Minnesota Twins April Power Rankings!

Welcome to the first official Power Rankings of the young season.  On the last Friday of every month, I'll count down the 10 best Twins' performances up to that point in the season.  Today, we'll look at the Twins through three weeks.  I'm not going to do any projecting, I'm basing these rankings solely on how the players have performed.  BABIPs and FIPs be darned!  Well, maybe I'll cite those stats when they support my argument.  BIAS!  Anyway, let's count down the 10 best Twins through the Twins' series with Tampa Bay.

NR.  Joe Mauer

Joe Mauer's 2014 season hasn't been the derailed train that crashed into a tire fire while covered in octopus' ink that it's been made out to be, but there's no doubt that he hasn't been one of the ten best Twins players to this point.  His strikeout rate is alarmingly high and while he's still getting on base and scoring runs, he has almost no power and he hasn't been great with the glove.  That said, I'd put money on Mauer being in the top 3 when I do this in May.  He's too talented to slump for seven weeks.  Put me in the "not worried" camp.   

10.  Brian Duensing

Brian Duensing's demise appears to have been a bit exaggerated.  He wasn't great in 2013, but there were plenty of factors that pointed toward some bad luck and some potential regression on the horizon.  Duensing has yet to give up a run and he's pitched an inning or more in five of his eight appearances.  While he's only thrown 9 and 2/3 innings, that volume of good innings on this staff is practically worthy of team Cy Young consideration.    

9.  Sam Deduno

While he has allowed a hilarious five of seven inherited runners to score, he hasn't given up many runs of his own and his ERA currently sits below two.  Deduno does not seem like a particularly good fit for high-leverage relief innings, but as a mop-up guy, he could actually provide some interesting value.  Case in point, he came in after a short Kyle Gibson start on Tuesday, let all of Gibson's runners score, then threw four shutout innings, striking out two and walking just one.  I'm 100% certain that Deduno finds his way into the rotation at some point, but I think this long-man role is a better fit for Deduno's "effectively wild' shtick. 

8.  Glen Perkins

Perkins blew his first save opportunity of the season on April 2, then he gave up another two runs in a blowout win on April 5.  After that game, his ERA sat at 12.  Since then, he's thrown eight shutout innings, notching four saves while striking out twelve and walking just one batter.  Basically, he's the same nasty ol' nasty Perkins.  That doesn't sound nice, but I swear it's meant as a compliment.  He was particularly nasty in this most recent series against Tampa Bay.  He earned two saves by pitching two innings, striking out three and allowing no baserunners.  He needed just 20 pitches to complete those two innings.  Filthy.  Nasty.  Perkinsy.      

7.  Kurt Suzuki

Suzuki made a grand debut as a Twin with four RBI and a .500 average in his first two games.  He's cooled off significantly, which is annoying because I had 5,000 "Kurt Suzuki is better than Ted Williams" t-shirts printed in early April and now I'm worried if I'll be able to sell them.  My lack of foresight, business sense, common sense, and intelligence aside, Suzuki has done a nice job as the Twins' regular catcher.  He's not good at pitch framing, but he handles the rest of the defensive responsibilities quite nicely.  While I think he finishes the season as a backup, his presence on the roster is a positive. 

6.  Jason Kubel

Who doesn't love a good reclamation project?  You break out that old bench, polish it up, add some lacquer (?), sand it (?) and BOOM, you have a newer bench.  Jason Kubel = New Old Bench.  I'm not very handy.  Kubel has come in handy though!  He's hit for some power and driven in some runs.  His defense is...well, he can physically play defense and that's just a nice thing for him to do.  With the injuries the Twins have had in the outfield, it's nice that Kubel has been able to produce at the plate. 

