shared from MLB on Twitter – someone has a geek sense of humor (like us). There’s REAL baseball tonight!!
That’s what the DVR is for anyway.. right?
Month: March 2013
Minnesota Twins Podcast – Talk to Contact – Episode 31
Episode 31 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
In Episode 31, Paul, Eric, and Cody get together to discuss Twins news leading up to Opening Day, the Twins 25-man roster, and they make their MLB predictions for each division, for the World Series, and for MVP, Cy Young, and Rookie of the Year. Cody does a great job in his first full show on Talk to Contact, and while his segways are initially weak, he gets stronger as the episode goes along. Along the way we’re joined by Bryan Craves, the Displaced Tigers Fan, to talk about Opening Day, Justin Verlander, and what might happen in the Twins’ first series of the year. Brace yourself for more than 130 minutes of awesome.
If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review us on iTunes (ratings and reviews have magical iTunes powers, which help Wilkin Ramirez get playing time).
You can follow Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) or read his writing at Puckett’s Pond.
You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan.
– ERolfPleiss
Mauer: Kernels Roster Almost Set
The following article was originally posted at MetroSportsReport.com and is re-posted here with permission.
With a week remaining before the Cedar Rapids Kernels take the field for the first time in 2013, a few roster spots are yet to be finalized during the final days of the team’s spring training in Fort Myers, Fla.
“We’re getting close,” Kernels Manager Jake Mauer said Wednesday. “There are probably three or four decisions left to make. A couple of pitchers and a couple of position players.
“Our position players are in good shape. It looks like we should have good team speed,” Mauer said.
Mauer indicated that Byron Buxton, the Twins’ first-round draft pick in last June’s amateur draft (and second pick overall), will be the club’s center fielder. He will be joined in the outfield by two other highly rated Twins prospects, Adam Walker and Romy Jimenez.
Max Kepler, another top prospect, is likely to remain in Fort Myers for a while. “He has some arm issues to work through” before he will join the Kernels, Mauer explained. “There’s still some competition for the fourth outfield spot, but competition always is a good thing,” Mauer said.
Buxton started in center field for the parent Minnesota Twins on Wednesday in a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates. He led off with a single off Pirates starter A.J. Burnett. Buxton added a walk, two stolen bases and three runs scored for the Twins.
The Kernels’ starting pitching rotation is up in the air. “(Hudson) Boyd should be there, but (Jose) Berrios and (Luke) Bard will probably stay in Fort Myers for one or two weeks,” Mauer said.
Both pitchers, according to their manager, need to stretch out their arms a little more. Berrios pitched for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic, but was used in relief and had not been throwing multiple innings until he arrived back in Fort Myers less than two weeks ago.
“We’re still trying to get to know some of our pitchers,” Mauer said. “Some of them have never played in cold weather, so we’ll want to monitor their innings. The important thing is to stay healthy through that first month.”
While many core players from last season’s Appalachian League champions in Elizabethton will be on the Kernels’ Opening Day roster, Mauer confirmed they’ll be joined by several members of last summer’s Beloit Snappers.
Among those players returning for another Midwest League season will be Tyler Grimes. Grimes was an infielder for the Snappers in 2012 but spent the fall learning how to be a catcher. That transition is going well, according to Mauer.
“He throws well and is very athletic. He’s working really hard at learning the details of catching, calling pitches and controlling the running game,” said Mauer. “We plan to use him four or five games a week.”
Players still competing for final roster spots have just three or four more games to impress the decision makers before breaking camp and traveling to Cedar Rapids on Tuesday.
The Kernels are scheduled to open the season on Thursday, April 4, against Beloit at Veterans Memorial Stadium at 6:35 p.m.
