Rich

Watching many games on MLB.tv has allowed me to watch and listen to different announcers. Dick is one of my favorites. I'll look for his new book. Thanks for the tip.

With Buxton's injury history it would be better to take it slow. I've been following him for many years and he's one of my favorite players.

You don't have to miss the Game Threads if your in the blackout area. I've been on MLB.TV for many years and never missed any threads. You can also keep up to date with Audio and game day.

If you have MLB.TV and are in a blackout area, consider watching the game the next day after work. The blackout games are available as archived games approximately 90 minutes after the conclusion of the game.

Miguel has logged in 31 games at 1st base over the past 5 years. His fielding percentage is.971 compared to the league average for 1st basemen of .993. He's below average in fielding percentage so he's got plenty of room for improvement. His hitting is a different story with a .836 career OPS which is above the league average. If his fielding improves fine. If not then the Twins may keep him in the lineup for his bat.

It's good to see Minnesota's top college and pro teams in a 7 inning game. Granted the weather was cold for Florida and I would also have liked to see it on TV but it was available on MLB.tv audio. The Gophers had 1 hit so they were no competition for the Twins. Hope they do it again.

Taijuan Walker signed a 1 year $2 million deal with the Mariners according to MLB TRADE RUMORS. He was the 43rd overall pick of the 2010 draft with a MLB Career ERA of 3.95. He reported to the Mariners Arizona spring training camp on Thursday and says he's healthy and ready to pitch. It will be interesting to see how he does after recovering from the injuries.

I enjoyed your article on the Twins 2020 PECOTA projections. I've been reading them for many years. It's good to see the Twins are projected to win the AL Central division. I also read the news stand magazine projections and ATHLON SPORTS also has the Twins in 1st place. The projections are an educated and calculated guess but fun to read. I also enjoy the player projections. The final analysis leads me to believe the Twins have good power and pitching depth and can win against Cleveland and Chicago.

Brusdar has talent as his 7-0 record shows last year in AA and AAA. He made it to the majors in September and had a 4.66 ERA so I hope he does well this year. Maeda did better in August and September pitching out of the bullpen in September with a 3.45 ERA. Both hitting and pitching are important, as your stats of the 0-6 record indicate. If Maeda can continue as a starting pitcher I think his value over a relief role will give the Twins the better deal.

I hope the trade goes through. Brusdar Graterol did well in the minors with a 2.48 ERA in 51 games, but has not proven himself in the majors. Kenta Maeda has done well with the Dodgers with a 3.87 ERA in 137 games. He has a 4-6 record since returning from his injury on 5/26 so that is a concern.

Good question. Advanced Sabermetrics can be complicated. I like to keep my performance evaluations simple. To evaluate hitting OPS and War work for me. For starting pitching I use War and the traditional ERA and OBA. For relief pitching I like ERA and Saves. These can be applied to Individual or team performance. I use several sites including mlb.com, FanGraphs, Baseball Reference and Baseball Alamanac.