Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

The sorry state of baseball today

Ever since I started following baseball almost 65 years ago, I have been led to believe that you need to have great starting pitching to win it all. Is it true or is this been a falsity all along? I have been fortunate to watch some great starting pitching over the years and I still wish I could have seen the great Walter Johnson pitch in person but those kinds of starters are disappearing. Ace starters are getting paid big bucks but at the same time they are quickly becoming as extinct as dinosaurs.

Here is my problem. Baseball pitching today is about throwing less than 100 pitches, don’t face the line-up a third time around, openers, and bullpen games and God knows what else they will dream up. You pay the starters huge dollars and then you don’t let them pitch. Aren’t starter’s supposed to be your best pitchers? Starters have been throwing over 100 pitches and going through the opposing lineup multiple times in games since baseball started and now all of a sudden that is not a good idea?

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Twins complete 2022 coaching staff with two additions

The Minnesota Twins issued a Press Release yesterday stating that they have made two more additions to their coaching staff bringing it to ten, this apparently completes the coaching staff at this time. Along with manager Rocco Baldelli, the 10 coaches will be managing/coaching their 25 man roster which brings the ratio closer and closer to two players for every coach. Back in 1961 the Twins skipper had three coaches to help him.

The new additions are Hank Conger a former major league catcher and Luis Ramirez. Ramirez, 48, has spent the last 16 years in the Twins organization, serving as pitching coach/coordinator at various levels, most recently as a Double-A Wichita pitching coach in 2021. In addition to the new hires, the Twins shifted some of their coaches around and these changes are noted in the attached Press Release.

TWINS-PRESS-RELEASESDownload

Congratulations to Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat on selection to HOF

Congratulations to Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat on finally getting that call to the Hall that you should have received many years ago. Well deserved and we all thank you for the wonderful memories. The numbers speak for themselves, nothing more needs to be said on why these two gentlemen belong in the MLB Hall of Fame.

Byron Buxton and Twins agree to an extension

Byron Buxton has good reason to smile. Credit to Brace Hemmelgarn – MN Twins

Yesterday afternoon as I was watching the Minnesota Vikings vs the San Francisco 49ers football game the news broke that the Minnesota Twins and Byron Buxton had reached agreement on a seven year extension worth about $100 million. I have to say that I was very surprised, I fully expected that this would not happen and that the Twins would be trading him to a team with deeper pockets that could afford to take such a gamble and not be hurt if Buxton got the big bucks but couldn’t stay healthy.

I like Buxton as a player but I have always been bothered by the fact that he could not stay healthy and for me a player sitting on the bench because he is not healthy enough play is worthless. It makes no difference if it is bad luck, bad karma, or whatever, if you can’t play you bring no value. There have always been players across all sports that spent more time in the training rooms than they did on the playing fields. It is what it is.

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Twins Milestone Home Runs from 1961-2021

Over the years the Minnesota Twins have hit 8,591 home runs since they started play in 1961 through the 2021 season. Let’s take a look at some milestone home runs, who hit them and where did they hit them. You might want to take note that the Minnesota Twins won 10 of these 12 games.

#1 was hit by Bob Allison on 4-11-61 at Yankee Stadium off Whitey Ford in a Twins 6-0 win in the first game they ever played.

#100 was hit by Bob Allison on 7-19-61 at Wrigley Field off the Angels Ron Kline in a 6-0 Twins win in game one of a DH.

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Just a few thoughts about baseball and where it is going

I spent my entire working career in IT and I am a believer in IT but I am not sure that IT is the way of the future in baseball. Granted pretty much everyone has jumped on the analytics bandwagon right now but someday soon someone will win the World Series with a new system and everyone will be flocking to that new process.

IT and analytics can give you all the stats of what happened in the past in a microsecond but it can not predict the future, if it could, we would not need to play the games. Yes the computer can tell you what is likely to happen but that is far from a sure thing. When was the last time you saw a computer tell you before the Spring Training began who is going to win the different MLB divisions and go on to win the World Series? As long as baseball is played by humans with all their frailties, it will continue to be an unpredictable (if it wasn’t, who would watch) and you can have all the computer power in the world at your fingertips but you still won’t know who will win the World Series in 2022 even when there are only 30 choices.

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Last Call for Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat to join the National Baseball Hall of Fame?

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum announced on Friday November 5 the 10-person ballots that will be considered by its Early Baseball Era Committee and Golden Days Era Committee for Hall of Fame election for the Class of 2022. These Era Committees will both meet on December 5 at baseball’s Winter Meetings in Orlando, Florida.

The Golden Days Era ballot includes Dick Allen, Ken Boyer, Gil Hodges, Jim Kaat, Roger Maris, Minnie Minoso, Danny Murtaugh, Tony Oliva, Billy Pierce and Maury Wills. Kaat, Oliva and Wills are the only living members of this group. Twins fans are excited to see “Tony O” and “Kitty” get another opportunity to enter the hallowed halls of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Both players are in their early 80’s and deserve the opportunity to enter the HOF while they are still around to enjoy it.

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After a year off the Arizona Fall League is back

After a year off due to COVID-19 the Arizona Fall League, major league baseball’s finishing school for the games best prospects is back and will start play on October 13. The rosters of the six teams, announced today, are once again chock full of elite-level talent. There are 17 of MLB Pipeline’s Top 100 Prospects slated to play in the AFL this year, headlined by four in the top 10.

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Twins announce 2021 Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Year

In a Press Release this morning the Minnesota Twins announced that infielder Jose Miranda has been named the 2021 Sherry Robertson Award winner as the Twins Minor League Player of the Year and right-handed pitcher Louie Varland has been named the 2021 Jim Rantz Award winner as the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year.

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Twins leaders in multiple hit games

Stathead on Baseball-Reference is always a fun toy to play with to look up a variety of stats. I have used it and its predecessor for years. In this case I was curious who the Twins leaders in multi-hit games were between 1961 through 2020.

Kirby Puckett is Twins multi-hit leader

The American League multiple hit games leaders during this time frame can be found here.

The National League multiple hit games leaders during this time frame can be found here.