping with the only team seeded lower than they were, Clemson, decided to take their chances against the Buckeyes. That left Clemson pitted against Oregon. Confused? Don’t be. Here’s the resulting CFP bracket (pardon the low-tech effort): Some interesting results to note: Only Georgia and Ohio State retain their original seeds. Everyone else either elected to swap or were given no choice but to do so. Indiana still goes to Notre Dame for a first round game and embarrasses itself. Lane Kiffin still shares his ignorant tweets, rather than spending his time game planning for that big rematch at Kentucky he’s got coming up on September 6. SMU most likely gets blown out even worse by the Buckeyes than they did by PSU. Clemson gets what a 12th seed deserves—a total thrashing by the number 1 seed. We may get at least one competitive game out of the first round this time. Tennessee possibly may give Penn State a better game than they did OSU. But don’t count on it. This time, it’s the Fighting Irish who get some help in the quarterfinals, facing Boise State in Atlanta (instead of Georgia in New Orleans). Likewise, Oregon avoids a clash with Ohio State in the Rose Bowl, getting Arizona State, instead. It’s essentially a home game for the Sun Devils, though, so there’s a reason to watch the first half anyway. Penn State’s clock-management issues once again bite them in the butt. Instead of a quarterfinal game against Boise State (which they would have had in the existing format OR if they hadn’t chosen to swap spots with Notre Dame to avoid that pesky 12-seed Clemson squad), they go to New Orleans to get their butts kicked by a rested team of Georgia Bulldogs. Ohio State has an even easier time with SMU than they did against Tennessee. Their resulting quarterfinal matchup against Texas is no cupcake, but at least they avoid Oregon (unless/until both teams reach the championship game). So, not a bad result, right? And here’s the best part… nobody gets to complain!* No “It’s not fair that they got a warm-up game and we hadn’t played for three weeks.” No “That worse-seeded team got an easier path to the finals.” You literally had the chance to swap with EVERY team assigned a worse seed than you were! Too confusing? No. That's part of its beauty! It’s confusing enough that anyone who tries to complain will assume they’re missing something obvious and won’t want to sound stupid by bringing their gripe up. *Well, yeah, Kiffin and the other SEC coaches that didn’t get in will still complain. They’ve never cared about how stupid they sound by complaining. But nobody outside the south listens to those guys anyway. They still think the SEC should get 8 of the 12 CFP spots… or more. Oh! Vikings game is starting! See ya!

I don't want to assign a comparable. But he's just one of those guys you start to take for granted. Somewhere around the 3rd inning, there will be an eye-catching play made at SS that will make you say "Wow!" Then, you're like, "Oh... yeah... that's Miller out there tonight."

I'm not going to make excuses for him, but I will say this much... he's had PAs where umpires clearly weren't adjusting their strikezones to account for his height. He clearly has higher knees than pretty much anyone, but he gets "shin high" pitches called strikes with considerable regularity.

Couple of observations... I agree the Nowlin performance at AA is surprisingly positive. When he was promoted, I was skeptical... he just hadn't impressed me in the several starts I'd seen in CR. But whatever the Twins minor league staff was thinking, they obviously got it right. Hope he keeps it up! Miller's situation makes me smile. He's SO good in the field and everyone you talk to at the ballpark would say, "If he could just hit a bit better." Well... he has. And more than a bit. It's been so fun to watch him prove himself at the plate this month. And McCusker. Wow. 6 HR in 13 games in CR. Extrapolated over a full season, that would be... um... a lot of dingers. Just a real feel-good story there. Hope he keeps it up as he moves up the ladder.

The challenge system makes no sense at all. When the tech reaches the point where it is accurate and consistent, use it for every pitch. To KNOW whether a pitch is a strike or not and ONLY correct mistakes if it's challenged is dumb. Which means that's what baseball will opt to implement. MLBPA has a segment of their membership (catchers who make a good living framing pitches) who will not want to see their value diminished. Umpires' union will balk because it takes some authority out of umpires' hands. At the very least, both unions will want concessions in return for accepting the change... and MLB won't be so enthused about it that they're willing to give in on anything important in those negotiations.

