Episode 12 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
Mail Call!
This week on the podcast Paul and I discuss Jim Kaat’s place in the Twins Hall of Fame, we take a look at the high-A ShortStop prospect Daniel Santana and we dive into a dozen or so questions we received from listeners covering a wide variety of topics from the best Patrick Swayze movie, to a romantic business proposal and a whole slough of Twins topics. We also take a look at the Twins radio and TV broadcast teams and give them a ranking on the 20-80 scale. A special thanks to @Jessicann713, @BransonWerner, @Nimi_badger, @youcancallmeAde, @mntwinsforever, @mntwinsisters, @mikeywaldo and @sideburgfor submitting questions to this week’s podcast.
Once again thank you to Egon’s Unicat for letting us use their music on the podcast.
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Alexi (Lora) Casilla was signed by the Anaheim Angels as an amateur free agent in 2003. He played for the Angels’ Minor League affiliates for two seasons before being traded to the Twins in 2005 for left-handed reliever J.C. Romero. Casilla started the 2006 season in High-A Fort Myers playing for the Miracle and by September had earned himself a Major League call-up and played in nine games to close out the year. For the next six seasons Casilla was at least a part time player for the Minnesota Twins, though he never really became the reliable middle infielder that many expected him to become. And then last week, after losing the starting second base job and struggling to live up to even the meager offensive standards he had set for himself following 2010 and 2011 (the first time in his career he put up two relatively similar offensive seasons back to back), the Twins waived Casilla and he was claimed by the Baltimore Orioles, ending his lackluster career in Minneapolis.
Alexi Casilla, Credit: Knuckleballs Blog
In parts of seven seasons in Minnesota Alexi Casilla hit .250/.305/334 (BA/OBP/SLG), and only in his initial nine games in 2006 did he record an above average offensive season by OPS+ (clearly, some small sample size bias). All told, he was worth 57 runs LESS than an average hitter in Minnesota. In terms of Runs Created, among Minnesota Twins players with at least 1500 plate appearances, Casilla ranks 71/76, ahead of only Hosken Powell, Scott Leius, Jim Holt, Al Newman and Jerry Terrell.
Defensively, where most Casilla Apologists would pin most of his value, Casilla falls short of average in almost every defensive statistic. He’s been worth -21 runs in Total Zone Total Fielding Runs Above Average, -1 in BIS Defensive Runs Saved Above Average, and his fielding percentage (arguably a poor predictor of true defensive value) was just .976 compared to a league average of .985. Again, against other Twins with 1500 plate appearances, Casilla compares poorly coming at 53/76 with -3 runs created from fielding. Though he’s ahead of some other big name Twins, Joe Mauer (57th), Kirby Puckett (59th), Jason Kubel (68th), Harmon Killebrew (75th) and Michael Cuddyer (76th). Unlike many of the Twins below him on the all time list, as noted above, Casilla’s bat did little to justify his continued presence on the Twins roster.
The only place where Casilla compares favorably to Twins of the past, is his ability to effectively steal bases. Casilla’s 71 stolen bases are good enough for an 18th best in franchise history (though 71 is a fairly low total, as Ben Revere, with 700 fewer plate appearances, is already ahead of him with 74). However, Casilla is the most efficient base stealer in Twins history (min 25 SB attempts), swiping bags in 88.75% of his attempts. Why Casilla doesn’t have more stolen bases is probably the result of not getting on base frequently enough and playing for Ron Gardenhire, who doesn’t typically push runners to steal bases.*
Casilla leaves the Twins as a fairly successful Major Leaguer, if not a successful Twin, simply because he was able to collect so many plate appearances. Not counting his September call-up in 2006, only 241 MLB players have more plate appearances since 2007, putting him in the top 10% of players since the start of 2007 (2,447 players had plate appearances between 2007 and 2012.). And while that list contains players who may have since retired, Casilla still ranks in the top 15% for plate appearances by active players during the same time period. Whether it was the Twins’ lack of viable middle infield options, or their continued belief in Casilla as a project, he has more plate appearances than all but 57 other Twins players putting him ahead of 92% of players to play for the Minnesota Twins. He might not be missed, but he was certainly a big part of the ball club for a little more than six years.
*Only three Twins have more than 100 SB attempts since Gardenhire took over as skipper, Torii Hunter, Nick Punto and Denard Span. And only Ben Revere has a chance to join that group in the next several years. For a quick point of comparison, Tom Kelly had seven different players attempt at least 100 SB, and Chuck Knoblauch attempted 353 (2nd in team history to Rod Carew).
Episode 11 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here (Sorry for throwing this up a few days late, I was out of town this past weekend and totally spaced).