5.  Josmil Pinto

Pinto seems to be one of those guys who just won't accept a part-time role.  Last year, he wasn't going to be the everyday catcher in September.  Then, he hit like a Wildman (specifically, Wildman Marc Mero) and forced his way into regular activity.  This year, it seemed that Pinto would get a start every third day or so and maybe a DH start every now and then if Ron Gardenhire wanted to put a cigarette out on his wrist.  Pinto was all "hey man, I'm just going to play a lot because I'm really good" and no one can really argue with him. 

He's shown impressive power, excellent plate discipline and a winning smile.  His defense at catcher hasn't been great, but that's an area of development and we all knew that coming into the season.  DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DIDN'T KNOW THAT!   

4.  Trevor Plouffe

Brandon Warne, who is doing some writing for the Pioneer Press, articulated something that I was noticing this season in regards to Plouffe's approach to hitting.  While I was all "duh, he looks different," Warne wrote this really great article that you should read.  In short, Plouffe is using the whole field instead of pulling everything.  This approach is not only helping his batting average, it's leading to much improved plate discipline.  Compared to 2013, his strikeout rate is way down and his walk rate is over twice as high.  These are the adjustments that take a hitter from "fringe regular" to "everyday player."  If these developments hold all season long, Plouffe will turn in a very nice season. 

3.  Kyle Gibson

Tuesday's rough start aside, Gibson has been the Twins' best starter and it hasn't been remotely close.  His first three starts established Gibson as one of the better ground ball pitchers in the American League and he currently ranks in the top ten in that category among qualified AL starters.  In addition, he has not allowed a home run this season and his strikeout rate has been slowly climbing as the starts go by.  Gibson should continue to be the Twins' best starter.  He actually could get better if he can get his walks under control.     

2.  Chris Colabello

Tying Kirby Puckett's April record for RBI isn't enough to get to the number one spot?  Hitting a home run on his Mom's birthday while she's being interviewed isn't enough for the number one spot?  Slugging nearly .550 isn't enough for the number one spot?  Yep.  Colabello has been the Twins' best hitter so far but his defense leaves a lot to be desired.  The number one guy is deserving and we'll get to him in a second, but Colabello is certainly worthy of number one consideration himself.  He went 0-5 on Thursday, but everyone has a bad game.  It was probably Colabello's first bad game in 2014.  He's earned a ton of playing time and I have no idea how the Twins can keep him out of the lineup even when the whole team is healthy.  He looks legit. 

1.  Brian Dozier

How can a guy hitting .224 lead the list of best Twins performances?  A 16.3% walk rate leading to a .356 OBP.  Six home runs that are contributing to a .447 slugging percentage.  22 runs scored, setting the table from the leadoff spot quite nicely.  Six stolen bases and generally great baserunning.  Excellent defense?  Aaaaaaaaay, you got it.  It all adds up to a player who is hitting .224 and still third in the American League in fWAR.  In addition, Dozier's BABIP is very low, so we could be discussing an even more impressive player by May.  Good thing the Twins didn't give up on him after 2012!  

There we have it, the ten best performances thus far.  You certainly noticed the lack of balance between the batters and the pitchers.  I expect there to be better balance by May, but I'm just happy to be cheering for what looks like a pretty fun team. 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Monday Morning Madness: April 7, 2014

OHHHHH man, the Madness has returned.  Normally, a return of my madness would be concerning, but in this case, it's a good thing.  Every Monday I'll recap the Twins' weekend series and throw in some silly stuff at the end for the kids.  Come for the analysis, stay for some muted chuckles.  Let's go!

Weekend Recap

Hey cool, the Twins looked pretty good this weekend.  After dropping two of three to a ratty White Sox team, they won two of three against a decent Cleveland team.  How did it happen?  Let's discuss.

