Tom Froemming

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? Image courtesy of Jesse Johnson-USA TODAY Sports 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? View full 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.

Thanks for sharing all these memories. I'm disappointed that the Met Club is going away at Target Field. I appreciated the fact that there was a place inside the stadium that acknowledged that time in Twins history.

Diehard football fans may disagree, but to a lot of people the best part of the Super Bowl is the commercials. I'm sure there will be some great ones tonight, but in the meantime I figured it’d be a good time to take a look back at my all-time favorite commercials featuring Twins players. The team has had some great ad campaigns over the years, but there's one that'll always have a special place in my heart. Image courtesy of Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports Diehard football fans may disagree, but to a lot of people the best part of the Super Bowl is the commercials. I'm sure there will be some great ones tonight, but in the meantime I figured it’d be a good time to take a look back at my all-time favorite commercials featuring Twins players. The team has had some great ad campaigns over the years, but there's one that'll always have a special place in my heart. This list is obviously subjective, but I’d love to hear from you. What are your favorite ads produced by the Twins or featuring Twins players? Laurel Krahn (@wintwins on Twitter) has a wonderful playlist on YouTube with more than 100 Twins commercials. But even the Internet has its limitations. I’m sure there are some great older ones that aren’t out there on YouTube. 10. Joe Mauer Mean Joe Green Tribute 9. Sorta Deep Thoughts With Bert Blyleven and Carl Pavano https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zT4jCLoxWYk&feature=youtu.be 8. Ron Gardenhire on TC’s Natural Habitat 7. Kent Hrbek’s First Base Lessons for Joe Mauer 6. Get to Know Em: Cristian Guzman 5. Sorta Deep Thoughts With Justin Morneau and TC https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqY5E_FDIUM&feature=youtu.be 4. Johan Santana/Joe Nathan Carpool 3. Torii Hunter Birthday party pinata 2. Michael Cuddyer’s Magic Show 1, Get to Know Em: Corey Koskie There were some tough choices, and I shared another 10 spots I really enjoyed on Twitter outside of this batch. A few of these are from the same ad campaigns, but they were so good I couldn’t narrow down to just one per year. The Twins renaissance in the early 2000s had more to do with the players on the field and their success than any ad campaign, but the Get to Know ‘Em commercials were brilliant. The Twins were a developing club packed with young talent, but the players were still mostly anonymous even in a lot of parts of Twins Territory. The team had been an afterthought for several years. In 2000, they averaged just 12,355 fans per game, topping only the Montreal Expos in attendance that season. To put that into some more perspective, the Tampa Bay Rays were dead last in attendance in 2017, but they drew 15,477 fans on average. Hunt Adkins was the agency behind those Get to Know ‘Em commercials that put the focus on the players, their stories and their backgrounds. They had a great four-year relationship with the Twins. The team has has been partnered with Periscope the past 13 years — I especially appreciated their Sorta Deep Thoughts commercials — but a new agency will be at the helm in 2018: Carmichael Lynch. Here’s a link to some of the agency’s work, which includes the Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Messin’ With Sasquatch ads. OK, now it’s your turn. What are your favorite Twins commercials? View full article

