If I keep hearing rumors like this, I am going to have no choice but to come out of retirement. There are three main reasons that I'm against signing Casey Blake as a free agent.
1) Blake is barely better than a platoon of Harris and Buscher would be, and might be worse.
2) The Twins [...]
It took me 5 months and 25 days to give myself completely to the Minnesota Twins this year. In August, during a game log I wrote
How do you describe this season to someone who is not a Twins fan? Before this season started the pundits decreed "A rebuilding year for the Twins!" and I [...]
Detroit Tigers at Chicago White Sox
September 29, 2008
MINNEAPOLIS – There was dark talk in the Twin Cities, grumbling at water coolers and in watering holes and wire chatter on the newfangled Web logs of which the youngsters are so enamored these days. Those unencumbered by allegiance to the scrappy Minnesota club could reasonably assume those [...]
Game 151: Twins 9, Indians 12
Hello, everyone. Last night sure was a rough one, wasn’t it? The game, I mean, of course. And then that little 'incident' afterward. A real rollercoaster ride – the big first plunge, then the exhilarating climb, then another plunge that gives you that funny feeling in your stomach like you’re [...]
Game Time: 7:05 CDT EST and 6:05 CDT
Probable Pitchers:
Twins - Francisco Liriano (xFIP: 4.45 ; tRA+: 136 )
Tribe - Zach Jackson (xFIP: 4.44 ; tRA+: 147 )
Go Twins!
After getting rained out on Friday night, I again made the trip from DC to Baltimore to see the Twins play in person on Sunday. Although they lost, it was a fun game to watch. Being at Camden Yards always gets me excited for outdoor baseball in Minnesota. I've posted some pictures [...]
Results of the Roadtrip
At Angels: 2-2
At Mariners: 1-2
At A's: 2-2
At Blue Jays: 0-3
_________________
Total: 5-9, 0.321 WP
Before the road trip, SBG posted a poll asking how we felt the Twins would do. I, like most, chose that 7-8 wins would be alright. After a split with the team with the best record in the [...]
September is my favorite month of the baseball season. From April through August I’m pretty much focused on two teams – the Twins and whoever they play that day. But when September rolls around and Labor Day is in the rear view mirror, I start to scan the baseball horizon in earnest and ponder the [...]
Twins send Hamburger to Texas for Everyday Eddie.
The Minnesota Twins announced today that they have acquired lefthanded pitcher Eddie Guardado from the Texas Rangers in exchange for righthanded pitcher Mark Hamburger.
Guardado, 37, was 3-3, 3.65 ERA (49.1 ip, 20 er) and converted all four of his save opportunities in 55 appearances for the Rangers this [...]
Nicky Punto (2007), David McCarty (1993) and Jim Deshaies (1994) are first-ballot electees to the inaugural class of Page 2's list of the worst seasons ever by franchise.
Punto's and McCarty's seasons were true Hacking Mass legends, but Deshaies's year was nothing to sneeze at: a 7.39 ERA and 30 HRs allowed in 130 innings. [...]
What does SBG think about when he's heading to his in-laws? Here's a hint: he's thinking about baseball.
In what can only be described as a surprise to me, Twins owner Carl Pohlad
has been backing presumptive Democratic candidate for president Barack Obama.
Pohlad, the banker, investor and Twins owner, and his family have contributed or bundled as much as $217,000 for Obama, Politico reported.
Overall, guys like Pohlad tend to back Republicans. I wonder [...]
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
The Story of the MINNESOTA TWINS
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 [...]
ESPN:
The first-place Tampa Bay Rays acquired reliever Chad Bradford from the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday, bolstering their bullpen with a proven postseason pitcher.
The Rays claimed the submarining right-hander on waivers and then got him from the Orioles in a trade for a player to be named.
The 33-year-old Bradford is 3-3 with a 2.45 ERA this [...]
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
Sports Illustrated magazine cover - November 4, 1991
"TWINS"
SBG takes a look at the week that was in the WGOM Polls.
davidwatts mentioned this in the CoC, but it deserves its own post. Per Joe C., Livan and Monroe are out, Liriano and Ruiz are in.
From Stephen Goldman at Baseball Prospectus:
Average is ~11+ outs per team, the Twins have 13 outs at home.
Average for runners from first to home is 1.8 outs/team and the Twins have 3.
Average for second to home is 3.7 outs/team and the Twins have 3.
Average for third to home is 5.8 outs/team and the Twins have [...]
Blackburn vs. Ponson
Sidney Ponson is apparently an asshole, but posted a very respectable 4.38 xFIP (and 3.88 ERA if you're into that) with the Rangers. Nick Blackburn, on the other hand, has a 4.24 xFIP. So, the pitching matchup is really pretty even, talent-wise.
Jeff Pearlman catches up with Mike Lamb eight years after predicting a bright MLB future for him. Lamb sounds as though he's lacking a bit of urgency these days.
"I get paid a lot of money to play baseball, and it's a wonderful living. But I didn't hear [daughter] Kayla's first words. That kills me... and [...]
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 [...]
La Velle E. Neal III reports that a trade for Beltre doesn’t look possible. Everything he writes is perfectly reasonble:
The Twins recently contacted the Mariners about Beltre’s availability, but it looks like the Mariners’ price would be too high - something like the return the A’s got in the Joe Blanton deal. The Phillies [...]
TJ makes some sense, and says he'll take the Twins All-Stars over Josh Hamilton.
Redemption is a glamorous story-line, but isn't it better this way, following three model athletes with no need for it?
Yeah, I can get behind that.
