Today, Minor Details gets caught up on last week's action. Posts will be going up throughout the day. I don't expect anyone to read them all, but feel free to scan a few if you have time.
Weekly starting pitching update:
#
Name
W
L
SV
G
GS
IP
K/9
BB/9
HR/9
BABIP
LOB%
GB%
HR/FB
ERA
FIP
xFIP
WAR
1
Phil Hughes
2
1
0
5
5
28.0
8.36
1.93
0.96
.353
64.3 %
31.4 %
8.1 %
5.14
3.37
3.70
0.6
2
Kyle Gibson
3
1
0
4
4
22.1
5.24
4.43
0.00
.306
72.7 %
54.2 %
0.0 %
3.63
3.40
4.68
0.5
3
Kevin Correia
0
3
0
5
5
27.0
4.00
2.67
0.67
.343
48.6 %
42.6 %
4.8 %
7.33
4.16
5.22
0.3
4
Ricky Nolasco
2
2
0
5
5
29.2
3.94
2.73
1.52
.355
66.7 %
50.5 %
13.9 %
6.67
5.31
4.70
-0.1
5
Mike Pelfrey
0
2
0
4
4
19.2
3.66
6.86
2.29
.250
65.6 %
39.4 %
16.7 %
7.32
8.17
6.85
-0.5
Still pretty small sample size, but the good news is that Phil Hughes isn't terrible. Sure, his ERA is over five, but his peripherals are the best on the team. Other good news: Correia is a free agent at the end of the season.
I think an IP/9 would be nice here. It'd be good to know who's turning the ball over to the bullpen earlier for Fien to get his win.
IP/GS you mean?
Ha! Yes.
That would just be more depressing news. No one is averaging 6 IP per start.
League average is five and two-thirds, right? Are they at least close?
I find it amusing that the pitcher whose knock is that he hits the wall in the sixth inning has the highest number of innings per start.
Also, how long can Pelfrey's leash possibly be at this point? Is he hurt? He didn't look great last year, but this year, he's been terrible.*
* In my looking to find other terrible Twins pitchers, I dug Sidney Ponson up. It's already been seven years since that disaster. I wasn't even posting on this site when he was starting for the Twins. That seems entirely impossible.
oops. Didn't notice that the list in Stick's post wasn't ordered by IPPS. You win this round, Nolasco.
I was hoping we could follow an upward trend, though. I also hope for world peace in my lifetime.
I'm cutting and pasting from fangraphs. No actual work being done by me.
Replace Correia with Meyers and, screw it, replace Pelfrey with Berrios (or maybe Trevor May) and you've got a starting staff that can strike a guy or two out. That'd give them a hell of a lot better chance at the Central than trotting out a bunch of guys who seek out bats.
Eh, I'm fine with Correia. His xFIP isn't pretty, but the 4.16 FIP is perfectly serviceable. He had a 1.3 fWAR season last year and another one of those for $5.5 million is a good deal.
Now Nolasco's peripherals are troublesome. I like his GB% and that BABIP will drop, but the strikeout rate is not good. And then there's Pelfrey, whose one redeeming quality isn't likely to stay that way long: his BABIP.
I have a strange feeling we'll be seeing Nolasco's name on an injury report soon. His strikeout rate is Damn near half his career average go for reasons unknown. Our, he's Vanimal II.
Soon? With the Twins' medical staff?
starters have an xRA of 5.29, RAA of -13. Hughes is the only one in positive territory (+4.7) or below 5.00 xRA. Oy.
Correia is a free agent at the end of the season.
So there's a chance he gets a two-year contract from the Twins?
Wild. Playoff. Watch. - Win or Go Home Edition
Game 6 tonight in Minnesota - 8 PM Central (on CNBC for those not in MN - maybe for those in MN as well, I have no idea)
This is the only playoff series where the road team hasn't won a game. Let's hope that continues tonight.
Let's hope. I don't know if I could stomach Roy's smugness on the home ice.
Ugh. I hadn't even thought of that. Here's hoping we don't get to see the handshake line yet.
And we don't. Quite the opposite since his "unconventional pull the goalie with 44 minutes left" blew up in his face (finally).
Listening to Dr. Jack or Hubie provide color on an NBA game is pure joy for me. These guys know the game and teach fans about it with every broadcast. I'll miss listening to Dr. Jack.
Dido. What a great coach. I really loved how his Portland teams played. I also loved his Buffalo Braves teams, but never actually saw them (just read about them and imagined). [correction: I did see them a few times on tv: Ernie D!!! Big Mac! Gar Heard before his Phoenix exploits! Shumate! Randy Smith!]
