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Troy Larson

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Blog Entries posted by Troy Larson

  1. Troy Larson
    Originally posted at http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/2014/05/07/having-13-pitchers-can-cripple-a-team/
     
    For most of last year, and almost all of this season so far, the Twins have carried 13 pitchers on their 25 man roster. However, having a 13 man pitching staff has it’s drawbacks, especially when you have a player who’s day to day as in the case of Joe Mauer, who’s currently day to day with back spasms.
     
    With one less player on the bench, you don’t have as much flexibility. On Monday, the Twins had all three catchers in their starting lineup. Last night, Trevor Plouffe was the DH with Eduardo Escobar playing third.
     
    As you can see, the Twins were hamstringed. On Monday, they only had two infielders on the bench in Danny Santana and Escobar. Luckily, both of them could play in the outfield if needed. The real issue would have been what do you do for your backup catcher. More than likely, if Kurt Suzuki was injured during the game, Chris Herrmann would have had to shift from right to catcher with either Escobar or Santana playing in the outfield. If Josmil Pinto was to move from dH to catcher, the Twins would have had to give up the DH spot in their lineup.
     
    Last’s night’s game would have presented it’s own challenges as well. The challenging part wouldn’t have been so much what to do for a backup catcher since Pinto was on the bench. the challenge would more likely come from if an infielder was hurt. The Twins did have Pedro Floremon on the bench, but he’s best suited for the middle infield.
     
    Since Plouffe was the DH, the Twins would have to had to give up their DH spot if they needed Plouffe to come in at first or third. Plus, Plouffe can play in the outfield if there’s an injury to one of the outfielders.
     
    When you look at the roster as it’s currently set up, there sin’t a lot of flexibility. Plouffe, Santana and Escobar can play in the outfield if needed. However, the fact that there are only two players on the bench really cripples your team, especially when one is your backup catcher.
     
    The word is the Twins will be making a roster move soon to replace a pitcher with another outfielder which will help resolve the short bench. Oswaldo Arcia is currently at AAA Rochester where he’s batting .333/.379/.444 with 3 RBIs and 3 runs scored. Also, Mauer should be returning soon since he’s back is feeling a lot better.
     
    As you can see, having a 13 man pitching staff can cripple a team significantly, especially when you have a player who’s not playing because of an injury. Not only that, but when you don’t have a lot of players that can play multiple positions, that will cripple your bench even more significantly. If the Twins can go down to a 12 man pitching staff, it will significantly help the club.
  2. Troy Larson
    Originally posted at http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/2014/04/30/a-look-at-chris-colabellos-season-so-far/
     
    This past offseason, Chris Colabello received an offer to go overseas and play in South Korea. Instead, he decided that he'd stay here and go to spring training and see if he could be a major league player. He made the 25 man roster out of spring training and has exceeded expectations so far.
     
    In 23 games, Colabello has batted .308/.351/.505 with 3 homeruns, 27 RBIs and 11 runs scored. That's a far cry from his 2013 campaign where in 55 games he batted .194/.287/.344 with 7 home runs, 17 RBIs and 14 runs scored.
     
    Right now, Colabello is on pace to have 190 RBIs this season, one behind the record held by Hack Wilson, who drove in 191 runs for the Chicago Cubs in 1930. What's even more remarkable is that Colabello is currently on pace to hit only 21 home runs this season. When Wilson set the RBI record, he hit 56 home runs.
     
    What has helped Colabello to drive in all of those runs is the players that bat ahead of him in the lineup. Trevor Plouffe, who's batted third most of the season has an on base percentage of .419. Joe Mauer, despite having a unlike Mauer batting average of .266, has a on base percentage of .378. And there's Brian Dozier who typically leads off who has an on base percentage of .354.
     
    When Colabello bats with runners in scoring position, he's batting .345 with 20 RBIs and 2 home runs. When there's a runner on first base, Colabello is batting .409 with 6 runs batted in.
     
