Other Baseball

http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/how-the-mlb-standings-would-look-if-teams-stuck-with-whoever-they-drafted/ Not a good look.

http://www.espn.com/media/mlb/2001/0810/photo/a_boudreau_i.jpg As the Twins currently have a manager who was a Hall of Fame player and as the Minnesota Wild has hired someone named Boudreau, I figured a question about a Hall of Fame player who managed named Boudreau was mildly topical... In his 16 major league sasons as a manager, Hall of Famer Lou Boudreau managed 16 eventual Hall of Famers. Who were they?

I was lucky enough to attend Saberseminar 6 at Boston University two weekend ago (Aug 13-14). While none of the presenters addressed Twins-specific issues or players, several talks did touch on topics that were applicable to the organization in general or specific players. I'll have a few more comments in the days ahead from the seminar, but to start here are my thoughts on presentations or Q&As given by current front-office members. Tom Tippett - Senior Baseball Analyst for the Red Sox. This talk was amazing, and unlike anything I've seen from a Twins front office member. His presentation was basically a retrospective of the 2011 season - the season where Red Sox f…

With about a month left in the regular season, I thought it would be a good time to discuss the award races in the MLB, and there are some interesting ones. I'll start with my picks for the AL: MVP: Jose Altuve Cy Young: Cole Hamels - A case can be made for Zach Britton too ROY: Michael Fulmer - Fulmer has struggled a little lately. Could open the door for Naquin or Kepler... or Gary Sanchez (smh) And for the NL: MVP: Kris Bryant Cy Young: Madison Bumgarner - A close second for me is Max Sherzer ROY: Corey Seager - This is an easy one, but I would've liked to have seen the numbers Trevor Story could have put up. Thoughts?

I have loyally followed the Twins since the late eighties. My father would tell stories of Harmon Killebrew while I watched Ron Coomer lead my version of the Twins with 16 home runs at a time when league leaders were hitting mid-60's. I anxiously awaited a true power hitter and in walked David Ortiz. I could see him hitting 40+ home runs. He was in a Twins uniform. I had a favorite player. ..and Terry Ryan gave him up so I could instead watch Matthew Lecroy hit 60 bombs. Except over the course of 8 seasons. I was sickened at that decision though it seemed everyone else was just fine with it until David Ortiz proved to be the guy I was convinced he was. Years pass.…

Manfred is out of control. I mean seriously. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/17118662/mlb-commissioner-rob-manfred-says-looking-possible-limits-use-relief-pitchers-games

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/08/prince-fielder-likely-to-announce-retirement.html In more retirement news, it appears that the neck injury has ended Prince Fielder's career.

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17127981/ichiro-reaches-3000-hits-following-meticulous-standards Pretty amazing considering he didn't start until age 27. 30th player to get to that milestone. Can you name the other 29? http://www.sporcle.com/games/g/3000hits (I got 27)

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/08/astros-designate-carlos-gomez-for-assignment.html Just having a brutal year and his performance the other night was probably the last straw. But maybe he just needs a change of scenery. I'm sure he and Molitor would get along fine.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/08/reactions-to-a-rods-forthcoming-release.html

http://deadspin.com/phillies-fan-ejected-by-home-plate-umpire-for-heckling-1784740605 Apparently the fan was a bit drunk and yelling some sexually suggestive stuff. We rag on umps but I think this was a good ejection. I side with the guy who wrote "I don’t have much sympathy for a 50+ y.o. bro who feels the need to yell so much at a baseball game that he actually gets the attention of an umpire, Bob Davidson or not."

My family is taking a road trip next week to new york. We are driving from Rochester to NYC and I was thinking about stopping in Cooperstown to check out the hall of fame. As it's a little out of our way and kind of expensive I was wondering if anyone's been there and if it's worth the stop and $$$? Any tips or feedback would be appriciated. Thanks

Aroldis Chapman to the Cubs for SS Gleybar Torres. Your thoughts?

Great stuff from players on Fangraphs about what it is like to be traded: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/players-view-what-its-like-to-get-traded/

The last couple years, this had been completed by now. Given that these can be used in trades, it seems like something that would make sense to have completed before the trade deadline. Anyone know when this might happen?

In an unusual turn, David Ortiz said some nice things about Minnesota in an article for the Players Tribune. With the Twins and Red Sox meeting for the final time this season, Ortiz reflected on some of his moments as a young ball player and those relationships with the Twins players. And he thanked the fans too. http://www.theplayerstribune.com/david-ortiz-farewell-to-minnesota/ Thankfully, Craig Calcaterra at Hardball Talk called him out a bit. http://mlb.nbcsports.com/2016/07/21/david-ortiz-now-says-minnesota-fans-were-great-to-him-when-he-played-for-the-twins/