I hadn't remembered that his title year in Portland was his _first_ year in Portland. Huh. He succeeded Lenny Wilkens, who then moved to Seattle.
It should not be lost on anyone that if the NBA forces Donald Sterling to sell, he's probably going to make about $1 billion on the sale.
Just sayin'.
It'd be nice if the NBA could find some way to make it a breach of the franchise contract so they can just find a new owner without a sale. Seems to me Sterling's entire life is basically detrimental to the league.
The chickens have come home to roost for the NBA on Sterling. He's been a terrible owner for a long time and the league hasn't done anything about it. Players who act like him (i.e. badly), generally get rolled out of the league in a hurry. Owners, however, that's a different story.
Ownership has its privledges.
Find a new owner without a sale? This is America, dude.
George Bush Jr. it is! (Not because of his Rangers ownership because of... nevermind. If I have to explain it, it wasn't a good joak to start. Grumblemondaygrumble.
I can guarantee you, money changed hands.
Announcement is coming tomorrow from NBA. CarMax has already dropped sponsorship of Clippers.
npr reports he purchased the team for 12+ million. The clips are reportedly worth north of 700. Not quite a billion, but enough zeros that he'll be (more) comfortable.
I would be very surprised if the Clips sold for only $700 million. The Bucks recently sold within shouting range of that.
Edit: $550 million plus $100 million commitment toward a new arena (and another $100 million commitment from Herb Kohl for the stadium). Total investment by the new owners: $650 million for a team in Milwaukee.
Not bad -- only five references to the Red Sox and one to Fenway Park. Surprised he didn't mention his success with the WBC Italian club last year, though.
On the link, is that a Hartford Whalers banner next to the Maple Leafs?
They started selling old Whaler memorabilia in the airport and in some downtown shops a couple of years ago. There is a big thirst out here for the real thing (think St. Paul during the Troubles).
I've lived here for 8.5 years now, love hockey, and haven't gone to a single WolfPack game...
Simple solution, move the Miami franchise to Hartford.
Or we could move to Miami the Capitol of South America.
Signed up for Hulu Plus so I could watch the last season of Parks and Rec, which I did this weekend. Talk about a serious binge: 20 episodes!
My wife laughs at him every time. So much so that I've started to as well. Not sure there's a good explanation for it.
One more thought on Sterling. The city of LA had arguably the best owner in all of sports in Jerry Buss, who built a dynasty and rewarded his fans with excellence for almost every season of his ownership. I hate the Lakers, but I admire Buss' ownership of the club. In the same building you have Sterling, who despite having all of the advantages of the LA market, has had the worst winning percentage of any franchise in pro sports since he bought the club 33 years ago. Add to that his despicable-ness, and well, you have the worst owner in all of sports.
I hate to be pessimistic but the NBA didn't do anything about his housing discrimination situation, did they? To me, that is even worse than what he is saying here.
Scott Baker has a May 1 opt-out. At AAA now. #MNTwins were called this weekend, but have no interest. Feel they're fine with rotation/depth.— Darren Wolfson (@DarrenWolfson) April 27, 2014
in 32 AAA innings so far this year, Baker has a 5.38 xRA (96 xRA+) and 4.37 FIP, 26:10 K:BB and 4 HR allowed (per statcorner). fangraphs has his FIP at 4.76. 7.3:2.8 K:BB per nine innings. The numbers are decent, but nothing particularly special.
Then again, he'd probably be better than half of the Twins' starters so far....
The K:BB is good. I wonder what his velocity is.
Is he keeping the ball down?
Was that just Blyleven idiocy or did Rick Anderson also want a flyball pitcher to pretend to be a groundball-type?
4 HR allowed in 32 innings. No word whether they were rally-killing solo shots.
There are nutjobs on the left and nutjobs on the right. And sometimes the nutjobs are so far in one direction that they can touch the sky.
A militia member with the group Oath Keepers named Mark, who drove in from out of state by way of Zion National Park (“which was absolutely beautiful — you should go”), offers to explain to me the truth behind public land management.
“The assumption is that the BLM is part of the federal government. But we need to check the facts on that one. The BLM doesn’t work for the government: they work for the United Nations. They might as well be wearing blue helmets. If we find out there’s money being exchanged between Harry Reid and the Chinese government, no one should be surprised.”
A self-trained lawyer tells me the same. He adds that Bar-certified lawyers, like the ones who prosecuted Bundy, have sworn loyalty to the British government, whose statutes encourage sex with clients. “That’s what they do with all their clients.”
and on and on.
Long live the Queen, is what we always say.
My Country, 'Tis of Thee does sound a little lot like God Save The Queen.
