Tuesday December 16, 2003
 

Winter Meetings

Twins Takes

A Few Transactions

Rule V Draft

Stewart/Kielty Trade Completed

Wolves Win

Cavs/Celtics Trade

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

Random Ramblings

WINTER MEETINGS

We have discussed the Winter Meetings in the past few postings. But what are the Winter Meetings? Alex Belth of Bronx Banter was fortunate to make the trip to New Orleans to take in the event. He posted a great article on exactly what goes on there. Be sure to take the time to read it. It is really quite interesting reading about how things look. Who he was fortunate to meet?

He went there with Futility Infielder’s Jay Jaffe, who also posted some thoughts on the trip.

Both have promised more thoughts when they get back, so be sure to check both of their sites frequently.
 

TWINS TAKE ON WINTER MEETINGS

Terry Ryan is greatly disappointed by what he did, or more accurately, didn’t do while down in New Orleans.

“We are not all that thrilled that we didn’t get more done. I’ll be the first to tell you that we haven’t got as much accomplished in recent years when we come down here for the Winter Meetings as we anticipated. Maybe I need to re-think our approach to how we handle things here.”

He did accomplish a few things, like trading Dustan Mohr. It will still be interesting to see who the Twins received from the Giants in return.

I have read on a few sites that many Twins fans seem to be very frustrated with Terry Ryan for not doing more. Other Twins fans are upset with Terry Ryan for letting so many valuable parts of last year’s team leave. I happen to think that Terry Ryan is one of the better GMs in all of baseball. Fact is that he is trying to accomplish building a team to win the division, with the same $56 million budget as last season. It would be impossible to give raises to all of the players AND stay at the same value. So, don’t blame Terry Ryan. If there is anyone to blame, it is 100% Carl Pohlad! Don’t forget that!
 

A FEW TRANSACTIONS

CRAZY CARL TO THE EXPOS

It had been rumored that the Devil Rays had offered Carl Everett a contract. How sad is it for Tampa when a player chooses to go to Montreal than Tampa Bay? Yesterday, Everett signed a 2 year, $7 million deal with Montreal. For a guy who hit 28 homers last season, that seems like a very fair deal.

CARDINAL DEALINGS

The Cardinals made two deals yesterday. First, they locked up starting pitcher Jeff Suppan for a couple of years. He will be a solid #3 or #4 pitcher for them. He is far from a staff ace so although I don’t know the exact dollar value of his deal, I’m guessing that it is far more than it should be.

In their second deal, late last night, they signed OF Reggie Sanders to a two-year contract. That means that the Cardinals become another team that probably lost interest in trading for Jacque Jones. It will be Sanders seventh team in seven years. So, if he actually stays with the Cardinals for two years, it will be almost monumental.

FORMER TWINS TRADED

The Seattle Mariners traded 1B/PH Greg Colbrunn to the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for OF Quinton McCracken.

PHILS SIGN HERNANDEZ

The Phillies signed some bullpen ‘help’ yesterday in the arm of Roberto Hernandez. This really isn’t a big signing. The only reason I write about it here is because there had been rumors that Terry Ryan was considering signing him. Ick! Thankfully Philadelphia signed him before the Twins could!
 

RULE V DRAFT

In the major league portion of the Rule V draft, the Twins were inactive. They did not draft a player from another organization (at a cost of $50,000 and a major league roster spot). They also did not lose any of their players in that draft. There were 20 players selected in the draft. Five of those players were taken from the Cleveland Indians organization. Five of the first six picks were chosen from the Pittsburgh Pirates. Detroit drafted three players, the same as they chose last year. All three of those players were kept last season by the Tigers, and even contributed to them (out of necessity, I admit).

In the AAA portion of the Rule V draft, the Twins remained inactive. They drafted no one and lost no one. In the AA portion of the Rule V draft, the St. Louis Cardinals selected LHP Jackson Paz. He was on the Gulf Coast League Twins roster, but didn’t play at all. I don’t think it will be a huge loss for the Twins!
 

