After having typically appeared in the hallowed pages of Baseball Think Factory, Dan Szymborski’s ZiPS projections have now been released at FanGraphs for a decade. The exercise continues this offseason. Below are the projections for the Minnesota Twins.

Batters

Hey, that doesn’t look half bad! I’m talking about the hitters, mind you, and it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise given that the Twins returned the entire lineup that was roughly middle-of-the-pack in offense in the American League. Given that last season was certainly more than half bad as a whole, and I’m going to get grumpy below, here’s the chance to say some nice things.

This is one place where I believe the ZiPS estimate of Byron Buxton’s playing time more than I do that of our depth charts. Minnesota’s extension was a fair deal on both sides, I feel, simply because you’d be lying or batty if you said that his health didn’t represent a significant risk that impacts his value in the open market. A seven-year contract worth $150–$200 million probably just isn’t out there, even if he were a free agent right now. It’s hard for the Twins to walk away, though, since a healthy season from Buxton, while possibly a unicorn, remains one of the biggest sources of possible upside on the roster.

Elsewhere, the offense generally looks fine. The only real position you could call an actual problem is perhaps the Trevor Larnach/Brent Rooker mix in left, with ZiPS not entirely enthralled with either. The Jimmy Kerrigan defensive projection turned my eye enough that I double-checked it, but ZiPS gave him the best defensive performance of a corner outfielder in the minors it ever has. If his glove is anywhere near what the computer thinks, he’s a more interesting back-of-the-roster talent than, say, Jake Cave.

Man, Jose Miranda. I admit to not really having paid much attention to his season in the minors, but he killed it in 2021 after a rather uninspiring history, and given his straight-up performance, he really ought to be considered one of the team’s top prospects. ZiPS is getting antsy about Royce Lewis, and really, he hasn’t actually been healthy and playing well since 2018. ZiPS may be too pessimistic about his mean projection long term, but I think he really ought to tumble down the prospect lists considerably. It’s hard to miss two years of development time.
Read the rest of this entry »

Ben Lindbergh concludes a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in a medium other than writing or podcasting by talking to singer-songwriter Dan Bern about his origins as a baseball fan and musician, rooting for different teams at different times, his songwriting process, sneaking into Wrigley Field, composing his first baseball song, the tools of his trade, what makes a song a baseball song, the most fitting subjects for baseball songs, the best baseball songs by other artists, the pandemic’s impact on musicians, writing bespoke songs, appreciating multiple eras of baseball history, and more. Dan also performs his songs “Ballpark” (15:40), “The Year-By-Year Home Run Totals of Barry Bonds” (18:50), “Slowly Turn Around” (19:47), “Everything’s Better Than it Used to Be” (45:36), “This Side of the White Lines” (49:45), and “Seven Miles an Hour” (55:25).

Audio intro: Dan Bern, “When My Buckner Moment Comes”
Audio outro: Dan Bern, “Merkle”

Link to Dan’s website
Link to Dan’s song store
Link to Dan on Bandcamp
Link to Dan on Facebook
Link to Dan’s Doubleheader album on Spotify
Link to Dan’s Rivalry album on Spotify
Link to NYT piece on Doubleheader
Link to Dan’s 10,000 Crappy Songs podcast
Link to Dan’s discography
Link to Dan’s lyrics
Link to press coverage of Dan
Link to “Ballpark”
Link to “The Year-By-Year Home Run Totals of Barry Bonds”
Link to “Slowly Turn Around”
Link to “Everything’s Better Than it Used to Be”
Link to “This Side of the White Lines”
Link to “Seven Miles an Hour”
Link to “The Golden Voice of Vin Scully”
Link to EW episode about baseball music
Link to Ben on Get Back
Link to Neil Young’s “Old Black”
Link to Conan’s old-timey baseball video
Link to EW episode about old-timey baseball
Link to EW episode about discovering sports late
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Ben Lindbergh continues a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in a medium other than writing or podcasting by talking to painter Graig Kreindler about Noah Syndergaard, Nick Adenhart, and the best way to pay tribute to past players via uniform number, how Graig got started as a baseball fan and artist, how he began to unify the two hobbies into a calling and career, the combination of inherent ability and practice, the tools of his trade, parting with completed pieces, how his portraits draw on but differ from photographs, his rigorous research process (and the heightened challenge of researching Negro Leagues players), blending preparation and passion, correcting mistakes, his artistic aspirations, his favorite paintings, and much more.

