Thursday, December 14, 2006

NFL "Expert" Picks

Thursday Thoughts

I know that many of you are accustomed to larger postings at SethSpeaks.net. However, so far this offseason, the entries have generally been fairly short. I am afraid that in the near future, that will likely continue, and I don't think that is a bad thing at all. Sometimes I can get wordy, and maybe the shorter entries will not be as intimidating. also, there is actually not a whole lot going on right now in the baseball world. There are some signings each day and a few other things, but I enjoy expressing my opinions and also encouraging readers to check out the other Twins blogs which in reality are probably better than mine. So anyway, for the near future, expect the smaller entries to continue, unless there are some Q&As of the occasional bigger article. Hopefully you will feel encouraged to participate in the Comments field as that makes for a fun, interactive site.

• First things first, I mentioned it yesterday as well, but if you would like to help me get some data for what could eventually become a more feature article, I would greatly appreciate it. I am trying to figure out who are the hitters and pitchers that people would build their franchise around. I have an Excel file with 26 hitters and 30 pitchers to help make that determination. If you are interested in participating, please e-mail me and I will e-mail you more specifics. It may take a few minutes, but I think that the format is fun and the topic could be very interesting to many of you!

• The non-tendered player list came out officially yesterday. We knew that the Twins would offer arbitration to Joe Mauer, Michael Cuddyer, Justin Morneau, Nick Punto, Juan Rincon and Lew Ford. However, we forgot that the players with less than three years of big league experience also need to be offered 2007 contracts. Two Twins players in that category were not tendered contracts. That means that Willie Eyre and Luis Rodriguez are both free agents. It is believed that the Twins would likely bring back Rodriguez on a minor league contract and let him compete with Rule V pick Alejandro Machado for the remaining utility infielder spot. I don't think that Eyre will be back though. But his non-tendering is more of a surprise to me. I realize that he did not have a great 2006 season. However, when he did get consistent innings, which was not often, he showed that he can do the job in the bullpen. He also had such an amazing 2005 season between Rochester and the Venezuelan Winter League that I thought he would at least be offered a contract. I mean, he still has options available and even if he wasn't in the Twins plans for 2007, he could still be sent back to AAA for some bullpen depth. That is where my concern comes in. The Twins have an incredible bullpen for 2007 when you consider that Joe Nathan, Juan Rincon, Jesse Crain, Pat Neshek, Matt Guerrier and Dennys Reyes will all be under contract (unless they are traded). There is really just one more bullpen position open. Because JD Durbin is out of options, he has to make the team and that could be in the bullpen. But when you consider that AAA relievers Kevin Cameron and Levale Speigner were both lost, for now, in the Rule V draft and may not be back, and you remember that Beau Kemp was lost to the Blue Jays organization via free agency, where is the bullpen depth for the Twins should there be a trade or an injury? The other possibility is that Terry Ryan is freeing up spots on the 40 man roster because he has a big free agent announcement to make in the coming days. I doubt it! I mean, Rondell White may be resigned, but I doubt that any free agent brought in would be "big."

• Adam Harben was traded to the Cubs at the end of August for Phil Nevin. Because of the Cubs crazy spending spree this offseason, they found it necessary to non-tender Harben, making him a free agent. It's never bad to have plenty of your pitching talent and despite all of the walks, Harben has a lot of talent. Should the Twins consider signing him to a minor league deal?

• Make your plans already... Twins Fest is scheduled for January 26-28 at the Metrodome. I am really hoping to get down there again this year. Last year, I went for the first time and absolutely had a blast. I was re-reading my posting on the event and it got me realizing that I need to post something on it to encourage everyone that can to go there. I have been trying to contact people with the Twins about the possibility of having a Twins Bloggers booth. I think it would be fun to bring the bloggers together and also give people an opportunity to miss us. I think it would be fun. I don't know if anything will come of it.

• The Boston Red Sox reportedly came to an agreement with Japanese pitching star Daisuke Matsuzaka and his agent Scott Boras. The last couple of days, I had read that Boras was looking for a 6 year deal for around $100 million. I was shocked to see that the deal will be somewhere around 6 years and $52 million. That's "just" under $9 million a season for Matsuzaka. Of course, from the Red Sox perspective, considering the $51 million that they bid just to negotiate with him, they probably are looking at it as an average of over $17 million a year! And, I don't know if Chris Berman needs any help, but what do you all think of ... get this... "Andrew" Daisuke Matsuzaka. Hickory Dickory Dock...

• Finally, be sure to check out the Rochester Red Wings 2006 Year in Review DVD and order your copy today.

If you have any thoughts, please e-mail me or leave some Comments below.

NFL "Expert" Picks

Here are our Week 15 picks. Just this week and two more to go!

If you have any questions or comments, e-mail me or leave comments below. If you would like any information on the panelists, or the updated standings, check out the Official SethSpeaks 2006 NFL "Experts" Picks page.

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