    Logic has it that Colabello's success probably won't continue at the current rate it is. Teams will eventually pitch him differently if they haven't already. Not only that, the players that bat in front of him in the lineup will also eventually have a slump.
     
    As it stands now, Colabello is poised to have a sucessful season, The potensial is there for him to have a record breaking season in the RBI category once he starts hitting more home runs.
  3. Troy Larson
    Hello Twins fans! Starting at 10, Dad and I will once again talk Twins topics. And as always, we'll take your calls.
     
    To listen to the show, click on the following link.
    http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-troy-larson-show/2014/04/29/troys-twins-chat
  4. Troy Larson
    Hello folks, My dad and I will talk Twins baseball once again. The show starts at ten and we'll take calls as always. The hot topic for tonight will be instant replay.
     
    To listen to the show, click on the following link.http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-troy-larson-show/2014/04/15/troys-twins-chat
  5. Troy Larson
    hello Twins Fans, Once again, my dad and I will host Troy's Twins Chat tonight starting at ten. We'll discuss the other managers that have won 1000 games in their MLB careers to give a historical perspective of the company Ron Gardenhire is in. We'll also discuss the shortstop position. And, we'll take your calls.
     
    To listen to the show, click on the following link.
    http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-troy-larson-show/2014/04/09/troys-twins-chat
  6. Troy Larson
    Hello Twins fans. Once again, my dad and I will talk Twins starting at ten. We'll take your calls. We'll also predict how the American Central will shake out this year.
     
    To listen to the show, go to the following link.
    http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-troy-larson-show/2014/04/01/troys-twins-chat
  7. Troy Larson
    Originally posted at http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/keys-to-the-twins-2014-season/
     
    It's getting close to the start of a new season for the Twins. I'm optimistic that the Twins could have a 500 season. You could say I'm being overly optimistic here, but a new season always is a fresh start.
     
    However, there are some things that Twins will have to do in order to have a more successful Season this year. Their three consecutive seasons of 90 plus losses is certainly not something to be proud of, unless you want to draft as high as possible in the draft. So, here are some things that the Twins will have to do in order to improve this year.
     
    Last season, the Twins were second to last in pitching in the American League with an ERA of 4.55. The Twins Starters had the worst ERA in baseball of 5.26. This year, the Twins should have an improved rotation with the additions of Ricky Nolasco and Phil Hughes. If Mike Pelfrey improves from last year, it would be a big help. Plus, most of the bullpen that was fifth in the AL with an ERA at 3.50 is intact.
     
    As for the lineup, last season the Twins scored 614 runs, good for 13th in the AL. They hit 151 Home runs, good for 11th in the Al.
    Brian Dozier led the team with 18 homeruns with Justin Morneau second at 17. Dozier also led the team with 72 runs scored while Morneau led the team with 74 RBIs.
     
    Right now, the lineup is the biggest question mark going into the season which might explain why a lot of fans still feel that the Twins will have another 90 loss season. The additions of Jason Kubel and Kurt Suzuki should help the offense provided Kubel performs close to what he did in 2012 with the Arizona Diamondbacks when he batted .253/.327/.506 with 30 HRs, 90 RBIs and 75 runs scored. Plus, if Josh Willingham can bounce back, it would also be a help.
     
    Also, if the Twins can get the team to steal more bases, it would also be a plus as far as scoring runs is concerned. Last season, the Twins stole 52 bases, good for 13th in the AL with Pedro Floremon leading the team with 15. Brian Dozier was second at 14 and Aron Hicks stole 9 in 81 games.
     
    In all, I think the Twins have the potensial to have a much improved season. I don't think we'll win the division, but I do think that there is optimism to think that the Twins could potensially be around the 500 mark this season. So, let's sit back and get ready for the start of the 2014 season.
  8. Troy Larson
    Originally posted at
    http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/2014/03/27/given-recent-trade-history-trevor-may-has-to-pan-out-for-the-twins/
     
    When the Twins traded Ben Revere to the Philadelphia Phillies during the 2012-2013 offseason, it looked like the Twins were winners in that trade, having received a couple of pitchers. Vance Worley had previous pitching experience in the majors with the Phillies. Trevor May was one of the Phillies better pitching prospects.
     
