Baseball Purgatory

Hall of Fame ballots are due soon and decisions must be made. In this era of new statistics and ways of measuring players' performance one standard that continues to define a Hall of Fame player is getting 3,000 hits. The Baseball Hall of Fame is proud of the high standards players are expected to meet to gain entrance into the pantheon of baseball greats, but here are players who have between 2,700 hits and 3,000 hits and are not in the Hall of Fame. They are in baseball purgatory. Unable to be recognized as hall of famers, but great players in their own right these hitters deserve acknowledgement of what they did, which was close to being the best, but not quite. Here is a list of players forever stuck in baseball purgatory:

• Barry Bonds: 2,935 hits (God may send him to the real pergatory)
• Harold Baines: 2,866 hits (Should be in Hall of Fame.)
• Andre Dawson: 2,744 hits (Hawk=HOFer)
• Vada Pinson: 2,757 hits (Only 256 HR dooms him)
• Al Oliver: 2,743 hits (Only 219 HR, overshadowed on great 1970s Pirate teams.)
• Roberto Alomar: 2,724 hits (Will be in HOF soon.)
• Rusty Staub: 2,716 hits (Fan favorite with odd name, played 23 years and averaged only 49 K's a year.)
• Bill Buckner: 2,715 hits (Got many hits, but remembered for the one hit between his legs.)
• Dave Parker: 2,712 hits (The Cobra won two batting titles in 1977-78, but hurt by poor 1981-82 seasons.)
• Doc Cramer: 2,705 (Played from 1929-1948, career slugging of .375 suggests his bat was more of a wand than a bat.)

Say a prayer for these players (Barry Bonds especially) they did so much, but most are thought of so little.

The Minnesota Twins 5.5 Biggest Blunders

As the Minnesota Twins enter into their 50th season longtime fans know they have made many mistakes, but 5 stand out plus it's a nice round number. Now what's a half mistake? Actually the Twins have made many partial mistakes, but I decided to classify one above all others. I'm not going to rank the blunders because why have one stand out above all others? I'm for equal opportunity in all areas, even blunders, so here they are in the order they occurred:


1) Billy Martin Fired After One Season:
OK, Martin had his issues in his one year managing the Twins. He punched pitcher Dave Boswell multiple times (possibly 40 times!) in a brawl, he threw out Calvin Griffith's son and Hubert H. Humphrey from the locker room after a difficult loss, was secretly dating Griffith's college age daughter during the season and had numerous other run ins with Twins management. He was no prince, but Billy Martin was a winner everywhere he went and Minnesota was no different. He led the Twins to a division championship with a 97-65 record. Rod Carew thanks him for teaching him how to play second base and Jim Kaat said there wasn't a game during that 1969 season the Twins played they felt they wouldn't win. He instilled a winning mentality, but his act had a short shelf life. Three years at best and his message would wear thin. It would have been nice to have gotten 3 years from him especially when he won the division in his only year here. Firing Billy Martin after only 1 season was an obvious blunder.


2) Harmon Killebrew the Kansas City Royal:
Looking at the picture of Killebrew as a Royal in this article it seems odd and I never saw him play in a Twins uniform. Full disclosure dictates the circumstances that made Harmon Killebrew a Kansas City Royal for the 1975 season. As Wikipedia states, "At age 38, he was given the option of staying with the Twins as a coach and batting instructor, managing the Triple A Tacoma Twins, or being released." Harmon Killebrew is the greatest ambassador for baseball the Twins have ever had. You just don't release a future Hall of Famer, don't even give him that option. Offer him a farewell season and move him into the coaching ranks. He's always thought of as Minnesota Twin, but seeing him in a Royal uniform was a blunder that should've been avoided.


3) Calvin Griffith Closes the Door On Rod Carew:
The Minnesota Twins in 1978 were a stingy organization that wasn't relevant on the baseball landscape especially with the dawn of free agency and escalating player salaries approaching. Rod Carew knew this and was in the middle of a contract squabble with Griffith. Griffith spoke at a Lions Club meeting and uttered the following fateful quote, "I'll tell you why we came to Minnesota. It was when we found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don't go to ballgames, but they'll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it'll scare you to death. We came here because you've got good, hardworking white people here." Very smooth Calvin. Rod Carew decided he'd prefer to offer his Hall of Fame services elsewhere and a trade to the California Angels was worked out. Surprisingly their rift was worked out and once Carew was elected to the Hall of Fame his first phone call was to Calvin Griffith, before he even called his mother. A happy ending, but a major blunder nonetheless.


