|
|
10/08/08 |
Hits since June 1, 2003
|
|
If you’re still looking for a copy of
the Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook – 2009, click here or on any of the
books you see on this page, including to the right. Quick Update – The Twins released lefty reliever Jay Sawatski last week. So, those of you
who have your copy of the Prospect Handbook, be sure to make this note. For
those of you who pre-ordered a copy or more of the Handbook, and have not yet
received it, please let me know. Thanks! Tuesday, January 6, 2009 Twins Notes
Sorry I haven’t written
in a couple of days… If you missed Saturday’s Twins Chat, you can read
the transcript here. I wasn’t sure if there would be much interest in
a chat at that time, but I answered questions for about 2 ½ hours! Still not
a lot going on with the Twins, but thought posting a few things would be
good. And the first thing I
have to do is send my condolences to the Pohlad family. Carl Pohlad, who
saved baseball in Minnesota by buying the Twins in 1984, passed
away yesterday at the age of 93. He brought the Twins two World
Series championships. He signed Kirby
Puckett to the at-the-time biggest contract in baseball. He has done a lot
for the Twins and for their fans. Sure, he was frequently charged with being
“cheap” but I don’t think that is at all fair. (Howard
Sinker wrote that there are few beloved sports owners.) I would say
that he didn’t become a multi-billionaire by making bad decisions. He chose
to run his baseball team wisely, fiscally responsibly, while still
encouraging a system by which the Twins were able to compete for division
titles over most of this decade. He has been willing to sign off on big
contracts to the right players. He has allowed the Twins to keep big time
players such as Brad Radke, Torii Hunter, Johan Santana, Joe Mauer,
Justin Morneau and others to keep
them beyond their free agent timing. Part of the success is the philosophy of
building from within, on the field and in the front office. Part of it is
continuity in the coaching ranks, with the manager, and building with a
consistent philosophy. Now, I don’t know how much Carl Pohlad has been involved in the day-to-day decision-making
over the last few years. I believe that his son has taken over some of that. Jerry Bell and Dave St. Peter have done a very good job. I know that many Twins
fans will not forgive the whole contraction issue, and believe me, that one
bothered me too. But I think if we look at what Mr. Pohlad did for the Twins
and for fans in the Upper Midwest over the last quarter century, all we
should do is say thank you! Again, best wishes to the Pohlad family, and all
those who knew him. ·
Josh Johnson,
at Josh’s Thoughts, has
continued his Top 50 series and is up to #43, so be sure to see who he has
profiled. ·
Nick Nelson makes a
case for Trading Ben Revere. ·
Dan Wade posted Part
3 of his series on the Minnesota (Twins) Mentality. ·
Shocking,
huh? I’m sure
that many Twins fans are quite surprised (note sarcasm). ·
I
thought that the Twins should make a play on Pat Burrell. I thought that he would have fit in REALLY well
behind Justin Morneau. I realize
that signing Burrell would likely have precipitated a trade of an OF
(probably Kubel?) as Burrell is really just a DH. I thought maybe his
contract demands at this time might come down to a couple of years at $10-12
million. So when Tampa
Bay signed him yesterday to be their DH for two years and $16
million, it really surprised me. ·
Congratulations
to Joe Christensen
and his family on the new addition to their family! ·
Obviously
dependent upon the price and years, I just am not certain about the Twins
alleged interest in Japanese starting pitcher Kenshin Kawakami. If he
was a relief pitcher, it makes sense. I guess he could be considered the
“veteran starter” that we all assume that the Twins will sign at some point,
but generally that wouldn’t be a guy that will likely get a multi-year deal.
Who knows the Twins level of interest, but it is interesting that their name
continues to arise. Brandon Lyon isn’t worth being
terribly excited about, especially if he costs a lot of money or years. Takashi Saito is intriguing though,
as is Guillermo Mota. Are there
other Twins stories, articles or links that you’ve read, please link them in
the comments. Please leave your
comments or links here. Saturday, January 3, 2009 Live Snow Day Twins Chat at 1:00! If you're in
Minnesota, or much of the Upper Midwest, you are getting snow, got snow
and/or will be getting snow today. Since we are essentially snowed in on this
Saturday, I thought it would be good to get another live chat set up. So,
from 1:00 this afternoon (central time) until questions run out, you can ask
me questions about the Twins, the minor leagues, baseball in general, the NFL
Playoffs, whatever you like. To do so,
just click on the link provided below. I know when we did this on Tuesday, it
was a lot of fun and there were a lot of great questions, so let's do it
again! I will open up the chat room approximately 15 minutes beforehand with
a survey question and to allow questions to start early. Friday, January 2, 2009 Friday Quick Notes
Things are pretty slow
with the Twins to this point in the offseason, at least in terms of major
league moves. Likewise, things are a little slower during this time with
Twins blogging as well. But there are a few things going on that people
should be aware of, so here are some links and thoughts for today: ·
Josh Johnson,
at Josh’s Thoughts, is working
very hard on his Top 50 Twins prospects. He is trying a new format that I
really like. It includes some background, stats, and video on the player, if
available. He has posted his choices for #47-50, and none of the four made my
Top 50, although I happen to think all four of these names are very
intriguing and all about potential! ·
Nick Nelson,
at Nick
& Nick’s Twins Blog, is a bit disappointed that the Twins did not
acquire Mark DeRosa. Cleveland got
the infielder/outfielder from the Cubs in exchange for three minor leaguers. Jeff Stevens is a reliever who apparently
has better stuff than Anthony Slama.
