TBWAIN - AKA Jeff Svare's Blog

I haven't posted much at all this year, despite having a few things that I seriously considered posting. Not much has changed since last year. American politics is still divisive, the parties are polarized, as is the electorate.  It's really hard to understand how anyone can think that any one group has an exclusive monopoly on good ideas.  Politicians are smart.  The electorate is stupid and has a short memory. Baseball is still a great game, even though it's a business.  The Twins have a new manager, new uniforms, new players, and my daughter's BFF is coming back to play for them.  Let's see if the organization is willing to do what they need to have a winning team on the field.  Spring training is less than 100 days. Pantone has named Marsala the color of the year for 2015.  I don't know why I check this every year, but I do.  It must be one other way for my OCD to manifest itself. Ring out the old, ring in the new .  Happy New Year!

On 24 July the Twins sent Kendrys Morales to the Seattle Mariners in trade. Rhett Bollinger, the MLB.com reporter for the Twins, reported Twins GM Terry Ryan saying this about Morales: "It's disappointing, because he was a good fit." Ron Gardenhire said Morales "was a run producer." I think he was a waste of time and money. Morales produced 12 runs, 18 RBI, and left 70 on base in 39 games. That is not run production. I'm a fan of linear weights, and think they do a great job showing a player's offensive contribution. If you aren't familiar with linear weights, here's a little primer . Linear weights is a simple stat, and I like those. There are a lot of other stats I feel are over-complicated and don't really add that much insight. C'mon, does it really matter how a player bats wearing a colored jersey in day games in outdoor parks with the relative humidity at 84% and an ebb tide? Here's a chart showing Morales&#