Article: Happy Offseason! 2013 TwinsCentric Offseason Handbook Is Released!

[Jim Crikket]

I downloaded the Handbook this morning at the office and while I've had to get a bit of work done, I've glanced through it and it looks great. I've also read the entire interview with Terry Ryan and I thought John did a very good job with the interview. Some of what Ryan said made me laugh and some of it made me cringe, but he came across being pretty forthright (or as much so as you can expect, given that he'd be an idiot to spill too much detailed information about his offseason strategy). There's certainly plenty of material in the interview and the rest of the Handbook to give a blogger plenty of subjects to write about in coming weeks. Good work.

[PseudoSABR]

Nice job, guys (and fine design job, pig!). TR's a little feisty in the interview; I like it.

[Jim Crikket]

Nice job, guys (and fine design job, pig!). TR's a little feisty in the interview; I like it.

 

I sensed the same feistiness. Loved it! Made me wish it had been a video interview. I got the feeling he was treating John as both someone who was challenging him, but also someone who was asking legitimate questions.

[John Bonnes]

Nice job, guys (and fine design job, pig!). TR's a little feisty in the interview; I like it.

 

I sensed the same feistiness. Loved it! Made me wish it had been a video interview. I got the feeling he was treating John as both someone who was challenging him, but also someone who was asking legitimate questions.

 

FWIW, the feistiness was closer to jocularity than confrontation. It was a lively give-and-take, with the occasional friendly barb.

[Jim Crikket]

FWIW, the feistiness was closer to jocularity than confrontation. It was a lively give-and-take, with the occasional friendly barb.

 

Even better.

 

I've always felt Ryan was an intelligent baseball man with strong convictions. Too strong at times? Maybe. But he came across in the interview as someone who knows full well how deep the hole is he's got to dig the Twins out of and has some ideas of how he will go about doing it.

[iatwins]

I'm not a regular poster by any means, but decided to purchase the Handbook on a whim. I downloaded it this morning and have not been able to stop reading (it's a good think I took the day off). Really guys - Seth, John, Parker, Nick - excellent excellent job. And Pig for the design. It's informative, promotes one's own critical thinking, and offers a variety of views. The breakdowns are fantastic, and great job with the TR interview John.

 

I really cannot say enough about this - definitely a purchase I will make annually now. Again - fantastic job fellas.

[IdahoPilgrim]

Just got my copy and skimmed through it.

 

Noticed that Slama is barely mentioned (listed only as eligible for 40-man and on the depth chart).

 

Wondering if that's because the TwinsCentric brain trust doesn't have the same view as some on this site do, or if that's because they believe the organization has written him off and they're trying to be realistic on what the organization will do regardless of their own personal beliefs.

 

Good job, though. Look forward to diving into it in more depth.

[Brock Beauchamp]

For those of you who have read the book (or skimmed it), what do you think of the layout? Are you comfortable with a horizontal layout versus a traditional vertical book layout?

 

We went back and forth on this topic a bit and I would appreciate some feedback. Personally, I prefer to read vertical books but I also own a tablet and do very little reading on a computer screen (outside of software documentation for work). On the other hand, vertical books kinda suck on a typical widescreen computer monitor. I made the assumption that most of you would be reading this on a computer (and the horizontal layout is not much of a burden on a tablet, either) so I designed the book to take advantage of as much screen real estate as possible by designing it to better fit a widescreen monitor. Was I wrong in that assumption? Do you like/dislike the layout? Do you care? Why?

[sorney]

Awesome job!!! Format was cool, although I think you need a *stealth mode* so a person can be more discreet when reading at work

Also TR interview was very cool.

[Mike Sixel]

Horizontal all the way. Great layout. My only issue is the parts where in addition to the colorful background you added shading. Very hard to distinguish that from the font unless I mad the picture bigger. This is a fairly common issue. But really love the layout other than that.

 

the only part I have read so far is the interview, and it was great.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Horizontal all the way. Great layout. My only issue is the parts where in addition to the colorful background you added shading. Very hard to distinguish that from the font unless I mad the picture bigger. This is a fairly common issue. But really love the layout other than that.

 

the only part I have read so far is the interview, and it was great.

 

Thanks. Yeah, I'm not entirely pleased with reading a few of the pages... I would have liked more time to go back and refine some of the layout to make it easier to read. Unfortunately, I was putting in considerable hours at work and just getting this thing designed was a mad-scramble to make it look good. I'm happy with the book overall but I definitely learned some things to avoid next year. Initially, the text was waaaaaayy too small and what you're looking at in the published version is considerably larger than where I started. Next year, it's going to be even larger. There is simply no reason not to go with large text in an eBook. It's not as if page count is a concern (the current font is 14pt... Next year, it will probably jump to 15pt).

[Mike Sixel]

Well, the more pages, the larger the file. That can cause havoc on lower RAM readers like my original nook color. So, there is some reason to keep files smaller. Really, the layout is super high quality, I own many, many PDFs, and this is way up there in design and layout. I personally do not feel the font needs to be bigger.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Well, the more pages, the larger the file. That can cause havoc on lower RAM readers like my original nook color. So, there is some reason to keep files smaller. Really, the layout is super high quality, I own many, many PDFs, and this is way up there in design and layout. I personally do not feel the font needs to be bigger.

 

Thankfully, modern PDF tools use image caching. Extra pages don't add nearly as much in size as you'd expect, especially if images are re-used. We were really concerned about the book size (I was thinking it would come in around 50MB) but it stayed just under 20MB in its final version. I was even able to bump the image quality to a place where I was comfortable (something I was almost positive I wasn't going to be able to do).

 

For example, our eight page sample was 9MB. The full 72 page version was 19MB. PDF image caching FTW.