Great article, Lucas! You've provided some helpful insight into the situation. I also grant that the Mets and Giants (but especially the Mets) come out of this looking bad. That said, I'm just a little more cautious about piling on. Those front offices are now face a significant disadvantage, as compared with Correa. While Correa obviously waived his HIPAA privacy rights to some extent, that doesn't mean the Mets and Giants are now free to discuss his medical information with media/fans (or anyone else). Such a waiver is not a blanket waiver allowing anyone and everyone with knowledge of his medical information to disclose/discuss it publicly. Correa, conversely, is free to share whatever information he cares to (and can enable his agent to do so, as well). But even after he and Boras speak publicly about it, that doesn't throw the door open for others to do so. The result is that, even if the Mets wanted to step up and say, "Wait a minute... it wasn't JUST the Giants' doctor we relied on. We had these opinions from four other doctors, and this is what we found out AFTER we agreed on the contract numbers that made us feel we couldn't stick to that deal," they aren't allowed to do so! The result is that they are left largely unable to defend themselves by explaining their thought processes. It doesn't mean the Mets (and, especially, their owner, who unwisely spoke publicly about the signing before anyone had signed anything) weren't stupid. It just means they aren't as free to detail WHY they were stupid to the degree they might like to.

What you're suggesting perhaps SHOULD be the case, but I'm skeptical. I think it would take something bordering on catastrophic like a 90+ loss season to cause another complete management shakeup. If it's another .500 season, with enough injuries to point to as excuses, I don't see ownership making wholesale changes. Maybe the FO would axe Rocco to save their own jobs, I suppose. I also don't think they'll be "using that money" that would come back on the books with a Correa opt-out. In fact, Assuming Correa is gone, what do you expect the Twins' opening day payroll to look like in 2023? It was $134M this season... a club record. Do we really think it will be at that level (or even higher) next season? I don't. I'd set the over-under at about $125M. That's the level at which I probably wouldn't want to put money on either side. And, at that level, I don't see it as likely they put together a roster that would be a serious contender to do more than what they've accomplished this year... merely being at least arguably competitive in the AL Central.

I have no idea what credence people give to baseballtradevalues.com values (It's probably been beaten to death here, but I admit I don't peruse the comment sections like I used to, so forgive me if such is the case), but I've found it to be surprisingly accurate when I look at trades that occur. For example, according to the tool, The Yankees received $8.1M in Benintendi's median value, for which they gave up 3 minor leaguers with a total value of $7.4M. So... not too far off. So, just for comparison, here are that tool's top 5 Twins based on trade value: 1. Polanco 39.4 2-3 (Tie) Ryan, Arraez 32 4. Larnach 28.4 5. Lewis 26.1 And, just for kicks, these 3 players also had median values of $20M+: Kirilloff (24.2), Kepler (22), Miranda (20.3). Interesting others of lower value: Buxton (13.2), Correa (15.4), Duran (15.1), Jeffers (17.8), Martin (11), Ober (15.2), E. Rodriguez (14.2), Steer (14), Thielbar (10.1), Winder 13.2. Are there some headscratchers there? Yeah, seems like it. For example, some guys on IL are probably not valued terribly high until their recovery from whatever ails them is assured. But it's a fun tool to look at whenever trades are proposed.

Interesting enough to look into deeper. I think you're probably going to need to give up quite a bit more to get Syndergaard. Think something like Julien or Celestino, in addition to what you proposed. Bard for Povich sounds about right. Could see something like that happening (though Povich has not looked as great lately as he had been). I think you're being way too generous for Moore. Julien, alone, is probably too much for Moore, imo. I applaud trying to get anything out of Sano, but that's going to be tough to do. Sano's value is so far below "zero" that they're stuck with him until they're ready to simply DFA him. I suspect they'll see if he can do something... anything... to resurrect his value. And, yeah, one of those catchers for a PTBNL makes a lot of sense. I think the Twins should be aiming higher than you're inclined to believe, but if you're looking at Syndergaard/Hill types, I'd be more intrigued by a lefty like Blake Snell. Bad start, but trending a little better the past month.

