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Paul Pleiss

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Blog Entries posted by Paul Pleiss

  1. Paul Pleiss
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    The Twins have struggled mightily on the road recently, but thanks to Kyle Gibson, they were able to snap the road losing skid at 10 games before coming home to drop two of three to the Kansas City Royals. This week we take a look at what's been going wrong for the Twins and what it means for the franchise going into the All-Star break.Joe Mauer is on the DL, Brian Dozier is slumping, and Josh Willingham can't seem to find a hit to save his life (or the team). We were lucky enough to have a full booth of podcasters tonight, and the gang gave out mid-season awards for both the American and National Leagues. This week's show features a good deal of disagreement amongst the four of us, so be sure to let us know who you think was right and who was wrong by sending us tweets or emails. We also used some "adult language" so this show may not be suitable for young children or sensitive old people.
     
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  2. Paul Pleiss
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    This week we spend time talking about the series of roster moves and player swaps that lead to Jorge Polanco being called up from High-A Fort Myers to the Big League club. We talk about Byron Buxton's rehab, Kendrys Morales finally hitting a home run for the Twins, and the Twins' struggles on the road. We go Down on the pond and talk about Pat Kelly (Cody and Jay interviewed Pat but the audio did not come through clearly, so we have a write up on that interview coming soon) and what he's been doing since he was drafted in the 12th round of the 2014 draft.
    We talk beer, baseball, Twins in suits, and we take some questions for the listeners.
    Thanks for sticking around!
     
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  3. Paul Pleiss
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    No reason to bury the lead, Trevor May is BACK! Trevor talked about his approach to pitching, what he's been doing in 2014 that has allowed him to be successful, and how much fun he's having as a member of the outstanding pitching staff in Triple-A Rochester.
    Just Cody and Eric this week, in addition to talking with Trevor May, they talk about what the Twins have been doing well (pitching) and what they have not been doing at all (hitting) in the past week. They also take a shot at predicting the Twins' All-Star representative (and fail), and they whip around the world for beers and around the league to talk about great pitching from Kershaw and bad pitching from Verlander.
    84 minutes of cool dudes talkin' ball.
     
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  4. Paul Pleiss
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    If you're listening to this podcast, you probably have more than a passing interest in Twins baseball. You've probably read about all of their draft picks, even guys drafted after the first few rounds, like Minnesota native Pat Kelly, who was taken in the 10th round. Jay is driving the episode this week, so prepare your ears for a little different sound, but have no fear, other than lots of cat noises in the background, the show is pretty stellar. We start the episode by saying goodbye to one of the most handsome red beards to ever grace the outfield grass in Minnesota, Jason Kubel. Kubel is gone, but highlighting this last week was the acquisition of Kendrys Morales who along with the emergence of Eduardo Escobar and Danny Santana gives the Twins arguably one of the best line ups in the American League. We talk a little draft, but save most of the draft talk for our guests from the Twins Hangouts (@TwinsHangouts), Jeremy Nygaard (@jeremynygaard) and Seth Stohs (@SethTweets). With the help of those two we dive into the draft and discuss the Twins moves and what it could mean for this club in the near and long term.A lot of weird things have happened in the world of baseball this week, and we cover most of them when we go around the league, to include banana and mayo sandwiches, a Seminole Indian rain man and a fatty mass with tentacles. Yikes.
     
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  5. Paul Pleiss
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    This week on the podcast we talk about the resurgance of Josh Willingham since his return from the Disabled List (being healthy is pretty important, I guess), we ramble on a bit about Aaron Hicks and the failure of the front office to have any sort of reasonable back up plan (has this rant been beaten to death yet? Yes? Good, we'll keep bringing it up), and we talk about all of the students Down on the Pond pitching for the Rochester Red Wings (Alex Meyer, Trevor May, Logan Darnell, Kris Johnson, Yohan Pino and the still terrible Scott Diamond).
    We all drank excellent beers, answered a question from the internet, gave a shout out to our listener of the week, and talked all things baseball news going Around the League.
    96 minutes of baseball joy.
    Thanks for playing along!
     
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  6. Paul Pleiss
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    This week's episode is highlighted by a lengthy interview with Jim Callis (@JimCallisMLB, MLBpipeline.com) who talks about the draft and a whole mess of Twins topics. The Baseball Pirate makes his return from defending the homeland and the whole gang is back together for the first time in a long time. The show starts out with a rousing discussion of which coach is the most important coach in baseball, and whether or not any of the players on the 25-man roster could be more important than the most important coach. Interesting things are happening.Brian Dozier continues to impress, the Twins pitchers continue to distress (except for Punxsutawney Phil Hughes), and Eduardo Escobar continues to mash extra-base hits like it's his job (because it is). Is Eddie Escobar playing over his head? Probably some, but could this also be the natural maturation of a player who's been in the big leagues since his age-22 season?Eddie Rosario makes his return from his drug suspension, Ben Revere hits a real life, honest to god, over the wall home run and Carlos Gomez says "It's sexy batting clean-up!" All this and more on this week's episode of Talk to Contact.
     
