Week of June 20, 2005
It was a busy week, so I just wrote a few random thoughts on the Twins, their minor league teams and linked to some Twins and other blogs or articles of interest.
WEEK OF June 20th
FRIDAY (6/24) AFTERNOON UPDATES -
Good day to everyone! Well, I've got a day off from work, so I have a bunch of stuff to do and then I'll be heading out of town for the weekend! But, I also am going to be checking out some of my favorite websites as well and if I find anything good, I'll be sure to link to it. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me! Have a good weekend!
The first thing you have to do is check out Stick and Ball Guy today. He's got another rant on the Bat-girl network. I find it very interesting!!!! I think you will too!
Thank you to Aaron Gleeman for the birthday wishes and the link to my site!!
Wow!! The Baseball Savant got some major hate mail from some White Sox fans!!! Lets just say that the Savant fought back. Seriously, you want to check this link (although I must warn you, there are some words included in the mail that you may not want all aged kids reading!).
So yeah, tomorrow is my birthday, June 25th. I think I'm happy with that day. Also born on June 25th is a pretty good set of corner infielders. Carlos Delgado was born June 25th of 1972, and Aramis Ramirez was born on the date in 1978. Michael Tucker and Aaron Sele also share a birthday with me and they have both had long and, at times, productive careers. So, maybe I don't share a birthday with any Hall of Famers yet, but that is a pretty productive group!
FRIDAY (6/24) MORNING UPDATE -
Hello everybody! I probably shouldn't be typing, but that's alright. I suppose I should thank my, ahem... friends, right? Thanks for posting the below birthday information. Honestly, I had no intention of mentioning that particular date at all on here. Oh well, thank you to all those who sent me an e-mail and wished me a happy Birthday. But remember, I still get to me in my 20s until Saturday!!!! (for b-day pics, see below)
Hey!!! The Twins won. Staff ace Carlos Silva tossed the complete game for the Twins. He gave up nine hits and two runs, but he threw just 91 pitches, and 71 of those were strikes. I really like Silva, have I mentioned that before? The offense even responded with 11 hits and six runs. Matthew LeCroy got to DH and had two hits, his 7th homer and 3 RBI on the day. Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, LeCroy, Glenn Williams and Juan Castro each had two hits.
The Twins will finish off Interleague play this weekend with a series in Milwaukee against the Brewers. The Twins will send Brad Radke, Johan Santana and Kyle Lohse to the mound to face the likes of Chris Capuano, Tomo Ohka and Victor Santos. Hopefully the Twins will turn things around soon!
But there are all kinds of rumors about the Twins. Just yesterday, a friend sent me a couple of e-mails saying names like Ted Lilly, Sean Burroughs, Joe Randa and Edgardo Alfonzo might be names the Twins would consider. How about these couple of scenarios?
Ted Lilly and Orlando Hudson from the Blue Jays in exchange for Joe Mays, Kyle Lohse, Boof Bonser and a hitting prospect like Doug Deeds or that caliber. For the Blue Jays, they would receive two major league caliber pitcher and a AAA pitcher who could soon be ready and a minor league bat in exchange for salaries. For the Twins, Lilly could take over the #4 spot in the rotation with Scott Baker becoming the 5th starter. Also, Orlando Hudson is incredible defensively and the combination of he and Juan Castro would be fun to watch! Of course, this is not a likely scenario!
I also like Joe Randa, with the idea that Michael Cuddyer would move back to 2B.
Any other legitimate trade scenarios that you can see? E-mail me.
Speaking of Boof Bonser, he improved to 6-3 last night in the Twins 10-5 win over Indianapolis. He gave up three runs (2 earned) in five innings. The offense was led by Garrett Jones who went 3-4 with a walk and a double. Jason Tyner, Jason Bartlett and Todd Dunwoody each had two hits.