4) Tom Brunansky Traded for Tommy Herr:
Even my 14 year old mind knew this was a mistake the moment it happened. Let me get this straight. The Twins win the World Series over the Cardinals in 1987. Tom Brunansky, 27 at the time, was a leader on the team and key cog in keeping the team loose. In the 6 years he played for the Twins he would hit somewhere between 25-32 homeruns and have around 85 RBI. His batting average was never great, about .250, but they traded him after only 14 games in 1988. Tommy Herr,32 years old, hated it here and had 1 homerun and 21 RBI and batted .263. He said he felt like an intruder on the team. Andy McPhail, Twins GM at the time, has said this was his worst trade ever. It was a blunder, but at least the Twins traded Herr in the offseason for Shane Rawley...oh never mind.

4.5) David Ortiz is Not Invited Back
This one counts as half a mistake because David Ortiz has been found to have used steroids. So the Twins may have actually had the "real" David Ortiz before the slugging/clutch hitting machine known as David Ortiz showed up in Boston. Did they give up on him too early? Yes. According to Ortiz's autobiography the Twins always wanted him to hit the ball the other way. Boston wanted him to pull the ball. No one saw the enormous future David Ortiz had ahead of him, but to let him go to Boston without a contract offer from the Twins, now that was a blunder.


5.5) Johan Santana is Traded for Spare Parts
Possibly the worst trade in the history of baseball. Yes, strong words, but really look at who the Twins got in return for the best pitcher in the game. No one notable. Carlos Gomez...gone to Milwaukee, but they did get JJ Hardy so we'll judge later, Philip Humber...now with Royals on minor league deal, Kevin Mulvey...sent to Diamondbacks last year, Deolis Guerra...young pitching prospect in Twins minor league system/jury still out. Bill Smith was hoodwinked in this deal big time. Better deals were out there with Boston, it was a blunder not to take one of those.

So there you go. Big blunders from our favorite team. I'm sure there were many more. Comment on the ones I missed and let's hope a few years pass before more are added to this list.

Twins Stats Part II: Hitting With RISP

There has been much writing in baseball about what constitutes clutch hitting. Some people feel there is no such thing as clutch hitting. I'm not going to go that far, but really isn't clutch hitting how a batter fares when there are runners in scoring position? That's how I define clutch hitting. Now when someone drives in a run with their team leading by 8 runs is that clutch? Probably not as much as when he drives in a run in a one run ballgame. Others take into account what inning the "clutch' hitting took place. You can splice and dice the numbers all you want, but really you can tell who was more clutch by looking at the simple old hitting with runners in scoring position (RISP) statistic. As a team the Twins batted .277 with RISP in 2009. Only the Angels, Orioles (really?), Red Sox and Braves were better. Who was the Minnesota Twins most clutch hitter in 2009? There may be a variety of answers, but looking at how Twins players hit with RISP will go a long way in finding the answer. Here are those numbers.

1) Mauer .367
2) Young .313
3) Span .303
4) Morneau .294
5) Kubel .289
6) Punto .276
7) Harris .269
8) Cuddyer .267
9) Gomez .247
10) Cabrera .222
11) Crede .198
12) JJ Hardy .185

JJ Hardy hit only .221 in 2008 with RISP so the Twins are hoping that pattern changes. A third poor RISP season wouldn't be a charm. Delmon Young behind only Mauer? The numbers don't lie, but when were all those big base hits? As a team the Twins posted some remarkable numbers in certain situations with runners on base and in general hitting situations as well. Some that stood out:

• In innings 1-6 the Twins batted .283 trailing only the Angels in the majors.
• From the 7th inning on they batted a more modest .255 tied for 9th best in the majors.
• With the bases empty Twins batted .283 which was 3rd best behind Yankees and Dodgers.
• With 2 outs and runners in scoring positions Twins batted a middle of the road .243 tied for 11th in the majors.
• The Twins led baseball in bases loaded situations by hitting a whopping .355 which created 147 RBI. Only the Brewers and Red Sox created more RBI in bases loaded situations.

These numbers are even more amazing when you consider the non-hitting likes of Nick Punto, Delmon Young, Joe Crede and Brendan Harris saw ample playing time last year. Say what you want, but the Twins usually roll the dice and come up winners with the players they plug in. The players aren't flashy, but they contribute.