With the Super Bowl in town, it feels like as good a time as ever to revisit some of the greatest World Series performances by Twins players. There are a lot of ways someone could attempt to compile such a list, but I’m going to be using a stat called Win Probability Added. Image courtesy of Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports With the Super Bowl in town, it feels like as good a time as ever to revisit some of the greatest World Series performances by Twins players. There are a lot of ways someone could attempt to compile such a list, but I’m going to be using a stat called Win Probability Added. WPA tries to put into context an individual play’s impact on a team's odds of winning. So while Kent Hrbek’s grand slam in Game 6 of the 1987 World Series was a great accomplishment, his performance in that game doesn’t crack the top 10. The slam was Hrbek’s only hit in that game, it came in the sixth inning and the Twins were already ahead by a run. That was no doubt a massive play, but the Twins have had some huge performances among their 21 World Series contests. For more on WPA, check out the FanGraphs glossary. I also like MLB.com’s one-sentence explanation: "Its best use is for deciphering the impact of a specific player or play on a game's outcome." It’s a fun stat, but it has its limitations. For example, fielders don’t get any credit for WPA from key defensive plays. 10. Chili Davis, 1991 Game 3, .303 WPA Chili only had one plate appearance in this game, but it was a big one. With the Twins trailing 4-2 in the top of the eighth inning, Brian Harper led things off by reaching on an error. Davis came off the bench to pinch hit for the pitcher and Atlanta countered by bringing in Alejandro Pena to face him. Davis swatted a laser beam for an opposite-field homer to tie the game. Unfortunately, the Twins would eventually fall in the 12th inning. 9. Carl Willis, 1991 Game 6, .334 WPA Willis became the third Twins pitcher to appear in the seventh inning of this game after starter Scott Erickson was lifted and Mark Guthrie, the first man out of the pen, got into some further trouble. The first man Willis faced hit into a force out that scored the tying run from third base. Willis then struck out David Justice to end the seventh and worked scoreless frames in both the eighth and ninth innings to keep the game tied, helping set the stage for ... we'll get to that in a minute. 8. Kevin Tapani, 1991 Game 2, .335 WPA This was a great bend-but-don’t-break performance from Tapani. He gave up a pair of runs over eight innings, but got outs when he needed them most. He also may have gotten a little help from his first baseman. Wait, let me rephrase that, Tapani was bailed out by Ron Gant, who inexplicably just fell right off first base. Atlanta scratched across runs on sacrifice flies in the second and fifth innings. Scott Leius led off the eight with a go-ahead homer before Rick Aguilera nailed down the save in the ninth. 7. Les Straker, 1987 Game 3, .372 WPA Straker pitched six shutout innings before exiting this game with a 1-0 lead. He gave up four hits and two walks while tallying four strikeouts. Straker’s position on this list surprised me, but six shutout innings goes a long way toward helping a team win and this was a tight ballgame. Unfortunately, the Cardinals got to Juan Berenguer for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and cruised to victory from there. 6. Frank Viola, 1987 Game 7, .378 WPA Viola gave up a pair of runs in the second inning, but it was all sweet music from there. He struck out seven Cardinal batters over eight innings while limiting St. Louis to six hits and did not walk a batter. From the end of that shaky second frame forward, he retired 11 consecutive batters. Viola exited the game with a 4-2 lead and Jeff Reardon pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to close out the victory. 5. Jim Kaat, 1965 Game 2, .393 WPA Sandy Koufax was incredible in this series, but Kaat managed to outduel him in this one. It was 0-0 until the bottom of the sixth inning when the Twins tallied a pair of runs off Koufax. Kaat gave up his only run of the game in the top of the seventh, but the Twins scored three more runs against the Dodgers’ bullpen to win 5-1. Kaat pitched a complete game, giving up seven hits, all of them singles. He also had a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the eighth inning to score the team’s final two runs. 4. Mike Pagliarulo, 1991 Game 4, .399 WPA This is the highest WPA game that came in a Twins loss. Pagliarulo opened the scoring with an RBI single off John Smoltz in the second inning. He added another base hit in the fourth before hitting a go-ahead solo homer in the seventh. So that’s a 3-for-3 day off a future Hall of Famer in which Pags drove in the team’s only two runs of the contest. He was pulled in the ninth inning to avoid a lefty-lefty matchup against Mike Stanton and the Braves won it on a walk-off sac fly in the bottom half of that inning. 3. Mudcat Grant, 1965 Game 6, .420 WPA (pitching + hitting) What a performance. Mudcat not only pitched a complete game, but he also socked a three-run dinger. Grant didn’t even give up a hit until the top of the fifth inning, after Bob Allison already secured him a two-run lead with a home run in the previous frame. Grant was just the seventh pitcher to homer in a World Series game and only six more hurlers have gone deep in the Fall Classic since. The last to do it was Joe Blanton (Phillies, 2008). 2. Kirby Puckett, 1991 Game 6, .593 WPA The big moment here was Kirby’s walk-off home run in the 11th inning, but he had an incredible game leading up to that moment. In his first at-bat, Puckett drove in Chuck Knoblauch on a triple. He later scored on a Shane Mack base hit. Puckett then made that incredible catch up against the plexiglass in the third inning (not accounted for by WPA), and delivered a game-tying sacrifice fly in the fifth. With the game still tied at 3-3 in the eighth inning, Puckett recorded a single and stole second base, though was stranded there. The next time he came up was in the 11th. And we will see you tomorrow night. Speaking of which ... 1. Jack Morris, 1991 Game 7, .845 WPA Of course it’s Morris, and it’s not even close. A 10-inning shutout in which the score was tied 0-0 the entire time he was on the mound? We’ll probably never see anything like it again. Atlanta got a runner to second base with one out in both the second and third innings. They got a man there with two down in the fourth. In the fifth, they had a runner at third with one out. In the eighth inning, they had a man on third with nobody out (hat tip to some Knoblauch deception on that one). Morris got out of every jam. When he needed a strikeout, he got one. The one moment when he desperately needed a double play, he got it. Morris would not be beaten on that day. View full article