New Britain changed up a lot of things in their roster the last day or so. Glen Perkins, Errol Simonitsch and Denard Span were in. Ricky Bell was released. Colby Miller put on the DL and Jan Granado was sent back to Ft. Myers. Of course none of those guys played last night, but the team got to win a laugher, 10-2 still. Daylan Childress and Kevin Cameron each went four innings and combined to give up a run on three hits. Doug Deeds led the offense with a 4-5 day and his 7th home run. Luis Jimenez, Alex Romero and Bryan Kennedy each had two hits, and Danny Matienzo knocked his 14th home run while driving in five runs.
Well, Ft. Myers lost three of their better players and were somehow able to pull off a 3-2 win. The offense was led by JR Taylor who had a walk, a double and a triple in four at bats. Adam Harben gave up a run on four hits in seven innings, but Jay Sawatski got the win by pitching the final two innings.
The Midwest League was back in action last night following their all-star game. Beloit scored five first inning runs and held on for an 8-3 win. Seven of the nine Snappers starters had two hits. Jose Mijares continues to impress. He improves to 4-0 with the win. In five innings, he allowed just one hit. He struck out seven.
And finally, Elizabethton completed an undefeated day in the Twins organization with a 7-4 win over Bluefield. Mark Robinson, the Twins 3rd round pick in 2004 had a double and a triple in four at bats.
And on that note, I'm out for the weekend. Have lots of fun and be safe! If you ahve any questions, comments or ideas for future projects, please e-mail me.
**Click here to see pictures of Seth's desk at work, and of Seth seeing it for the first time!
Hey everyone! This is a friend of Seth's. I snuck on to his site this morning to make sure that everyone knows that Seth turns the big 3-0 this Saturday!! So, please, everyone send Seth some happy birthday wishes. Here are the rest of the pictures found hanging around the office where Seth works. Enjoy!
THURSDAY (6/23) MORNING UPDATE -
Hello everybody!
Normally I don't publish this early in the morning, but I just found out that a couple of moves were made in the Twins organization. It isn't at all surprising really, but Glen Perkins AND Errol Simonitsch were promoted to AA New Britain! Both will be great additions to the Rockcats starting rotation and both certainly deserved the promotion! What surprised me a little bit was that Denard Span was also moved up from Ft. Myers to New Britain. Again, look at his numbers this year. He definitely deserved it! I just was a little surprised, figuring he would spend the rest of the season at Ft. Myers. But it is a good move. With Alex Romero, Doug Deeds and James Tomlin already in the New Britain outfield, how will they align themselves? I would have to guess that Tomlin will see most of the bench time, with Span in center. Justin Jones is moving up to Ft. Myers from Beloit, where he never pitched because of injury. They also get Peter Tautor who has been terrible at Beloit.
Speaking of exciting minor league news, the Future's Game All-Stars were named yesterday. Travis Bowyer will pitch for the US Team while Francisco Liriano will pitch for the World Team.
By the way, click here to check out the pictures my sister and I took at the Autograph Party and at the Twins game on Saturday night.
I'm not a runner. I mean, I played softball tonight. I went 7-8, with seven singles on the night. I think my time from home to first was about 14.6! That's quick enough. Maybe take second if there is an overthrow to home or something. But no, station to station is good! So, what do you think about running a marathon? 26.2 miles? No way! I admire the people that can do it. I mean, I can't even imagine the feeling of pride that would overtake anyone who completed even one. Well, Brent over and BrentNet ran the Grandma's Marathon this past weekend near Duluth, Minnesota. He chronicled his run yesterday, and it was incredibly interesting!! Check it out here.
The Twins? Well, it might be fast approaching the time to worry. They lost 8-1 last night to the Tigers. They are far behind the White Sox. Yes, two years ago, they were 8.5 games behind the Royals in the AL Central race at the All-Star break. But these White Sox, and the Cleveland Indians, are not those Royals. The Baseball Savant really put the AL Central race into perspective yesterday.
