Matthew Lenz

Last week I introduced you to the issues minor league baseball (MiLB) players are having earning a livable wage. This week I will provide a couple solutions to the issue that will provide players with a livable, not exuberant, wage. It will be helpful to read last week's article first.After reading last week's article, if you’re still not with me on this then let’s think about those involved in the organization who pay the bills. Of course, we’re talking about the billionaire owners of these franchises who rely on the success of the minor league players to put butts in the seats when they make the major leagues. I’m going to use the Twins as an example not to push the “cheap Pohlads” belief but because, quite simply, this is a Twins website. To be clear, in this context all owners are being cheap. According to Forbes, the Minnesota Twins had a revenue of $269 million in 2019 of which $151 million was dedicated to major league player expenses like salary, benefits, and bonuses. After taking out other expenses, the Twins ended with an operating income of $14 million before interest and taxes were taken out. We don’t know the net income (aka profit) so, working with only the numbers that we know, let's say we are going to pull additional monies from the operating income to increase the pay for minor leaguers. Earlier I had suggested that minor league players are provided a livable, not exuberant, income which I am taking quite objectively. In this proposal, players will literally earn what is considered the cost of living for a single adult with no children in the county they work, as determined by the Economic Policy Institute. Outside of signing bonuses, there will be no subjectivity...something I think an MLB owner would appreciate. In this particular model, players aren’t necessarily paid according to the level they are at but strictly based on their estimated cost of living. Below you will find a couple of different tables using data from 2019, and it’s important to point out this wasn’t a perfect, exact science. Without calculating and prorating the salaries of hundreds of minor leaguers these totals present an approximation based on a couple hypotheticals that wouldn’t impact the bottom line a ton had they been calculated exactly: Teams have the maximum number of players on their active roster at all timesPlayers are not promoted/demoted once they are assignedProposal #1: Pay players a livable wage, based on location, for the minor league season.Download attachment: Proposal 1.png Proposal #2: Pay players a livable wage, based on location, for the calendar year. Download attachment: Proposal 2.png The third proposal is based on using the federal minimum wage as a threshold for a “livable” wage. Proposal #3: Start rookie ball at the federal minimum wage with a 15% increase at each level for the calendar year Download attachment: Proposal #3.png Obviously, the possibilities are endless when it comes to paying minor league players an appropriate wage, and, in my mind, the three proposals above would be the bare minimum for major league owners. I understand that under these proposals it is weird to think that a player for the GCL Twins is making more than a player on the Elizabethton Twins despite they're both rookie league teams, and that same player is making the same amount as an A+ player who is at a higher level. At the same time, my approach was meant to be completely objective. In an ideal, and subjective, world players are making a livable wage at a minimum while also getting an automatic raise for being promoted from one level to the next. What would a fair minor league pay model look like to you? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

You hit the nail on the head, John. It would cost owner such a miniscule amount compared to their revenue and, in theory, it would more than pay dividends providing the future of their franchise with enough money that all they need to worry about is baseball.

I feel like this makes a very big assumption that they can just go back to Mom and Dads house and have no expenses, which is true for some but not all. For starters, what about the international minor leaguers? You're spot on...one of the proposals that i'll have in part 2 would provide minor leaguers with a livable wage and cost owners less than $1,000,000.

If I implied this somewhere in my article then I apologize, but are they any less important then other laid off workers? Definitely not my intention to imply they are important nor my belief. Other than the opening paragraph mentioning the news that players will be paid $400, this article is about Minor League pay in general. Not specifically during COVID-19 pandemic. You are absolutely correct there will be. Unfortunately, minor league baseball players (who are also humans with basic needs) are not allowed to be part of those jobless claims because they are under contract and being provided $400/week to live after not getting paid by their primary employer since September 2019.

