As a Twins fan, I don't get the idea of non-tendering Hardy. This organization has seen a black hole cover their SS position for the longest time - and Hardy fills that for at least another season (2011) until someone like Trevor Plouffe is able to step in. Non-tendering him would be a huge mistake for the Twins to make, IMO.

Right. Like it matters, since they were still losses, but at least the Yankees haven't contributed to ALL of this ineptness.

If the product is worth seeing, the stadium will fill up - regardless of the 'novelty' wearing off. People need to understand that.

While the Twins have lost 12 straight postseason games, they all have not come to the Yankees - 3 of them came versus Oakland in 2006.

I am sure, as most people would, that the difference in Mauer's missed time and Hamilton's missed time is that Mauer's came at the beginning of the 2009 season; with Hamilton's coming in the latter part of the 2010 season. Missed time is still missed time - but it kind of falls under the 'what have you done for me lately' category.

Just wanted to say good luck and thank you to Will, as well. Ever since becoming a subscriber at BP, the UTK column was the one column that I read every time it was released. That isn't a knock on the other articles, because I absolutely love BP, but the UTK was always a necessity IMO. Looking forward to seeing your next endeavor, Will, and following you on Twitter.

Are scouts really that concerned with Aaron Hicks and not reaching his potential? I guess I am a bit more optimistic for him considering the line he put up this season, on top of 2009, in such a difficult hitters league.

It makes no sense, really...other than thinking that Kenny Williams had every intention on shipping him to Washington for Adam Dunn - but ended up not getting that done.

And is that a bad thing? :)

How would you compare Wimmers to Gibson? Who has the higher ceiling? Are they comparable in terms of 'stuff' with Gibson relying more on ground balls? Thanks, Kevin.

Jason Kubel hit a 400 foot, opposite field home run today at Target Field...just wanted to point that out as Will brought up his wrist as a potential issue towards his future power production.

Cuddyer has a significant hole in his swing - which involves sliders down and away. The guy consistently swings at them, and misses, which leads me to believe he just cannot make the necessary adjustment.

Thanks for the Twins coverage, Will. And I didn't mean to make it seem like I was 'pounding' you. :)

The Twins have a bunch of walking wounded - Kubel, Hudson, Fuentes, Thome, Morneau etc. Why no mention of these guys?

Why does that occur though? It doesn't make sense for that to all of a sudden occur, does it?

What is the latest scouting report on Guerra? What has happened to him since joining the Twins organization?

Do you mind linking these other studies? I would love to compare the two of them. Thanks!

This is the second place in which I have seen the Twins mentioned as a possible destination for Brad Hawpe. I guess I don't see how he fits - unless the Twins are convinced that Morneau will not return this season, and are looking for another outfielder to go along with Young, Span, Kubel, and Repko.

But he was supposed to be Joe Mauer with power.

Awesome stuff. This is something that I have always been curious about, and this series of articles provides an answer.

While Morales hasn't shown much HR power in Fort Myers so far, and rightfully so considering that is a very difficult hitters park/league, he has shown an improvement during August in regards to his BB and K rates. He is only 20 years old, as well.

Great stuff, Eric. I have come to love these "Seidnotes" pieces. Well done, sir.

I have considered it. Will you be my friend?

This is a conversation I seem to have with my friends when we are taking in any kind of baseball activity. They are from the school of thought that 'wins matter' and that they will take the pitcher that wins baseball games for his team - regardless of whether they allow 6 runs in 5 innings, etc. I have laid out a number of scenarios to try and show that there are a number of things the pitcher cannot control - and that greatly impact his ability to record a 'win.' Some of them have started to see the light - but a few of them refuse to accept this as something significant in baseball. A scenario I like to lay out for them is the follow: Leadoff batter hits a ball to SS, SS overthrows the 1b for an error, runner on 2nd. Second hitter sacrifice bunts runner to 3rd. Third place batter hits a sacrifice fly, runner from 3rd scores. Team leads 1-0. That starting pitcher doesn't allow another base runner the entire game...but his offense fails to give him any run support. Starting pitcher and his team lose the game, 1-0. The question I then ask: How is that the fault of the starting pitcher?

Woah! Broken web page galore!

He is the 'ace' of the Red Sox staff. /facepalm

By comparison, here are the WAR (according to B-R) for those pitchers, along with the number of seasons: Halladay: 52.9 in 13 seasons Santana: 45.9 in 11 seasons Sabathia: 40.5 in 10 seasons Glavine: 67 in 22 seasons Smoltz: 63.9 in 21 seasons Schilling: 69.7 in 20 seasons Mussina: 74.8 in 18 seasons To be honest, I am bit surprised that Mike Mussina is the leader among the second group. I would have picked either Glavine or Schilling to be the holder of that title; but Mussina was pretty darn good in his day.

One thing to note - I, personally, think that there is a huge disparity between the pitchers of the 90's and the pitchers of the '00's. Halladay, Santana, and Sabathia have been great - but as mentioned, they come no where near the likes of Maddux, Pedro, RJ, and Clemens. Good stuff though, Eric.

Joe is writing a book? Sweet. When can I place my order?

Well, that would drop Lee's walk rate down to .012...which is about a quarter drop.

I absolutely love these articles. Great work, John.

Plenty of people talk about Aaron Hicks' patience playing into his high strikeout rate. Is he taking a high number of called third strikes because he is looking to be patient? I would like to see the splits on how many times he has struck out swinging compared to looking.

Can you offer more insight into the aforementioned "acetabular labrum surgery" that is deemed a possibility for Joe Mauer? Also, what happened to your Twitter account?

What's with the 'Wow, OK' reference towards the Twins activating Liriano and putting him in the pen?

Jeter's ranking makes it a terrible list - no credibility.

I guess I just don't see how Joe Mauer could be ranked 39th. Arguably the best hitter in the league not named Albert Pujols - while playing a premium defensive position who has won two batting titles in the last three years and is an MVP candidate on a yearly basis. This list lost all credibility with me when it had Derek Jeter ranked #8 - but if you read the Todd Jones column in the same Sporting News issue, you would see how much love continues to (wrongly) spew out in Jeter's direction.