– S.D. Buhr, MetroSportsReport.com
Drafting WAR
Major League’s amateur draft came into existence in 1965. Since that time the Twins have drafted thousands of players. Many of those players failed to reach the Big Leagues. Some of the players that eventually made it to The Show ended up never playing for the Twins. Of the players the Twins drafted, the ten players to accumulate the most value (judged by Wins Above Replacement, WAR) in a Twins uniform were Kirby Puckett, Bert Blyleven, Brad Radke, Joe Mauer, Chuck Knoblauch, Kent Hrbek, Frank Viola, Gary Gaetti, Torii Hunter, and Dave Goltz.
- Kirby Puckett (48.2 WAR) – 1st round – 3rd overall – 1982 – Triton College (River Grove, IL)
- Bert Blyleven (46.3) – 3rd round – 55th overall – 1969 – Santiago HS (Garden Grove, CA)
- Brad Radke (42.6) – 8th round – 206th overall – 1991 – Jesuit HS (Tampa, FL)
- Joe Mauer (37.0) – 1st round – 1st overall – 2001 – Cretin HS (St. Paul, MN)
- Chuck Knoblauch (36.3) – 1st round – 25th overall – 1989 – Texas A&M University (College Station, TX)
- Kent Hrbek (35.7) – 17th round – 432nd overall – 1978 – Kennedy HS (Bloomington, MN)
- Frank Viola (25.0) – 2nd round – 37th overall – 1981 – St. John’s University (Queens, NY)
- Gary Gaetti (24.8) – 1st round – 11th overall – 1979 – Northwest Missouri State University (Maryville, MO)
- Torii Hunter (24.7) – 1st round – 20th overall – 1993 – Pine Bluff HS (Pine Bluff, AR)
- Dave Goltz (22.5) – 5th round – 97th overall – 1967 – Rothsay HS (Rothsay, MN)
It certainly takes some time for players to accumulate enough playing time, even at elite performance levels, to produce the career WAR totals that would put a player on this list. Joe Mauer, drafted in 2001, is the only player on this list that remains active and with the Twins (Torii Hunter is active and playing for the division rival Detroit Tigers), and if he can remain healthy for a couple more seasons he should find himself on top of this list before his current contract expires.
The Twins have been in Minnesota for more than 50 years, but seven of the players on this top ten list were all drafted within the 15 year period betwee 1978 and 1993. Unsurprisingly, these players contributed to some of the best Teams in Twins history. If the Twins are to return to success in the near future, successful drafting will be a big part of their reappearance at the top of the standings.
-ERolfPleiss
Sunday Morning Comic Relief
almost there!!!
GameChat – Twins @ Rays, 12:05pm, FSN+
ooops! Almost forgot that today was a televised game and that people might want to chat about it! Here you go! Sadly, they don’t have the lineups on the website yet but I’ll add them as soon as I have access.
Good News: Added the rosters that finally went up in time for first pitch.
Bad News: Comcast seems to be having a signal mixup for FSN+. If you have Dish, you’re doing just fine to see the game. If you have cable, apparently you’re expected to Zumba.
| Minnesota |
@ |
Tampa Bay |
| Hicks, CF | Jennings, CF | |
| Dozier, 2B | Zobrist, RF | |
| Willingham, DH | Joyce, LF | |
| Doumit, C | Longoria, 3B | |
| Ramirez, W, LF | Scott, DH | |
| Mastroianni, RF | Escobar, Y, SS | |
| Rohlfing, 1B | Loney, 1B | |
| Escobar, 3B | Lobaton, C | |
| Florimon, SS | Johnson, K, 2B | |
| Correia, P | Price, P |
| Minnesota | ||||||||||||
| Tampa Bay |
Minnesota Twins Podcast – Talk to Contact – Episode 30
Episode 30 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
This week on Talk to Contact Paul and Eric (And Cody Christie) talk about the future of Joe Mauer, and the 25-Man roster on Opening Day. They then bring in Cody Christie to talk about prospect Rory Rhodes, Eddie Guardado, and the rest to the stories around Major League Baseball. Join us for two hours of fun!
