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Twins Daily

pitching profiling

My Pitching Profiling, Part 2- What's an ace?/ SP profiling

What qualifies to be an ace? How to profile SPs? I'd like to give you my take. As was previously stated in part 1, a SP is a pitcher who can regularly give you at least 5 quality innings & sustain that, otherwise is better off in long relief. I'd like to categorize them as 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd & top SP, ace and workhorse. I will rate them accordingly by stuff & arm strength. Stuff= quality of pitch, # of quality pitches in his repertroire, command & location. Arm strength that
Minnesota Twins

Picking the Postseason

The Minnesota Twins are not going to make the 2022 Major League Baseball postseason, but there's plenty of exciting action on tap for October. With the field set, I figured it's time to put my predictions on paper. Rays over Guardians, Blue Jays over Mariners Tampa wins the battle of pitching having been a bit more battle tested in a ridiculously difficult AL East division. I like the Mariners, but think the Blue Jays lineup is too deep. What Jose Berrios looks like in October could be
Pitching

My Pitching Profiling- Part 1 intro/ SP/ RP

IMO evaluating pitching is absolutely essential. Therefore profiling pitching is essential in how to use your pitchers that you have on hand. My goal here is to give my very simplified version of profiling. 1st what's the difference between a SP and a closer or set up man? And who do I put where? 1st of all, the arm strength of a SP is able to take him at least 5 innings where a RP can't, closer/ setup man normally pitches 1 inning. 2ndly SP needs to pace himself thru the 5+ innings where a
Season So Far

High Marks??

OK, Honestly I really do not enjoy being critical or a pessimist.  But I nearly did a spit-take when I saw Dave St Peter give the Twins FO and "Falvine"   "High Marks".  Seriously, from what benchmark can you give this FO high marks? Can you blame them for the injuries and the failures down the stretch?  Well yeah, at least a little bit. They trade for TWO starting pitchers that had injury histories.  Anyone could see Paddack's injury coming, and it was called here and many other places at
Analysis

2022 Twins--What Went Wrong and How to Fix It

Some time after the All-Star break, I was pondering how the Twins could fit all of their quality major league position players on the active roster. A few weeks later, baseball immortals Mark Contreras and Caleb Hamilton were on the big club. Fast forward to a crucial five-game series in Cleveland and the Twins were starting Bailey Ober, Josh Winder (both coming off injuries) and having Louie Varland make his second major league start and Jake Cave and Gilberto Celestino were considered regular
Season So Far

OK, not Twins, but ... Judge V Ohtani? Who ya got?

Both Judge and Ohtani are having potentially historic seasons, which one would you give MVP to? Judge: Has hit 60, will break the AL (and TRUE) HR mark of 61.  He also while absolutely running away with HR and RBI title could be having a triple crown season. Leads league in... HR, RBI, BB, AVG (as of yesterday), OBP, SLugging, OPS, WRC+, XBH, WAR, and has 16 SB. plus Yankees are in 1st place, with him being the major reason why.   Ohtani: While "just" a DH when
Season So Far

Why no heart? THIS is why... Continuation Discussion

Everyone has their own opinions, and I LOVE debating each side. In discussion one commenter (Seth Stohs) Who I love reading his stuff and so should you!!! look up his posts they are great!!!  basically asked "what does "no heart" look like on TV"?   Well, win or lose against teh Angels tonight we are being shown the answer.  Yes people can make errors. That is not playign without heart, but allowing errors to compoun dis a part of that.   I luned in late, and literally t
Season So Far

This team has no heart

For those of you who have read any of my previous posts, I may at times be critical of decisions being made, whether that is Falvine, or Baldelli.  I NEVER get personal. Watching the last few weeks though there is only one way I can describe this team. This team has NO HEART!!! I am not in the locker rooms and I am sure the players are "trying their best" but their is zero heart on this team.   Yes there have been a ton of injuries, Yes we have back ups to the back ups in some pos
2022 season

Why Winning Matters

There’s a great scene in the first season of Ted Lasso. Coach Lasso is sitting and mulling over end of season strategy with his assistant, Coach Beard. Lasso realizes that his approach with his players might not give the team the best shot at winning, but smiles and reassures Coach Beard that “winning ain’t how we measure success.” Coach Beard turns red. He slams his fist on the table and hollers, “DAMN IT, IT IS!” Winning matters. Which brings us, ironically enough, back to the Minnes
Tony Oliva

My Last Blog Paying Homage to the Great Tony Oliva (Blog #6)

[Here's a passage from my recent book paying homage to Tony O. I hope you like it. The book is available on Amazon Kindle (e-book or paperback), or you can find it at my website here: http://curtdeberg.com.] We all need heroes. Other than my dad, Minnesota Twins baseball stars Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew were my heroes. They always showed grace under pressure, even when badly injured. They were courageous, and preferred to show their talent by action, not words. They were not superheroe
Minnesota Twins

