Happy Birthday–November 12

Jack Ryan (1868)
Moonlight Graham (1877)
Carl Mays (1891)
Joe Hoerner (1936)
Bruce Bochte (1950)
Jody Davis (1956)
Donnie Hill (1960)
Greg Gagne (1961)
Jeff Reed (1962)
Randy Knorr (1968)
Sammy Sosa (1968)
Aaron Heilman (1978)

Aaron Heilman was drafted by Minnesota in the first round in 2000, but did not sign.

We would also like to wish a happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. FT"HM"LT.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–November 12

Wolves at Los Angeles Clippers 9:30pm

Its a West Coast weekday game, I dont expect too many to be around for this one. But it should be entertaining. The Wolves are coming off a game where they blitzed the Lakers for 47 in the first quarter and between Love, Brew, and Rubio had an entire season worth of highlight reel material.

The Clippers have only played 2 home games this season. They have scored 126 and 137 in those two games. The third home game may have a final score of 160-150.

Quick Thoughts on Mauer at First

Last year Mauer hit .324/.404/.476 in 113 games: 75 at catcher, 29 at DH, and 8 at first. Let's assume he does similar in 2014 but with 150 games all at first.

DRS rates Mauer's defense over a full year (unsure if that's 150 or 162 games) at +2 runs; UZR says +8 runs; TZL says +7 runs. I'm going to assume +5 runs.

Extrapolating things a bit to more games, but at first, gives the following rWAR figures.

YearGPARbatRbaserRdpRfieldRposRAAWAARrepRARWAR
201311350826-1162343.817515.4
201415065434-105-12262.922485.3

Almost exactly the same. A large part of that is due to many more plate appearances. I don't know how much his defense will improve at first given experience. DRS really liked him this year, but UZR didn't. If instead he averages +10 runs at first, that's bordering on a six-win season.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.