John Gaub has apparently lost some
velocity since he was drafted out of the University of Minnesota. Chris Archer is the other player.
None of them even ranked in Cleveland’s Top 10 prospects. Could the Twins
have beat that offer, if they wanted to? Certainly, and easily. But unlike many
Twins fans, this doesn’t bother me at all, for several reasons. One, Mark DeRosa hit 20 homers last year
in hitter-friendly Wrigley Field, but the 34 year old has just 69 career home
runs, so he isn’t the power hitter that the Twins would need. He isn’t as
good as Casey Blake or Ty Wigginton. In fact, I am of the
belief that if Brendan Harris got
the number of at bats in 2009 that Mark
DeRosa would get, Harris would have equal, if not better, numbers. I
think that it would have minimally helped the Twins in 2009. That said, I
think it was a great trade for Cleveland. They will be able to play DeRosa at
2B while finally being able to move Asdrubal
Cabrera to SS and Jhonny Peralta
to 3B. Of course, you’ll also want to check
out Ubelman’s take. ·
Happy Birthday
to Aaron
Gleeman this weekend! ·
Over the
Baggy did a really good article
on The
Curious Case of Matt Guerrier. ·
Jesse at Twinkie
Town posted a very difficult Who
Am I, Minor League edition. ·
Over at Blogonoscopy,
you can read an entertaining Brief
History of the Fashionability of the Moustache. Are there
other Twins stories, articles or links that you’ve read, please link them in
the comments. Please leave
your comments or links here. Thursday, January 1, 2009 2009 Minnesota Twins Headlines
The clock just struck
midnight in the Central Time Zone. Happy New Year to each and every one of
you. I truly wish you all nothing but happiness and success. Everyone makes New
Years’ Resolutions, right? So, that’s no fun. I thought it would be fun to
try to predict some of the big headlines related to the Twins in 2009. What
do you think that the big stories will be? Here are a couple to get the ball
rolling: ·
Twins Shock the World, Win World Series! ·
Twins Shock the World, Sign Manny Ramirez ·
Joe Mauer Becomes First to Hit .400 in 56
Years ·
Rob Delaney Replaces Nathan as Twins
Closer ·
Morneau Equals MVP – Wins MVP of WBC, AL
All Star Game, American League, ALCS and World Series ·
Revere Debuts in Twins OF There are a few… be
creative. Have fun! Make a couple of serious headline projections, throw in a
couple of possibilities, and then have a couple that are unlikely. Whatever
you like. Please leave
your comments or headlines here.
And again, please have a Happy
and Safe 2009! Wednesday, December 31, 2008 Q Twins Minor League Pitching Prospect
Good morning everyone! Thank
you very much for again stopping by SethSpeaks.net. I hope you all have had a
great 2008, and that 2009 brings you much more positive times. In case you missed it
yesterday, there is plenty of new SethSpeaks information. I did a Live
Chat yesterday afternoon for about 100 minutes. I was able to answer
a lot of questions, and if you want to read the entire chat, click
here. Then last night, we had another SethSpeaks.net Weekly
Minnesota Twins podcast. By clicking here, you can
listen to the whole show. Guests included Twins pitching prospects Kyle Waldrop, Jeff Manship and Twins blogger Parker Hageman of Over the Baggy. And with that at your
finger tips, I am excited to announce today’s Q&A with another Twins
pitching prospect, lefty Dan
Osterbrock. The Twins drafted him out of the University of Cincinnati in
the 7th round. He went to Elizabethton and pitched so well that he
was named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year. He is a control artist
who simply knows how to pitch. He is another successful college pitcher in
the Twins system, and it will be fun to watch how he develops as he moves up
through the organization. I thought it would be fun to find out more about
him, and what his philosophies are on pitching. I think he did a great job
responding, and hope you will enjoy it! To check out the career stats of Dan Osterbrock, click here. I think you will enjoy Dan's responses. (Click here to see previous Q&As)
Let the Questions
Begin! SethSpeaks: Growing up in Cincinnati, do I even need to ask who your favorite team was. Who were some of your favorite players to follow? Dan Osterbrock: The
Cincinnati Reds have always been my favorite team ever since I began
following major league baseball back in 1994. My family had a greenhouse
business and some of my fondest memories as a kid were picking tomatoes with
my grandpa and listening to the Reds on the radio when they made it to the
playoffs in 1995. I would have to say that Bret Boone was my favorite player
at that time.
