Other Baseball

Alright, people love it or hate it or somewhere in between, but we need a place here at Twins Daily in case anyone wants to discuss. Talk about how much better then HR Derbies (?) where 10-15 years ago? Talk about how much you 'enjoy' listening to Chris Bermann and his back-back-back calls? Predict the winner. Which All Star will hit ZERO homers?

Cuddyer still likes Coors Field and Kubel likes Chase Field (I think those are the current names) even better. Neither is tearing it up on the road. [TABLE] [TD=width: 48]Jason Kubel[/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 32] [/TD] [TD=width: 40] [/TD] [TD=width: 40] [/TD] [TD=width: 40] [/TD] [TD=width: 40] [/TD] G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB …

I spoke with Seth a while ago to see if users would be interested in doing a Mock Trade Deadline. I have participated in these on other sites and they normally work out. If there is enough interest, Seth said that he would be able to create the necessary forums. A minimum of 30 users is needed and as many people as want can join. If more than 30 people sign up some teams will have Co-Gm's. MLB Mock trade deadline: 30 teams in the MLB so at least 30 users are needed. This means that if more than 30 people sign up that gms will be asked to co-gm. You and your parnter will be responsible for running 1 team. Each team is required to have a Clubhouse in the Club…

The Astros just traded Carlos Lee (and are paying most of the remaining $9m on his contract) to the Marlins for 3B Matt Dominguez and LP Rob Rasmussen. Dominguez (4th) and Rasmussen (7th according to BA) were both decently-rated prospects. As I read that the Marlins may have interest in Liriano, I tried to come up with a deal I thought the Twins would do: LSP Brad Hand (from Chaska) and LRP Adam Conley, in my opinion was a good basis. (Both former Twins draftees.) Hand struggled in the majors last year (straight from AA) and is ho-hum in AAA this year. Conley was a 2nd round pick last year (and probably signed in August, so would have to a PTBNL). Hand was …

So much blathering about Joe Mauer, but . . . I forgot how ridiculous Ryan Zimmerman's contract is. After getting paid $12 million this year, he gets $14 million per for the next six years and then $18 million at age 34 before the team option in 2020. Good lord. His OPS decline .101 from 2010-2011 and ANOTHER .130 drop this year. He is at .668 right now.

Along the same lines as the post I put up the other day, who are your favorite non-Twins players to follow across the baseball world? Are they former Twins players, up-and-coming young stars, or veterans from around both leagues? Let the discussion begin.

I'm simply not a fan of the current All-Star fiasco, with it's terrible attempt to mix popularity and half-season performance, rewarding players who often come back to earth in the second half to show they're nowhere near a "star" in the league, to create a roster that's as likely to have Brian LaHair facing Jim Johnson to decide the game as it is to have Albert Pujols facing Cliff Lee. Oh, wait, that latter matchup can't actually happen in 2012. Yet another reason to not watch the idiocy that is the game. The Futures Game, heck yes I'll watch, even though they snubbed a few guys every prospector would love to see, but the All-Star game would have to pay me to come watch …

Thome was traded to the Orioles for Gabriel Lino and Kyle Simon. Seems like the Twins gave him away last year.

Former Twins minor leaguer Matt Schuld was picked up by the St. Paul Saints (American Association - indy ball) and is starting today in St. Paul.

http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=22614397&topic_id=11493214 I've seen some bad ones, but man oh man, this one is tough to beat for umpire incompetence. How does Dimuro call an out there without asking to see the ball?

Don't know if anyone noticed, but the little guy that hacked at everything just 10 short years ago is only 10 HR's away from 300 for his career. Quite the accomplishment and I for one am happy for him. He always seemed to play with a smile on his face and seemed genuinely excited to be playing here. He also did a lot for the community in his time in MN. He may have followed dollar signs out to CA, but I'll always think of him as a Twin. Proud of all his accomplishments through his career.

Jeff Passen dissects MLB's blackout policy and reports on a lawsuit challenging it. http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb%E2%80%99s-blackout-problem-keeps-sport-in-dark-ages.html

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/06/brewers-to-sign-livan-hernandez.html I'll give him a pass as he kindly tossed my son a ball from the bullpen in AZ this year, but I'm surprised he keeps getting chances.

The Mets are auctioning off all of the jersey's worn by players in the Johan Santana no-hitter. There are some balls going for $4000 each. Wow that's a lot of money for some memorabilia. Here's a link to an article about the jersey sales Here's a link to find the items on the Met's website.

ESPN is currently running a contest where site users choose their favorite ballparks. It is a head to head bracket style voting. Target Field is currently winning by the largest margin (at least when I voted). It is up against Oakland co. Coliseum. When I voted it was 92% TF to 8% O.co. Here is a link to vote: http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8060191/battle-ballparks-vote-mlb-best Edit: Camden Yards was also beating Rogers Center 92% to 8%.

What do you prefer to see--low-scoring games where pitching and defense dominate, or high-scoring slugfests? Personally I'd much rather be in the crowd for a game with a crazy 15-12 score than a 3-1 game. I've always been of the opinion that great hitting is more exciting than great pitching, although Santana and Liriano nearly had me convinced otherwise in 2006.

Did anyone catch Bill Mazeroski on last night's telecast talking about his walk-off homer in 1960 game 7? He said the fence was about 410 feet where he hit it which looked to be straight-left to left-center. I just looked up Forbes Field in Wikipedia: Left Field—360 feet (110 m) Deepest corner—462 feet (141 m) Center Field—442 feet (135 m) Right Field—376 feet (115 m) Cripes! If the batters are bigger and stronger now (they certainly are bigger) and the pitchers throw harder (think back to high school physics) why do we need smaller parks?

For years Mariano Rivera's cutter has been acknowledged as one of the nastiest pitches in baseball. What other current MLB pitcher's pitches would you put in that category? Stephen Strasburg's fastball? Cole Hamel's changeup? Adam Wainwright's curve? Feel free to use data to support your choice. (PITCHf/x, etc.)

Cuddyer loves Coors Field? Home .295/.364/.543 OPS = .906 Away .272/.314/.511 OPS = .825 ----- Total .285/.343/.529 OPS = .872 What about Kubel and Chase Field? Home .350/.429/.641 OPS = 1.069 Away .241/.317/.333 OPS = .650 ----- Total .294/.372/.483 OPS = .855

For Minnesota fans wanting updates on Mitch Brown, he has now signed with Cleveland, for a $800,000 signing bonus ($140,300 over slot). The terms also include the value of a 4-year scholarship to USD, valued at $196,000. Way to go, Mitch. Good luck!

With all the discussion about possibly trading players away, where sometimes the opinion is "not unless we're blown away by an offer," I got to thinking about what kind of successful trade ought to be the benchmark now. Here are three, just off the top of my head: Rangers trade Mark Teixeira for a nucleusBraves trade Doyle Alexander for a future HOF starterTwins trade A.J. Pierzynski for three pitchers who worked out to varying degreesWhat other such trades would you nominate?

Just saw on ESPN the Vlad the impaler has been released. Truthfully I don't think it would be to detrimental to pick him up. Give the Twins an off the bench option with power

So I was just reading that this year MLB pitchers are averaging 7.5 K/9 - the highest rate in MLB history. We just had our 2nd perfect game of the season, and the 4th in 3 years (5 if you count Galarraga's blown call). In that same 3 year period (2010-12) there have now been 14 no-hit games - over 5 per season average. That compares to just a tad over 2 per season average over the entire MLB history. Does anybody else think that the game is fundamentally changing for some reason, toward the side of more dominant pitching? Or is it just that hitting is on the decline throughout the majors? Yes, I know that the steroid is over and you would expect fewer HRs and a lo…

From ESPN: Baker acknowledged having Latos throw inside to Lowe, but said it didn't involve any personal issue between the two of them. Rather, it was retaliation for Lowe hitting Joey Votto in the back during a game in 2009 at Great American Ball Park, when Lowe was with Atlanta. Players from both teams were hit during that series. I've never been a fan of purposely hitting batters except under rare circumstances, but holding onto, and acting on a 3-year-old grudge? That's insane. You either hit someone the next time you play them, or you leave it be. I find this silly, petty, and embarrassing. Thoughts?

I just saw that on MiLB.com that Terry Doyle took a no-hitter into the 9th inning for Chicago's AAA Club in Charlotte. He took a no-hitter into the 8th on Memorial Day. http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20120607&content_id=32951058&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_milb

I'm moving from Honolulu to Yorktown,VA in less than two weeks and I was just wondering if any one here has experienced Camden Yards or Nationals Park? By any chance any minor league parks in that area, I should check out?

http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/default.aspx?id=46677767&ns=baseball&displaymode=1247&beginSlide=1&beginChapter Pretty good choices but I got to the end and had to go through the list again to see if I just missed Roy Campanella. No, they did. Fail.

Anyone know what time the Mascot Softball Game starts on Sunday? All it says online is "Pregame". Does that mean its at 11:30? Noon? 12:30?

http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/06/07/fastest-man-in-baseball-on-pace-for-163-steals/ Aaron Gleeman posted this about minor leaguer (Slidin') Billy Hamilton. Revere is, pretty obviously, the fastest Twin and has impressive SB stats in his short MLB career. So, who are the fastest guys in MLB and where does Revere rank?

First no-hitter in Mets history (8020 games is the number I saw.) He threw 134 pitches, 8 K's, 5 BB's. He's still one of my all-time favorite Twins, although understand and agree with the rational for trading him. Congrats Johan