Curt

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/06/07/fastest-man-in-baseball-on-pace-for-163-steals/ Aaron Gleeman posted this about minor leaguer (Slidin') Billy Hamilton. Revere is, pretty obviously, the fastest Twin and has impressive SB stats in his short MLB career. So, who are the fastest guys in MLB and where does Revere rank?

I'm not nominating him for #2 but Ken Brett, George's brother, was a good hitter: .262/.291/.406 with 10 homers and spent the last half of his career in the DHing AL. He hit four homers in '73 for the Phillies and hit .310 the next year for the Pirates.

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/default.aspx?id=46677767&ns=baseball&displaymode=1247&beginSlide=1&beginChapter Pretty good choices but I got to the end and had to go through the list again to see if I just missed Roy Campanella. No, they did. Fail.

Lest we forget, last year's Twins were: 17-36 (.320) through May, 17-9 (.654) in June, and 29-54 (.349) after June.

Right now, he's the next Willie Mays. I hope to see him in 2014. Possible re-evaluation to come...

What could possibly go wrong?

The Twins would take Bryce Harper for Willingham, right? OK no one would offer that much and the Twins would also accept less. So there is a line somewher where, above it, the Twins would accept a deal. This is true for every player on every team. Poorly managed and desperate teams tend to draw the lines in the wrong places. The Twins have misplayed their new stadium so far, imo. I hope they are not desperate but I hope they realize the size of the hole they are in. You have to be willing to part with players who are playing well as they are the only ones with value.

Oakland does get to hit for the pitcher.

Memo to Terry Ryan: Take all calls please.

Go ahead and want it. Nobody is suggesting a rule against it.

Wow. I can't believe I didn't remember that one. 8. BAN INTERLEAGUE games 9. No Carew Blue allowed

1. Improve umpiring accuracy and consistency (and call "high" strikes) 2. Eliminate instant replay 3. Reduce time between innings 4. Eliminate pre-recorded music played over PA 5. Batter must receive permission from umpire to step out of batters box after non-batted ball 6. Eliminate DH 7. 99 cent hot dogs all the time! Not necessarily in that order.

Here is what I did not say: Target Field is not a pitchers park. It is. It always will be (unless dramatically altered). How much it is and what should be done about it is the topic here. Here is what I have said: TF was an extreme pitchers' park in 2010 (I did say so earlier). It was much less so in 2011. In fact, for non-Twins' hitters, it was extremely average in 2011. The frustration with the park is due, at least in part, to the ineptitude of the Twins, specifically Twins' hitters' lack of power. That frustration is being, somewhat, transferred to the new park. It should be clear that the park affects Twins' hitters more than the opposition. Frustrated fans have locked into a "meme" (using CDog's term) of their own. They may turn out to be right (I am certain it will perpetually be a pitchers' park as it will ALWAYS require a mammoth shot to get out in right center field) but it is too early to tell if will be so dramatic as to require changes in the park. I am advocating a wait and see approach. Let's see if the difference between 2010 and 2011 is a trend or an anomaly. Maybe Jason Giambi (I think it was him) was right. As the cement got older and dried out, the ball would carry better at Target Field. I don't think so but I'm no expert. Clearly, it is a bigger park than the dome and it has given Twins' hitters fits. I imagine that coming from the relatively cozy confines of the dome to TF was both physically and psychologically daunting. Let's see how it works out in the longer term.

Slama should, at least, get a chance. Does anyone removed from 40 man roster automatically have to go through waivers? No one would claim Nishioka, would they? And so what if they did? Will they really miss him in Rochester? He won't be back to the Twins. It seems like Baker is probably done here too. Are there other implications with Baker? There, I'll stop with five questions asked.

As the table I posted earlier points out, ALL teams that played at Target Field hit .988 home runs per game there. The entire league average was .981. That indicates that, at least in 2011, any deficit in home runs at TF was due to Twins hitters. Twins hitters were inept at hitting home runs at TF (.568 hr/g) but were almost as inept on the road (.704). You can cherry pick the teams you want but that indicates that other teams off set those that you chose. It is obvious it takes some mighty pokes to get the ball out of the park at the gaps but it is too early to tell what the impact of the park will be in the long run.

Agreed. As I noted earlier, in 2011, Twins' opponents hit (or Twins' pitchers gave up) about the same number of home runs at Target Field as they did away from TF. Here are the AL stats for home runs allowed per game, comparing home and away: [TABLE] [TD=width: 152]Team[/TD] [TD=width: 66]Away[/TD] [TD=width: 66]Home[/TD] [TD=width: 66]Home /Away[/TD] Kansas City Royals 1.173 0.840 0.716 Detroit Tigers 1.049 0.790 0.753 Oakland Athletics 0.938 0.741 0.789 Cleveland Indians 1.037 0.852 0.821 Tampa Bay Rays 1.037 0.951 0.917 Los Angeles Angels 0.901 0.852 0.945 Boston Red Sox 0.975 0.951 0.975 Minnesota Twins 1.000 0.988 0.988 Seattle Mariners 0.872 0.917 1.051 Baltimore Orioles 1.259 1.333 1.059 Toronto Blue Jays 1.037 1.173 1.131 Chicago White Sox 0.827 0.988 1.194 New York Yankees 0.802 1.074 1.338 Texas Rangers 0.840 1.259 1.500 Average 0.982 0.979 1.013 [/TABLE] You can see Minnesota is extremely average.

Jeez... OK, if you look closely at last year's stats, you will see that Twins pitchers gave up 81 home runs on the road and 80 at home. That is pretty much the definition of the other team not having any trouble at Target Field. I'll grant you that 2010 was much more lopsided but I don't think that "meme" is as "extremely simple-minded, lazy, and mostly just wrong" as you do.

I'm not advocating changing the dimensions. I kind of like the status quo. The current dimensions do not seem to affect the competition too much. However, if it were done, I would suggest moving home plate out rather than putting up new fences in the outfield. Those temporary fences look ridiculous and Target Field currently has really small foul-territory. It would probably mess up sight lines though. I guess I'm back to rejecting the idea. Never mind.

I'm skeptical.

Nicely done.

We want the game called as accurately and consistently as possible. Surely we can all agree on that? I am not an advocate of instant replay nor of human umpires being replaced by technology. I am in favor of using technology to help the human umpires improve their performance, in this case, using the f/x technology to remove this bias.

Orlando Hudson, though not hitting well (.208/,257/.330), has five triples. Oh yeah, and ZERO doubles.

shanewahl, did you see this? http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/05/07/looking-at-mlbs-least-productive-positions-to-date/ It lists the worst OPS by team and position so far. Tenth worst is Twins right field with OPS of .492. Revere's OPS last year was .619. Don't celebrate too soon that the Twins only had the tenth worst. Four of the top twenty-five belong to the Twins.

I pretty much agree. Carroll is not THE Twins' problem. I think he has done a pretty good job and I think he will get plenty of playing time still. That said, a team on pace to lose 120 games that replaces a 38-year-old shortstop who is hitting around .200 with a top prospect is not a cause for concern. I hope Dozier is ready and capable. In Carroll's favor are the likelihood that Dozier is either not ready or capable and the proven facts that Casilla and Valencia, among others, have very tenuous holds on their respective spots in the lineup and on the team. All but Mauer, Span, Willingham and Morneau are marginal. Everyone needs to make the most of the opportunities they get going forward.

I would be ecstatic if Dozier ends up having a career as good as Greg Gagne's. I'm sure Dozier would be too. He'll retire a wealthy man if he does. He's a little behind GG right now as, by Dozier's age, GG was in his third season as starting shortstop for the Twins. I look forward to the World Series championships too.