Curt

The North-Siders could use a catcher who can hit.

I think this is a pretty good gamble for the Cubs. I thought the Twins might pick him up for less guaranteed but demand for pitching habitually outstrips supply. It is a seller's market.

The champion marathoner doesn't necessarily win the 100 yard dash. Or even advance past the qualifying heats.

I see what you did there. Step to the front of the line, please.

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/11/07/the-cardinals-are-interested-in-asdrubal-cabrera/ Cleveland is shopping Asdrubal Cabrera and St. Louis has "real" interest...

1. Santana - duh 2. Viola - ah, Sweet Music... 3. Blyleven - every start was a possible no-hitter 4. Radke - tough era, bad team, great pitcher 5. Reardon - the anti-RD 6. Kaat - when the pitcher really was the best athlete on the team 7. Nathan - automatic 8. Perry - no Gaylord but still... 9. Aguilera - boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back. Classic. 10. Morris - YEAH, IT WAS THAT IMPORTANT.

Nice summary.

I haven't tried a lot of these and look forward to it. Some of my old favorites: 1. Lion's Tap 2. Convention Grill 3. Curran's

Thanks for posting... Campbell threw 167.2 innings in 78 relief appearances. So, an AVERAGE appearance was to come in with two out in the seventh inning and finish the game (or maybe the sixth inning of a road loss).

C Curt 1B Mauer 2B Carroll SS Drew 3B Plouffe LF Willingham CF Revere RF Arcia DH Doumit

1. Rod Carew 2. Harmon Killebrew 3. Tony Oliva 4. Kirby Puckett 5. Joe Mauer 6. Kent Hrbek 7. Lyman Bostock 8. Chuck Knoblauch 9. Justin Morneau 10. Bob Allison Added Lyman Bostock. His time was short but he was gooooooood.

I see a pay cut in his future too.

The only reason for Baltimore to do this is they intend to offer him arbitration, right?

The bigger question is "why the heck did my Scandinavian ancestors settle here?"

First line is Delmon. Second line is Ryan Doumit. Doumit signed two year extension for $3.5 M per. Twins got a deal and/or Delmon gets a pay cut. [TABLE] [TD=width: 34]G[/TD] [TD=width: 34]PA[/TD] [TD=width: 34]AB[/TD] [TD=width: 34]R[/TD] [TD=width: 34]H[/TD] [TD=width: 34]2B[/TD] [TD=width: 34]3B[/TD] [TD=width: 34]HR[/TD] [TD=width: 34]RBI[/TD] [TD=width: 34]SB[/TD] [TD=width: 34]CS[/TD] [TD=width: 34]BB[/TD] [TD=width: 34]SO[/TD] [TD=width: 37]BA[/TD] [TD=width: 37]OBP[/TD] [TD=width: 37]SLG[/TD] [TD=width: 37]OPS[/TD] [TD=width: 45]OPS+[/TD] 151 608 574 54 153 27 1 18 74 0 2 20 112 .267 .296 .411 .707 89 134 528 484 56 133 34 1 18 75 0 0 29 98 .275 .320 .461 .781 114 [/TABLE]

From that article... Free agents can begin switching teams Saturday, in what could be a frenetic start to the Hot Stove season. Until then, clubs are allowed to contact representatives and exchange information but not discuss contractual terms. Baker became a free agent when the Twins declined his option. Does this mean he cannot sign with the Twins until Saturday? Or just with other teams? If he is unable to sign with Twins until tomorrow, it might make Thrylos' earlier scoop on a three year deal still viable.

For many years I stopped watching (I had no tv for a while and got out of the habit). I used to say that I didn't care if they even played. As long as they continued printing box scores!

Ha, I haven't thought of that for a long time... In 1970 I had yet to start paying much attention to baseball but, by '72, I was devouring baseball encyclopedias and studying everyones lifetime stats (I accidentally stumbled on a copy of "Who's Who in Baseball" and literally wore it out). That Campaneris hit 22 homers in 1970 was one of the first really odd things I saw. The Twins' power hitters in '72, Killebrew and Bobby Darwin, hit only 26 and 22. Campaneris looked like he weighed 130 with rocks in his pockets and his style was a very punch-and-judy-like approach. How could he hit as many homeruns as Darwin and nearly as many as Killebrew? It is a good reminder to me, in this day and age, that not all surges in home runs are steroid related. Also, it is a reminder that not all surges in power are signs of things to come as Campy hit only 57 in his other 18 major league seasons. Thanks for the memories...

