Month: April 2018

2018 Team Marketing Fan Cost Index for MLB

The Team Marketing Report (who recently changed ownership) Fan Cost Index (FCI) was recently published and has some interesting facts as always. The TMR Fan Cost Index represents the cost for a family of four to attend a game. TMR staff compile costs for all 30 MLB ballparks using the price of four average weighted non-premium tickets combined with four sodas, four hot dogs, two beers and two souvenir caps, plus a parking spot. Here are some of the highlights:

  • The cost to attend a Major League Baseball game has increased by 2.4 percent for the 2018 season, according to the Team Marketing Report Fan Cost Index®. Real shocker huh?
  • The most expensive team to watch at the ballpark this year is the Chicago Cubs with their Fan Cost Index of $368.28. This marked the first time since 2009, and only second time since 2000, that the Boston Red Sox were not at the top of the list. They came in at second most expensive at $345.88. BOO!
  • The most affordable ballgame once again belongs to the Arizona Diamondbacks, with their FCI of $145.58. They’ve had a stranglehold on the lowest FCI since 2009, also boasting the least expensive average ticket price of $19.65. Nice job Arizona!
  • Taking into account all costs, the largest FCI jumps are the Blue Jays at 15.7, Minnesota Twins at 9 percent and Milwaukee Brewers at 8.9 percent. Twins apparently expect fans to pay for the free agents they signed.

 

The Minnesota Twins have a higher than average FCI and only the Red Sox, Yankees, Astros and Mariners are more expensive than our Minnesota Twins in the American League, that puts them in some pretty rarefied air. The Twins have the most expensive FCI in the AL Central Division. We give the Minnesota Twins a 

 

 

Twins minor league players of the week – Royce Lewis & Stephen Gonsalves

The Twins have named Single-A Cedar Rapids shortstop Royce Lewis ML Player of the Week and Triple-A Rochester left-handed pitcher Stephen Gonsalves ML Pitcher of the Week.

Royce Lewis

Royce Lewis hit .304 (7-for-23) with four runs and four RBI in four games for the Kernels (had 4-hit game previous week). For the season, Lewis is hitting .316 with one double, one home run and 10 RBI. 

Lewis, who was ranked Baseball America’s top prospect in the Twins system, was drafted by the Twins first overall in last June’s MLB Draft out of JSerra Catholic High School (San Juan Capistrano, CA). According to MLB.com (Jim Callis) Lewis signed a deal for $6.725 million, a record for a high school player. Lewis is represented by Scott Boras. The 6’2″ right-handed Lewis will turn 19 on June 5.

Gonsalves, a 6’5″ left-hander was promoted from Double-A Chattanooga this week to AAA Rochester, made one start for the Lookouts on Tuesday, allowing one run on four hits in 5.0 innings pitched with nine strikeouts. In Chattanooga, Gonsalves was 3-0 in 4 starts with a 1.77 ERA and 25 strikeouts in 20.1 innings. 

Stephen Gonsalves

Gonsalves, Baseball America’s fourth best prospect in the Twins system,
was drafted in the fourth round in 2013 out of Cathedral Catholic High School (San Diego, CA).

I think that Gonsalves will be a star sooner than later and I fully expect him to be a starter in the Twins rotation this season. He is going to be a “good” one, the only reason the Twins were able to get him in the fourth round was because of this issue.

 

Twins Minor League Report 04 29 18

FINALLY! An answer to why the New York Yankees keep beating the Twins

Posnanski: There is only one logical explanation for the Yankees’ hold over the Twins:

Witchcraft

Posnanski wrote a story on the Yankee-Twins “rivalry” in The Athletic” (pay site) I think that Posnanski is on to something. Can you think of a better explanation? Of course not, there is none.

So the thing to do here is to look at the silver lining in the dark gray cloud. The Twins could use some fans at Target Field so the Twins crack Marketing staff should have a “cast a spell on the Yankees” day when they come to town in September. The team can hire an expert in the field of Witchcraft and have him/her remove the spell that the New York Yankees have over the Minnesota Twins. Once that is complete, then casting a “no World Series” spell over the New York Yankees seems like fair retribution.

What a crowd this would draw and finally end this curse that has demoralized Minnesota Twins fans for years.

 

Yankees and the Twins

The Athletic had an interesting article recently by Jayson Stark – Stark: The Useless Info Dept., Swing and a Foul Edition  . Here is one of the points Stark brought up to put the Twins and Yankee games into perspective.

