Ponson vs. Perkins
I don't know what it is, but I have this impression that pitchers heading to the Yankees--whether through the minors or in a trade--seem to regress when they put on the pinstripes. Ponson, for instance, had a fairly respectable 4.47 xFIP in Texas this season, but now has a 5.09 xFIP in [...]

Slowey vs. Davies
Using Myron Logan's analysis of RZR data and VORP, a comparison of overall player value:
Defense, runs above average at his position:
8.06 -- Gomez
-3.45 -- Delmon
Offense, VORP (runs above replacement hitter at his position):
-4.5 -- Gomez
6.5 -- Delmon
Total:
3.6 runs -- Gomez
3.1 runs -- Delmon
Gomez is bad in obvious ways, Delmon is bad in somewhat [...]

Delmon Young was intentionally walked three times in the last two games. Going into Seattle, Delmon had three walks over the previous 35 games combined.
On the bright side, Delmon did hit .326 over those 35 games, so there's that. If only he could find his power stroke...

Padilla vs. Light Rail
So far this season, Baker has gotten 84% of his strikeouts as strikeouts swinging. That caught me by surprise. Santana, who got a ton of swinging strikeouts when his change-up dropped off the table, has 82% of his career strikeouts as strikeouts swinging. Average is 74% of strikeouts as [...]

Andrew visits with SBG Nation Citizen FirstTimeLongTime and gives us all a better look at our citizen from the East.

Laffey v. Slowey
I didn't get to watch the game yesterday, but looking at the box score, it was good to see that the Twins put a bunch of runs on the board. Delmon's been pretty hot lately, which I am really glad to see. Having him hit well over the second half of [...]

Robertson v. Light Rail
Last night's loss was certainly a tough one, but it's a long season, Citizens, hang in there.
2008 VORP for Twins acquired in offseason trades:
3.5 -- Delmon Young
1.2 -- Carlos Gomez
0.3 -- Brendan Harris
-0.8 -- Craig Monroe
2008 VORP for Tigers acquired in offseason trades:
17.2 -- Miguel Cabrera
6.2 -- Edgar Renteria
-6.4 -- Dontrelle Willis
-7.6 [...]

Andrew provides a photo recap of the 2nd Annual SBG Convention.

Kevin Slowey vs. Luke Hochevar
This pitching matchup could wind up repeating itself quite a bit in the future. (Mainly since we play KC about eleventy billion times per year--seriously, I like an unbalanced schedule but 19 games against an opponent in a season just gets tedious after a while. Variety, spice, etc.)
Slowey has [...]

Livan Hernandez (4.66 xFIP) vs. Zack Grienke (4.04 xFIP)
Dudes, we're totally getting a Delmon again. I noted last night, and will again note, that had Lew Ford made the same boneheaded mistake that Delmon made last night, I guarantee he would have been riding pine today. And Ford's career OPS+ (96 for those [...]

Jesse Litsch vs. Kevin Slowey
Litsch has been pretty good so far this year. Slightly above average in ground balls, average K-rate, and outstanding walk rate. All combined together, he's sporting a 3.69 xFIP.
I'm not really worried at all about Slowey so far. 6.9 K/G, 0.0 BB/G, and 37% GB% are all better [...]

Dice-K vs. Glen Perkins
Dice-K has 27 walks in 40.7 IP this year. Holy walks, batman. I've got a good feeling about Morneau vs. Dice-K today.
For all the same reasons I don't really believe that much in Jon Lester as a top pitching prospect, I have serious doubts about Perkins. Mainly, I just [...]