SB Nation User Blog: Johnny Safron

And the Twins are back at .500

Johnny Safron — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 23:12:31 -0000

For the 10th time in their last 30 games. It's starting to look like this isn't a very good ballclub. Taking solace in an allegedly weak division doesn't change that.

This team hasn't got much personality, and working the robotic Delmon into the lineup isn't going to change it. I'm starting to think that Gardy was right last year when he said playing Gomez gave this bunch some spark.

Reaching for the buoy has grown old

Johnny Safron — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 21:49:45 -0000

Aside from fans in KC, Oakland and Pittsburgh, there's one phrase that is more bitter than sweet, and it's been uttered too often by Dick Bremer after a Twins' win this season: "And the Twins are back at .500."

Thanks to the parity that almost no one predicted at any time since free agency, baseball teams are more even than ever. That means the Twins would be fighting for first place with this record if they got their mail in any division in baseball - other than the National League West.

There have been only two teams to win 100 games since 2005 in the NL and AL combined, and last season 19 teams won at least 75 games and three others missed that mark by one. Basically, all that spending by the Mets and the Yankees hasn't mattered much. It's like the Minnesota State High School League - everyone has a chance.

Thanks to baseball achieving what Pete Rozelle envisioned for the NFL decades ago,parity the Twinks have been able to overcome an outfield that has been potholed bi-monthly (Cuddyer's finger, Span's inner ear problem, the death of Delmon Young's mother, plus his inability to understand he's supposed to be a big-league hitter).

Despite that and

Alex Casilla's two dozen mental errors in about three dozen games,
an infield that now has a spring-training spare part at starting shortstop,
an infield that has the starting shortstop at second base,
Joe Crede's nicks and twitches,
a bullpen that struggled so badly the Twins were forced to dumb it down by sending baseball's smartest player to Oakland,
a delivery from Francisco Liriano that finishes in the technically challenging pirouette,
Scott Baker's BertBlylevenitis,
and playing without its all-World catcher for a month,

the Twinkers are still in it.

Now it's time for this horse to quit drafting the leaders of this derby, sprint to the outside, take the lead and get Bremer to shut up about the Twins reaching sea level once again.

That's one piece of the puzzle

Johnny Safron — Wed, 06 May 2009 17:25:55 -0000

Casilla had to go. Too many mental mistakes, too lousy at the plate.

Now to move Skates Young out of there. He has as many errors (2) as extra base hits, and in 700 PAs with the Twins the guy who is supposed to provide right-handed punch has about the same SA as Matt Tolbert.

And Skates is an absolute clown in the field. Gomez to center, Span to left. Cuddyer to lose 5-8 pounds.

Uhlaender dies

Johnny Safron — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 23:37:47 -0000

Click image for career stats

Uhlaender, big-league outfielder and scout, dies

On any other day, Karen Uhlaender would have been overjoyed to meet daughter Katie, who had just finished second in a World Cup skeleton race at Park City, Utah.

But Thursday she carried a message that their husband and father, Ted Uhlaender, had died suddenly at the family ranch near Atwood, Kan. He was 68.

Read THE ENTIRE story from the Denver Post.

Oh. THAT'S why the Hall of Fame is in New York

Johnny Safron — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 04:27:45 -0000

Someone will naturally complain about the members of the BBWAA who did not vote for Rickey Henderson on first ballot. I see no problem with that, and it's quite likely those who did not just feel there is no reason to vote in anyone on the first ballot.

There are many excellent players who failed to get in on first ballot. Harmon Killebrew waited four turns, while Reggie Jackson waltzed in on the first ballot. Jackson was not a better player than Killebrew, and if you want to make an attempt to argue otherwise you still can't justify such a discrepency.

It all comes down to East Coast bias.

Henderson is certainly a Hall of Famer, but it's pretty easy to argue that based on statistics alone there are a number of inductees in the past 50 years who gained access to the Hall based on where they played.

By my count, since 1959, the BBWAA have inducted 72 players. (People like to bitch about the BBWAA in connection with the Hall of Fame, but that august body is responsible for just 108 of the 289 elected HOF members.)

Of those 72 who were voted in since 1959, 23 have strong Boston or New York connections.(I use 1959 because by then the "generals," the Ruths and Cobbs and Mathewsons who were piling up when voting started in 1936 - and players like Sisler, Gehrig and Collins who were part of the subsequent logjam - were all accounted for.)

It's interesting to me that such a large percentage of inductees in the past 50 years have strong Boston-New York ties. If you decide that Dennis Eckersley, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax had East Coast ties, that raises the number to 26 of 72. That's an awfully high number considering New York-Boston teams don't constitute anywhere near close to one-third of the teams in baseball.

It's a certainty that some voters who cast ballots for Koufax, Drysdale and Eckersley were influenced by those players' days in Brooklyn and Boston, and of the three Drysdale is a very borderline choice.

