Other Baseball

http://deadspin.com/baseballs-version-of-the-dress-what-does-batting-arou-1699097944# So apparently there is some confusion to what it means for a team to "bat around." I think it means 10 or more batters in an inning but others say just 9. Those others are wrong. Anyhow, Deadspin had a nice article on it and (if I did it right) there's a poll here.

This is a very good article, imo. It shows the delta between the Twins (all veterany stuff in the bullpen), and the Dodgers (with their new GM) going with young guys with better stuff. http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/story/los-angeles-dodgers-bullpen-joel-peralta-nicasio-garcia-baez-rodriguez-hatcher-liberatore-042215

I am an Arod skeptic. While the media is going gaga about how the ball is jumping off his bat and how remarkable it is for a 39 year old man on the decline of his career to be performing at such a high level after sitting out a year, I remain doubtful. Some would say he is probably being tested multiple times a week. Actually, he will be tested randomly 9 times this year and every year that he plays - 3 blood tests, 6 urine tests according to Section 3.D of the league’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program which specifies that any player disciplined for violating the drug program shall be subject to mandatory follow-up testing, including six unannounced urine col…

That was a pretty interesting* 3 game series. Brett Lawrie took out the Royal's shortstop, Alcedis Escobar, with a slide dirtier than the one that broke Nishi's leg a few years back. Escobar will miss a few games b/c of the injury. The irony was had Lawrie tried for the bag, he would have been safe. But instead he went for Escobar's knee. From deadspin: "Things got really weird after the game, when Lawrie claims he texted a long and heartfelt apology to Escobar only to get an angry reply from the still-fuming shortstop. But the next day, Escobar told reporters that he didn’t hear dick from Lawrie, which would mean that Lawrie not only texted the wrong person, but…

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/04/mike-redmond-could-be-on-hot-seat.html Not really sure it's fair but Redmond is rumored to be on the hot seat. Miami, a fashionable wildcard pick, is 3-10. They have a few young stars (Stanton, Yelich, Fernandez) but not a lot of talent, really. I'm not sure it's really fair to blame the manager but he could be gone.

http://espn.go.com/chicago/mlb/story/_/id/12587428/kris-bryant-javier-baez-addison-russell-sent-minors-chicago-cubs Cubs sent the #2 prospect in baseball to AAA. (They also sent Baez and Russell down as well). Bryant was considered by most to be good enough to start now (and the Cubs traded away their third baseman this offseason) but if they keep him in the minors for 10 days they get another year of control. So, they did that. His agent, Scott Boras, has said the Cubs lack integrity and owe it to the fans to let him start the year on the ML roster.

http://deadspin.com/feisty-bert-blyleven-trashes-detroit-1696839176# For mocking Detroit.

http://grfx.cstv.com/schools/seha/graphics/WZAHAGIBLRPBNLG.20120711145758.jpg There are only 9 college-produced players who have gone on to collect 3,000 hits in the Majors. 1. How many of these players and their schools can you name? 2. What is the only college represented by more than one player on this list?

This is hilarious. Apparently, people working for the TV station don't have spell check. http://deadspin.com/local-cubs-broadcast-intro-is-just-a-disaster-1696736658#

You tell me why he couldn't have waited just one more game to do this. :'( Does anyone else miss this dude as much as I do? http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/11493214/v60730783/must-c-clutch-revere-clears-fences-for-a-walkoff/?query=revere

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/56665/diamondbacks-have-no-clue-what-to-do-with-yasmany-tomas Interesting article. Dbacks gave Tomas nearly 70m to play third base but he doesn't seem able to hold it down. So they have to send him to a corner OF spot but already have Trumbo making Colabello look like a gold glover in RF. They can't put him at firstbase b/c they have a pretty good first basemen and the NL has no DH. And he didn't look good in ST anyway. So he's in the minors and the Dbacks will have to move Trumbo - who doesn't have much trade value, to be kind.

Apparently the NFL has turned over 18.5% of officials the last two years, in an effort to improve officiating (wish the NCAA had done that.....). Anyone have any idea on MLB umpire turnover?