SethSpeaks: Tell us a little about your high school career. Did you play other positions besides pitching?
Dan Osterbrock: I
played my high school ball at Colerain High School. We were more of a
football school so baseball was overlooked. I really doubt that too many of
my classmates know I was drafted. We were 7-17 my senior year and I actually
had a losing record as a pitcher (4-5). When I wasn’t pitching I played
centerfield and some first base. SethSpeaks: Did you
participate in other activities in high school?
Dan Osterbrock: I never seriously played any other sports. I enjoy playing basketball but was never that good at it so I just played rec basketball with my friends and I would scrimmage the high school girls basketball team to help them out. SethSpeaks: You
stayed home and went to the University of Cincinnati. Were you heavily
recruited, or was that an easy choice for you? Dan Osterbrock: Going
to the University of Cincinnati was an easy decision for me because I’ve
always been a huge fan of the Bearcats. My dream as a kid was to play
basketball at UC for Bob Huggins but unfortunately I wasn’t that good and I
stopped growing. I was only recruited by colleges around the Ohio area but even
if bigger schools had recruited me I still would’ve stayed home and gone to
UC. A few years back I got the school’s logo tattooed on my back, so I’m a
Bearcat for life.
S
Dan Osterbrock: These
past few years playing for the University of Cincinnati have been the
greatest baseball days of my life so far. I’ve been lucky to be surrounded by
great coaches and teammates. This past year we set a school record for most
wins in a season and made it to the conference championship game. Even though
we were one win away from making it to the national tournament we had a very
successful year and I have many great memories. SethSpeaks: You had good control your first two seasons in college, but during your junior season, you had 10 walks and 74 strikeouts in 99 innings pitched. Did something click mechanically or mentally that made finding that kind of control achievable? Dan Osterbrock: I never really changed anything through my college career. My coaches Brian Cleary and Chris Reilly always preached that teams, no matter how good they are, are not going to hit their way into a lot of runs. Teams score their runs when pitchers give up too many walks. They would tell me that if I threw strikes and the defense did their part then I would have success. As a team we were second in the nation in fewest walks allowed and won 39 games so they were right.
SethSpeaks: What was your college major, and do you intend to continue your education?
Dan
Osterbrock: Since I grew up around tomatoes,
cucumbers and lettuce at my family’s greenhouse business I decided I wanted
to follow in my grandpa’s footsteps so I majored in horticulture in hopes to
one day continue the business. Unfortunately due to rising costs in heating
and decreasing demand of produce we went out of business. So right now I’m
not sure if I should continue with horticulture or look for a different
career path. SethSpeaks: The Twins drafted you in the 7th round in June. Had you been talking to the Twins and their scouts, or were other teams talking to you a lot?
Dan
Osterbrock: Throughout my junior year I was talking
to a lot of teams but Jeremy Booth, the Twins’ scout that covered the
Cincinnati area, seemed to show the most interest. As draft day neared I sat
down and had lunch with Jeremy and that’s when it became evident to me that
there was a strong possibility that the Twins might draft me.
SethSpeaks: What was the draft like for you, knowing you would be drafted sometime? Where were you expecting to be selected?
Dan
Osterbrock: Like I said before, we had
a lot of success this past year at Cincinnati so my focus wasn’t on the
draft. The only thing I was concerned about was winning a Big East
Championship but I did hear from a few scouts that I might get drafted in
rounds 6-10 so when I went in the 7th round it didn’t come as a surprise.
SethSpeaks: You reported to Elizabethton and pitched incredibly. You were named the Appalachian League Pitcher of the Year. Can you describe the on-field adjustment between Division I baseball and the Appalachian League?