STEWART/KIELTY TRADE COMPLETE

You remember the Twins received a player to be named later from the Toronto Blue Jays in their July trade of Bobby Kielty, along with Shannon Stewart. That player was to be named following the Rule V Draft. The draft was completed yesterday, and the Twins got their player.

His name is David Gassner. He is a pitcher who spent much of this season at the AA level for the Blue Jays. He just turned 25 years old on Sunday. He was drafted by the Jays in 2001 out of Purdue. He is left-handed and does not have overpowering stuff. This year, he averaged just under 6 strikeouts per 9 innings. But he also has great control, walking less than 2 batters per 9 innings.

Odds are that he will start the 2004 season in Rochester with the Twins AAA affiliate. He will probably start, but many believe his future will be as a lefty reliever. But, just because he isn’t a toolsy player does not mean he couldn’t develop into a Tom Glavine or Jamie Moyer type! (OK, that might be aiming for the stars, but why not?!)

Batters Box, a blog of the Blue Jays, wrote up a nice scouting report on Gassner. Check it out here to see what those who saw him play think.

Any comments on any of the baseball information above? I’d love to hear comments. My quantity of e-mails received continues to increase and I love it! I’m always glad to hear from the readers. So, send me an e-mail.
 

WOLVES WIN EASILY

The Wolves went to Boston expecting a tough game. Well, that didn’t happen because the Celtics pulled off a trade with the Cleveland Cavs just hours before the game, so they played short-handed. (I’ll take a look at the trade below) The Wolves won 116-95. Kevin Garnett and Sam Cassell each scored 27 points. Garnett added 12 boards and 7 assists. Cassell added 9 assists. Latrell Sprewell and Gary Trent added 14 each and Fred Hoiberg had 12 points. The Big O, Oliver Miller, played just one minute, but showed a lot of the skills he has. In his one minute, he had 2 rebounds, an assist and a block.

My only concern with the Wolves is that Kevin Garnett is playing too many minutes. In the team’s 23 games now, he has only played under 36 minutes once, and that was the game against Utah when he was ejected. In blowout wins like they had last night, there is no reason for him to play 42 minutes!

The win pulls the Wolves record up to 14-9. Tonight, they host the Houston Rockets. Thursday, they take on the Dallas Mavericks at Target Center.
 

CAVS/CELTICS TRADE

Boston receives: Ricky Davis, Chris Mihm and Michael Stewart

Cleveland receives: Tony Battie, Eric Williams and Kedrick Brown.

The Celtics really improved their offense with the addition of Ricky Davis. Last year, Davis averaged over 25 points a game. This year, he is averaging just 15, but in a system where he is one of just two offensive options, I would suspect that he will team with Paul Pierce to really light up the scoreboard. Chris Mihm has gradually become a pretty good PF/C in this league. He has the athleticism and outside touch to play the PF position, but can also bang inside. With Raef Lefrentz out, Mihm should get plenty of playing time. Michael Stewart is obviously a throw in for salary reasons, but he can provide some experience off the bench.

For the Cavs, it really is addition by subtraction because Davis is such a distraction. He is definitely not known as a team player, even though he has sacrificed his numbers this year. Something must have happened in the Cavs locker room recently to force this deal. But the Cavs didn’t do terribly. Battie is a solid rebounder and shot blocker. Williams can play inside and outside and has become a definite threat. Kedrick Brown is in his third season and has not produced much yet. However, he still has that athletic upside that is fun for teams to project.

So, I would say that the Celtics win the trade, but the Cavs may be affected just as positively!

NFL “EXPERT” PICKS

As I mentioned yesterday, we have four winners this week in our football picks. Aaron, Anthony, Mike and Michael each went 14-2 on the week. Four came in with 13 wins and one had 12. Aaron took a two game lead with just two weeks to go. Here are the updated standings:

Well, I’m going to call it a day! I appreciate you stopping by the site. If you have any questions or comments on anything, please e-mail me!

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