125 thoughts on “June 5, 2012: I’m Your Venus”

  2. the key to the Twins win last night was a bunt. But a bunt by KC. The Twins were making errors left and right and Ned Yost decides to bunt men over the 2nd and 3rd and its successful. But it also got the first out of the inning and DeVries wiggles out of that jam to keep the score tied. Then the next inning a bunch of runs scored and the Twins roll to the easy victory.

    2. My thoughts exactly. I was begging the Royals to bunt. They give away an out and then the 8 and 9 hitters are up. It's nice to think De Vries somehow "settled down" or "beared down" or whatever, but the reality was the Royals gave away an out and then De Vries struck out their worst two hitters to keep the game tied. This is the kind of awful decision-making Joe Pos is always complaining about.

      1. I was actually surprised the Twins broadcast didnt mention the situation during the broadcast

  3. Anyone keeping up with E3? I like the announcement about Playstation Plus getting a bunch of games for June, that makes me happy I just got the service. Also love watching announcements for tons of games I'll probably not get to for years and years. But it's still fun.

    Nintendo's press conference is this morning. Looking forward to seeing what they can say about the Wii U, even though I most likely won't get one.

    1. I have been following it. There's been nothing all that exciting yet. I just signed up for Playstation Plus, so the list of free games is pretty cool. I was really sad with how little Vita stuff they showed. I'm beyond excited for the Wii U conference. An hour of Nintendo games in HD? Thank you based Iwata.

      1. Are you one of the few that have a Vita? I just have not seen anything on that to justify getting it.

        1. I'm an early adopter sucker and have one, yeah. I love handhelds, and bought one right away at launch. I kind of figured I should wait but I caved.

          Honestly, it's a really nice piece of hardware, and there are some really great games on it (Uncharted, Hot Shots Golf, the upcoming Gravity Rush, etc.) but there's been so little announced since the huge launch lineup which is a bit concerning. For the rest of the year, the only games I will for sure buy are Gravity Rush, Soul Sacrifice, Persona 4 Golden (a port of a PS2 game I already own), and Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (which is also on 3DS).

          Add to this the really poor sales in Japan, and I'd say the outlook is pretty murky. Again, I cannot fault the hardware since it is great. There's a lot of potential there, but it's all about the games.

          Edit: After writing this I see that Sandlot is porting Earth Defense Force 2017 to the Vita, and I remembered that DJ Max Technika Tune is coming out this summer. Nevermind, Vita is saved.

      2. The Nintendo conference was somewhat disappointing. I think some of the negative reactions are fairly hyperbolic. New Super Mario Bros. U & Pikmin 3 are enough to sell me the new console.

        1. At least there will be support for two of the new, fancy gamepads. Support for at least four would be nice.

          1. I'm glad there's support for two, but agree that more would be better. I'm expecting them to be around a hundred bucks, which would probably keep me from ever owning more than two. I'm really excited to get a launch date & cost so I can get my preorder ready.

        2. What were people expecting? I mean, the fact that Nintendo is going to be able to handle games like Arkham City is really a pretty big deal in itself. That right there makes me more inclined towards the Wii U than I thought I would be.

          1. The world and then some. Gaming culture on the internet is incredibly impatient on top of being entitled. Basically since Nintendo did not announce every game they wanted, they act like that means Nintendo has a personal vendetta against them and those games are never going to get released. I'm 100% positive there's a new Zelda being made, I know that Retro (who made Metroid Prime & Donkey Kong Country Returns) are working on a new game, I know that there will be compelling third party software. They don't have to show it all today. Sure, it wasn't a great showing for that reason (and the impressions I'm reading are that you more or less need to use the controller to get hte full experience), but I don't think that the system is DOA just because I didn't get to see everything I wanted to right this instant.

            I'll buy the system, NSMBU, Pikmin, and probably a couple of third party games. I'm positive between now and launch we'll see a lot more awesome stuff for it.

    1. Kareem, lamenting about how a certain player just never really reached his potential because he never went to college:

      We'll never know how good he could have been had he spent more time rounding out his skill set with a top college coach.