The fact that I tripped on the line is proof of my unworthiness.
that's the difference between mere "lawyers" and "barristers," I guess.
Where do "attorneys" fit in?
What I want to know is what type of fringe is on the flag?
My closest college buddy just sent me a Facebook note that they laid his father to rest today.
He lived a full life, but still sad news. First time getting anything like that over FB.
I found out one of my closest high school friends passed away last summer from a status update his sister made on Facebook. I've stopped checking Facebook first thing when I wake up since.
I can relate. Last year I found out via FB that one of my navy roommates, kid about 25 or 26, died in a car accident in 2009. Lived and worked with this dude basically 24/7 for 2 years but lost touch when he got out and I transferred to VA. No note, just a comment by another former shipmate who'd also just found out.
I think the Wild have a better chance to win if they don't get any power plays. Sheesh.
5-3 and it turns into a shortie
sounds about right
Some tremendous pitching performances for Twins affiliates tonight. We'll cover it all tomorrow in Minor Details.
so that Alex Meyer guy, we may need to come up with a K graphic pretty soon.
Ryan Eades and Jason Wheeler pitched some pretty awesome games, too.
#FreeAl...
You know the rest.
#playyousissies?
...toagoodhome?
Wow, that got not-so-tense in a hurry. I'll take it.
This series is going to kill me.
Just wait until the next one!!11!!! WOOO!!!
GAME SEVEN
After watching the pulled goalie thing work for them again on Saturday, I don't think I could've handled it a third time.
Eat it, Patrick Roy.
Hopefully, it is like playing Hack-a-Shaq (or whatever lousy FT shooter is on the floor). Give them enough chances, and they start to make them more consistently.
Stopped vacuuming water in the basement to come check the score - Whoa momma! Pulls goalie, Empty netter, empty netter, Game OVER!
One of those empty netters could have been more useful a few games back.
True, but not if I had to deal with water in the basement a few games back...
I'll just say *whew*.
Pulling the goalie with an hour remaining finally doesn't work for Roy. Game seven here we come!
If I'm right, that final goal gives the Wild the series based on goal differential, right?
Actually, they already had it based on road goals so nevermind.
Apparently, in the pointless trivia department: this is the first time ever that the Wild have won three home games in the same series.
The Wild had a better road record in the playoffs than at home before this year.
This is the third time in team history that they've won 3 games in a series.
So they've never won a series outside of the time they went to the WCF? I did not realize that.
4 straight series losses since then.
Must be a Minnesota thing.
another Minnesota thing is missing the playoffs 10 straight years after making the conference finals.
This is the first time the Wild have ever won two home games in the same series.
Wow. The Canadian announcers I was watching failed to mention that.
The Kings are winning handily, so if the Flyers beat the Rangers tomorrow, there will be THREE game 7's on Wednesday night.
Kevin Harlan, still the best
I cant stop watching it.
Today, Minor Details gets caught up on last week's action. Posts will be going up throughout the day. I don't expect anyone to read them all, but feel free to scan a few if you have time.
Weekly starting pitching update:
Still pretty small sample size, but the good news is that Phil Hughes isn't terrible. Sure, his ERA is over five, but his peripherals are the best on the team. Other good news: Correia is a free agent at the end of the season.
I think an IP/9 would be nice here. It'd be good to know who's turning the ball over to the bullpen earlier for Fien to get his win.
IP/GS you mean?
Ha! Yes.
That would just be more depressing news. No one is averaging 6 IP per start.
League average is five and two-thirds, right? Are they at least close?
Hughes: 5.6
Gibson: 5.5
Correia: 5.4
Nolasco: 5.8
Pelfrey: 4.8
MLB Average: 5.91. The Twins are 28th at 5.49.
I find it amusing that the pitcher whose knock is that he hits the wall in the sixth inning has the highest number of innings per start.
Also, how long can Pelfrey's leash possibly be at this point? Is he hurt? He didn't look great last year, but this year, he's been terrible.*
* In my looking to find other terrible Twins pitchers, I dug Sidney Ponson up. It's already been seven years since that disaster. I wasn't even posting on this site when he was starting for the Twins. That seems entirely impossible.
oops. Didn't notice that the list in Stick's post wasn't ordered by IPPS. You win this round, Nolasco.
I was hoping we could follow an upward trend, though. I also hope for world peace in my lifetime.
I'm cutting and pasting from fangraphs. No actual work being done by me.
Replace Correia with Meyers and, screw it, replace Pelfrey with Berrios (or maybe Trevor May) and you've got a starting staff that can strike a guy or two out. That'd give them a hell of a lot better chance at the Central than trotting out a bunch of guys who seek out bats.
Eh, I'm fine with Correia. His xFIP isn't pretty, but the 4.16 FIP is perfectly serviceable. He had a 1.3 fWAR season last year and another one of those for $5.5 million is a good deal.
Now Nolasco's peripherals are troublesome. I like his GB% and that BABIP will drop, but the strikeout rate is not good. And then there's Pelfrey, whose one redeeming quality isn't likely to stay that way long: his BABIP.
I have a strange feeling we'll be seeing Nolasco's name on an injury report soon. His strikeout rate is Damn near half his career average go for reasons unknown. Our, he's Vanimal II.
Soon? With the Twins' medical staff?
starters have an xRA of 5.29, RAA of -13. Hughes is the only one in positive territory (+4.7) or below 5.00 xRA. Oy.
So there's a chance he gets a two-year contract from the Twins?
Wild. Playoff. Watch. - Win or Go Home Edition
Game 6 tonight in Minnesota - 8 PM Central (on CNBC for those not in MN - maybe for those in MN as well, I have no idea)
This is the only playoff series where the road team hasn't won a game. Let's hope that continues tonight.
Let's hope. I don't know if I could stomach Roy's smugness on the home ice.
Ugh. I hadn't even thought of that. Here's hoping we don't get to see the handshake line yet.
And we don't. Quite the opposite since his "unconventional pull the goalie with 44 minutes left" blew up in his face (finally).
Pfew!
RIP, Dr. Jack Ramsay.
Listening to Dr. Jack or Hubie provide color on an NBA game is pure joy for me. These guys know the game and teach fans about it with every broadcast. I'll miss listening to Dr. Jack.
Dido. What a great coach. I really loved how his Portland teams played. I also loved his Buffalo Braves teams, but never actually saw them (just read about them and imagined). [correction: I did see them a few times on tv: Ernie D!!! Big Mac! Gar Heard before his Phoenix exploits! Shumate! Randy Smith!]
I hadn't remembered that his title year in Portland was his _first_ year in Portland. Huh. He succeeded Lenny Wilkens, who then moved to Seattle.
It should not be lost on anyone that if the NBA forces Donald Sterling to sell, he's probably going to make about $1 billion on the sale.
Just sayin'.
It'd be nice if the NBA could find some way to make it a breach of the franchise contract so they can just find a new owner without a sale. Seems to me Sterling's entire life is basically detrimental to the league.
The chickens have come home to roost for the NBA on Sterling. He's been a terrible owner for a long time and the league hasn't done anything about it. Players who act like him (i.e. badly), generally get rolled out of the league in a hurry. Owners, however, that's a different story.
Ownership has its privledges.
Find a new owner without a sale? This is America, dude.
I can guarantee you, money changed hands.
Announcement is coming tomorrow from NBA. CarMax has already dropped sponsorship of Clippers.
npr reports he purchased the team for 12+ million. The clips are reportedly worth north of 700. Not quite a billion, but enough zeros that he'll be (more) comfortable.
I would be very surprised if the Clips sold for only $700 million. The Bucks recently sold within shouting range of that.
Edit: $550 million plus $100 million commitment toward a new arena (and another $100 million commitment from Herb Kohl for the stadium). Total investment by the new owners: $650 million for a team in Milwaukee.
In the perfect intersection, last week's 99% Invisible is all about baseball uniforms.
I'm gonna have to momentarily stop catching up on episodes in order to bump this to the top of the list.
Trueblood for Commissioner.
Looks like it'll be a good week to keep checking him out.
Yup, he's got a good one up on the Twins now too.
Here's a new player autograph that I was please to get this last week...
ID the AU - which awesome Twins player (current or former) signs his autographs this way?
That's the only Twins sig I have...
Gammons writes about Colabello.
Not bad -- only five references to the Red Sox and one to Fenway Park. Surprised he didn't mention his success with the WBC Italian club last year, though.
Were any Red Sox on that team?
yeah, good point
Nick Punto (former)
Great article. Colabello is LIVING THE DREAM.
NHL Sigils by Rachel(capskat26)
Here's a sample. Click ^ to see the rest.
On the link, is that a Hartford Whalers banner next to the Maple Leafs?
They started selling old Whaler memorabilia in the airport and in some downtown shops a couple of years ago. There is a big thirst out here for the real thing (think St. Paul during the Troubles).
I've lived here for 8.5 years now, love hockey, and haven't gone to a single WolfPack game...
Simple solution, move the Miami franchise to Hartford.
Or we could move to Miami the Capitol of South America.
Signed up for Hulu Plus so I could watch the last season of Parks and Rec, which I did this weekend. Talk about a serious binge: 20 episodes!