Starting Pitching

Twins starters managed just 14.1 innings against the Indians over the weekend.  Mike Pelfrey pitched well through five innings but got rocked by two home runs in the sixth.  Kyle Gibson pitched well, earning the win, but he only made it through 5 innings.  He walked four batters and needed 97 pitches to get through those five innings.  Ricky Nolasco was the worst of the three, getting staked to a 6-2 lead heading into the fourth.  He gave up three in the bottom of the fourth and didn't return for the fifth.  He needed 91 pitches to get through his four bad innings and he walked four batters as well.  Twins starters walked 11 batters in those 14.1 innings against Cleveland, while striking out just 7.  Not good.

I fully expect the starting pitching to improve, but it's borderline shocking that the Twins are 3-3 when they've only received one good start (Kevin Correia in game 2 of the season) and they lost that game. 

Bullpen

The short starts from the Twins' rotation lead to a lot of work from the Twins' bullpen.  As a whole, they didn't perform well.  Brian Duensing was great on Saturday, Jared Burton allowed runners but no runs and Glen Perkins shut down Cleveland 1-2-3 in Sunday's game.  However, Casey Fien got rocked on Friday and Caleb Thielbar wasn't much better.  Perkins had a sloppy inning on Saturday in a non-save situation.  Anthony Swarzak gave up 5 hits in 1.1 innings on Sunday.  His ERA sits at 20.25 after 2.2 innings this season.  He did get the win on Sunday, so he must have done something right. 

I also expect the bullpen to be better.  It makes you wonder if this team could actually be even better than they have looked so far.  The pitching wasn't supposed to be their weakness. 

Of course, I have little to say about the offense because they played well.  The Twins scored 19 runs in the Cleveland series after scoring 19 the White Sox series.  In fact, the Twins lead the AL in runs scored.  Of course, they also lead the AL in runs allowed.  Their 0 run differential confirms their .500 record, right?  Pythag!

The Gardy 1000

Congratulations to Ron Gardenhire on his 1000th (and 1001st) career victory!  Whether you think Gardenhire should be managing the Twins in 2014 or not, it's hard to not be happy for the Twins' long-time manager.  He led our favorite team to six playoff appearances and who knows, maybe he's got a few more planned for the future.  1000 wins is no small feat, so way to go, Gardy!  Here's to 1000 more.

Madness

Random Top 5 List - AL RBI Leaders

That looks pretty great, doesn't it?  RBI is a passé stat, but it's still cool to see a Twins player at the top of the list.  The choice to bring Colabello North was obviously the right choice.  With injuries to Oswaldo Arcia and Josh Willingham, I can't imagine that Colabello gets a day off anytime soon.  He earned his roster spot in Spring and now he's earning his spot in the lineup on an everyday basis.  If he continues to hit, he'll stay in the lineup even longer.  Could he top 100 RBI on the season?  I think it's possible. 

KWL - Jason Bartlett from the Twins fan perspective

Question from a reader - Glen Perkins had a shaky Spring, and hasn't been terribly sharp thus far in the young season.   How concerned are you about this? - @whitebear1883 on Twitter

I'm not very worried.  This question was sent to me prior to the Sunday game and Perkins' performance in that game certainly put any worries I may have had to ease.  All great relievers go through rough patches and Perkins will be no different.  It would be great if he got the bad stuff out of the way and could just dominate from now until the end of the year.  He's talented enough to do it.  From what I've watched so far, his stuff still looks great and his velocity seems to be intact.  I'll guess that he's sporting a sick 2.00ish ERA by June. 

Former Twin Update - Kevin Slowey

Hearken back to 2011; I'm going to tell you a tale...

Are you in '11 mode yet?

Ok, Kevin Slowey will still be an effective MLB pitcher and Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn will both essentially be jobless.  Yep, the same Kevin Slowey who apparently bit the heads off of parakeets while pitching for the Twins.  He's on the Marlins.  Yes, they're still a team.  I promise they are.  Why would I lie?  Yes, there is a giant colorful statue in the bleachers. 

