76 thoughts on “August 22, 2013: I’m on the Brute Squad”

  1. Sheenie submitted a banana foster's cookie to the State Fair that she created entirely from scratch (i.e., no adapting any recipe of any kind) and finished fifth. Yes, yes, they are as delicous as they sound, and yes, her hobby is one of the reasons why I struggle with WGOM Fitness because I'm always tasting her new recipes and providing feedback.

  2. I have a fantasy football draft tonight for a keeper league. There are 14 teams, and my first active pick will be in the 3rd round. 3 keepers were allowed. In round 1 I kept Arian Foster, round 2 I kept Adrian Peterson, and in round 4 I'm keeping Andrew Luck.

    I suppose I need some wide receivers, but I'm feeling pretty good about this season, barring injury.

    1. For a 14 team league, I don't think you can do much better than that (as long as Foster's healthy, of course).

      1. Yeah... especially considering I have the 12th pick in the draft. I'd absolutely take Foster there. That makes Peterson the 17th pick and Luck the 45th. It's probably higher than I'd want to take Luck, but I also don't want to let him go.

        1. I'm not sure you'd get a much better pick than luck at 45 but I suppose it really depends on how points are tabulated in your league.

          1. QB are generally worth less than they might be in your standard leagues. Still, I can count on reliable numbers from Luck.

      1. He has a plan for a blog or newsletter called "The Rotation". His plan is to hit each team once a month, and look at whatever particular issue is relevant to that team at the time, whether that's prospects of playoffs. The thought is that he'll make sure to get to each division every week. I'll let y'all know if that ever gets off the ground.

    2. Fun read except, "...Arcia is, for me, an everyday corner outfielder, one capable of usurping Hicks altogether as the third guy in an outfield with elite prospects Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano."
      ...
      le sigh.

      EDIT: On further review, it's not exclusively a 'Twins' blog so I'll cut him some slack.

      2. He has projected Sano as an OF for a long time, and doesn't seem willing to be shaken from that position.

    3. Good share. Given how the Twins have been lefty heavy during their most recent period of success, this part at the end caught me off guard:

      The Twins have Joe Mauer in place, but with Trevor Plouffe and Brian Dozier apparently now medium-term fixtures and Buxton and Sano on the way, they needed another lefty hitter who can keep opposing managers honest and force opposing starters to use their whole arsenal. Oswaldo Arcia is the first reinforcement to reach the front lines, joining Mauer.

  5. Is anyone else following what's happening to the Minnesota Orchestra?

    I haven't followed the whole thing, except the bits that have come across my RSS feeds, but it sounds like Osmo Vanska (conductor) will end up resigning, in addition to several musicians already taking other jobs, since the lockout shows no signs of ending.

    I haven't been to a MSO concert since I was in high school, so it won't affect my life directly, but it's incredibly sad to see a world-class symphony come apart like this.

    1. Losing Vanska is going to be a huge blow to the Orchestra. He's fantastic; the recordings of the Beethoven symphonies the Orchestra cut under him are the best I've heard in a very long time, and I have classical musician friends who say the same. The Orchestra's board is looney tunes if they think losing Vanska is no big deal.

    2. I've been following a bit. Most current update/perspective from management:

      We regret to report that the Minnesota Orchestra and the Musicians' Union have not been able to agree on the terms of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
      Our board and management have a responsibility to protect the Minnesota Orchestra for the long term and that means negotiating a contract that allows the organization to live within its financial means. We need an Orchestra that is both artistically and financially strong to benefit our audiences, supporters, community and musicians for years to come, and we will keep working with our musicians to arrive at an agreement that achieves this goal.

      There's more info on that link...if you trust management.
      Another sad thing is that they're just wrapping up an awesome renovation project at Orchestra Hall. I can't wait to get in there and experience it...eventually.

      1. Apparently management didn't mention to benefactors that it was planning on slashing musician salaries 30-50% when soliciting for donations for the $52 million Orchestra Hall renovation, so I think your "if you trust management" is more than merited.

        1. Heh:

          The donors who have contributed to the Orchestra Hall renovation would not have contributed these funds if there weren’t a building project to support and we need to respect their intent. For example, the State of Minnesota provided $14 million (funds that we need to match) to support the renovation and these funds cannot be used for a different purpose. Similarly, many foundations and corporations have specific guidelines around capital support that our project fulfilled; this support cannot be re-allocated.

    3. I've followed it here and there. Mostly I've been repeatedly astounded that no resolution has been reached, and at how entrenched the two sides seemed, right off the bat.

      1. There were revelations yesterday that management was buying up web domain names that could have been used to set up "Save the Symphony" type groups five months before the lockout even began.

        I guess I understand that the money to maintain the orchestra at its previous world-class level wasn't there. But it sure seems like the negotiations aren't coming from a place of good faith.

        And, as CH points out above, characterizing the loss of Vanska as no big deal is pretty well divorced from reality.

