Friday, March 23, 2007
Finally, It's Friday
Good Morning, everyone! Finally, it's Friday! I am heading out of town later this afternoon, and it will be a good thing. Thank you to those of you who e-mailed me your fantasy baseball cheat sheets yesterday. Also, thank you very much to those who e-mailed me about the fact that this website is noted in the current issue (The Baseball Preview) of Sports Illustrated. (Note - be sure to vote!) That is pretty exciting. For notes on the SI mention, as well as brief thoughts on Joe Mauer's Leg Injury and Tubby Smith coming to Minnesota, check below as I posted on those things yesterday afternoon right away. It has been a crazy, busy week for me, so again, today is going to be fairly brief. To those who are new to the site, or have come here thanks to the SI mention, please send me a quick e-mail and say Hi!
So, just think about this for one second. When you come back here on Monday, we will be ONE WEEK from Opening Day! After such a long offseason, and now, such a long spring training ,the real season will begin. The Twins will have made some tough decisions on roster spots. Who knows? Maybe a trade will be made. But all of that is done to put the best available team on the field for when it really counts! Well, except in the starting pitching department, but you know what I mean!
Here are some links and thoughts for the day. As always, feel free to e-mail me, or simply leave some Comments below. Have a great weekend!
FoxSports.com's Dayn Perry wrote a great article on how the Twins and the A's have managed to continue to win despite not spending a lot of money. As an extra piece to the article, he discusses the Top 10 moves the teams have made. Sorry to all those Billy Beane fans, but the Top 3 moves on the list were credited to Terry Ryan!
Check out Josh Taylor's thoughts on last night's Twins/Devil Rays game. I was most interested in his assessment that Yohan Pino was the most impressive of the young players brought in. Angel Garcia came in to pitch the 10th inning, trying to protect a one-run lead. He gave up two runs and the Twins lost 6-5. Of course, that really doesn't matter in spring training. But isn't it interesting that the Twins lost Garcia as the #1 overall pick in the Rule V draft a couple of years ago. The Devil Rays gave the team $100,000 for the chance to see Garcia pitch for them in spring training. In the end, he came back to the Twins... and has done very little since.
Nick Nelson of Nick & Nick's Twins Blog wrote a terrific article on how Ron Gardenhire Babies the Big Boys. He discusses how, in the media, Gardy is always talking up the veterans, but not the young players. He discusses how, even when Carlos Silva or Sidney Ponson have been awful this spring (and all of last year), Gardy will try his best to speak very positively of them. However, Boof Bonser, who has actually pitched well last spring and was a huge part of last year's playoff run, is yet to be officially named to the starting staff. The ultimate example of this came in 2005 when Gardy spent time bashing Joe Mauer going so far as to say that the team "misses Henry Blanco." ... Sorry, that's just funny!
If you haven't bookmarked Stick & Ball Guy's site and checking it out throughout the day, you really should!
On his blog, Ft. Myers News Press writer David Dorsey tells a couple of stories about autograph hounds. If you're looking for a chuckle, check it out.
Speaking of Dorsey, he wrote a couple of incredible articles in the last couple of days. First, he wrote a great article on friend of SethSpeaks.net, Pat Neshek about his autograph collecting, his website and his incredible pitching. Secondly, he has a tremendous article on the Reds' Josh Hamilton. A couple of weeks ago, I said Hamilton was the story of the spring, and he has continued to perform remarkably. Good for him!
Two Twins players make the list for the Top 20 Fantasy Baseball Sleepers according to The Hardball Times' Tim Dierkes. Who? Take a look!
I'm way late on this, but Will Young wrote an incredible Five Questions About the Minnesota Twins article for The Hardball Times. I really enjoyed it as it is very in-depth and interesting.
Want to see a Hall of Fame projection? Check out John Sickels Crystal Ball of the Royals' Alex Gordon!
Michael Restovich was sent down to the minors by the Washington Nationals.
The Twins lost reliever Levale Speigner to the Washington Nationals in December's Rule V draft. Yesterday, Speigner threw three shutout innings for the Nationals. He gave up two hits, walked two and struck out one. There is a good chance that the Nationals, who have a starting rotation with four or even five pitchers you likely have never heard of, will keep Speigner on their 2007 roster. On the spring, in 11.2 innings, he has not given up a run yet. He has given up just six hits and four walks. He has struck out five.
Likewise, the Twins lost reliever Kevin Cameron in the Rule V draft to the San Diego Padres. With the demotion of Royce Ring to AAA, it appears that Cameron has a very good chance of making the Padres roster. Although he has pitched just 8.1 innings, he has a 3.24 ERA and has struck out 12 hitters. However, he has given up 14 hits and walked five.
Last night, Michael Cuddyer hit his fourth homer of the spring. I know a lot of people think that he will regress in 2007, but I am not one of them. Maybe people are right in thinking that Joe Mauer and Justin Monreau will regress slightly, but I think the improvements we will see from Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Jason Bartlett will more than make up the difference. And, I also don't believe that Mauer and Morneau will regress. So, that is a very good thing.
If you're able to watch SportsCenter, Michael Cuddyer will be featured in a Behind the Scenes look at one of his days.
For an update on Jay Rainville, check out the bottom of this article in the Pawtucket Times. It's just three paragraphs but includes a comment from Rainville's father on his son's progress and how the Twins are handling it. If you're a prospect fan, there is another section in the article on Rockies' catcher Chris Iannetta who is also from that area.
Kyle Lohse started for the Reds yesterday against the Yankees and had a game of ups and downs. Lohse threw five innings and gave up six runs (5 earned) on seven hits and two walks. He struck out five. He gave up home runs to both Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez. He had an Error and a Wild Pitch. He was also 1-2 at the plate with two RBI.
Joe Mays is trying to catch on as a long reliever with the Dodgers. Yesterday, he gave up two runs on five hits in three innings. When Mays was done, another former Twin Joe Beimel, pitched a scoreless inning. Beimel was one of the worst Twins pitchers ever in his VERY short stint with the team, but last year with the Dodgers, he was a very important part of a playoff team.
Cristian Guzman is a hitting machine. OK, do we need to have the 'spring training stats are meaningless conversation again?' But, he was again 3-4 yesterday and is hitting .414 (12-29) this spring.
OK, I must call it a day and a week! Enjoy your weekend, and check back on Monday!
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