Slowey made the team as a starter in 2013 but will work as the swingman in 2014.  He's off to a good start too.  Ok, he's only pitched in one game, but he did go four innings, giving up just three hits and no runs, while striking out five and walking two.  For a guy who couldn't get loose in the Twins' bullpen, he's been pretty good in relief with the Marlins over the past two seasons.  Maybe he just didn't like the trees at Target Field. 

New Poll

I get a little repetitive at times.  I harp on things.  I have my pet causes.  I put up a new poll to try to get out in front of my own repetition.  Please vote in the poll that sits below Kevin Slowey's face as a baseball.  It's important to democracy.

Link to Something I wrote - Mailbag

I'm shameless when it comes to promoting things I've written in the past.  Why, just recently I've promoted my newest screenplay, an analysis of the 1991 Twins dancing video and some player profiles I wrote throughout the Winter.  Now, I'm not here to promote those items, I'm here to promote the fake mailbag I wrote last Friday.  I answered some truly insightful questions and I think you just might enjoy it.  Here you go. 

Parting Haiku

Twins are .500
But it is a long season
Still a happy fan

Have a great week, everyone!

Monday Morning Madness: Labor Day Edition!

I'm just going to admit that it is getting harder and harder to watch Twins baseball.  First, the lineup and rotation are drab to say the least.  With Mauer hurt and now Morneau traded, there isn't a lot of star power.  Second, the season is so long and we don't even have the mirage of a possibly competitive team at this point.  That being said, I do watch the games and I do enjoy them.  There is plenty to look forward to in September, even if the team won't play a single meaningful game.

Chris Colabello

Trading Justin Morneau was sad, but probably necessary.  I wrote all about how sad I was on Saturday already, so I won't get emotional here.  Opening up a spot for Chris Colabello softens the blow for me.  Colabello might be nothing.  He could just be a AAAA guy who feasted on poor AAA pitching.  Or, he could be a late bloomer with power who can hold down first base for the next few years.  The only way to find out is to give him at bats.  He should get those at bats now that the Twins have no other real first base options.  I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do with consistent MLB playing time; I just hope he gets it. 

Josmil Pinto

I'm extremely excited to watch Pinto over the next few weeks.  You'll see why we shouldn't get too excited about Septembers a little later, but it will be very fun to see if Pinto can handle MLB pitching during this audition.  While Pinto is not a top prospect, he has been an excellent Minor League hitter over the past two seasons.  I'd love to see Pinto get some big hits, show some power and put himself in position to become the long-term answer at catcher/co-catcher with Joe Mauer.  He had a nice debut on Sunday; hopefully he hits higher than 8th in the order.

Darin Mastroianni

Mastro totally blew it on Friday when he forced Trevor Plouffe to not slide into home, costing the Twins an insurance run.  Sarcasm.  Actually, I'm happy to see Mastro back in the lineup.  He was a real pleasant surprise last year and I think he can be a good 4th outfielder on a good team.  I hope he eventually takes over in center, but I'm not going to go into the real reason why I feel that way (abject, mean, unnecessary Clete Thomas hate).  With Alex Presley now in the fold, Mastro might lose some playing time.  I hope not.  Mastro's hair is spectacular. 

AH, time for the Madness

Former Twin Update - Jason Kubel

Wow, Kubel really fell fast.  I thought the Twins should have kept him, but I was clearly wrong.  Last year, he was pretty great offensively.  He posted a SLG higher than .500 and hit 30 home runs.  He's been awful this year and he was DFAed by Arizona and then traded to Cleveland.  He's still just 31 and could thrive in the AL where he can DH and give all the grass in the outfield a break.  I always liked Kubel a lot and I hope he bounces back.

Baseball Card from the Past - Mauer/Morneau

Aw, look at those young lads!  Prospects was an understatement!  The M&M boys, as they would be called, became a powerful duo for the Twins and helped lead them to multiple playoff appearances.  They were humble, understated and talented.  They fit in really well here in the Midwest, where we like humble and understated, and tolerate talented so long as they are humble and understated.  They eventually roomed together, bought a lot of Jimmy Johns and each won an MVP.  Now, they have been split apart at the seams.  Sad.  We can always remember these days. 

