Puckett's Pond » Matt Guerrier

Thursday Links (Thankful Edition)

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:01:56 +0000

Gobble Gobble! Happy Thanksgiving Twins fans!

As Twins fans we have a lot to be thankful for, like Terry Ryan, Target Field, and a $100 million dollar payroll. Personally, I’m thankful that I am an actual Twin, even if I never play for the Minnesota Twins I’ll always be connected to them because everyone knows all Twins have a special connection (and super secret Twin powers).

Before you chow down on turkey and position yourself on the couch for that tryptophan and football induced nap, take time to be thankful for another great week of Twins related links.

Bill over at The Platoon Advantage hates the new playoff format. I tend to agree, I think that 162 games is more than enough to sort out the winners and the losers, throwing more teams into the post season just allows teams like the 2011 St. Louis Cardinals to steal a World Series from more deserving teams.

Do you like mustaches and eye brows? I didn’t like them before reading Dustin Parkes’ Double Booked, but once I saw them together I had to change my mind.

The new Toronto Blue Jays logo that was leaked earlier this offseason is real. This review, over at Flip Flop Fly Ballin’ acknowledges that even a great new logo has room for lots of improvement.

Matt Klaassen over at FanGraphs proposed a new rule regarding the number of pickoff attempts allowed during any particular at bat, a rule designed to help shorten MLB games. I like this rule, not because it shortens games, but because I think it could lead to more excitement. Who wants shorter games? I want as much baseball as I can get!

DJ Skillz (who may or may not be a talented disc jockey) writes that the Twins already have a potential ace on their 25 man roster, they just forgot about him after a lackluster 2011 season. (more…)

Breakfast with Fansided

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:00:45 +0000

Good morning! There has been a wealth of interesting material on some of our sister sites in the Fansided network. If you’re looking for something to read while you finish your oatmeal and this morning (or the bite size Snicker bars you stole from your kids last night), might I suggest some of the following?

At Seedlings to Stars, former Puckett’s Pond writer Wally Fish has a complete dissection of Kyle Waldrop’s pitching style. He compares Waldrop to Matt Guerrier, a pitcher who I used to find frustrating, but would love to have back after the 2011 bullpen debacle. Seedlings to Stars is fast becoming my favorite source for minor league information, along with the always insightful Twins-focused writing of Seth Stohs.

Over at Call to the Pen, they’re combing through the big name free agents one by one. If you are the type of person who dreams big, maybe you think the Twins have a shot at C.J. Wilson. If so, be sure to read their profile of him. Even if you live in Dreamland, you still probably know the Twins won’t go after Albert Pujols. Still, their article about him is interesting.

Some of those free agency discussions are hitting a little too close to home. Our friends at Southside Showdown (Fansided’s White Sox site) have their eyes on a certain Twins free agent outfielder.

Tomahawk Take, Fansided’s Braves site, wrote a tribute to Tony LaRussa. Senior Staff Writer Fred Owens calls LaRussa’s retirement “a defining moment” in his life. I wouldn’t go that far personally, but LaRussa has been a manager as long as I’ve been a baseball fan. He won more rings with the Cardinals, but I’ll always think of him as the manager of the Evil Athletics back when the A’s and Twins were taking turns dominating the American League (1987-1992).

Finally, over at The Viking Age, they’re justifiably excited about the new QB.

2011 Team Awards

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 02:25:36 +0000

It was quite a year for the Minnesota Twins. Despite leaving Spring Training with a fully healthy squad, the Twins were anything but that in 2011. Three members of the 2011 squad played more than 100 games, and one of those guys, Ben Revere, was not even on the opening day roster. Only two of those players, Michael Cuddyer and Danny Valencia, were on the field long enough to collect more than 500 ABs. Cuddyer checked in with 584 ABs, and Valencia had 24 more for a total of 608. For reference, last year the Twins had 8 players play at least 100 games, and 6 of them had more than 500 ABs. Only Michael Cuddyer has qualified each of the past two seasons. On the pitching staff things were not a lot better as only Carl Pavano pitched more than 165 innings, and Alex Burnett and Matt Capps joined Glen Perkins as relievers with more than 60 appearances. While 60 appearances is a fairly arbitrary cut off for relief appearances both Capps and Burnett have an ERA worse than league average and they appeared more than any other relievers, combining for 135 appearances. In 2010, Matt Guerrier and Jesse Crain lead the team in appearances out of the bullpen and both had an ERA at least 30% better than league average.
With so many players in and out of the Twins lineup in 2011, 37 different (and generally ineffective) players when all was said and done, it was hard for the Twins to establish any cohesion, or positive momentum, and at 63-99, their record indicates the same. But not everything was bad, and there were several standouts on this team. Below you’ll find my candidates for Top Starting Pitcher, Top Relief Pitcher, Top Position Player, and Team MVP. (more…)