In recent years the salaries and living conditions of minor league baseball (MiLB) players has been brought to the forefront of fans attention. Now, as the world is rocked by COVID-19, that issue is being magnified as teams reportedly are only paying players $400 per week during the shutdown. If your response to the opening paragraph is something along the lines of “they are playing a child's sport for a living” or “they chose this route” then I would challenge you to think of this issue from a humanity perspective and less of a financial perspective. The foundation of our country is based on freedom and pursuing your dreams, and as a child growing up you are urged by your role models to pursue those dreams. This article will show you how easy it would be for a billionaire sport owner to provide a livable, not exuberant, salary for the very players they rely on for the future of their franchise (and its bottomline). Before we get into the number crunching, I want to take a second to promote an account (temporarily locked) and website that has already raised thousands to this very cause. What started as a small account run by a local Minnesota man has turned into a national, and likely, international venture as it was taken under the wing of More Than Baseballwhose mission is to “enhance and protect the game of baseball”, according to their website. This mission includes providing financial assistance to minor leaguers to enhance their basic needs like housing and food as well as the professional need for equipment and services to plan for “life after baseball”. I know times are tough right now, but in the words of Jon Bon Jovi, “when you can’t do what you do, you do what you can”. That is to say that, whether you can or cannot donate, nothing hinders you from sharing this article with your friends and family and bringing additional light to the issue at hand. Okay, lets dig into the numbers and start with the current salary structure of MiLB players. These numbers were retrieved from an NBC Sports article and organized in a table by myself. Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-03-31 at 9.22.30 PM.png Of course, these figures don’t take into account possible signing bonuses of which some can be quite large for the top draft picks. Using data from Andrew Thares article on the 2019 Minnesota Twins Player Draft their top overall pick, Keoni Cavaco, received $4.05 million for signing with the Twins. He was just fine making $3,480 over the three month rookie ball season. But what about everyone else? The Twins were able to sign 32 of their 41 draft picks in 2019. Of the 32 signees, 13 signed for $30,000 or less, three signed for $10,000, one signed for $5,000, and seven signed for $1,000. For reference, The three players who signed for $10,000 beat the 2019 poverty line by a mere $990, according to the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). As a reminder, not that you need it, signing bonuses are a one-shot deal. So other than having some sort of seasonal/part-time job for the other seven to nine months (depending on their level) after the year they are drafted the salary is all they earn for their season. For players that are fortunate enough to receive a signing bonus in the hundreds of thousands, they better spend wisely as it takes most players four to six seasons to reach the major leagues if they make it at all, per Business Insider. For more on this topic, I would encourage you to check out this twitter thread from five-year minor leaguer Tyler Cyr of the San Francisco Giants. For some top notch minor league baseball stories, some about living conditions, former Twins farmhand and St. Paul Saints pitcher Todd Van Steenselis an awesome follow. What are your thoughts on minor league pay? Do they deserve more? Why or why not? Next week, we’ll look a little deeper into the owners pocketbooks and analyze what it would cost owners to provide a livable, not exuberant, wage. MORE ON @ADOPTMILBPLAYER Sports Illustrated article The Athletic article Pioneer Press article MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