Just so sad.

Random Photoshop/Twins Villain - Gary GaeYeti

That makes me feel a bit better/scared.

Random Top 5 - Best September OPS in Twins' history (min 40 PA)

1. Jim Thome - 2010 - 1.338
2. Gary Ward - 1980 - 1.269
3. Mike Ryan - 2003 - 1.245
4. Chip Hale - 1993 - 1.209
5. Matt LeCroy - 2001 - 1.204

Holy Tho-moly!  That list rocks.  For what it's worth, Harmon Killebrew doesn't make the list, but does have 5 of the 16 best Septembers in Twins' history.  Shane Mack has the 18th best and he did this:

So, he's the real number one.

Poll Results, New Poll

I haven't had an active poll in weeks.  It just hasn't felt right.  Here are the results from my most recent poll about broadcasters:

Which Broadcaster Adage Annoys You Most? -

• He plays the game the right way - 13 votes - the winner!
• Pitch Quickly; Pitch to Contact - 6 votes
• Keep the fielders engaged, no strikeouts! - 8 votes
• Anything related to showing up Umpires - 5 votes
• Bunt Constantly!  Bunts for all! - 1 vote
• These don't annoy me, you annoy me - 3 votes

For the record, I hate all the bunting, but I think the "plays the game the right way" adage is really annoying too.  I don't like it because it can't be quantified and I am a nerd.  Only about 10% of people find me annoying, which is far less than the percentage in real life.  I must be less obnoxious in print.  I posted a new poll, please take some time to vote. 

Link to Something I wrote - Morneau Trade, 20 Trades archive

I wrote about the Morneau trade, and you can read it here.  In fact, I've been writing about Twins trades for the past couple months.  I'm all done now.  If you missed any, I made a little archive here.  How nice!

Parting Thought - Favorite Morneau Memory

I have a terrible memory.  I remember certain things very well - names, dates, etc.  Basically, if it's easy, I can remember it.  Actual events are fuzzier.  So, when I think of my favorite Justin Morneau memory, you will have to excuse the lack of specifics. 

During the 2006 season, the Twins were playing the Tigers (I believe).  They were losing, runners were on base and Morneau was up.  Morneau was an MVP candidate at that point, but I wasn't sold just yet.  I said to myself, "ok Justin, if you really are the MVP, hit a home run right here."  On the very next pitch, Morneau hit a ball about as high as you can hit a ball.  It held in the air for what seemed like forever and eventually it dropped right in the opposing bullpen for a home run.  The Twins took the lead, they won the game and Morneau won me over. 

My second favorite memory was the time he broke the light in the scoreboard at Miller Park.  I remember that one clearly because I was there and I didn't stop talking about it for the next few days.  

Have a nice week, everyone!

Monday Morning Madness: August 19, 2013

Over the past week, the Twins offense has been inconsistent, their starting pitching has been up and down and their bullpen has started blowing leads.  It's almost like this isn't a very good team.  This weekend, the Twins had a lot more trouble with the lowly White Sox at home.  This would be troubling, but the last three seasons have been troubling so I'm not sure we can feasibly add any additional trouble at this point.  On the plus side, the Twins play most of their games at 6pm or earlier this week, ensuring that I get to bed by 9pm like a good boy. 

Casey Fien

So Casey Fien sucks now, right?  In his last three appearances, Fien has given up seven earned runs, raising his ERA from 2.61 to 3.71.  He's getting worked over by home runs, but he struck out more than a batter per inning and didn't issue a walk during that tiny sample.  Basically, we can all chill out.  Unless this home run problem persists for a couple weeks, this is just a blip on the ol' radar.  If we thought Fien was good a week ago, we should still feel the same way right now. 