36 year old Michael Cuddyer is going to be a regular left fielder for the Mets. The Mets incumbent OFs are perceived Gold Glove candidate Juan Legares and former Detroit and Yankee CF Curtis Granderson. Granderson played right last year for the Mets and offered to play left to accommodate Cuddyer. Manager Terry Collins is going with Cuddyer in left and Granderson in right. Would the Twins do this? History says no. If Cuddyer was willing to play left, I would have rather had him than Torii, but that is just me.

With Opening Day having come and gone, I made a check of all the major league rosters. I always check for ex-Twins and this year there are 28. Here is a list: Drew Butera, Samuel Deduno, Pat Neshek, Sam Fuld, RA Dickey, Liam Hendriks, Danny Valencia, AJ Pierzynski, Matt Garza, Kyle Lohse, Carlos Gomez, Anthony Swarzak, Michael Cuddyer, Wilson Ramos, Delmon Young, Francisco Liriano, Vance Worley, Ben Revere, Rene Rivera, Craig Breslow, David Ortiz, Jason Marquis, LaTroy Hawkins, Justin Morneau, Kendrys Morales, Joe Nathan and Garrett Jones. Lots of catchers, first basemen, outfielders and DHs. In addition I checked the number of teams that carried three catchers (5) a…

Tyler Ladendorf, the Twins' 2nd round pick in 2008, has made it to the majors as a 2B-SS-CF for the Athletics after 6 years in the minors. Last year was his first season in AAA where he put up a .297/.376/.407 line playing for Sacremento. He did have a 50-game suspension last year for a drug of abuse. I remember how I hearted Tyler Ladendorf in 2008. The Twins traded him for Orlando Cabrera in 2009.

First "big" trade of the offseason went down today with Adam Lind moving from the Blue Jays to the Brewers for Marco Estrada in a move that gives the Blue Jays more pitching and saves them roughly $3M. MLB Trade Rumors also put up their predictions on the big free agents this year. You can check it out here: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/11/2014-15-top-50-free-agents-with-predictions.html BTW, if you haven't found it yet, MLB Trade Rumors started a new podcast, and I've found it to be an excellent news source thus far. Check it out on iTunes or your podcast provider!

http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/sports/phillies/Phillies-release-Kevin-Slowey.html The Phillies on Tuesday morning released righthander Kevin Slowey, who was in camp as a non-roster invitee and on a minor league deal. ... Slowey, 30, pitched in seven Grapefruit League games, two of which were starts. He allowed 11 runs, nine of which were earned, on 15 hits over 11 2/3 innings.

As baseball fans, when our beloved team is disappointing us, or just because we have more love for the game than we know what to do with, many of us often have other teams that we follow and enjoy to root for, as long as they aren't playing the Twins, or competing with the Twins for a play-off spot. Who is that team, or teams, for you? For me, having secondary fandom for other teams has been somewhat peripatetic. Sometimes it has to do with where I live, and that changes. Sometimes it has to do with players being traded or moving to a different team as a free agent after the Twins were too cheap to retain them. As a child, it started by deciding to have a National Lea…

Everyone, I imagine, has a team out there they despise. A team that likely has amazing talented players, but a team, never the less, that you just cannot stand. A team you actively root for to fail. Who is that team for you? For me, it's ALMOST a toss-up. But it's not. I hate the White Sox. I almost hate the Yankees that much, but when it comes down to it, I just hate the White Sox and their crummy stadium, and their disgusting fans (and even their attractive clean fans). I like watching Chris Sale pitch, and Jose Abreu hit bombs... but I secretly hope that Chris Sale's arm falls off and that Jose Abreu forgets how to hold a baseball bat. I'd be perfectly content…

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/mets/post/_/id/99791/rule-5-pick-sean-gilmartin-likely-to-make-opening-day-roster?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter I'm a bit surprised, he's been hit pretty hard this spring. But it looks like the Mets will make Gilmartin a LOOGY, if nothing else.