Minnesota Twins Pitches Per Plate Appearance

Patient teams usually win more games than teams jumping at pitches early in the count. This is no surprise. The book Moneyball brought this thought into the mainstream. I was wondering what the Minnesota Twins looked like when you just look at each player's pitches per plate appearance. Here are the results with plate appearances in parenthesis:

1) Nick Punto 4.20 (440)
2) Joe Mauer 4.18 (606)
3) Jason Kubel 4.04 (577)
4) Jose Morales 4.04 (134)
5) JJ Hardy 3.98 (465)
6) Denard Span 3.91 (676)
7) Michael Cuddyer 3.88 (650)
8) Brendan Harris 3.85 (454)
(league avg 3.84)
9) Alexi Casilla 3.77 (256)
10) Matt Tolbert 3.73 (231)
11) Justin Morneau 3.70 (590)
12) Joe Crede 3.69 (367)
13) Orlando Cabrera 3.68 (260)
14) Carlos Gomez 3.55 (349)
15) Delmon Young 3.50 (416)

JJ Hardy will be a welcome addition if he can work the count as he did last season. His career pitches per plate appearances is an above average 3.87 so that trend should continue. Nick Punto posted a career high last season at 4.20. His career average is 3.97 so there may be a slight regression for him. Joe Mauer also had a career high, but it was his 3rd straight season of seeing 4 or more pitches per plate appearance and that should continue with him seeing even fewer fastballs next year. Also, Jason Kubel showed increased maturity by pushing his pitches looked at per plate appearance to 4+ last season for the first time. All in all interesting numbers to look at, especially with the Hardy addition.

Put Harold Baines in the Hall of Fame

This is a Twins blog, but I felt Harold Baines deserved someone saying that he should be in the Hall of Fame. He won't make it this year and may never make it in, but his career numbers are at least worth a second look.

Harold Baines played 22 years.

Hits: 2,866 (40th all time)
HR: 384 (54th all time)
RBI: 1,628 (28th all time)
Batting Avg: .289
OBP: .356
SLG: .465
OPS+: 120

Hall of Famers have been put in with far less accomplishments than Baines, but let's look at his hits and RBI. Of the 39 players ahead of Baines on the all time hits list only 3 are not in the Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds (not eligible yet/steroids), Craig Biggio (not eligible/will get in) and Pete Rose (banned from baseball). The 4 players behind him on the all time hits list are in the Hall of Fame. If Harold Baines had 134 more hits in his career he'd already be in the hall. 134 hits is a thin margin for not voting someone in the Hall of Fame. Harold Baines is basically the White Sox equivalent of Bert Blyleven for Twins fans. Too close to not let in. Looking at the all time RBI list and the 28 players ahead of him, all but 8 are in the Hall of Fame. Those eight are: Sammy Sosa (not eligible/steroids), Gary Sheffield (not eligible/active), Frank Thomas (not eligible/will get in), Alex Rodroguez and Manny Ramirez (both still active/steroids), Ken Griffey Jr. (still active), Rafael Palmeiro (steroids). Harold Baines may not have always been an upper level superstar, but don't let a player like him who achieved his career numbers the "right/clean" way be left out of the Hall of Fame.

The Case For Dan Uggla

Dan Uggla may still be traded by the Florida Marlins. Putting him into a Twins uniform would help shore up second base (finally) and provide even more pop to an already good lineup. Uggla has positives and negatives like we all do. Here are his:

Positives:

• He'll be 30 years old next March


• He's averaged 32 homeruns a year, 95 RBI and an OPS+ of 114 in his four year career.


• Uggla's averaged 75 walks a year and had a career high of 92 last season in a down year for him.


• He's durable, thus far in career he has played 156-159 games a year.


• Triple slash for career is: .257/.344/.482


• Runs Created each year were: 102, 103, 100, 97. Last year's 97 was again in a down year. He is a very good run producer. Joe Mauer led the AL with 138 Runs Created last year. Next for the Twins were Kubel and Span at 101 Runs Created each. Getting around 100 runs created from 2B would help fans forget the hitting of the Harris/Punto/Casilla three headed monster.
  
• His Wins Above Replacement statistic over his career is 2.6-4.7. The Twins had the worse hitting second basemen last season and it wasn't even close. Getting 2-4 wins from 2B would be an upgrade.