Three moves were made this week by other teams. To some, they might have parallels to moves the Twins have made--and been criticized for recently. 1. Astros sign Gurriel, potentially blocking a top prospect. The same--it's just money, why not add talent where you can, BUT--pushes Bregman to third. Does his offense play there? Different--Gurriel is more versatile than Park, as is Bregman. Still, if it is just about money, couldn't the Astros have picked up say, Melvin Upton Jr. for a lesser prospect and the big contract? Similarity to the Park signing: 8 out of 10 2. Nationals demote Giolito after two appearances. Hmm, we've heard that song before. BUT--he's…

One thing that has perplexed me for quite some time is the rush to trade on July 31st. Yes, I know teams are gauging what they want, leveraging other teams against each other to vie for the best deal but what is lost in doing so? What are the ramifications of waiting 10, 20, 30 games to pick up a player? Say you're the Mets. You're in contention but have a few holes that need patching. It's July 15th with, say, 14 games left until the deadline. You go out and snatch up a decent starting pitcher and a competent hitter. Hypothetically speaking, those two players are worth one win over the next 14 days. That's one win you just banked. That win could be the difference bet…

http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/v919019283/laabal-escobar-gets-tossed-in-the-bottom-of-the-7th Yunal Escobar got tossed for drawing in the dirt. He was drawing where the Short Stop usually stands. He was tossed by the home plate umpire. You can see his 'drawing' at about 1:25 of the above link.

I have a chance to go see a game in the Cape Cod League this holiday weekend. Has anyone here been, and got any tips to share? I see that they don't charge admission to the games (though apparently they do take donations!), so does that imply the crowds are never an issue? Or does it pay to get there early and reserve a good seat? Are there typically concession stands, or do we need to plan to eat an early dinner before getting to the ballpark? (Probably going to Falmouth, in case that matters, or else somewhere else on the upper- or mid-cape.) BTW, I married well. When we hatched the plan to do the 4th of July weekend on Cape Cod, I didn't think about a ballgame unti…

While the Twins have gotten nothing out of John Ryan Murphy, the New York Yankees have given Aaron Hicks a considerable amount of playing time. Today Hicks is in the lineup again and this is his 74th game for the Pinstripers (out of about 90). While Hicks has played quite a bit, so far he hasn't hit. He's batting .197 with a .568 OPS through today. Hicks has spent a majority of his playing time in right field. It is interesting that Hicks isn't even hitting left handed pitching. He's only hitting .151 vs lefties with a .432 OPS. Either the Yankees really believe Hicks will "find it" or they have given up on this season and want to give Hicks a real chance to show what h…

has allowed an unfathomable TWENTY SIX HOME RUNS IN SIXTY INNINGS this season.

Pirates infielder Jung-Ho Kang is the newest MLB player under investigation for a sexual assault. This occurred in Chicago while the Pirates were in town. Pirates President Frank Coonelly had this to say: "We have been made aware of the allegation that has been made against Jung Ho Kang," Pirates President Frank Coonelly said in a statement in response to questions from the Tribune about the sexual assault investigation. "We take allegations of this type extremely seriously. Pursuant to the Joint MLB/MLBPA Policy on such matters, this matter is exclusively before the Commissioner's Office at this time. We have and will continue to cooperate fully with the Commissioner's …

http://www.baseballamerica.com/international/mlb-investigates-red-sox-over-international-signings/#uxro0gEpd4XJwOwY.97 Last year, the Red Sox were limited to offering no more than 300k to any international player yet still managed to sign a few top 30 prospects who were expected to sign for more. From the article: "According to several sources, MLB officials—including Nelson Tejada, the league’s manager of investigations—went to the Red Sox academy in the Dominican Republic last week and questioned several of those Venezuelan players individually about their signings. MLB officials asked the players whether they signed in a package deal, whether they gave part of the…

It seems like most of the good ones are in the NL. Kershaw, Syndergaard, Fernandez, Arrieta, Bumgarner... and than in the AL you have Sale and Salazar and that is about it.

is in the batting lineup tonight in Oakland. Bochy elects to not use a DH. This is the first time a pitcher has been in the lineup with the DH available since Maddon screwed up the lineup card by listing both Zobrist and Longoria at 3b, thus losing the DH.

http://m.reds.mlb.com/cin/video/v871756283/chccin-hamilton-exits-the-game-with-apparent-injury It looks like the LFer shielded the ball from Hamilton who then got struck right in the face by the ball. Rizzo got an inside the park home run. Hamilton was taken out of the game and will be checked for a concussion.

Great article on the less glamorous sides of baseball.....and how a guy copes with being cut and moving on.

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-recent-disasters-of-buying-low-on-an-aging-star/ Basically it says even when the selling team takes on a ton of salary, these deals never work out for the buyer. Damn it Fangraphs, how about you just shut your damn mouth until after the trade deadline?

SABR published its initial defensive metric ratings for the 2016 season. http://sabr.org/latest/sabr-defensive-index-rankings-released-through-june-12-2016 Joe Mauer is the only Twin who breaks into the overall top 20, as the second-best 1B.