Joe Mays started and went just four innings and gave up six runs. The Twins managed just five singles off of Nate Robertson who threw the complete game. I just picked up Robertson in a trade last week. Of course, I didn't have him in my lineup this week! Oh well. Anyway, two of the five hits off Robertson were by Luis Rivas. Juan Castro is now 0 for his last 23. Michael Cuddyer committed his 12th and 13th errors of the season at 3B. Moving him to 2B and acquiring Joe Randa now makes sense to me after reading this article by Jim Souhan. Most strangely, the Twins pitchers walked nine Tigers batters. That just doesn't happen.
So, Carlos Silva will take the mound this afternoon against Jason Johnson in the series' final game.
Please take the time to read this article at the Sportscow.com. It is about the politics and ongoings in central Minnesota's amateur baseball leagues. It is really incredibly interesting. For me, it is great because I played in the Countryside League (for the Corliss Wildcats) and then in the Hi-10 League for the Perham Pirates for about seven years in the '90s, the subject of much of the story's criticism). I now occasionally watch my brother play a game in the Lake and Pine League. John Dermody is the author of the story. John is a freelance writer and photographer who has done so much good for town baseball in central Minnesota. When I played and coached, we used to talk about these very topics somewhat frequently. Some things were pretty blatant, others were far more subtle. I could verify a lot of these situations. John isn't afraid to voice his opinion on the goings on and that is good. I'm sure they would love your input an ideas. So, please read the article and let me know what you think! Does this happen everywhere?
Down at Rochester, the Redwings got a great start from David Gassner and some power from Terry Tiffee in a 6-1 win over Indianapolis. Gassner went the first 8 1/3 innings and gave up just one run. Terry Tiffee went 3-5 with his fifth and sixth home runs. Luis Maza and Chris Heintz each went 2-4 with a double.
Matt Yeatman was the tough-luck lose in New Britain's 3-1 loss. He gave up two runs over six innings. Jason Miller then gave up one in the final three innings. Felix Molina led the offense with two of the team's five hits.
Ft. Myers didn't play their game last night because of "Wet Grounds." Really? Like in Bull Durham?
Beloit had the day off after the league's all star game. They will start a series against Burlington tonight.
In Rookie League action, Elizabethton lost to Bluefield 9-4. Toby Gardenhire led off and was 1-4 with an RBI double and two strikeouts. Juan Portes was the nice 0-5. Dustin Bensko went 2-4 with a double. Draft pick Kevin Slowey pitched 2 1/3 innings and gave up a run, with three strikeouts and no walks.
Aaron Gleeman wrote a great article on the managers in baseball and their playing careers. Is there any correlation between playing talent and managing abilities?
And on that note, I am going to call it a day. Have yourself a great Thursday!
WEDNESDAY (6/22) MORNING UPDATE -
Good morning! I'm going to probably continue with this format through the week. Hopefully my life calms down soon and I can devote a little more time to this site. So, please feel free to e-mail me about how I'm doing, and this format or anything.
Well, Jeremy Bonderman was pretty much on last night throwing a complete game against the Twins. Kyle Lohse went back to the Kyle Lohse we knew and wanted traded! He threw 105 pitches and gave up six runs over 4.2 innings. The Tigers literally looked like they knew what pitches were coming! He was replaced by the guy that right now I believe is the Twins second best relief pitcher, Matt Guerrier. It is really nice to see him getting more game time. Of course, that usually means that the Twins are behind by a bunch, so I guess it is not good, but he really is pitching well.
I also think that the Tigers made the Twins look bad simply by acquiring Placido Polanco to man second base. He was really the only available middle infielder that I thought would be worth pursuing. Seriously, the Tigers got him for Ugueth Urbina. The Twins probably could have offered a better package of pitchers or younger position players to get Polanco. He would have been nice in the #2 spot in the lineup. Throw in Garrett and Jacque Jones and get Ryan Howard too! Oh well.
Down in Rochester, the Redwings fell to Indianapolis 5-4. But Garrett Jones did hit his 13th home run, and Terry Tiffee was 2-4 with his fourth homer. Scott Baker falls to 2-5 after the outing. He went six innings and gave up five runs. Of course, his ERA is still just 3.13.
