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Posts in category General
Drafting WAR
Mar25th
2013
Written by Eric Pleiss
2013
Written by Eric Pleiss
These champion Twins are (maybe) the next crop of Twins draftees.
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
GameChat – Twins vs. Yankees – 6:05pm – FSN+
Mar21st
2013
Written by Eric Pleiss
2013
Written by Eric Pleiss
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!
Mar21st
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
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!
Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Mar17th
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
You may not be Irish – even in part like I am.
But from Knuckleballs to you, have a happy but safe St. Patty’s Day!
Sunday Morning Comic Relief
Mar17th
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
How bad is it that I’m cheering on the blow dryer!? Enough of this snow crap already.. bring on the baseball!
Sunday Morning Comic Relief
Mar10th
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
Oh goodness, this made me laugh – thanks to JC for supplying the resource and yeah, there are days I really miss having the workhorse in the pen that Matty G was..
Looks like he’s having a pretty darn good time with the Dodgers and if I remember correctly, when he’s not drinking beer, he prefers Jagermeister. 
Twins Prospect Rankings
Mar6th
2013
Written by Eric Pleiss
2013
Written by Eric Pleiss
As far as I can tell, thanks to Baseball Prospectus and FantasyRundown.com, these are the Twins prospects that appeared SOMEWHERE on a prospect ranking list. *
| FIRST | LAST | POS |
| Oswaldo | Arcia | OF |
| Luke | Bard | RHP |
| Joe | Benson | OF |
| J.O. | Berrios | RHP |
| Byron | Buxton | OF |
| J.T. | Chargois | RHP |
| Kyle | Gibson | RHP |
| Deolis | Guerra | RHP |
| Carlos | Gutierrez | RHP |
| Chris | Herrmann | C |
| Aaron | Hicks | OF |
| Max | Kepler-Rozycki | OF |
| Trevor | May | RHP |
| Mason | Melotakis | LHP |
| Alex | Meyer | RHP |
| Levi | Michael | 2B |
| Angel | Morales | OF |
| Jeremias | Pineda | OF |
| Tyler | Robertson | LHP |
| Eddie | Rosario | OF |
| Miguel | Sano | 3B |
| Daniel | Santana | SS |
| Alex | Wimmers | RHP |
That is a list of 23 players, I would feel comfortable considering these the 23 best Twins prospects in the Twins system. Of these 23 players, six appear more frequently on lists, and higher up on lists, than any of the others: Oswaldo Arcia, Byron Buxton, Kyle Gibson, Aaron Hicks, Alex Meyer, and Miguel Sano. No real surprise there, these are the six players that both Baseball America and Baseball Prospectus included in their recent Top 100 (101 for BP) lists. Paul and I talked about those players at some length in the recent episode of Talk to Contact, and compared where each of those two sites had the players listed. If you have a copy of Seth Stoh’s Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2013 you can find several additional prospect lists in there. Again, the same six names generally top those prospect lists in some order, with Buxton and Sano at the top, and the other four usually clumped together.
The other names on the list, I think, then are much more interesting, as they are less likely to have drool all over them from prospect hungry Twins fans looking toward the not-to-distant future when the Twins might not be terrible again. Of the 17 other players included on FantasyRundown.com’s list, the most recognizable names are probably Trevor May, Eddie Rosario, J.O. Berios, and Max Kepler. Those four players will usually round out the Top 10 lists for most Twins prospects, and in fact, in the Top 15 Twins Prospect list that Fangraphs released yesterday, three of those four appeared in their top 10. Trevor May was the one on the outside (12), and in his place in the top 10 was middle infielder Jorge Polanco, who is not even listed above, and has yet to play full-season baseball for the Twins. Eventually the list over at BP will be updated and the Fangraphs rankings will be included and not only will Jorge Polanco be added, but Travis Harrison, a promising third basemen who also has yet to play full-season ball will be on the list as well.
Get to know some of the names on this list, they’ll be a big part of the Twins future, and when you get tired of watching the Twins lose in 2013, you can follow these players through the Minor Leagues.
*The following prospect lists were used in compiling the list of Twins prospects listed above:
| Baseball America – Long-term Rankings |
| SeedlingstoStars.com – Long-term Rankings |
| Scout.com – Long-term Rankings |
| TopProspectAlert.com – Long-term Rankings |
| BaseballProspectus.com – Long-term Rankings |
| FanGraphs.com – Long-term Rankings |
| ScoutingBook.com – Long-term Rankings updated as of 02/06/13 |
| ProjectProspect.com – Long-term Rankings |
| BaseballInstinct.com – Long-term Rankings |
| ESPN.com’s Keith Law – Long-term Rankings |
| Prospect361.com – Long-term Rankings |
| TheBaseballHaven.MLBlogs.com – Long-term Rankings |
| BullpenBanter.com – Long-term Rankings |
| MLB.com – Long-term Rankings |
| DeepLeagues.com – Long-term Rankings |
| ThroughtheFenceBaseball.com – Long-term Rankings |
| TheDynastyGuru.com – Top 150 Dynasty Lge Fantasy Prospects |
| Prospect361.com – Top 100 Longterm Fantasy Prospects |
| CBSSports.com – Top 100 Longterm Fantasy Prospects |
| ProjectProspect.com – Longterm Fantasy Rankings |
| Rotoprofessor.com – 2013 Fantasy Prospects |
| Razzball.com – 2013 Fantasy Prospects |
Sunday Morning Comic Relief
Mar3rd
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
2013
Written by CapitalBabs
On our anniversary weekend, this is something we bloggers never have to worry about..
