Parker Hageman

Download attachment: Dozier.jpg Let’s just start by saying that in his second tour of duty in the major league, Brian Dozier fared better than in his first stint. After a dismal 2012 season, he managed to improve his walk rate and power numbers to finish the year as one of the team’s top contributions. Faint praise, however, considering the lineup’s surprising lack of offense overall. That said, Dozier’s in-season development was impressive.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] After a working with hitting coach Tom Brunansky, the infielder was able to make a timing adjustment that paid dividends in the season’s second-half. The adjustment allowed Dozier to combine the changes he made with his hips in spring training with proper timing to drive the ball on the inner-half of the plate. The results were 18 home runs -- the highest total by a Twins’ second baseman in team history. Will this equate to potential big home run numbers in 2014, too? Eh, not so fast. One thing that needs to be taken into consideration is where his home run pitches were located. According to ESPNtrumedia’s database, 11 of his 18 home runs were located in the upper-third of the hitting zone: Download attachment: Dozier HR_Upper.png Brian Dozier's 2013 home runs, by location This represents a very high percentage of his home runs and something that hitters do not typically match, year-in and year-out. In 2013, only Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt (17) hit more home runs on pitches in the upper-third of the strike zone than Dozier. For the past several years this leader board has had plenty of turnover. In 2012 another Diamondback, Aaron Hill, led baseball with 13 home runs on pitches in the upper-third. The year before that it was Josh Willingham (16) in Oakland and, before that, Albert Pujols (20). Why this appears to be an unrepeatable skill may be influenced by the opposition’s change in approach. If you know that Albert Pujols is going to launch one on a pitch up in the zone, you would avoid that space like the plague. On the other hand, it may simply be luck. Despite major league pitchers’ best efforts, they still miss their spots from time to time and the ability to capitalize on those mistakes by depositing them into the seats may take a stroke of good fortune for the hitter. Beyond that, Dozier faced a very high percentage of fastballs. This may be because he was a non-threatening factor in 2012 but has since made it clear he can handle the heat. Last year, he saw fastballs 57% of the time whereas the league average was 53%. On fastballs Dozier hit a healthy .273/.353/.517 but hit just .196/.239/.249 on non-fastballs. If you were concocting a game plan to combat the Twins’ lineup, the directive would likely be to throw Dozier fewer fastballs in 2014 – at the very least, fewer fastballs up in the zone. This is not to cause despair for Dozier’s 2014 season. After all, his plate discipline was a significant step forward as he reduced his chase rate considerably, from 32% in ’12 to 26%; he also stopped swinging at everything as his swing rate dropped from 49% in ‘12 to 40% in 2013. Those indicators bode well for his comprehension of the zone and his development as a hitter. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Morneau.jpg The Dodgers and the Red Sox have just completed a blockbuster of a trade in late August but it may not have even happened if Los Angeles was able to coerce their first choice – Justin Morneau – from the Minnesota Twins. According to the Los Angeles Times’ Dylan Hernandez, the Dodgers, who were interested in Morneau at the non-waiver deadline in July, contact the Twins last week to see if a deal could be struck for the first baseman. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Morneau, who is owed roughly $2.5 million for the remainder of the year and another $14 million in 2013, had a slow start to the season, bogged down by his surgically repaired wrist. However, in the season’s second-half, he has hit .310/.361/.493 in 155 plate appearances suggesting that he has healed well. Leave your comments on this topic here. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Revere.jpg After a session with the team’s brass, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire emerged from their war room (war not WAR) at the Nashville hotel and, following the trade of Denard Span, told the MLB Network that they were “trading my whole damn team.” [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] While it could be just a tongue-in-cheek response from the manager who is known to add some snark, because of the team’s current status of a bottom-dwelling squad without a rotation the Twins should really consider it. The front office has been extremely vocal about not trading Josh Willingham unless they were blown away with an offer and there has not been much discussion about moving Justin Morneau this winter. There is one unlikely Twins player who may have value at the winter meetings who the front office could consider moving and that is Ben Revere. If Revere is able to be packaged in a deal that could fetch a decent rotation arm the Twins should consider taking it. Both the Tampa Bay Rays and the Atlanta Braves are in need of a starting center fielder and Revere’s youth and cost control may be appealing enough to pry one of their surplus arms. Revere, 24, will enter his third season at the major league level. Last year, the speedy outfielder developed into a high-average hitter with well above-average defensive chops when it came to covering ground and making acrobatic catches. Meanwhile, on the bases, Revere swiped 40 bases -- succeeding in his kleptomania 82% of the time -- and, by Fangraphs.com’s accounting system, was the seventh-highest valued base-runner in the game. Baseball-Reference.com’s warehouse said that his legs added five runs to the Twins’ ledger in 2012 (tied for fourth highest in MLB) which equates to roughly a half a win. Given that he’s just beginning to adapt to the world’s best competition, the expectation is that he will continue to improve. After all, with his speed, he’s guaranteed to accumulate hits like Flo Rida. However, there are several areas in which he has been deficient and that is his ability to compile walks and hit for power. In addition outstanding speed and bat control - which Revere has displayed - premium leadoff hitters are adept at increasing pitch counts and coaxing walks. While he produced terrific numbers through his minor league career, Revere’s walk rate was below 7%, relying on batted balls to find seams in the defense to buoy his on-base percentage. Similarly, Revere’s power drought has been one nearing historic proportions and given how he puts the ball in play (mostly grounders), the odds are strong that he usurps Greg Gross for most plate appearances without a home run. These are two aspects of his game which are unlikely to change. Sure, his high average, high range and high speed talents may help cover up those shortcomings sufficiently but there is also indications that he is not in the Twins’ plan beyond 2013. If the Twins trade Revere, the duty of center field would like fall to Aaron Hicks - a five-tool prospect who has yet to see time above Double-A. While a level jump without touching Triple-A is less than ideal, Revere made the leap from New Britain in September 2010 and worked his way into the Twins lineup without sampling much time in Rochester. Hicks, 23, was drafted one year after Revere and will have the same amount of development time as Revere when he was forced into semi-regular duty in 2011. Like Revere, Hicks has buckets of speed on the bases and in the field. Unlike Revere, Hicks has a howitzer for an arm. Last year, he recorded 10 outfield assists with New Britain. Revere had 18 throughout his entire six-year minor league experience. With the massive real estate in right-center field, the field staff knows they need someone with a legit arm. Hicks also possess other tools at the plate that makes him a superior leadoff choice than Revere. A switch-hitter, Hicks has monk-like patience at the plate, registering a walk in almost 15% of his plate appearances. What’s more is that he has the occasional pop, able to gain multiple bases on a single swing of the bat. From a development process perspective, allowing Hicks an additional year to hone his craft at Rochester while keeping his arbitration clock from starting would be the most desired scenario. By all accounts, Revere is a hard-worker with three strong skills. Still, the Twins need starting pitching beyond just this season and Hicks can certainly learn on the job. If trading Revere would bring back a cost-controlled starter, the organization needs to seriously consider pulling the trigger. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Gibson.jpg Just over a year removed from his Tommy John surgery, Twins' pitching prospect Kyle Gibson has made two encouraging starts in Arizona, firing 92-to-95-mph bullets and keeping the game’s top prospects off-balanced with an 83-86-mph slider. That’s right: Hitting 95 miles per hour according to the Pitch F/X system in Arizona. Let’s take a look at why his AFL performance should give Twins fans hope. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] According to MLB.com, Gibson has been aware of the velocity increase and views it as a positive sign: BrooksBaseball.net says Gibson’s fastball/sinker combination was caught at the 2011 Futures Game registering 91.8/91.3-mile per hour, respectively, by the Pitch F/X cameras. So far in the Arizona Fall League this year, those same pitches are averaging 93.3/93.2 miles per hour, very much up a “tick.” Gibson said he had been working on refining his mechanics, something that was critiqued at the time of his draft, and that is one factor behind the added velocity: In addition to throwing with a newly insert ligament, Gibson has had time to smooth out those rough spots in his motion. During the time of Nationals’ phenom Stephen Strasburg’s rehab, the notion of added velocity for some TJ survivors was credited to several factors including conditioning applied during the recovery period as well as the down time allotted pitchers to scrutinize and improve mechanics. But those radar gun readings are not the only thing that has made Gibson’s “sinker” (actually a two-seamer) so incredibly hard to square up on. In spring of 2011, prior to his ligament snapping, Gibson was turning heads in camp with this pitch’s action. Back then, the Star Tribune’s La Velle Neal wrote that he could “throw at a left-handed hitter’s hip and watch it break toward the inside corner.” The movement displayed by this pitch is quite impressive. Check out the pitcher’s arm side run that this one takes during spring practice to Mauer in 2011: http://apps.startribune.com/blogs/user_images/theeight_1298869473_Gibson_TwoSeamer.gif Coupling with the movement and velocity of his ground-ball inducing sinker is his swing-and-miss generating slider – a slider that was christened by Baseball America in January as the “best” slider in the Twins’ system. In two starts in Arizona this fall, Gibson’s slider has induced 15 missed bats on 22 swings (34 sliders overall). Here comes the obvious precursory small sample size warning applies with 34 pitches but his 68% whiffs/swing would top the Baseball Prospectus’ Pitch F/X Leaderboard, as the next closest would be Zach Britton at 52%. Don’t be fooled by the raving scouting report above – it would be unwise of the front office to head into the 2013 satisfied they have found another internal candidate to carry them through 200 innings. However, if the Twins are able to coax Gibson through the fall, winter and spring without any setbacks, given his display of above-average stuff, he undoubtedly could be a valuable part of the rotation in some capacity. Click here to view the article

