Monday Morning Madness: August 4, 2014

Weekend Recap

I managed to catch the entire series this weekend, but I also had a pretty nasty fever so I'm not really sure what I did and did not see.  I've nearly recovered, but this is still going to be a bit on the short side because I'm all out of cool washcloths.  I'm pretty sure I saw a beatdown on Sunday, but that just doesn't seem right.  I know the Twins took two of three in Chicago and that's always fun.

Danny Santana

My friend sent me a text last week and he was wondering when the last time the Twins had a guy come up from the Minors and completely exceed expectations.  I couldn't come up with anyone off the top of my head, but Santana is the obvious answer.  He's been outstanding at the plate and he's played a pretty competent center despite being an infielder and inspiring this movie poster:

Over the weekend, Santana had a dynamite series.  He went 0-5 on Friday, but I can't blame him because that giant swamp monster in the outfield was really creating havoc for everyone.  Then, from Saturday to Sunday, he went gonzo.  He went 7-10 with a double, triple, home run, two walks, two stolen bases, five RBI and five runs scored.  Santana is an exciting player with game-changing speed.  I'm not sure he should be kept in center, but he might just be outstanding regardless of where he plays.

Santana's counterpart in center is a pretty exciting player himself.  Adam Eaton was all over the place this weekend.  He's a pest, but I respect him.  Although, on Saturday, he singled, then ran up a rainbow and punched a hornless unicorn and got thrown out at second.  I cannot condone those baseball and non-baseball actions.  Just reckless.

Josh Willingham

Josh Willingham wasn't terrible this weekend, although he did go 1-7 during Sunday's hit parade.  I don't remember his dragon wings from before, but I'm guessing they help him in the field?  The Twins weren't able to trade Willingham before the deadline and might not be able to move him before the end of August.  If that happens, I think the Twins need to play Willingham sparingly in September. 

I appreciate Willingham's contributions to the Twins, but by September, he'll be in the final month of his contract and extremely unlikely to return.  Even if he starts breathing fire, I don't think he changes the Twins' fortunes in 2014, so it makes way more sense to get more at-bats for players who will be in Minnesota in 2015 and beyond. 

Kyle Gibson

Gibson has taken over as the Twins' best starter, as his ERA is lower than Phil Hughes' and that's the only stat I can look up without getting up.  Gibson was good on Sunday and six strikeouts in seven innings is a great recipe for Gibson success.  That one pitch he threw that sunk under the plate and then popped back up into Eric Fryer's glove was particularly nasty.  I'm not sure if it was completely legal, but it was something to see. 

Former Twin Update - Sam Fuld

The Twins were quiet at the trade deadline, disappointing Brad Swanson and likely some other people.  I hoped they would make more moves so that I could complain about them on Twitter, but it didn't work out that way.  The Twins were able to parlay an early-season waiver claim into a 27-year-old starter with some MLB success.  While I am not a huge Tommy Milone fan, even I have to admit that this was a fantastic trade.  Fuld appears to be the World Series favorite's starting center fielder, thus nullifying the second part of the first part of this sentence.

Baseball Card from the past?

I really don't remember Will Clark's face being quite so melty, but that's what I see on my screen.  In the days before photoshop, you really saw the players' facial imperfections, huh?  It seems completely irresponsible and insensitive of Topps to match the background to his face.  Just classless; he can't help who he is.

Fun Stat - Sunday's Game

During Sunday's game, the Twins had back-to-back-to-back home runs, an inning when they batted around, a 5-hit game and a giant half lizard-half toad playing first base.  I am 100% certain that this combination of events has never happened in an MLB game.  If you know whether or not the first three feats are unique on their own, please make sure to leave a comment. 

Oswaldo Arcia's hair

I'm pretty sure I'm not hallucinating that hair, right?

Plugging My Way

I wrote a bunch of words about the Hall of Fame last week.  I read these posts again this weekend and it seems like I made some pretty outlandish statements.  I think I inducted a Yeti into the Hall of Fame, but you'll just have to read to find out.  Here's part one and here's part two.