A new NFL champion will be crowned in at US Bank Stadium later this evening, which will set off a massive celebration in the new champ’s home city. Parties, parades, more merchandise than you can imagine and, of course, commemorative souvenir special sections in their newspapers. Let’s take a quick look back at the Star Tribune’s special sections from the 1987 and 1991 World Series for old times’ sake. Game 7 of the 1987 World Series was Sunday, Oct. 25, and the special section was published that following Thursday. The cover was a giant picture from the parade with this box of text with the headline “Minnesota Magic.” That may be a little difficult to read, so I typed it up below. I get goosebumps every time I read it. “America, you gotta believe.” The banner hanging in the Metrodome outfield in Game 7 shouted the conviction of a baseball team and its fans. It’s finally Minnesota's turn to be No. 1. World Champions. They were a team of strugglers, overachievers, regular guys — long on heart, short on superstars. That was the best part because it was so Minnesota. A team considered so unlikely to win it all that Las Vegas took 150-1 odds against the Twins. It seemed magical. The Twins were unbeatable in the Dome, where fans created the ultimate home-field advantage. Commissioner Peter Ueberroth watched the World Series and declared, “These are the best baseball fans I have ever seen.” The Minnesota Twins made sports history this October. You helped make it happen. Now remember.This photo of Kent Hrbek losing his mind — arms up in celebration, dogpile already starting to form — is a classic. You can’t talk about a Twins title without mentioning the Homer Hanky. Here’s a great ad from the paper: Along with all the ring, special news coverage, merchandising and all that stuff, winning a title gives you the opportunity to do all sorts of other silly stuff, like make music videos. Here’s an ad for the Berenguer Boogie: What was the Berenguer Boogie? Thankfully someone has uploaded it to YouTube, because words can’t do it justice: Game 7 of the 1991 World Series was on Sunday Oct. 27 and, again, the special section was released the following Thursday, which was Halloween. Hmmm, Halloween 1991 … why does that day seem to stick out for some reason? … It was a series to savor, indeed. A variation of this iconic photo of Dan Gladden and an upended Greg Olsen made the cover of Sports Illustrated. Dazzle was tagged out on the play, which came in Game 1 of the series, but the Twins had already built a four-run lead by then. Here’s another just incredible shot: The Catch. Kirby looks like he must’ve found a trampoline hidden on the warning track to catapult himself that high off the ground. Twins fans looked on with bated breath, but we know Kirby wasn’t going to let the Twins lose that night. His walkoff homer later that evening went to nearly the same spot. Of course, Puckett’s blast cleared the 13-foot tall plexiglass wall and Jack Buck delivered one of the most famous home run calls of all time. Don't worry, we'll get to Jack Morris and Game 7 a little later today. Let’s get some good vibes flowing. What are some of your favorite memories from the Twins’ World Series championships? The Twin Cities are buzzing with the Super Bowl in town, but what was the aftermath of those championship seasons like? View full article

