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A note: if you're new to Batter's Box, the Advance Scouts, in the past, "have offered a bullet-point series of notes to help Bauxites prepare for the Jays' upcoming opponents. Traditionally, this has meant a mix of local-media accounts, statistical trends of key players, and a breakdown of team lineups." Thanks to Mike D, our regular Scout, for the explanation.

Speaking of Mike, media reports indicate he has been kidnapped by a law firm in New York and forced to do their bidding for the low, low rate of $150/hour plus benefits. Or something. Anyway, with his work committments, he is unfortunately not able to provide the regular high-quality scouting readers have come to expect. But it's all right, as yours truly is here to either a) save the day or b) become the Ross Moschitto to Mike's Roger Maris.

Enough preamble -- On to the Advance Scout!

As usual, we have the following player notes, as well as the regular charts: expected lineups and pitching matchups. Oh, and don't forget to check out Aaron Gleeman's Twins preview at The Hardball Times.

General: The Twins will use Jesse Crain in the eighth to let Juan Rincon ease back into the "pressure" situation, as Rincon missed all of Spring Training this year ... Juan Castro somehow got the starting shortstop job over Jason Bartlett ... They recently got smoked by their Triple-A team by a score of 15-3 ... Finished last in runs scored, second-last in slugging average and 10th out of 14 in OBP ... It doesn't matter, since this series is in Toronto, but the Twins play in the ugliest stadium in the majors, as I cannot call that thing in St. Pete a ballpark ...

Johan Santana: Actually making his first Opening Day start for the Twins ... Should be back-to-back Cy Young winner, but the voters...ah, forget it ... Has a higher career OBP than Juan Castro: .273 vs .271 ... His changeup is a thing of beauty, the biggest floater I've seen since Mariusz Czerkawski as a Hamilton Bulldog ...

Brad Radke: To steal Gleeman's prediction: "At some point, in some game, Radke will get out of the first inning without allowing a run." ... Facing Towers on Wednesday, which means a lot of "here, hit the ball" pitches ...

Shannon Stewart: Old friend, welcome to age 32 ... Walked just 34 times last year and slugged only .388, his lowest marks since 1997 and never, respectively ... At age 12, I tried to imitate his throwing motion and the ball went ten feet. True story ...

Carlos Silva: Nine walks in 188.1 innings. That is not a misprint ... Threw the most fastballs of any pitcher in the majors last season (thank you, Will Young) ... UPDATE: Threw 83% fastballs in 2005, thanks to Chuck this time.

Torii Hunter: Still dealing with ankle injury after crashing into a Fenway Park wall ... No truth to the rumour that he's confused for Vernon Wells at times ...

Justin Morneau: Big bopper didn't bop too well in 2005 ... Though, to be fair, he did go through removal of his appendix, a fight with chicken pox, a lung infection, and pneumonia ... Hit .308/.400/.538 for Canada in the WBC, though he's no Adam Stern ...

Tony Batista: Yes, he's back ... Has apparently been a good storyteller in the clubhouse ... Doesn't help the fact that he can't hit, though I remember when he could ... As long as we're remembering stuff, how about this two-homer game? Gregg Zaun actually tied it up in the ninth off Billy Koch ...

Jason Kubel: Sat out all of 2005 with a knee injury after hitting .343/.398/.560 for Rochester in 2004 ... a career .323/.388/.501 hitter in the minors ...

Willie Eyre: Will make his major league debut sometime this week, presumably ... 2.72 ERA, extreme groundball pitcher with Rochester last year in relief, his third year at Triple-A ...

Michael Cuddyer: Misses the days when the club was loose: "You don't have Koskie throwing itching power [sic] in your pants. [...] You don't have Eddie [Guardado] running around naked all over the clubhouse."



The Advance Scout Returns | 15 comments | Create New Account
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Chuck - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 03:17 PM EDT (#144253) #
Carlos Silva: ... Apparently threw the most fastballs of any pitcher in the majors last season

According to the Bill James 2006 Handbook, Carlos Silva threw fastballs 83% of the time, which was the highest of any pitcher in either league. Following Silva were Colon, 81%, Webb 76%, Lee 75%, Penny 73%.

Conversely, aside from knuckler Tim Wakefield, who threw fastballs just 12% of the time, the bottom 6 in fastballs in MLB were Moyer 40%, Rogers 44%, Morris 44%, Maroth 45%, Mussina 45%, Clement 45%.

The only Jay showing up on any of the top 10 AL pitch type lists was 4th place Josh Towers in sliders at 27%.

Tonight's Twin starter, Santana, was 4th in the AL in changeups at 24%.
Mike Green - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 03:26 PM EDT (#144256) #

Scott Schoeneweis,  meet Joe Mauer.  Joe Mauer, Scott Schoeneweis.

Juan Castro takes over Luis Rivas' role in the Twins' lineup as designated out-maker.  It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it.

Nice, Rob.

Chuck - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 03:35 PM EDT (#144258) #
Batista and Castro. Ugh. That's two sub-300 OBP's.

Given the sinkholes batting in front of him, what do you reckon the over/under on RBIs for Stewart would be? 35? 40?

Can't be any worse than teammate Luis Castillo's 17 RBI (in 539 AB) in 2000.
Craig B - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 03:39 PM EDT (#144260) #
A swing and a fly ball to left-center field... it's deep... still carrying... it's... a... HOME RUN! Home run for Ross Moschitto, his first of his career!
Rob - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 03:51 PM EDT (#144264) #
Home run for Ross Moschitto, his first of his career!

Strange omen of the day: Moschitto's only career HR was against the Twins.
Mike D - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 04:12 PM EDT (#144274) #

Excellent job, Rob.  Look forward to being a regular reader.  At the very least, you're Willie Upshaw to my John Mayberry.

One nit, though -- it's straight salary for me, dude.  I can only wish I was paid by the hour, let alone that much per hour!

6-4-3 - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 04:17 PM EDT (#144277) #

Nice preview, but there's two problems with it.  First, shouldn't the bit abount Mulholland be saved for a preview of Arizona?  Old Man Terry signed a minor league deal with the Snakes, and made the team out of spring training. 

Second: "You don't have Eddie [Guardado] running around naked all over the clubhouse"? If your goal was to create a worse mental image than the one of Roger Clemens getting ready for his starts by spreading icy-hot cream over his groin, then you've succeeded against all odds.

I'm looking forward to seeing what Silva does this year.  Last year his walk rate was at a historically low level, and I'm curious to see if he can keep both his walks and his ERA down for another year. 

Rob - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 04:45 PM EDT (#144283) #
shouldn't the bit abount Mulholland be saved for a preview of Arizona?

Hey, he might be a D-Back on paper, but he's still a Twin in our hearts!
Okay fine, you got me. I should have realized that when I didn't include him in the bullpen chart.  I made the change, even though it means losing the Dofasco line.
Mick Doherty - Tuesday, April 04 2006 @ 05:07 PM EDT (#144285) #

Ross Moschitto!

And Young Rob LEAPS to a commanding lead in the Random Yankee Trivia Off-Hand Mention Contest and is the undenied leader in the Michael Kay Trophy sweepstakes.

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