Tom Froemming

Projectability. It's like trying to compare Blayne Enlow to Zack Littell or something like that. Your imagination can get bigger the younger and lower down in the minors a guy is. The higher up a guy gets, you start to see things that limit your imagination. Javier and Palacios may have had a similar OPS in E-Town, but they're different types of hitters. Palacios makes a ton of contact but doesn't draw walks. Javier strikes out more, but has been better at getting on base. At this point, I don't have much hope in Palacios filling out much more, where as I think Javier is likely to add some bulk. That may be hard to see looking at pictures of him now, but remember what Sano looked like when he was a 19-year-old shortstop? They both had crazy high BABIPs in 2017 -- Palacios at .356 in Cedar Rapids and then .332 with the Miracle, but Javier's was .410! I'm not one to automatically assume that's luck, since guys who hit the snot out of the ball on a regular basis and/or run well are going to have higher BABIPs, but I just thought that was something interesting to note. The evaluations on defense for both of these guys are all over the place. Just in what I could see on MiLB.tv (not a great way to evaluate someone but the best I can do) I didn't come away super impressed with Palacios' athleticism in the field. But I've read some very positive reviews from others about his defense. BP said he was a plus-defender and a solid runner. If I was more convinced that was the case, I'd probably have had him inside my top 15 as opposed to 21st. I've only seen brief clips of Javier in the field, but people rave about his athleticism and arm. Part of the expectation that he'll bulk up comes with some people forecasting a future move to third base. I'd rather that than a move to second, which is my fear concerning Palacios. And, yes, the $4 million is certainly an eye opener.

I like McHugh, but it's really hard to try and predict what the Astros would want for him. Seth suggested it may take three prospects in the 16-30 range. I think I'd do that trade.