    Since then, Worley has turned into a batting practice pitcher this spring for the Twins to trot out against their opponents. That’s a far cry from Worley being the Twins opening day starter last season. In fact, he only lasted for a couple of months with the big club before his 1-5 record and 7.21 ERA had the cleaning lady emptying his locker and packing his bags to send along with Worley to AAA Rochester where he eventually suffered an elbow injury.
    Because Worley wasn’t performing in spring training like the Twins were hoping, they sent him through waivers last week. Since he wasn’t claimed, he was sent to Rochester. Last Tuesday, Worley was traded to the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash.
     
    Meanwhile, May had an okay season at AA New Britain last season. With the Rock Cats, he pitched in 27 games where he had a record of 9-9 and an ERA of 4.51. He struck out 159 batters and walked 67.
     
    While with the Phillies, Revere batted .305/.338/.352. He scored 37 runs while playing in 88 games. Despite not having as good of runs scored and RBI totals compared with the previous two seasons while with the Twins, Revere certainly sounds like a better player to have in centerfield than Aaron Hicks right now.
    The Twins are counting on Hicks to start the season in center with Byron Buxton waiting in the wings. The eventual plan is to move Hicks to left once Buxton is called up. They won’t bring back Josh Willingham next season unless he performs significantly better than last season.
     
    There’s also the trades the Twins have made in the past decade. Most of those trades haven’t worked out in the Twins favor. Proably the best trade was trading outfielder Bobby Kielty to the Torronto Blue Jays for outfielder Shannon Stewart who helped lead the Twins to the second of three consecutive central division titles.
     
    During the offseason, the Twins traded catcher A.J. Pierzynski to the San Fransisco Giants for pitchers Joe Nathan, Fransisco Liriano and Boof Bonser. Not only that, they traded pitcher Eric Milton to the Phillies for utility player Nick Punto and pitcher Carlos Silva. Most of these players would help the Twins win the Central Division in four out of the next six seasons at one time or another.
     
    Since then, a more recent history of trades has help send the Twins in to three consecutive losing seasons. One such trade was trading pitcher Matt Garza and shortstop Jason Bartlett to the Tampa Bay Rays for outfielder Delmon Young and infielder Brendan Harris after the 2007 season. Garza and Bartlett would help the Rays to the 2008 World Series. Meanwhile. Young had one solid season for the Twins in over three and a half seasons before being traded to the Detroit Tigers.
     
     
    That same offseason, the Twins traded pitcher Johan Santana to the New York Mets for outfielder Carlos Gomez and three other pitching prospects. Gomez didn’t seem to quite put it together in two seasons for the Twins and was traded to the Milwaukee Brewers for shortstop J.J. Hardy.
     
    After the 2010 season, Hardy was traded to the Baltimore Orioles for pitchers Jim Hoey and Brett Jacobson. Hoey was inconsistent for the Twins that season and Jacobson never pitched with the big club and was eventually let go.
     
    Shortstop Tsuyoshi Nishioka was brought in from Japan to replace Hardy. That turned into a disaster thanks to a broken leg early in the season and was not able to adjust to playing baseball here in the U.S. He just looked overmatched at the plate and was eventually let go.
     
    And of course, you could mention the Wilson Ramez trade for Matt Capps during the 2010 season. If it wasn’t for that trade, there would have been someone to replace Joe Mauer as catcher although Josmil Pinto looks like he could be a solid catcher for the Twins in future years.
     
