Pirates-Cards are under way
Dodgers - Braves later tonight
Category Archives: MLB
AL Wild Card: Tampa at Cleveland 7pm
Tampa throws out starter Bob Alex Cobb while the Clevelander will start Danny Salazar. Delmon Young is the DH for the Rays and it batting 7th. I expect he will see 6 total pitches tonight.
Game is televised on TBS.
alternate programming: NHL on NBCSN, Buffalo at Detroit.
One man’s opinion of the top300 Twins-updated with 2013 stats
I stole most of the idea from when Gleeman started his top40 list years ago (still unfinished right?) The below quote is his, and the rest is an exerpt from a book I put together 3 years ago. Some of it is outdated, but I’ve updated the list and stats through 2013 which includes the changes that were made last year to how different sites calculate WAR.
“The rankings only include time spent playing for the Minnesota Twins. In other words, David Ortiz doesn’t get credit for turning into one of the best players in baseball after joining the Red Sox and Paul Molitor doesn’t get credit for being one of the best players in baseball for the Brewers and Blue Jays. The Twins began playing on April 11, 1961, and that’s when these rankings start as well.”
I used a variety of factors, including longevity and peak value. Longevity included how many years the player was a Twin as well as how many plate appearances or innings pitched that player had in those years. For peak value, I looked at their stats, honors, and awards in their best seasons, as well as how they compared to their teammates. Did they lead their team in OPS or home runs or ERA for starters or WPA? If so, that got some bonus points. I factored in postseason heroics, awards (gold gloves, silver sluggers, MVPs, Cy Youngs), statistical achievements (batting titles, home run leaders, ERA champs, etc), and honors (all star appearances), and I looked at team success as well. If you were the #1 starter on a division winning champ, that gave you more points than the #1 starter on a cellar dweller. I looked at some of the advanced stats like WPA, WAR (as calculated by fan graphs and baseball-reference.com), WARP (as calculated by Baseball Prospectus), and Win Shares (as calculated by Bill James). For hitters, I also looked at OPS and the old school triple crown statistics like batting average, home runs, stolen bases, and RBI (and not only where you finished within the AL in any given year, but where you appear on the top25 lists amongst all Twins in the last 50 years). For pitchers I looked at strikeouts, innings pitched, win/loss percentage, ERA as well as ERA). If there was a metric that was used for all 50 years of Twins history, I tried to incorporate it. I tended to give more credit to guys who were starters instead of part time/platoon players, more credit to position players over pitchers (just slightly, but probably unfairly) and starters over relievers (and closers over middle relievers). There’s no formula to my magic, just looking at a lot of factors and in the end going with the gut in all tie-breakers. Up in the top10 I’m looking at All star appearances, Cy Young and MVP votes, batting average or ERA titles or top10 finishes, etc, and placement in the top25 hitting and pitching lists in Twins history as well. In the middle 100s, it’s more about who started a few more years or had 2 good seasons rather than 1 with possibly an occasional all-star berth or top10 finish in SB or strikeouts. Once you’re in the latter half of the 200s there are none of those on anyone’s resume, so its basically just looking at peak season in OPS+ or ERA+, WAR, Win Shares, and who started the most years, had the most at bats, or pitched the most innings. What the player did as a coach, manager, or broadcaster is not taken into consideration for this list, so Tom Kelly or Billy Gardner weren’t able to make the top 300 since they were poor players and Frank Quilici didn’t improve his status due to his managing career.
Continue reading One man’s opinion of the top300 Twins-updated with 2013 stats
2013 MLB Playoff Brackets
okay, bracket time again (here’s a link to last year’s game). i’m not married to the scoring, so if anyone has any strong ideas about it, let me know.
(don't forget to guess who wins game 163 for an extra bonus point. respond to the post in the cup of coffee. deadline is monday, 7:07pm CT)
Wild Card Game 1 pt.
ALDS/NLDS 2 pts. (best of 5)
ALCS/NLCS 4 pts.
World series 6 pts.
AL Wild Card Game (One game playoff)
TB/TEX v. CLE
NL Wild Card Game (One game playoff)
CIN v. PIT
ALDS (1) (Best of 5)
___ v. BOS
ALDS (2) (Best of 5)
DET v. OAK
NLDS (1) (Best of 5)
___ v. STL
NLDS (2) (Best of 5)
ATL v. LAD
so, reply to this post with your picks, all spoilered like, please. be sure to include the score to the wild card games (3 points instead of 1 if you guess right), and the number of games played for each series (x2 points of you guess right)
AL Wild Card Game:
NL Wild Card Game:
ALDS (1):
ALDS (2):
NLDS (1):
NLDS (2):
ALCS:
NLCS:
World Series:
DEADLINE: Tuesday, 1 October 2012, 7:07pm CT
Who is the manager of the Twins on Opening Day, 2014?
Who is the manager of the Twins on Opening Day, 2014?
- Gardy (74%, 20 Votes)
- Not Gardy (26%, 7 Votes)
Total Voters: 27
Justin Morneau traded
this news probably deserves its own post.
Ken Rosenthal @Ken_Rosenthal
Source: #Pirates acquire Morneau from #Twins for OF Alex Presley.
Morneau leaves the Twins with an MVP award (2006), a second place finish (2008), 3rd on the Twins franchise Home Run list, 5th in RBI, a HR Derby Champ (played under the pseudonym "Jason Morneau") and thousands of fans
Home Run Derby Thread
...Michael Cuddyer?
Game 92: Twins 10, Yankees 4
Well, I said I wouldn't post another Sunday recap if the game had been a losing effort. I'm glad that didn't even last 1 time through the order! The Twins had 14 hits on the day and cashed in on 2 Yankees errors to score 10 runs. Aaron Hicks hit his 8th Home Run of the year, a 2-out, 3-run shot in the 3rd inning off of C.C. Sabathia who, by the way, took his first loss against the Twins....since nearly ever. He had been 11-0 in his last 12 starts against the Twins.
There's more, if you care to read on...
2013 Game 84: Twins at Rays
Sam "Ace" Deduno vs. Roberto "Don't Call Me Fausto" Hernandez
Twins arrived in Tampa 5 hours late last night due to mechanical problems with the plane. If they didn't show up, would anyone notice? If they sent the Miracle over to play in their place, would they have a better chance at winning? Will this Game Log have fewer page views than the latest Minor Details?
Game 81: Evil Empire at Unwitting Patsies
Sabathia vs. Walters. This would be one of those games where I would actually expect the Twins to win just because they shouldn't, which is the beauty of baseball. However, it is the Yankees and so this can only end one way.
We're halfway through the season and the Twins are about where we thought they would be. At least we can look forward to Gibson starts now (like tomorrow), so there's that.
YANKEES
Gardner CF
Ichiro RF
Cano 2B
Hafner DH
Almonte LF
Overbay 1B
Steward C
Cruz SS
Adams 3B
Sabathia LHP
TWINS
Dozier 2B
Mauer DH
Doumit C
Morneau 1B
Plouffe 3B
Arcia LF
Hicks CF
Thomas RF
Florimon SS
Walters RHP