This is huuuuge. Sano was easily the top Latin American talent available this year. He received a 3.15 million signing bonus. The 16 year old shortstop probably will move to third base in the future as he is a big kid who still has some filling out to do.
With the signing of Sano, Max Kepler, who is widely believed to be the best player to ever come out of Europe, and 1st round pick Kyle Gibson, who was a top 5-10 talent, the Twins now have one of the best 5-10 farm systems in baseball.
Here is a good video on [...]

Generally catchers don’t catch both ends of a doubleheader. Joe Mauer is not most catchers.
The future AL MVP poked his head into Gardy’s office after the game and said three words: “I got this.”
Here are your lineups for game 2
(TWINS 82-74)
1. Denard Span, RF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Jason Kubel, DH
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Carlos Gomez, CF
8. Matt Tolbert, 3B
9. Nick Punto, 2B
Starting pitcher: LH Brian Duensing (5-1, 3.33 ERA)
TIGERS (83-73)
1. Ryan Raburn, LF
2. Placido Polanco, 2B
3. Magglio Ordonez, RF
4. Miguel Cabrera, 1B
5. Marcus Thames, DH
6. Brandon Inge, 3B
7. Curtis Granderson, CF
8. Gerald Laird, C
9. [...]

The Twins-Tigers game tonight has been rained out. They will play tomorrow at 11 AM Central time and 6 PM Central time.

This is it, kids. Twins v. Tigers. Four games to decide the AL Central. The Twins have their four best pitchers going, while the Tigers have their ace and three other guys. Not that said three other guys are bad, but there is no one in there as good as Verlander, nor is there anyone in there who inspires less confidence than throwing Jeff Manship out there would.
Tomorrow’s matchup pits Nick Blackburn (4.45 FIP) against Rick Porcello (4.85). They are remarkably similar pitchers. Neither misses many bats, but Blackburn walks a batter per 9 less than Porcello does. Since Comerica [...]

First off, I would like to apologize for the sporadic posting over the last week or two (and generally low quality of said posts). School has been not a lot of fun the past couple weeks, but after next week I should be free and clear for a little while. Alright, let’s get to the links.
Mailing it in bigtime. (Oh it’s THOSE Girls)
Someone has a little too much time on their hands.
How would Milton Bradley fit in with the Marlins? (Marlin Maniac)
Some of the worst news of all-time (Basement-Dwellers)
More than you would ever need to know about the Royals instructs [...]

Don’t believe me? Let’s take a peek:
Twins wOBA (AL Rank): .335 (5)
Tigers wOBA (AL Rank): .328 (9)
Twins FIP (AL Rank): 4.36 (7)
Tigers FIP (Al Rank): 4.53 (11)
Twins UZR: (AL Rank): -35.6 (12)
Tigers UZR (AL Rank): 44.0 (3)
The Tigers pitching has been below average as a whole, and outside of Justin Verlander it has been pretty awful. But because they have Adam Everett, Placido Polanco and Brandon Inge in the infield, Rick Porcello looks really good. Scott Baker has a better FIP than both he and Edwin Jackson, but because the Twins insist on having terrible outfield defense, his numbers look [...]

The Twins swept the Sox tonight, despite a so so effort from Brian Duensing. He went 5.2 innings and gave up 3 runs, including a 2 run HR. Bobby Keppel also gave up a 2 run HR, but the rest of the bullpen did its job to close out the win. Nathan made it interesting, but still managed to get his 44th save of the year.
On Twitter tonight, there were some people wondering why Keppel was pitching in the 8th. I’ll tell you why: It was a 4 run lead in the 8th inning. His leverage index was .76. Using [...]

In 1871, a great fire swept through Chicago, burning around four square miles. If Chicago re-enacts that fire, by all means go ahead, as long as you make sure you catch US Cellular Field.
The Twins are up 2 games to none in the series vs. the White Sox, and they go for the sweep tomorrow with Brian Duensing on the hill.
Tonight, Jeff Manship had a rough day, throwing just 2.1 innings and giving up 4 runs, walking only one but striking out zero. Then Francisco Liriano came in and threw 2.1 more innings, giving up a run, walking two while [...]

The Twins had a golden opportunity to reduce the AL Central deficit to just 1 game, but the bats fell asleep and Nate Robertson (seriously, Nate Robertson?) got the win to boost the Tigers’ lead back to 3 games, with 15 games remaining. Robertson has a 4.35 FIP on the year and has walked nearly as many hitters as he has struck out, yet the Twins couldn’t get anything going as Robertson ended three Minnesota innings with runners on with three strikeouts. He struck out Denard Span three times in the game. Placido Polanco, my new least favorite human being [...]

…Just kidding. I just got a new computer and I don’t want to ruin it by puking all over my keyboard, which is what I feel like doing when I think about this series. So let’s just rock some links.
Tons of great research in this one. (Waves of Arms)
This is the least updated blog in the universe. (Oh It’s THOSE Girls)
The nicest thing I can say about the Tigers is that their quality is higher than that of their bloggers. Case in point: This trash. (Daily Detroit Tigers)
One team that doesn’t apply to this: The Blue Jays. This is one [...]