      Who was that unfortunate?

      Spoiler SelectShow

      1. I was so confused about this example, since it was all about the player's defense, while the rest of the column complained about inefficient offenses.

        Also, what kind of jerk only names one name? Bad form.

        2. The one name being a former MVP who put his team on his back and carried them to the NBA title last year, no less. Just imagine if he'd been coached up by John Calipari or Rick Pitino for a year or two!

      2. How could he overlook the potential career that KG could have had, had he gone to college? The guy's picture is right there on the sidebar of the column!

        1. Moss particularly likes this line of argument: scoring is down because guys like Dirk Nowitzki can score prolifically but can't play defense. QED

            1. Dazzle had a great GOML moment yesterday when he blamed DeVries's fourth inning troubles on him not warming up out of the stretch between innings. Young guys, he insinuated, are too stupid to plan ahead to have baserunners while wily veterans make sure they can pitch out of the stretch if necessary.

    2. That just didn't make any sense at all. He could have tried to make a logical argument to back up his point but he certainly didn't do it.

    1. It's really less the slotting rules and more the total team allocation that's the problem though.

      I think the Pirates should take a firm stand, offer Appel slot and nothing more and then walk away when he turns it down. That's the best way to make sure the system will benefit teams like the Pirates - the teams decide what slot players are worth, not the players and their agents.

      1. But with hard slotting, the team allocation is still there. Rather than being allowed to spend more or less though, that's exactly what will be spent. Now, the teams have an allocation that they lose if a pick isn't signed.

        The teams have little say on what a pick is worth though. It's the league that's setting the value and teams have to follow if they don't want to be taxed or start losing picks. In order to sign a player like Appel if he wants more than slot, the Pirates have to draft a lot of cheap players. Boras (especially him, but other agents will figure it out quickly) then knows the Pirates have more money to spend. And that's still not a guarantee. There's the possibility that they tank the rest of the draft and lose Appel.

        1. I guess, in order to make it a hard slot there needs to be the allocation limits. If they didn't lose their allocation for not signing a pick though, that'd help. Not that I'm defending the system. I'm just thinking there are ways to mitigate its stupidity short of getting rid of it.

    2. In MLS, the league talks with teams and signs top players to contracts before the draft, so that when a team drafts one of these players, they know exactly what contract they are going to get with that player. Something like that might help here, though it would probably be tricky. It would also have the upside that players would be signed right when they are drafted and could get a start in short-season ball right away.

    3. What the league needs to do is make rights more permanent. Once you are drafted, the drafting team holds your rights for several years and you are paid a slot price. The union should go for that, it's the agents that don't want it. High school players can opt out of the draft if that's what they want to do.

      1. There used to be a draft and follow (Blackburn was one). From scout.com:

        The draft-and-follow enabled clubs to maintain exclusive rights to a drafted player up until one week prior to the next year’s draft, if that player attended junior college. The club, however, lost any rights when a drafted high schooler decided to attend a four-year college or a drafted college player returned to school and attended his first class.

        I don't see anything on why it was eliminated on a quick scan.

      2. There could be some concern under such a system that baseball would lose players to other sports, but with the NBA and NFL currently not drafting players out of high school, I guess the primary bidders competing against MLB are boosters from high-profile colleges.

        I'm not really a huge fan of hard slotting. It's pretty rigid, and through its rigidity seems like it would be inefficient. Overall, I think I'd prefer no restrictions on draft bonuses, but an overall salary cap that includes minor league payroll and signing bonuses (domestic and international) with increased revenue sharing. If teams think they should spend a lot on draft picks and they haven't spent much on their major league roster, then let 'em go nuts. I'm sure the MLBPA would not be a big fan of this, but it's potentially the cleanest solution to the problem.

      3. The union should go for that, it's the agents that don't want it.

        It looks to me like the agent is a large portion of the issue here- if Boras doesn't make a ridiculous contract demand based on an imaginary drafting slot, then this won't be an issue. Appel was drafted eighth for whatever reasons, his slotted contract should reflect that.
        I don't envy the Pirates the position this puts them in, but however they handle it is going to determine if the agents, the union or the teams have the leverage going forward.

        1. Yup. Make the offer and then be willing to walk away and take the 9th pick in next year's draft, which will probably be more valuable anyway.

          1. That would take some serious cojones, but I hope it's the way the Pirates are leaning.

          2. I don't think that would be the best strategy. Appel could well be worth more to the Pirates than his slot value, and if that's the case, they shouldn't be unwilling to offer him more than slot. It's also not ideal to wait a year to get something in return for their draft pick. I find it quite unlikely that Boras will let Appel sign for the slot value, so if you're not going to offer him anything at all more than slot, you might as well have just passed on him and chosen someone else.

            1. Fair enough. They should offer him whatever they think he's worth to them, properly weighing the opportunity cost of the other picks it may cost them. They should not be willing to go higher than that value though, because opportunity cost is a much more significant pressure in a hard slot system.

            2. I find it quite unlikely that Boras will let Appel sign for the slot value

              Right, which is why I really, really, really don't like Boras. If Appel refuses to sign this year he can't play, and he takes the risk that he doesn't get hit by a bus or blow up his elbow playing in the Texas Independent League / Stanford before his payday. Man, if I was that kid I'd take the money and play ball.

              1. I'm no huge Boras fan, but he's a popular agent because he usually gets a lot of money for his clients. I also doubt he's making decisions with no input from his clients. If Appel's really that worried about getting his payday today, then I'm sure Boras will make it happen.

                1. I understand that leaving money on the table is bad business, but when the draft passes you to number 8 and the compensation is pretty awesome I'd still suggesting taking it. Being a Boras client seems to make it more difficult for teams to negotiate which leaves a bitter taste in everyone's mouth.

  6. WGOM Radio

    Does Wednesday night work for recording our Euro preview?

    Then Monday for our NBA Finals preview/playoff recap?

    -Buffalo, after 6 PM Central

    (reposted from yesterday w/ updates)

    1. I think Wednesday would work for me. I would need more details, time, do we call in, etc. Also I would like to take Group A.

  7. CC to Stick: Did you see a certain NDSU alum with Buffalo ties is running for office in MN?

    1. I heard that. He's running for the state legislature (from what I've been told) out of Detroit Lakes, which is just east of Fargo.

  8. I think that more sports should institute the one-minute-per-pick approach in their drafts. Or maybe you could get 15 minutes of on-the-clock time for the whole draft. Every team would get one of those chess clocks. It would be great.

    1. MLB had a very soft one minute limit last night. The Twins ran over to begin by several minutes, but that may have been a technical issue. The team with pick #41 (Astros?) also ran over a bunch and the hosts mentioned that a lot of teams ran over.

  9. So I guess today's draft started earlier. The Twins just picked J.T. Chargois, RHP, from Rice.

    1. Drafted earlier was Mason Melotakis, LHP, from Northwestern State. That's in Louisiana obviously.

      2. From MLB.com:

        The combination of left-handedness and plus velocity will always draw interested parties. That's why this Northwestern State closer is this high on Draft boards. Melotakis has grown into the closer role over the last two years using a fastball-curve combination to finish games. He can dial the fastball up to 96 mph with good arm side tail when he keeps it down in the strike zone. His curve ball is fringy average, but it's enough to keep hitters from sitting on the heater. He commands his fastball very well and has the kind of mentality teams look for in a short reliever. Even if Melotakis doesn't have the stuff to close at the Major League level, the combination of plus fastball and command should make him an effective setup man at the very least.

        Drafted a future setup man! Woohoo!

    2. Rice has had some success with first basemen-pitchers (see Savery, Joe) and Chargois is the next in line, playing first every day for the Owls while also serving as the team’s hard-throwing closer. Chargois' dual roles have made it difficult in the past to evaluate him properly. His future is on the mound and scouts haven’t always been able to see him consistently enough to know what he brings to the table. His fastball is a plus pitch, up to 95 mph and it has above-average movement. Chargois combines that with a spiked curveball that can be above-average to plus when his mechanics are right. He doesn’t have tremendous command, but is around the strike zone enough for short relief work. College closer types tend to do well on Draft Day and even if Chargois is a bit of a wild card, his potential as a future big league setup man or closer should have him off the board fairly early.