Chris Colabello

.273/.415/.485.  That was Chris Colabello's triple slash in August.  That performance was apparently not good enough to keep an MLB job.  Once again, the Twins seem more concerned with having a lot of mediocre to bad players on the bench, rather than having potentially productive players in the lineup.  The Twins basically chose to keep Chris Herrmann as a third catcher/Andrew Albers caddy, Wilkin Ramirez as a backup centerfielder, and Clete Thomas as a human.  I would bet a bajillion dollars that Colabello would out-produce those three scrubs from this point on.  However, he doesn't produce some veiled positional flexibility, so he's out.  This makes no sense on a bad team. 

No Sano in September?

Terry Ryan was quoted this week basically saying that there is little-to-no chance that Miguel Sano gets a September call-up this season.  I don't disagree with that decision, but why state it publicly?  Wouldn't the anticipation of Sano's potential debut be something to keep fans engaged as this uneventful season winds down?  Granted, come September 1 all the hope would die, but does this need to be ruled out in mid-August?  It really doesn't matter a lot, but it seems like a bad PR move.  What if Sano hits .450 with 10 home runs to end his season with New Britain?  It's unlikely, but he could probably do it.  Just odd to me. 

Clete Thomas

Clete Thomas in August:  .230/.309/..328.  That's markedly better than his July, by the way.  Question - Does this guy ever get a legitimate hit?  Every time I see him actually make contact, it's some sort of blooper or he reaches his bat out and pokes it to left or he bunts and the ball hits his bat twice.  I don't want to continually bag on Thomas, but I'm going to.  Everyone has their whipping boy.  

Time for fun and madness instead of complaining and sadness.

Half-hearted Mini-Rant

I would like to present to you the newest feature in the Madness, a rant that I'm not really all that into:

Why was Oswaldo Arcia on the bench on Friday and Saturday?  Doesn't this kid need to play every day?  Please don't tell me it was because he was facing "tough lefties" either.  Chris Sale is tough, but Jose Quintana is not.  How will he improve against lefties on the bench?  Also, please don't tell me this is some concentrated ploy to keep Wilkin Ramirez fresh or to keep Clete Thomas' "hot bat" in the lineup.  You can sit either one of those guys for 5 years straight and guess what, they'd be totally ready to come in and not produce.  Trust me, when you need Clete Thomas to come in and go 0-4 with three Ks, he'll be ready.  In fact, I created this flow chart to help the Twins make better decisions in this area:

It's not rocket science.  End rant.

Fun Stat - Most innings with no starts

The Twins are about 75% through the season and Anthony Swarzak has thrown about 75 innings.  That puts him on pace for 100 innings pitched.  Math!  Throwing that many innings solely in relief is a bit of a lost art.  In fact, in this millennium, it has only been done six times, usually by guys named Scott or Scot.  Here's the list of guys Swarzak could potentially join:

1. Steve Sparks 2003 - 107.0
2. Scott Sullivan 2000 - 106.1
3. Scot Shields 2004 - 105.1
4. Guillermo Mota 2003 - 105.0
5. Scott Sullivan 2001 - 103.1
6. Scott Proctor 2006 - 102.1

Random Photoshop 

I've grown tired of traditional baseball celebrations.  I find the "beat the holy hell out of the hero" celebration to be the worst.  There's nothing more annoying that watching Clete Thomas try to throw rabbit punches at Chris Herrmann.  To me, celebrations are stale and need to be revamped.  Celebrations don't need to be huge productions.  Sometimes, it is just a minor touch.  Look how much better the famous Jim Thome walk-off celebration looks on silly hat night:

Look how happy Joe Mauer is!

Baseball Card from the Past

Senior Photo!

Link to something I wrote - Anniversary

I realized over the weekend that I had been maintaining this "blog" for a year now.  As a blog-guy, it is my duty to celebrate milestones with posts that will generate more views.  It's a snake eating itself really, but it's all in fun.  I threw together a list of my five most OUTRAGEOUS posts from the past year and some fun pictures/photoshops as well.  You can find it here. 

