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About this blog

All the effort of some sort of horrible amalgamation of Denny Hocking, Matt Tolbert and Nick Punto. But no frosted tips. Now with puns!

Entries in this blog

Monday Morning Madness

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   Hello all. I'm going to try to be more consistent with my posts. I figure, if anyone actually wants to read the senseless ramblings of a madman, the madman should probably be conscientious enough to provide the ramblings in a consistent manner. A couple weeks back, I posted a Gimmick Post with some fun gimmicky ideas and I enjoyed writing it. I have also written some series recaps here and there, but I usually only have time to hit the weekend
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

3

Kevin Slowey Never Wins

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   September 18, 2010. What does that day mean to you? Possibly nothing, perhaps more than that, but ultimately, it was just another day. It was just another day for Kevin Slowey as well. Slowey awoke fresh that morning, went to the ballpark and started a baseball game for the Minnesota Twins. Slowey pitched well, going 6.2 innings, giving up just two runs on five hits and a walk. He struck out eight and improved his record to 13-6. The ball li
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

1

Friday Mailbag (5/3/2013)!!!!!

Welcome to the third installment of my (fake) mailbag. In the past, I have used this space to answer the tough questions that no one seems to want to actually ask me. Today, I have a treat! Actual questions! Well, not all of them. See if you can spot the fakes.   Which flavor ice cream is Anthony Swarzak? ~ @ERolfPleiss on Twitter   Now, this is a question!   Well, he's certainly vanilla. That isn't a race-based statement, I just think he is kind of boring. However, he does sprinkle in
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

1

Shamelessly Exploiting Kevin Correia's Hot Start for Pageviews

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   Do you like meaningless stats? Do you enjoy cherry-picking? How about fallacy?   Are you enamored with Kevin Correia and his shockingly awesome start to this season?   Do you like being asked questions?   I thought it might be fun to look at Kevin Correia's stats, with an eye toward history and multiplication. If you think that sounds fun as well, please keep reading.   Pro-rated stats   The Twins have played 22 games this season. Correia has
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

1

Weekend Thoughts - 4/28/2013

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   The Twins split their four-game series with Texas this weekend. Unfortunately, I missed the Sunday game due to something called "Couples Shower." I was not aware of such thing, but have since decided that these should be outlawed completely. I won a game of Bingo where all the numbers were replaced with wedding terms. I was told I could pick any prize I wanted, so I chose "watching the Twins' game." This was met with laughter, which was follow
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

1

Exposing a Hidden Hall of Fame Player?

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   Earlier this week, I wrote about Joe Mauer and his Hall of Fame career. I was really taken by just how well Mauer stacks up against catchers throughout history, players from this era and Hall of Famers in general. If you didn't read it, you can find it here. If you did read it, you can find it there too, but you probably shouldn't read it again. Read this instead. I thought, well, this is probably an exercise that I could complete for a lot of
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

1

Winter Weather Blues - Gimmicks

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   It seems that just about every Twins game is snowed or rained or winded out these days. When is MLB going to wake up and start banning weather from their games?!? If nothing else, the Twins should have no home games in April, just in case it snows. Then, they should have no home games in May because of melting. June would be out due to mosquitoes. September is probably pushing it when it comes to snow again. August can be quite sultry.   The
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

1

Weekend Thoughts

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   The Twins have swept two consecutive series, but due to crazy sucky weather, it only adds up to a four-game winning streak. The weather is still cold, but the Twins are hot right now. They sit in second place after beating the White Sox in two straight, and are only a half game behind the powerhouse Royals. This week, they received good enough starting pitching, solid offense, and great performances out of the bullpen. Is it sustainable?   Perh
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

3

Baseblol Cards: 1991 Score

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! with all the images in tact. Note: There is a 20 image limit in posts here, which is totally fair, but that is why a few of the original images were changed to links.   When I close my eyes and think of baseball cards, I picture 1991 Score baseball cards. I'm not sure why, but this is the set that I picture when I dream of cards (which happens all the time). I distinctly remember that there were green, blue, white and black cards. I also rememb
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

3

Fun with Stizzles

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   I just realized that my free trial of the Baseball Reference play index is going to expire on Monday. Very sad. Although, if you read this post, you already know that I am planning to purchase a subscription anyway. Happy times! Now that you can relax with this knowledge, let's find some fun stats and occurrences and seasons and whatever. Oh, and I apologize for the word "stizzles" in the title. It should read "stats" but you know how touchy
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

2

Weekend Thoughts

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   The Twins won the final two games of the weekend series and now sit at 4-2. They have won both series in this young season and now will head to Kansas City for three games. The starting pitching has been surprisingly good and the bullpen has been solid. The offense has produced some big hits. If everyone starts to hit consistently, the Twins' offense could be above-average. They have been fun to watch, which is not something I could have said
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

3

Friday Mailbag (4/5/2013)!!!!!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! What's more pathetic than a person writing questions to himself and then answering them, pretending all along that it is some hilarious endeavor or insightful method of talking about baseball? Not sure I can answer that question. Here's a (fake) mailbag instead.   How do you feel about Joe Mauer batting zecond? Love the podcast.   ~Brad S. (Twin Cities, MN)   I don't have a podcast. Yet...   Also, I assume you mean batting second. I am cool with
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

