Minnesota Twins

Doug Fister (5-1, 3.62) When Fister first made the major leagues with the Mariners in 2009, he wasn't really a special pitcher. He didn't strike many hitters out, he didn't get a lot of ground balls, and he gave up a ton of homers. The next season, he cut down on the home runs by a ton, but an increase in hits left his ERA at a nearly identical 4.11 after having a 4.13 in his rookie season. Then came 2011, where Fister started putting things together. He was still limiting home runs, he started suppressing hits, and it led to a 3.33 ERA. But, he was being backed up by the woeful Mariners offense, so his record was a measly 3-12 as the July 31st trade deadline approached. The Tigers were not turned off by that W/L record and acquired Fister and reliever David Pauley for outfielder Casper Wells, reliever Charlie Furbush, third base minor leaguer Francisco Martinez, and a PTBNL, which turned out to be minor league pitcher Chance Ruffin. Upon joining the Tigers, Fister added the final piece of the puzzle that had been eluding him in his short career: the strikeout. With the Mariners he sat at 5.49 K/9, but for the remainder of the season with the Tigers, it jumped to 7.29. Since then, his K/9 has consistently been above 7.0, showing that whatever he learned upon joining Detroit has stuck with him. Additionally, his ground ball percentage has skyrocketed, sitting at a career-best 56.7% this year. For reference, last year saw only 5 qualified starting pitchers that had a GB% higher than Fister's current rate. All of this has transformed Fister from a middling pitcher to one of the best #3-4 starters in the league. Fister throws a 2-seam fastball, 4-seamer, change-up, curveball, and cutter. His 2-seamer and change-up are both above-average pitches according to FanGraphs, while his 4-seamer and curve are average and the cutter is pretty bad, but it's also the pitch he throws least often. Remember, he does not allow many homers, he gets a ton of grounders, and he will not walk anyone. This doesn't sound promising for the Twins. P.J. Walters (2-5, 5.69*) * 2012 stats Walters makes today's start as the Twins seem to return to last year's plan of throwing everything at the wall and seeing what sticks. They've already discovered that Liam Hendriks, Pedro Hernandez, and Vance Worley aren't cutting it right now, and with Cole De Vries struggling in the minors and Kyle Gibson "not ready" for the majors, they've turned to Plan... uh... just pick a letter after E, I've lost count. Walters made his Twins debut last season on May 12th, and for a while it seemed like he was a godsend. In his first 4 starts after being called up, he had a 2.96 ERA with a complete game win against the Chicago White Sox in start #3. However, his next three starts were a disaster as he allowed 13 runs in only 9 1/3 IP, which culminated with him exiting his start against the Philadelphia Phillies where he gave up 4 runs without recording a single out. Afterwards, it was determined that Walters had right shoulder inflammation, and he sat on the disabled list for nearly 3 months. When he came back, Walters' struggles continued as he gave up 16 runs in 14 innings in his first three starts off the DL. But, he rediscovered his form in his final three starts by allowing only 7 runs in 16 innings, including back-to-back solid starts against the Tigers to end the season. Compared to the rest of the pitching rotation, Walters actually gets a decent number of strikeouts. However, he's been unable to carve out a regular role on a major league squad because he gives up too many hits and his home run rate is nearly double the major league average. Scott Baker was nicknamed "Moon Shot Scott" by some Twins fans, but you should realize that Baker was actually pretty stingy (1.16 HR/9) upon being compared to Walters (1.92 HR/9). Again, against this Tigers offense, this game does not look promising. Walters throws a 4-seam fastball, a low-70s slurve, a 2-seamer, change-up, an