[Mike Sixel]

Huh. Cool.

[Jim Crikket]

I don't use a widescreen monitor at the office and being a fan of advanced age, my eyesight isn't what it used to be (hmm... maybe I should call someone about getting me a bigger monitor?), so at work I have to do a bit of horizontal scrolling which is a bit of a pain in the ass. But last night at home I had no issues. I guess my answer is simply that vertical would have worked better for me, personally, but I understand I'm probably in the minority at this point and it wasn't a huge deal to me anyway.

 

I do have one suggestion for next year related to content, however.

 

It occurred to me as I was reading through the capsules on potential free agents that I'd like to know one additional piece of information about each of them: Who is their agent? Particularly in light of Terry Ryan's comments during John's interview about how teams develop relationships with agents and, "most agents have a track record with the clubs." I guess that means that in addition to knowing which FAs have which agents, we'd want to know who the current Twins are represented by to get an idea of what kind of "track record" the Twins and particular agencies have together. Just a thought.

[twinsnorth49]

This thing was worth $6.95 ($7.09 CDN) just for the TR interview alone. Great job fellas, absolutely excellent, it's clear just how much work went into this when you look at the quality of the content and the layout. That font for the headers is pretty kooky though, JMO.

 

Thanks!

[Craig in MN]

The content is great in general.

 

On the layout: The combination of horizontal orientation and (relatively) small fonts that blur into the background images made it a little hard to read on my laptop. It wasn't terribly, just a little annoying. If it was vertical, I could have just set it up to zoom to page width and scrolled down a little more smoothly. It sounds like you plan to fix at least one of the 3 issues in the future, and that should do it.

[John Bonnes]

Just got my copy and skimmed through it.

 

Noticed that Slama is barely mentioned (listed only as eligible for 40-man and on the depth chart).

 

Wondering if that's because the TwinsCentric brain trust doesn't have the same view as some on this site do, or if that's because they believe the organization has written him off and they're trying to be realistic on what the organization will do regardless of their own personal beliefs.

 

You won't find bigger fans on Slama than some of the TC guys. If he was overlooked, it's because we believe the organization just doesn't value him.

[Brock Beauchamp]

That font for the headers is pretty kooky though, JMO.

 

Heh, I vacillated a bit on that font. In the end, I decided it was fine to leave one "fun" font in the book. The book sticks to the Avenir font almost exclusively outside of the page headers. Each year, I want to design the book with a theme. This year, it was old-timey baseball. Lots of textures reminiscent of the history of baseball and tech we no longer use as much (wood, leather, polaroids, etc).

 

Next year, it will probably be very modern. I doubt you'll see two books that resemble each other at all.

[Twins Twerp]

The Handbook is great. I had the whole thing, cover to cover, read by the end of the day yesterday. It just so happened my little students watched movies all day long. The Terry Ryan interview is ridiculous (in a good way). He didn't sugar code anything. He told it like it is, I only remember one instance where he didn't answer something because he didn't want to tip his hat. That article was great. My only problem with the handbook was it was too short. I could read that stuff all day every day. I would also like to have more people have blueprints in it. I'm not saying that the blueprints in it were not good, because they were.

 

Also, just a little bit of a thought, maybe for each free agent, try to gage the Twins possible interest. You could have a bold area under each free agent/trade partner, and have a very high, high, indifferent, low, very low. You did that for some of the players in their profiles, but I am suggesting it for every single free agent.

 

Saying that the blueprint is a great professionally done production. Thanks for taking the time to do it.

 

P.S. Do you think that the Twins announced the roster changes the day this came out on purpose?

[Brock Beauchamp]

My only problem with the handbook was it was too short. I could read that stuff all day every day. I would also like to have more people have blueprints in it. I'm not saying that the blueprints in it were not good, because they were.

 

We've tossed around ideas on how to expand blueprints. We're definitely looking into ways to create an immersive environment for the community to create and write their own. Don't be surprised if you see some additions to how that section is done next year.

[glunn]

I am loving this book. The information is interesting and the format is excellent. And I agree that the TR interview alone is worth more than the price of the book.

 

One question -- is someone sending a copy to TR? I would like everyone in the front office to read this.

[Jerr]

TR interview GREAT job!

Handbook is awesome, good job! Well worth the cost!

And you give great support, as I had some problem downloading, but Mr. Bonnes was right on it and took care of the problem.

Look forward to hours of reading it over the hopefully short/fast Winter!

[clutterheart]

Is Seth's prospect handbook included in this? Is there bundling options of the two?

[minn55441]

Great job on the Handbook guys. I spent the entire world series with my laptop, reading as the innings rolled on. It was good timing, as I have been rooting for the Tigers and found I had more time to read since there really haven't been too many chances to watch tigers running around the bases. You really have exceeded my expectations with the quality of the piece.

[Jim Crikket]

In the Handbook, you wrote that there would be a team who thinks Jake Peavy's injuries are behind him. It turns out that team is the White Sox. Your projection of 4 years/$56 mil had the annual salary just about right, but he signed for just 2 years and $14.5 mil each. He also gets his $4 million option buyout spread over 4 years and can earn a $15 mil option for 2015 with enough innings pitched.

 

I didn't really expect the White Sox to shell out that kind of money.

[Thrylos]

Congrats! ESPN just picked up the handbook story

[Brock Beauchamp]

Whoooooo! That's awesome!

[Roaddog]

Just wondering how long it takes to ship. I ordered one October 29th and still havent seen it.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just wondering how long it takes to ship. I ordered one October 29th and still havent seen it.

 

It's an eBook. You should have received a download code several weeks ago. Search your email inbox. If you can't find it, PM me and I'll send you a download link. Sorry for the confusion!