A few months back, well before COVID-19 became an international pandemic, a group of 16 Twins Daily writers committed to starting a fantasy baseball league. Despite no guarantee that there will be a 2020 Major League Baseball season, we decided to move forward with the draft on Sunday night.This article will look to give you the details of the league and, more interestingly, provide an analysis of the draft. This piece will be, at times, objective using FantasyPros as a reference to assess how teams drafted. At other times, you will see “Commish Commentary” which is more subjective and my opportunity to rip some of the other teams. You can also follow this live tweet thread from draft night if you would like more subjective analysis influenced by a couple Ruby Grapefruit White Claws. League Details The name of the league, as proposed by an anonymous member and voted on, is “Twins Daily Tournament of Death”. It’s a 16-team league, head-to-head (H2H) “each category” which means teams will earn a single win, loss, or tie at the end of the week. It’s a free, redraft league that only allows the top-six teams to make the playoffs, and has the following categories: Hitting Categories: Home runs, Total Bases, OPS, Net Steals, and Strikeouts (less is better)Pitching Categories: Strikeouts, Quality Starts, K/BB ratio; Net Saves + Holds, OBP AgainstThe goal was to pick categories that relied on luck or teammate performance (i.e. runs scored, runs batted in, etc.) as little as possible while also picking categories that weren’t too redundant. Keep in mind, we were limited by the options that Yahoo! provided us. Draft Analysis - in order of FantasyPros Power Rankings 1. “Andrew Thares” (Andrew Thares)Full Team Commish Commentary: Thares’ team is solid in every category with the exception of quality starts. He has one of the best relief corps in the league headlined by Josh Hader, arguably the best reliever in baseball, and 2019 breakout Ian Kennedy. The league letting Yordan Alvarez drop to him with the 38th pick and a bounceback season from Marcell Ozuna will be the reason his offense outperforms FantasyPros expectations. 2.“The Funkadelic” (Matthew Lenz) Full Team Commish Commentary: With eight starting pitchers and only one relief pitcher (Kenley Jansen) he’s either really locked in on Quality Starts and Pitcher Strikeouts or is stocked up to make a move to a team that needs some starting pitching. The offense will likely depend on the development of Kyle Tucker, Scott Kingery, and Willie Calhoun. 3.“Bellingham Bells” (Matthew Braun) Full Team Commish Commentary: Um, he didn’t take his first offensive player until the 8th round. I’d leave it at that but I also want to point out that he drafted Scherzer, Verlander, and Greinke with three of his first four picks who have an average age of 36 years old. If those three continue their dominance, he has set himself up with other nice pieces (Paddock, Boyd, Rogers, and Lugo). Not surprisingly, FantasyPros has him with the lowest rated offense but the highest rated pitching staff. I think his season relies on the veteran presence guiding the youngun’s...if that’s a thing in fantasy baseball. 4.“The Patrick Dobniaks” (Patrick Wozniak - not on Twitter but says he’s available by carrier pigeon) Full Team Commish Commentary:On FantasyPros, you can select options that show “reaches” (players drafted two rounds earlier than their ECR) and, unfortunately, The Patrick Dobniak’s lead the league with seven reaches in his draft. He must know something big about Drew Pomeranz, the 384th ranked player, by drafting him as the 157th player off the board. FantasyPros isn’t overly high on any part of his team, but I like the upside of Statcast Superstar Charlie Morton, new Twin and full-time starter Kenta Maeda, and Jose Urquidy who made a splash for the Astros last season. 5.“The Evil Mauers” (Cody Pirkl) Full Team Commish Commentary: The longer Major League Baseball delays the start of the season the more Pirkl benefits. He’ll be hoping to start the year, whenever that is, with healthy versions of Aaron Judge and James Paxton as well as a version of Yasiel Puig that’s on a 26 man roster. The late start, and possibly fewer games, also protects aging stars like Clayton Kershaw and Shin-Soo Choo from wearing down more through a six month, 162-game grind. He also took Bieber...lol. 6. “1979 Mike Marshall” (Tom Froemming) Full Team Commish Commentary: Thanks to auto-draft, he was the beneficiary of Mike Trout as the second overall pick. Honestly, Tom used my preferred strategy had I not been trying to live tweet the whole thing. Load up on hitting early (Trout, Alonso, Blackmon) and relief pitching late (Pressly and Pettit), although I wasn’t a fan of Kirby Yates in the fifth round. The risk with this strategy is if one or two pitchers have a bad outing, it can cost him the week. 7.