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  7. Paul Pleiss
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    This week we discuss the Twins shift to six-man rotations in Cedar Rapids and Fort Myers, Dozier's chances of being a 40/40 guy (and a related tangent about Jose Canseco in 1988), what the Twins will do when Mike Pelfrey, Oswaldo Arcia, and Josh Willingham are healthy, and a change in the Twins' mentality.
    We pick a pitcher and hitter of the week, and talk about Minor Leaguer Zack Granite when we go down on the pond.
    This week we were lucky to be joined by Fox Sports One's Gabe Kapler. Kap, as he is affectionately known, is a 12 year MLB veteran, and hosts a couple of shows on FS1, including Fox Sports Live and MLB Whip Around. He talks about his path to the majors, and weighs in on batter perparation and making adjustments to pitchers, a couple of topics very close at hand for Twins Aaron Hicks and Chris Colabello.
    We ran long on Twins news this week, so we had to cut the Beer and Around the League segments, but do not fret, we will be back next week at full strength.
    Thanks for listening!
     
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  8. Paul Pleiss
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    The Twins Phil Hughes out dueled Justin Verlander in Detroit and the Twins stole the series from the Tigers. Did Phil Hughes do enough to garner this week's Pitcher of the Week?The Twins have been making roster moves left and right, call-ups, send-downs, concussion DL stints galore. We review what's been going on with the roster and what may be coming as Josh Willingham begins his rehab. Byron Buxton is back on the DL, is it time to be worried?Joe Mauer is set to overtake Kirby Puckett in career WAR, but are you ready to admit that he's a better player? We tackle that debate and more. This week's Down on the Pond profile is on Twins AAA LHP Kris Johnson. Hopefully he doesn't tear his UCL like Jose Fernandez and seemingly everyone else in baseball.
     
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  9. Paul Pleiss
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    In our little part of the internet, the big news this week was MLB asking iTunes to remove several baseball themed podcasts because of what they believe was copyright infringement. We were one of the podcasts removed, we were fired up, and spent the first ten or so minutes discussing this entire situation.
    We also had the opportunity to purchase some free tickets through ScoreBig.com, an online ticket auction site. We detailed the purchase process and the pros and cons of using this ticket provider.
    Then we finally circled back around to Twins news. We talked about the phantom DL and Mike Pelfrey, Aaron Hicks' concussion, and the current Twins roster construction. Jay took a strong stand on Joe Mauer's toughness, and Eric strongly disagreed.
    Darren Wolfson joined us for almost thiry minutes to give us the scoops on the upcoming MLB draft, and all thing Twins.
    We closed out the podcast with our regular segments selecting hitters and pitchers of the week, talking beer, baseball and the news.
    101 minutes of fun. Thanks for listening.
     
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  10. Paul Pleiss
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    With three off days in the last week, it's been a bit of a slow week for the Twins. The Twins added Kenny Wilson who was DFA'd by the Blue Jays, Alex Meyer learned to throw a nasty change up and Eduardo Escobar seems to have taken over the SS duties from Pedro Florimon. No one in the starting rotation is very good at throwing baseballs lately.With so many off days instead of finding a hitter and pitcher of the week, we recap the first month of the season to look for a hitter and pitcher of the month. And if you're not sure who Brandon Waring is, make sure to give us a download and find out.
     
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  11. Paul Pleiss
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    The Twins won a double header against the Jays, but other than that things have been less than stellar for the team in the pas week. We dive into some stories from the week that was, including the acquisition of Sam Fuld and what it means for Aaron Hicks, the retirement of Jason Bartlett, and what to make of Chris Colabello.
    It is an exciting time to be a podcast listener because this week Cody runs an interview for the first time in the history of the podcast as we chatted with the Cedar Rapids Kernels' Hitting Coach, Tommy Watkins. Watkins has coached several of the current Minnesota Twins and shares some of his baseballing knowledge with us.
    We also take some time to talk about the unhearlded pitcher Yohan Pino who has been pitching in Minors for 10 years without a MLB appearance. Of coure, the usual - beer, baseball and the news to round out the show.
     
