Other Baseball

Former Twins outfielder Denard Span did an interview for the Huffington Post recently. In it, he discussed his foundation. It's purpose is to help and assist single-parent families. The interview discusses his experience growing up in a single-parent household, what it meant to him and how they made it work

I don't know if there is a master list of AJ Pierzynski's best moments of trying to get an edge for his team, but if there is, this could well be at the top: http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/6479266/v328367083/sfatl-pierzynski-frames-aardsmas-pitch-in-dirt If he's truly framing it, it is amazing that he's trying to sell THAT pitch. If he's quick witted enough to be making a joke out of THAT pitch, it is also amazing. Amazing. That's what the A stands for in AJ. Feel free to add links to your favorite AJ moments.

http://www.freep.com/story/sports/mlb/tigers/2015/08/04/detroit-tigers-dave-dombrowski-avila/31121309/ His contract was up at the end of the season, but interesting move regardless.

Doesn't happen feet first......"just feel dizziness", that's code for we are likely to ignore this concussion, right? Wish I could find the thread where I said Buxton should slide feet first.......

Anyone interested in what the Jays are doing? They're acquired Troy Tulowitzski, David Price, Mark Lowe, and now even Ben Revere! They must be running out of prospects to deal. I suppose they're trying to catch the Yankees, but they're also chasing the Twins. Honestly... the four game series (Monday to Thursday) against the Jays is going to be very pivotal for both teams. Who will come out on top? In my opinion... making this many trades isn't a good idea. They're going to be stuck in the cellar after 2016 without any prospects left. (though, hey, I know nothing about the Jays' farm system. I'll stop talking.)

Another high profile player on the move. http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/13343205/philadelphia-phillies-deal-cole-hamels-texas-rangers

...for the Yankees 27th ranked prospect and a slightly better version of Jim Hooey. *exhibit 23,347 in the "why Chief doesn't get very excited about prospects" display case.

Not sure whether this is jumping the gun on making a thread when the deal isn't done and the early report is just now coming out, but that report is that the Jays are getting David Price from the Tigers. Source Presumable ramifications for the Twins: * Toronto is just behind them for a wild-card spot and is loading up. ...which doesn't bother me that much. The Twins might possibly ride a few small improvements and some better luck to hang on for a wild-card spot, but if they don't, there's a longer-term window for them to improve. Toronto is likely feeling a more urgent window to contend than the Twins are. * Detroit is entering a rebuild phase to some degree and/or t…

per ESPN.

For apparently the first time ever, a professional game in the Indy Northern California League was played with a home plate umpire present- but with PitchF/X calling the balls and strikes. This was the first of two games scheduled in the experiment in San Rafael, using automated technology developed by Sportsvision, headquartered in nearby Fremont. Former outfielder Eric Byrnes oversaw the computer. Early in the game, he offered, ''As a matter of fact, not even close'' when announcing a pitch to an entertained crowd. ''I have been pushing for a computerized strike zone for years,'' Byrnes said. ''Just like instant replay was, it is long overdue. Very much looking forwa…

Looks like the Royals are going to keep adding pieces to try to make another run at the World Series. I guess that means Zobrist will most likely play 2B.

This evening, the Oakland A's traded All Star 3B Josh Donaldson, one of baseball's most valuable players the last couple of seasons, to the Toronto Blue Jays. In return, they received 3B Brett Lawrie, RHP Kendall Graveman, LHP Sean Nolin and SS Franklin Barreto.

Per Ken Rosenthal just now, the Rockies have traded SS Troy Tulowitzki to the Toronto Blue Jays. More information to come.