“Steve’s Team” (Steve Lein) Full Team Commish Commentary: Followed Tom’s strategy but mixed in a little more starting pitching for balance sake. His offense is well-balanced with a mix of base stealers (Turner, Merrifield, and Villar) and power hitters (Springer, Suarez, and Urshela). FantasyPros and I agree that nabbing Verdugo, Urshela, and Myers in the last three rounds of the draft were an absolute steal. A Myers re-birth in a revamped Padres lineup and Verdugo building off 363 successful at-bats in 2019 could catapult him into the playoffs. 8. “Rena’s Team” (Renabanena) Full Team Commish Commentary: The world learned a lot about Rena on this fateful day...she was the first to pick a Yankee and never selected Greg Bird. It’s fair to question whether her love for the Twins and Greg Bird is legit. Okay, that’s too far...I’m only kidding. She made up for it by nabbing Luis “Ted Williams” Arraez as her starting third basemen (whaaaa????). She’s got a lot of young talent (Albies, Robles, Biggio, and Kopech) that she’ll need to live up to their prospect hype if she wants to make the playoffs. 9.“Seth’s Team” (Seth Stohs) Full Team Commish Commentary: He had my favorite spot in the draft…the last spot in the order. I’m still not excited about Flaherty at 16 but maybe his second half was legit. What I do love is the dedication to drafting players related to the Twins: Current Twins: Berrios, Donaldson, SanoFormer Twins: Hendriks, Gibson, GoodrumTwin Killers: GregoriusSomebody more creative than me needs to come up with a team name thatreflects this theme. 10.“Metrodome Milk Jugs” (Nate Palmer) Full Team Commish Commentary: In a close competition with JD, I vote Nate Palmer having the best team name. According to FantasyPros, that might be the only award Nate wins this year. Personally, I don’t hate his team but other than maybe his first five picks his players have a limited ceiling which I think is reflected in FantasyPros ranking. 11. “Matthew’s Team” (Matthew Taylor) Full Team Commish Commentary: Will he ever live down being the guy who drafted Acuna over Trout? Honestly, he probably will...using a consensus ADP from six of the most popular fantasy platforms it seems that Acuna over Trout is more likely than not. Unfortunately, he got bad news on Tuesday that his 4th round pick, Noah Syndergaard, will not pitch in 2020. Luckily, he stocked up on mostly relief pitching to help him win three of the five pitching categories. 12. “Buzzer Beater” (AJ Condon) Full Team Commish Commentary: If you needed proof that he auto drafted then look no further than how his draft ended up. He utilized the anti-Bellingham Bells strategy by drafting eight position players in the first eight rounds followed by nine pitchers in the following nine rounds. FantasyPros has him with the most powerful offense in the league which is how he ended up eighth in the power rankings. 13. “Nash Walker’s Team” (Nash Walker) Full Team Commish Commentary: Basically just copy and paste what I said about Nate’s team here. He’s not projected to be bad at anything but also not good at anything. I do love that he got Buxton with the 134th pick...yea, yea I’m a homer. 14.“The Mor you Neau (JD Cameron) Full Team Commish Commentary: JD might not have won for best team name, but it sure was close and it’s definitely creative. Whether it be intentional or not, I think his issue was that he had a penchant for drafting guys from teams in the midwest but none of them are on the Twins. That’s going to be a lot of games where he will either be cheering against the Twins or his fantasy team. Luckily for him, FantasyPros says his fantasy team won’t be contending for the playoffs so it should make that decision easy. 15. “Cooper’s Team” (Cooper Carlson) Full Team Commish Commentary: FantasyPros may not like his team, but I think it’ll be fun to watch. Names like Tatis Jr., Guerrero Jr., Gallo, Kepler, Escobar, and McKay give him so good games to tune into. If nothing else he’ll lead the league in bat flip highlights. 16. “Andrew’s Team” (Andrew Gebo) Full Team Commish Commentary: The best thing about Andrew’s Team was that he drafted Trevor Bauer one pick after Max Kepler was selected. Outside of that, FantasyPros and I agree that it’s hard to find something to love after the first five rounds from a fantasy perspective. Bauer has never been that good. David Price isn’t the workhorse or as good as he used to be. His offense looks average in most spots but not great in anything in particular. And all of this may be for naught MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