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  12. Paul Pleiss
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    Happy birthday to our very own Jay Corn! As a birthday present to Jay, Paul skipped the show! Without him Eric is free to heap all of the praise in the world on Brian Dozier, and he does. Jay Corn revisits his prediction that Josmil Pinto will hit 25 home runs (which is not looking so bad right now), and we wonder what might happen to Pinto's playing time when Josh Willingham and/or Oswaldo Arcia return from the DL and Chris Herrmann goes back to AAA. The jabbering continues with Logan Darnell, one of three AAA Left Handers in the Rochester starting rotation. Lots of beer talk this week, and Eric is a little over excited about his "bready beer" and then the gang goes Around the League.
    Enjoy the show!
     
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  13. Paul Pleiss
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    For the first time in a long time we have a full week of Twins baseball to talk about on the podcast. We talk about Ron Gardenhire's 1000th managerial win, a couple of disabled list moves that brought both Chris Herrmann and Darin Mastroianni back to the Twins, and we pontificate on what early season attendance numbers mean for the club going forward.We're running a promotional giveaway. Make sure to listen to the end for the details and your chance to win a 1991 World Series box set (#TwinsNickname).We are joined by Jeremy Nygaard (@jeremynygaard) of Twins Daily's Hang out and Talk Twins video/podcast (@TwinsHangouts) to discuss the roster moves, the Twins payroll in 2014 and what it means for the future of the franchise and if bringing in Stephen Drew is still a valid discussion point.You'll also hear the weekly standby's hitter/pitcher of the week, and around the league. We had to put the Down on the Pond segment on hold this week, but next week we'll be taking a closer look at Twins AAA pitcher, Logan Darnell.Thanks for the download.
     
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  14. Paul Pleiss
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    The highlight of this week's episode is an interview conducted with the Twins relief pitcher Casey Fien. We discuss the path his career took as he made his way from a 20th round draft pick to an Opening Day roster and what his strategy is when he's out there on the mound. You can follow Casey on Twitter, @CaseyFien.Besides talking to notable relief pitchers, we also spend some time "Down on the Pond" looking at the Opening Day starters for each of the Twins full-season minor league affiliates, and a hitter from each squad as well in preparation for minor league Opening Day. To find out who took home the first regular season honors for Twins hitter and pitcher of the week you'll have to give us a listen, and there were actually a surprising number of candidates who've gotten the lumber out early this season despite what we've been saying all winter.Oh, and the trees are coming back to Target Field. Heck yeah!
     
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  15. Paul Pleiss
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    On this week's show there is a lot of discussion about recent subtractions (and an addition) to the Twins roster as they continue to trim down to their 25-man roster. Jason Kubel will make the team and both Scott Diamond and Vance Worley will be pitching elsewhere in 2014. We discuss who is the last man in/out as the Twins trim the roster to 25 and then we take a look ahead at who will be the division winners and playoff contenders for 2014. We take a closer look at Twins pitching prospect and Eden Prairie native, Madison Boer before wondering aloud how Max Scherzer could possibly turn down $144 million.This week's show is brought to you by Hangout and Talk Twins with Seth Stohs and Jeremy Nygaard. Make sure to check out their show!
     
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  16. Paul Pleiss
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    On Episode 75 the gang talks about Cody's basketball coaching prowess, the recent rounds of Twins Spring Training cuts that have more solidified the roster, and try and break down any remaining position battles. Eddie Rosario is still absent from Minor League Spring Training, and Eric is a little worried about what this means about Rosario as a person. Cody tries to find a downside to Glen Perkin's contract extension, and then we bring back the long defunct Hitter/Pitcher of the Week segment. Down on the Pond we take a look at Dan Rohlfing (TEAM ROLF!) and then we talk beer and general baseball news.
    Almost 100 minutes of fun.
     
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  17. Paul Pleiss
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    The Detroit Tigers look to be the best team in the division, and it's not close. They're offense will beat you into submission and their pitching will have you doing all you can to scratch and claw a measly run or two across the plate. They are the team the Twins wish they were. This week on the podcast we are joined by Bryan Craves (@DisplacedTgrFan) to recap what's been happening in Motown since the Tigers were bounced out of the playoffs last season.In Twins news, the Talk to Contact gang discusses some prop bets for the upcoming season, review the first round of cuts coming out of Twins camp and somehow get sidetracked into a lengthy discussion of the Houston Astros. Come for the banter, stay for the beer.
     