It may be the middle of February, but this is a big week for baseball. The Twins held their first official pitchers and catchers workout today and single-game tickets go on sale this coming Saturday. Here’s a look at some of the biggest promotions and noteworthy opponents coming to Target Field in 2018.Before we get into the individual games of note, I just wanted to pass along some information regarding the tickets and packages that are currently available. Opening Day Tickets are already available for the home opener, which is Thursday, April 5 at 3:10 pm CT vs. Seattle . The cheapest ticket is $20 for ballpark access (standing-room only). The first 30,000 fans will receive a Twins Hoodie. Season Tickets The cheapest package is the Pick 10 Plan, which costs $220 per seat for Home Plate View (behind home plate, upper deck). But the cheapest 20-game package is just $260. That’s for Field View seats (upper deck, along the foul lines, furthest from home plate), but with so many great standing areas at Target Field, this represents the best value in my mind. Of course, there are also other flex plans, weekend plans, 40-game and full-season packages. A lot of people would argue that tickets are often cheaper on the secondary market, but there are some perks that come along with being a season-ticket holder. Spring Ballpark Pass At this time, the Spring Ballpark Pass is not being offered. The Twins unveiled this new opportunity in early March of last year, so it’s entirely possible its return will be announced at a later date. I did a breakdown of the pass here at Twins Daily and eventually talked myself into buying it. For $99 flat – no additional fees – you got a standing-room only ticket for all the April and May home games other than Opening Day (30 in total). I think I “only” attended 13 games, but it was definitely a worth-while investment. Again, single-game tickets are available at 10 am CT this coming Saturday. Actual pricing is unknown at this point, but as in recent years there will be tiered/demand-based pricing. Here are some of the noteworthy promotions this season: Bobblehead Days Friday, June 1 vs. CLE: Max Kepler Friday, June 22 vs. TEX: Byron Buxton Friday, July 13 vs. TB: Eddie Rosario Saturday, Aug. 4 vs. KC: Johan Santana The Kepler, Buxton and Rosario bobbleheads sit together to form a “nothing falls but raindrops” sort of bobblehead mural. The Santana bobblehead will be handed out on the same day as his Twins Hall of Fame induction ceremony. I expect the demand for these, as always, will be very high. Bobbleheads will only go to the first 10,000 fans in attendance for those games. Download attachment: BuxtonBobble.JPG Other Noteworthy Promotions Friday, April 13 vs. CHW: Dozier & Buxton Gold Glove T-shirt Saturday, April 14 vs. CHW: Twins plaid flap cap (sort of a trapper hat meets baseball cap) Saturday, April 28 vs. CIN: Twins cap Tuesday, May 22 vs. DET: Star Wars T-shirt (there will be another Star Wars promo available via a special theme night ticket) Saturday, July 7 vs. BAL: Twins “Flash” Cap Friday, Aug. 3 vs. KC: Johan Santana Hall of Fame pin Saturday, Aug. 18 vs. DET: Jack Morris Hall of Fame night Saturday, Aug. 25 vs. OAK: Jim Thome Hall of Fame night Friday, Sept. 28 & Saturday, Sept. 29 vs. CHW: Twins stocking hat It’s pretty cool that the Morris night coincides with the Tigers being in town. It’s a bit of a head-scratcher as to why the team couldn’t line up Thome’s celebration with a Cleveland series. Promos for the Kiddos Sunday, April 8 vs. CHW: T.C. T-shirt Sunday, June 24 vs. TEX: Play Ball cap Saturday, July 14 & Sunday, July 15 vs. TB: Back to School item Sunday, Aug. 5 vs. KC: T/C/ pillowcase Sunday, Aug. 19 vs. DET: Twins backpack Sunday, Aug. 30 vs. CHW: T.C. trapper hat One thing I noticed about this year’s home schedule is the lack of games on major holidays. The Twins will not be in town for Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, Independence Day or Labor Day. Here are what I would consider to be some of the marquee matchups at Target Field this summer: Other Noteworthy Games Houston Astros: April 9-11 The defending World Series champs will be the second team to visit Target Field in 2018. Being a series during the week in April, this should be a great opportunity to see the Twins face off against some top competition early in the season. The Wednesday game (April 11) will be at noon. Seems like a good opportunity to pull a Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. The first 10,000 fans will receive a Twins magnet schedule at all three games of the series. Toronto Blue Jays: April 30-May 2 I know what you’re thinking, “Blue Jays? Seriously!?!?!” Yes, seriously. The fans of Canada’s team travel well, and always seem to pack Target Field when they’re in town. This series is during the week, so that may prevent a lot of Jays fans from making the trek. There’s a different vibe in Target Field when a good percentage of the fans are pulling for the road team. It can be embarrassing, infuriating even, when a road team gets a nice ovation or chant going, but that makes it all the more sweet when the Twins stop ‘em out. Milwaukee Brewers: May 18-20 The Twins host the Brewers for a weekend series, which should draw a lot of Sconnies into town. Personally, I think it’s was nice how the Brewers being in the National League has made this more of a friendly rivalry. It should be fun weekend as long as everybody leaves their football gear at home. A border battle t-shirt will be given out at the Friday night contest. Los Angeles Angels: June 8-10 Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and the Angels are coming to Minnesota for a weekend series in June. Ohtani could be the biggest draw in baseball by then, or he could be playing in Triple-A. It’s anybody’s best guess, but this still seems like a big-time series, either way. A lot of the 2018 projections are forecasting both the Angels and Twins to be battling for an AL Wild Card spot. Albert Pujols is chasing 3,000 career hits, but he enters the season just 32 hits shy of that mark. If healthy, he should reach that milestone before the Angels come to town, but that’s a big if for the 38-year-old. Players Weekend: Aug. 24-26 vs. OAK The Twins were in Toronto for the inaugural Players Weekend last season, so this will be the first time it’s hosted at Target Field. On Friday night, the first 10,000 fans will receive “player’s weekend mystery nickname” T-shirts. Not sure what that means, but it could be fun. Saturday is the Thome Hall of Fame celebration. New York Yankees: Sept. 10-12. The Yankees will be in town on 9/11, which is a Tuesday. There will be a special remembrance at Target Field that evening. The Yankees are always a big draw, but I’d suspect the outfield seats and concourses will be a little more packed than usual with fans hoping to snag an Aaron Judge or Giancarlo Stanton home run. And Don’t Forget About the Gophers If you’re starved for baseball and unable to make the trip down to Fort Myers, don’t fret. The Gophers start their U.S. Bank Stadium schedule Tuesday, Feb. 27 against North Dakota State and then host South Dakota State the next evening. That following weekend, March 2-4, is the DQ Classic/Big Ten-Pac 12 Challenge. The Gophers, Illinois and Michigan State will be representing the Big Ten against Arizona, UCLA and Washington of the Pac-12. If you’re interested in learning more about the setup at U.S. Bank Stadium, I wrote about baseball’s debut in the building for Twins Daily last year. Also, Seth has had a few of the Gopher baseball players as guests on his podcast. Here’s a link to the most recent episode, which featured senior third baseman Micah Coffey. Click here to view the article

I try not to rank relief pitchers inside my top 10 ...