The math teacher and stats geek in me loves a new stat. RBI can be “lucky” but RBI % absolutely quantifies how lucky, or opportune, a player has been. Awesome work, Patrick.

Where is the Mienkiewicz love?!

Biased by the team(s) I grew up with, Koskie is a big one for me. Realized that when I was writing about the next set of Twins HOF Inductees. I know, from feedback for leaving him out from that article, that Tovar is appreciated by many! But likely not by many people “our age”.

Opening Day 2020 is almost here and the Twins enter the season as the odds-on favorite to win their division with a projected Vegas win total of 92.5 games. This article will analyze their schedule using their opponents' projected Vegas win totals, as well as point out important dates for fansThe methodology I used was actually how John Bonnes dispelled the notion on the impact of playing in the AL Central back in 2018. As he put it, “I promise you, you can do this with a spreadsheet and it takes no math more complicated than some long division” and even as a high school math teacher I can assure you that all it took was some elementary understanding of arithmetic. At the end of the article, you will be provided a link to a google sheet where I broke down their schedule in every way I could think of. Disclaimer: Using the Vegas win totals is not an exact scientific method to make any confident predictions and projections about the Twins season. Rather this was more of a fun exercise to run through to take a look at where things could be “easier” or “tougher” depending on their opponents. March/April (16 home, 15 away, 5 off) The Twins start the season with their third toughest month of the year. The Twins play the Athletics six times right away which is good for multiple reasons: (1) gets one West Coast road trip off the travel itinerary for the year; (2) gets three of their 10 9:00pm CDT or later start times out of the way;and (3) gets six of their 30 games against projected playoff teams out of the way, all while they are at their freshest. After playing some middling or worse teams in the middle of the month, they will then end the month back on the West Coast facing the Dodgers. Notable Former Twins coming back: C.J. Cron and Jonathon Schoop (DET); Martin Perez (BOS) Notable Fan Giveaways: 04/02 - Quarter Zip Pull-over; 04/18 - Corduroy Twins Bomber Cap May (13 home, 16 away, 3 off) As the weather really starts to warm up so should the Twins, as they’re schedule really starts to cool down. Outside of facing the Yankees in New York from the 26th to the 28th, the Twins will mostly be facing teams that are projected to finish significantly below .500 (Giants, Royals, Tigers, Orioles) while also mixing in 10 games against their only “competition” for the division in the White Sox and Indians. If all goes as planned in 2020, it’s not crazy that on June 1st the Twins could have close to a double digit lead in the division. For comparison, they had a 10.5 games lead in June 1st in 2019. Notable Former Twins coming back: Kohl Stewart (BAL) Notable Fan Giveaways: 05/04 - Twins Star Wars T-shirt; 05/18 & 19 - Reusable Twins Tote; 05/22 - Morneau HOF Pin; 05/23 - Morneau HOF Bobblehead June (16 home, 10 away, 4 off) In June the Twins will face the toughest competition of the season, as they play 10 games against projected AL playoff teams (Rays, Astros, Yankees) and only have 10 games against opponents who are projected to be under .500. Moreover, the Twins will face the toughest 10-game stretch of their season with back-to-back-to-back series against the Brewers (2), Yankees (4), and Astros (3) with their tenth opponent being the Rockies. Luckily, they spend most of the month at home and with only one eastern road trip before coming home against Milwaukee and New York. I would plan on being at Target Field for as many games as possible from June 16th to June 21st. Notable Former Twins combing back: Jason Castro (LAA) Notable Fan Giveaways: 06/06 - Twins Cap; 06/16 - Josh Donaldson Bobblehead; 06/27 - 30 HR Bomba Club Bobblehead July (10 home, 15 away, 6 off) Although June has a higher projected opponent winning percentage, you could argue that July is the toughest month of the season. Their average opponent winning percentage is less than a point away from June but they play 60-percent of their schedule on the road. A matter of opinion if this is a good or bad thing, the Twins will come out of the All-Star break with their longest road trip of the season (10 games). The good - they are (hopefully) rested and healthy; the bad - they only have 9 off days the rest of the season when they return home. Outside of the Tigers, every team they play on the road in July is projected to be slightly below (Rangers) or above (Indians, Diamondbacks, and White Sox) .500. The end of the month will begin their fourth toughest 10-game stretch of the season with a two-game set against the Dodgers and a game on the last day of the month against the Astros. The silver lining here is that this leads in to the trade deadline and the Twins will get a good look at how they handle a tough schedule after June and July put together. Notable Former Twins coming back: none Notable Fan Giveaways: 07/31 - Baby Blue Twins Replica Jersey August (14 home, 13 away, 3 off) Right as the dog days of summer really starts to heat up, the Twins' dog days of their schedule are in the rear view mirror. August is bookended with tough opponents (Houston and Cleveland at the start; Milwaukee, Tampa, and Cleveland at the end) but the 16 games in between those opponents are against the Royals, Red Sox, White Sox and Tigers. This will be a great opportunity for the Twins to put some distance between themselves and the rest of the division and possibly make some headway at the #1 or #2 seed in the playoffs. Notable Former Twins coming back: C.J. Cron and Jonathon Schoop (DET) Notable Fan Giveaways: 08/05 - TOPPS Baseball Card Pack Giveaway; 08/15 & 16 - Back to School Item; 08/19 - Native American Heritage Celebration T-Shirt; 08/21 - Knit Can Koozie; 08/22 - Twins T-Shirt September (12 home, 12 away, 3 off) The Twins start the easiest month of their schedule off by finishing their four-game series against the Cleveland Indians in what could figuratively or literally wrap up the division by September 3rd. Outside of three games against the Rangers and three games against the Padres, the month of September will be filled with games against other AL Central teams. If the Twins haven’t clinched the divison by the 3rd, then you could see them clinch between the 4th and 10th where they play six consecutive games against the White Sox and Indians. This again will be an interesting time of year as the Twins' easy schedule could set them up for a home series or two in the playoffs. Notable Former Twins coming back: Kyle Gibson (TEX); C.J. Cron and Jonathon Schoop (DET) Notable Fan Giveaways: 09/06 - Case IH Tractor; 09/18 & 19 - Twins Stocking Cap; 09/20 - T.C. Kids Mug Other Tidbits: The Twins longest homestand of 10 games will be their second homestand of the season from April 17th to April 26th. Could provide an interesting make-up scenario if we have a wet spring.Their longest stretch of consecutive games is 17 from May 8th to May 24th. Luckily, 10 of those games are home.Per Baseball Savant, the Twins will travel 28,834 miles in 2020. That is the sixth fewest in all of baseball. Again, this isn’t an exact science but a fun exercise in looking ahead to the season. Below you will find some of the resources that I referenced above. Schedule Analysis - feel free to make a copy and mess with this yourself Full Twins Schedule Full Promotional and Giveaway Calendar MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