Was it just me or were Joe Mauer's sideburns growing on the field on Saturday?

Parting Thought

It was really irritating to have to see all those pink and purple flashes on the screen all weekend.  I hope that whatever Fox Sports North was attempting with this new feature is very short-lived.  It was impossible to concentrate on the action with those periodic splotches.  I turned off the TV for a little while, but then it just turned itself back on.  Anyway, I'm feeling a lot better now and I'm looking forward to seeing if the Twins can take a home series against a pretty poor Padres team.  Have a great week, everyone! 

Monday Morning Madness: June 9, 2014

Weekend Recap

Ugh, not great.  The Twins got two pretty poor starts from their two most consistent starters and dropped two of three to the lowly Astros.  Houston has one of the worst offenses in the AL, but they looked like a powerhouse last weekend.  Oh well, it's just one series.  The Twins did make a pretty significant move to upgrade their roster, so that's nice. 

Kendrys Morales

And one that came out of nowhere.  Everyone knew that Morales would sign very soon after the draft, because the draft pick compensation attached to him would expire.  However, I didn't see one rumor linking the Twins to Morales.  I'm quite pleased though.  I don't think this changes the Twins' 2014 ceiling a ton, but having a professional hitter as the everyday DH is never a bad thing.  Morales has a career OPS+ of 120 and has basically met that figure each of the last two seasons.  He's a much better hitter from the left side, but he's competent from the right side as well.

The Twins DFA'd Jason Kubel to make room for Morales.  This is something I had advocated for a few times over the last couple weeks.  I was actually sad after it happened, as I really do like Kubel.  Unfortunately, a DH has to hit and Kubel hasn't hit since a hot start.  Of course, Kubel isn't the only player affected by this signing. 

I had been up in arms about Josmil Pinto's lack of playing time, but much of that was because he was losing starts to far less talented players.  Now, he's competing for ABs with a very talented hitter.  I would still like to see Pinto in the lineup more often than not, but I think that might start to happen naturally, as I still don't think Kurt Suzuki is capable of a full season at the level he's been hitting.

Now, the Twins have five above average hitters in their everyday lineup (Morales, Brian Dozier, Oswaldo Arcia, Josh Willingham and yes, Joe Mauer).  Pinto should provide good offense when he's in the lineup and Trevor Plouffe has been pretty good so far this year.  If the shortstops and center fielders can be halfway decent, the Twins' lineup could be very potent.  I'm excited, can you tell?

Kyle Gibson

Gibson was great on Saturday, leading the Twins to an 8-0 victory and winning his fifth game of the season.  Gibson matched a career-high with five strikeouts.  He also issued his first walk since May 16, snapping a string of 23 consecutive innings without giving a free pass.  Gibson has done a much better job of limiting walks since April.  He hasn't improved his overall strikeout rate, but he has totaled four or more strikeouts in four of his last five starts. 

Gibson will never be a high strikeout guy, but if he can manage about six per nine innings, he could have a really nice career.  Right now, his 54.1% ground ball rate is fifth in the American League, so he already has one elite skill.  His walk rate is no longer in the bottom ten and should continue to improve.  While he was getting dynamic results early in the season, he's actually pitching better now.   

Danny Santana

Santana hit his first Major League home run on Friday night.  He went 4-5 with a double and five RBI on Saturday.  Sunday...well Sunday wasn't really great for anyone.  Santana is quite fun to watch.  He's young, he's fast, he's new.  New toys are always exciting.  I thought Santana would be with the Twins for a couple weeks and then he would head back to Rochester until September.  However, he's been great and Ron Gardenhire seems to like and trust him.  It would be very hard to send him back to AAA right now.