    Given the recent trade history, the Twins should hope that Trevor May can contribute to their team’s success in the future. it might be harder for him to be in the starting rotation given who the Twins have for starting pitching, but May could be someone to help contribute in the bullpen in the future. If May isn’t successful, it looks like the Ben Revere trade will go down as another bad trade for the Twins.
  9. Troy Larson
    Spring Training is winding down for the Twins. Tune in at ten as my dad and I will talk about our experiences when we were at a Twins spring training game while vacationing in Fort Meyers. We'll also predict what the final roster will look like come opening day.
     
    To listen to the show live or to listen to it later, click on the following link. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-troy-larson-show/2014/03/25/troys-twins-chat
  10. Troy Larson
    hello Twins Fans! Tonight starting at ten, I'll once again host Troy's Twins Chat. My dad and I will talk about Twins topics. We'll take a look at some of the players on the Twins and how they are performing so far in spring training. If time permits, we may go into other MLB/sports topics.
     
    To listen to the show live or to listen to it later, click on the following link. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-troy-larson-show/2014/03/07/troys-twins-chat
  11. Troy Larson
    Originally published at http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/2014/02/27/the-bench-is-the-biggest-question-mark-heading-into-spring-training/
     
    In looking at the Twins roster picture, the bench seems to be the biggest question mark. Who makes the 25 man roster coming out of spring training on the bench will be based upon several scenarios.
     
    Recently, my dad and I did a half hour show where we discuss the roster at length. If you missed it, you can listen to it at the following link.
    http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-troy-larson-show/2014/02/25/troys-twins-chat
     
    The first scenario that will determine who will be on the bench is how many pitchers the Twins will carry this season. If they carry 13, the Twins are almost certain to have Chris Herremann as the backup catcher given the fact he can play first base and in the outfield. If they only go with 12 pitchers, then it gives them some flexibility as to who the backup catcher will be. It is almost certain that Josmil Pinto will not be the backup despite his solid September last season where he batted .342/.398/.566 with 4 homeruns, 12 rBIs and 10 runs scored. The only way Pinto would be on the roster to start the season is if he's catching at least a significant portion of the time wich would mean that free agent acquisition , Kurt Suzuki, is the backup at catcher or Pinto and Suzuki share the catching chores.
     
    Another scenario that would determine who is on the bench come opening day is who plays at shortstop. Pedro Florimon is currently not able to play a week of games this spring due to having his appendix removed. Plus, his hitting of .221/.281/.330 last season isn't going to help his chances of making the Twins roster.
     
    There are other potensial candidates who could be the starting shortstop come opening day. Eduardo Escobar is one. Last season, he spent a good portion of the season with the Twins as a utility player where he batted .236/.282/.345.
     
    Jason Bartlett could also have some potensial to be the everyday shortstop. However, this doesn't seem to be likely since indications are that Bartlett will be playing other positions this spring meaning that he's more likely to be trying to make the team as a utility player. He hasn't played in the majors for almost 2 years due to a strained right knee.
     
    How the outfield situation plays out this spring will also impact who is on the bench come opening day. Centerfield is probably the biggest question mark with Aaron Hicks and Alex Presley as the front runners with Darin Mastroianni and Byron Buxton as wild cards.
     
    If Hicks is the opening day centerfielder, it seems to be likely that Presley is likely your fourth outfielder. If Hicks isn't your starting centerfielder at the start of the season, then Presley will most likely be the starter with Mastroiani as the backup outfielder.
     
    Rightfield may be a question mark as well. Oswaldo Arcia is slated to be the rightfielder, but it's not set in stone given his 117 strikeouts in 351 at bats last season. If Arcia isn't the rightfielder, Chris Parmelee could potensially be the rightfielder along with Jason Kubel.
     
    And who the Twins have as their DH could also determine who is on the bench. Despite batting only .216/.293/.317 with 5 homeruns, 32 rbIs. and 21 runs scored between the Arizona Diamondbacks and Cleveland Indians last season, Kubel is the front runner for the DH position with Parmelee as another candidate.
     
    There are certainly plenty of question marks for the Twins in regards to their bench. They have a month to find answers. At this point, there are no definite answers as to who the Twins will have on the bench.
     