I agree. Not saying I agree with that approach, just that it has that feel to me. I've always believed games you add in the W column in April and May count just as much as those you rack up the rest of the season. Now is when you step on the gas. Bury the competition, and make THEIR front offices question whether there's any point to "buying" at at the deadline. Make them decide to be sellers as soon as possible.

I'm not buying this. If they had NO plans to contend, it made no sense at all to give Correa what they had to know... maybe even expect... to be a 1-year deal. They were planning on contending with the White Sox... maybe Cleveland. It seems more likely, to me, that they're looking around and thinking, "We've had half the team on the IL and nobody has closed the gap on us. The rest of this division REALLY sucks! We can coast a little bit, make some deals at the deadline and make a run at things this year."

See, this is where you lose me... If struggling "happens to everyone," so it's inevitable with Lewis, then sending him down now just prolongs that event, doesn't it? I don't necessarily believe he MUST have some kind of inevitable meltdown beyond just regular slumps, but if the premise is correct, why wouldn't you want to get that out of the way sooner, than later? I simply don't buy that spending some time learning positions that are LESS demanding would threaten his sensitive psyche.

This is an example of the FO using the convenient explanation and hoping nobody notices it's inconsistent with what they've done over and over again with other players. Lewis did not "need" to go down, and sending him down now could cost wins. It certainly doesn't INCREASE their chances of winning games he misses while he's in St Paul. I won't say "The FO doesn't want to win this year." However, I will say the FO doesn't appear to be all that concerned about winning every game possible. Maybe that's fine. Maybe they feel they're going to win this weak division with several games to spare, or at least they feel there's a reasonable enough chance of that being the case that they're willing to roll the dice on it. As for the service time issue that's been brought up, I simply don't know where all that landed with the new deal MLB made with the Union, so I have no idea if that's even a consideration at this point. I would hope not.

I was bumfuzzled this morning when I read Lewis was sent down instead of Miranda. The Twins have struggled to score runs, so they elect to send down a guy who IS producing offensively, and keep a guy who clearly could benefit from some AAA at-bats? As usual, of course, I come to TD and discover a couple of things. 1 - I hadn't paid close enough attention to realize Garlick also has an option left. Of course, this just made me more confused, They could have demoted a LHP-hitting-only platoon option and kept both Lewis AND Miranda (since, sure, he has some defensive benefit at the moment)? 2- But then, reading through the possible rationales for this move, I realized there was one more thing I had NEVER known... Apparently, games you fail to win at the end of May don't matter as much as those you could lose at other points in the season, so banishing one of your hottest bats to St. Paul for at least a couple of weeks this time of year isn't really a big deal. So glad to know that. Can't believe I never heard about that before, they say you learn something new every day.

Looks like we should get our first look at Stankiewicz in CR sometime the middle of the upcoming homestand. I'm looking forward to it. Gotta love to see a guy who comes in with little fanfare and just does the job every time he gets handed the ball.

I haven't missed many home games, so I've obviously seen quite a bit of CES. The hot first week or so wasn't surprising. Those things happen with some amount of regularity and I'm usually skeptical (shocking to those of you who know me, I'm sure). I've kept waiting to see him crash to earth. There was one game where he flailed a couple of times, striking out, and I thought "Here it comes... reality." The next game he was back to multiple hits, and he's continued to make steady contact ever since. Sure, he looks bad at times. Guess what? Every hitter at this level (or any level, I suppose) looks bad at times. Yes, he's had a couple of bloop hits... with some of the windy days we've had, everyone has seen some weird things happen. Those are the exception, not the rule. I don't know what his exit velo has been, but I'd be willing to bet it's up there. There are no guarantees with a Class A player, but I'll be surprised if CES' start is a total fluke. He's focused. He has a nice approach to hitting, not a lot of extra noise in his swing. And he hits the ball hard. That's a recipe for good things happening.