http://espn.go.com/blog/sweetspot/post/_/id/55980/carlos-rodon-lights-up-twitter-with-dominant-outing About a year ago at this time, Rodon was seen as a lock to go #1 overall to Houston. Instead he had a slightly not-as-dominating year and teams maybe over thought things and two high schoolers went before him and the White Sox got a freaking ace picking third. (Seriously, the Astros passed on Buxton, Bryant and Rodon. Un-freaking-believable) He's struck out 19 in only 12 innings this ST and his last start got ESPN's (and Twitter's) attention. He might not start at the ML level for the same reasons as Bryant but he'll make over 20 starts for the Sox this year (barri…

http://www.theplayerstribune.com/brady-aiken-a-fresh-start/ Not sure if he'll declare for the draft or not. Hoffman and Giolito both got drafted a few months after TJ surgery so I would think Aiken will. If not, he'll need to rehab for over a year before we see his stuff again. So he might not be ready for the 2016 draft. So I would expect he goes in this draft. Sadly, Astros fans are not being the most supportive. It'll be interesting to see how the Twins look at this. I wouldn't blame them if they took him and it didn't work out. His ceiling is pretty exciting and having the potential for a true ace (albeit injured) at #6 is a pretty nice opportunity.

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12562496/miami-marlins-pitcher-jarred-cosart-says-cooperating-mlb-investigation-alleged-gambling MLB is looking into Cosart potentially betting on baseball. IIRC, deadspin had an article on Cosart a year ago where a HS "friend" of his falsely accused him of throwing games and made a few bucks betting against him. Other than Rose, I don't know if any other player has been barred since then but I don't there have been any. I believe Paul Lo Duca was investigated for possible baseball bets but the investigation didn't find much. And funnily enough, Torii Hunter actually may have violated the rules back in 07 when he sent to Royals som…

Two things: 1. I'd like to join a keeper/dynasty league, but most of my friends are not baseball savy enough, or maybe even committed enough to run a team year after year. 2. Has there been any discussion about starting a fantasy baseball forum here at Twins Daily?

http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/diving-into-first-base-maybe-not-crazy/ Over at FanGraphs they had a post about diving head first into first base, and how it MAYBE isn't such a terrible idea afterall. Overall I think the jury's still out, and the added injury risk probably makes the call to run or dive a push... but there is always something fun and infuriating watching a guy go head first into first. I love to hate it. I love it.

Sam Fuld is known as being a proponent of metrics. He graduated with an economics degree from Stanford University, no small accomplishment. Clearly he is into the numbers. Back in 2012, there was a story about Fuld and some of the discussions he'd have in the Rays clubhouse concerning metrics. (link below). Fuld has had a few conversations about those numbers in the Rays clubhouse with teammates like reliever Burke Badenhop, another former economics major at Bowling Green State University. "It's just kind of the evolution of baseball. If you can do something and do it better, I think you want to be on that side of the trend," Badenhop said. "You can say batting av…

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/marlins-close-to-extension-with-christian-yelich.html Nice deal for Miami. It gives them control of his first two FA years (and eight years in total, assuming option is picked up) for about 64.5m.

5 years (buying out 1 FA year) plus 2 team options: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/white-sox-extend-adam-eaton.html They now have their top 4 in 2014 WAR locked up for at least 5 years.

to sign with Chattanooga for AA. I 'm so happy that no Twins prospect will have to say "I'm a Yard Goat". Meef fhe Hartford Yard Goats -- formerly the New Britain Rock Cats.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/03/teams-in-need-of-offense-monitoring-astros.html With Gattis' trade and young prospect Singleton needing ML time, Astros 1B/DH Chris Carter could be available. Carter has pretty impressive pop - he was second in home runs last year and has hit 65 the last two years. And RH power bats might play up in TF. But he also hits .220 with low on-base skills and has led the league in strike outs (in fact, he might have set the single season record). He has four years of team control left. Astros need talent so would probably listen to offers for him but would probably want something similar to the package they put together for Gattis. …