    I'm planning on doing another Troy's Twins Chat show next Thursday, the 6 of March at 10 p.m. I'll post the link to the broadcast where you can listen to it live or later next Thursday sometime during the day.
  12. Troy Larson
    Hello Twins fans.! Tonight, I'm going to co-host Troy's Twins Chat with my dad. We'll spend the majority of the time talking Twins topics and may also talk about the Major Leagues. If time permits, we may talk about other Minnesota sports topics.
     
    The show will start at 10 p.m. To listen to it live or to listen to it later, click on the following link.
    http://www.blogtalkradio.com/the-troy-larson-show/2014/02/25/troys-twins-chat
  13. Troy Larson
    Originally posted at http://troystwinsdugout.wordpress.com/2014/01/26/twins-fest-highlights/
    Hello Twins fans! Well, the Twins season is a couple of months away. I thought I’d share some of the highlights from my experience at Twins Fest atTarget Field yesterday. It was certainly a different experience from the years past at the Metrodome. Also, I think this is probably the best opportunity to experience certain parts of the ball park that fans normally wouldn’t go to during game days.
     
    To start with, dad and I didn’t get there till after three o’clock since we had some other commitment. Normally, dad and I go in the morning on Saturdays. We spent the first forty minutes or so hanging out in the Legend’s Club listening to the Twins Fest coverage on 96.3 KTWN. By the way, if you find Legend’s Club tickets on Stub Hub for $20, I’d do that for any Twins game. The tickets are normally $68. That way, you’ve a place to go when it rains. Then, the real highlights began. Dad and I started walking around. Next thing we know, a lady ushered us towards the press box.
     
    The press box has several doors to the various radio and tv booths along with the booths for the general managers of the Twins and visiting teams. The one thing I was surprised about was tat there were braille signs on each one of the doors. And for the Twins radio booth, the sign actually said, “John Gordon Radio Booth.” Funny thing is, I find it hard that the numbers for the different booths were decimals. Even some of the signs I read on the service level had a decimal for a number.
     
    Now, we’ll move on to some of the other highlights. Dad and I went outside to the concourse. It was sure quiet out there. We didn’t really have an actual plan in mind although we’d eventually make our way to where the Twins clubhouse was. When we came to an elevator, we were thinking of going up to check out the party deck that we’d heard about.
     
    Plans however changed when we got on the elevator. Dad asked a gentleman if we could go up to the party deck. We couldn’t, but round up on the service level.
     
    On the service level, there were several Twins offices and also the champions Club which is for the really expensive tickets. This is also where the Twins clubhouse and manager’s office were. We had to wait in line to get to tour the clubhouse, but the wait wasn’t long.
     
    First thing we checked out was the manager’s office. I’d say that it’s like most offices except that there was a podium along with some scorecards on the walls for various games in Ron Gardenhire’s career. Then we came to the clubhouse.
    The clubhouse I’d describe as an upscale locker room. Instead of lockers on either side, there were cubicles for the players. In the center were some coutches and chairs. Also, there’s a training room and a snack room as well.
     
    Dad and I didn’t do much after we toured the clubhouse. We went back to the Legend’s Club and listen to members of the Twins radio and television teams talk Twins baseball and didn’t leave till quarter of six. I’d say that if you want to go to something where you have increased access to the ball park, Twins Fest is the way to go provide it they have it a Target Field next year. I wouldn’t be surprised if they move it to the new Vikings stadium come 2017. For one thing, There aren’t a lot of things for little kids. Plus, they had to put a limit on how many fans could come. Having Twins Fest at the new Vikings stadium will allow for more activities and more fans to come.
     
    However, I’d say that this was an unique Twins Fest this year. I got to go to some of the other areas of the ball park. One thingI will say is it was sure weird not having a game going on at Target Field. But, it won’t be long till Spring Training starts. And once that happens, that means that the Twins season is not far off.
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