Thursday, May 24, 2007
Quick Thoughts
Good Morning! Today is going to be pretty quick, but I didn't want to completely take a day off. It'll be in bullet point form, so we'll see how much we get. Then below, I've put together what I consider to be a fun little Discussion Question, so please take a minute or two and leave some Comments.
Justin Morneau hit his 14th homer of the year, and Boof Bonser got another win as the Twins topped the Rangers 5-3. Torii Hunter's dropped fly ball with two outs in the bottom of the 9th gave the Rangers a chance, but Joe Nathan was able to get out of it to record his first save in almost three weeks. I have to say something nice ever once in awhile about the guy, so... Nick Punto went 0-1 with three walks. Luis Castillo went 3-5. Sure, his swing is the epitome of the adjective that David Ortiz said the Twins coaching staff wanted him to swing like, but it works for him.
The Twins have a well needed off day today before starting a series on Friday against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Metrodome.
The Rochester team was traveling back to Rochester from Norfolk, so they got a well needed day off too. They will start a series tonight against Durham.
New Britain lost 4-3 to Bowie. Kyle Waldrop started and fell to 0-2. The righty went six innings and gave up four runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out three. He gave up two homers, including one to former Rockcat Luis Jiminez. Danny Powers pitched two scoreless innings. Kyle Geiger went 2-4. Matt Allegra had the lone RBI.
Yohan Pino showed just how good he can be in Ft. Myers' 3-1 victory over Palm Beach. The righty went seven shutout innings. He gave up just two hits, walked one and struck out five. The win was Pino's first of the season. Eddie Morlan recorded his sixth save with two innings pitched. He allowed an unearned run and gave up just one hit. He struck out three. Luis Ugueto went 2-4 with his third stolen base. Juan Portes knocked out his first homer.
Finally, Beloit beat West Michigan 5-1. Brian Kirwan made his first Snappers start (he was promoted from Extended Spring earlier this week), and it went very well. Kirwan got his first win. He went five shutout innings and gave up just one hit. He walked one and struck out five. Danny Vais gave up one run on 2.2 innings. Aaron Craig picked up another save. He gave up one run in 1.1 innings, and he struck out three.
Stick & Ball Guy made some changes to The World's Greatest Online Magazine. Go check it out, and say hi!
Jose Mijares is on his way to Rochester as well. Check out this article on him from Tim's The Truth about Cats & Blogs.
Still think the Twins should try to acquire Elijah Dukes? Nice Guy!
Jordin Sparks is this season's American Idol. She finished with more votes than Blake Lewis. In the end, I think that it is the right choice. The best singer was Melinda Doolittle, but to me, she was already a professional singer. Blake Lewis is quite the entertainer, but he has been doing that for a long time too. His profession is professional singer. Jordin Sparks, whose father Phillippi played cornerback for the NY Giants, is 17 years old, has an amazing voice, and in my opinion, she is the reason for the competition.
Wow!! Joe Christensen had an excellent day blogging yesterday with several very interesting postings!
Speaking of great Strib baseball blogger posts, I thought Howard's View from Section 220 regarding individual expectations was very timely, appropriate and well done. He's got a new posting on the Jason Kubel/Jason Tyner DH/LF topic. I had to post a couple of comments. Finally, LaVelle posted some thoughts on the upcoming draft and points out some names that the Twins may have some interest in.
OK, we've all seen the commercial for it, but the Trailer might be one of the funniest things I have ever seen. It is a movie that I think I would even be willing to go to the theatre to watch!
DISCUSSION QUESTION OF THE DAY
MLB decides to expand to 31 teams, adding a team in Las Vegas and putting it in the AL West so each of the three AL divisions has five teams. (I'm speaking totally hypothetical here, so don't worry about scheduling and such). You are named the General Manager and Scouting Director of the new team. MLB decides to have a dispersal draft, but the rules are a little different. You are able to "take" nine players from each of the current 30 team's rosters, but there are rules.
Rule 1 - You can only take three players off of the current Major League roster (Disabled List included).
Rule 2 - The combined salaries (2007 numbers) of the three MLB players can be no more than $15 million combined.
Rule 3 - The other six players must come from either Rochester, New Britain, Ft. Myers or Beloit's current roster. However, no more than two players can be taken from any one affiliate.
Rule 4 - You will have a full minor league system, so you don't need to fill certain offensive positions. However, I will have a rule that no more than four of your selections can be pitchers.
Have fun! Explain your picks.
SETH'S SELECTIONS
Alright, to better explain what I would want this to look like, here are my nine selections:
Joe Mauer - C (Twins)
Justin Morneau - 1B (Twins)
Francisco Liriano - SP (Twins)
Kevin Slowey - SP (Rochester)
Kyle Waldrop - SP (New Britain)
David Winfree - 3B/1B/DH (New Britain)
Alexi Casilla - 2B (Rochester)
Danny Santiesteban - OF (Beloit)
Chris Parmalee - OF (Beloit)
I look forward to seeing your teams. It's just for fun. I mean, you could put Johan Santana on your team, but there is $13 million there, so your other two Twins players could only combine for another $2 million. Do you take Slowey and Garza? Just one of them? Which one? Or neither. Do you grab table setters? Base stealers? Guys with power potential? Obviously this is something that would never happen. I mean, if a new team took nine players from the other 30 teams, that would be 270 players. But, we just want this to be fun. So please, take a few minutes and just think it over. Then leave your team in the Comments below. If you would rather, send me an e-mail with your team.
That is it for today. Have a good one!
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