Just a postscript... Casey Legumina has been promoted to Wichita (AA) today (May 2).

Thank you!

Charles Mack is an infielder-turned-catcher. Casey Legumina is a reliever-turned-starting pitcher. Both are lesser-known prospects with big-league potential. They are also roommates this season in Cedar Rapids. One enjoys cooking. The other got food poisoning. Coincidence?? @Steven BUHR went on location to dig into their stories. You will enjoy this one. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Sure, Cedar Rapids Kernels catcher Charles Mack jumped out to a torrid start, with eight hits in 14 at-bats during the first week of the Kernels’ 2022 season, while pitcher Casey Legumina was charged with four earned runs in 3 2/3 innings of work in his sole start during that first week. And, yes, it’s true that Legumina has been doing some cooking at the home of the host family that he and Mack share in Cedar Rapids this summer. But it would be inconceivable that the food poisoning that had Mack bedridden for a couple of days and out of the Kernels lineup for five days had anything to do with Legumina being jealous of Mack’s hot start… wouldn’t it? Let’s ask them. “I got my food poisoning from him!” Mack accused when the question was raised during a joint interview near the end of the team’s most recent homestand. “No way! I wasn’t even cooking for you!” was Legumina’s response. Fortunately, it’s something Mack can laugh about now. He wasn’t laughing much when the bout of food poisoning hit during the team’s trip to play the Quad Cities River Bandits in Davenport earlier in the season. “It was not fun,” Mack said. “I got sick that Saturday.” Charles then admitted that it hadn’t been Casey’s cooking that did him in, but rather some chicken from a fast-food restaurant. In fact, the same issue sidelined at least a couple of additional Kernels. “I learned my lesson. I was in bed for a couple of days, hardly moving,” he recounted. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Kernels’ infielder-turned-catcher. His eight hits came in just four games during the opening week of the season and included three doubles and one home run. Naturally, any time someone gets so sick that suddenly, the first thing you wonder about is whether it was caused by COVID. “To be honest with you, I kind of almost wish it was COVID, just because then I would have known what it was,” Mack said. “I went to the E.R. to try to get some blood tests done. If I would have just had COVID, I wouldn’t have had to do any of that stuff.” Nevertheless, Mack is healthy again and back in the catching rotation with fellow Kernels backstops Jair Camargo and Jeferson Morales. Despite notching one hit in seven at-bats in the two games since recovering from his illness, Mack still sported a .409 batting average and a 1.140 OPS through Wednesday’s game at Beloit. The illness was certainly ill-timed, but Mack remains philosophical about it. “That happens. That’s life,” he said. “If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. I was meant to get sick, so we’ll see what happens from there. But it feels good and I’m ready to go.” As for that rough (at least statistically) first start for Legumina, it wasn’t nearly as bad as the numbers might indicate. He breezed through the first three-plus innings in Davenport before losing a bit of command, giving up a couple of singles and two walks in the fourth. He left the game with one run surrendered and the bases full of River Bandits. The first batter after Legumina left the mound hit a bases-clearing triple. That’s just bad luck and bad timing! In his next start, Legumina surrendered two runs in 4 2/3 innings. And in his third and most recent start, he worked five shutout innings against the Beloit Sky Carp, striking out eight batters, while walking just one and giving up one hit. That’s the kind of progress the Twins’ eighth-round pick in the 2019 draft out of Gonzaga University is looking for this season. “I feel really good. Obviously, I’ve had a lot of really good innings,” he said during the interview this week. “There were one or two innings that got away from me, but that’s part of the game. And those are things that I’m working out. Those are things I can control; things I’m working on in my bullpens now, to correct, so when I get in a game, it’s a little bit cleaner. “This year, I’m just trying to throw as many strikes as possible. For me, the big thing is my curveball, my changeup, and just