It's Not a Prediction If it's Going to Happen
by Al Damlo on Feb 10, 2012 4:32 PM EST
For those who are too afraid to watch the Twins this year, now you don't have to. Last year's Minnesota Twins team played its worst baseball in over a decade to the dismay of everyone who a piece of their heart attached to this organization. Some compared it to the wretched teams the Twins put on the field in the late '90s.
During the 1990's, the Twins came out of the gate roaring with 95 wins and a WS championship in '91 and probably an even better team in '92 that fell just short of the A's. Then '93 happened... but a bit of resurgence returned in 1994 before the league went on strike. When baseball returned in 1995 the fans of Minnesota did not, the payroll was slashed and the "Dark Ages" of this franchise was in full swing. In 2000 Bud Selig said "NO MAS!" and decided it was in the best interest of baseball if we just didn't have a team at all.
To compare what happened starting in 1995 and what is happening now is a bit premature. Last year was painful. I can understand the fear of putting yourself back out there and being positive about the 2012 season.
For those that just can't do it, have no fear; the future has already been written and I will share it with you. For those that don't want me to spoil your summer either look away now or pretend that I am just making this stuff up. The 2012 Minnesota Twins story is ahead after the jump.
Keith Law ranks Twins Farm System #14
by twinsfanatic12 on Feb 8, 2012 1:45 PM EST
This article is for ESPN Insider subscribers only, so if you are an Insider you can find it here:
Otherwise, here is the excerpt from Law on his reasoning for placing the Twins at #14 in the league:
"I pick on these guys for taking low-ceiling college arms with great control, but they have quietly mixed in some interesting high school bats and added a few high-impact Latin American prospects."
The Twins' "Budget"
by TBird41 on Feb 6, 2012 9:21 PM EST
This has been bugging me all off season, and then even more as Edwin Jackson signed a one year deal and the Twins have watched reliever after reliever sign elsewhere.
There is absolutely no excuse for the Twins to cut their budget in the 3rd year of their new stadium. While Joe Sheehan uses the Royals as a specific example, this absolutely applies to the Twins as well:
"The Kansas City Royals, like the other teams in the smallest markets in baseball, collect money from ticket sales and local media rights. They also get equal shares of nationally generated revenue, such as for Sunday Night Baseball or the postseason or the All-Star Game, even if they rarely if ever show up in those slots. On top of that, they get free money just for existing. Yet the Royals' 2011 payroll (just north of $38 million, according to Cot's Contracts) was lower than it was in any year since 2005, low enough to nearly guarantee a profit if no one showed up at the park.
The conversation about these matters tends to use a language --- "what we can afford", "in our market", "fiscal responsibility" -- that clouds what is happening, which is that spectacularly wealthy men, women and companies can invest in their product, but they often choose not to. The fact is, everybody who owns a major league team -- when MLB isn't making spectacularly bad choices about who gets to own a team, anyway -- is wealthy enough to make investments in the product that can improve the win-loss record without sweating whether the team will have positive cash-flow in the short term. The financial benefits of talent investment tend to accrue in future years for one -- a good team in Year One brings people to the park in Year Two, and so on -- while every team appreciates over time."
http://cnnsi.com/2012/writers/joe_sheehan/02/06/owners.money/index.html?eref=sihp&sct=hp_wr_a3
Is Terry Doyle Bert's long lost son?
by SpanFan on Feb 1, 2012 10:21 AM EST
AL Central vs Detroit Tigers, Game 5 Recap: This One's for all the Rubber
by Jessy S on Feb 1, 2012 3:08 AM EST
The title is basically in reference the the 2011 Fiesta Bowl end game which ended with a field goal. As for this recap, sorry it is so late, but I do have a life so here we go.
Detroit Tigers at AL Central in Minneapolis, Game 4 Recap
by Jessy S on Jan 30, 2012 4:15 AM EST
In the dictionary, Atone means the following:
1. to make amends or reparation, as for an offense or a crime, or
2. to make up, as for errors or deficiencies.
After the Jump, see which player did exactly that.
Mauer money, Mauer problems
by Luke in MN on Jan 29, 2012 11:29 PM EST
Year 1 of Joe Mauer’s big contract went badly. Mauer was paid to be one of the best players in the game, and last season he was something like the 163rd best player (by Fangraphs WAR, Mauer contributed about as much as did A.J. Pierzynski and Nick Punto—ouch-er-ooski). Worse than that, he missed half the season with precisely the sort of injuries that terrify fans of 6’5’’, 220-pound catchers.
But the upside is just as clear. Despite the 2011 debacle, since Mauer’s 2006 breakout the players who have produced more wins above replacement (averaging Fangraphs’ WAR and Rally WAR) are Albert Pujols, Chase Utley, and exactly nobody else. Mauer’s still only 28, and last year was the first year in history he wasn’t more or less awesome at baseball. If Twins games are going to be fun to watch in the next 7 years, about 50% of that fun is going to be hailing our immortal Chairman.
And he’s not the only massive contract out there with a massive question mark behind it. I did a comparison of Mauer’s peers, below. This lists every position player whose team still owes them more than $54 million (what remains owed to the corpse of Alfonso Soriano), along with some other Mauer contemporaries worth looking at. After the jump I list: age; 6-year average WAR, calculated by averaging fWAR and rWAR; 3-year average WAR; years remaining; money owed; and average money owed per year.
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Twinsgirl197's Imaginary Off Season Game 4: The Strike is Over; The Twins Still Strike
by twinsgirl197 on Jan 29, 2012 9:45 PM EST
Hey guys, there was a bit of a strike during the off season games (aka me being really busy between school and basketball), but it's back-- at least for one game! I have to kind of give a little credit to Jessy S for his last couple of posts because they sort of reminded me that I said I was going to try to post these every weekend... which I've sort of been neglecting.
The Twins headed out to Seattle to take on the Mariners, where they had a stellar game both offensively and defensively against Felix Hernandez and the Mariners. Carl Pavano pitched a decent game, going a total of 6 and 2/3 innings before turning it over to the bullpen. Lineups and summary after the jump.
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Detroit vs AL Central, Game 3 Recap; Defense Matters
by Jessy S on Jan 29, 2012 1:52 AM EST
Baseball is a team game, but the play of one player can sometimes change everything. That was evident in Game 2 of this series when Delmon Young committed one error and was close to committing two more in a loss to the AL Central. As the result, he was the DH in Saturday's game as the series switched to Target Field in Minneapolis.
AL Central vs Detroit Tigers; Game 2 Recap
by Jessy S on Jan 28, 2012 2:07 PM EST
When it comes to current events, The AL Central basically wasted Detroit in Game 2 of their series, and it wasn't pretty. As a result, the Indians came out on top as Cleveland outfielders Grady Sizemore and Shin-Soo Choo, combined with Catcher Carlos Santana and 3rd baseman Lonnie Chisenhall, accounted for all but one of the division's 9 runs in the game, and that run was a homer hit in the 8th by Twins DH Joe Mauer.
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