Look, you know I love Eduardo Escobar.  I made this:

However, Santana is not a long-term option in center.  Byron Buxton owns that position from 2015 to 2035 (hopefully).  Santana is a long-term option at short and I don't think Escobar is.  Perhaps it might be time to get Santana a few starts at short, possibly transitioning him to that position full-time in the next couple of weeks.  Santana isn't as good as Escobar defensively, but he also needs reps to actually get better.  Escobar has cooled off a bit at the plate and Santana profiles as a better hitter anyway.  I'm not sure this matters a whole lot over the course of the next decade, but I'd hate to stunt Santana's growth just because he is very fun to watch and a utility guy is going through a hot streak. 

Madness

Former Twin Update - Johan Santana

This sucks.  Johan Santana was about a week from making his 2014 MLB debut when he tore his Achilles trying to make a defensive play.  Santana is an excellent athlete and made some great plays in the field in his day, but this one cost him the rest of the 2014 season and could be his final play as a professional athlete.  I hope that is not the case.  I'd like to see Santana come back for 2015 (with the Twins please) because I am a huge fan of his and I want him to have more success as a pitcher.  Ah, so awful, let's move on. 

Random Link - Grant Brisbee's Draft Analysis

On the much lighter side, Grant Brisbee analyzed the first round of the MLB draft.  Here's the link.  The article itself is outstanding, although it could be a bit confusing if you aren't familiar with his work.  The comments from the article are great, but the Facebook comments from the article are gold.  It's never fun to be the guy who isn't in on the joke, but being one of the guys who is in on the joke, watching the guy who isn't in on the joke is quite amusing.  Anyway, the article is fun on its own, even if you don't like making fun of innocent people.

What kind of food is Glen Perkins?

A brand new feature!  Award-winning, too!

Glen Perkins is pizza.  He's simple, but versatile.  He's basically fastball/slider (cheese and sauce), but he throws those pitches like he doesn't give a what (pepperoni?).  BUT, he also can adapt.  He can be a BBQ chicken pizza, he can be a Hawaiian pizza, he can be a garbage pizza.  He can be anything!  He's funny, he's personable, he's charismatic and he's awesome.  Plus, everyone loves him.  I have found few people in this world who dislike pizza and even fewer who dislike Glen Perkins.  Glen Perkins, the pizza of the Twins.    

Fun Stat - Power-Speed

No one has the Power-Speed of Brian Dozier!  What is Power-Speed, you ask?  Well, it's the harmonic mean of home runs and stolen bases, of course!  It's a Bill James stat designed to look at which players provide the best combination of these two skills.  Of course, there's a ton more to power and speed than just home runs and stolen bases, but it's still fun to see Dozier at the top of the list.  Someone should really teach that Bill James guy about sabermetrics. 

Improving Celebrations?

Last year, I proposed silly hats to improve celebrations.  I even made a picture:

Fun, right?  Well, every coin has a heads and a tails. 

See, now they don't add a whole lot.  Super unprofessional, trainer.  By the way, this is the last time I'll reference this event, Kendrys.  I promise. 

Plugging My Way

I did a mailbag last week.  It was about 1300 words and 500 were about snow pants.  You'll just have to read it to figure out why.  I also answered questions about Aaron Hicks, Oswaldo Arcia, Nick Gordon and Mike Pelfrey.  Woof, that list tapered off hard.  Here's the link.  

Parting Haiku

Morales is nice

Not going to win it all

Still great for the fans

Have a nice week, everyone!

Monday Morning Madness: Memorial Day 2014

Weekend Recap

The best thing I can say about the Giants series is that the Twins did not lose more games than they played.  If they had done that, I would have been really upset/confused.  The Twins didn't put up much of a fight this weekend, but the Giants are one of the best teams in baseball.  Plus, San Francisco is windy.  Wind is nature's biggest bully.  I'm just glad the Twins escaped with their calculators.  

Does Kyle Gibson have the Radke Syndrome?

Everyone remembers the odd affinity that Brad Radke had for giving up first inning runs.  In fact, why weren't Brad Radke brand peanuts more popular?  Because if you got to the game after the first inning, they'd already be shelled.  Radke was an excellent pitcher, despite this odd quirk.  Kyle Gibson is a promising pitcher and I think he's going to be good, but his first inning troubles are starting to become a trend. 

