Scott Diamond
v
Marco Estrada
You heard it here first: Scott Diamond is going to break shatter Hershiser's scoreless inning streak.
All posts by sean
2012 Game 32: Toronto Blue Jays at Minnesota Twins
Kyle Drabek
v
Nick Blackburn
The MLB preview said Drabek struggled with his control in his previous starts, walking five. I expect he'll end up walking the Twins hitters that can actually take walks, leaving the rest to flail at his pitches out of the zone.
2012 Game 27: Twins at Mariners
Nick Blackburn
v
Hector Noesi
Twins still have a chance to salvage something from this road trip with a win today.
2012 Game 25: Minnesota Twins at Seattle Mariners
Carl Pavano
v
Jason Vargas
Since the Twins saved up all their runs from the last three days, I expect a hit parade tonight.
The Defense After A Month
| Dude | TZ | DRS | UZR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mauer (C) | -2 | -1 | N/A |
| Doumit (C) | 1 | -1 | N/A |
| Parmelee (1B) | 1 | -1 | 0 |
| Mauer (1B) | -1 | 1 | 0 |
| Morneau (1B) | -1 | 0 | -1 |
| Casilla | 1 | 6 | 3 |
| Valencia | 3 | -2 | 0 |
| Carroll | -1 | 3 | 2 |
| Willingham | 2 | -3 | -5 |
| Span | 0 | 7 | 2 |
| Plouffe | -1 | 2 | 0 |
| Doumit (RF) | -2 | -1 | -1 |
| Total | 0 | 10 | 0 |
Overall, I would say most have been roughly average. Casilla, Carroll, and Span have all been good at their respective positions. Willingham has been not so good in left and Doumit questionable in right. This is all what we expected though.
Valencia I think needs more time before we determine if last year's -18/-13/-6 is his talent level or if it was an off year. All three liked him in 2010 (+3/+5/+6), so there's some hope there.
Mauer's numbers at catcher are almost entirely because of stolen bases. If one or two runners were instead thrown out, I think he would be rated as average.
Finally, I think it bears mentioning that all three divorce position from how good the player is at the position. Mostly, this is okay. However, it is an issue with B-R's 'dWAR' rating, which I do not like. It makes it easy to forget that a -10 shortstop (say, Plouffe) is equivalent to a +5 corner outfielder. Not exactly equal, but pretty close in fielding value.
2012 Game 20: Kansas City Royals at Minnesota Twins
Everett Teaford
v
Carl Pavano
Everett Teaford is making a spot start for Danny Duffy. He recently transitioned from a starter to a reliever in the minors and while it helped, he does turn 28 next year. Today, he's doing a Swarzak. Except Swarzak is a bad starter in the majors and Teaford was a bad starter in the minors. The Twins have a chance!
2012 Game 14: Minnesota Twins at Tampa Bay Rays
Liam Hendriks
v
Matt Moore
Hendriks is four months older than Moore and made his debut eight days earlier. Moore is awesome, so that means some will rub off on Hendriks, right?
I note that the Twins are currently in fourth place in the division. They're also tied with the Angels. And the Yankees are trailing the Orioles, awesome. Finally, the Nationals are leading the NL East. And you all laughed at my World Series prediction.
2012 Game 7: Texas Rangers at Minnesota Twins
Matt Harrison
v
Anthony Swarzak
Last season was crap, but the Twins managed to beat the AL champions five of the eight times they played including three out of four in Minnesota. The bad news: Swarzak pitched in that game. The good news: the loser was Duensing, who went two innings and gave up seven runs. Swarzak went the next six, giving up only two runs.
Harrison also lost in the homestand, in the one game where Liriano was awesome. That was the game where Harrison got hit in the head, the Twins decided to score a bunch, and messed up Liriano's groove. Don't mess up Swarzak's groove and 158-4 stays in sight.
2012 Game Number 1: Minnesota Twins at Baltimore Orioles
Day game alert!
Carl Pavano
vs
Jake Arrieta
I had some stuff written about the offseason, but it seems irrelevant now. It sucks going into a season knowing that finishing at .500 would be a success. I think the front office knows there are problems, but thinks there is no point throwing money at a few extra wins. And I am okay with that.
I recognize that about 28 of the teams actually need to have down years. It is very hard to maintain success over many years; you need everything to go right. However, now we get to play the waiting game. Will this be just a "retooling" or a rebuild?
Here's to everyone returning to form, a great draft, and Ryan swindling trading for undervalued assets. I love baseball, but not never-ending losing.
Wolves Second Half Predictions
Since the Wolves are doing rather well this year and I like polls, time to gauge what people think will happen in the second half.
The Wolves will finish with __ wins
- 31-35 (76%, 19 Votes)
- 26-30 (12%, 3 Votes)
- 36-40 (8%, 2 Votes)
- 41 or more (4%, 1 Votes)
- 25 or less (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 25
Loading ...Will the Wolves make the playoffs?
- No (63%, 17 Votes)
- Yes (37%, 10 Votes)
Total Voters: 27
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