Dan Osterbrock: After my second or third start In Elizabethton I learned that rookie ball was a lot different than college. It seemed as though the young hitters of rookie ball were trying to live up to their reputations as being power hitters or line drive hitters so I was able to take advantage of their impatience at the plate by expanding the zone and getting them to chase at bad pitches. In college, the teams played more small ball which was the complete opposite style as pro ball.
SethSpeaks: What were
the adjustments off the field to becoming a professional baseball player and
that lifestyle (bus rides, pay checks, etc.)?
Dan Osterbrock: Moving
to Elizabethton was the first time I ever moved out of Cincinnati so I was a
bit nervous but more eager to get away and see what life outside of
Cincinnati was like. I lived in a house with Shooter Hunt, and three
Australians, James Beresford, Jarrod Eacott, and Brad Tippett. This was also
the first time I’ve ever played with Hispanics but it was fun trying to learn
some Spanish while playing with them. Getting my first pay check was an
unusual feeling because I was being paid to do something that I’ve always
loved but it’s something I can get use to.
SethSpeaks: 8 walked, 104 strikeouts in 75 innings. Again, those numbers are amazing at any level. Obviously "control" and not allowing free passes is a big part of your pitching style. Tell us a little more about your pitching philosophy. What are you thinking when you're preparing for a game and then on the mound?
Dan Osterbrock: Well
I haven’t been an overpowering pitcher since high school so in college I
learned how to pitch rather than just throw the ball. So my philosophy is
simple: Throw the ball over the plate while not letting them hit it too hard
and then let my defense make the play. It has worked so I don’t plan on
changing anytime soon. My goal every time I take the mound is to put my team
in a position where they can win the game without doing too much.
SethSpeaks: What
pitches do you throw? Which pitches are you working on, and which pitch do
you consider your "out-pitch?"
Dan Osterbrock: I throw a fastball, change-up, slider, and curve. This past summer I started trying a new grip for my curve so I can locate it better and my out pitch is the change. I like to pitch backwards a lot. Start off with a couple change-ups then finish them with a fastball. SethSpeaks: What were your goals coming into the Appy League, and how did you feel about your pro debut?
Dan Osterbrock: Coming into the Appy League I had no idea what the competition would be like so if I told you I was expecting to be pitcher of the year then I’d be lying. I didn’t set my goals high, I just wanted to compete and fit in. I’m very proud of my accomplishments this past year but I’m aware that one good year isn’t going to guarantee me a shot at the majors so I have to continue to work hard and stay healthy and hope for many more years like this one.
SethSpeaks: The E-Twins had another remarkable season, and you were instrumental in the team winning the Appy League championship. Talk a little about the talent on the team and what it was like to be a part of it?
Dan
Osterbrock: This E-Town team was probably the most talented
team that I’ve ever played on. We did not have a single weak link on the
team. Almost every guy on the team had some college experience so whenever a
player got hurt we had another skilled player right behind him. This was the
first ever championship I’ve ever won so this was a memorable team. SethSpeaks: What have you done during the offseason? After a long
year of baseball, were you able to get away from the game for awhile, and
when do you start preparing for the 2009 season? Dan Osterbrock: After the long year I definitely had to get away so I
went back to work at Spring Grove Cemetery where I’ve been working for the
past five years. It’s the second largest cemetery in the nation (733 acres)
so there’s plenty of grass to cut or trees to plant or people to bury to keep
my mind off baseball. I’ve already started running to get my body in shape
and I’m going to start throwing again in January. SethSpeaks: The Twins have had a lot of success drafting college
pitchers (Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins, Matt Garza, etc.). They
are known as an organization that does a great job of developing pitchers. Is
that exciting for you, or a challenge, something that you look forward to? Dan
Osterbrock: Knowing that the Twins
have a reputation of finding talented pitchers and making them great is
definitely exciting and I’m looking forward to seeing what kind of pitcher I
turn out to be. SethSpeaks: Have you set any goals for yourself for 2009? Are
there certain statistics that you look at? Dan Osterbrock:
I haven’t set any goals yet but I would like to stay healthy and put up the
same numbers as I did this past year while trying to lower my ERA. A
statistic that I think is overlooked a lot is WHIP because it takes into
consideration not just how many hits you give up in an inning but also walks
so I look at that one a lot and try to keep it as low as possible. SethSpeaks: Favorite Baseball
Book? Dan
Osterbrock: Never read one. SethSpeaks: Favorite Baseball
Movie? Dan Osterbrock:
The Natural. SethSpeaks: Is there anything else
you think that Twins fans might find interesting about you? Dan Osterbrock:
If baseball doesn’t work out I might consider a career being a mortician.
|
ethSpeaks: