Over The Baggy

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Blackburn has changed things up: via Over The Baggy August 30, 2010 at 02:17 PM; In themiddle of July, mired in a five-game stint in which he had allowed 28 earnedruns in 22.2 innings pitched, Nick Blackburn was desperately in need of somere-tooling. The problem was fairly evident: he simply was not changing speeds enough. This was somethingthat pitching coach Rick Anderson encouraged as far back into the season asJune. At that time, opponents were slaughtering his fastba
Tonight: Span or Repko in center?: via Over The Baggy August 25, 2010 at 11:47 AM; Today, I assisted Fangraph.com's Carson Cistulli in answering the question: Who should start in center, Denard Span or Jason Repko? For this particular instance, I favored Repko over Denard. Certainly with the Rangers starting the left-handed killing machine in CJ Wilson combined with Span's need to readjust his approach, today merits the opportunity to give the starting center fielder a nigh
OtB Twins Notes: via Over The Baggy August 23, 2010 at 01:23 AM; With Kevin Slowey hitting the disabled list, NickBlackburn will make a start on Saturday for the Twins. There are someindications that Blackburn has rediscovered his scorched earth policy inRochester that made him so effective in ’08 and ’09. In 23 innings at AAA,Blackburn has amassed a healthy 65.3% ground ball rate according to minorleaguesplits.com.Unfortunately, in his most recent start, Black
Behind Mauer's second-half surge: via Over The Baggy August 20, 2010 at 10:41 AM; In the first-half of the season, Joe Mauer turned in numbersthat were unbecoming of a reigning MVP. He still maintained an above averagewalk rate and continued to spit out line drives out like sunflower seed shellshowever, the numbers just wouldn’t cooperate. He checked into the All Star Break hitting .293/.368/.434 (792 OPS) – slashes that were significantlybelow his career norms coming int
Sunday's game: One right decision, another questionable: via Over The Baggy August 16, 2010 at 01:23 AM; After seven innings without allowing a hit and a comfortable four-run lead, Ron Gardenhire was in the unenviable position of deciding between allowing his starting pitcher to attempt history or risk injury potential. At that time, Kevin Slowey had amassed 106 pitches, the most since his last start in which he threw 114, and, perhaps not coincidentally, had to be skipped a start due to some discomf
A look at Denard Span's walk drought: via Over The Baggy August 13, 2010 at 12:17 PM; To say that Denard Span has had a rough 2010 season might be a significant understatement.Spring training started with him lacing a foul shot off of his own mother, then he got off to a slow start brought on by struggles to hit on the road and, to top it off, teammate Orlando Hudson taught him what the capital of Thailand is at full speed. Now, he hasn’t drawn a walk in over a fortnight.Although h
Twins jump all-over Garcia, White Sox: via Over The Baggy August 11, 2010 at 12:41 AM; The Twins reclaimed sole possession of first place of the ALCentral by jumping all over Chicago starter Freddy Garcia and knocking him outprematurely en route to a 12-6 victory. While it may seem like a simple storyof the Twins lineup seeing-ball-hitting-ball, there was much more preparationthat presumably went into the team’s plan of attack against Garcia. Garcia relies on a combination of speed
Cooling down Valencia's hot bat: via Over The Baggy August 06, 2010 at 12:14 PM; Danny Valencia has apparently taken full advantage of the resources around him, getting batting tips from Justin Morneau and has opened his ears to the wonders of plate discipline from Jim Thome. This tutelage has paid dividends in just his second month of his career. Like baseball’s version of King Midas, everything he swung at in July turn to gold. He recorded a hit in all but two of t
OtB Twins Notes: via Over The Baggy August 01, 2010 at 11:47 PM; With the non-waiver trade deadline coming to a close onSaturday, the Twins proceeded into August having made onlyone maneuver, trading for Nationals closer Matt Capps to fortify a bullpen that had been taxed in July. Whilethe Twins were looking for starting pitcher, discussing left-hander Ted Lilly with the Cubs, theyultimately backed down as Chicago was seeking players that theTwins were unw
Twins spend best trading chip on closer Capps: via Over The Baggy July 30, 2010 at 08:05 AM; By his own admission, Twins general manager Bill Smith seemed to grasp the absurdity of overpaying at the trade deadline. “There is a fine line between patience and impatience or patience and panic,” He told MLB.com’s Kelly Thesier, “You don’t want to overreact either way.” Nevertheless, Smith ignored this philosophy by shipping his number one trading chip in Wilson Ramos to Washin