We’ve Entered 2022 Awards Season

With the 2022 Major League Baseball regular season coming to a close, it’s the time of the year when IBWAA members are sent out ballots to cast their selections for awards. While the year didn’t start on time, having the full 162 game schedule following the lockout was a treat, and we’ve been given a ton of great performances. You can look back to my preseason predictions if you’d like, they were made at the end of March. In turning in my ballot recently, here’s what my selections looked li
2023 early outlook

Thoughts on 2023

Manfredball will be in full swing in 2023. No more shifts, a pitch clock and bigger bases. The Twins will need to adjust to the changes and they will probably have to adjust more than most. The larger bases will make infield hits and stolen bases more common. The Twins will need to find a way to get more speed in their lineup and to be better base runners. They have been dreadful running the bases and have yielded oodles of stolen bases and that is not all on their catchers. At the very least, a
Tony Oliva

A Tribute to Tony Oliva (Blog #5)

As he was approaching his twenty-third birthday, Tony Oliva waved goodbye to his tightly-knit Cuban family and set off for the United States. But the road was rocky in Florida. The Twins decided that his poor fielding trumped his lively bat, so they released him. A dejected Oliva wanted to return home, but that would make his dream of making the big leagues impossible.      Fortunately, fate intervened. Another Cuban ballplayer, Minnie Mendoza, took Oliva under his wing and introduced him t
starting pitchers

Louie Varland looks real

He's not a downward plane kinda pitcher, more like Cole Sands in that his whole delivery seems to happen down low. Louie Varland looks legit to me. When I saw his compact delivery, it reminded me a little of Bartolo Colon, who looked like a converted catcher. The tight snap from behind the ear, no big, loopy wind-up, is a style that works well for some good pitchers, like Grienke. The quick delivery and up-tempo pace will help him surprise some hitters, who are accustomed to a more relaxed pace.
Tony Oliva

A Tribute to Tony Oliva (Blog #4)

In the summer of 1960, Hemingway was sixty years old and in failing health. He and his fourth wife, Mary, were forced to leave their bucolic estate southeast of Havana. For nearly twenty-two years, the Hemingways had made the Cuba their home base. But in 1960, Cuba was becoming more dangerous under the new Communist regime. Under pressure from the U.S. government to leave Cuba, the Hemingway’s vacated their beautiful, fourteen-acre property just outside the little village of San Francisco de Pau
Tony Oliva

A Tribute to Tony Oliva (Blog #3)

Hemingway wrote, “All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you: the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.” After reading A Farewell to Arms, or For Whom the Bell Tolls, or The Old Man and the Sea, Hemingway aficionados understand what he meant.      The story you are rea
Twins Baseball

Dump the Arizona Fall League

I was thinking about the Arizona Fall League (hereafter referred to as AFL) and how to improve it.  I don't like that only a limited number of Twins' players are allowed to participate.  My conclusion is to dump the AFL and replace it with the FPL (the Fall Prospect League).  The FPL would consist of two divisions (Florida and Arizona) and be based at the spring training facilities of each MLB team..  The players selected for each franchise's 30-player roster would consist of any minor leaguers
Tony Oliva

Excerpt for my Tribute to Tony Oliva and Ernest Hemingway

Ernest Hemingway loved to tell stories. Hemingway biographer Carlos Baker called these stories “yarns.” His good friend, Aaron Hotchner, called them “practical joke fantasies.” Like all good storytellers, Hemingway exaggerated. Often, though, such talk gave him inspiration, and sometimes found its way into his writing.      Tony Oliva tells a few good stories, too, but his greatest story wasn’t a joking matter, nor one that he has shared, to this day, with anyone but his closest family mem
Minors

Matt's Top Prospect List (August) + Writeups

Before hopping into the list, I wanted to say a few things about this process: I started these writeups to kill time, but I’ve found them fun to write, and the community has responded with great support. My system lacks the professionalism of scouts, but I want to strive toward respectability; this edition is the one I’m most proud of. Previous write-ups lacked consistency, and I failed to consider crucial aspects of a player’s performance. Reminder: tier matters more than specific ranking.
Tony Oliva

A Tribute to Tony Oliva

I've recently written a short story paying tribute to Tony Oliva and to my favorite author. Here's a blurb. I think readers of Twins Daily will find it to be of interest! Thanks....Curt   Ernest Hemingway and Tony Oliva A Tale of How the Great Writer Helped the Great Ballplayer   What do you get when The Old Man in the Sea meets Field of Dreams? You get an inspirational story by Curtis L. DeBerg. This charming little tale, only 58 pages long, is a tribute to two men: Ern
The September Pitching Staff - Who Should It Be?

Recommended Coming Changes in Rotation and Bullpen Pre 9/1

The time to make changes in the starting rotation is coming with Mahle due off the IL in about a week. Mahle, Gray and Ryan are easy picks, everyone else is in play - pick two of Bundy, Archer, Aaron Sanchez, Smeltzer, Louie Varland, SWR for 5, or should we go to a 6 man rotation and pick 3? Who goes into the bullpen? To me, first choice is obvious - Dylan Bundy,  The man has a 2.33 ERA in August and has kept the Twins in every game he's started this month. Rocco needs to try giving him a s

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