This was brought up by Neil in the Cup of Coffee.
My 2 cents:
It's okay for Liriano to be frustrated. He's a competitor, he's had success at the top level, and he wants to get back there. I get that. I certainly have had more irrational reactions when I was 24.
I don't like [...]
It's gotta be better than Dazzle bobbleheads (or Mauer's adhesive sideburns), right? Found this at the end of davidwatts link about the cheapest stadium beers. "Allo, Cleveland!"
Definition of EQA
Players with 100+ PA:
.311 -- Joe Mauer
.303 -- Justin Morneau
.287 -- Alexi Casilla
.264 -- Jason Kubel
.260 -- League Average
.251 -- Delmon Young
.249 -- Carlos Gomez
.243 -- Michael Cuddyer
.226 -- Craig Monroe
.222 -- Brendan Harris*
.203 -- Mike Lamb
*Adam Everett, career EQA -- .230 (I figured it was worth mentioning that our no-glove SS [...]
Identify these players based on their performance from May 13th to June 12th:
.224/.281/.336 -- Player A
.257/.313/.419 -- Player B
Noting that while both players have been pretty bad, Player B has held a significant edge over Player A during that period.
Additional clue: Player B has a season-to-date OPS+ five points higher than Player [...]
...because the Twins are in the middle of a blowout loss and you don't really want to pay attention to all of the gory, Bass-filled details, you might want to go cast some All-Star votes for Joe Mauer. He's the best catcher in the AL, and while it is so much fun to dwell [...]
How much can they eat?
IP
Hungry, Hungry Hippo
86.3
Livan Hernandez
80.0
Nick Blackburn
72.0
Boof Bonser
43.7
Kevin Slowey
41.0
Brian Bass
39.3
Glen Perkins
38.0
Scott Baker
But what does the food taste like?
xFIP
Hungry, Hungry Hippo
3.25
Scott Baker
4.30
Nick Blackburn
4.35
Kevin Slowey
4.53*
Brian Bass
4.58
Boof Bonser
4.81
Livan Hernandez
4.92*
Glen Perkins
I added a couple of seats to the table since I have been unable to post the buffet table immediately before Livan's turn in the rotation (which [...]
I thought that the Bulls had hired Doug Collins. I hope Casey gets the job, he was unfairly blamed in Minneapolis, for sure.
Rounds 7 through 50.
From 1992-2001, Twins drafted after the 7th round who made the majors:
1992: Dan Naulty, Scott Watkins
1993: Kelly Dransfeldt (not signed), Kevin Ohme, Alex Cora (not signed), Ryan Radmanovich, Danny Kolb (not signed), Shane Bowers, Rob Radlosky
1994: David Dellucci (not signed), Corey Koskie, Brandon Puffer
1995: Mike Moriarty, Jeff Harris
1996: Chad Moeller, Mike Lincoln, [...]
The key to a successful drafting strategy is simple to state, but difficult to execute:
Draft the best available player that you can sign.
Don't worry about position. Really. Don't worry about position.
If the Twins happen to have 5 major league average centerfielders in 2010 or 2012 or whenever, then someone is going to need [...]
I sort of talked about this before, but having put some more thought into the matter, the answer to the Twins' roster crunch right now is really quite easy: designate Juan Rincon for assignment. (Though I'm certainly not the first person to take this position. Howard Sinker, for instance, has recently written about [...]
"And when you're 87,000 behind the 2007 pace and already have played host to the Red Sox and the Yankees on a weekend, it's clear many fans are more interested in pouting over the whereabouts of Johan Santana and Torii Hunter than watching Carlos Gomez and Justin Morneau travel the bases at their varied speeds." [...]
Walks per start, Francisco Liriano, 2008:
3 -- April 8th
5 -- April 13th (MLB)
5 -- April 18th (MLB)
3 -- April 24th (MLB), 0.2 IP
5 -- April 30th
4 -- May 5th
2 -- May 10th
1 -- May 15th
1 -- May 20th
1 -- May 26th
1 -- May 31st
It's just 4-5 games, and he's only been over 5 strikeouts once [...]
On Saturday, we had a little dry run for the SBG Convention. Banjo hosted E-6 and I for a little barbeque and Twayn met us at the Yankees game. I learned a little bit about the logistics of what it takes for the Convention.
Lucy, BabySBG and I arrived at Banjo's place about 3:30. [...]
I hadn't checked up on Santana in a while, so when I heard about this, I figured I would take a peek at Santana's numbers.
Though I don't think that ERA accurately reflects how well a pitcher has pitched, it has been Santana's early-season ERA that spawned the belief that Santana is a slow starter. [...]
AMR looks at the new faces on the 2008 Twins.
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
Minnesota Twins (America's Game)
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
The History of the Minnesota Twins
Cool of the Evening
The 1965 Minnesota Twins
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
Twenty-Five Seasons: The First Quarter Century of the Minnesota Twins
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
Magic! - The 1987 Twins' Enchanted Season
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
From Worst to First!
The Improbable 1991 Seasons of the Atlanta Braves and the Minnesota Twins
SBG Note: Rhubarb_Runner continues his SBG Library entries with a look at an SI Cover.
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
Sports Illustrated cover - July 21, 1969
"The Torch of the Twins" "Fiery Manager Billy Martin"
In the last week the Twins have taken control of the American League Central, running out to a five game lead over their nearest rival, the Chicago White Sox. Despite a brutal schedule in August, I feel confident that the Twins will be able to win their third consecutive divisional title. I feel this way [...]
It's time to get this WGOM moving again.
Respond: 26 LTEs
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