Other Baseball

6 years $25 MM with 2 additional option years that could bring the total to $50.5 MM if both are exercised. No one with less than 1 year service time has signed a contract this lucrative. He was going to be a FA after the 2022 season, and now they have options to buy out his first 2 years of FA. This is the kind of contract extension I'd want the Twins to do in regards to Sano and Buxton.

So this is interesting. Not sure what else to make of it. With speed as his biggest asset, I'm not sure pitching is the best place for him but best of luck. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/01/dodgers-sign-jordan-schafer.html

Is there a regularly kept resource that illustrates a player's direct comparison and what their ceiling may be based on other player's in the league? I have seen similar resources in the past, but I can't find them regularly. Is there a resource that has them available at all times?

video here: Salvador Perez looks pretty bad.

FWIW De Leon has been slowed by back tightness this spring and roughed up in his start. Brock Stewart (who many claimed to be piece #2) has been roughed up as well and is about to be shutdown due to shoulder tendinitis. I say good non-move

In 2014, the MLB had only 11 players that hit 30 or more HRs. This was the lowest number in a non-strike year since 1992. (In comparison, in the year 2000, 47 players clubbed 30 or more HRs). Suddenly in 2015, this number nearly doubled back up to 20 players and in 2016, it nearly doubled again to 38 players. We now have more players hitting 30 or more homeruns than in any season since 2001. This resurgence in the number of 30 HR hitters is visibile in the total number of homeruns hit, too, as the 2015 total was 700 homeruns higher thanthe year before and the 2016 total was another 700 homeruns higher than in 2015. Are the extreme strikeout rates behind the increase…

Sigh.

Hey Guys- So after swearing off fantasy baseball 3 years ago, I have been coaxed into taking over a team that was abandoned during the 2016 campaign. Doesn't sound like a big deal no, until we take into account that we get to keep 3 players based on the round they were drafted the previous year. Free Agent pickups are able to be kept in the last round of the draft which just about everyone is doing and creates tremendous value. Anyways, since the previous owner didn't make any pickups, I don't have that luxury. I have the 5th overall pick and 5th pick in odd rounds, it would be the 8th pick in even rounds due to snake draft settings. My keepers are Goldschmidt (…

"“They’re being a little more hands-on with me on things that are injury preventive,” Meyer told me when I asked what’s different this year. “We’re changing some things, trying to free up stress in my shoulder. We’re trying to get my delivery timed up the right way. Ultimately, it’s just a sped up delivery from what I had before.” According to Scott Radinsky, there’s more to it than tempo. “He had a slight pause in his delivery,” explained the Angels bullpen coach. “Now he’s working on a more fluid, continuous, motion, with better separation and balance. That is ultimately going to give him more behind the pitch, and it will take some of the stress off his arm.”" http:/…

Hey all - I'm posting here to see if anyone is interested in joining a new Ottoneu fantasy baseball league for people based in the Twin Cities. I think we've got 5 folks signed up so far out of a total of 12 openings. For those who are unfamiliar, Ottoneu is the fangraphs-linked fantasy baseball site. 12 teams, auction drafts, $400 budgets, and points-based scoring. It does cost $9.99 per season for the non-prize tier, but there are lots of smart players on the site, so I think it's worth it. FAQ here: https://ottoneu.fangraphs.com/support Let me know if you are interested!