Audio intro: The High Llamas, “Painters Paint”
Audio outro: The Band (Feat. Bob Dylan), “When I Paint My Masterpiece”

Link to Sam Blum on Adenhart and Syndergaard
Link to first EW episode about number tributes
Link to Graig’s website
Link to Graig on Instagram
Link to YouTube video about Graig
Link to NYT piece on Graig
Link to Sports Collectors Digest on Graig
Link to Todd Radom on Graig
Link to National Review piece on Graig
Link to Graig’s Negro Leagues Project gallery
Link to Graig’s “large works” gallery
Link to Murderer’s Row (1927 Yankees)
Link to The Dutch Master (Johnny Vander Meer)
Link to Foreign Reinforcement (Josh Gibson)
Link to Big Sam (Sam Thompson)
Link to Advice From the Big Kid (Ruth)
Link to In a Fog (Ernie Banks)
Link to Graig’s Bautista bat flip
Link to Tom Shieber EW interview
Link to Tom’s Baseball Researcher site
Link to history of perspective in art
Link to NFTs explainer
Link to EW episode about discovering sports late
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS

Read the rest of this entry »

The following article is part of Jay Jaffe’s ongoing look at the candidates on the BBWAA 2022 Hall of Fame ballot. For a detailed introduction to this year’s ballot, and other candidates in the series, use the tool above; an introduction to JAWS can be found here. For a tentative schedule and a chance to fill out a Hall of Fame ballot for our crowdsourcing project, see here. All WAR figures refer to the Baseball-Reference version unless otherwise indicated.

The road to becoming a reliever, even a Hall of Fame one, is rarely a straight one. Dennis Eckersley spent a dozen years starting in the majors, making two All-Star teams and throwing a no-hitter. Hoyt Wilhelm, Rollie Fingers, Rich Gossage, and Lee Smith were starting pitchers in the minors, and each took detours to the rotation during their major league careers. Mariano Rivera was an amateur shortstop who reached the majors as a starter. Trevor Hoffman began his professional career as a shortstop before switching to pitching after two seasons.

Like Hoffman, Joe Nathan began his pro career as a shortstop, but after one rough season of pro ball, the Giants concluded that his future lay on the mound — a notion so jarring to the 21-year-old Nathan that he chose to step away and focus on completing his college degree. Even after committing himself to pitching, injuries and ineffectiveness prevented him from finding a permanent home in a major league bullpen until his age-28 season, but once he did, he excelled, making six All-Star teams, helping his teams to six postseason appearances, and saving at least 30 games in a season nine times and at least 40 four times. From 2004 to ’13, only Rivera notched more saves or compiled more WAR, and only two other relievers struck out more hitters — and that was with Nathan missing a full year due to Tommy John surgery (Rivera missed most of a year in that span as well).

With Hoffman, Rivera, and Smith elected in 2018 and ’19, the standards for a Hall of Fame reliever have become a bit more fleshed out, and current candidate Billy Wagner is trending toward election. To these eyes, Nathan wouldn’t be out of place in joining the small handful of enshrinees, but there’s no guarantee he’ll even draw the 5% needed to stay on the ballot. At the very least, he deserves a longer look.

Read the rest of this entry »

New for the holidays is the FanGraphs Mug in white!

Read the rest of this entry »

Ben Lindbergh kicks off a short series of conversations with baseball content creators who work mainly in mediums other than writing or podcasting by talking to YouTuber Bailey Freeman of Foolish Baseball about the Mets hiring Buck Showalter and the challenge of evaluating managers, how many bases Rickey Henderson would steal today, Bailey’s origins as a baseball fan and video maker, his process for picking topics and producing videos, watching videos vs. reading articles or listening to podcasts, MLB’s video policy, how he and his videos have evolved, the tools of his trade, which baseball footage he wishes he had, his YouTube influences and recommendations, being beholden to algorithms, and much more.

Audio intro: Lucinda Williams, “Foolishness”
Audio outro: Superchunk, “Foolish”

Link to Foolish Baseball YouTube channel
Link to Foolish Bailey YouTube channel
Link to Bailey’s Patreon page
Link to Bailey’s latest Ohtani video
Link to Bailey’s Bleier video
Link to Bailey’s Henderson video
Link to Bailey’s Verlander video
Link to Bailey’s two-way revolution video
Link to Bailey’s Locastro video
Link to Bailey’s Simmons video
Link to Bailey’s Mathis video
Link to Bailey’s spring training video
Link to Bailey’s Yankees/Twins video
Link to Bailey’s Barajas video
Link to Summoning Salt YouTube channel
Link to Jomboy Media YouTube channel
Link to SportStorm YouTube channel
Link to YourFriendKyle Twitch channel
Link to history of perspective in art
Link to article about players peeing on hands
Link to Patreon trivia contest
Link to stream Stove League via Viki

 iTunes Feed (Please rate and review us!)
 Sponsor Us on Patreon
 Facebook Group
 Effectively Wild Wiki
 Twitter Account
 Get Our Merch!
 Email Us: podcast@fangraphs.com

Podcast (effectively-wild): Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: RSS