I don't see why this needs to take but maybe one extra day, if that. The mini competitions can happen on the same day.

And wouldn't that be entertaining??? You're inviting an audience who maybe doesn't like baseball but loved this movie to watch baseballs biggest stars have a little fun. I'm in!

I did think about that but I also figured that anything can happen during the current format of the homerun derby and All-Star Game. If the Player's Association thinks swinging a bat as hard as you can repeatedly for minutes at a time is not a risk then I wouldn't think diving once and jumping against a padded wall once would be any more or less of a risk.

I think my point in the marketing issue is not about being a "celebrity", but it's the fact that a vast majority of the world knows who LeBron James and Tom Brady are whether you follow the NBA or NFL or not. I would guess that if you don't follow MLB at all you likely don't know who Mike Trout is and he is projecting to be the greatest baseball player of all-time. Again, it's not about the "celebrity" it's about marketing and branding in sport that is fading out.

To be fair and transparent, in 2019 baseball did have the best numbers out of the 4 major sports in terms of their All-Star games. That said, if we look at the bigger picture...21.2 million people watched Game 7 HOU v. WSH and 98.2 million people watched the Superbowl. Baseball, or any sport, will likely never trump Super Bowl ratings but a difference of 77 million people is staggering. The bigger picture is that we need to draw more people into the sport.

As someone who comes to a baseball site like Twins Daily, it's not surprising that you (and I and most everybody on this site) enjoy the game the way it is. The fact is, the popularity of baseball as a whole and, specifically the All-Star Game, has been declining for all of America consistently for the last 10 years. I'm not saying my idea is the best idea, but it wouldn't hurt to try something new to market your sport and players.

As a disclaimer: this is an idea to solve a marketing problem more than an All-Star Game problem. That said, many people will take this as me saying there is something wrong with the game itself. I, a baseball fanatic, enjoy All-Star Week. The rest of America doesn't necessarily feel the same. Proof is in the ratings... https://twitter.com/Lenzy2108/status/1232661650706182144?s=20