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  18. Paul Pleiss
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    This week on the podcast we struggle through a couple of technical difficulties, and lament the loss of Miguel Sano for the season. This week we take a look in on the Cleveland Indians. We are joined on the podcast by Jason Lukehart (@JasonLukehart) of Let's Go Tribe to discuss comings and goings for the Indians and what Twins fans can expect from the Tribe in 2014. In this week's Down on the Pond segment we take a closer look at Twins minor league pitcher David Hurlbut who pitched in Cedar Rapids and Ft Myers last season. Paul commits a beer drinking sin and admits to in on air and is mocked by all. The Twins say goodbye to any hope of signing Johan Santana and there are several jokes made at Delmon Young's expense.
     
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  19. Paul Pleiss
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    You can put it on the board... YES! This week we are joined by lifelong Chicago White Sox fan Tom Flynn (@Mighty_Flynn) to check in on what's been happening on the South Side of Chicago since the season came to a close. We check in on just about every relevant ex-Twin, including Johan Santana who threw off a mound for several teams and Matt Garza signing with the Brewers. Eric takes the gang through a quick round of pepper and eventually we get around to discussing other happenings in baseball, including the new rule concerning collisions at home plate. Strangely enough, Drew Butera is mentioned a handful of times throughout the podcast and there is even talk of a dog running a sausage race.
     
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  20. Paul Pleiss
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    The highlight of this week's episode is an interview with Josh Duggan of Royals Review to talk about what's been happening with our division rival's over in Kansas City. We review their off-season and make predictions about the future of the division in 2014 and beyond.At one point during the podcast Paul professes the strangest fantasy a man has ever had involving another man's forearms, Jay Corn predicts the Twins to somehow win 83 games and Eric talks smack about his mother to his twin brother. Twins topics were also covered. Spring has sprung and the Twins are all down in Ft Myers for spring training and everyone is in the best shape of their lives. We discuss some notable signings from around the league take a look at Twins minor leaguer and 2013 draft pick Ryan Walker and course discuss what we're drinking and recommend traveling to Alaska.The boys have their potty mouths on this week, so if you're listening near small children you may want to turn the volume down.
     
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  21. Paul Pleiss
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    Last week we talked about Ethan Mildren when we went Down on the Pond, this week we talk to Ethan Mildren. He tells us all about his offseason workouts, his goals for 2014, and what it has been like transitioning from college baseball to Minor League baseball. We also discuss MiLBer Zach Larson, recent Twins news including Terry Ryan's health and the waiver claim of Brooks Raley. And of course, we talk about all the beer we can drink, and all the news from around the league.
    89 minutes of fun.
     
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  22. Paul Pleiss
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    This highlight of this week's podcast is an interview with Jim Callis (@jimcallisMLB) of MLB Pipeline to talk about Twins prospects. Jim answers questions about all of the top prospects in the organization Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano, Alex Meyer, Kohl Stewart and then some. In addition to the interview this week's show also includes a discussion on what a successful 2014 Twins season means to each of the podcast hosts, the creation of the Ethan Mildren (@Emildren4040) fan club. Ethan was the Minnesota Twins' 2013 12th round draft pick out of the University of Pittsburgh.
     
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  23. Paul Pleiss
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    After taking a week off to meet up in person at Twins Fest and the Winter Meltdown, the Talk to Contact boys are back at it again. After discussing some minor happenings in Twins Territory, including Chuck Knoblauch's eventual enshrinement in the Twins Hall of Fame, this episode is dominated by prospect talk, specifically a little game called the Franchise Futures Game. We cover most of the top prospects in the Twins system and debate how important each prospect is to the Twins organization as a whole. All that and more on this week's episode.
     
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  24. Paul Pleiss
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    This week's episode is highlighted by a candid interview with Minnesota Twins pitching prospect Trevor May (@trevmay54, DJ MAZR). Aside from talking with Trevor, we have a lively discussion concerning who we think will be on the 25-man roster when the Twins break camp and leave Florida this spring (the first, of what will likely be many such discussions as the first game of the season approaches). Also discussed are the non-roster invites to big league camp, listeners from around the globe, and the usual banter and beer talk.Come for the Trevor May interview, stay for the beer. Or vice versa.
     
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  25. Paul Pleiss
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    We snuck in some hall of fame talk towards the end of the podcast, but for the most part we stayed away from the hall (Just like Jack Morris - ZING!). This week we feature Stuart Taylor, the Twins 2013 3rd round draft pick, we talk about what Eddie Rosario's 50 game suspension and Miguel Sano's possible Tommy John surgery could mean for their development and Twins debuts and argue over whether the Twins should sign a couple of the free agents who are still out on the market, most notably Johan Santana and Stephen Drew.We are also joined this week by special guest Graham Womack of Baseball Past and Present (@grahamdude) to talk about the 50 best players not in the HOF.
     
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