Things weren't good in New Britain last night either as the Rockcats lost 10-4 to Binghamton. Remember the great start that Colby Miller got off to, not allowing a run in his first 20 innings? Well, his ERA is still just 3.88, but he falls to 2-7 after giving up six runs in just 2.2 innings. Luis Jimenez was 2-4 with two RBI, and Tommy Watkins hit his second homer of the year.
Oh, remember when I guessed that the Twins would wait until the Tigers moved RHP Justin Verlander from Hi Class A to AA before they would move Glen Perkins from Ft. Myers to New Britain? Well, Verlander made his first AA start last night. He went seven one-hit innings and struck out 11. He is good!
But lets not continue to look past the Ft. Myers performances of Errol Simonitsch. Last night, he improved to 8-3. He gave up just one run in seven innings despite nine hits. Denard Span went 2-3 with a walk and his first home run of the season. Jose Leger went 2-3 in his first Ft. Myers game. He came up from Extended Spring Training.
The Midwest League held its All Star game last night. The West team lost which, of course, doesn't matter at all. Deacon Burns started in centerfield and went 0-2. Anthony Swarzak pitched a perfect inning, with one strikeout. Jay Rainville gave up two hits but no runs in his inning of work too.
The short-season teams got under way last night. Elizabethton topped Bluefield 5-3. Eduardo Morlan started and went 3 innings. Alexander Smit moved back down to E-Town from Beloit and picked up where he left off. He went 4 2/3 inning and struck out nine. He gave up two unearned runs and picked up the win . Former catcher turned reliever Tim Lahey got the save by striking out the lone batter he faced. Many are interested... Juan Portes played 2B and was 1-4 with two strikeouts.
Here is an interesting look at the pitchers who pitch in the shortest games. Not sure that I completely buy it, just because there are two pitchers in a game, but it is interesting nonetheless.
That's it for today. I hope to post some pictures of the Autograph Party tomorrow, so check back.
Have a great day!
TUESDAY MORNING UPDATE -
Good morning! Well, the Twins had an off day yesterday. I think it would be fair to call it much needed! It appears that I am on a bit of a hiatus from the website. Let's call it my All-Star break. Tonight, the Twins will send Kyle Lohse to the mound to face the Detroit Tigers. He's 5-5 with a 4.50 ERA. His last start was one really bad inning and six pretty good ones. His WHIP is 1.40, but opponents are hitting .303 off of him. The Twins will have to face one of the better young pitchers in the league in Jeremy Bonderman. The still-just-22 year old Bonderman is starting to show more and more promise. His consistency just isn't there. When he gets that, he will be good, and arguably price himself out of the AL Central.
Not sure if you've noticed but Chris Coste is putting together a very solid season (AGAIN!) at Scranton Wilkes Barre this year. His nine home runs are already a (affiliated league) career high, and he's doing that while still hitting around .300. To win an ebay auction for a 2005 Philadelphia Phillies signed baseball, including Coste's signature, click here.
Here is a great article on the Twins pitching staff and their lack of walks. It's a couple of days old, so you've probably already read it. I thought it was quite interesting, especially the part about the mental/psychological parts of the game.
With two runs in the 9th, The Rochester Redwings pulled off a 4-3 win. Travis Bowyer picked up his 16th save in the game. But the story of the game was Francisco Liriano. He made his first AAA start and was spectacular. In six innings, he gave up just one run on just one hit. He walked two and struck out eight batters. Excellent first start and certainly solidifies his stature as the Twins top prospect. Jason Tyner and Chris Heintz each had two hits. Other interesting Rochester news... Garrett Jones is getting some work in in the outfield. It will just make him more valuable to the team since Justin Morneau is (and should be) entrenched at 1B. Jones was actually drafted by the Braves as an OF.