There are eight others in this Boston-New York group who could be argued over: Jim Rice, Goose Gossage, Gary Carter, Carlton Fisk, Catfish Hunter, Roy Campanella, Red Ruffing, Jackie Robinson.

Robinson would never have made it on stats alone, but there is special consideration here despite the fact he barely meets the minimum 10 years of playing time. Campanella's career was equally brief, but unlike Robinson, Campy would have had a bumpy road to induction if he had played in, say, St. Louis.

But rather than get into it over the list of eight or so players who may have been inducted because of the knickers they wore, I'd be willing to concede their worthiness if this list of inductees was larger, say, 90 players, with the other 18 having no Boston-New York ties.

If the BBWAA wants to induct players who drank many post-game beers in Boston and New York, OK. Fine by me. But if that's going to be the case, it's time for the writers to loosen their attitude and adopt the mindset that it's OK to have three or four inductees annually - with one or two of them having played their careers in uniforms that didn't read "Boston" or "New York."

Juan, I liked you then, and I like you now

Johnny Safron — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 04:10:40 -0000

85-Minute Strikeout Latest Oddity in Cuban League Action

Near as research in English has allowed, this does appear to be "our" Juan Castro.

This glimpse into warm weather and baseball unfortunately becomes an ideal argument for those who think baseball games are too slow, but one could also argue that the whole scenario borders on performance art.

I hope more details of the actual delay tactics make their way into the popular media regarding what was apparently baseball's equivalent of a filibuster.

Twins to Arizona?

Johnny Safron — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 03:48:07 -0000

With Ft. Myers agreeing to build an estimated $70-80 million dollar Fenway Park replica for the Red Sox, it's evident that at least the city commisioners in Lee County aren't fretting about the current economy.

Debut of that new park - capable of holding about a third more fans than the Twins' Florida facility, Hammond Stadium, will leave the city of Ft. Myers holding the bag on the downtown City of Palms, which the Sox will vacate. (This puts the Orioles in a great situation because both Sarasota and Ft. Myers will be pursuing the O's.)

With the Twins' lease for Lee County Sports Complex ready to expire in 2011, I believe, Ft. Myers might really need to pursue the O's. The Twins would like some upgrades on Hammond Stadium - which is already a jewel - and they will be in great position to have their demands met, even if I'm wrong about the lease expiring in 2011. The Twins are in good shape for demands because of some particulars of the lease.

The Twins only train in Florida because the Senators trained there and Calvin Griffith continued the tradition after the team moved to Minnesota. But Arizona seems at least as logical a spring site, and that state has been pursuing big-league teams left and right in recent seasons.There must be as many of more Minnesotans living or wintering in Arizona and Palm Springs as there are in Florida.

So from a standpoint of facilities the Twins are sitting pretty along with the O's and the Sox, although the location of the new Sox park is going to hurt the Twins at the gate.

Even if the novelty wears off - and there are always enough Red Sox fans in Florida to practically ensure that novelty isn't the main attraction - fans from south of Ft. Myers will flock to the new stadium because of its location. Little Fenway will stand between places such as Naples and Hammond Stadium. People will have to be Twins' fans to want to travel the extra distance to see a spring training game.

By the way, spring training games start damn near on Valentine's Day this year, because of the World Baseball Classic.

The season just keeps getting longer.

Terms of Use

Johnny Safron — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 19:04:27 -0000

Although like so much of this stuff that goes through a committee of attorneys, the below is so poorly written that it could mean something else, but it seems to suggest that this isn't eBay and people should take their baseball card sets and other junk from their closet and sell it elsewhere.

10. No Commercial Use.

You may not resell, distribute, make any commercial use of (other than to keep and share information for your own business purposes), use on a timeshare or service bureau basis, or use to operate a Web site or otherwise generate income from the SBNation Network.

The old Twins nemesis chokes again

Johnny Safron — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 22:56:09 -0000

I see the fatman who always trashed the Twins in the media - and sometimes on the field - has solidified his reputation as a guy who is no big-game pitcher.

CC. Sabathia just sucks in the post-season. If you don't give him 5 runs in the first two innings, and then keep piling it on, he can not pitch in these big games.

As a guy who ran one of the biggest mouths about the Twins back when he was in the A.L., it certainly has been a laugh riot to watch most of his post-season starts the past two years.

Morneau becomes Mauer

Johnny Safron — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 04:17:35 -0000

The nearly three-season long transformation of Justin Morneau into the mold of Joe Mauer as a hitter has reached a new level as 2008 concludes.

Whiffs
Morneau, first-half:1/7.5 PA

Morneau second-half whiffs: 1/12.7 PA

Mauer for the season: 1/12.2. PA

Walks
Morneau, first-half: 1/10.3 PA

Morneau, second -half: 1/8.2 PA.

Mauer: 1/7.2 PA

Posts need to be 75 words long, so here are some more words.