really trying to refine those, get it in the zone more. (I want to) be able to throw them in counts that people aren’t expecting. I’m just trying to be more comfortable, in general, just have a better rhythm with those pitches on the mound. As long as I can do that, I feel like everything will be alright.” Mack, on the other hand, is beginning just his second year as a catcher after being selected as an infielder out of East Williamsville (NY) High School in the sixth round of the 2018 draft. Coming off a 2021 season in Fort Myers where he hit .229, Mack was happy with how he was swinging the bat to begin this season, though much of his focus has had to be on continuing his development as a catcher. “For me, I’m a new catcher, so that’s always a priority,” he said. “With that being said, in the past, I’ve been an infielder my whole life, so I’ve always expected myself to hit. Last year, I felt, was kind of a slow year. I just wasn’t as comfortable as I wanted to be. This past couple of weeks, I’ve just tried to be as comfortable as possible and as confident as possible in the box.” A big part of Mack’s work behind the plate is becoming as familiar as possible with a staff full of pitchers. “I catch all these guys a lot, so I have a good idea what they’re working on in bullpens,” he explained. "Like Casey said, the biggest thing is getting these guys in the zone. Our motto is to throw nasty stuff in the zone. If we can do that, if we can build off that, after we get ahead in the count, then we can start expanding the zone. If you’re down in the count, there’s not much you can do other than throw a fastball in the zone or flip your best off-speed pitch in the zone. Hitters pick up on that. But if you get ahead, you can do what you want.” Both Legumina and Mack, of course, had their professional plans waylaid when the COVID pandemic struck during the 2020 spring training, costing both players a full year of minor league development just as their careers were getting started. “It was mayhem,” Mack recalled. “When we found out, we were all in the Champions Hall, our big auditorium (at the Twins’ minor league academy in Fort Myers, Florida). We thought, ‘Oh, there’s no way we’re all going to be sent home.’ Then we get the news that we’re going home for a couple of weeks, and we were all shocked. And then come to find out we were going to be home for the whole year. It was a crazy time.” Naturally, a professional ballplayer can’t just take a year off, regardless of the reason for the season’s cancellation. “You kind of have to make due with what you have,” Mack said. “I was fortunate enough to have some facilities up by me (in New York) for a short period of time. Then, obviously, those got closed down as well. I just put up a little net in my garage. You make due. And I have a brother back home, so he helped. That was a blessing.” Meanwhile, almost all the way across the country, Casey Legumina was having to improvise as well. But he had another complication. He was trying to return from ‘Tommy John’ surgery, which he had undergone shortly after being drafted by the Twins in 2019. “I had my brother who plays, so that was good,” Legumina said. “Like most places in the country, everything was shutting down. There was limited capacity if they were open. “I ended up building a gym at my house. My brother and I, we just trained there, and I’d throw to him. I was in rehab at the time. So, I did all my rehab throwing to my little brother, who was my catcher. Of course, maybe all that down time gave Legumina an opportunity to refine his culinary talents. “My dad always cooked,” he said, explaining his affinity for spending time in the kitchen. “We owned restaurants growing up. My dad liked to just create things, see what tastes good. I just watched him growing up. So, I just kind of fell in love with cooking for myself, and I enjoy it. I’d rather cook for myself than go get something to eat.” It’s probably a safe bet that Mack would choose having Legumina cooking for him over going out to eat, as well… at least if the alternative is chicken from a certain fast-food joint. Whatever Legumina, Mack, and the rest of their teammates are eating, they need to stick to those diets. Through Wednesday’s win over Beloit, Cedar Rapids is 14-3 and has opened up a three-game lead over their closest Midwest League Western Division rivals. View full article

How huge was that walk Godoy came back to work in the 10th after going down 0-2?

I'm in. Glad you've found a way to do this without a hard paywall.

Really classy thing the Wind Surge did for Peter Mooney. Well done, folks

Whew! We made it! I know I can’t be the only person who wouldn’t have bet much money a couple of months ago on the chances of MLB even having a Postseason in 2020. It looked pretty bleak when the Marlins and Cardinals started things off with a bunch of postponed games. But here we are. The American League starts their first round on Tuesday and the National League gets going on Wednesday. And, yes, the Minnesota Twins will be participating in this rather strange endeavor, having squeaked through with a second consecutive American League Central Division championship. When I initially placed a bet on the Twins to win their Division, back in January, I bet in moderation. After all, back then, we still expected the season to be 162 games long and we all know anything can happen over the course of a marathon-like MLB regular season. But when the season was officially shortened to 60 games, I was feeling very optimistic about the Twins’ chances in the AL Central. So much so that I put a whole bunch more money on them to win the Division. How much? Well, I won’t go into those details, but it was the largest single bet I’ve placed on any event since legalized gambling came to Iowa. Suffice to say, I was not pleased with a week left in the schedule. Thankfully, the White Sox totally tanked and the Twins won just enough down the stretch for me to cash in. But that’s all in the rearview mirror now. It’s time to look at the odds that William Hill and Elite Sportsbook have issued for the 16 teams still playing baseball this week. Once again, I’m surprised how these two organizations diverge on some of these odds. There are some interesting opportunities, for sure, but first let’s check in on the Twins’ odds, where the two sportsbooks are almost in lockstep with one another. Both William Hill and Elite have the Twins at 10-1 odds to win the World Series and they differ very little on their chances to win the American League Pennant. Hill is at +425 and Elite at an even 4-1. At William Hill, you can also put money on the outcome of the Twins’ best-of-three series with the Astros (boooooo). But the Twins are such heavy favorites (that felt as weird to type as it does to read, trust me) at -170 that it hardly seems worth it. Bottom line, putting a little money on the Twins to win it all at 10-1 seems worthwhile. After all, if there’s anything that would feel better than the Twins winning the World Series, it would have to be the Twins winning the World Series AND cashing in a nice fat payday from a sportsbook. But once we’ve got that money down, where else should we turn? Forget the Dodgers. I don’t care how good a team is supposed to be, if the best I can do is get 3-1 at Elite (+275 at WmHill) to win a playoff involving 15 other teams, I’m going to pass. The Rays are getting just 6-1 odds at Elite to win the World Series, but you can get 10-1 on WmHill. So you might ask yourself if you like Tampa’s chances as much as (or even more than?) you do the Twins’. No? So, what about the Yankees? Yes, at WmHill you can get that same 10-1 line on the Yankees to win the Series (Elite offers only 7-1). Elite is also offering 10-1 on the White Sox, but you can get 14-1 if you move over to William Hill. Thinking 10-1 is small potatoes and want a bigger bang for your buck? We can do that. Let’s start by assuming you’re not interested in Miami (40-1 on WmHill, 33-1 on Elite) and probably only marginally more tempted by Milwaukee (40-1 on Elite, 25-1 on WmHill) and Toronto (nay, Buffalo) which sits at 30-1 at both books. Could you be teased into a Cubs bet at 15-1 on William Hill (12-1 on Elite)? Maybe you like the Cubs to win the NL at +750 on WmHill (+550 on Elite)? The Padres have been a trendy favorite and you can get 4-1 at Elite (+350 WmHill) for a San Diego NL Pennant or go crazy and bet them to win the whole shooting match and get 9-1 at Elite (7-1 at WmHill). Here’s one that has piqued my interest, though. Didn’t the Reds look to you like they could be capable of doing some damage? And the Twins didn’t even go up against their best arm! We can get 9-1 at Elite on the Reds to win the National League (+850 at WmHill) and a whopping 22-1 at Elite to win the World Series (17-1 at WmHill). Did anyone who watched that Twins/Reds series really come away from it thinking the Twins are better than twice as likely to win it all than the team that took two out of three from them? Just for comparison, Cleveland and Houston both carry 20-1 odds to win the World Series. And Cincinnati got a pretty good draw in that NL bracket, too. They’d only have to face one or the other of the NL favorites, since they’re in the opposite bracket from the Dodgers and Padres (yes, technically, Atlanta is the number 2 seed, but both bookmakers like San Diego more). I like the Reds in their matchup with Atlanta and then they probably get the Cubs (though I’m not THAT sure the Cubs couldn’t find a way to drop a couple of games to Miami). So, that’s where I’m landing. Obviously, I have to put some money on the Twins to win it all so I REALLY have something to celebrate when Maeda shuts down his former team to claim the top prize. But I’m also going to take a little flyer on the Reds. Clearly could be a combination of “recency bias” and steep odds, but heck, I’ve put money on stuff with less logic behind it. Let’s get this party started! (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)