Negatives

• Uggla's obvious problem is he is required to field a ball that is hit to him. Yes, he committed 3 errors in the All Star Game 2 years ago, but how inept is he with the glove? His UZR/150 (Runs Above Average per 150 games) for his career is -2.9. Close to average. It's been a rocky road though. His UZR/150 for his four years are: +7.1, -11.3, +2.0 and -9.6 last season. Not great, but also too up and down for the heavy criticism he receives for his poor fielding. It is fair to say Uggla is average at best with the glove with tendencies to look very bad at times throughout a 162 game season.
• Dan Uggla strikes out a lot. He will strike out 150-160 times a year. His strikeout percentage last season was 26.6% when the league average was 20%.

Conclusion

Getting Dan Uggla's bat in the lineup would help the Twins offense tremendously. Uggla's glove, while suspect, doesn't merit not doing the trade. His fielding will not cost the Twins more runs than he'll bring in with his bat. Depending on what the Marlins want I would endorse the Twins making the trade, even if that means trading Nick Blackburn. With all this said I will still be surprised if the Twins make the trade. They don't jump into the deep water often and have been too successful staying in the shallow end of the pool. But it would be fun to see them try the deep end once in awhile.

Greatest Twins Manager

Measuring a manager's greatness is difficult when you don't have many World Series trophies in your possession to tip the scales. Tom Kelly is the only Twins manager to carry those trophies, but he also has a losing record as manager at 1,140-1,248. So who will it be? Yes, the Twins have had many managers, but really the debate about who is the best in team history comes down to Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire. Sorry Sam Mele and Billy Martin, you just didn't have enough time in the manager position to enter the debate. I put together a rough point system that graded out each manager based on team record and post season success. The points were awarded like this:

• -2 points for a season below .500


• 0 points for a .500 season


• +2 points for a season above .500


• +4 points for winning division


• +6 points for winning ALDS

• +8 points for winning ALCS


• +12 points for winning World Series.

When comparing the years that Kelly and Gardenhire have managed there is a problem in that Kelly never had the opportunity to manage a team in the ALDS. This is problematic and may have given him enough points to top Gardenhire . Tom Kelly ended up with 38 points and Ron Gardenhire has also accumulated 38 points thus far. I guess they are equal, right? Maybe not. Kelly had 10 losing seasons in the 15 years he managed the Twins. He did win the World Series twice which obviously is where most of his 38 points came from. Ron Gardenhire on the other hand has had only 1 losing season in the 8 years he's managed, but he's only won 1 playoff series and that was in his first year. What do fans want? Continued competitive teams or 2 World Series championships along with many 90+ loss seasons? It is fairly clear that if Gardenhire continues to manage he will pass Kelly in my silly point system (probably next year), but without a World Series championship by Gardenhire many Twins fans will always consider Tom Kelly as the greatest Twins manager.

Denard Span's Additional Responsiblity

With Denard Span taking over the centerfield job for the Minnesota Twins, he needs to adjust to covering more ground and how to play centerfield in a new ballpark. It will be a learning process that he will successfully navigate I'm sure. Some people are worried about his defense in centerfield, not I. What I'm concerned about is that he will have to play outfield for Delmon Young as well because as anyone who's watched Twins baseball the past two seasons knows when Delmon Young is in leftfield odd misplays are lurking around every corner. When Carlos Gomez played centerfield he went after flyballs without regard for his fellow outfielders. Delmon Young knew his limitations and usually backed away letting the speedy/reckless Gomez go after the ball. Span is going to have to continue the tradition of carrying Young in the outfield. He will have to cover the left center power alley, catch those short flyballs between them and be the first to get to balls that go the wall. This doesn't even factor in the work Span will have to do because of Michael Cuddyer's average to below average defense. I could site defensive metrics that put the Twins defense into numbers that could be analyzed and processed, but the plain truth is Denard Span better be ready to run...a lot and quickly adapt to the new surroundings of Target Field because the Twins and especially Delmon Young are counting on him.

Change Can Be Good...Even In Baseball

Commissioner Bud Selig is forming a 14 member committee to examine various on-field issues in baseball. Names like Terry Ryan, Tony LaRussa, Jim Leyland, Mike Scioscia, and Joe Torre — as well as a former manager, the Hall of Famer Frank Robinson are part of the group. What issues will they look at changing? I have my own I would like changed:

• Shorten the season back to the original 154 game schedule and include 10 day/night doubleheaders per team. Let's have baseball end in October like it should.

• Raise the pitcher's mound by 5 inches to the height it was at from 1903 through 1968. It's time to give the pitchers some advantage back.

• Eliminate batters stepping out of the actual batter's box. Charge a hitter with a strike if they don't stay in the box. Also stop the adjusting of batting gloves. Once gloves are on they must be left in place.