Is there a more one-sided rivalry in baseball than the Twins and Yankees? They got a chance to hang out together at Yankee Stadium again this week. And once the Yankees had finished sweeping a four-game series, it meant that since 2002 (if you count the postseason), the Yankees have gone an incomprehensible 94-33 against the Twins. That’s the equivalent of playing like a 120-win team (or in the Twins’ case, the ’62 Mets) over a full season.

Next-best record by any team against any other team in its league over that same period: The Angels are 84-45 against the Tigers.

I don’t think I would call Twins and Yankee games a rivalry, I would call it an annual beating. I see things in life always going full circle so that means the Twins are in for some good times in the future, the devil is in the details. I hope I am still around to see it happen.

Twins Minor League Players of the Week – Zander Wiel and Tyler Duffey

This weeks Twins minor league players of the week are first baseman Zander Wiel of the Chattanooga Lookouts and Tyler Duffey.

Zander Wiel

This past week Zander Wiel appeared in six games and had 9 hits in 21 at bats with four doubles, two home runs, six RBI and scored five times posting a batting average of .429 and had a 1.405 OPS. For the season, the 25 year-old Weil is hitting .370 with 20 hits in 54 at bats.  Zander is about 6’3″ and goes about 232 and bats and throws right-handed. 

Weil, a Tennessee native is now in his fourth season of pro ball was drafted by Minnesota in the 12th round of the June 2015 amateur draft out of Vanderbilt University where he played on two CWS teams and has one championship on his resume. Weil is not currently rated as a Twins Top 30 prospect by  MLB.

Tyler Duffey

Tyler Duffey who has pitched for the Twins 2015-2017 and had a rough spring training started the season with the AAA Rochester Red Wings. This past week Duffey appeared in two games, pitched 6.2 innings and allowed no runs, just two hits, and struck out 10 while walking just one batter. Did I mention he is 3-1 this season with 14 strikeouts in 11 innings without allowing a single earned run? The Twins called Duffey up to the big club yesterday. Hopefully Duffey can keep it going with the Twins in the long relief role. 

Twins Minor League Report 042218

Yikes! Yankees 14 and Twins 1

I took some facts from an article about the Twins vs Yankees game from The Athletic, a pay site that I am checking out as I usually don’t usually visit pay sites. The article is entitled Ryan LaMarre’s pitching cameo and a Twins flop in the Bronx, by the numbers

Brian Dozier

24 – Straight games with a hit for Brian Dozier, dating back to last season, including 17 since the start of the 2018 campaign. Dozier extended his streak with a two-out, RBI single to left in the fifth inning off Yankees starter Masahiro Tanaka, who was outstanding. Dozier’s hit streak is rapidly approaching the longest in Twins history, a 31-game run by Ken Landreaux in 1980. It’s also the longest hitting streak to span two seasons since Arizona’s Paul Goldschmidt hit in 26 straight games between 2013-14. The longest two-season hit streak of the past 25 years, according to The Athletic’s Jayson Stark, is Jimmy Rollins’ 38 games between 2005-06. The single also allowed Dozier to extend his stretch of reaching base in a game to 34, dating back to September 12.

This is the second hitting streak for Dozier of 24 or more games, he is the only Twins player with two long streaks like this. Next up on the list is 25 in a row by Brian Harper. You can see the Twins longest hitting streaks by going to “Hitting Streaks” on the right hand side of the page.

10.43 – Twins team earned-run average on the road trip through four of seven games. Twins pitchers have allowed at least eight runs in all four contests and at least seven earned runs in each, too. Overall, the numbers have been putrid as Twins pitchers have allowed 40 runs (39 earned) in 33 2/3 innings along with 50 hits, 18 walks and 41 strikeouts.

Tyler Kinley

Question for the day – How long are the Twins going to hang on to Rule 5 pick-up Tyler Kinley?

 

Dozier ties club record hitting streak to start the season

Brian Dozier

Second baseman Brian Dozier extended his hitting streak to 15 games with a lead-off double last night in a 10-1 loss to the Rays at Tropicana Field. The knock handed Dozier a share of the club record hitting streak to start the season, along with Kirby Puckett (1994) and Josh Willingham (2012). Dozier has now hit safely in 22 consecutive games, dating back to September 22. Dozier added a third-inning single to finish 2-for-4. He’s hitting .376 (35-for-93) during the streak.