It was a week filled with questions. When is Yu Darvish going to finally sign? How do the prospects stack up? Should the Twins extend Brian Dozier? Is a pitch clock a good idea? What times should games start? And, for the love of Pete, when in the world IS YU DARVISH GOING TO SIGN?!?!?!?! 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, Jan. 26 to Thursday, Feb. 1. The Twins Almanac for Jan 28–Feb 3 | Matt Johnson Gleeman & The Geek, Ep 353: Waiting on Yu | John Bonnes Here's How The Experts Are Viewing Twins Prospects | Nick Nelson Get To Know Twins RHP Prospect Bailey Ober | Seth Stohs Seth's Twins On Deck Podcast (Episode 4) | Seth Stohs Dozier Debate: Contract Extension? Pace of Play? | Cody Christie Do The Twins Need To Add a Right-Handed Bat? | Seth Stohs Can Extending Relief Appearances Address Baseball’s Pace of Play Concerns? | Tom Froemming Open Windows | Nick Nelson Top 10 Twins Players Under 25 (1-5) | Cody Christie Top 15 Minnesota Twins Players | Seth Stohs Why The Twins May Opt For Short-Term SP Commitment | Nick Nelson A Central Of Historic Proportions | Ted Schwerzler Twins Daily Blogs Perseverance Plays Role For Baseball and Puerto Rico By Ted Schwerzler After narrowly missing the bulk of Hurricane Irma's effects, Puerto Rico will look back on Wednesday September 20, 2017 as a day it won't soon forget. Hurricane Maria makes landfall and demolishes the small island. A place that has become a growing epicenter for baseball talent, and set to host a Major League Baseball series in 2018, was simply devastated. This isn't a tale of the destruction however, but instead a look at the resolve of each part involved.Free Agent Starters and Rotation Candidates: By The Numbers (Part I) By Greg Logan While we wait to hear whether Darvish picks the Twins or sends the front office scrambling for Plan B, let's take a look at how the top four free agent starters – Darvish, Jake Arrieta, Lance Lynn and Alex Cobb – stack up against the existing Twins rotation candidates by the numbers. Today we'll start with rate stats, and I'll follow up with a "Part II" that takes a deeper look at the major WAR and projection models.Whine Line Investigation: Explanation for a Boring Off-season By Vanimal46 ANND Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: Detective Edition! I'm your LEAD Investigator, Vanimal, along with my trusty sidekick, the intern. Since we last checked in, both of us set down the PS4 controllers, put MLB The Show back in the case, and studied for our Private Investigator license! In the real world, we noticed that it's January 30th, and 8 out of the top 10 free agents have still yet to sign! It's a strange, boring off-season... There's been several STRONG takes about why this is happening... And we're no different! We decided to put on our Deerstalker, and dive deep into the REAL reason why recent off-seasons are boring...Student Mailbag: Homerun Rates v. Strikeout Rates By Matthew Lenz Most of you probably don't know that I am a high school math teacher and junior varsity baseball coach. Recently, a student of mine asked for me to write about the record breaking home run and strikeout rates from the 2017 season. I'm going to dive into those numbers for you today, but then also look at how these numbers are reflected in the projected 2018 opening day lineup for our beloved Twins.Also, Thrylos has begun sharing his top 60 prospect list. 2018 Twins Off-Season top 60 Prospect List: Introduction 2018 Twins Off-Season top 60 Prospect List: 56-60 2018 Twins Off-Season top 60 Prospect List: 51-55 Poll of the Week Earlier this week, I asked when games should be scheduled to start during the week. The Twins currently schedule all their night games for 7:10 PM, but some teams are starting to mix in some earlier times. Based on the results of my poll, maybe the Twins should consider doing the same. Just 27 percent of people voted to keep things as they are. What do you think? https://twitter.com/BaseballByTom/status/958795703509241857?ref_src=twcamp%5Eshare%7Ctwsrc%5Em5%7Ctwgr%5Eemail%7Ctwcon%5E7046%7Ctwterm%5E1 Video of the Week The Patriots or the Eagles are going to win a world championship in Minneapolis. I figured it was a good time to break this out, but it’s also just really great to hear Vin Scully’s voice. eBay Item of the Week Speaking of the 1991 World Series, check out this sweet knock off Kirby “Stop the Chop” shirt. At $50, it’s too rich for my blood, but still a pretty fun T-shirt. Calling All Bloggers!!! 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. Calling All Readers!!! I don’t want to leave you out, either. If there's anything you'd love to read about next week, please let us know in the comments. Sunday! Sunday! Sunday! Be here Sunday for loads of Twins content. The Super Bowl signifies that it’s time to click into baseball mode, but we’re not waiting until after the game’s over. From earlier in the morning all they way up until right before kickoff, the site is going to be pumping out articles, many of them from the fresh voices you’ve seen emerge in the blog area. Please join us for what should make for a fun day of Twins talk. Image courtesy of Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports View full article

