NCtwinsfan

Twins currently tied with Oakland for third WC spot. (A week ago who would have guessed that!) 4/5 of ALC division. Tigers with best record, Guards tied for 2nd. AL Central- 109-99 AL East- 99-104 AL West 101-102 Just imagine our record if we played in the soft AL East, currently the worst record in baseball!

Oh, I thought this was going to be a Rickroll for sure

This one’s fascinating because as a pinch hitter you are theoretically coming in because of some advantage. It seems as unlikely as a team losing 18 straight playoff games. Amazing!

I enjoy the statistical element of baseball, especially anomalies and curiosities like Austin Martin’s score rate, and Luis Arraez batting average, regardless of their overall significance or insignificance to winning. I still follow Arraez closely, and rooting for him to win three straight batting titles in two leagues for three teams. He recently moved back atop the national league in BA. As I was reviewing the list I noticed there were no qualified Twins players near the top (Castro at no. 56 with .259!). I looked through the other traditional stats, and again no Twins near the top of anything really, most not even in the top 50. HRs- Jeffers at no. 52 with 18. RBI - again Jeffers at no. 75 with 54. SB - Castro at no. 67 with 12. Runs - Castro at no. 25 with 70. On the pitching side - ERA - Ober #26 and Ryan at #30 Strike outs Lopez #16 and Ryan #18 are further up WHIP - Ryan #5 and Ober #6 are probably the highest ranked individual stats I found. Maybe in some of the more advanced statistics we have some leaders, but on a surface level it is interesting to me that the Twins have a top team in terms of W/L record, but no players who stand out in any one statistical category (qualified at least). I don’t really have any insight or comments on if this is meaningful, but would love to hear any others thoughts on if there is anything to this. Is it injuries, by design, luck? Ultimately for me the only stat that really matters is the teams W/L record and the end of the season, but it would be fun to have an individual standout to root for. Are there any stats (advanced or otherwise) where a Twins player is near the top or leading in 2024?

Looking at the standings this morning, I had a similar thought, 2 months in, the AL central is looking good. The current record of each division: AL East - 156-125 AL Central - 146-137 AL West - 127-158 NL East - 139-140 NL Central-136-141 NL West - 140-145 Currently only two divisions have winning records, AL East and Central. The AL East has a better record overall, so I would say there is an argument to be made that by record the East is the best division right now, but there’s more than one way to skin a cat. I would not have guessed the AL central to be this good, or this many teams with winning records either.

I get that, and I’m not broken up over it, 8 know that is how professional sports works, and money talks loudly and factors heavily in these decisions. Still, to me it is similar to overhearing your wife talk about how she would rather be with her high school sweetheart, but chose you because you were the safer, financially stable one. Yeah, you gave her your heart and she chose you, but really her heart is elsewhere. I fully expect JD to be a professional, and it’s only baseball. Anyway, in the end, yes it’s alright.

Yup. Even seemed disappointed that he signed here, but because no one else was even close to offering as much as the twins, he had to choose Minnesota. These two lines in particular: ““It was tough to make that decision, but ultimately (the Twins offer) wasn’t in the same realm for me as far as financially is concerned,” Donaldson said of his decision to leave the Braves after a one-year stint.” and, “Ultimately it didn’t end up the way that we wanted it to.” That stings a little as a twins fan.

I realize Dozier and Altuve are not the same player, Altuve is also younger and better. But Altuve getting 5yr/$151mil seems like it could affect what Dozier might get in free agency. Not that he will get close to that, but maybe more than the numbers I have seen thrown around so far. Anyone else have an idea if Altuve's contract will have any impact on how much Dozier gets?

I was not responding to you, or anyone in particular, just throwing my own thoughts out there. I agree with your post above. We should not be disrespecting people who are using a system to it's full potential, especially if we are supporting that system. In some cases, we don't always have much of a choice. But I agree, with baseball, we do have a choice because we don't need it.

If I am going to be ok with players demanding to get their maximum market value, I think I ought to be ok with owners also trying to make as much money as possible. Most people seem to be out to make as much money as possible, and have that right in our society today. To me it should not matter if it is the on field product, or the owner/management behind the scenes. Musicians and actors need producers to get paid, athletes need owners to get paid. I don't see it as the owners making money off of players, it is the owners making money from the fans, and giving a portion of that to the players. Fans make the owners rich based on how much they are willing to spend. I get that owners are the ones making the most money, they often seem distant and cold, and don't really seem to do much beyond being professionally wealthy, and it is the actors, singers, and athletes who are the face of our entertainment, and the ones we root for. But that is how our system works, and fans are the ones who give their money for entertainment. And we give that money to ownership. It seems to me in my simple view of things, it is the fan's money making owners very wealthy, who in turn are making the athletes very wealthy. I don't particularly care for the system, I don't like paying $200 for a family to go to a game, $12 for a beer, and $100 for a shirt with another persons name on it, and so I don't. (I listen to the radio, or watch the games on MLB.TV with the free subscription my mobile carrier gives me - advertisers paying on my behalf) But if I am willing to do that, and if I think players should be free to seek maximum dollars, I don't see why owners should not be allowed to as well.

Yeah, I definitely can't top that. It's nice to know there is at least one other fan in NC though.

Sorry, I beg to differ Anyway, Congrats to Molitor!

I was re-surprised to notice the Twins have only been shut out 2 times so far this year by my count (June 22, White Sox and August 1, San Diego). Last year they were shut out 8 times. On the other side, they have scored 10+ runs 14 times so far (one was in a loss to Detroit), with totals in those games of - 11, 14, 11, 20, 10, 11, 11, 10, 12, 10, 11, 17, 10, and 16.

Interesting read: http://www.espn.com/mlb/beisbolexperience/story/_/id/19606693/how-twins-proving-value-defense It's not just twins fans/writers. There is a lot of praise for Buxton in that article. A lot. The point I liked the most was that defense/fielding seems to be much less prone to "luck" and inconsistent fluctuation. The author says he is much more confident in Buxton maintaining his range than Aaron Judge maintaining his .405 BABIP. Buxton may be up and down offensively, but I feel pretty confident in saying his defense will almost always be excellent. Also mentions the discrepancy between what teams will pay for runs prevented vs runs created is significant.

Probably

Since I love comparisons - It was not until July 10 last year that the Twins had 13 road wins... and were 13-29 ...and they had 5 road losses on April 9

Brian Dozier, and Max Keplers streak there a couple months back have been the bright spots for me. I think of those White Sox teams a few years back that lived and died off the Home Run. Power hitting is really fun to watch, and certainly a great tool. But it can't be the only thing, and is most effective with runners on. I want to see more of that. The thing that stood out most on that last list for me was Joe Mauer. Wow, it is so easy to forget how good he was.

Great article. Arizona's situation has been nagging at me all year. I am generally optimistic when it comes to the twins, but even going out and dumping a bunch of money on top rotation arms doesn't guarantee success. Furthermore, it makes me skeptical that even the best GM, new manager, or "ace" pitchers can fix the Twins. I fall more in the camp that a majority of blame for a bad team falls on the players. Zack Greinke is playing poorly. Even individual players actually playing well doesn't always translate to wins. I think what I am trying to say, I am not sure I believe changing all the coaches, FO, etc, is going to suddenly make the Twins better short or even long term. I think winning is much more complex than any collection of coaches, managers, or players. Starting out with a good product helps, players with a good track record, FO with new ideas, etc. But a team starts winning when a bunch of players are playing well at the same time. Is winning actually something one can plan or organize? I don't know.