So the Twins Daily official Spring Training coverage begins next week when John Bonnes touches down in Fort Myers. However, last week I had the privilege -- nay -- honor of getting a tour of Hammond Stadium’s updates with my family. While in Florida for my -- ahem -- nuptials (sorry ladies), we made a pit stop at the Twins’ spring training facilities and were treated to a walk-through of the activities, which included the catchers’ drills on the backfield. Thanks to our photographer (and my cousin) Will Sandstad, we came away with some wonderful action shots of the practice session. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Download attachment: Catchers1.jpg Download attachment: Catchers2.jpg Download attachment: Catchers3.jpg Download attachment: Catchers4.jpg Download attachment: Catchers5.jpg Download attachment: Catchers6.jpg Download attachment: Catchers7.jpg Download attachment: Catchers9.jpg Download attachment: Catchers10.jpg For more thoughts and reactions on the drills and the new additions to the stadium, please listen to the podcast below (warning: some adult language). Click here to view the article

Download attachment: USATSI_7824413.jpg Greetings from surprisingly chilly Hammond Stadium. I know it is below freezing back in Minnesota but for the locals here, this means breaking out the heavy gear. The good news is it is sunny and the team has had an opportunity to have a full day of workouts. More notes: The Twins traded Vance Worley to the Pittsburgh Pirates for cash after last night’s game (and there will be more on that later). Interest in the right-hander who cleared waivers the previous week was lukewarm but there were several teams that called on him. The Twins ability to score runs has been a looming concern but the front office did not go into the winter with the idea that the offense was complete. “We did not go into the offseason saying we just need to get two or three starting pitchers and we will be right where we want to be,” said Antony. “That was not the case.” He acknowledged the team made efforts to obtain other position players but those targets ultimately signed elsewhere. Antony also reiterated there will be no cuts today; Ron Gardenhire said after yesterday’s game that the roster will be finalized on Friday -- likely after that day’s game. On the minor league side, Byron Buxton’s wrist sprain is going to likely keep him from starting the year on time at New Britain. There is no indication of when he will be ready but the likelihood is he will remain at camp for the extended spring training until his wrist is healed. That decision needs to be made by Twins’ minor league farm director, Brad Steil. The opening series rotation has been set for Chicago. Ricky Nolasco will take the opener opposite Chris Sale while Kevin Correia and Phil Hughes will follow in the next two games. Nolasco is starting this afternoon’s game and looking to finish spring strong after he was knocked around for seven runs in three innings in his last start. The wind is really whipping up down here. Yesterday, the wind was blowing strong from left to right field and today it is just the opposite. Prior to the game, the major league catchers were taking pop fly practice by means of a pitching machine set up at home plate. The ball’s trajectory would shoot towards the pitching mound but the wind would push it all the back towards the backstop and first base dugout. Approximately one out of every ten balls were fielded cleanly. More after the game. Be sure to follow the TwinsDaily twitter account for in-game and in-camp updates. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: DarrenWolfson300.jpg You missed tonight's chat with KSTP's hard-working sports reporter and 1500ESPN's Twins post-game host Darren Wolfson. But you can still get his insights by reading the transcripts of his chat with Twins Daily members. Topics included how realistic the return of Francisco Liriano is, and if we'll see a new manager in 2014. Just click below. Also, be sure to check out Darren's "Scoops" at 1500ESPN.com and follow him on Twitter for the latest Minnesota sports information. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Live Chat with KSTP's Darren Wolfson Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Liriano_HR.jpg The Star Tribune’s LaVelle Neal reported yesterday that the Twins officials have been in contact with Francisco Liriano’s representatives and will meet next week in Nashville during the winter meetings. To many Twins fans, the news probably inspired a palm to the face followed by a head to the desk. After all, Liriano has been as bad of a starter in the past two seasons not named Nick Blackburn -- another reason to repeat the face-palm and head-desk combination. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Since his mini-rebound in 2010, Liriano has turned in a bloated 5.23 ERA (sixth highest in that time) and has walked 12.6% of batters faced (second most in MLB). His inability to control the strike zone has resulted in the overabundance of baserunners and subsequent runs scored (hence the ERA and walk rate). Pitchers need to work ahead and throw a high percentage of strikes in order to maintain success at the major league level. High walk rates mean quick-rising pitch counts and early showers which means more strain on the bullpen and stress on the manager’s heart. Liriano, however, has been baseball’s biggest culprit of digging himself into a hole the past two years. According to Fangraphs.com’s pitch data, his 51.7% first-pitch strike rate is the lowest in baseball. It should be elementary but this was a very significant factor for Liriano has when he fell behind, opponents were able to reach base in a myriad of ways, in almost 50% of those instances (.498 on-base percentage when batters ahead versus .467 MLB-average). In comparison, when he was able to get ahead of opponents, he was able to retire them at a rate higher than the baseball norm (.186 on-base percentage versus .211 MLB-average). In terms of raw stuff, Liriano has been one of the best in the game. His slider has been able to make the smartest of hitters look completely stupid once it begins to descend the other direction. Thanks to good velocity and tilt, he is able to achieve plenty of swing-and-misses (23% in 2012) on the slider but it is a pitch best used when he is ahead in the count. Falling behind more frequently in 2012 translated into more two-seam fastballs (titled “Sinker” in this chart) says BrooksBaseball.net: Download attachment: Liriano_2012.jpg Liriano’s two-seam was one of the reasons he was his own worst enemy the past two years. In 2010, Liriano, not showing exemplary command of the pitch, managed to throw it in the zone over 52% of the time. The past two years, that rate has dropped to below 50% -- 46% in 2012 -- meaning that every other fastball was not in the strike zone. Hitters may be fooled by sharp breaking pitches darting out of the zone but a fastball isn’t going to get them to bite as regularly. As such, after a season of recognizing this tendency to miss the zone, hitters kept the bat on their shoulders more frequently (36% swing rate in ‘12 versus 44% in ‘10) and strayed after fewer out of zone fastballs (20% in ‘12 versus 25% in ‘10). The end result was a grand total of 52 walks on the pitch in 2012 compared to just 27 in 2010. A reunion with former pitching coach, Bobby Cuellar, who was recently promoted to bullpen coach by the Twins, may be the right combination to get Liriano’s game back on track. After all, it was Cuellar who had worked with Liriano on refining his mechanics which allowed him to throw more strikes -- currently his most notable flaw. Of course, a pessimist would argue that Cuellar has not exactly pumped out any other pitchers like Liriano or Johan Santana since his return to the organization since 2007. This past year, Nick Blackburn was sent to Rochester and Cuellar was instructed to fix whatever was wrong. After several successful outings in AAA, Blackburn was recalled and proceeded to crank out a turd of start after another over his final 12 starts. Whatever knowledge was bestowed upon Liriano and Santana did not sink in with Blackburn. What’s more is that Liriano was already suppose to be fix by White Sox pitching guru Don Cooper, who the careers of Gavin Floyd, Jose Contreras, Bobby Jenks and Matt Thornton have been improved because of his instructions. While it was just two months of mentorship, Cooper, who said that he knew what was wrong with the lefty, did little to set Liriano straight (he actually fell behind in the count more while in Chicago). In fact, when he started to careen off kilter, Cooper told reporters that it was more mental than physical, something the Twins had been saying all along: If the legendary Cooper cannot fix what ails Liriano, how is Cuellar going to resuscitate his career? Video does show that Liriano has some changes to his delivery from the 2010 season and a big part of that is keeping it consistent. In 2011, he was not extending the same as he did in 2010 which changed his release point. Early on in 2012, it was falling away to the third base side with every pitch and causing some arm slot issues. Can Cuellar perform the same magic as he did almost a decade ago in New Britain? Ultimately, if the Twins believe working with Cuellar can positively influence Liriano, somehow coaxing the 2010 success out of him, then a one-year gamble with the expectation that he is a back-of-the-rotation arm would be as good of a move as signing potential injury risks of the likes of Brandon McCarthy, Scott Baker or Scott Feldman. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: USATSI_7416816.jpg After passing his physical, the Twins and Kendrys Morales agreed on a one-year contract in hopes of increasing the offense which had disappeared in May. After scoring 131 runs in 24 games in April, the fourth-highest in baseball, the Twins managed just 92 runs in 29 games in May, the second-lowest totals. Morales, Ryan said, figures to turn that around. When the deadline that would have required the Twins to lose draft pool money passed, talks began with the free agent designated hitter/first baseman. During Sunday's broadcast, Terry Ryan said the Twins toyed with the idea two weeks ago and then talks grew serious during the MLB draft when they were discussing contracts with Morales' agent, Scott Boras. Because Morales is out of options, he will have to acclimate himself at the major league level. During his extended time-off, Ryan said that Morales did face live college pitching while working out at Boras' training facility in Miami, Florida. On Sunday morning, Twins General Manager Terry Ryan introduced the latest addition to the lineup: Terry Ryan introduces Kendrys Morales, Part 1 Terry Ryan introduces Kendrys Morales, Part 2 Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Sano.jpg The Minnesota Twins made a significant move today in the farm system, moving third base prospect Miguel Sano from Fort Myers (A+) to New Britain (AA) reported CBS Sports’ Jon Heyman and was confirmed by 1500ESPN’s Darren Wolfson. Sano was posting remarkable numbers in the Florida State League. Prior to today’s Miracle game – in which Sano belted his 15th and 16th home runs of the year – Sano’s .629 slugging percentage was leading the league. That power output looks even better compared to the rest of the FSL, a notoriously pitcher-friendly league, where the average slugging percentage is .378. Over the last few seasons, Sano had made some progress at the plate and has quieted his pre-swing movement, resulting in the best season to date of his professional career. Insiders have made comments saying that Sano is not necessarily a candidate for relocation away from third. After a season with 42 errors, Sano has trimmed that down to a more manageable 11 gaffes so far this year. Miracle manager told 1500 that he would be hesitant to move him from the position and also said that roving instructor Paul Molitor has been working hard with improving his defense. What can Sano expect from Double-A? At 20 years old, Sano will join just two other hitters in the Eastern League (Jose Ramirez and Xander Bogaerts) who cannot legally purchase beer. Competition and strategy increase significantly over the lower levels as well. The talent is greater and the pitching is more polished. Sano is now one level closer to making good on his promise to reach the major leagues this season. If he is able to rip apart Eastern League pitching like he did to the Florida State League, it would be difficult to keep him down. In addition to Sano, Eddie Rosario and Angel Morales will also move to New Britain and shortstop James Beresford will be promoted to Rochester. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Meyer.jpg The Twins announce that they have have traded Denard Span to the Washington Nationals for pitcher Alex Meyer, a 2011 first round draft pick (23rd overall). The big-bodied Meyer, 6'9" and 220, spent last year split between A and High-A, striking out 26.6% of batters faced, walking just 8.6% and produced a 2.86 ERA which led to an invite to the Futures Game. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Fangraphs.com had an excellent write-up on Meyer, noting that his 97-98 MPH fastball is very impressive in addition to his slider - which Baseball America considered the system's best after the 2011 season. From the Fangraphs.com's article, here's Mike Newman's (Scouting the Sally) scouting report on Meyer's secondary stuff: Newman went on to say that the name that popped into his head the most was "Matt Clement" - a promising pitcher who never lived up to the hype. Following his draft in 2011, Baseball America's Aaron Fitt said this about the right-hander, noting caution of mechanical issues which plagues taller pitchers: Clement and now Brackman? Uff. Not the most impressive comparables. Still, as Fitt said, there is high-upside there, potential to be a top-of-the-rotation guy - something the Twins don't have now, nor deeper in the farm system. Given his age (23 in January), there's an outside possibility that Meyer could be ready to join the rotation sometime in 2014. In trading Span, the Twins free themselves of a $4.75 million commitment for 2013 and $7 million in 2014 ($6.5M plus a $500,000 buyout). Click here to view the article

Download attachment: logo.jpg Dan Anderson and Parker Hageman got together to discuss their brand new logo and share feelings. Parker described a hellish family vacation on the North Shore. They discussed Oswaldo Arcia’s slumping tendencies but also pondered whether or not Kyle Gibson was becoming an "ace" (spoiler: who knows) and whether or not the Twins have peaked (spoiler: who knows). Parker let Dan talk about soccer for 10 minutes (spoiler: Parker still doesn't like soccer) and the guys wished a fond farewell to Tony Gwynn (spoiler: damn he was good). Listen below, on iTunes or Stitcher. NO JUICE PODCAST - EPISODE 10 - NEW LOGO Follow us on Twitter: @NoJuicePodcast Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Doumit.jpg The cause of an injury to one of his hottest hitters in June, from what was an avoidable play by Indians’ catcher Yan Gomes, is not ignored by manager Ron Gardenhire. Ryan Doumit had been hitting .278/.345/.481 with three home runs, five doubles and a triple in June prior to suffering a sprained ankle in Cleveland on June 23. Since the incident, Doumit has sat out three games and has gone 5-for-20 (.250) without any extra base hits in his 21 plate appearances. Doumit, who was coming in to score on Oswaldo Arcia’s double, was forced to stutter-step around home as Gomes swung his left leg across the plate area for a brief moment.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] From his vantage point, Gardenhire contends that this move was an intentional attempt to divert Doumit’s path. "We had a great view from the dugout and the catcher didn't have the ball and at the last second he stuck his foot back on top of home plate," Gardenhire said on his 1500ESPN radio show. "Just kind of reached out behind him and stuck his foot there before the ball got home. That's kind of one of those not good plays in baseball. (Doumit) ends up spraining his ankle and we were pretty upset about that.” Here is a clip of the offending play: http://i.imgur.com/rBHPRO2.gif With the advantage of the replay, we can see that the play was all but over when Doumit arrive to the plate. The ball was both late and offline. Ignore Gomes for a moment. The interesting thing here is that Doumit does not slide. Certainly this does not change the fact that Gomes was in a place he shouldn’t be, but a slide would have made for a safe and injury-free arrival to home plate. Just three days earlier, when the Twins were taking on the White Sox, Doumit was thrown out at the plate on a close play (video here). Notice that Doumit does not slide on this play either – despite the fact that Justin Morneau was clearly waving for him to hit the deck. This play had just as much likelihood of Doumit injuring himself as did the Gomes play. Someone teach this man to slide. [ATTACH=CONFIG]4675[/ATTACH] For a split second Gomes could have been thinking that he might have an opportunity to block a slide (which Doumit should have been doing) and apply a quick tag. That notion likely disappeared quickly as the chances of the ball beating Doumit to the plate vanished. Also, judging from the flight of the ball, he may initially have had thoughts of trying to reposition himself to receive it, but thought better of it as Doumit approached. The fact is it is hard to say if Gomes did have malicious intent. Going by the book, Gomes had no right to be positioned in the place that he was. In fact, simply being there is against the rules. According to the MLB rulebook, Rule 7.06 states that: This rule has rarely, if ever, been enforced by umpires. On the other hand, baseball’s unwritten rules state that Gomes’ behavior was a huge no-no and could, ultimately, warrant retaliation. "In that play, the plate was open, the ball wasn't going to be there and the next thing you know the guy sticks his leg out," Gardenhire said on his show. "(That) is not a good thing in baseball. It's kind of one of those unwritten rules that blocking the plate without the ball or trying to trip somebody ... (you look for) payback." Eye for an eye. Tooth for a tooth. Catcher for a catcher. Mostly due to the injuries during collisions at home plate to San Francisco’s Buster Posey and St. Louis’s Yadier Molina, MLB’s rule has been debated at length over the past several years. It could prove to be a difficult rule to completely abolish, mostly because it (home plate collision) is an event that takes two to tango: one, the runner barreling in and two, the catcher walling off home plate. In most cases catchers are portrayed as innocent victims. But catchers have their own methods which can force the runner into a full-out offensive – be it a hard slide or a lowered shoulder. While MLB could suspend those runners who turn their bodies into projectiles, there still exists the practice of teaching catchers how to block home plate from the incoming runner which exposes the catchers to a variety of injuries. Ryan Doumit is no stranger to this education process: in 2008 while he was in camp with the Pittsburgh Pirates, then-manager John Russell, a former catcher himself, gave Doumit additional attention showing him techniques to “blocking home plate”. These lessons obviously were handy and useful when Doumit suffered an ankle sprain in 2011 after the Cubs’ Carlos Pena wiped out his left ankle in a slide at home plate (which Doumit was blocking like a solar eclipse). Had Doumit remained inside the baseline and not attempted to block Pena with his leg, he would have had an easy sweep tag and a healthy ankle. The Oakland Athletics -- those damn nerdy book-types -- took note of what happened to the franchise backstop across the Bay in 2011 and issued an edict from the top to keep their catchers out of harm’s way. Then-A’s catcher Kurt Suzuki said that Billy Beane told him specifically to give the runner the right-of-way to avoid contact at the plate. Likewise, the New York Mets had this topic broached in spring training when manager Terry Collins ordered catcher Travis d’Arnaud to avoid blocking the plate with his left leg because of prior knee injuries. Mets GM Sandy Alderson – and chairman of the rules committee, by the way – responded to Collins’ request to his catcher shortly after, suggesting that the organization needed to look at its policy on the subject of plate-blocking. “Whether that will be permanent with him or permanent with all of our catching prospects of something [Mets catcher] John Buck will adopt, or the spike tag will becomes standard for catchers in the big leagues- I don’t know,” Alderson told a group of Mets bloggers. “But I think it’s an issue we have to address globally, rather than just in the case of Travis d’Arnaud. And to some extent we have an obligation to treat everyone the same way.” Then there are instances that make you wonder whether certain teams are going the extra mile to instill in their catchers the principle of protecting the plate at all costs, that they are the last line of defense against one more run. As mentioned above, Pittsburgh took time to instill plate-blocking techniques. While it could be coincidental, Cleveland recently has had a string of catchers take some beatings at home plate. In 2010, rookie catcher Carlos Santana had his knee ligaments rearranged while Boston’s Ryan Kalish bulled into his lower half that was straddling the baseline before the ball’s arrival. That was not even Santana’s first run-in at the dish that year. In the third game of his career, the White Sox’s Adam Dunn tried to separate Santana from his equipment for standing directly in front of home (and the throw was cut off by the first baseman). Meanwhile, this April, Indians catcher Lou Marson was blown up at the plate by the Rays’ Desmond Jennings after a bang-bang play when Jennings tried to score from third on an infield grounder to the third baseman. Marson was up the line and blocking the entire route home. Afterwards, Marson provided insight on his technique in that situation, which is to get the runner to hesitate before the collision. "I'm trying to block the plate and make you make a decision,” said the catcher. “Are you going to slide, or are you going to try to blow me up? I feel like that split second they have to decide kind of slows them down, at least a little bit." Gomes, who is new to the Indians organization in 2013, may have been preparing to do something similar to what Marson described on the play. Block the plate and brace for contact. From Gomes’ perspective, there could have been a play at the plate forthcoming. It was not as if the ball was heading for a cut-off man. And it was not as if Ryan Doumit was running like a bat out of hell either. Plus there was the added factor of the throw being outside the third base line while Gomes was set up inside the line. With a runner coming home from third, Gomes may have been beginning to maneuver to corral the throw which was then heading behind the on-rushing Doumit. Of course, superseding what was going on inside Gomes’ head is the fact that both MLB’s rules and baseball’s code – the unwritten rules of the game – both explicitly say that the catcher shouldn’t be anywhere near the base without the ball. Had Doumit been a different kind of individual, he may have leveled Gomes like Dunn did to Santana and in the baseball world would have been completely vindicated. Doumit didn’t and suffered a sprained ankle for his troubles. Even Gomes’ own manager, Terry Francona, would have likely condoned Doumit running into Gomes as a “baseball play”. "If you don't want to have a collision, instruct your catcher to move. That's really easy, but you can't make a rule,” Francona said not long after his catcher Lou Marson was removed from his spikes. “The rule is the catcher can't block the plate until he has the ball. For the very most part, that's when you see guys get hit. They're the gritty guys, but they try to block the plate before they have the ball, and there's a bobble, or they get in late, and they can't brace themselves. That's where you see the problems.” Will the Twins retaliate when the Indians come to town in a little over a week? The fireworks will be on display on July 4 but if Ron Gardenhire makes good on his promises, there may be a second show later this month. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: partyboys.jpg A "No Geek Week", Twins Daily's Parker Hageman fills in for John Bonnes and joins Aaron Gleeman at 612Brew.com to talk Twins. Topics include partying at The Gleemanor, Alex Meyer the substitute teacher, dropping Darin Mastroianni from the 40-man roster, throwing televisions off balconies, hypothesizing about Masahiro Tanaka, the Hall of Fame and Jack Morris, Kurt Suzuki threatening Josmil Pinto, and mailbag questions from listeners. You can listen by clicking below, download us from iTunes or Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Gleeman & The Geek: Episode 126 Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Ryan.JPG The Twins have released a statement today from Terry Ryan who says that he will miss at least the beginning portion of spring training because of cancer that is considered treatable. Ryan will undergo treatment at the Mayo Clinic for Squamous Cell Carcinoma after a biopsy of a lump on his neck was determined to be cancerous. Dr. Vijay Eyunni told the media Monday afternoon that the cancer was sourced to his lymph nodes and not skin cancer as previously reported. Here is the entirety of Ryan's statement: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] According to MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger, Ryan will undergo surgery tomorrow and the hopes are that a combination of surgery and radiation treatment will eliminate the cancer. All the best to Terry Ryan and his family. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Outfield.jpg After months of expecting Josh Willingham to move from left field, the outfield position he has played the most in his career, across the turf to right field, Ron Gardenhire has switched courses on that plan. Back in February, Gardenhire acknowledged that the experiment of moving Willingham to right field might not work but that they would be ready if he would be unable to adapt to the new position: "That's what we are going to do. We're going to try to figure this out in Spring Training. We're going to start out this way and if it looks like it's working OK and he's getting used to that, he'll be out in right field. But if it looks like he's not comfortable in right field, I know the other guys can do it for a fact." Prior to Sunday's game, the Twins manager said that Willingham would be his left fielder and not his right fielder has was initially intended. "Let's call Josh Willingham my left fielder," Gardenhire said before Sunday afternoon's game with the Cardinals at Roger Dean Stadium. Those who have watched him play have rated his arm as being below average. According to Fangraphs.com's Fans Scouting Report his Arm Strength has rated a 45 on a scale of 100 and an even slower release (40). This is not exactly ideal for right field play where those individuals have to make the longer throw to third base in addition to home plate making his transfer back to left field a better idea. Of course, voters think little of his range as well. In those categories - First Step and Speed - Willingham rated 34 and 37 respectively. Meanwhile, the BillJamesOnline.net Plus/Minus system says that he has had troubles over his career in left going back on balls, finishing -21 on deep balls dating back to 2008. Perhaps it was one of both of these factors that played a role in Gardenhire's decision to move Willingham back to his more familiar position. So who is going to be the starting right fielder? Gardenhire said the race is between the hot-hitting Chris Parmelee, Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere (who is likely going to wind up the team's fourth outfielder, according to the team's assistant general manager Rob Antony on 1500ESPN.com). Parmelee's clearly earned an opportunity to play for this team with both is previous September performance as well as his torrid spring. However, he is fairly raw when it comes to outfield play. In the past two years in the minors, he's played 57 games in right field. His range factor of 1.86 (RF/G) over his full minor league playing time in right suggests that he isn't a significant liability (by comparison Michael Cuddyer's career range factor in right is 1.87) but he's not going to be a coverage guy in the field either. Likewise Plouffe is also green when it comes to the outfield position, having only played 21 games in the outfield in his professional career. Revere, who was the early favorite over the winter, had worked hard during the offseason to get his arm strength up to snuff (whereas Willingham's rated a 45 on Arm Strength, Revere was rated a 4) but the organization seems to have cooled on the idea of him being a starter. While he has been an amazing fly-tracker, reports from Fort Myers is that Revere is struggling when he has to charge balls on the ground. Although neither Gardenhire nor Antony mentioned this in their discussion of the outfield alignment, Ryan Doumit's name will very likely be mixed in the lineup in the outfield - particularly if Justin Morneau is a DH and Parmelee is shifted to first base. After dishing out $4 million to him, there is little doubt in my mind that they attempt to get him into the lineup more than two times a week to allow Mauer to rest. For the more fly-ball oriented pitchers on this staff, this alignment should raise their anxiety levels just a bit. With Revere and Span, the pitchers had some reassurance that more fly balls would find leather. Now, the gaps are going to get a little bigger. The hope, of course, is that with this alignment, the Twins should have a more potent offense that would off-set the defensive liability. Click here to view the article

When the Twins signed Kevin Correia this offseason, they knew his ceiling was not high as, say, Francisco Liriano’s would be. They also figured that Correia’s floor would not be as low as Liriano’s either. Their goal was to acquire some semblance of consistency that was grossly lacking in 2012. To their credit, the Twins got just that – a pitcher who made every start and, after tonight’s outing, will have accumulated almost 200 innings. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Download attachment: Correia.jpg Sure, the win/loss record and ERA were reflective of a slightly below average starter but when it comes to value, his innings total help offset that gap. According to Fangraphs.com’s valuation metrics Correia has been “worth” 1.1 wins above replacement equaling $5.5 million in value – or a surplus of $1.5 million compared to his $4.5 million actual contract for 2013. With the exception of Anibel Sanchez and the aforementioned Liriano, no other starting pitching free agent was able to provide as much value as Correia has. With one year remaining on his two-year deal, Correia will likely be one of the few carry-overs to the 2014 rotation. He recently answered a few questions from TwinsDaily.com: Correia on his approach after switching from the National League to the American League: No, it comes down to trying to get batters out one at a time. In the National League obvious there are different situations, like there’s a pitcher involved and you are going to have more bunting situations and you are going to be taken out of the game maybe a little earlier because your spot is coming up to bat, but as far as when you are out on the mound I got what I got. I’m gonna try to attack you with what I got that day, with the best stuff that I have. It doesn’t really change league to league. It’s more of just learning the hitters a bit, their approaches and just going from there. On being able to limit stolen base attempts: I think I’m just quick to home plate. I’m comfortable slide-stepping and getting the ball quickly to home plate. Some guys like a big leg-kick and it is harder for them to slide-step and I’m comfortable with it. It’s hard to run on a slide-step. Not to mention Joe Mauer’s been there most of the time and if you want to go on the slide-step, he’s probably gonna throw you out. So it’s tough. On his best pitch: For me it’s any given day it can change. That’s how I pitch. I don’t have one pitch that if they know it’s coming, I might be able to get it by them. I work on being able to throw four different pitches for strikes at any point in the count. So it really changes thorough out the game. On making changes to his approach: I’ve changed my whole career. I came up as a hard-throwing four-seam guy with a circle-change and a slider. Now I throw more two-seam fastballs, a curveball and a split. I mean, you are constantly changing. I think if you are going to play as long as I have you have to make adjustments and I have done so when I needed too. On throwing his changeups to same-sided hitters: I mix it into righties, I mean, not as often as I do to lefties but like James Shields, he’s got an incredible changeup and he can throw it all day to righties. I just think I am forced to throw all my pitches. I throw a split and a circle-change. I think my split is more like a changeup and my circle-change is more like a split. I don’t know why it’s been like that, but I try to use them both and whatever one feels better that day. On stats: I barely look at my ERA or anything like that. I think I was kind of before that stuff started so I never really factored that stuff in. On game preparation: I look at video a lot. I know my stuff isn’t moving a ton. I face these guys four times this year and I’ll watch pretty much…I’ll get the lineup and I’ll watch how I faced all these guys before. I don’t really look at…a lot of guys like to look at a pitcher who kind of compares to them and how they pitched them but I kind of like how I’ve done in the past because it gives me and idea of what they might be looking for or whatever they’ve been successful off of. I go with feel a lot. I like getting in a game and feeling how it is going. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: BullpenCar.jpg If you were going to create a list of the Twins' offseason needs, you would likely write in big, bold letters STARTING PITCHING and underline it twice and put some exclamation points next to it for safe measure. Clearly this area of the team put the Twins in significant default night after night. Shackled to the American League's worst earned run average (5.40), the focal point of the front office will be to beg,borrow and steal anything they can that can help deflate that unsightly statistic and give the team an opportunity to win games in 2013. For the most part, this means throwing whatever free cash at a consistent starter or two and potentially trading away a key member of the team in order to acquire more. While the starting pitching problem was so big it could be seen from space, perhaps somewhat surprising is what the Twins viewed as their second biggest need is. During an interview with TwinsDaily.com's John Bonnes, Twins general manager Terry Ryan told the incredulous Bonnes that finding more relief pitching was next in line. This is interesting for several reasons. Whereas the starting rotation was obviously downright horrendous, the Twins bullpen actually fared well. A pessimist might say that the relief staff's success may be due to the fact that by the time Ron Gardenhire dipped into his 'pen, the opposing team was too tuckered out from all the home run-hitting and base-circling to put forth any real effort. An optimist, on the other hand, would point out that guys like Glen Perkins, Jared Burton and Brian Duensing formed a solid core of late innings options. And,given that those three members will be back in 2013, there would seem to be fewer vital roles to fill in the bullpen which helps redirect the resources back to the starting pitching. Here's another thing: The cost of relief pitching could get scary expensive. Early this week, the Dodgers made a somewhat surprising move when they extended right-handed reliever Brandon League with a three-year, $22.5 million deal, giving him short of $8 million per year. The hard-throwing 31-year-old comes equipped with the “proven closer”label which may help explain some of the need to pay out that much, but his walk rate has fluctuated that it may be hard to sit still with him on the mound in a close game. While that may seem like a steep price, there may be some logic behind why League received $7.5 million per year. In a candid interview,Cleveland Indians team president and former general manager Mark Sharpiro told Fox Sport Ohio's Pat McManamon that, based on growing revenue streams, the cost of purchasing one “win” on the free agent market has increased from $8 million just a few years ago to $9 million this year. Per the interview: So,applying this logic to League's contract, we find that over the last three seasons he has accumulated 2.5 wins above replacement which averages out to 0.8 wins above replacement per year. If a team were to purchase that on an open market, that would cost $7.2 million – just shy of the average annual value of League's actual contract of$7.5 million. Provided League performs at or better than his last three seasons, the contract may actually wind up right on the money and not nearly as insane as the initial reactions. Then again, if League under-performs or gets injured, the contract could blow up in their face. Needless to say, most teams have to feel confident in their projections in order to dish out $9 million per win on the free agent market. That,or have Scrooge McDuck-type of money. Stupidly rich teams like the Dodgers have the luxury of committing that volume of money to a set-up man/closer and walking away financially unscathed if something goes wrong. Not every team in baseball will be looking to pay the going rate of a relief pitcher. The Twins will need to be smart with their investments and, given their track record of eschewing long-term contracts to free agents and avoiding marquee ones, there are no indications that they would chase any free agent down that rabbit hole. Outside of the top relief arms who can anticipate multi-year contracts, there are several players who may be acquired for fewer than three years.There is Kyle Farnsworth who pitched well as Tampa Bay's closer but elbow soreness truncated his 2012 season. Likewise, Jason Frasor also battled an elbow injury but struck out 53 in 43.2 innings thanks to a dirty slider. Mark Lowe, a member of the Rangers and Mariners bullpen, can bring some heat and miss bats but a non-arm related injury (intercoastal) sidetracked this past season. Those are just three of the bargain rate right-handed arms that could be available for the Twins. Heck, if bridges aren't burnt, Pat Neshek, who threw frisbee after frisbee in Oakland, seems to have rediscovered his command and would be a solid option for a season. These kind of arms may give you the same wins above replacement value but will not likely require the $9 million pay out. While the more statistically inclined organizations like the Indians may run numbers on everyone until their word processors explode, the Twins have proven quite adept at nabbing arms who require a bit more scouting acumen over the stats. Well, that, and the sheer numbers game. The Twins philosophy when it comes to relief pitching appears to stem from Branch Rickey's farm system mantra: From quantity comes quality. Last year the Twins signed a bushel of low cost minor league relief arms including Jared Burton, Jason Bulger, Luis Perdomo, Casey Fein and Joel Zumaya. Of the five, Burton emerged as a legitimate hurler while Fein threw well in the final two months of the season. Expect Terry Ryan and the Twins to be very active in the reliever market,just don't anticipate them to pay the going rate. After all, there are bigger fish to fry. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Burton2.jpg The ball explodes out of the pitcher’s hand. You immediately pick up the spin and conclude it is close enough to a fastball that he must be trying to go upstairs with a low-90s four-seamer. However, in the middle of your stride, you recall the hitting coach’s scouting report that says the pitcher has a tendency to turn to the changeup at any point. Suddenly, the spin doesn’t quite look like that four-seamer and you realize: Oh God, it’s not the fastball. In a fraction of a nanosecond, you try to adjust to the speed differential. The message is sent from your brain to your extremities but it’s too late.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] With all of your momentum going towards the pitcher, it is like trying to stop a runaway train. Your hips are already driving forward but the pitch, like Delta Airlines, is slightly delayed on its arrival. It’s at this point when you confirm that the ball is tailing away and the bottom is falling out. You keep your hands back in efforts to react to the off-speed pitch. You realize that there’s no way you can do anything of use with this pitch. It’s quickly fading down and away. At best, you can flick it over the heads of the left-side infielders or maybe foul it off into the seats and live to fight another pitch but, either way, you are committed. You can feel your hands depart and bring your bat around to swish its way through the swing zone. With your weight all on the front leg, you make a last ditch effort to punch the ball. By this point, the ball is at the southern-most portion of the strike zone and still falling. The bat makes an empty woosh as it clears the plate. *** Over 20 percent of all swings on Jared Burton’s changeup conclude like that – without any contact. “I’ve been throwing it since college, really,” Burton says in his Carolina drawl. “It’s always been just a grip but comes out of my hand much harder than a changeup.” Normal changeups, it is said, require about nine miles an hour of difference from the fastball. Rays closer Fernando Rodney, who is credited with having one of the best in the game today, has 12 miles per hour separating his mid-90s fastball from his low-to-mid-80s change. By comparison, Burton typically has just five. And yes, it does come out much harder than the average changeup. Burton’s 87.6 mile-per-hour velocity on his change registers higher than everyone but St. Louis’s Trevor Rosenthal (88). Burton says his particular grip gives him bit more movement than the standard changeups. “It’s basically a circle-change grip but I hold it out on the tip of my fingers more and choke it. It’s much harder and it’s got late down movement. It’s been a good pitch for me.” Over the past two years, it certainly has been a very good pitch for him. According to Fangraphs.com, the Pitch Value on his changeup has been worth 10.4 runs above average, the third-highest among relievers, trailing just Tyler Clippard and the aforementioned Rodney. And, just this year alone, opponents are hitting .152 off it, one of the lowest marks in the game. The action has earned it a different label than just "changeup". After all, calling it a changeup would be a disservice to how impressive a specimen the pitch actually is. “I throw it like changeup but it’s much harder with splitter movement hence the ‘splangeup’ - splitter action.” “I can throw it any time, righty or lefty,” Burton boasts. “It’s more of a swing-and-miss pitch but I can throw it for a strike a good bit. I can kind of throw it more where it fades in the zone or where it has more downward movement.” For the most part, pitchers tend to shy away from throwing their changeups to same-sided opponents. Teammate Brian Duensing acknowledges that he refrains from using his changeup on lefties because he feels the movement goes into their swings. Burton does not share that hesitation because of the variation he has on it, being able to drop it down or make it run. Over the past two seasons, he’s thrown 642 changeups – 315 to lefties and 327 to righties. It is confidence in the pitch that helped earn Burton a two-year deal with the Minnesota Twins. *** Now down 1-2 in the count, you step out of the box to clear your mind and regroup. That last pitch was all types of nasty. Over 30,000 people in the stadium and a million more watching from the comforts of their homes saw you look foolish. It’s late in the game. Your team needs a couple runs to get back in this thing but the opportunities are wearing thin. What’s next? He’s got a mid-90s fastball that he can waste over the zone and change your eye level but he also has a decent slide piece that can cut down-and-in. Of course, you cannot forget a possible repeat performance of the changeup - he throws it great deal when he has a kill shot. You dig back into the batter’s box while requesting time and go through the possibilities. All in all, it feels like a guess. Look for the hard stuff up or in while trying to fight off the soft stuff