Santana has as many doubles as Delmon Young. That is just sad.

That's too bad about Gardy and family...

Good to see we are KILLING santana! Good trade!

May I also suggest the book 'From Ghetto To Glory - the Bob Gibson Story'? - a fine, fine read...one of my favorites...

Very nice piece. I am very impressed by the talent of these youngsters, however, one has to wonder (with the Twins again exceeding expectations), where we will be come September with the young guys getting worn down. Hopefully losing our Ace doesn't cost us a playoff spot!

Gomez definitely was point worthy today!! What an amazing win we had today! Second biggest comeback in Twins history!!

Thoughts and prayers are with the Gardenhire family! Great ball this week! The Twins have really pulled it together these last few games with the help of Gomez.
Maybe it's because winter is finally
gone for good!?!

its about time you have blogged again... i like your numbers system, but the name of the game is still big league wins, and the twins are making a go of it with youth. score 10 points for bill smith.

Nick- Nice point on the Doubles. I think we all knew that Santana was a fine all-around athlete and would hit in the NL, although most would be hard-pressed to foresee Young's extra-base lethargy. He hit 38 doubles last year, and has a mere 3 through 30 games in '08.

Ryan- Thanks for the added book recommendation.

Also: Since Santana tossed yesterday, here's a quick Monday morning update on the Jo-Jo Equation:

Twins- 101 Points (I had short-changed K. Mulvey 5 points before)

Mets- 64 Points

Santana is this era's best pitcher, and he got away for a bargain basement price. This index has the remarkable effect of making any four scrubs look better than Johan Santana.

Mr. Spicer, can you come up with any four regularly playing players in the Twins system, taking into account the same level as the four from the trade, that don't out-point Santana? Consider it a challenge.

Great Stats Spicer...I just have to say one thing...as I heard all day long on the radio(National and Local)about this Twins team being in 1st place so far...it is "very" early...but so far I'll take it...as most of us Twins Fans probably would.

p.s..and I also agree with Duke in the above comments...Oakland and Minnesota seem to somehow always stay competitive with tight budgets...Cheers to Bill Smith who's working with a bowl of pennies compared to other clubs..

CP Fan- I consider your well-stated challenge, and accept it, good sir. And I tip my hat, because here's the closest I could get:

Twins-
Matt Tolbert-49 Points

Rochester Starters
Heather Totten- 10 Points
Brian Duensing- 15 Points

Fort Myers Starter
Alex Burnett- 7.25 Points

=81.25 Points

Of course, I thought Santana might be better than 3-2 at this stage, although his strong K total (47) and solid 2.91 ERA largely suggest that if he keeps pitching well the Wins will follow.

And while this index does make some small attempt to "keep score" of the trade- You're right, CP Fan, Santana is a stud who shouldn't be made to appear outdone by lessor talent. While Gomez is growing fast and readily impressing with his steal total(13), he has a long way to go before reaching Jo-Jo luminary status.

Still- this will appear a few more times throughout the year, if, for nothing else, as a means of simply tracking the progress of the guys we got while still following Johan's run through the NL.

And hell, it should be said that both the Twins and the Mets are 16-14. The rub? They're in third, we're in first.

While CP Fan does have a point that the JoJo equation has a certain bias towards the Twins, it is safe to say any such equation would have blatant flaws. I give credit to Mr. Spicer for coming up with something that we can follow throughout the season as an indication of whether the trade looks better or worse in September than it does today.
The Twins had the boldest (or at least ballsiest) offseason of any MLB team that I can remember this decade. Let's give them credit for shaking things up and not standing pat after a disappointing 2007. Even if it means losing a future HOF starting pitcher.

It's not the equation is biased toward the Twins. It's that the equation is utterly meaningless on multiple levels.

Even if stats like wins, saves and assists were accurate measures of performance (they're not) and even if they were adjusted well for level of competition (they're not), you would have to consider ratio statistics (which you don't).

Some guys that play every day shouldn't, because they're out machines. But because they pile up these "counting" statistics (like RBI, strikeouts, and whatever) they look decent. This is why a guy that hits .271 with a .400 on-base percentage is likely a good player, and why a guy like Carlos Gomez, who hits .271 with a .297 on-base percentage, is not. This system values bad players that have regular jobs (even in the minor leagues) more than good players. That's one problem. More broadly, the equation just throws a bunch of things arbitrarily labeled "good" at the wall to see what sticks.

But I don't know why I'm wasting my time. There are seriously so many problems with this that it's impossible to consider it a real talent evaluation system. It's fine if you're just doing this for fun.

Please tell me you're just doing this for fun, and don't actually think outfield assists should count as much as total bases. Please.

Rabbit- Of course it's just for fun, it's baseball.

Look: I'm not pretending to be Bill James, nor do I want to be Bill James. I simply think it's important to follow this transaction throughout the season because of: a) Santana's greatness and popularity here in town; b) the huge dollars he got to pitch in NY; C) the seemingly small degree of MLB-ready talent we received to compliment a pretty-solid core of Twins, and d) this will follow new GM Bill Smith for as long as he holds his current post.

That said- I genuinely enjoy both your candor, and your obvious enthusiasm, and to paraphrase from the shitty movie Primary Colors- "I'm not against a good idea simply because it's not my own."

If you have something that would prove more constructive and telling; some codicil to this math that you'd like to see fleshed out- I'll make it a point to do so at a later juncture, while giving you deserved credit for the equation.

In closure, Rabbit Maranville accrued 11,321 Points for his career.

Rabbit Moronville is right; Mr. Spicer please don't send this equation to Cooperstown. I hear through the grapevine that they are going to start making HOF selections based upon this equation.

Mr. Spicer,
Just heard about this blog. Great stats. Entertaining.

Twins Fan