      Another future setup man! I like him a wee bit more since he wasn't a full-time pitcher. Maybe he could at least be converted into a catcher or something if he fails at pitching. Surely he wouldn't hit worse than Butera.

      1. Heck, just keep him as a 1B/closer combo - what a great weapon to have in the game. Unless he pitches like Morneau and hits like Capps.

      2. Don't most Rice pitchers have their arms fall off after being drafted?

        Serious research ahead. Rice pitchers drafted since 1995 in the top 2 rounds:
        David Aardsma
        Joe Savery
        Kenny Baugh
        Wade Townsend (twice!)
        Jeff Niemann
        Philip Humber
        Matt Anderson

        Um, yikes!

        1. Good news: The Twins are going to be trading for an elite pitcher.
          Bad news: The elite pitcher will cost a lot and have injury concerns. And then Chargois is going to pitch a perfect game.

      3. So when Rice started Chargois at 1B, and presumably DH'd for the pitcher, did they have to give up the DH when they moved Chargois to close? Or does the NCAA tie the DH to the lineup spot, so that the new first baseman wouldn't hit?

    1. I had some friends who went to the The Wire vs. Treme concert in New Orleans a few weeks ago. They were able to mingle with Cool Lester Smooth, Slim Charles, and Omar.

  11. Third round pick is Adam Walker, RF, from Jacksonville University, FL. MLB.com's blurb:

    The son of a former NFL running back, Walker looks the part of a future slugger. The question is if he has the baseball skills to get there. There's no question about his pop at the plate. He might have as much raw power as anyone in the Draft class, with some scouts giving him an 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale. He also has a very good approach to hitting, though his hitting instincts lag behind. That leaves some wondering if he'll learn to tap into that power consistently enough against advanced pitching. A big, physical specimen, Walker has played both first base and the outfield. His arm is well below average, and while some think he could handle playing left field, his defensive home is up in the air. He draws comparisons to Giancarlo Stanton, both in body type and power potential, but there is some concern that he's a Ferrari with a VW engine.

    1. There's no question about his pop at the plate. He might have as much raw power as anyone in the Draft class, with some scouts giving him an 80 on the 20-80 scouting scale.

      [snip]

      but there is some concern that he's a Ferrari with a VW engine.

      Did Kareem write this?

        1. The writer has something against dependable and well-engineered, I guess. Or maybe he was making a statement about Ferrari body styling?

  12. Plouffe's OPS+ is up to 97. I've been beating this horse somewhat lately, but I think he could have similar value to Cuddyer. They are going to be different kinds of hitters, to a degree--Plouffe likely won't hit for as much contact and overall won't hit quite as well as Cuddyer--but Plouffe also has more defensive value. If he can finish the season around a 100 OPS+, that would be a good development for the Twins.

    1. I found something on fangraphs that relates to this- Plouffe and Morneau are pretty high on the list of players whose BABIP is lower than average. No wonder so many of their hits are of the home run variety- they've had terrible luck otherwise.

      If you filter it for just the Twins, Willingham is the only Twin who looks to be getting significantly lucky on balls in play.

      This was way more fun to play with than doing actual work on a spreadsheet.

        1. I thought that was awesome, too. Or more proof that he's underperforming, whichever way you want to look at it.

    1. Good on him. Driver seems like a genuinely good guy. I'm glad the Packers redid his deal, I'd hate to see him in another uniform.

  14. Fourth round pick is Zach Jones, RHP, from San Jose State, CA. No blurb on MLB.com about him. I suspect that's the end of info about picks.

  15. My coworker and I have made a couple of additional bets since that fated Drew Butera bet.

    He bet me that the Twins would sweep the A's.
    I bet him that the Indians would win this past series.
    I bet him that DeVries would lose last night.

    I've just bet him that the Twins will not make the playoffs. It'll cost me $20, but I think I just guaranteed Minnesota's spot in the postseason.