Actually, he has troubles in all of the early innings.  Here's an ERA breakdown by inning in 2014:

Split	G	IP	ER	ERA	PA	AB	R	H	HR	BB	SO	SO/W	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB
1st inning	9	9.0	7	7.00	48	40	7	13	1	8	8	1.00	.325	.438	.450	.888	18
2nd inning	9	9.0	6	6.00	38	38	6	11	1	0	3		.289	.289	.474	.763	18
3rd inning	8	8.0	6	6.75	37	33	6	9	0	4	4	1.00	.273	.351	.394	.745	13
4th inning	8	7.0	3	3.86	29	28	1	6	1	1	3	3.00	.214	.241	.321	.563	9
5th inning	7	7.0	1	1.29	28	24	1	5	0	4	2	0.50	.208	.321	.250	.571	6
6th inning	6	5.0	0	0.00	17	15	0	0	0	2	2	1.00	.000	.118	.000	.118	0
7th inning	5	4.0	3	6.75	19	18	1	6	0	1	3	3.00	.333	.368	.389	.757	7
8th inning	1	1.0	0	0.00	3	3	0	1	0	0	0		.333	.333	.333	.667	1
Innings 1-3	9	26.0	19	6.58	123	111	19	33	2	12	15	1.25	.297	.366	.441	.807	49
Innings 4-6	8	19.0	4	1.89	74	67	2	11	1	7	7	1.00	.164	.243	.224	.467	15
Innings 7-9	5	5.0	3	5.40	22	21	1	7	0	1	3	3.00	.333	.364	.381	.745	8

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 5/25/2014.

Now, he also hits a wall around the 7th inning, but that is somewhat common.  More troubling, his first three innings are terrible and the middle innings are great.  Bert Blyleven posited that Gibson is too amped up when starting a game and it leads to the ball being up.  When he fatigues, his pitches drop and he gets more ground balls and more outs.  It makes sense, but then again, Blyleven got to about the 5th inning of Saturday's game before he stopped calling Pablo Sandoval "Sandsobal" so who really knows. 

Whatever the issue, Gibson and his coaches need to iron it out because he doesn't have Brad Radke's command and therefore, his ability to overcome a bad first inning. 

Sam Deduno

There should be a term for the last guy who joins the bandwagon.  Mr. Last Jerk or something.  Mrs. Last Jerk if it's a female.  Well, we can work on that nickname later.  If the Sam Deduno bandwagon is rolling along down the street, I'm running my little heart out alongside trying to decide if I should risk my health to jump aboard. 

Deduno appears to be a perfectly acceptable back-end starter.  I certainly prefer him to Mike Pelfrey or Kevin Correia.  He looked fine on Saturday, not great, but good enough to keep the Twins in the game.  I still worry about how many walks he issues, but he seems to have the ability to induce double plays because he induces so many ground balls.  As a reliever, his ground ball rate had declined, but since moving back into the rotation, that rate is starting to climb back to elite levels.  Plus, he's generating more strikeouts this season. 

I fully believe in jinxes and I fully believe that I am a massive jinx.  If I decide to run alongside the bandwagon for a few more months, there is a completely scientific reason why. 

Josmil Pinto

I don't curse a lot.  I am a teacher.  I try to be mindful of the fact that my students may read this if they are extremely bored.  Therefore, I try to keep this part of the web clean.  That said, doggone it to heck, why is Josmil Pinto rotting on the bench?!?

Pinto had one hit last week.  One.  That would be a troubling number if he hadn't gotten only six at-bats and one start.  That one hit was Pinto's seventh home run, good for second on the team with ease.  Kurt Suzuki has continued to be great, but keeping Pinto on the bench 80% of the time in favor of Suzuki is just crazy.  Pinto is too young and too talented.  He should have been alternating starts with Suzuki on the road trip.  I worry that with Oswaldo Arcia and Josh Willingham coming back and Chris Herrmann sent back to AAA, Pinto will continue to sit more than he starts. 