down in the zone. Protect. You put your hand down, give the bat a few firm shakes towards the pitcher, raise the bat back up to your shoulder, exhale and settle in. *** Always keep hitters guessing. Play the mind game. “I never get too predictable,” Burton admits, repeating what pitching coaches have preached to him for more than a decade. “I like to be confident on all pitches but primarily everything works off my fastball command. I concentrate on that first in the bullpen, get my fastball command down and make sure I am getting out front with my release point and my off-speeds work off of that.” Predictability can be a pitcher’s worst enemy. A changeup is called a changeup because it is supposed to be a change from the fastball. What’s more, too many non-fastballs help hitters read the spin and the break. A solid fastball is needed in order to make the change work properly. Burton throws his changeup a lot but recognizes the need to mix in other offerings like his two fastballs -- a four-seam and two-seam – as well as his slider. Burton’s control of his fastball has not been was it was a year ago. According to PitchF/X data, in 2012 he threw his fastball in the zone 58 percent of the time. This year the fastball has been in the zone just 46 percent of the time, one of the reasons he has walked a few more batters than he would have liked. That, in addition to a slight groin tweak, may have played a role in his work in the month of June and his subsequent demotion in the bullpen’s hierarchy. In June, he entered 10 games, worked 9.2 innings and allowed 14 hits with 6 walks that led to 9 runs. Opponents went 14-for-43 (.326) with seven extra base hits, including two home runs. Burton earned three losses in that stretch and fell out of favor for use in the eighth inning. Burton did not blame the tweaked groin or any mechanical changes or arm ailments. He also did not rush out for answers by examining video or seeking assistance from outside sources for his disappointing month. “It’s just a part of the game, really,” he says. “It’s a little harder to get over the ones where you feel you are executing but not getting results, but you just have to ride it out. You can’t ride the peaks and valleys, you have to stay right in the middle. You have to know that 70-75 games that if you stick with your stuff, it is going to work out.” That, in essence, is the fundamental reasoning in the sabermetric theory of Fielding Independent Pitching or FIP. Over the course of a season, a pitcher who strikes out hitters at a high rate, does not walk many and allows few home runs should be the benefactor of decent mainstream statistics like ERA over the course of a season. Continuing to do the basics like get strikeouts while limiting walks and home runs, should bring the totals back down following rough patches like Burton experienced in June. Burton has clearly stuck with his stuff. Since June ended, he has made 15 appearances, striking out 13, walking just two while not allowing a home run. As such, his overall numbers have rebounded nicely and his ERA dropped from 3.57 to 3.19. *** It is consistency and trust in his stuff that has gotten Burton where he is today. Sure, he has made some changes to his training regimen that he feels has improved his game. Following his second shoulder surgery while with Cincinnati, Burton took up swimming. He feels his performance benefited from this routine so he continues to incorporate the workout, both during and after the season. Outside of that, it is business as usually for Burton. Establish the fastball, deploy the change and mentally prepare for the peaks and valleys. Click here to view the article

We were introduced to Jose Berrios in a video of him celebrating with his friends and family after receiving the exquisite news that he was drafted by a professional baseball team. Arms in a “V”, high-fives, hugs and tears. For Minnesota Twins fans, the sequel is of him doing the same thing on the field following the last out of a World Series victory. That’s the dream anyway. There remains, of course, a long road from here to there. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Still, Berrios has done much in his burgeoning career to inspire hope that he can be a part of any championship team in the coming years. After the draft, the supplemental first round pick dominated rookie ball in both the Appalachian and Gulf Coast Leagues in 2012, racking up 49 strikeouts and allowing just four walks in 30.2 innings. Baseball America said he was the team’s sixth best prospect in a system where new and elite talent was constantly being stocked. Download attachment: top-prospects-06-jose-berrios.jpg This past season Berrios, at the ripe age of 19, performed well in the tougher competitive challenge in the Midwest League. Mindful of his development, the Twins pulled back the reins to help insure he remains out of the infirmary, where so many of their lauded pitching prospects have gone. And, like most raw prospect talents, he also encountered some resistance as he discovered he could not always throw his speedball by you to make you look like a fool. Why He Might Struggle Berrios’ stature -- generously listed at six-foot-nothing -- may be his biggest perceived weakness. While that would be an inch and change above my current height, by major league pitching standards, that is considered downright diminutive. With a three-quarters delivery, there have been occasions when he has been unable to get the ball down in the zone and when that happens...boom. According to MinorLeagueCentral.com’s depository of stats, Berrios managed just a 40% ground ball rate - a figure toward the bottom of the Midwest League’s leaderboard. As a pitcher ascends in a system that rate typically decreases. It would be nicer to see that number at 50% or higher to go along with his strikeouts but that would take a complete revamping of his repertoire and mechanics. Basically, he is what he is: a strikeout pitcher with fly ball-leaning tendencies. The strikeouts, however, did not come in as many bunches this past season as they did his first year in the organization. He’s got a lively fastball, a decent curve with a 1-to-7 break and a good changeup with plenty of arm-side run. During his amatuer days, Perfect Game noted that Berrios had flashed a cutter to go along with his other three pitches. His problem, he acknowledged this summer, is that he tries to throw the fastball past everyone rather than mix in the assortment. Why He Will Succeed OK, so he won’t win any...umm...height contests but wowzers, that’s an impressive wing span on the young man. What is striking about Berrios is how polished his mechanics are for his age and how well he hides the ball from hitters in his windup. With three above-average pitches, it is easy to see why he can miss bats; just a little tinkering with his pitch deployment strategy could make for a very lethal pitcher. Beyond that, much has been made of Berrios’ work ethic. Gary Lucas, his pitching coach with Cedar Rapids last year, raved about his advanced make-up for someone as young as he is. He told Twins Daily’s Seth Stohs recently that he places a great deal of emphasis on his training. There is no reason to think that Berrios won’t do everything in his power to take his God-given talent to the next level. What’s Next? Berrios is a long way from being in the Twins’ roster anytime in the near future. Realistically he may be best suited to be a late-innings reliever, someone who doesn’t have to churn through 100 bullets a night and who can stomp his cleats on hitters’ throats with his two best pitches. That said, there is no reason to write him off as a potential starter. Some refinement in his approach and filling out as he matures could propel him into a rotation spot. Either way, Berrios has some electric stuff that -- barring catastrophic injuries -- will eventually be on display at the major league level. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Hicks.jpg Congratulations, Mr. Hicks. You are going where few Minnesota Twins minor leaguers have gone before: Straight to the Opening Day starting lineup. Since the opening of the Metrodome in 1982, there have been just seven players in the Minnesota starting lineup to jump to from the minors to the Opening Day lineup: Jim Eisenreich, Chuck Knoblauch, Marty Cordova, Chad Allen, Cristian Guzman, Joe Mauer and Tsuyoshi Nishioka. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] While all of those aforementioned players produced strong numbers in the minor leagues, they faced increasingly challenging competition in the first season as the dossier on their strengths and weaknesses grew. Some -- like Knoblauch, Cordova and Mauer -- adjusted well. Others did not. This is a story from a free ebook that TwinsDaily is publishing on Opening Day that previews the Minnesota Twins 2013 season. To get your free copy, just make sure you follow @TwinsDaily on Twitter or Like our Facebook page. Why is it that players can seem so destined for greatness based on their minor league track records, struggle once promoted to the ultimate level? For starters, there is a lack of knowledge in the minor leagues which favors the hitters. Red Sox catcher Ryan Lavarnway explained to the Providence Journal’s Brian MacPherson exactly how difficult it is to create a strategy for minor league hitters. “Going into a game in the minors, you don’t know the hitters,” said the Red Sox catcher. “You’re kind of blind. In the big leagues, you have a game plan of how you want to go about it.” In the minors there are no Pitchf/x graphs or extensive collection of video to determine how to approach a particular hitter. There are no advanced scouts marking down every observation on how to best exploit a hitter’s weaknesses for the upcoming series. Players who have quality approach at the plate often see a fleeting rush of success at the major league level prior to reports circulating among the clubs. Teams will attack the strike zone with strikes. They will fire fastballs in fastball counts. Only once it becomes clear that a young player proves he is very capable of handling that assortment do pitchers start to pick around the plate and breaking off more benders when a fastball is expected. Then it is up to the hitter to make the adjustment. In many ways, what will be awaiting Hicks is the same process that both Chris Parmelee and Brian Dozier faced in 2012. When Parmelee came up in September 2011, he was punishing the ball all over the field. He saw few off-speed offerings in fastball counts. Teams rarely challenged him up-and-away. This performance continued into spring training but opponents began to cultivate a different game plan during the regular season and he scuffled more, only to be sent back to Rochester for additional tooling. Similarly, Dozier had some immediate success by driving plenty of fastballs to left field. That is, until teams picked up on his pull-happy tendency and moved their target to the outer-half of the zone. The same hitter who had once drew walks in 10% of his minor league plate appearances, was only able to finesse a free pass in 5% of his MLB plate appearances. Unable to adjust, Dozier’s numbers continued southward and in August, Dozier was headed eastward to Rochester. Hicks’ gaudy minor league walk rate does not necessarily mean that he is a strike zone savant or stingy with swinging at breaking balls in the dirt. Hitters that move up levels likely won’t see a significant amount of breaking balls – a product of a lack of advanced scouting. Sure, there is always the two-strike hook, but those should be anticipated at any level. As Hicks gets challenged more as the 2013 season progresses, we will see how disciplined he actually is. He is already prone to strike out (20% of his minor league plate appearances), so it is possible that he is going to K more frequently. Like all players before him, Hicks will need to be able to adapt to his opposition – which is easier said than done. You'll get to kick of Opening Day with your free @TwinsDaily Minnesota Twins 2013 Season Preview. Just add us to your Twitter feed by following us, or tell us you like us (we're pathetic like that). We'll publish a link to the free ebook on Opening Day on both sites. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Deduno.jpg The Minnesota Twins PR director, Dustin Morse, tweeted out on Tuesday that manager Ron Gardenhire said that the team will go with Samuel Deduno on Friday in Detroit rather than the prospect Kyle Gibson, who was coming off a complete game shutout in his most recent start. Deduno spent time with the Twins last year, displaying an odd combination of a low hit rate and a lack of control. This resulted in some dominating outings but also several short ones. In 15 starts he pitched 79 innings, or less than 5.1 IP per start. Overall he posted a 4.44 ERA with 57 strikeouts - and almost as many walks (53). Despite being the second best starting pitcher on the staff, he was dropped from the 40-man roster and yet re-signed with the Twins. This year he left spring training with the Twins to pitch for the Dominican Republic team in the World Baseball Classic. He pitched five scoreless inning in the championship game, finishing with 17K and just 5 BB in 13 IP. However, he pulled a groin in that championship game which landed him on the disabled list until May 5th and assigned to AAA-Rochester. He's again put up some solid numbers in Rochester - he has a 2.70 ERA and 17K in 16.2 IP. However, he also has had 10 walks and has only thrown 16.2 inning in 3 starts - an average just under 5.2 IP per start. Gibson, who has made nine starts with the Red Wings this year, has tossed 52.2 innings and posted a solid 46-to-14 strikeout-to-walk ratio with a decent 3.25 ERA. The ERA was significantly higher than expected when you compare it to his sterling 2.84 FIP, the fourth lowest mark in the International League. Still, Gibson, who is coming off of Tommy John surgery and has a innings limit for the year, was bypassed in favor of Deduno. A corresponding roster move should be announced shortly as it is speculated that either Tim Wood or Darin Mastroianni will be added to the 60-day disabled list. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Pelf.jpg Just a month removed from being celebrated for his amazingly quick recovery from Tommy John surgery less than 11 months ago, Mike Pelfrey’s numbers through his first four starts in a Twins uniform have been extremely disappointing. This raises the question of whether or not Pelfrey is completely ready for re-introduction into the major leagues. After all, this is in line with the plight of Joe Nathan in 2010 who rushed through his rehab only to hit a wall a month into the season. Despite being the owner of a 7.94 ERA through 17 innings in 2013, the notion of removing Pelfrey from the rotation at this point appears moot. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]The idea was quickly shot down by manager Ron Gardenhire following his most recent start, said Pioneer Press beat writer Mike Bernadino. Clearly, Pelfrey has a lot of things going wrong right now. If you were listening to the broadcasts, you were told that the reason that the big right-hander is struggling is due to his decline in velocity. But let’s be honest here: It’s not as if Pelfrey is suddenly throwing the Henry Rowengartner floater pitch to every batter he sees. It’s less than a mile per hour slower. In 2011, his last full season at the major leagues, he was throwing his fastball at 92.2 miles per hour. This year, it has been at 91.3. All things considered, that is not substantial. Let’s take a look at the things that are really plaguing him in 2013. (1) Command. Experts and those who have gone through the procedure agree that command is the last skill to return after Tommy John surgery. Last week, Jeff Zimmerman of Fangraphs.com interviewed Kansas City Royals’ pitching coach Dave Eiland – someone who had gone through the surgical process and recovery in his playing days – echoed that sentiment. “One of the last things to come back is the command.” Eiland told Zimmerman, “You might feel strong. You might be fast. You might be good to go. Pitching off the mound and competing in a game is all together different then throwing sides and batting practice. My suggestion is if you think everything feels good, take another month.” Pelfrey’s return was heralded as nothing short of miraculous. And in many ways it was. No other pitcher on record has come back from the surgery in fewer than 12 months and competed in a major league game. However, we have seen his struggles to command the ball. Like Eiland said, you can feel great in many other facets of the game, but once the real games start, your precision may not be all there. In Pelfey’s case, his ability to locate the ball in the strike zone has been one of the worst in the league. After his first three outings, Pelfrey’s in-zone percentage – the number of pitches he has thrown in the strike zone – is 39.8%, the sixth-lowest in baseball. Worse, the five below him throw a high percentage of breaking balls – pitches that are harder to command and are often supposed to be out of the strike zone -- while Pelfrey has been throwing his fastball/sinker 70% of the time. Fortunately, Pelfrey found the zone more frequently in his start against the Marlins on Tuesday (58 of 94 pitches) to increase his zone presence. What is more worrisome than not throwing the ball over the plate is his missing his spots. Here is a recent example of this malfeasance. This sinker to Rob Brantley was supposed to be down and away, per Ryan Doumit’s request, but wound up in the middle of the zone: Download attachment: Pelf_Target1.jpg Download attachment: Pelf_Location1.jpg This particular pitch was lasered to the right field gap for a two-run double. Some such pitches and outcomes have not been that detrimental but a lot of the contact allowed, even on the ground, has been loud and solid. (2) His pitches are staying up in the zone. What the noise from the bats is telling the ball guys around the stadium, the data from pitch f/x confirms: Pelfrey’s pitches just are not moving the way they did prior to the injury. When it comes to his sinker, the pitch is staying up in the zone, on average, an inch high than it has in the past. Where it was coming in at 5.5 inches in 2010, 6.7 in 2011 and 6.2 in 2012, it has shot up to 7.5 inches this season, meaning there is less of a sink. Less sink from a sinkerball pitcher is not a good thing. Results wind up like the aforementioned example. His slider, his most often used secondary pitch, has had less vertical drop compared to previous seasons. In 2010, his vertical finish was 3.4 inches. Same in 2011. This year, it is 6.8, a little over three inches higher than his last two healthy seasons, meaning less downward movement. This is very comparable to Joe Nathan during his recovery with the Twins in 2010. Prior to heading back to Rochester, Nathan's slider stayed in the 6-to-7 inch range while in the past there was much more substantial drop than that. Finally, his split-finger change, a pitch he throws mainly to lefties, has been splattered across the field the few times it has been thrown. Opponents are 4-for-6 off it and, you guessed it, it too is staying up in the zone. This has translated into a whole lot of contact and a whole lot of well-struck contact – even if the majority of it has resulted in grounders. That is how you “scatter” 29 hits over 17 innings. (3) Release point. This ties in to the first two items. His release point is measurably lower than his 2011 season. Two years ago, Pelfrey was releasing his pitches a little over six feet high. That has since dropped to under five-feet-nine-inches, according to BrooksBaseball.net. Download attachment: Pelfrey_Release1.jpg Download attachment: Pelfrey_Release2.jpg The angles are different, but the release point is captured well in these examples. In 2011, you see the higher release point – a great thing considering his overall large stature. In 2012, that leveled out some. While a few inches may not seem like much, this lowered released point is likely one of the reasons he is not seeing the usual downward movement, since his sinker and slider flatten out when his arm angle drops and he is unable to stay on top of the ball. (4) Mound Presence. Sinkerball pitchers are a finicky lot. Former Met teammate and once-upon-a-time sinkerballer, R.A. Dickey, told reporters in 2011 how easy it is to completely lose the feel for the pitch after Pelfrey continued to have issues that spring. “There’s so many different things that can impact the movement of the pitch,” Dickey told reporters, “that you do, sometimes, lose it for a period.” Dickey went on to say that a slight change in the grip or the arm action could cause a loss of movement that he would struggle to regain. The Mets discovered that Pelfrey is someone who had a history of needing to readjust regularly. Early in his career, he kept his glove at chest level when he started his windup. He changed that to keeping his hands at belt-level before his windup. In spring training of 2012, he went to bringing his hands over his head in order to get more of a downward plane and stay on top of his sinker, the same motion he uses today. Additionally, after being a guy who had worked off the third base side of the rubber for most of the previous two seasons, he swapped that practice for the far left side of the rubber, pitching instead off the first base side. Take a look: Download attachment: Pelfrey_RUBBER.jpg It may be minor, but when you add up all the changes and alterations in the past several years, in addition to the recovery from the Tommy John surgery, these may be affecting his ability to repeat his mechanics consistently to the point where he can't command all his pitches effectively. (5) Tempo. Mike Hargrove, in his playing days with Texas and Cleveland in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, was affectionately known as “The Human Rain Delay” for his . Meanwhile, Mike Pelfrey, a few decades later and sixty-feet-and-six-inches away from the batter’s box, is doing his own version of that in 2013. While not nearly as OCD as Hargrove, Pelfrey’s pace on the mound is staggeringly slow. After maintaining a normal pace of around 22 seconds per pitch, the right-hander is lulling opponents and fans to sleep with his 27.5 seconds between each pitch. By comparison, Houston’s Bud Norris, the next slowest pitcher in the majors, is nearly two seconds quicker with his delivery to home. Is this a lack of confidence in his stuff, not being on the same page as his catcher or simply a pace slowed by 11 months of rust? There is a lot to be read into the fact that Pelfrey has been holding the ball a lot longer than usual. **** Pelfrey has an extensive list of things that are not going right for him. Lack of command and movement, a noticeably lowered release point, an evolving mound presence and a tempo problem that is wearing down his own defense and spectators have all been reasons why he has struggled so much at the opening of the season. At this point, management is letting him fight through his own issues. That said, with a few more outings like the one against the lowly Marlins, don’t be surprised if Pelfrey is on the outside of the rotation looking in. Click here to view the article

