Thursday Links

What a week it has been.  I’ve delayed the Thursday Links slightly today until after the Rule 5 draft.  You’ll find all the information you need on the newest Minnesota Twin, Terry Doyle, RHP (Here are the complete Rule 5 draft results).  Before the Rule 5 draft, there was plenty of Twins action to report, including the signing of Matt Capps, the trade of disgruntled pitcher Kevin Slowey, and the claiming of recently waived Pedro Florimon Jr., a middle infielder from the Baltimore Orioles organization.

Early last week, before all the hubbub about the Winter Meetings, Terry Ryan sat down for a conference call with Twins Season Ticket Holders.  K-Bro has all the details.

And in a complete turnaround, Joe Mauer took some time out of his busy winter conditioning schedule to sit down with the media, discuss his injury plagued 2011 season and what lies ahead for him in the years ahead.  Knuckleballs’ Jim Crikket writes that it is a step in the right direction.

So who is Pedro Florimon Jr.?  The Tenth Inning Stretch has all the info you’ll need about the young Dominican.

The Rookie of the Year award receives all of the press and excitement associated with a trophy awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America.  The Sophomore of the Year award, long defunct,  is relegated to The Platoon Advantage, for now.  The Common Man has done the research for you, including turning up a SOY award winner among Cooperstown’s newest inductees.

Earlier this week Tim McCarver was awarded the Ford C. Frick award for broadcasting excellence.  Luckily he’s been a pretty solid broadcaster throughout his career, because he certainly isn’t winning any awards for his counting.

Over at FanGraphs Josh Goldman examines the role of September Call-Ups and how they impact the end of the MLB season, including pennant races.  Not something that your normally think about, because if your team is out of it, you don’t mind seeing Minor Leaguers come up and get a shot, and if you’re competing against them to race into a playoff spot, you usually don’t mind seeing a few innings from a Minor League reliever.

It was announced earlier this morning that the New York Yankees had won the posting for Japanese shortstop Hiroyuki Nakajima.  The only problem is that the Yankees don’t really have room for Nakajima.  If he turns out to be anything like Tsuyoshi Nishioka, that won’t be a problem.

This video of a baseball prank isn’t winning the Video of the Week award, but it almost did.  NotGraphs with more baseball prank video gold! (This video of astronaut baseball isn’t the video of the week either, but it’s still pretty neat.) 

Have you ever wondered when the most home runs are hit over the course of a major league season?  Are their more home runs hit early when hitters are fresh?  Or maybe later in the season when pitchers are worn down?  FanGraphs has the answer, and the accompanying graph looks very similar to the new Miami Marlins logo…

Here is an uncomfortable shot of Jose Reyes during a recent press conference where he was announced as the newest member of the Miami Marlins (taking over a spot previously occupied by Heath Bell, and a spot which Albert Pujols has decided he isn’t interested in).

How has this image of a northern with a baseball in its mouth not made it onto a Minnesota Twins jersey?

Brandon Warne over at Twinkie Town has 3 Moves Guaranteed to Make the Twins Better.  It isn’t hard to make a 99 loss team better, but even if this team had won 82 games, I think Warne would still have a case.

Late last night Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer both declined arbitration, as expected, and put to bed any rumors that one or both of them might surprise the front office, accept Arbitration and throw a monkey wrench in 2012 roster construction.

The day before he declined arbitration Cuddyer’s wife gave birth to twin girls.  Michael Cuddyer seems overjoyed.

Bases Love Baseball feels exactly the same way as the rest of us regarding the Matt Capps deal announced earlier this week.  Ok, maybe not EVERYONE thinks the Matt Capps deal was bad, Andrew, The Twins Fan From Afar, think the Capps deal just might pay off for the Twins if Capps can rebound and pitch like he did in 2010 when he was an All-Star.  The NoDak Twins Fan considers the value of Matt Capps compared to the draft pick lost when the Twins resigned him.

Now that the Rule 5 draft is over, Twinkie Town is starting their annual Top 50 Minnesota Twins voting.  It is a pretty fun exercise in internet polling.  Something worth clicking on each morning, anyways.

It was announced earlier this week that the Minnesota Twins would be placing a statue of Kent Hrbek outside of Target Field.  The Twins Fan From Afar has a couple of ideas for poses, as does No Smoking in the Metrodome (NSFW).

Pedro Martinez has finally retired from professional baseball after one last season playing winter ball.  Drew Fairservice from Getting Blanked recalls what could possibly be Martinez’s finest pitching performance.

The Flight of the Conchords used to be one of my favorite television shows, at least for the first half of the first season.  Things kind of petered out since then, but Bill Parker brings them back to life, and compares the Conchords to… baseball?

Apparently falling in love with (former) Minnesota Twins players isn’t a strong suit over at Babes Love Baseball…

For a while I was thinking about purchasing one of these bathrobes that look like MLB Jerseys.  It should come as no surprise that there are actually MLB players buying their own jersey bathrobes.  It might be surprising, however, that they’re wearing them in public.

It has been rumored that Albert Pujols just signed a 10-year $250-260 MILLION DOLLAR contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.  For a guy who is turning 32 (supposedly), that’s a big risk.  Dave Cameron over at FanGraphs argues that maybe Pujols really is how old he claims to be.

Holding the 2nd pick in the 2012 MLB Amateur Player Draft, the Twins have an opportunity to restock their Minor League system and select an impact player in the first round.  The Tenth Inning Stretch examines Terry Ryan’s history as the team’s top executive, including his draft selections.

Edward Thoma is still digging deeper into the Bill Smith Era, dissecting trades from 2008 and the Orlando Cabrera trade.

roger13 from Twinkie Town has the Minor League Report on the Twins’ Gulf Coast League team, and he even includes a little Winter League commentary to boot!

Joe Posnanski takes a look at advanced baseball statistics from 1915.  Just click it, you won’t be disappointed.

Judd Zulgad, my favorite 1500 ESPN radio host, writes that the Twins are working hard to bring outdoor hockey to Target Field, as well as the 2014 MLB All-Star Game.

This week’s Video of the Week is definitely not safe for work, but it does feature Tommy Lasorda in a pretty sour mood, which translates into internet brilliance.

Wondering what you can get Puckett’s Pond for Christmas?  How about a Mountain and Sackett handmade tie?

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