Twins minor league players of the week – Kerrigan & Stewart

Position player of the week

Jimmy Kerrigan

The Twins minor league position player of the week is Fort Myers Miracles outfielder Jimmy Kerrigan. From April 8-14, Kerrigan was 11 for 26 for a .423 average with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI.

Kerrigan was playing in the Independent Frontier League when the Twins signed Kerrigan to a minor league contract on July 27, 2017 , sending him to the low A Cedar Rapids Kernels of the Midwest League and in 31 games, he batted .250, with four triples, five home runs and 20 RBIs. The 24 year-old Kerrigan who bats and throws right-handed started the 2018 with the Fort Myers Miracle.

 

Pitcher of the week

Kohl Stewart

The Twins minor League pitcher of the week is Kohl Stewart. The Twins 2013 first round selection (fourth overall) started the 2018 season with the Chattanooga Lookouts. In his first start of the season Stewart went five innings, allowed just three hits, one run, struck out nine with zero walks and threw 75 pitches and claimed his first win of the year. The 23 year-old Stewart now is in his sixth season and the Twins have been waiting for the 6’3″ right-handed Texan to show the promise that the Twins saw in him when they drafted and signed him out of high school for $4.544 million. Stewart needs to have a strong breakout season this year.

Minnesota Twins, No. 1 draft pick Kohl Stewart agree to terms

 

Don’t forget to check out our new and updated This Day in Twins History on the right hand side of the page.

Forbes 2018 MLB Team Values

Forbes magazine recently published their 2018 MLB team values for the 21st year. As you might guess, MLB teams and their owners are doing pretty well. The only team in MLB that is not yet worth at least $1 billion is the Tampa Bay Rays and their value is $900 million. The most valuable team is the New York Yankees who are worth $4 billion according to Forbes.

The Minnesota Twins are worth $1.15 billion, up 12% from last year and are the 22nd on the list. The Twins are shown with $261 million of revenue and that seems like a lot of money to most of us but only nine teams brought in less revenue last season. 

The Forbes article can be found here and the list of team values can be found here. When looking at the list, if you click on the Minnesota Twins you will find more detailed financial data.

More historical information on Minnesota Twins values can be found on my “Salaries” page.

 

Chilly Ball in 2018 and Frozen Balls in 1965

The Minnesota Twins opened the 2018 season on the road in Baltimore where first pitch temperatures were 65, 55 and 61, nothing to really complain about in late March. The Twins then moved on to Pittsburgh to play the Pirates and the weather there was a bit cooler with first pitch temps were 40 and 37 and it snowed almost the entire game when the Pirates had their home opener on April 2 At times the snow was coming down so hard it was difficult to see the ball.

The Twins then went home to host their own opening day against the Seattle Mariners on April 5th, the weather predictions were dire, temps for the first pitch could be in the low 30’s. After all, the Twins Cities had seen a freakish snowstorm on April 2-3 that dumped about 9 inches of snow on the Twins Cities and Target Field. Fans and players alike were grumbling about the opener being so cold. Logan Morrison a new Twins player in 2018 said that games shouldn’t be played when it is that cold and Minnesota’s stadium should have had a roof. Twins President Dave St.Peter said something to the effect that we live in the “Bold North” meaning that everyone should just suck it up and watch some baseball. Then again it is easy for him to say that because he is the team president and that is what we expect him to say, besides, he sits behind glass when he watches the games anyway. We need Mr. St. Peter and owner Jim Pohlad to lead by example and sit down with the fans and watch the game like Calvin Griffith used to do. Turns out the Twins Target Field Opening Day temperature at first pitch was 38 degrees, the home team won and everyone went home happy.

But enough about that, we are here to tell you about a time back in August, yes I said August, of 1965 when the Detroit Tigers complained about ice-cold frozen baseballs that the Chicago White Sox were supposedly providing when these two teams met in a double-header on August 1 at White Sox Park. Who knows, maybe it was pay back for a week earlier when The White Sox complained that the balls used in Detroit were all dried out and hitting them was like hitting a lively golf ball. American League President Joe Cronin ordered an investigation but I have no clue as to how things turned out. The article below seems to state that back then there were no rules for storing baseballs other than they had to be delivered one hour prior to the game. I’m sure that has changed since then….

Here I though that only the NFL had issues with it balls.