• Limit conferences by the catcher to 2 per inning. Jose Molina of the Yankees should have his name attached to this rule after his ridiculously repetitious mound visits in the postseason.

• Become more the like the NFL in regards to the look of uniforms. Players should not be allowed to have the baggy pants, they don't need to show any sock, but having excessive amounts of pant piling up around the shoe should be done away with. Also umpires should enforce having players tuck their shirts in. The Jose Mijares look is not flattering and yes, we know Brandon Inge you were hit by the pitch in game 163 versus the Twins, but did it really hit you or did it hit your billowing shirt?

Those are a few of the changes I would make, I think all can be put into place, but the doubleheaders and changing back to 154 games would be met with fierce opposition because of the loss of money by the player's union and the owners so that has no chance of happening. The others? Let's give them a try.

Liriano's New Role

Remember Francisco Liriano in 2006, he went 12-3 with a 2.16 and a K/9 rate of 10.7. The Twins were all set. Liriano would anchor their rotation for years and become the dominate pitcher the Twins have lacked for years. Well, that didn't happen. Francisco Liriano has struggled mightily as a starter since coming back from Tommy John surgery. His numbers since the surgery are: 38 game starts (43 games total), 212.2 innings pitched, ERA of 5.13 and 8 strikeouts per 9 innings. Not effective, not even close. The alarming ERA of 5.13 gives the team little chance to win. Time to go in a new direction: Set up man for the set up men. Starting pitchers go about 6 innings/100 pitches if they have a good game. That leaves a third of the game in the hands of the bullpen. Guerrier, Mijares and Nathan usually take the 8th and 9th innings. Liriano should move into that 7th inning role. Something in the Phil Hughes mold. Last season Liriano showed he could dominate in short stretches that usually occurred in the first inning. On pitches 1-15 in each of his appearances he faced 146 batters last season. Those batters hit only .205/.282/.342. He struck out 42 of those 146 hitters. Starting with 16th pitch and onward he allows all hitters to perform like Denard Span. If I had to guess, the Twins are probably thinking of a middle to late inning role for him. It may suit him well, he throws hard, has a limited focus and then calls it a night. Francisco Liriano of 2006 is gone. As fans we need to readjust our thinking and see him as still valuable, but in the bullpen.

Another Baseball Statistic? No Thanks!

Yesterday Fangraphs came out with a new statistic called wRC+. I love Fangraphs and visit their site numerous times a day. They are good at what they do, which is mining the numbers for trends. wRC+ is weighted Runs Created based on weighted on base average. Really wRC+ is Fangraphs version of OPS+. Do we need another statistic to measure hitting, pitching and defense? Certainly not. Bill James, the godfather of sabermetrics, agrees. In 1981 (28 years ago!) he said, "The world needs another new baseball offense rating system like Custer needed more Indians." Perfectly said. We are now at the point where statistics are being created just so people can say they created a baseball statistic. Congratulations, you have invented a stat you and a handful of others on your block use and understand. If you think Joe Torre and Ron Gardenhire are plugging your stat into their decision making process, think again. Tom Tango wrote "The Book" which is subtitled playing baseball by the percentages. Granted I struggled in math growing up, but getting through that book made my brain ache and wonder how many college credits I would get for reading it. After reading it I was left with the question: Are managers using all this data? Some of the data they do use, but a lot of it is filler for books and articles. Baseball involves people who make wise and not so wise decisions. Nick Punto is ranked as one of the best baserunners in the American League, that didn't help him as he ran through the stop sign in Game 3 of the ALDS and was thrown out going back to third. Baseball is fun because of its unpredictability. Remember, the very worst team will win 25% of the time. That breeds unpredictability. Don't be confused, I love looking at statistics and not just the traditional ones, the advanced statistics as well, but the time has come. New statistics are clouding the game in a haze. Let's analyze baseball with what we have. Usually we come to the same conclusion anyway. Why take so many paths getting there ?

Why Stop at $120 Million?