That's a good question. I'm sure it varies some case-by-case. Maybe Seth will stop by and chime in with an answer for us.

OMG I forgot about that! Per his Wikipedia page: "Hocking broke his hand in the ensuing celebration. Hocking caught the final out of Game 5 and players piled on top of him. A player he believed to be teammate Jacque Jones stepped on the middle finger of his right hand and split the nail in two places.[2] This injury forced Hocking to miss the entire 2002 American League Championship Series."

For baseball fans, February is all about looking ahead to the future. Pitchers and catchers are reporting to spring training soon, and before we know it baseball games are going to be played. Here at Twins Daily, we’re also looking a little further ahead. The site’s top 20 prospect countdown started Tuesday and will continue over the next week ahead.Let’s take a quick look back at all the articles from the front page in the order they were published. This edition of Twins Weekly covers Friday, Feb. 2 to Thursday, Feb. 8. 2018 Twins Super (Bowl) Predictions | Seth Stohs MLB Shift Driving Market Realities | Ted Schwerzler 1961: Welcome to the Big Leagues | mikelink45 The Twins Almanac for February 4–10 | Matt Johnson To the Victor Go the Spoils (and Special Sections) | Tom Froemming The Best Twins Team That Ever Was(n't) | Matthew Lenz Top 10 Twins World Series Performances Per WPA | Tom Froemming Top 10 Minnesota Twins Commercials | Tom Froemming Free Agent Starters By The Numbers Part II: WAR and Projections | Greg Logan Adalberto Mejia: High Floor or More? | Jamie Cameron The Secret to Ervin Santana’s Success | Andrew Thares In The Zone: Twins Among Best At Avoiding Bad Pitches | Cody Christie Seth's Twins On Deck Podcast (Episode 5) | Seth Stohs Twins Daily 2018 Top 20 Prospect Countdown: 16-20 | Seth Stohs Gleeman & The Geek, Ep 354: Super Bowl And PECOTA | John Bonnes Can The Twins Better Their Bench? | Ted Schwerzler No Such Thing as Too Much Pitching, Right? | Tom Froemming Twins Daily 2018 Top 20 Prospect Countdown: 11-15 | Nick Nelson Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #10 Akil Baddoo | Cody Christie Darvish Down To The Studs | Ted Schwerzler Twins Daily 2018 Top Prospects: #9 Brusdar Graterol | Tom Froemming Calling All Bloggers You may have noticed some less familiar names on the rundown for this week. Well, those are all writers who’ve been active in the blog section over the past month or so. Reminder: Anyone can start a blog at Twins Daily. If you're interested in being a regular writer for the site, the blog section is how you get your foot in the door. The only reason you're reading my words right now is because I started my own blog at Twins Daily. Other Links With Ervin Santana's injury, the Twins' need for Yu Darvish is even more clear By Dan Hayes of The Athletic In his most recent ZiPS projection, Szymborski said the Twins currently are projected for 84 wins and have roughly a 48 percent chance to reach the postseason. But adding Darvish — who is likely to earn between $20-25 million over at least five seasons — would increase the team’s chances of making the playoffs to nearly 66 percent while also helping them survive the early part of the season with Santana sidelined. The Twins Really, Really Need Starting Pitching By Craig Edwards of FanGraphs There’s good news and bad news for the Twins. The bad is obvious. If the season started today, the Twins would have one of the worse rotations in baseball. When Santana got back, they would improve from a bottom-three rotation to merely a bottom-third. That’s the bad news. The good news is that this problem is pretty fixable — and, in the event that the club can fix it, they will have greatly increased their chances for returning to the playoffs this season. MLB free agency: Where the eight elite unsigned players will land By Bob Nightengale of USA Today Darvish has several teams who have offered five-year deals, and he would like to at least get the six-year, $130 million contract that Johnny Cueto received two years ago with the San Francisco Giants. Three teams badly need him - the Chicago Cubs, Minnesota Twins and Milwaukee Brewers - but he continues to wait to see if the New York Yankees or Los Angeles Dodgers can move some contracts to make it work. Jose Berrios should be full-fledged ace for Twins this year By Evan Davis of FanRag Sports Berrios has good building blocks on which to grow, and has demonstrated that he can mature with time. He couldn’t control his offerings in his first pass through the majors, and then he dropped his walk rate nearly five points to beat the league average. He began to trade four-seam fastballs for sinkers, and now he splits his usage between the two pitches. It was a smart choice. Berrios threw his four-seamer half the time in 2016 and was consistently shelled. Adding the sinker allowed him to change eye levels without constantly relying on the breaking ball, and the results followed. Berrios was able to increase his curveball usage, since he was no longer used it exclusively as an out pitch to play off the four-seamer. Berrios, in other words, adapted. Elizabethton Twins City Council set to approve one-year extension By John Thompson of the Johnson City Press City Manager Jerome Kitchens said “both the city of Elizabethton and the Minnesota Twins will continue their efforts to work towards a long-term solution to keep Minor League Baseball in Elizabethton.” Video of the WeekThe recent flare up of labor issues has brought back some painful memories from the disputes in 2002 that nearly resulted in a strike, but one fan shared a positive Twins-related experience from that time. Liz Melahn, who must be a Rockies fan based on her Twitter handle (@rockieslizard), shared a handwritten letter she received from Twins player rep at the time, Denny Hocking. What was so special about the letter? Melahn, a 15-year-old at the time, wrote a letter to every team in baseball. The only response she got was from Hocking. Here’s the original Tweet:

I would endorse that adjustment. There's a bit more effort in his delivery right now than I'm comfortable with.

Well Graterol threw plenty in EST before making his official stateside debut with the GCL Twins in late June, so I still think the same theory applies.

Ace. It’s the card the Twins have so desperately needed over the course of much of their history. There’s always a lot of debate over exactly who deserves that title, but most agree it’s probably fewer than 20 pitchers in all of baseball at any given time. Could Brusdar Graterol some day earn that title? Sure, but remember that some people also say there is also no such thing as a pitching prospect.Age: 19 (DOB: 8/26/1998) 2017 Stats (Rookie): 40.0 IP, 2.70 ERA, 45 K, 13 BB, 0.96 WHIP ETA: 2021 2017 Ranking: NA National Top 100 Rankings BA: NA | MLB: NA | ESPN: NA | BP: NA What’s To Like? How about a 100 mph fastball? That do anything for you? Graterol’s also got an impressive slider and his curveball is already turning some into believers. With everything else he already has in his arsenal, it’s going to make it that much easier for his changeup to play. That combination of eye-popping velocity and secondary offerings has several outlets listing him as an “honorable mention” or a “just missed” in their top 100 prospect rankings. Graterol struck out 28.7 percent of the hitters he faced last season, averaging 10.1 K/9, but he also gets a ton of ground balls. When batters managed to put a ball in play against him last year, it was on the ground 58.1 percent of the time. Another big plus for Graterol is his physique. He may have lost a year of development on the field thanks to a torn UCL, but he made sure that didn’t mean it was completely a lost year. In a piece for Baseball America, Phil Miller reported that Graterol has added 60 pounds of muscle since the Twins signed him as a 16-year-old. Most online profiles still list Graterol at 180 pounds, but Baseball America has him down as 225 in their Prospect Handbook. What’s Left To Work On? Graterol needs innings. He needs to show that he can stay healthy and handle a starter’s workload over a full season. Tommy John surgery cost him all of 2016, but even his 2017 debut was delayed due to a broken hand. Since he’s only pitched 51 innings in his professional career, we haven’t really seen enough from Graterol to know what else needs work. It’s a bit of a red flag that his walk rate increased from the GCL (1.9 BB/9) to Elizabethton (3.9 BB/9), but everything we can look at from a statistical angle has such a small sample size. Other than the health concerns, it’s just all the usual stuff you’d expect to worry about with any young pitcher. Can he develop a useful third pitch? Will the changeup be good enough to keep lefties off balance? How is he going to handle facing more advanced hitters? Where is he going to find room for all the Cy Young Awards he’s going to win. You know, stuff like that. What’s Next? Since he only threw 40 innings last season, it seems likely the Twins will want to limit Graterol’s innings to a certain extent. A pessimist would point out the fact that the Twins prospect who logged the most innings in his age 19 season last year (Fredderi Soto in the Dominican Summer League) only reached 53.2 frames. Teams are being a lot more careful with their pitchers these days, and that triple-digit heat may put extra stress on Graterol’s body. The optimist, however, would say that Jose Berrios increased his innings from just 30.2 to 103.2 between his ages 18 and 19 seasons. Graterol will likely stay back in Fort Myers, starting the year working in extended spring training, but he should surface in Cedar Rapids at some point in 2018. So what are we left with here? Well, Graterol is one of the highest ceiling/lowest floor prospects in all of baseball, let alone the Twins’ system. He definitely has true ace potential, already possessing two plus pitches. The questions that remain are 1) will he be able to command those pitches and, 2) can he stay healthy? TD Top Prospects: 16-20 TD Top Prospects: 11-15 TD Top Prospect: #10 Akil Baddoo TD Top Prospects: #8 (Coming Soon) Get to know more about Graterol and much more in the 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook. ORDER NOW: 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook (paperback, $15.99) ORDER NOW: 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook (eBook, $10.99) The 2018 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook goes in-depth and provides player bios, scouting reports, statistics and much more on almost 160 Twins minor leaguers. Click here to view the article

The guys on the 40-man roster (everyone listed except Myles Jaye), are going to be using up an option year when they get sent to the minors anyway.

Both Kaat and Mudcat made the list.

The Twins were already in pursuit of pitching this offseason, but the news that Ervin Santana will miss 10-12 weeks really emphasizes the team’s need to add to its staff. The number of pitchers in the rotation at any given time is obviously five, but how many starting pitchers can a team expect to rely on over the course of a season?Last season, the Twins used an insane number of starting pitchers. Injuries in addition to some performance issues and odd roster shuffling (the Jaime Garcia game) all made for the perfect storm, and the 2017 Twins started 16 different pitchers. Ugh. That’s an abnormally high number, but over the past five seasons the Twins have averaged 11.8 different starting pitchers, 9.8 of whom made at least three starts. Some teams are a little more fortunate. Cleveland, for example, has only averaged 8.8 different starting pitchers per season over the past five years, 7.8 of whom made at least three starts. Not everyone’s so lucky. There were 315 pitchers who started at least one game in 2017, an average of 10.5 per team. Why so many? Well, the workhorse has become a dying breed. There were only 46 pitchers in all of baseball who made at least 30 starts. If you go back just to even 2012 and look at some of these same numbers, the differences are dramatic. There were 286 pitchers to start a game that year, 9.5 per team, and 65 hurlers made 30 or more starts. Shifting gears to the Twins, let’s take a look at who’s currently in the org, keeping in mind that the team will more than likely need to depend on 10 or 11 of these guys. This isn’t a power ranking of starting pitching options per se, I’ve broken them up into categories instead. Locks Ervin Santana Jose Berrios Kyle Gibson Adalberto Mejia No, Ervin won’t be ready for Opening Day, but the good news is that it sounds like he’ll be back with the Twins sometime in May. So I’m still going to include him as a lock. Extra Depth Aaron Slegers Dietrich Enns Felix Jorge Myles Jaye Slegers is really close to being a lock to make at least a few starts. His status will have a great deal to do with who/how many free agent starters are signed. All four of these guys made their major league debuts last season, Jaye as a member of the Tigers. The Twins signed him to a minor league deal in late November. New Role/In Recovery Tyler Duffey Trevor May Phil Hughes Michael Pineda Duffey is going to get the chance to stretch out in spring training, but if the injury bug hits the bullpen it would be no surprise to see him shifted back there. You could say the same thing about May, Hughes and Pineda, who are all in various stages of recovering from injuries. The plan for now is to prepare May to come back as a starter, but he of all people should know that plans can change. Rookies Stephen Gonsalves Fernando Romero Zack Littell Gonsalves has made a handful of starts at Triple-A, and is a good bet to debut sometime in the second half. But Romero (23 starts in Double-A) and Littell (14 starts in Double-A) are less experienced in the high minors. OK, so that gives us 15 pitchers currently inside the Twins organization who could realistically start at some point in 2018. That sounds like a lot, right? Sure, but there are a whole lot of question marks surrounding several of those players. Some of these names are not guys you’d trust right now to be successful at the major league level. It’d be fun to watch a couple of those rookies come up, but those guys could be in for rough adjustment due to the (idiotic) differences in the major and minor league baseballs. Remember how bad Berrios was in 2016? There’s also the fact that there will certainly be more injuries, and probably ones that keep guys out more than 10-12 weeks. What are the odds that one of these guys suffers a torn UCL or major shoulder injury? Knowing what we know today, how many more starting pitchers should the Twins add? I'd say at least two who can be counted on to be in the rotation and one more on a minor league deal. How does Yu Darvish, Jaime Garcia and Drew Hutchison sound? Is that too much to ask? How about Alex Cobb, Jason Vargas and A.J. Griffin? Fine, I'll settle for Andrew Cashner, Ubaldo Jimenez and Jesse Chavez. OK, you're right, that's taking it a little too far. What do you think? Who would you like to see the Twins target? Would you rather see them be aggressive or leave room for some of the young guns to emerge? Click here to view the article