    You're welcome.

        1. So he actually bet that the Twins would make the postseason? What kind of odds did you give him?

          Edit: obviously, I'm asking nibbish this, but I couldn't pass up the chance to display my ineptitude as well.

          1. Completely even

            This is less about the money, and more along the lines of "wow, you win every bet we make, wouldn't it be crazy if..."

            1. ahahaha. If that bet was as self-aware as you are implying, that is teh Awesome!

          2. I know someone who bet the Twins to make the post season.

            05/20 10:42 AM 1422729410- 1 Future/Prop $10.00 $8,000.00 Baseball Futures - Divisions Minnesota Twins +80000 for AL Central

            No, that is not a typo.

            1. That's to win the division, right? Or does wild card count, too?

              *Yes, I split imaginary hairs.

              1. This is for the division.

                When someone gives you 800:1 odds on anything, take it

                1. I've blown ten dollars on much dumber things with zero chance of any return, so yeah, that looks like a pretty wise "investment" to me.

  18. Shout-out to Can of Corn: I've tried texting and fbing, but haven't heard. Are you up for Lydia Loveless tonight at the 400 bar?

    Anyone else is welcome to come. Cover's on me if I've never paid your cover before. Had a great time with Algonad at the HHT show Saturday night.

  20. CC to homebrewers: It looks like while in the process of moving I am going to be acquiring an extra fridge somehow. Do any of these products/prices stand out as good/bad to you?

    1. Yes-ish. You can find pretty stellar deals on most of the hardware on craigslist and e-bay, but if knowing that the stuff is new will set you at ease the premium is worth it.

    2. I may know a thing or two about such things. I took a look at those kits and I think you'd be perfectly ok going with the basic kit with the stainless steel faucet. (chrome is far more likely to allow gross things and mold.) However, I would recommend checking out the ebays and craigslists of the world for the necessary components first. You will need to find a 5 lb CO2 tank (this is plenty and will last plenty of kegs.), a regulator, keg tapper thing for the sanke kegs, a shaft and a faucet. The rest of the stuff, like tubing, mainly, can be easily found at Home Depot/Menard/Lowes/whatever you have in Buffalo.

      One of the reasons I say look for items yourself is because most conversion kits do not have this type of faucet, which is the single greatest f*cking thing to happen to home draft systems in ever. Also, you may find everything cheaper used, especially CO2 tanks. Now, I have a dual pressure regulator, as can be seen here:

      This is nice if there is room for two kegs so you can have a couple different types of beers at the same time even if they would benefit from two different pressures. If there is only room for one keg, then get the single regulator.

      If you have any more questions, please feel free to email or call me. I love talking about this shit.

  21. 10 years ago today the USMNT took down Portugal. I decided to watch again.

      1. I forgot how close Pope came to putting them up 2-0 in the 6th minute. Crazy.

    2. Figo's face at the end of that game was priceless. Landon was just burning up defenses on the counter that entire World Cup.

      1. Yes, Landon had ridiculous speed to burn back then. He would get the ball in space and then suddenly be five yards past the man trying to keep pace with him.

  22. I can not believe how easy it is to see Venus' transit this time around. Eight years ago, we almost had to convince ourselves we could almost see it. This time, it's readily visible between 1o'clock and 2o'clock on the Sun's face. Looking forward to seeing how it compares to 117 years from now.

      1. I'd always heard that the sun was incandescent gas, not plasma. Though I may have been led astray by our educational system.

        1. from the Repository, first line of the article on ol' Sol:

          The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields.

          see, plasma is "gas-like".

        2. If you're making at TMBG reference, good for you. But you need to hear their song "Why Does The Sun Really Shine?"

            2. Nice.

              Also, on the topic, I'm of the "Bryan" persuasion, so I like to pick on the "brian" spelling, and you've got that nice fat 's' there, so it makes for an easy gag.

  23. Rondo is my second favorite point guard in the league, for sure.

    1. Watching these playoffs after last year's playoffs, I feel completely vindicated for my years of touting the league.

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