91 thoughts on “November 2, 2012: Skittles”

    1. I think you have previously called this syndrome "being born on 3b and thinking you hit a triple." I call it "using lottery winnings to buy more lottery tickets."

      1. the Kings are up to their old tricks -- stagnant offense, lots of turnovers, mediocre defense. Oh, and the hype on Thomas Robinson is dying down. He's an undersized 4, and no Charles Barkley.

        Kings lack a shot blocker in the middle on defense, and weak outside shooting means that teams can collapse on Cousins at the other end. If you can keep Tyreke Evans out of the lane (no easy task), you can stop the Kings.

    2. and they are they only one of the long season sports (MLB, NBA, NHL) that have games on network tv. Including tonights game.

        1. I meant for the local teams. both the Twins and Wild are pretty much all on FSN

          the Wolves tv also have a new play by play guy.

    3. Finally. Now the question is, what beer from MN that is available to me down here should I buy for the game tonight? Summit, Schell's, or Grain Belt?

      3. Schell's Stout will go out of production soon to make way for Chimney Sweep and another "Seasonal" (each gets half a year). Can't go wrong there.
        I bought two 12-packs of the Stout last night. I told my wife I can buy them like they're going out of style because they are. There were at least five more 12ers there of the stuff, so I felt like I restrained myself.

        One of those 12-packs is for the hunting weekend. The past few years, I've brought stronger stuff like Surly and (can't remember), and I've been knocked out from the tiring of hunting and the alcohol so quickly that this year I went with something with lower alcohol content.
        (Still 5.0% ABV, not that low, hmmm...)

        Also got a Sixer of this year's Snowstorm, a Biere de Noël. I liked it alright, lots of fruity malty flavors, CER said it tasted like Banana Bread (I let the older two dip their fingers in to taste, rather than sips which become gulps). I won't have a problem finishing these and buying another sixer, but I still wish it was last year's Wee Heavy.

        1. Oh, I'm up at deer camp (my great-uncle-in-law's house) and the Stout was the right decision.
          How can they cancel this?

  3. From HBT's Matthew Pouliot's Top 50 free agents:

    47. Francisco Liriano (LHP White Sox – Age 29 – Prev. #43): With ERAs of 5.09 and 5.34 in consecutive years, Liriano certainly isn’t entering free agency at the peak of his value. That said, he’s still just 29, he’s left-handed and he struck out 167 batters in 156 2/3 innings last season; he won’t be hurting for suitors.

    I don't think that works anymore when he's 29.

    2. There have been some pitchers who figured it out at age 30 or so. I just doubt that Francisco Liriano will be one of those pitchers.

    3. Whoa, buddy you buried the lede:

      48. Jose Valverde (RHP Tigers – Age 35 – Prev. #29): Will anyone remember that Valverde went 35-for-40 saving games during the regular season? Of course, the signs were discouraging even then. His 3.78 ERA and 1.25 WHIP were hardly bad, but they came with a greatly diminished strikeout rate (48/27 K/BB in 69 IP). The implosion took place in the postseason. After a perfect inning for a save in his first appearance, he gave up nine runs while getting just five outs in his next three. Valverde probably isn’t finished as a useful reliever, but he’s going to be hard to trust as a closer and his history of struggling in non-save situations will cause contenders to shy away. He’d make the most sense as a cheap closer in Houston, Miami or Minnesota.

      1. If we still had Bill Smith, I'd be concerned. If Terry Ryan does it, well, he's not as smart as I think he is.

            1. Capps had 93 before his stint with the Twins, so Perk has two or three more season to go until that.

      2. I'd feel a lot better about all of this if Perk hadn't had a couple of rough games down the stretch. Valve did too, and a lot more high profiles ones, at that. Hopefully Houston will go crazy now that they're in the AL and pick him up.

      3. I stopped reading that entry at "Valverde", otherwise I definitely would have included it. There might be other tidbits as well since I read maybe five in total.

      4. That's speculation without knowing the facts. Gardy all but handed Perkins the closing job for next year. I doubt the Twins do anything but add minimum pay middle relievers to the bullpen. They have a lot bigger problems to worry about, starting with the rotation.

        Santana does not seem like a typical Twins pitcher, which in some ways is good. It means the Twins may be looking outside the box at guys that could miss more bats instead of just throw strikes. I'd definitely would prefer Haren or Shields, depending on who they give up, of course.

        1. Darren Wolfson reported on Twitter the Twins are inquiring about a multi-year deal for Burton with his representation. I think that's a good idea. I'd rather that than sign someone like Valverde. If they could get Ryan Madsen for $2-3 million on a one year deal that'd be okay, but I'm not sure there's a lot of other relievers out there I'd go after.

        2. Oh, I'm 100% certain that the Twins will not sign that clown. I just wanted to provide some humor for everyone.

      5. None of the obvious absurdity of the Twins being a fit for Dancy can burn the awful image I accidentally got in my head of him shimmying in a Twins uniform. Gross.