One more thought on Sterling. The city of LA had arguably the best owner in all of sports in Jerry Buss, who built a dynasty and rewarded his fans with excellence for almost every season of his ownership. I hate the Lakers, but I admire Buss' ownership of the club. In the same building you have Sterling, who despite having all of the advantages of the LA market, has had the worst winning percentage of any franchise in pro sports since he bought the club 33 years ago. Add to that his despicable-ness, and well, you have the worst owner in all of sports.
I hate to be pessimistic but the NBA didn't do anything about his housing discrimination situation, did they? To me, that is even worse than what he is saying here.
in 32 AAA innings so far this year, Baker has a 5.38 xRA (96 xRA+) and 4.37 FIP, 26:10 K:BB and 4 HR allowed (per statcorner). fangraphs has his FIP at 4.76. 7.3:2.8 K:BB per nine innings. The numbers are decent, but nothing particularly special.
Then again, he'd probably be better than half of the Twins' starters so far....
The K:BB is good. I wonder what his velocity is.
Is he keeping the ball down?
Was that just Blyleven idiocy or did Rick Anderson also want a flyball pitcher to pretend to be a groundball-type?
4 HR allowed in 32 innings. No word whether they were rally-killing solo shots.
There are nutjobs on the left and nutjobs on the right. And sometimes the nutjobs are so far in one direction that they can touch the sky.
Long live the Queen, is what we always say.
My Country, 'Tis of Thee does sound a
littlelot like God Save The Queen.The fact that I tripped on the line is proof of my unworthiness.
that's the difference between mere "lawyers" and "barristers," I guess.
Where do "attorneys" fit in?
What I want to know is what type of fringe is on the flag?
Craig Ferguson is stepping down in December
It was a great run.
Double-meaning of Closing Time by Semisonic's Dan Wilson.
Do a find for 'rumor' and read from there...
I love it - You don't have to go home but you can't stay here
Hmmm....
My closest college buddy just sent me a Facebook note that they laid his father to rest today.
He lived a full life, but still sad news. First time getting anything like that over FB.
I found out one of my closest high school friends passed away last summer from a status update his sister made on Facebook. I've stopped checking Facebook first thing when I wake up since.
I can relate. Last year I found out via FB that one of my navy roommates, kid about 25 or 26, died in a car accident in 2009. Lived and worked with this dude basically 24/7 for 2 years but lost touch when he got out and I transferred to VA. No note, just a comment by another former shipmate who'd also just found out.
I think the Wild have a better chance to win if they don't get any power plays. Sheesh.
5-3 and it turns into a shortie
sounds about right
Some tremendous pitching performances for Twins affiliates tonight. We'll cover it all tomorrow in Minor Details.
so that Alex Meyer guy, we may need to come up with a K graphic pretty soon.
Ryan Eades and Jason Wheeler pitched some pretty awesome games, too.
#FreeAl...
You know the rest.
#playyousissies?
...toagoodhome?
Wow, that got not-so-tense in a hurry. I'll take it.
This series is going to kill me.
Just wait until the next one!!11!!! WOOO!!!
GAME SEVEN
After watching the pulled goalie thing work for them again on Saturday, I don't think I could've handled it a third time.
Eat it, Patrick Roy.
Hopefully, it is like playing Hack-a-Shaq (or whatever lousy FT shooter is on the floor). Give them enough chances, and they start to make them more consistently.
Stopped vacuuming water in the basement to come check the score - Whoa momma! Pulls goalie, Empty netter, empty netter, Game OVER!
One of those empty netters could have been more useful a few games back.
True, but not if I had to deal with water in the basement a few games back...
I'll just say *whew*.
Pulling the goalie with an hour remaining finally doesn't work for Roy. Game seven here we come!
If I'm right, that final goal gives the Wild the series based on goal differential, right?
Actually, they already had it based on road goals so nevermind.
Apparently, in the pointless trivia department: this is the first time ever that the Wild have won three home games in the same series.
The Wild had a better road record in the playoffs than at home before this year.
This is the third time in team history that they've won 3 games in a series.
So they've never won a series outside of the time they went to the WCF? I did not realize that.
4 straight series losses since then.
Must be a Minnesota thing.
another Minnesota thing is missing the playoffs 10 straight years after making the conference finals.
This is the first time the Wild have ever won two home games in the same series.
Wow. The Canadian announcers I was watching failed to mention that.
The Kings are winning handily, so if the Flyers beat the Rangers tomorrow, there will be THREE game 7's on Wednesday night.
Meaning the Wild game will start at 1 am?
8:30 Central. So, the usual for this series.