In an effort to consolidate talk on consummated trade talks - here is a mega thread for it. First two deals that went down today: Pirates add Ramirez Kazmir to the Astros

Trevor Plouffe is the only Twin to get any love in the recently-released SABR Defensive Index for the first half of the season. Plouffe is 15th in the AL, however four other third-basemen rank higher. Plouffe is probably not the most interesting topic in this list, but he's our guy, and it's nice to see that his defense makes the numbers light up, at least. Plenty of other data to chew on, such as TB's center fielder Kevin Kiermaier going off the charts. http://sabr.org/latest/sabr-defensive-index-rankings-released-through-july-12-2015

This article on Grantland is a fun read, about a company that helped start the stats revolution.....some of it reads just like you'd expect. http://grantland.com/features/2015-mlb-avm-systems-ken-mauriello-jack-armbruster-moneyball-sabermetrics/

Looks like the A's are punting....and got two guys in A ball. Surprised he took two guys that far from the majors, really.

I have a question, and while the obvious answer to some is "because WAR sucks", that's not really what I'm looking for here... If the moderators want to just scrub this whole thing, I understand. I was looking at some stats this morning and stumbled across this stat line when sorting by WAR. Fielder, 1.7 vs Hosmer, 1.8 (but those are rounded numbers and they are listed next to each other in a ranking of all players, so it's probably very close to a tie). When I actually look at the stats, here are the direct comparisons, Fielder vs. Hosmer AB, 272 vs 260 R, 35 vs 39 H, 93 vs 76 2B, 16 vs 14 3B, 0 vs 2 HR, 11 vs 8 RBI, 47 vs 39 SB, 0 vs 3 CS, 0 vs 2 BB, 27 vs 27…

Pretty cool research project. http://www.sbnation.com/longform/2015/7/15/8952915/take-me-out-to-the-brain-game

http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/07/genius-turns-rap-legends-into-hall-of-famers-in-these-incredible-baseball-cards

The Cubs DFA'd Edwin Jackson. He had already been kicked out of the rotation and actually had been pitching not horrible in the bullpen. There are a lot of similarities between Jackson and Ricky Nolasco; they both received large four-year deals that were second guessed from the begining. Both had a track record of being inconsistant but more usefull than not. Both had pretty decent stuff, however for some reason it rarely manifested into strikeouts. Nolasco moving to the pen next year doesn't seem hard to vision, but will the Twins have the guts to DFA him if push comes to shove eating the 12M for 2017, the 1M option year buyout and whatever is left on his 2016 con…

I was playing OOTP and this happened. I guess it can happen

One thing I enjoy about mowing the lawn is that it gives me an opportunity to think. And this morning's thought was this question. Specifically I'm considering career performance over peak performance. Playing conditions, strategies, player specialization and so forth have changed greatly over the course of the years. Because of those changes it is extremely difficult to answer this question definitively, even with thorough statistical analysis. Apples vs oranges and all that. In spite of that, we can all form an opinion. As you can probably guess, I've decided to post my opinion and invite others to post theirs. I have not done a thorough review of career statistics and …

Would people want the Twins to trade for him, and if so, what would he cost to get? I would start a package with Arcia and...Tyler Duffey or Taylor Rodgers?

Should be fun.

What would be wrong with the Twins taking a chance on Jason Frasor to help shore up the bullpen.

I tend to check the standings after a Twins win, so that has been every other day. I was amazed a while back that the Twins were ahead in the Wild Card race, now today I check and they are still leaders despite not having won two consecutive games in about three weeks. The tail-enders are only seven games behind the Twins, meaning every team could make a case that they still have a chance for post-season glory. The Royals and Astros have been the two best teams for most of the season, but just about every other team is a hot week away from being in the conversation.

Another Pirates/Twins reclamation project. 7 IP 6 H 0 ER 7 K so far on the season.

This is the worst possible scenario for the Royals. It completely changes the dynamic of the team. http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/story/kansas-city-royals-alex-gordon-injury-carted-off-strained-left-groin-070815 Gordon's slash line: .279/.394/.852 A lot of weight is going to shift to Moustakas, Cain, and Morales (who are all good players in their own right). I'd put this on par with the 2010 Morneau injury in the "oh noes" department. The Royals were an outstanding team with Gordon. It's hard to say they're outstanding without him, though they'll still be quite good.

Just DFA'ed Jason Frasor (with his 1.54 era). Would be the third best reliever on the Twins. I'm sure the Twins claim him, but I assume the Royals can work out a trade so it's moot.