If that happens, you can expect the darn cursing to increase.  Beans. 

Madness

Former Twin Update - Liam Hendriks

He's back!  Liam Hendriks was added to the Blue Jays' active roster when they outrighted Esmil Rogers (a player I advocated the Twins trading for, thank you very much) to AAA.  Hendriks made his 2014 debut on Friday and threw 5.2 innings, giving up just 3 hits, 3 walks, 1 earned run, all while striking out 3 (well, not while, he just struck out three guys, the other stuff happened around those strikeouts).  I liked Hendriks even though he was never good with the Twins.  It would be cool if he found some success in Toronto.  I just love people. 

Random Link - McCovey Chronicles

My beloved Grant Brisbee wrote about the Twins-Giants rivalry that doesn't exist.  He posted this prior to the weekend series and I read it on Friday, but it's still worth reading even though the Twins and Giants likely won't play each other again for a long time.  It's always fun to rehash the A.J. Pierzynski trade, but this time it's from the perspective of the losing fan base.  Here's the link. 

Random Top 17 List

Top 17 lists are so popular right now.  Joe Mauer happens to have the 17th worst isolated power among all qualified MLB players.  Isolated power basically measures a hitter's raw power.  Mauer's is currently 0.081, which rates just above "awful" on this chart.  Somehow, Mauer has an above-average OPS+, even with awful power.  I was shocked on Saturday when Mauer hit a double and the graphic stated that he had hit just his 5th double of the season.  I hope Mauer's extra-base power starts to come back because he's basically an average hitter without it. 

Here's the top 5 on this top 17 list that I never actually provided (through Saturday's games):

1. Ben Revere - .034
2. Derek Jeter - .043
3. DJ LeMahieu - .047
4. Martin Prado - .058
5. Norichika Aoki - .059

#Eddie400 Update

This is by far my most successful half-hearted campaign.  Eduardo Escobar is still on fire.  When I proposed the Eddie 400 back in January, it was more a "why not" idea based on the idea that Pedro Florimon wasn't very good and Escobar was a couple years younger.  Escobar has made me famous beyond my wildest dreams (I have very depressing dreams).  He is still hitting like a champ and still getting regular plate appearances.  In fact, he is currently on pace for about 350 at-bats, but with his recent uptick in playing time, he should plow past the 400 ABs that I requested for him. 

I am so great.  I take full credit for all of his successes. 

Random Idea to Change Baseball

I love baseball, but I admit that it is not a perfect game.  Thus, from time to time, I have some craaaaaazy ideas to make the game better.  Here's one.  What if one baseball per game was made of like really hard cake.  This would take some engineering, but the weight and feel would have to be the same, so the pitcher doesn't realize the difference.  The ump just has that cake ball in his bag and eventually it comes into the game.  Once the ball is thrown, it would either explode with cake in the catcher's mitt, or better, off the batter's bat.  Cake balls are really big right now, so why not capitalize?

I'm not sure what the outcome would be, maybe it would just be a short comedy interlude, everyone cleans up and we just move on like it didn't happen.  If a player had a flour allergy, it would be particularly compelling every time he came to the plate.  It's just an idea, so obviously it needs some fine tuning.  Just imagine how much old school ball guys would hate that cake ball.

Song of the Week - Pearl Jam - Inside Job

I have nothing to plug this week.  I wrote some stuff last week, but it got proper attention.  Instead, I'll use this space to celebrate!  Pearl Jam, my all-time favorite band, is headlining in Minnesota for the first time since 2003.  Yes, Pearl Jam is still making music.  No, you probably wouldn't like it.  I do like it.  Regardless of how you feel about their music, they put on one of the best live shows I've ever seen.  I highly suggest getting tickets to see them, so long as I have my tickets first.  They love their fans and prove it every night.  Here's a live version of one of my faves:

Parting Thought

I am not an overly patriotic person, or an overly political person or really, an overly emotional person.  I have many family members who have served in the U.S. military and I am fortunate enough to have never lost a loved one during service.  As a social studies teacher, I felt an obligation to remind students why we had this long weekend in late May.  For some, they knew all too well and for others, it gave them something to think about as they enjoyed one of the final weekends before summer.  I don't feel that obligation as a Twins blogger or whatever, but I don't mind taking a few minutes away from the Twins to do as much as I can to reinforce the meaning of this holiday. 