    1. Blue Jays-Phillies pre-1994, so has to be the '93 World Series. Operating on the assumption that Molitor is forced out at second, I see two candidates: bottom of the second in game 1 and top of the ninth in game 3. That looks to be Kevin Stocker making the relay and he played all of both games. His partner at second, Mariano Duncan, also played all of both games. Not sure yet how to determine which play it is.

      1. Blue Jays appear to be in gray, Phils in white (although it's close, but look at the margin of the WS patch).
        OF fence is Green, Skydome fence was blue.
        Astros and Dodgers logos above the fence.
        Everything points to a game at Veterans Stadium in Philly. I haven't checked the plays, but if what you say is right, it's game 3.

        1. That makes sense, too, because Stocker's got dirt all over his pants. More likely to have happened in a game where he had already played nine innings instead of two.

          1. Game 3: Stocker singled in the fifth, out on a GIDP to the next batter 4-6-3.
            A takeout slide could have been attempted.

  8. _elm_n has returned to Tampa Bay.

    According to Rosenthal it’s a minor-league contract and Young will head to Double-A, presumably with an eye toward getting a September call-up once rosters expand.

    ...

    Last time Young played for Double-A Montgomery in the Rays’ farm system? Back in 2005, when he was 19 years old and hit .336 with 20 homers in 84 games. The next spring Baseball America named him the No. 1 prospect in all of baseball.

  9. Caple:

    There are only two players who reached the 4,000-hit mark in major league history: Pete Rose and Ty Cobb. According to various sources, only five players had 4,000 hits in the majors and minors combined: Rose, Cobb, Hank Aaron, Stan Musial and Jigger Statz (a little-known player because 3,356 of his hits were in the old Pacific Coast League). Whether you count Japan as a major league or a minor league -- or something in between -- Ichiro is about to join that elite fraternity.

    Jigger Statz? That is an all-time name!

    1. Interesting. Due to the milder climate, back in Statz' days the Pacific Coast League had much longer seasons than MLB - 180 to 200 games. Playing for the old Los Angeles Angels, Statz knocked 291 hits in 199 games during the 1926 PCL season.

      Talent-wise, it seems like NPB is the closest to the old Open-classified Pacific Coast League. I don't like the AAAA label that gets tossed around. It doesn't have the history of the Open classification behind it, and carries the negative connotation of describing someone like Matt Murton as a "AAAA player." As Ichiro and plenty of his Japanese contemporaries have demonstrated, many Japanese players have MLB-caliber talent, even if the quality of the NPB as a whole is just a bit below that of MLB.

      1. As Ichiro and plenty of his Japanese contemporaries have demonstrated, many Japanese players have MLB-caliber talent, even if the quality of the NPB as a whole is just a bit below that of MLB.

        Tsuyoshi Nishioka, the exception that proves the rule.

            1. Of the 267 players in MLB history to accumulate -2.4rWAR over the course of their careers since 1901, only two of them did it in careers that lasted less than 100 games (the other, John Misse, put together an impressive -3.1 rWAR season in 1914 with the Browns in 99 games).

              His career was a brief anti-candle.

              1. Of course, Nishioka is a dead horse trope to the nth degree, I just find failure that complete and all-encompassing to be fascinating.

                  1. If Nishi came back to Minnesota in fifteen years and gave his name to a good yakitori concession at Target Field, I think all could be forgotten.

        2. I remember feeling so proud that our club, OURS, had gone out and signed the big-name batting champion all-star from Japan. I remembered the Dice-K hype, watching Ichiro and Matsui in the MLB and thinking that maybe, just maybe the new ballpark did mean the Pohlads would spends some money to make the team better.

          2. Signing Nishi was a pretty solid move I was fully on board with. Trading JJ Hardy for peanuts after doing so was what I dreaded and what they did. And that was a really stupid decision.

            1. I guess I'm with you two. Hindsight being what it is though, I think two different people had a hand in this description - one from pre-Twins and the other from our time.

              Nishioka has many attributes that make him a skilled shortstop, including quick reflexes, soft hands and an exceptional throwing arm (he clocked 142 km/h (88 mph) in his first pitch in an informal pre-game contest in 2006). He has some of the best range of any Japanese shortstop; though he logged time at second base earlier in his career and can man both middle infield positions quite proficiently, manager Bobby Valentine played him almost exclusively at shortstop since 2006 to lessen the stress placed on his lower body. In 2011, Nishioka committed 12 errors while playing in just 68 games for the Twins. In three games in 2012, Nishioka committed three errors, which included misplaying an infield popup.

              (from the repository)

      2. Jete's hits were more leaderly.

        I notice that that list has Ichiro at exactly 4,000. Does that include his 27 postseason MLB hits? [answer: no, it appears not, nor does it include any postseason hits from the NPL, I think] If you are gonna count J'ter's postseason hits, you gotta include them for everyone.

  11. Dozier got his 28th double this season. Only two Twins second basemen have had more than 30 doubles in a season who are they?

    Spoiler SelectShow

          1. I recall him playing 2b for a while after returning from the spinal fusion. Or so my memory thinks.

    1. I'm glad it's almost Count Chocula season again. It pains me greatly that it is no longer available year round. 🙁

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