According to the Sporting News, MLB is looking at 2 rules changes in order to "enhance" the game of Baseball and attract the younger crowd. 1. No more having pitchers throw 4 pitches for an intentional walk. Instead, managers will signal for a batter to take the base. (this is a pace of play rule and is stupid in the extreme. Games have been won and lost by a pitcher having to throw an intentional walk) 2. Raising the strike zone from just below the knee to just above the knee. (Hello, Owners, I think you've just helped reduce the value of your sinker ball pitchers to zero. But, that's an opinion as I have no hard data to back that up) Anyway, comments, ridicule and…

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/02/white-sox-to-retire-mark-buehrles-number.html Buerhlre is one of my favorite non-Twins ever. In 16 seasons, he threw 3283 innings with a 117 ERA+ and amassed 60 WAR (61st all time among pitchers). His career numbers are pretty close to guys like Andy Pettitte and CC Sabathia, all border line HOFers. He wasn't a big strike out guy but he was a pretty good fielder for a pitcher and he didn't waste time between pitches. Obviously, with guys like Moose and Schilling not getting into the HOF, guys like Buehrle will have to wait a while, if ever, but his eight 4+ WAR seasons are more than many HOFers as well. Dang nice career. A…

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/18737123/mlb-promotes-4-umpires-replace-retiring-jim-joyce-john-hirschbeck-tim-welke-bob-davidson I'll miss Jim Joyce behind the plate. And who can forget the missed call and day after events of the no-hitter (or was it a perfect game?) Considering how few umpires there are, four turning over in one year is pretty remarkable. If you haven't, read "As They See Em" if you want a good baseball read about the umpires.

Thanks to Rob Neyer and Bill Baer, there was a mini flare-up on the internets regarding the issue of statheads and their tendency to be pro-ownership. https://twitter.com/Baer_Bill/status/834885829893980160 Friend of Twins Daily and Winter Meltdown guest Mike Bates weighed in on the complicated issue at MLBDailyDish.com. Bates' take was that, yes, analysts tend to have "pro ownership" leanings in their writings but that isn't necessarily because they sympathize with ownership. Here is Bates' words on the matter: It is an interesting notion, to be sure. More often than not, the analytics community does tend to speak in terms of how the team has won or lost a par…

We had a regular season thread... Might as well make an off-season thread to track signings, firings, trades, etc.

The Arizona Diamondbacks sent a message this morning that the Twins' long-time manager and current Diamondbacks bench coach, Ron Gardenhire, has been diagnosed with prostate cancer. "I'm going to fight and deal with it," Gardenhire said. "It's a bump in the road and not how I envisioned starting Spring Training with a brand new team but it's a part of life. With the backing of this ball club, we'll get through it and I'll get through it." https://twitter.com/abc15sports/status/831575785911709697/photo/1 According to the Star Tribune, Gardenhire will return to Minneapolis to have surgery performed by Dr. William Utz. Gardenhire managed the Twins for 13 seas…

It's a story we'll likely want to follow throughout spring training. Mark Sheldon, beat writer for the Reds the last decade (and Twins for 5 years before that), wrote about Stuart Turner. As you recall, Turner was the 2nd Rule 5 pick of the Reds in December. He'll have a real shot to make the team. He'll have to stay on their big league roster all season or potentially be offered back to the Twins (or a trade could be worked out). He'll be competing with Devin Mesorasco and Tucker Barnhart, along with Rob Brantly, this spring.

Last year Kris Bryant pranked the Mesa Community College Thunderbirds by posing as a European transfer student. This year, pitching legend Greg Maddux repays the favor. Enjoy.

I recently came across an article from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about one of the Cardinals pitchers who underwent UCL repair, and thought it might be of interest to some people here. For those not familiar with the difference, a UCL repair is a procedure where the injured ligament itself is directly repaired back to bone, as opposed to UCL reconstruction (Tommy John procedure) where different tissue is used to make a 'new' ligament. I have known about this procedure for some time (and have heard Dr. Dugas talk about the first patient he did this for), but it is interesting to see its growth to the professional ranks. Hope people enjoy... http://www.stltoday.com/sport…

Best pitching prospect in the game is out for the year for TJ surgery.