To those who are remembering someone important on this very powerful holiday, my thoughts are with you. 

Have a great week, everyone!    

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 14, 2014

Weekend Recap

The Twins bounced back from a bad sweep to execute a good sweep!  They got three good starts and won three games.  What a concept!  In addition, the AL's second-best offense scored 21 runs and the bullpen threw 4.2 scoreless innings.  The Twins dismantled the Royals.  They made them look like little babies.  They stole their marbles.  Too much?

Kyle Gibson

Kyle Gibson has been the Twins' best starting pitcher through the first 12 games.  He's 2-0, he has an ERA of 1.59 and if he keeps pitching as he has, he'll be in Rochester by July.  SWERVE!  It's true though.  Gibson has pitched well, but he's doing some things could lead to future heartbreak.  His ground ball rate is very encouraging, sitting at an elite 58.8%.  By way of keeping the ball on the ground, he has yet to give up a home run.  These are good things, of course. 

He's been fortunate though.  His BABIP currently sits at .235, which is not only low but unsustainably low for a ground ball-pitcher.  His strand rate is 87.5%, which is a combination of holding runners well, limiting big innings and luck.  Off paper, Gibson's command has not looked solid so far, and his 16.7% walk rate backs up that observation.  He cannot carry a .75 strikeout-to-walk ratio much longer and expect to keep his ERA under five, much less two. 

You'd rather have a fortunate start than an unfortunate start, so we should be happy with Gibson to this point.  Hopefully, he will start to tighten up his command while keeping the elite ground ball rate.  If that happens, he will have a very nice season. 

Trevor Plouffe

I have been very impressed with Plouffe this season.  His numbers are great, no doubt, but watching him hit, he looks to have put some conscious effort into changing his approach.  It's really paying off so far.  Through Saturday, Plouffe is seeing 4.17 pitches per plate appearance, nearly .5 pitches per plate appearance better than his career figure.  His new approach specifically jumped out to me in the 8th inning of the Sunday game.

The Twins started the inning down 3-2 and Pedro Florimon and Brian Dozier walked to give the Twins first and second with no outs.  Joe Mauer struck out (sad) and up came Plouffe.  Rather than swing out of his shoes at questionable pitches, Plouffe worked the count, worked a walk and extended the inning.  In the Twins' next at-bat, Wade Davis gave the Twins an early birthday present and the Twins went on to a 4-3 win and a sweep.

Plouffe currently sits at .326/.446/.413.  Against right-handed pitching (as of Saturday), he's batting .344/.462/.406.  His line drive rate is about 11 points higher than his career-average.  His walk rate is nearly double his career-average.  If he has reversed these three bug-a-boos from his past, he could easily maintain this performance all year.  

Jason Kubel

I don't have analysis here, just an apology.  Jason Kubel, I was wrong about you.  I wanted the Twins to cut you after spring training.  I preferred Chris Colabello as the Twins' DH.  I forgot about the times you made my life special in the past.  I'm glad the Twins saw past a slow start in spring training and remembered the ability that you have.  Jason Kubel, I am sorry. 

Kubel has been the Twins' best hitter so far and a big reason why the offense has been much better than expected.  There are plenty of reasons to be wary of his hot start, but I already used stats to ruin one life today and I have a strict one ruined life limit per post.  Let's just enjoy his renaissance. 