    1. My understanding is part of the reason is that they're... too tall. When a player is taller, then tend to flatten the arc of the shot, which has the effect of turning the hoop into an oval.

      1. Bigger hands, too. Shaq shooting a free throw was like a normal person trying to shoot with a softball.

      2. They should probably just scale up all of the court dimensions (basket height, court length/width, free throw line, 3 point line) by 5-10%. 🙂

        1. I've felt basketball may have been the major sport that has been affected the most over the last century by players growing in size, strength. I wonder what Naismith would have felt about players being able to score points by dunking.

          1. Perhaps, but the average offensive lineman in the NFL in the 1930s was 230 pounds. Size maybe hasn't impacted the way the game has been played in the NFL, but certainly it has affected the impact of playing the game for the players.

    2. I read an interesting take on it awhile ago, don't remember where. The point of it was that NBA teams aren't looking for good free throw shooters. All of the players other abilities were far more important and they weren't rooting out the poor free throws. I think that kind of goes with this quote from the article: "The bottom line result is everybody's problem was different. There's no one thing that everybody is doing wrong"

      1. I am generally pro-academic, but I don't see the point in this unless identifying the flaw allows you to address the flaw. A better study would be "Video Analysis Used to Increase NBA Free Throw Percentage By 10% On Average."

        1. Yeah, as I said, it really doesn't answer the question the headline says it does. I just found it interesting anyway.

  5. Headline on the NBA page at the 4ltr:

    No Backing Down

    Melo versus LeBron is always must-see action. Can the Knicks challenge the Heat?

    Er, ah, what? Ugh, is it gonna be one of those types of seasons for the WWL?

    1. I followed a link on CH earlier today that projected the Wolves to get fourth place in the West even with Love's injury. It left me hopeful until I saw that it projected the Knicks to be first in the East. Does not pass the sniff test.

    2. Every season is one of those types of seasons. That's why NYK leads my list of teams that I hate.

  6. This showed up on my news feed yesterday on the Book of Face:

    After a bad day at work, I'll be off to parent, teacher conference's. I feel sooooo SORRY for the teacher who send's all the homework home everynight!!! Today will be the day I'm not nice!!!!! P.s. [She] may be 25yrs. old before she graduates, do to this one teacher & after tonight I'm sure it's not going to help. But it need's to be said!!!

    Damned teacher and her stupid requirement's.

      1. Here's the follow up:

        Ok Last night went in my favor!!!! The teacher may think she's still right, but the superintendent say's different!!!!

          1. I just want to point out that I did not attend or graduate from SBGville High School, unlike the author of said posts.

              1. I don't know about that, but if the superintendent is in agreement with her, Lord help the students in that school.

                1. Let's hope that the superintendent is just playing it smart and crafty and told her that he'd "talk to the teacher" about it.

    2. I will try to hang out, but it might be tough with an apparent house cleaning set for tonight and tomorrow morning.

  8. if the Wolves get 30 wins this season, Rick Adelman would be the second winningest coach in franchise history.

    2. I didn't mind him as a backup middle infielder. 1+ fWAR each of the last three years. I wish I was confident that the Twins could easily replace him.

      1. He was in line for about $2 million via arbitration next year. I think for that kind of money we can find a comparable replacement for him.

        1. 1 WAR is worth about $5 million on the open market, so he still had surplus value. However, the Twins have Escobar, Florimon, and Carroll to cover the middle infield with Dozier also a possibility (maybe second base only now). I think they may have let Casilla go simply due to numbers and the non-Carrolls being free pre-arb players.

      2. This is empirically true. Remember
        .350/.450/.700 in close and late
        .050/.049/.055 all other times.
        O's trying to buy more unsustainable magic

  11. Also, the Twins have apparently claimed Josh Roenicke and Thomas Field off waivers from Colorado. Roenicke, 30, is a right-handed reliever who really hasn't done a lot, although he might if they can teach him to throw strikes (sound familiar?). Field is a 25-year-old middle infielder who had good minor league numbers until last year, his first at AAA. Maybe he can improve, or maybe AA was his ceiling. Not a lot to get excited about, but if people were excited about them, they wouldn't have been on waivers.

    2. I am intrigued by Field. It was the PCL though and he was 25, so it's limited intrigue. One level each year, so he didn't move quickly, but also not that slow. Good filler I think. I doubt his raw numbers (e.g. OPS) will improve due to moving to the IL, but I think he will show improvement.

      1. In his PCL season, his BB% and SO% were in line at least with what he did at AA, so they don't worry me that much.

      2. In trying to find comparable Twins players, I am thinking maybe Plouffe?

        .264/.359/.414 -- Field
        .257/.320/.405 -- Plouffe

        Plouffe was a relatively younger in a tougher league, but Field's numbers are slightly better. Field is also shorter (by a lot), which stereotypically would give him less power production but maybe more potential to field in the middle infield. Stolen base numbers are nothing to write home about.

        1. Field was also drafted in the 24th round and Plouffe was a 1st-rounder, which probably speaks a little to what scouts think about them.

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