When you look at the Twins' batting stats, they seem misleading. During the season I was struck how often the Twins had four or five guys with OPS well under .700 in the lineup. Obviously, Revere has no power but remember how bad the right fielders were hitting before he came up. Revere was a huge improvement at the plate. And whoever was at short and second were consistent poor producers all year long. Morneau really struggled in the first half. Plouffe really only hit well for about six weeks. Throw in Butera and other random subs and you have gaping holes in your lineup. Get by the middle of the lineup and you have clear sailing for two innings.

I like Buehrle and he would instantly be the ace of the rotation. Of course, it all depends on what the Marlins want in return and how much salary they eat BUT he will be 34 by the time the season starts, 36 during the last year of his contract. The Twins should take him only if they have to pay $10-11 mil per year and no prospects (of value) in return. I doubt the Marlins would do that and they probably would not have to because I bet some other team will be willing to risk more.

Agreed. Even if the home park stays the same, its profile (or reputation) might change over time. Look at the Dome, for instance. After they put up the plexiglass fence extension for the 1983 season, its dimensions stayed the same. It was even environmentally controlled so heat/cold waves and wind pattern changes would not affect it. But, as noted earlier, it appeared to be a (slight) home run hitting park in the first seven years there. It was at that time that the (forgive me moderators) idiots Tony Kubek and Bob Costas christened the Dome with the moniker "HomerDome" on national TV. That profile changed and, as noted earlier, the Dome was definitely not a home run park as it had negative numbers every year for twelve seasons, 1997-2008. What changed? The other parks in the league did. Older parks were replaced with newer, usually cozier, parks which moved the bar. Or the older ones had their fences moved in. That will happen a bit next year when Seattle's park has its fences moved in. It is, imo, a bad trend. Someone builds a small stadium or moves their fences in and, the next year, some else does too, to "keep up with the Joneses." Each time that happens, the balance of the need for speed vs power changes. Eventually, teams will have nine Adam Dunns in their lineup. I will not be watching then as I can see that at the slow-pitch softball field down the street. Oh man, how did I get on this soapbox?

No point, it doesn't take into account differences in pitching, which when talking about the Twins rotation throws every park effect metric under the bus. Regardless of how good or bad a staff is, they pitch half their games in the home stadium and half on the road. When they give up 98 home runs at home and 100 on the road, what do you conclude about the stadium? That it is hard to hit home runs there? Or that it is similar to the other stadiums (on average)? It doesn't matter if they give up 30 home and away or 130. If the numbers are similar, the park is neutral, if there is a gap, the park is biased.

Based on a couple of the comments, the point of my post might not be clear. I do not compare what the Twins hit versus the opponents. I compare what Twins and their opponents hit, combined, in each setting, home and away. If the Twins have low power, the numbers will be low for both home games and away games. Yes, the Twins have half the at-bats in home games. They also have half the at-bats in away games. It is the comparison between the two settings that are highlighted and tell the tale of the Park. That said, I thought it worth noting that the Twins, though still not hitting a lot of home runs, hit more at home (though pretty close) in 2012 than they did away from Target Field. The Twins' opponents have hit virtually the same number at TF and away the past two years. The wild discrepancy we saw in year one might have been an anomaly.

If we look at the number of home runs hit at home by both teams and compare it to the number of home runs hit by both teams in road games, Target Field was above average in home runs this year. (click the charts to see them better). Twins hitters hit 69 homers at TF and 62 on the road. Twins pitchers gave up 98 at home and 100 away. So 81 home games had 167 home runs and 81 road games had 162. That gives TF a +3% in 2012 and makes it 14th of the 30 major league fields in that comparison. In Target Field's inaugural season, 2010, that value was -36% (116 home, 181 road). 2011 saw an increase in home runs at TF and the deficit "improved" to only -9%. That makes a three year total of 481 home runs on the road versus 409 at home or -15%. Or, perhaps, a trend... Or perhaps not. This comparison of home vs away home runs fluctuates a lot. A good example of this would be Met Stadium in '65 and '66, -3% and 67.0%, respectively. Or 71-73 which saw 4%, 61% and 2% in three consecutive seasons. What about the dome? 1982-1988 saw five "positive" seasons. But by 1997, it was decidedly a "negative" stadium. All twelve seasons from 1997-2008 were "negative" (2003 was even at 0). In its final season,2009, the dome was positive, 11%, for the first time since 1996. Finally, if we compare the three Target Field seasons with the 28 seasons at the Dome, 2010 would have been the lowest. 2011 would have been the eighth lowest and 2012 would have been the 10th highest. So is Target Field a home run "Death Valley?" Is it middle of the pack? Or is it too early to tell?

I did not realize that. Rodney had an unusually good year but "comeback?" That seems odd.