Back at the beginning of the season, I wasn't very optimistic for the Twins. I figured that they hadn't done enough to address the starting pitching woes, and I also felt that they were oddly content with an offense that was actually pretty middling last year. However, I never thought that any part of the season would be THIS bad. Honestly, no one predicts that their team will suffer a 10-game losing streak. Not even Astros or Marlins fans would think of their team losing that many games in a row. It's statistically improbable, and yet here we are. Thus, today's Saturday Notebook has a special "At least the Twins are better than this!" list that starts right now. 1. The Twins are better than the umpiring crew at Friday's Rangers-Mariners game. In the 2nd inning and a runner on 1st base, Mariners catcher Jesus Sucre hits a grounder to first baseman Mitch Moreland. He threw the ball to shortstop Elvis Andrus, who attempted to complete the double play by throwing it back to Moreland. However, the ball never reached its target, as the pitcher Justin Grimm snatched the ball just before Moreland was able to catch it. Well, that was apparent on replay. What was not apparent live was that Moreland never caught the ball, and thus Sucre was ruled out at 1st base, even though Grimm never touched the bag. You have to watch the GIF to get a full appreciation of how every umpire on the field did not see this correctly. 2. The Twins are not openly admitting that they are actively trying to anger their fan base like the Yankees. Last Saturday, the New York Yankees acquired shortstop Reid Brignac from the Colorado Rockies. To make room for Brignac on the 25-man roster, they designated infielder Alberto Gonzalez for assignment. In limited playing time, Gonzalez had hit .250/.286/.375, which isn't awful but isn't great either. When asked why outfielder Ben Francisco did not receive the axe (hitting .114 at the time), this was general manager Brian Cashman's response. Cashman on Ben Francisco's roster spot: "Just in terms of your fan comments section, just say I'm holding onto him to piss everybody off."— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughSL) May 18, 2013 Wow. I mean, at least Terry Ryan has the decency to give a reason why a player is staying on the roster. Even if that player is Drew Butera and he's only there to play in case the Twins lose both Joe Mauer and Ryan Doumit to injury in the same game. By the way, Francisco has not had any additional at-bats since Cashman's comment. 3. The Twins are not using spitballs like Alex Sanabia (unless they're shooting them during the daily pitchers & catchers meeting). In an earlier edition of the Saturday Notebook, I talked about Clay Buchholz possibly using a Bull Frog sunscreen-sweat-rosin mixture to get a better grip on the ball, and how a lot of players actually didn't think it was a big deal. Well, during Monday's game against the Phillies, Marlins pitcher Alex Sanabia chose to put something a little more organic on his baseball (pay attention at 0:15 of the video) after surrendering a home run to Domonic Brown. Dave Cameron of FanGraphs took a look at Sanabia's pitches from that game and determined that even if Sanabia was throwing a spitball, his pitches did not show any extraordinary movement, suggesting that perhaps Sanabia was not even skilled in Gaylord Perry's signature pitch. However, some keen commenters noticed that despite his blatant deposit of saliva on the ball, Sanabia could be seen vigorously rubbing the baseball with his hands at 0:22 in the video. One does not throw a spitball by rubbing the ball dry of all moisture. Likely because it seemed safe to assume that he dried the ball off with his hands, MLB chose not to punish Sanabia despite hocking a loogie (not a LOOGY) all over the baseball. 4. The Twins are not throwing away commemorative baseballs marking a rookie's career firsts like Evan Gattis. Evan Gattis has built himself a hell of a following, going from being h

Episode 39 of the Twins baseball podcast,  Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here. The trifecta of bad “beer” Cody and Eric must hate themselves, because there is not other reason they would be watching bad baseball and drinking bad beers.  But alas, here they are, for another week, with another bad team, and more Twins banter. This week they cover the Twins news, do a lenghty look at the Twins regulars now that the season is 25% of the way over, and they decide that Joe Mauer and the bullpen are the only things going well for the Twins (ummm duh!). The round out the podcast with FOUR bad beers, their bored, tipsy, silly friend Tricia, and as always, a trip around the league. Ninety-nine minutes of audio pleasure. You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan.  You can follow Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) or read his writing at  Puckett’s Pond.  And of course, you can find me on Twitter (@ERolfPleiss) and read my writing here at Knuckleballs! - ERolfPleiss

(Reuters) - Detroit's Anibal Sanchez was denied a no-hitter but still struck out 12 batters in a pitching gem as the Tigers sent the Minnesota Twins crashing to their 10th straight defeat with a 6-0 victory on Friday. Sanchez was heading towards a second career no-hitter with one out in the ninth inning before Joe Mauer punched a single up the middle to deny the Venezuelan a chance to become the 28th pitcher in Major League history with multiple no-hitters. ... Read more Anibal Sanchez news

Where's Oswaldo? Well, he's on a plane back to Rochester, it seems. Needing to clear a 25-man roster spot so P.J. Walters can start Saturday against Detroit, the Twins settled on optioning outfielder Oswaldo Arcia to Triple-A Rochester, though a corresponding 40-man roster move still needs to be made. It seems rather odd that the Twins would demote a guy that's currently hitting .255/.318/.449 with 4 homers in just 107 plate appearances this season, but the truth is that Arcia has only had 3 hits in his last 34 plate appearances, with 4 walks and 11 strikeouts in that span. However, one could easily argue that Chris Parmelee - batting .207/.290/.306 after Friday's game - is more "worthy" of a demotion than Arcia. For whatever reason, the Twins disagree, and Arcia is the one that draws the short straw. Brian Dozier, Chris Colabello, or even Eduardo Escobar could have been other options for the demotion, but with Pedro Florimon suffering a sprained finger on Thursday, the Twins are a little short on infielders right now. Still, it should be noted that Florimon did enter Friday's game as a defensive replacement after Colabello pinch hit for Escobar. I don't think Arcia will stay down in the minors for long. Eventually, the Twins will realize that while Parmelee has shown he can handle the outfield defensively, his bat simply is not an asset and they will need Arcia back in the lineup. To be honest, however, the sign that Arcia's bat needs to be in the lineup should have been evident after being one-hit on Friday.