If you enjoy our podcast, please take a couple extra minutes and rate and review us on iTunes (ratings and reviews have magical iTunes powers, which help Samuel Deduno limit his walks).
You can follow Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) or read his writing at Puckett’s Pond.
– ERolfPleiss
Twins Daily Viewing Party! THIS SATURDAY!
For those local to the MN Twin Cities area, our first viewing party of the year is coming up this weekend and it’s not even the regular season yet! If you don’t follow Twins Daily (yeah, you probably should) you may have missed the announcement but they are the hosts for the fun this weekend. You should definitely check it out!
You are guaranteed to have great company and if I can finish my morning commitment, I really want to check out that new location, 612 Brew! Hope to see you there!
GameChat – Twins vs. Yankees – 6:05pm – FSN+
The big news tonight is that the Twins’ top prospect, Miguel Sano, will be starting at third base in place of the injured Trevor Plouffe. So if you managed to tear yourself away from the Men’s NCAA basketball tournament for a couple hours, you are being rewarded with a glimpse of the future. Unfortunately almost all of the other establish Big Leaguers stayed back in Fort Myers, so you’ll be seeing plenty of hot Drew Butera action this evening as well.
It might seem like half of the Yankees are injured, but a top of the lineup featuring Brett Gardner, Ichiro Suzuki, Robinson Cano and Kevin Youkilis can do a lot of damage, especially if Liam Hendriks is missing his spots.
Enjoy the game!
| Minnesota Twins |
@ |
New York Yankees |
| Hicks, CF | Gardner, CF | |
| Dozier, 2B | Suzuki, I, LF | |
| Clement, DH | Cano, 2B | |
| Parmelee, 1B | Youkilis, 1B | |
| Sano, 3B | Hafner, DH | |
| Mastroianni, RF | Boesch, RF | |
| Benson, LF | Nunez, E, SS | |
| Butera, C | Nix, J, 3B | |
| Florimon, SS | Stewart, C, C | |
| _Hendriks, P | _Phelps, D, P |
Despite striking out a combined 15 times, the Twins picked up a Spring Training win against the Evil Empire, 6-1. Even more impressive, the Twins pitchers, Liam Hendriks, Cole De Vries and Pedro Hernandez held the Yankees to just one hit! Hendriks and De Vries pitched four innings a piece with Hendriks allowing the only hit and an unearned run.
Miguel Sano did not disappoint in his first Spring Training appearance going two for five at the plate and adding a nice defensive play at third base that included a corner-to-corner throw to get the runner by half a step at first base.
All in all a pretty enjoyable game, and any time the Twins beat the Yankees, there is much rejoicing.
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 10 | 1 |
| NY Yankees | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
There was a lot of discussion after the game when we were voting on the Boyfriend of the Day (BOD, the equivalent of a game MVP). There were votes for Drew Butera and his 3 RBI, votes for the pitching staff’s one-hitter, and a vote apiece for Aaron Hicks and Miguel Sano. Since no consensus could be reached (and Spring Training stats don’t matter) I get to pick whoever I want.
Congratulations EDUARDO ESCOBAR! Escobar was one-for-one with an RBI as a late inning defensive replacement for Brian Dozier. I’m more confident by the day that Escobar will be on the roster for Opening Day, so consider this your formal introduction to the Twins utility infielder.
Knuckleballs Fantasy Baseball League!
Hey kids!
We have ONE SPOT to offer to join the Knuckleballs crew and friends. It’s a FREE small league on Yahoo and we like it that way.
We will be “auto-drafting” (the computer does it for everyone based on pre-programmed rankings) so you can be a complete beginner and still have a great environment to learn and have a little fun with other fans all over the country.
The draft is set for Saturday night so I want to fill the spot quickly – first come, first served! Send me your email and I will send you an invite to the group!
Happily, that didn’t take long at all! We have a full complement of teams now! Let’s hope we all have a good season!