Song of the Week:  Butthole Surfers - Let's Talk About Cars

Parting Thought - Thanks Twins Daily

To accompany the previous section, I wanted to give a huge thank you to Twins Daily for the past year.  First, thank you to the site leaders who have put together a fantastic site where everyone can contribute.  I appreciate it every time I see one of my posts on the front page, even if I don't always say it.  Really, I appreciate just being able to have a blog here, even if nothing ever touched the front page.  Without Twins Daily, I would have never written a word on the Twins.  So, now you know who to blame if you've ever wished I'd shut up.

Second, thank you to the whole Twins Daily community.  I enjoy being a part of this community.  I wish I could post more and comment more, but I read just about everything.  People are very supportive of each others' ideas and thoughts and very encouraging when someone new arrives and weighs in.  I've told just about every Twins fan I know about Twins Daily and I will continue to do so. 

End sap.

Have a nice week, everyone!

Monday Morning Madness: August 5, 2013

We can finally put the "could the Twins even beat a AAA team" jokes to bed.  They can.  The Astros are pathetic, even if their rebuild strategy is being lauded by many.  While that strategy might work out long-term, the current team is rotten and I can't even imagine being an Astros fan right now.  At least the Twins have a couple players worth watching while they flail.  Anyway, the Twins rebounded nicely after the Royals series and if that matters to you, then you are probably quite happy.

Kyle Gibson

Kyle Gibson's MLB career is not off to the start that he likely dreamed of.  Unless he suffers from night terrors.  Looking just at this season and comparing these 36.1 MLB innings to his AAA stats, the differences are kind of staggering.  His strikeout rate has dipped from 21.3% to 11.9%.  His HR/9 went from 0.39 to 1.24.  His BABIP was .285 at AAA and is .344 with the Twins.  His strand rate has dropped from 72.7% to 63.2%.  His walk rate has actually decreased slightly, from 7.6% to 7.1% (this is a great reason to use K% and BB% instead of K/9 and BB/9, btw, as his BB/9 is slightly up). 

It all adds up to a 6.69 ERA and a memorable debut for all the wrong reasons.  Slightly encouraging is his 4.97 FIP and the hope that the more luck-based stats like strand rate and BABIP could even out.  However, he needs to strike out more batters or he'll become just another Twins starter.  We all know that we hoped for better than that. 

Colabello's Power?

I can't say I watched a ton of Chris Colabello at AAA, so you might have to help me out with this one.  Does he have any pull power?  He stands very far from the plate, which is fine, but it would seem that would make it harder to pull the ball over the fence.  The two home runs he has hit with the Twins and the two I happened to see while watching AAA games were muscled to right or right-center.  It's not to say that he can't hit for power, but having a right-handed hitter with pull power certainly plays well at Target Field.  I'm not really sure what my point is here, to be honest.  Should we be expecting a lot of home runs from Colabello?

Plouffe Vs. Righties

Trevor Plouffe now has 845 career plate appearances against right-handed pitching.  In those plate appearances, Plouffe has posted a .216/.277/.377 triple slash, with 29 home runs and 187 strikeouts.  His BABIP is .249, but I can't believe this is a luck thing.  His line drive rate is actually better as a righty, but his strikeout and walk rates are worse.  Platoon splits are normal, but with a borderline MLB player like Plouffe, this split makes me wonder if he needs to actually be part of a platoon, just to provide value.  We can't even say that these stats are the remnants of his poor MLB start, as he has posted similar numbers this season, with  a .213/.272/.351 triple slash in 247 plate appearances.  It's a shame he's on the wrong side of the platoon because he does crush lefties. 

Ugh, enough sadness.  More madness!