On Saturday, Joel Zumaya, the Twins key bullpen addition of the offseason, prepared to throw live batting practice for the first time in the spring. After 13 pitches, he was headed off the mound and into an MRI machine. News broke on Sunday that the injury, a snapped UCL, would require Tommy John surgery and that it would end his 2012 Comeback Player of the Year campaign, his time with the Twins and, very likely, his career. Because of his extensive history with injuries, this news did not come as a surprise to anyone. General Manager Terry Ryan seemed a bit perplex that it had happened to his UCL, the one area of his body that he has never had an issue with: [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] However, based on his mechanics, the result that Zumaya blew out his ulnar collateral ligament should not have been entirely unexpected. Download attachment: Zumaya's elbow.jpg Notice that when he enters his load position, his elbow is pulled up and back away from his shoulder level (the pitcher’s driveline). This arm action has been deemed the “Inverted V” – designated such because of the V-shape a pitcher’s throwing arm makes when in the cocked position (this is different than the more readily known Inverted W in that a pitcher’s glove side arm remains straight). What this does is create improper timing in his delivery thereby putting an increased amount of pressure on his shoulder and elbow. In 2008, Chris O’Leary studied Zumaya’s mechanics and broke down the video clips only to find that this motion indeed throws off his timing. Since then, Zumaya has had shoulder ailments and the exploding elbow cap. On February 20, ESPN1500’s Phil Mackey grabbed some video of the Twins’ new acquisition throwing in the bullpen. The brief clip showed Zumaya with a big reduction in the elevation of his pitching elbow at the cocked position. Download attachment: Zumaya_2.20.jpg At the time, I was optimistic that all of the injuries inspired him to make some changes in his delivery. When Francisco Liriano came back from his Tommy John surgery, he too toned down his arm action. Baseball-Intellect.com posted in April 2008 showing that pre-injury Liriano had significant horizontal loading while bringing his elbow above his shoulder level. Upon his return, he reduced the horizontal loading and would keep his elbow at or below his shoulder level. Whether this was a designed attempt to avoid further injury or simply the post-surgery aftermath limiting his range of motion is unknown. Based on that notion, I thought maybe – just maybe – Zumaya had made some improvements that would keep him on the field a bit longer in 2012. Of course, five days later he would take the mound to throw his first live session of the spring only to leave clutching his elbow. Mackey also captured video of Zumaya warming up for that session. Unfortunately, Zumaya, now clearly pushing closer to max effort which may have been the reason for the lowered loading point from the previous video, unleashed a fastball and the Inverted V arm action was prevalent once again: Download attachment: Zumaya_2.25.jpg The camera angle does not provide a great view but you can see that at this loading point, Zumaya has his elbow well above his shoulder-line, almost to the peak of his head. Now, I am not suggesting that this specific injury occur just because he was throwing with this particular arm action. There are plenty of other factors that played in such as the fact that he was recovering from a past elbow surgery and the UCL could have been in a weakened state. Yet, the years of improper mechanics and rushing through his delivery likely took a toll on the UCL – stretching it out like rubber band – and waited for the right pitch to snap. To be sure, there are split viewpoints from mechanics experts on the effects of the inverted arm motion. Some, like Carlos Gomez – a former Hardball Times writer turned pro scout – and pitching instructor Paul Nyman, have encouraged this practice as they say it adds velocity or helps throw more effective breaking balls. So there may be plenty of people inside baseball who actually view this as a positive in a pitcher – which may or may not be the Twins perspective as well. In addition to Zumaya, the Twins also recently targeted Nationals closer Drew Storen. Understandably, Storen has been wildly successful in his first two seasons in Washington and will remain inexpensive for some time as he stays under club control. On the other hand, Storen’s delivers with the Inverted W arm motion which leaves his open to various injuries. If the Twins were to trade off Denard Span for the closer – as the rumors went last year anyways – they would be trading a valuable player, inexpensive in his own right, for a commodity that has a higher potential to tear up his elbow or shoulder than other pitchers. Download attachment: Storen.jpg This raises the larger question of the influence of mechanics, player acquisition and development. In his book The Extra 2%, Jonah Keri delves into the inner workings of the Tampa Bay Rays organization and how the franchise turned itself from being the league’s laughingstock to a model for other teams. During the massive turnaround, the Rays implemented new practices throughout the business. One area that received a lot of attention was the health of their pitchers from top to bottom in their system. They challenged some of baseball’s well-accepted practices such as limiting rehabbing pitchers to throwing no more than 120 feet while long-tossing and diligently creating individualized pitch counts for developing arms. The results were no short of amazing. From late-2005 through mid-2009, only one pitcher at any level in the system, Jacob McGee, required Tommy John surgery. Part of the credit went to the minor league instructors who created and executed the plan but a significant amount of credit goes to the scouts and front office who found many of these pitchers through the draft or as a free agent signing. In attempting to achieve that extra 2%, Keri writes that the Rays have made some interesting personnel hires for their front office staff, including the likes of Josh Kalk whose expertise in the pitch f/x system has been utilized to potentially spot patterns that may lead to injuries. Given the fact that the Rays hired a guy for what was said to be a “professor’s salary” to track release points, it would be expected that the team probably has a person on staff to monitor mechanics and advises against players like Zumaya who exhibit the traits that could lead to injuries. Admittedly, at $400,000, the Twins had little to lose with their gamble on Zumaya’s recovery. At the same time, because the 2012 budget was extremely tight and the team was limited to just signing just Zumaya as their only right-handed set-up man, the gamble was amplified beyond the fiscal investment. Even without going back to his long list of injuries, the Inverted V provided an additional layer of discomfort when heading into a season relying on a guy for a critical bullpen role. Had the Twins organization been more vigilant of this, they may have opted to sign one of the other bullpen arms instead of Zumaya or, at the very least, one as an insurance policy. Click here to view the article

At last Saturday’s home game against the Tampa Bay Rays the Twins reached the 2 million mark in attendance for the eighth consecutive season. In honor of the milestone, Nick Blackburn went out and tried to distribute home run balls to everyone at the game. Download attachment: Untitled.jpg Blackburn’s recent stint in Rochester was supposed to be the fix. He tinkered with his mechanics and was going to return as the pitcher with better command and good movement on his pitches. To his credit, he did improve his command. After walking 7% of total batters faced prior to the Rochester visit he has grinded that down to 2% since returning (3 walks in 131 match-ups). However, the movement simply has not been there and the sound of hot bat-on-ball action reverberating throughout Target Field during his starts confirms that he still struggling. His two-seam fastball, the one with the supposed sink action, has been obliterated across the field. Opponents are hitting .357/.404/.609 with 13 home runs on that pitch, leading to a “value” of -21.4 runs above average – the worst in baseball among starters who have thrown a minimum of 80 innings. The unfortunate part is that Blackburn chooses to use this pitch 60% of the time. The Twins sent Blackburn to Rochester to straighten some things out and regain confidence. During that time, Blackburn claimed he and pitching coach Bobby Cueller, discovered some differences between his earlier delivery and his contemporary mechanics. The pair worked on quieting his front side and getting his release point higher (which was a fairly similar recommendation found at Twins Daily). Retooled for success, Blackburn was recalled at the end of July but the results with Minnesota have been far from those he posted while in AAA. While in Rochester, Blackburn was able to get his International League opponents to beat the ball into the ground 58% of the time over the course of 21 innings leading to a 2.57 ERA. Meanwhile, since returning to the Twins rotation, Blackburn has only enticed grounders on just 34% of balls in play in 30 innings. As noted above, Blackburn’s release point was noticeably higher in 2009 and 2010. Pitch F/X charts shows that he was throwing more over the top versus the slight drop to three-quarter – even after his return from Rochester (as seen on the right, click to embiggen): Download attachment: Blackburn_two seamer.jpg This has led to a flattening of his two-seam fastball and has given it less pitching arm side (PAS) run (or away from left handed batters and into right handed ones). It has also led to a 1013 OPS against the pitch. Despite the near constant struggles each time out, the Twins still stand behind Blackburn for the future. After his most recent start in which he surrendered three home runs to the Tampa Bay Rays, manager Ron Gardenhire threw his support behind his veteran right-hander on 1500ESPN: Not long after, general manager Terry Ryan confirmed that Blackburn will “be in the mix” for 2013, which, based on Blackburn’s performance the past two seasons, almost directly contradicting the “no-scholarships” policy the front office set forth during spring training - no matter what the contract status was. The 2013 rotation is filled with plenty of vacancies so it is clear that the Twins would like to keep their options open, so giving Blackburn the opportunity to audition the rest of this year for a spot of next year does not hurt anything. But if he continues to issue home runs like jello shots at a frat party, his scholarship should most definitely be revoked. Beginning tonight in Seattle, Blackburn needs to pitch like his scholarship is on the line. Click here to view the article