Twins turning to Toronto for help?: via Over The Baggy July 27, 2010 at 11:35 AM; 1500ESPN’s Tom Pelissero relayed yesterday afternoon thatthe Twins were in contact with the Toronto Blue Jays, possibly seeking bullpenhelp. This report would corroborate the speculation of Star Tribune beat writerLa Velle Neal who noted that the Twins would be interested in adding anotherbullpen arm. After scoring runs by the dozens in Baltimoreand Kansas City,it seems highly unnecessary to requi
Delmon Young's RISPy Business: via Over The Baggy July 23, 2010 at 10:54 AM; In 2006, the Twins’ backupcatcher Mike Redmond encouraged his teammates to “smell” the RBIs. This year, DelmonYoung is upping the ante and apparently using all five senses. In fact, consideringhis league-best .419 batting average with runners in scoring position (RISP) hemay be using a sixth or possibly even seventh sense during those all-importantrun-producing situations.Because Young has madewho
Changing speeds critical for Blackburn: via Over The Baggy July 19, 2010 at 01:06 AM; Back on June 18th, Nick Blackburn followed a decent seven-inning 3-2 loss to the Atlanta Braves with an absolute throttling by a potent Philadelphia Phillies lineup – one that chased him out of the game in the middle of the second inning. Before most fans had found their seats, Blackburn had been tagged for eight earned runs on six hits including two rocket home runs from Ryan Howard and Chase Utl
Bank on a better second-half for Liriano: via Over The Baggy July 16, 2010 at 12:47 PM; The Twins starting pitching staff sputtered into the All-Star Break abused and confused in the month of July. The initial start by Kevin Slowey on the other side of the Midsummer Classic did little to reassure the team that things were going to turn around quickly either. In yet another abbreviated start, Slowey allowed five earned runs on nine hits in just three innings. This performance aided in
Joe Mauer's pull power?: via Over The Baggy July 15, 2010 at 01:05 AM; For the second day in a row, Star Tribune columnist JimSouhan has taken aim at Minnesota’s All-Star catcher, this time taking anopportunity to highlight what he believes are the reasons behind Joe Mauer’sdecline in productivity. Souhan indicates several factors contributing to thisdrop-off, noting “the ballpark effect”, “the scouting effect”, “the position effect”and “the contract effect”. Althoug
Available: The 2010 TwinsCentric Trade Deadline Primer: via Over The Baggy July 14, 2010 at 12:29 AM; As it stands, in addition to the current division leaders, twelveteams are within five games of first-place creating a market in which 16 teams could potentially be buyers in the next two weeks as the non-waiver tradedeadline rapidly approaches. In the next fortnight, there will be a delugeof rumors, hypothetical scenarios and actual trades that inundate all mediums. To be sure, it is a dizzying t
Trading Kevin Slowey?: via Over The Baggy July 09, 2010 at 11:01 AM; In the midst of speculations involving Seattle’s Cliff Lee, one major league source has cited the Mariners’ interest in Kevin Slowey as a key piece of a potential deal. As the Mariners compile their due diligence, hoping to leverage the trade deadline’s best trading chip for the highest possible return, those that are in the “Acquire Cliff Lee Now” camp should hope that Seattle’s scouts
Running themselves out of first place?: via Over The Baggy July 06, 2010 at 01:11 AM; The Twins have developed a reputation for being a team thathustles all over the base paths, implementing an aggressive approach, andtaking an extra 90 feet or more when the opportunity presents itself. More thanthat, they’ve often been lauded as doing so intelligently. According to anaudit of the team’s baserunning on BillJamesOnline.net, the Twins’ results onthe bases have radically changed from
Baker needs to keep hitters from teeing up his fastball: via Over The Baggy July 02, 2010 at 04:02 PM; Last season, Scott Baker was the owner of one of the American League’s best fastball. According to fangraphs.com, his fastball was 21.9 runs above average, seeding him third in the league behind such pitching nobility like the Cy Young award-winning Zack Greinke (25.8 runs above average) and Justin Verlander (25.1 runs above average). This season, however, is a different story as the Fabulous Bake
Ain't no rest for the Thome?: via Over The Baggy July 01, 2010 at 01:23 PM; Star Tribune columnist JimSouhan today discussed the ramifications of keeping the aging Jim Thome inthe lineup regularly. In Souhan’s piece,he noted that the Twins require Thome’s thump for optimal offense yet at hisaccelerated age, he needs respite in order to ensure a September presence. Accordingto Souhan (pardon the sheck):This makes for theTwins' best possible lineup. The catch, Gardenh