This week the Brothers Pleiss discuss the Gold Gloves and any perceived snubs, the Twins Diamond Awards and Paul’s feelings on photos of peoples children clogging up his Facebook/Twitter timeline. We also spend a few moments looking at Twins prospect J.O. Berrios, Twins Hall of Famer Kirby Puckett and some early happenings in the off-season before getting into a few other topics including a traveling stuffed banana.
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Episode 10 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
This week Paul and I are joined by Chuck Ruether of www.AllSportsAlways.Blogspot.com to discuss the recent coaching assignments and 40-man roster predictions. We go on to discuss the arbitration process and take a look at how the Twins prospects down in the Arizona Fall League have done before getting into a host of other topics including Joe Benson, beer and the World Series.
Justin Verlander lost the battle of Cy Youngs to Barry Zito, and then Barry Zito yielded to yet another Cy Young out of the Giants’ bullpen, Tim Lincecum. Three pretty impressive pitchers, and that was just Game 1!
Tonight Doug (Not Dog) Fister is on the bump for the Tigers with his 1.35 2012 postseason ERA. For the Giants Madison Bumgarner and his 11.25 postseason ERA awaits the Tigers bats. I’m in favor of this series going more than 4 games, so I’ll be rooting for the Tigers to even the series tonight. But really, if the game is close into the 9th inning we’re all winners.
The Giants are running out the same lineup for Game 2 as they had yesterday, just swapping pitchers (duh!). The Tigers made one small adjustment with Gerald Laird handling the catching duties (likely looking for the platoon advantage from the right handed hitting Laird against Bumgarner).
The Giants have held serve by winning the first two games of the World Series in their own ballpark and now the two teams move on to Detroit for the next three games.
Game 2 highlight’s included watching Prince Fielder churning his way from second base, around third and sliding home just… not… quite… quick enough to beat Buster Posey’s tag, as well as Tiger pitcher Doug FIster taking a line drive off his head that hit hard enough to land out in centerfield. Yet Fister not only stayed in the game, but continued to pitch very effectively.
If the Tigers are going to make this series competitive, they’re going to need to figure out how to score some runs. It’s hard to believe that the same team that beat the holy crap out of the Yankees in four straight games in the ALCS can’t solve the Giants pitching so far. And arguably, San Francisco hasn’t even shown the Tigers their best pitching yet.
Of course, if this year’s postseason has taught us anything, it’s that no series is over until it’s over (ask the Cardinals about that). I’m not counting the Tigers out yet, but to call Saturday and Sunday “must win” games for Detroit is not much of an overstatement. – JC
Episode 9 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
It’s been a slow week in Twins news, but we still found some things to talk about in episode 9. I talk about Twins related items that I’m trying to acquire from Ebay for less than a quarter (shipping included) and why I hates the St. Louis Cardinals. We discuss Jim Rantz’s pending retirement and what it means for the club and check in on the Twins players down in the Arizona Fall League, among other things. We also bring you a couple new beer selections and weigh in on the loveliness of Delmon Young’s mustache.
Episode 8 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
In Episode 8 Paul and I discuss the Twins prospects in the Arizona Fall League, 2013 Payroll commitments, Justin Morneau and possible infield arrangements for the Twins in 2013. We take a closer look at Aaron Hicks, make our declarations for the top 3 prospects in the organization and we talk about beer.
Episode 7 of the Twins baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
In Episode 7 my brother Paul and I discuss who we believe are the Twins deserving of the Talk To Contact awards for rookie of the year, starting pitcher, reliever, position player and MVP. We go on to get into the recent coaching changes, prospect talk, beer and post-season predictions.
Episode 6 of the Twins related baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
Episode 5 was pretty excellent, if I do say so myself, and in the 6th edition of the podcast Paul and I discuss why the Twins always seem to lay down against the Yankees, Sam Deduno as a possible starter for 2013, and make prognostications for the rest of this season and the post-season awards. We also make mention of Sconnie Beer, Miguel Sano, a possible shake up in the coaching staff and Colonel Sanders of KFC fame.
Episode 5 of the Twins related baseball podcast, Talk To Contact, is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here.
In Episode 5 Paul and I discussed Scott Diamond, Liam Hendriks, Chris Herrmann, Josh Willingham and a bunch more Twins topics. We also had a special guest, Knuckleballs’ very own, Jim Crickket on the podcast to discuss the Twins new player development contract with the Cedar Rapids Kernals. Later in the post we answered some questions from Twitter, talked about beer and what we’re watching as the season winds down.
You can follow Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) or read his writing at the Puckett’s Pond.