5

Wednesday Game Thoughts

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   Again, I don't plan to write about every game. However, I'm on Spring Break, my pregnant wife has been sleeping since 7pm and my dog doesn't want to talk to me. So, here you are.   Aaron Hicks   Hicks didn't look great today. He added two more strikeouts to his season total and only put one ball in play. However, I thought his lead-off walk was impressive. He laid off some really close pitches and seems to have good command of the strike zon
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

2

Three True Outcomes Games

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   Anyone who has studied the mathematical or sabermetric side of baseball has certainly heard of the concept of the Three True Outcomes. Basically, when looking at the battle between a pitcher and a batter, there are three true outcomes: a walk, a strikeout and a home run. By true outcomes, we take away things like defense, park, weather, speed, etc. It was introduced by Rany Jazayerli of Baseball Prospectus back in 2000 and you can read a lot mo
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

1

Opening Day Thoughts

I'm not going to write about every game or every day of the season. However, I watched a lot of baseball yesterday and I have some thoughts to share. I thought the Twins game went about as would have been expected, and I was happy that they made it close near the end. I don't like to get too caught up in one game, but it's just too much fun to write about baseball, so here are some thoughts.   Aaron Hicks   Aaron Hicks had a tough debut. Justin Verlander is the best pitcher in baseball, so
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

4

Fun Twins Single Season Records

Originally posted at your new homepage: Kevin Slowey was Framed!   Baseball Reference made their play index free for about a month. I have intended to play around with it for a couple weeks, but I have been busy with work. However, I'm on SPRING BREAK!!!! now, so I have some free time. Let's see if we can find some cool stuff. At the end, I'll decide whether or not to pay for this feature going forward. I know you are on the edge of your seats.   Of course, I then immediately got distracte
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

6

My Opening Day Tradition

I remember Sunday, April 5, 1992 very well. I was more than somewhat aware that the Twins' Opener was the next day. I had been a huge Twins fan since I was like four-years-old. By 1991, I was nine and I had started collecting baseball cards, going to the occasional game and I was about to start a tradition of skipping school on Opening Day. Well, not really skipping school. You can't really skip school in 3rd grade. However, my devious plan was to fake being sick, in order to stay home and
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

6

Inside a Target Field Promotions Meeting: A Screenplay

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   INT. TARGET FIELD BOARDROOM - LATE AFTERNOON A room full of executives readies themselves for an important meeting. WILSON, JOHNSON, THOMAS, SMITH, and DAVIS each take a seat at the table. DAVIS sits at the head of the table and the others surround him. Everyone looks nervous about the events to transpire. WILSON, JOHNSON, THOMAS, and SMITH each have large, white poster boards, covered for now. There is obvious tension in the room. DAVIS Let
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

6

What now for Joe Benson?

The Twins made a few more cuts today, which is common during these final days of Spring Training. Joe Benson was cut and that is very disappointing to me. Benson is a player that I have been excited about for many years and a player who was given the opportunity to win the open center field job, after the trades of Ben Revere and Denard Span. Benson was not impressive this Spring. I don't put a lot of stock into Spring Training stats, but a .151/.286/.283 line with 15 strikeouts in 63 plate
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

13

Finding Pedro Florimon's Value

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   Yesterday, I unveiled what will almost certainly go down in history as my most popular original idea: a weekly (fake) mailbag. In that mailbag I asked myself... I mean, I was asked about the Twins player I am higher on than most. I chose Pedro Florimon because I think his defense can provide enough value to overcome his complete lack of contribution on offense. I am not sure I explained my point very well and I wasn't feeling good about my sele
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

8

Friday Mailbag (3/15/2013)!!!!!

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   I get asked a lot of questions in my daily travels. Most of them are related to social studies and asked by 14-year-olds. However, I was once asked a question about the Twins and that inspired me to start a weekly (probably not) Friday mailbag!   A recent report stated that the Texas Rangers are likely to trade Elvis Andrus if they cannot extend him. With Jurickson Profar on his way to stardom, should the Twins try to low-ball the Rangers to he
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

3

Analyzing the 2013 Twins using MLB 13: The Show

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed! If you prefer real baseball news to tomfoolery, I analyzed the Kyle Lohse signing that hasn't happened yet. You can read it here: Kyle Lohse signs with [MLB Team]. If you like tomfoolery...   I buy MLB the Show every single year. I always think that I won't and then I do. I buy it, play it a lot, then completely forget about it. In fact, here is an easy to use monthly breakdown of my MLB the Show usage:   March - Buy the game, play it
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

3

Further Investigation into the Lack of Quality Middle Infielders

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   Last weekend, I introduced the Gagne Threshold. I used a variety of criteria to find good middle infielders over the past 30 seasons. I'm not going to go through everything again, but if you missed it and want to take a look, you can find it here. To summarize, I found 63 good players, 33 at second and 30 at short. I also found that there wasn't a specific team that was more or less adept at finding these players, as the sample is so small that
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

7

Introducing the Gagne Threshold

Originally posted at Kevin Slowey was Framed!   The most recent episode of Gleeman and the Geek touched on a familiar topic for Twins fans. The middle infield has been a consistent area of need for the Minnesota Twins, since the days of Greg Gagne and Chuck Knoblauch. It was discussion of Gagne that specifically interested me. I remember Gagne as a kid. He was a player that I never really thought a whole lot about. Now that I am older, I understand his value. The Twins haven't had a consis
Brad Swanson

Brad Swanson

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