For those questioning Rortvedt, check out my Prospect Spotlight Series article on him. Here's a big takeaway: From the start of June to the end of the season (54 games), Rortvedt hit .273/.324/.397 (.721 OPS). To put that into perspective, Lewin Diaz hit .291/.328/.393 (.721) over that same stretch. Rortvedt got off to a terrible start at the plate, but you have to remember in 2016 he was hitting against Wisconsin high school pitchers. He was also coming off his first spring training and catchers get a lot of work down in Fort Myers. I think he may have come out of the gates already dragging a bit. Personally, I'm willing to give him a free pass on the ugly first two months he had with the Kernels.

My bad, it was actually the eighth inning where Kirby got the single and stole second. He was the leadoff hitter in the 11th. This has been updated, good eye.

I think this analysis can give us some hope that Kyle Gibson's late-season surge was real. Once Gibby started to trust his four-seamer, it was like he was a brand new pitcher. Unfortunately, Gibson doesn't have any one pitch that comes close to as good as Ervin's slider, so it's a bit like comparing apples to oranges, but here's hoping a tweak in his arsenal gives Gibby a similar bump. I'm not going to bet the house on it, but at least there's hope.

LONG LIVE THE PALMBALL

I found a couple guys that have him beat, but it took a lot of digging. The first performance that came to mind when thinking about who may have bested Morris was Don Larsen's perfecto in Game 5 of the 1956 series. Nope. That was a .586 WPA game. Larsen had a 1-0 lead by the fifth inning and then a two-run cushion over the final three frames. I'm guessing that's why his number isn't higher. Madison Bumgarner's crazy five-inning save in Game 7 of 2014 stands out. Nope. That was a .600 WPA game. I mentioned how incredible Koufax was in '65. His Game 7 performance was worth .581 WPA. How about Bill Mazeroski's walk-off homer in Game 7 of the 1960 series? Nope. He had a .414 WPA that game, not even the highest on his own team. The Pirates entered the eight inning of that game trailing 7-4. They scored two runs and then Hal Smith hit a go-ahead, pinch-hit homer to give him a WPA of .636. Joe Carter? Big Papi? Randy Johnson? Curt Schilling? Nope. Bob Gibson? Reggie Jackson? Lou Gehrig? Christy Mathewson? Nope. In Game 6 of 2011 David Freese had a .964 WPA game. With two outs in the bottom of the ninth, he delivered a game-tying two-run triple. He added a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th. Pretty incredible. Then there's Babe Ruth, but not how you may have expected.This was Ruth as a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox. In Game 2 of the 1916 World Series, Ruth pitched 14 innings. He surrendered an inside-the-park home run to the third batter he faced but shutout the Brooklyn Robins from there on. Boston won it in the 14th inning with the final score of 2-1. For his efforts on the mound, Ruth racked up 1.082 WPA. He also drove in Boston's first run on a fielder's choice, but was 0-for-5 with a pair of strikeouts, giving him -.191 WPA at the plate. So if you want to account for both his pitching and hitting that day, Ruth had a WPA of .891 -- above Morris but behind Freese. I'm sure there are some other players/performances I didn't check into, but those were all the ones that came to mind.

One of the articles I considered writing for Sunday, which I may circle back to at some point, was a piece that pointed out the most underappreciated players of the 2001-10 run. Juan Rincon was definitely going to be on that list. The only other Twins reliever to post multiple 2.0+ fWAR seasons in team history is Joe Nathan, who did it four times.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. Championship celebrations sure have escalated, huh? The Twins fan for the main picture of this article only looks like he's stage diving from about six or seven feet high. Some of those idiots in Philly were diving off street lights.

That Knoblauch trade worked out incredibly well. Milton and Guzman were key players in getting the team back to contention. Then Milton turned into Carlos Silva and Nick Punto while Buchanan was flipped for Jason Bartlett, extending the team's window of competition. For a long, long time I had hoped the Johan Santana trade was going to work out the same way. That through some kind of crazy spiderweb of trades it would all work out in the end. Can't win 'em all, I guess.