In 1981 the Los Angeles Lakers offered a 25 year contract to Magic Johnson worth $25 million dollars. He gladly signed the contract. It was a brilliant move by the Lakers to lock up a superstar player before his career truly took off. The Minnesota Twins should take a page from the Lakers playbook when negotiating with Joe Mauer this offseason. Don't even come to the table with a 5, 6 or even a 7 year contract. Yes, they will have to pay Joe $20 million a year. So offer him a 10 year $200 million dollar contract. Forget $100 or $120 million. Go big! Joe Mauer is worth it. In an age of athletes behaving selfishly and like spoiled children Joe Mauer is squeaky clean, puts the team first and is the ultimate home town boy story, which the Twins love. Statistically he has won the batting title 3 of the past 4 seasons, has a career OBP of .408 and a SLG of .483. Mauer's OPS+ last season was 170 (meaning he was 70% better than the average hitter) and for his career it's 136. Simply, Joe Mauer is the best hitter to ever put on a Twins uniform in addition to being the best defensive catcher in team history. Let's have fun and look into the future. The Baseball Think Factory came up with a ZiPS career projection for Joe Mauer:

Bat. Avg: .318 (Cochrane .320, Berra .285, Bench .267) Mauer=2nd

OBP: .403 (Cochrane .419, Berra .348, Bench .342) Mauer=2nd

SLG: .477 (Berra .482, Cochrane .478, Bench .476) Mauer=3rd

Games: 2306 (Bench 2,158, Berra 2,120, Cochrane 1,482) Mauer=1st

AB: 8616 (Bench 7,658, Berra 7,555, Cochrane 5,169) Mauer=1st

Runs: 1377 (Berra 1,175, Bench 1,091, Cochrane 1,041) Mauer=1st

Hits: 2743 (Berra 2,150, Bench 2,048, Cochrane 1,652) Mauer=1st

Doubles: 491 (Bench 381, Cochrane 333, Berra 321) Mauer=1st

Triples: 43 (Cochrane 64, Berra 49, Bench 24) Mauer=3rd

HR: 263 (Bench 389, Berra 358, Cochrane 119) Mauer=3rd

RBI: 1296 (Berra 1,430, Bench 1,376, Cochrane 832) Mauer=3rd

BB: 1265 (Bench 891, Cochrane 857, Berra 704) Mauer=1st

OPS+: 133 (Cochrane 128, Bench 126, Berra 125) Mauer=1st

How do those numbers stack up against the all time greatest catchers? Statistics guru Rob Neyer has stated his top 3 catchers all time are:

1. Mickey Cochrane

2. Johnny Bench

3. Yogi Berra

Compare their career numbers to the numbers Mauer is projected at. Mauer's career rank is listed last in bold. At the very least he will be one of the top three catchers of all time, if not the best. Is he worth $200 million? Of course he is.

Old News: New Uniforms and a New Font (Really?)

I like the new uniforms. I really do, but I have adjusted my thinking slightly since they were unveiled. After stopping at the Twins Pro Shop I was looking at the new Twins logo with the small changes to the lettering. This is most evident on the S in Twins. I was left, as I looked at both logos side by side, with the question why make such a minute, almost unnoticeable change? How many fans will purchase a new uniform because of a small font change? Believe me I'm glad a more radical change didn't take place, but still a puzzling decision. Bringing the old 1961 home uniform back was a wise choice. I'm thinking that uniform will soon become the Twins' primary home uniform. I think Bill Smith made reference to that possibly happening because of the strong, positive reaction it received from the players. I may be in the minority, but I like the new road uniforms. The navy blue lettering looks better than red and the script of Minnesota is from the jackets players and coaches wore in the 60s and the 70s. Finally, the logo is classier looking with the addition of "Minnesota Baseball Club." Far too many teams change uniforms every 3 years it seems, in hockey it seems they add a new uniform every 3 months. I like how the Yankees have left their uniforms alone for decades. Let's hope the Twins leave their uniforms alone for another 20+ years and win a World Series in the new duds. OK, you're right...just win a playoff series first.

Winter Meetings...Yawn

I was hoping for some movement from the Twins regarding the 3B and 2B positions at the Winter Meetings. Of course nothing happened. Kevin Kouzmanoff, Mark DeRosa and Dan Uggla were all rumored to possibly be coming here. I realize they could still be a part of the team, but I will just have to get my mind used to the fact that a 3B/2B combination of Joe Crede and Nick Punto will be the more likely option. Beige has always been the color of choice for the Twins.

The truth of the matter is if Joe Crede could give the Twins 120 games at third base he would be more than adequate with his glove alone. I'm not sure I've seen a better fielding Twins third basemen. In only 84 games his UZR/150 was 23.4 which placed him 4th best in the majors among third basemen who played 3B a minimum of 100 innings. His bat would obviously have to produce at a greater rate than his .289 on base percentage from last season. Unfortunately I have little faith in Crede's back. It's not his fault. Bad backs have a way of not getting better, but If I had a crystal ball getting Crede for 120 games would be the way I would go if I were the Twins.