Madness

Former Twin Update - Frank Viola

Out of hospital. Thanks again for everyone's prayers and well-wishes. Time to get in rehab mode. Will be back on field in near future!
— Frank J. Viola, Jr. (@FrankViola16) April 9, 2014

This is glorious news.  Back in March, a physical revealed that Viola had a heart issue that required surgery.  Surgery is always a big deal and heart surgery magnifies the seriousness significantly.  The fact that Viola is out of the hospital and ready for rehab is truly great news.  I hope he makes a full recovery and gets back to baseball.  Now, what do we need to do to get him back in the Twins' organization?

Random Link/Mini-Rant - Patrick Reusse's Mauer article

Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune and ESPN 1500 wrote a piece about Joe Mauer this week.  It was kind of your typical "here's what Joe Mauer doesn't do and here's what he should do" piece that honestly, bores the daylights out of me.  I like Reusse, don't get me wrong, but his clear anti-Mauer stance does not jive with my own beliefs. 

Nick Nelson at Twins Daily wrote all about Mauer as a lightning rod and it generated a ton of discussion.  You can read his article here and you should because it's really well-written and poses an interesting question. 

Going back to Reusse's article, he compares Mauer in 2014 to Roy Smalley in 1979.  He wants Mauer to "put the rebuilding 2014 Twins on his back" and lead them like Smalley did back in '79 when the Twins were in a similar position.  He cites Smalley's ridiculous first half (.372/.452/.595 prior to July 5) as evidence and certainly, Smalley deserves a lot of credit for that performance. 

I think this article ignores three major things.  First, baseball is the ultimate team sport.  One player cannot carry a team regardless of how strong your narrative is.  Mike Trout put together two transcendent seasons in 2012 and 2013 and the Angels played in zero playoff games.  Second, Roy Smalley wishes he was Joe Mauer.  Smalley finshed his 1979 season with a 110 OPS+ a figure that Mauer has eclipsed in seven of his nine full seasons. 

Finally, it ignores the fact that regardless of what we all want Joe Mauer to be, Joe Mauer is who Joe Mauer is.  He's fantastic at avoiding outs (one of the best in this generation), he's quiet and he's not going to change his approach to satisfy our desires.  We (as fans and observers) can either pine for Mauer to become a completely different player after ten seasons as "Joe Mauer - Nice OBP Guy" or we can accept his greatness even if it doesn't look like the greatness of other great players. 

I've flipped on Mauer over the years.  I used to call him a "glorified singles hitter" with impunity.  I've found my own solace with Mauer's greatness in recent years and I've enjoyed his work a lot more as a result.  Articles like Reusse's are great for the "rah-rah" element of sports that we do love, but challenging a great player to be an even greater player to fit someone else's mold of greatness?  What's the point?

AIM chat with 16-year-old Brad

    BSwanson0928:  Hey Brad.

    KPuckFan34123456:  What?  I'm watching Power Rangers.

    BSwanson0928:  You tell everyone that you hate Power

    Rangers.  Stop doing that, just be you.  Guess who got

    the save for the Rockies on Saturday night?

    KPuckFan34123456:  Um, I have no idea.  

    BSwanson0928:  You'll never guess.  He's on the Twins in 

    1999 and you really don't like him.

    KPuckFan34123456:  Denny Hocking?

    BSwanson0928:  Yep, great guess.  I can see why you're 

    getting straight Cs right now.  He's a pitcher.

    KPuckFan34123456:  Um, probably a young guy...Dan

    Perkins?

    BSwanson0928:  Who?  No, LaTroy Hawkins.

    KPuckFan34123456:  WHAT?!?!?

    BSwanson0928:  IKR?

    KPuckFan34123456:  What?

    BSwanson0928:  Oh, in the future we don't have time to type

    words.  We're all busy playing The Simpsons: Tapped Out.

    KPuckFan34123456:  Wait, what's that?

    BSwanson0928:  It's a video game on the iPad. 

    KPuckFan34123456:  What's an iPad?

    BSwanson0928:  It's like a computer with no keyboard and

    a touch screen.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Hmm, that sounds productive.