Last week, our Jeremy Nygaard designed an overhaul to Major League Baseball’s regular season after Rob Manfred’s ideas of restructuring the playoffs for 2022. Below is a proposed redesign for MLB’s All Star Weekend that will result in better marketing and showcasing of the sports best players.Last week, our Jeremy Nygaard designed an overhaul to Major League Baseball’s regular season after Rob Manfred’s ideas of restructuring the playoffs for 2022. Below is a proposed redesign for MLB’s All Star Weekend that will result in better marketing and showcasing of the sports best players. In the overhaul mentioned above, teams will be provided with an entire week for All-Star festivities which will begin in the last few days of June and extend into the beginning of July. The redesign of the All-Star festivities are inspired from the three other major american sports. Total All-Stars Selected There will be 60 All-Stars selected which is about 15 less than normal. The position you play...doesn’t matter. The team you play for...doesn’t matter. The league you play in...doesn’t matter. Lets see the top sixty players in baseball compete. How All-Stars Will Be Selected This week is as much for the fans as it is for the players (and their bonuses), so a fan vote is still important and will account for the first 45 or, 75-percent, of the players selected. The next six, or ten-percent, of the players will be selected by the Baseball Writers’ of America Association (BBWAA). The next six, or ten-percent, of the players will be selected by the players and managers of MLB. The final three, or five-percent, of the players will be selected through an objective process using WAR. This will hopefully reduce the number of “snubs” by having so many different parties having a say in who is selected. Competitions for the Week The Futures Game and Celebrity Softball game will still be part of the week. The rest week will be filled with both individual and team based competitions. Being that players weren’t named All-Stars by position there won’t be a formal baseball game played at all during the week. Why is that? The first thing that comes to mind when I think of any of the four major sports most recent All-Star weekends is how Jarvis Landry dominated a game of dodgeball, how Ja Morant threw an alley-oop to Zion Williamson, or Luka Doncic and Trae Young making shots from half court. I can’t tell you who won any of the actual games. MLB All-Star Week will be filled with mini-games where players can win individual awards as well as an overall team award. Individual Competitions - these are optional for players to participate in and, when noted, will have limits on how many players can participate. To encourage players to participate, their results could impact the weekend down the road. Home Run Derby (top eight All Stars by home run) - very similar to the current format but instead of total home runs hit, players will advance by their home run distance. When I say advance, I mean lets ditch the bracket and lets see the top-four (of eight) advance to the semi-final, and the top-two advance to the final. Again, home run distance is all that matters.Skills Course (no limit) - players will start in centerfield and perform the following skills. Like the NBA Dunk Contest, there will be a panel of former players and manager or BBWAA members to assign a score to the fielding parts of the competition.Players will attempt to rob one home run ballPlayers will return to centerfield and attempt to make a diving catch on a short flyballPlayers will move into shortstop and attempt to field one ground ball and make an accurate throw to first.Players will move in front of the pitchers mound and throw one ball as hard as they can. They will earn a score on a 10-points scale based on their speedPlayers will move to the batter's box and perform two bunts. They will earn a score out of 10 points based on where the ball lands in a grid that is painted on the field.On the second bunt, the player will immediately run to first base (the clock starts when the bat makes contact with the ball or when the ball crosses home plate if the bunt is missed). Players will earn a score out of 10 points based on their time to first base.“Top Golf” (no limit) - players will essentially take batting practice but will attempt to hit certain targets on the field. Like “Top Golf”, you will get points for how close to the center of the target you hit and how far away the target is from home plate.Team Competitions - there will be 15 teams (four players per team). The top 15 fan vote getters will be captains and will draft three additional players. The teams will be separated into three pools (five teams per pool) and will compete against one other team in the competitions below. The winner from each pool and one wildcard will then advance to a bracket style wiffle tournament. Any pool tiebreakers will be broken based on the scores of the individual competition that each teammate participated in.Dodgeball - no special rules, just your classic “dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge” game. Last man standing gets a win for their team.Stolen Base Challenge - one team will try to steal second. The other team will have a pitcher, catcher, first basemen, and shortstop ready to try and pick off the runner or throw him out on the steal attempt. Once all four runners have gone, the teams will flip flop roles. Team with the most stolen bases wins. If there is a tie, teams will compete in an NHL shoutout-esque stolen base-off.Glove Flip Game (best of three) - this is a very popular game that amateur players play before the actual game starts. Eight players will stand in a circle, alternating a representative from each team, and use their gloves to flip the ball continuously until the ball hits the ground. There will be a judge on whether it was a bad flip or a miss and that player will be assessed a strike. Three strikes and you’re out. Traditionally, a player will turn his hat sideways after strike one, backwards after strike two, and then they’re out after strike three.The Primetime Wiffle Ball TournamentIn place of the traditional All-Star Game, the three pool winners and one wild card will compete in a wiffle ball tournament. To air three games during primetime, a new inning will not start once the game is 30 minutes old. There will not be any baserunning and hitters will start with a 1-1 count (like slow pitch softball) and pitchers will throw at a wiffle ball strike zone. There will be one pitcher and three fielders, and the field will be set up as seen below. Download attachment: Screen Shot 2020-02-25 at 7.43.07 PM.png Admittedly, a radical idea with a lot of intricacies and explaining it by word definitely makes it overwhelming to imagine. Looking at the three other major American sports, it seems “mini competitions” are taking over their All-Star festivities. My thoughts are that there is no better way to grow the game, especially with the youth, then allow the professionals to relive their youth in front of a national audience. What do you think? Should the current set up be left as-is? What would you change? MORE FROM TWINS DAILY — Latest Twins coverage from our writers — Recent Twins discussion in our forums — Follow Twins Daily via Twitter, Facebook or email Click here to view the article

I think Berrios being the staff ace is arguable. In a one game winner take all, I want Pineda before Berrios for sure and possibly Hill. To be transparent, I’m suffering from Berrios fatigue. He’s a good pitcher but I’m sick of people treating him like he’s anything more than that.