New Britain also won by a 4-3 score over Binghamton. Jim Abbott got the start and was great. He went 6 innings without allowing a run. He didn't get the win, John Thomas did, but it was a great performance nonetheless. Pat Neshek recorded his 10th save and five strikeouts in two innings of work. Luis Jimenez continues to hit with a 3-4 game. Speaking of hot hitters, there may be none hotter than Alex Romero. He had two more hits including his 9th home run.
Scott Tyler pitched well on his way to his fifth win of the season, a 5-4 win for the Ft. Myers Miracle. He gave up two runs and struck out nine hitters over seven innings. Matt Moses led the offense by going 2-3 with a walk.
Beloit has a couple of days off for the Midwest League All-Star game.
Aaron Gleeman wrote a great article on how Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are performing so far this season based on what their expectations were going into the season.
Check out Twins Junkie. Be sure to check out his Blogger Minute from last month.
and that is it for today. Hope all is well. E-mail me any questions or comments. Thanks! Seth
SUNDAY NIGHT UPDATE -
Good morning! I had a fun weekend down in the cities. Got to the Autograph Party about 12:30, and almost immediately three lovely ladies came up to me and asked me if I wanted to buy a grab bag. OK, like I was going to say No to them. So yeah, I bought one. They are always sold by the wives and girlfriends of the players. I buy one every year. I figure that the Twins do such a great job with the Community Fund that it is a good thing to support. It was fun to see all of the players giving out autographs. Most looked like they were having a great time. I always like seeing the expression on the kids' faces. The cutest thing that I saw was a little kid in a wheelchair went up to Torii Hunter who gave him a big smile. The kid reached out his hand, so Torii went to bump it. The kid dropped some Starbursts on the table in front of Torii. He smiled and said thank you! I felt bad for Glenn Williams though. He was teamed with Hunter. Fans were lined up with Hunter posters and bobbleheads and pictures. Most probably didn't even realize that Williams had knocked in the game-winning run the night before. The longest line, however, belonged to Johan Santana. It stretched hundreds of feet. It was pretty incredible! The lines for Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau were also quite long. I enjoyed the silent auction. It is one of my favorite things there. It's fun to see what items they have there. Autographed bats and hats and everything. WCCO radio was broadcasting live from there. Jack Morris was on air. Every commercial break, he spent signing autographs. Later, Terry Ryan showed up at their tent and did a ten minute interview that was very interesting. I went over and shook his hand after that. Everything was wonderful. Well, until the game started. The Twins played really poorly Saturday night; it wasn't much to watch, that's for sure! Then Sunday's game was just as bad. So, therefore, it's late and I'm tired and I don't feel like writing much today. I hope to have some more pictures and stories from the Twins Autograph Party here tomorrow.
Oh, the big news since I last wrote. The #1 prospect of Seth Speaks, Francisco Liriano, was promoted from New Britain to Rochester. Obviously I'm excited to see how he responds to that challenge. It will be interesting to see how the dominoes fall in the other affiliates' pitching staffs. Will Glen Perkins move up to New Britain from Ft. Myers? Or, will it be Errol Simonitsch, or Adam Harben, or Nick Blackburn? Or, will it be Scott Tyler since he is on the 40 man roster?
Anyway, thanks again for understanding and have a great week!
Update - Good Friday morning. Be sure to check out the Prospect Mailbag below. It contains some of your thoughts on my Top 30 Twins Prospect List. Feel free to e-mail me about it or any Twins topics. I just finished recording this week's Blogger Minute for The Twins Magazine Show. It will air on WCCO and its affiliates before the Saturday Twins game. Now, game time Saturday is 6:05, so I believe that the Magazine Show starts at 4:30 on WCCO and most of the Twins network. Check it out! Finally, again, I will be at the Twins Autograph Party tomorrow. It begins a 11:30 on the plaza outside the Metrodome. I'll be there in white shorts and a powder blue Twins shirt. If you're there and happen to see me, feel free to say hi! Have yourself a great weekend!