Archive for November, 2009

One of the great things about being a Twins fan is the surplus of great blogs out there about our team (of course, it can also be a bad thing when I’m looking for a topic to write about and see it’s already been covered extremely well 10X over). From Those Girls to K-Bro to TwinsTarget there is no shortage of great content out there. But today, we have a special mission involving a different blog. One of my (internet) friends Erin runs the fantastic blog Plunking Gomez. As you can tell by the name, and the recent trade the [...]

Yesterday I outlined my AL MVP ballot, and today it is time for the NL. Yesterday Albert Pujols won the NL MVP in unanimous fashion, followed by Hanley Ramirez, Prince Fielder, Ryan Howard and Troy Tulowitzki. Needless to say, my ballot doesn’t look the same at all. That would be no fun. 1. Albert Pujols, 1B, St. Louis Pujols led all NL hitters in WAR at an amazing 8.4 clip. The fact that he did so while suffering the positional adjustment that comes with playing first base, as well as having a subpar defensive season by Pujols standards (+1.3 runs) [...]

I thought I had this in the queue to publish yesterday morning, rather than today. Ed. Turns out I lost it, so you get a brand new post! That might be the last time I write a post ahead of time. Stupid productivity. Anyways, I posted this ballot on twitter Monday morning, so feel free to go back and verify it if you wish. 1. Joe Mauer, C, Minnesota I have already written much on the pride of the prairie, but Mauer just wrapped up perhaps the best season by a catcher ever, and Joe Posnanksi (among others) believes he [...]

Joe Mauer is just the 2nd catcher in the last 33 years to win the AL MVP, and he did so in unanimous fashion. The Minnesota native hit .365/.444/.587 to lead the American League in all three categories. He also won the gold glove, and it was richly deserved. Mauer had a career high in HRs (28) and for the 3rd time in his 6 year career had more walks than strikeouts. He also set the record for batting average from a catcher. With Mauer’s impressive season (.438 wOBA, 12.7% BB, 54.8 RAA, 8.2 WAR) we may have just seen [...]

As reported by MLBTR, talks between Marlins ace Josh Johnson and the club have broken off, and he is not expected to sign an extension. This brings about the obvious statement: let’s go get him. Johnson, who will be 26 for the 2010 season, is coming off a year in which he had just a 3.06 FIP, and struck out 8.22 batters per 9. On top of it, Johnson features good control (2.5 BB/9) and gets ground balls (career 47.8%). Johnson has some concerns about his health (he has already had Tommy John surgery) and is only under contract for [...]

A lesson in basic math (Waves of Arms) Talk about a potential Dan Uggla trade. Bill Smith, pay attention. (Marlin Maniac) Some KC Royals Winter Leagues talk (KofK) This seems like a lose-lose situation to me (Predominantly Orange) Something about a fat third baseman and an underrated second baseman. (Oh it’s THOSE Girls) This is the definition of a print and poop. (Rany on the Royals) The Orioles claimed former Twin Armando Gabino (Birdswatcher) The Giants won’t bring back should have been gold glover Randy Winn (Frisco Fastball)

I looked at the AL yesterday, so why not do the NL Today? C: Winner – Yadier Molina, STL No problems here. Molina is unquestionably one of the best if not the best in the NL. 1B: Winner – Adrian Gonzalez, SD (+3.8, 1st in NL) Gonzalez had a lower UZR/150 than Cubs 1B Derrek Lee, but logged over 100 more innings in the field to give him the advantage in UZR 2B: Winner – Orlando Hudson, LAD (-3.3, 7th in NL) Yet another award Chase Utley got robbed of. Utley led the NL with a 10.8 UZR, 3 runs [...]

ESPN.com is reporting that the Yankees may be considering non-tendering Chien Ming Wang. Non-tendering is simply when you opt to not offer a contract to an arbitration eligible player. This leads me into my next point: if he wouldn’t be terribly expensive, Wang would be a great fit for the new look Minnesota Twins. When the Twins traded Carlos Gomez for JJ Hardy they traded in a great outfield for a great infield. That would be all well and good if their pitching staff wasn’t stacked with flyball pitchers. Wang has never been a big strikeout guy (his career high [...]

First of all, congrats to Joe Mauer on winning his 2nd Gold Glove in a row. He should have an impressive trophy case this winter with the gold glove, silver slugger and AL MVP. However, I have a confession to make. The best word to describe my feelings about this is….apathetic. I really don’t care who wins the AL Gold Gloves. Just for fun, let’s take a look at the AL Gold Glove winners, their UZR, and the UZR leaders. 1B Winner – Mark Teixiera, NYY: -3.7 runs (7th in AL) Best performer – Kendry Morales, LAA: +4.9 runs 2B [...]

We took a quick look at the Hardy for Gomez trade a couple days ago, so now we’re going to peer a little deeper with the trade value calculator. Mainly because I wanna bust that thing out again. Let’s start with Hardy. Hardy had a rough year last year with the bat, but a lot of that was BABIP related. It was just .264 last year, and his peripheral numbers weren’t really any different, although his strikeout rate did climb a bit. Projections have Hardy at around a .330 wOBA, and if we use his career UZR/150 plus his estimated [...]