I have some more details to share about Sunday. There will be a new article posted at Twins Daily every hour on the hour from 7 am all the way until right before kickoff (4:30). We'll be talking about 1961, 1965, 1987, 1991, the greatest Twins player at each position and a whole lot about pitching -- both guys currently on the club and free agents. I'll also be sharing my top 10 favorite Twins commercials, so we'll have some history, some analytical stuff and a few fun things sprinkled in.

This is the part that's getting more difficult for me. It's less about how long the games last and more about how late they go. I'd be satisfied if MLB made no changes regarding pace and simply started all the games a half hour earlier instead. But I'm also behind any effort to cut out dead time. Meg Rowley at FanGraphs wrote a detailed recap of all of Brian McCann's mound visits in Game 7 of the World Series. All 12 of them. All four and a half minutes of them. Do I care all that much if a game ends about five minutes earlier? Not really, but I also don't need to watch McCann whisper into his glove for five minutes either.

There's already great content that drops at Twins Daily each Sunday, but we're going to do a big blowout leading up to the start of the Super Bowl this week. I've been working with some of the new voices who've emerged in the blog section to line up a bunch of extra articles and give them an opportunity to be featured. There will be new articles published from early in the morning all the way up until kickoff. Here's where you come in. We can't do this without you. I know Super Sunday is a busy day full of parties and celebrations, but if you're going to be around and are jonseing for some baseball talk, Twins Daily is going to be the place to be. Please stop by, join in on the discussion and leave feedback for some of these new voices. If you're tied up Sunday, no problem. These articles aren't going anywhere. Hopefully the discussions will spill over into Monday and we can all catch baseball fever. Pitchers and catchers report on Valentine's Day!

The idea to put a minimum on how many batters a reliever must face? Agreed, I don't like that at all. The idea that managers should start extended relief appearances on their own? Especially in low-leverage situations? That I'd like very much. Let's take a look at Taylor Rogers. Of his team-leading 69 appearances, 20 of them came in the seventh inning or later when the score was separated by at least three runs. That's nearly 30 percent of his outings. At the same time, Rogers only recorded four or more outs eight times all season. This is from a guy who threw 174.0 innings for Rochester in 2015. He's obviously not a guy you want facing a tough right-hander in a tight game, but why not let him get 5-6 outs if you have a 3+ run lead? Also, take a look at how often these guys threw 15 or fewer pitches in an outing Rogers 48/69 (69.6%) Belisle 35/62 (56.5%) Duffey 19/56 (33.9%) Pressly 30/57 (52.6%) Sure, the minor leagues are about development, but guys are being developed to pitch in multiple innings in the minor leagues. That's relevant data.