Well, if you're going to lose 10 games in a row, you may as well do it in memorable fashion. Which the Twins did. Anibal Sanchez had recorded 25 outs without allowing a hit. But then he threw a pitch out over the plate to Joe Mauer, who drilled it up the middle and snuffed out Sanchez's no-hit bid. Beyond that, Sanchez was untouchable. Samuel Deduno pitched a standard-issue Samuel Deduno game, throwing a lot of pitches, walking in a run with the bases loaded, getting some strikeouts, etc. He could have been better, he could have been worse. So, yay? (Yes, I realize I just wrote that about someone who gave up 6 runs, 9 hits, and 3 walks. It was his first start of the season and he got to the 6th inning. That's the straw I'm grasping at.) ROBOT ROLL CALL: kenzertz DavidRF jere.johnson37 myjahweirdtwitter less cowbell more 'neau Luke in MN Fantasy Master sportsavenue montanatwinsfan Eric in Madison BULLETS: Things really got away from Deduno in the second. Had he covered first on a grounder to second, the Twins would have turned a double play and escaped with no runs allowed. Had he fielded a playable grounder to his right, he could have gotten the runner at first and he would have escaped with no runs allowed. Had the umpire correctly called the next runner out at second on another grounder, he would have escaped with no runs allowed. With those three outs unrecorded, that allowed the aforementioned bases-loaded walk and a 2-run Miggy Cabrera single to put the Tigers ahead for good. Per ESPN, this was the third no-hitter Joe Mauer has broken up in the 9th inning. Oswaldo Arcia, who's been slumping of late, but STILL has the third-best OPS on the whole godforsaken team, was sent down after the game to make way for P.J. Walters, tomorrow's starting pitcher. CHARTS & GRAPHS: Source: FanGraphs Enjoy your holiday weekend, everybody.

It’s FRIDAY!!! I don’t know about you but I really can’t think of anything else I would really like to do to kick off the holiday weekend than sit down with an adult beverage, kick up my feet and watch some baseball… except.. well.. Twins baseball just hasn’t been all that relaxing to watch lately.. and I have a To Do list about a mile long.. so.. yeah, I’ll be in and out. At least with “effectively wild” Samuel Deduno coming up to pitch to the Detroit hitting machine, it could be INTERESTING.. Minnesota @ Detroit Carroll, 3B Dirks, LF Mauer, C Infante, 2B Willingham, DH Cabrera, M, 3B Morneau, 1B Fielder, 1B Arcia, LF Martinez, V, DH Parmelee, RF Peralta, Jh, SS Escobar, E, SS Avila, C Hicks, CF Kelly, D, CF Dozier, 2B Garcia, A, RF   Deduno, P   Sanchez, An, P Live Chat Software

The pitching matchup is certainly in Detroit's favor. Anibal Sanchez has been one of Detroit's most consistent starting pitchers this season. Twins right-hander Samuel Deduno will make his first appearance this season. Read more Anibal Sanchez news

Episode 39 of the Twins baseball podcast,  Talk To Contact (@TalkToContact), is now available for download via iTunes or by clicking here. The trifecta of bad “beer” Cody and Eric must hate themselves, because there is not other reason they would be watching bad baseball and drinking bad beers.  But alas, here they are, for another week, with another bad team, and more Twins banter. This week they cover the Twins news, do a lenghty look at the Twins regulars now that the season is 25% of the way over, and they decide that Joe Mauer and the bullpen are the only things going well for the Twins (ummm duh!). The round out the podcast with FOUR bad beers, their bored, tipsy, silly friend Tricia, and as always, a trip around the league. Ninety-nine minutes of audio pleasure. You can follow Cody on Twitter (@NoDakTwinsFan) or read his writing at NoDakTwinsFan.  You can follow Paul on Twitter (@BaseballPirate) or read his writing here at  Puckett’s Pond.  And of course, you can find Eric on Twitter (@ERolfPleiss) and read his writing at Knuckleballsblog.com

Your best non-Fast & Furious 6 entertainment option for tonight is right here.