Fun Stat - Deduno is Rare

Sam Deduno is having a magical season.  For real, it seems like he's getting by on magic.  He doesn't get hit hard.  In fact, he has pitched to a .242/.322/.344 triple slash.  That looks great, as it's about what Clete Thomas produces.  When Deduno takes the mound, the entire opposing team becomes a mess of Clete Thomas's.  Fun, terrifying, but how rare is this?  I pulled the data using Baseball Reference's play index and here is a link to the results. 

As you can see, these numbers have only been posted by 15 pitchers in the last 30 seasons.  Wild.  Of course, rarity is not exactly the friend of replication. 

Poll Results - What do you think of Joe Mauer?

I forgot to include this last week, so my blog has gone a whole week without a poll!  Sad!  Here are the results of the Mauer poll:

• I love him; I'll name my first born "Seven" in his honor - 3 votes
• Hall of Fame Talent - 18 votes
• He's great, but overpaid - 8 votes
• He's a bum - 0 votes
• Who is Jo Mauer? - 0 votes

I expect to see those kids named "Seven" pop up in my future social studies classes.  I'm pleased that no one resorted to calling him a bum.  I posted a new poll, please take some time to vote.  Democracy.

Random Image

I found this picture of the Twins battling:

Hard to say if they are winning, but they certainly are battling.

Answer to a hypothetical Facebook question

Going to the Twins' Facebook page is like going to the dentist.  It sucks, it's going to be painful, but you just gotta do it.  Preferably you go just once per six months though.  Here's a cool question:

Question:  Gatorade shower for BARELY beating the worst team in the league?? Stay classy Minnesota..

Answer:  First off, an ellipsis has three dots.  Second, does a second question mark make this a special double question?  Third, good gravy do some people hate fun.  I imagine that some people only enjoy World Series clinching games and nothing else.  Besides, the Twins win so infrequently that they have fewer chances to celebrate.  When the Rays win in a walk-off, its one win of like 100.  When the Twins win, it's one in 60.  Think about that.  Or, just calm down and enjoy the baseball game.  Even sucky teams should be allowed to enjoy their victories.  I mean, people cheer for the Vikings and Timberwolves and they've pretty much always sucked. 

Baseball Card from the Past

Look at that dude!  Francisco Liriano is pitching as well as he ever has with Pittsburgh this season.  He's a huge reason why they have one of the best records in baseball.  It's hard to believe that he's been in pro baseball for over ten years.  He was probably 18 or 19 in that picture.   I tried to look up how much that card is worth on eBay but there were like fifteen different versions and I just got bored.  You can own it for somewhere between 8 and 2 million dollars, but if you want to narrow it down, do your own research. 

The Week Ahead

I have some stuff planned for the week.  I wrote about the Hall of Fame and some current players who I think will be enshrined one day.  On Tuesday, I plan to post the older guys and on Wednesday, I'll post some younger guys.  I'm recapping two Twins trades on Thursday and Friday.  One trade is pretty minor and the other might be the most controversial trade in Twins' history.  I hope you are adequately salivating right now. 

Song of the Week - Gutter Twins - God's Children



Parting Thought

I'm in love with the Casey Fien-Glen Perkins 8th and 9th inning combo.  Fien is fired up from the jump and Perkins is chill as what.  However, both guys just come in and say, "hey man, here's my stuff, try to hit it, yo."  Most can't.  Fien has been a revelation, in my opinion.  With Fien and Perkins both under team control for the foreseeable future, the back-end of the bullpen is an part of the team that the Twins can rely upon, possibly even when the team is good again.  It would be nice to have some pieces in place, right?

Have a nice week, everyone!

If you enjoyed this post, the least you could do is follow me on Twitter:  @bridman77.  I'll tweet a lot one night, then disappear for weeks.  It's a hoot.  If I get to 1000 Twitter followers, I'll live-tweet Timecop, just like the pros.  If you're really bold, I have a Facebook group too.  There are ten members.  Yep.  If it gets to 50, I'll give away my only 1991 Score Gary Wayne card.  I'm being honest.