Thoughts? http://finance.yahoo.com/news/baseball-america-purchased-group-led-160000441.html

Ryan Isaac from the Ringer, who spent 10 years in baseball operations departments, wrote a fantastic article about the disappearance of an Ace starting pitcher. Some interesting nuggets from the article: - Baseball’s starting pitching club had already grown crowded and diluted over the past three years, averaging nearly 300 unique starting pitchers per season, but with instability further creeping into the upper crust, that club has begun opening its doors to more members than ever before. - In the four-year span of 2008 to 2011, there were 16 instances of a qualifying starting pitcher averaging 7.0 IP or better per start with an ERA of 3.00 or lower - Over the next fo…

So, this is in the shameless plug category, but I was able to be part of a conference call with Keith Law and an online Q & A with Jim Callis this week regarding their prospect lists that were limited to media, and the answers I got from both prompted a couple of articles that I ended up putting up that I thought would be interesting for everyone here as well. First, a look on how the game's view on catching has changed and continues to change in the minor leagues (even including a Twins minor leaguer in the analysis). Second, a look at the various different minor league prospect lists and what to look for in each one. Those who read the hundreds of pages in the D…

Wow. The Cardinal employee who hacked the Astros system (by using Lunhow's password) was sentenced to nearly 4 years in prison. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/17101079/chris-correa-former-st-louis-cardinals-scouting-director-sentenced-jail-hacking-houston-astros

A new study from Northwestern University was released to study the effects of body clock adjustments on human performance. They analyzed 20 years of MLB baseball data to see if jet lag could be a legitimate cause for poor performance on the baseball field. Results of the new study generally showed that traveling eastward was more disruptive than going west, a known feature of jet lag. A surprise, though, was that home teams seemed to suffer its effects more than visiting teams did. Some of the findings can be found here: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/caught-napping-mlb-hitting-pitching-sapped-jet-lag-article-1.2953785 What do you think? Just a coincidenc…

Damn. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/01/yordano-ventura-dies-in-car-crash.html And I hadn't even heard that Andy Marte died in a car accident as well.

http://www.metro.us/_internal/gxml!0/r0dc21o2f3vste5s7ezej9x3a10rp3w$5vi54zaadl731t8p227qiq7zh2dinyv/Screen%20shot%202016-06-02%20at%207.jpeg The 2017 inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame will be announced Wednesday, January 18th.Which players from this year's ballot are deserving of a plaque in Cooperstown? Player 2016 voting percentage Years on ballot Jeff Bagwell 71.6% 6 Barry Bonds 44.3% 4 Roger Clemens 45.2% 4 Trevor Hoffman 68.3% 1 Jeff Kent 16.6% 3 Edgar Martinez 43.4% 7 Fred McGriff 20.9% 9 Mike Mussina 43.0% 3 Tim Raines 69.8% 9 Curt Schilling 52.3% 4 Gary…

Heard an interesting rumor the other day about Boston considering signing Trevor Plouffe to a 1 year deal for $2-3M and use him as a utility role. Sounds pretty cheap for a decent veteran who can fill in at 1st or 3rd and you could throw him in the outfield if you had no bench players left. There could be a few more teams that could use him at that price.

This is not how SDI works. It does not blend numbers at all, there are no "ratios" as you suggest. SDI literally adds the numbers from other defensive systems together. Think of a stock index. The Dow Jones reflects the price of every stock in its index added together. Now what would happen to the index if it started adding in IBM five extra times? What if someone decided to add together the Dow Jones and the S&P indexes to make a new index? Many companies would be counted twice, other companies would be counted once. This would be complete rubbish and it would be mocked. What if you are an accountant and count dollars from one division and dollars from another di…

I have sort of a Brian Dozier related question that has been bugging me for almost a month now. The Dodgers resigned Kenley Jansen back on December 13th but still have not made a spot on their 40 man roster. My take is they planned on moving at least 2 players from their 40 man roster in a possible Dozier trade. But how is it possible to I guess not technically make a deal official since you don't have room on the 40 man roster. To me it seems shady that a team doesn't have to follow rules that are enforced during the season. The offseason should be treated the same you would think. I would think someone like Seth would know how it actually works.