With Opening Day of the 2020 Major League Baseball season now upon us, I thought I would take a quick peek at what, if any, adjustments the sportsbooks I subscribe to have made compared to those I posted in Part 4 of this "Bet On It!" series earlier in July, as teams were making their way back into their abbreviated summer camps. It turns out, however, that my fellow betting subscribers have given the oddsmakers at William Hill and Elite Sportsbook very little reason to make adjustments to their MLB season odds. I was pleased to see that William Hill has again begun taking bets on the Division races and even happier to see that they've adjusted their line for the favored Twins, compared to what they were offering back in March when spring training was suspended. The Twins' line is now at -140, which means you have to bet $140 to win $100 on a Twins Central Division championship. That may not sound great, but William Hill hadn't offered better than -160 since I started checking in January and still held the line at -170 in mid March. I really like the Twins' chances in a 60-game sprint so I went ahead and put a little money on the -140 line... all while cursing myself for only putting $50 on the even money 1-1 line that Elite was offering as recently as the end of January. (Elite has not, that I've noticed, offered Divisional Championship lines since MLB announced they'd be resuming the season.) William Hill's dampened enthusiasm for the Twins is not reflected, however, in their odds on our guys winning the American League Pennant. In fact, those odds at William Hill have dropped from 7-1 when summer camps opened to 6-1 currently. That matches Elite's current line. Neither book has changed their outlook on the Twins winning it all. The Twins remain at 16-1 and 15-1 at William Hill and Elite, respectively. As for the odds for all of the other favorites we've been following in this series, both books have remained unchanged on their odds for teams like the Yankees, Dodgers and Astros. If you're one of those poor sick souls who follow the Cubs closely, though, there's been a little movement in the past few weeks. William Hill has moved their odds on the Cubs winning the National League Pennant from 10-1 to 12-1 currently. Elite is unconvinced, however, leaving their line at 8-1. So if you've been looking for an opportunity to throw your money away on the Cubbies, now might be the time to do it. I haven't noticed 12-1 being offered since the end of January. Interestingly, the opposite is happening if you're looking to bet on the Cubs to win the World Series. Elite has moved from 18-1 down to 15-1 on a Cubs championship. Not that it really should matter, given that you'll want to be taking William Hill up on their unchanged 20-1 line, anyway, should you be in the market for this bet. Finally, William Hill has added one additional interesting option - betting on which player will lead MLB in Runs + Home Runs. (At least that's what I think "MOST RS HR'S" means, I'm still kinda new at some of this. If that's not correct, oh well.) Mike Trout is the odds-on favorite at 12-1 odds, but I couldn't resist putting $10 on the "Bringer Of Rain." If Josh Donaldson comes through for me (and, of course, the Twins) over the next couple of months, I'll make a cool $800 on that bet. Make it rain, baby! This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.