    BSwanson0928:  That's why we shorten "i know, right" to

    IKR.  We're very busy screwing around.

    KPuckFan34123456:  That sounds really cool.  Hawkins 

    is a starter, he has a career ERA over six.

    BSwanson0928:  Yeah, I know, it's shocking.  In 2000, the

    Twins make him a reliever and he's pretty good at it.  He's 

    inconsistent at first, but he's still pitching at 41 in 2014.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Wow, is there like really good

    medicine in 2014? 

    BSwanson0928:  Well, yes, in Washington and Colorado,

    but that's a totally different story.  He's just in great shape

    and he's always thrown hard.

    KPuckFan34123456:  Huh, strange.  I guess I can tape his

    rookie cards back together then.

    BSwanson0928:  I wouldn't bother, baseball cards are on

    holograms and stuff now.  The paper stuff isn't popular.  

    KPuckFan34123456:  Ah, bummer.  Ok, I'm going to get 

    back to Livin' la Vida Loca.  The lifestyle, not the song.  Bye.

    BSwanson0928:  Ah, now I remember why we had so many

    friends.  Take care.  Bye.

If you aren't sure how I can communicate with my past selves with AOL instant messenger, here's the explanation.

Pie Charts?

I wrote a little ditty about 3-0 take signs last Wednesday.  In the post, I feigned anger about the automatic 3-0 take but then learned a valuable lesson.  If you missed the post, here's a link.  If you prefer a summary, here are some dope pie charts that I made with my gangster math/Excel skills:

Batter outcomes on a 3-0 count

Batter outcomes on a 3-1 count

Batter outcomes on a 3-2 count

You're actually more likely to make an out than get a hit with a 3-0 count, if you swing.  If you just stand there, you'll walk or get hit by a pitch over 92% of the time.  What conclusions can you draw?  Please respond in 3-5 complete sentences and use at least one of our vocab words.    

Random Plug - Jonah Keri's book

I just finished Jonah Keri's Up, Up & Away:  The Kid, The Hawk, Rock, Vladi, Pedro, Le Grand Orange, Youppi!, The Crazy Business of Baseball, & the Ill-Fated but Unforgettable Montreal Expos and it was fantastic.  The title is impressively long and the book is impressively detailed.  He talks with former players, coaches, executives and fans to give a comprehensive look at a team with a surprisingly complex and elaborate story.  I highly recommend this book to baseball fans and I challenge a Twins fan/writer to write a similar book for me to read.  It's all about what I want. 

Here' s a link to Keri's book on Amazon.

Baseball Card of the Week

Yes!  Look at how young these two look!  Trevor Plouffe absolutely knows how handsome he is.  It's the only explanation for that pose.  Here's a look at your two best offensive players on the 2014 Twins so far.  When this photo was taken 11 years ago, the Twins would have been extremely pleased to know that these two would make up 2/9ths of their 2014 starting lineup.  Their journeys to where they are today were completely different, but in the end, I believe that these are two prospect success stories. 

Song of the Week

I'm branching out, but only slightly.  I'm going to include a song of week because I think it's fun.  If you hate my musical tastes, just leave a really nasty comment like a civilized adult. 

The Afghan Whigs will release their first new album in 16 years on Tuesday, April15.  I will be up at midnight when my pre-order becomes available.  I plan to listen to it once, sleep for an hour, listen again, sleep for an hour, etc.  My wife will divorce me around 4am.  Here's a classic song by this extremely underrated band:

Parting Thought

Sitting at 6-6, the Twins are exceeding their paltry expectations.  I believe we were in this position last year, as the Twins weren't terrible in April of 2013 either.  That said, I think this 2014 team has a better chance to maintain this level of success.  Their starting pitching is improved and starting to show it.  The offense is clearly better than we expected and the bullpen should be reliable.  I predicted 75 wins before the season and I've seen nothing yet to make me back off on that prediction.

Have a great week, everyone!