Tuesday lineups: Twins/Indians
Posted on June 10th, 2008 – 2:54 PMBy Joe Christensen
CLEVELAND — Both Twins catchers are in the starting lineup tonight, with Joe Mauer behind the plate and Mike Redmond at designated hitter.
Redmond is batting .523 (12-for-23) for his career off Indians lefty C.C. Sabathia.
And then there’s Alexi Casilla, batting .889 (8-for-9) off Sabathia.
Update (4 p.m.): Fairly quiet pregame. This is the Twins’ first visit to Cleveland this season, and players were taken by two new arcade games that have been added to the visiting clubhouse: Buck Hunter and Golden Tee.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Mike Lamb will likely return to the lineup Wednesday, against righthander Paul Byrd. Nick Punto (strained left hamstring) is making enough progress that he could head to Fort Myers for rehab work this weekend.
It rained hard this afternoon, so the teams are taking batting practice in the cages. Meanwhile, the sun is out, the skies are clear and it is absolutely gorgeous here.
Cleveland went 5-6 on its just completed road trip to Kansas City, Texas and Detroit, averaging 5.9 runs per game.
Update (4:30 p.m.): Gardy did hint that Brian Buscher is the leading candidate to be called up from Class AAA Rochester when the team adds a position player and subtracts a pitcher later this week. Buscher has a sore knee however, and some of this will depend on how he’s feeling.
Twins (31-33)
1. Carlos Gomez, CF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Mike Redmond, DH
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Brendan Harris, SS
9. Matt Macri, 3B
Starting pitcher: RH Scott Baker
Indians (29-35)
1. Grady Sizemore, CF
2. Ben Francisco, LF
3. Victor Martinez, C
4. Ryan Garko, 1B
5. Jhonny Peralta, SS
6. David Dellucci, DH
7. Casey Blake, 3B
8. Shin-Soo Choo, RF
9. Josh Barfield, 2B
Starting pitcher: LH C.C. Sabathia
Progressive Field; First pitch: 6:05 p.m. (Central)
179 Responses to "Tuesday lineups: Twins/Indians"
that 6-9 looks weak, but hopefully they get on base tonight. the twins need a win, desperately, and also a good outing by baker to spare the bullpen.
why both catchers and monroe sitting on the bench….i just dont get these lineups lately….seems like gardy is just searching for something….its not like theres alot of extra players to choose from right now…i would think its very risky to have both catchers in the lineup - where is this f.o. of the twins and what the hell are they waiting for to make a couple of moves….this isnt rocket science either
What sucks is that after Cuddy it is a dead lineup up until Gomez again. I am begging Bill Smith to pull the trigger on a big deal to bring a bat or 2 here. We have money saved from letting go our big FAs, why not use it?
Even though we’re facing a lefty, I still question if the Mike Lamb project is over….if so, what a waste of money for a team that prides itself on being frugal.
One step at a time for this club…let’s take two out of three against Cleveland and see if, by series end, both Cuddy and Kubel have their averages above .250.
For Kubes it might be a struggle to keep it above .240.
Hmmm… Will we see Kevin Slowey catch an inning or two tonight if there’s an injury?? Seems logical, he does everything else.
Why is Craig Monroe on this roster if he doesn’t DH here?
let Livan catch. He is bog and could block the plate since that seems to be a big issue
gardy is getting brave that evil injury that could cost the dh with both c’s in there. ? why not let joe dh save his legs a little?
i guess gardy figured out how losing the dh earlier this yr works but korecky isn’t on the roster anymore.
does anyone else think the coaching staff has come a little unravelled?
Like the line up…Monroe was brought here to do one thing: Hit LHP and he has been a colossal failure at doing so. Deserves to be on the bench. I might have put Young 6, Harris 7 and Red Dog 8 though
If Redmond is in the lineup I don’t see why they don’t have him catch. Mauer seems like he can’t throw out any runners lately
the runners have been going into their slide about the time Mauer releases the ball. Work with the pitchers to hol the runners on
I understand Redmond DH’ing…we are more likely to pull Red dog for a PR. If he is DHing, its a one move procedure..the PR becomes the DH. If Mauer is the DH, we still are likely to PR for Redmond, but then Mauer has to catch, and we lose the DH. While it would be nice for Mauers legs to catch a break, this is the better baseball decision
Well, to add to my last post, the better baseball decision would be to have Chris Coste/Brandon Inge type on the roster, but that would require some good planning in the front office
Craig Monroe is at .111 vs LHP, and is hitting .261 vs CC with 2 dingers in 12 games, but 1 walk and 12K’s.
He’s not helping much when he is in the lineup. Too many 0-fers, and he’s now down to .225
i’m just worried about poor joe getting hurt. he is a little fragile. i thought of the pr thing but not sure any bench players are faster than redmond? kubel, lamb? maybe monroe. starting to look like last yr’s bench.
Not on everyone Charlie. His throws seem to be high and kind of trailing at the end.
Gardy is playing a hunch that Red dog wil have a good game against CC i’m just waiting for Jason to rip this move so Red dog blows up. Come on Jason do it for the team.
gobble, thank you for pointing out the crappy bench options to me. What are you going to do for an encore? Kick me in the nads? Pour sugar in my gas tank?
Adam S… can you explain “We have money saved from letting go our big FAs, why not use it?”
As I see it…
the twins salaries in 2007 were $71.4 million. their salaries in 2008 were $56.9 million. Difference of $14.5 million.
Joe Nathan’s contract for 2008 went from $6 million to $11.25 million when he signed his new contract ($5.25 million “bonus”). Justin Morneau got a $6 million bonus. Michael Cuddyer got a $2.75 million signing bonus. Added together, those three equal $14.0 million.
that’s close enough to a wash. So the money was used on signing bonuses, making future contract numbers a little less. They have added more scouts. I don’t know where else they have spent money, but I’m sure they are pretty much even.
“not sure any bench players are faster than redmond?”
Kevin Slowey (don’t let the name fool ya).
I guess Perkins is pretty fast too. Too bad these guys can’t pitch too well.
i guess i’ll go back to the bill hall talk, has a spendy contract but has real power, can play even if poorly 3b, ss, 2b and of. give gardy some options not many moves available right now. appears monroe is toast and probably lamb. kind of getting to the sh** or get off the pot time for bs or we’ll be totally out of it.
Agreed gobble. Wouldn’t be a bad bench player
fcmlefty sorry. wasn’t meant to insult you trying to explain my thinking.
Bet you Kevin Slowey would be pretty good at throwing out base-stealers.
I would rip it bc…but I can’t really, seeing Monroe’s production lately. I honestly would use Monroe instead of Redmond, though, in spite of his recent slump…so there…that’s a half rip.
If Baltimore / Chicago would’ve put four guys in right field to defend against Redmond like they were supposed to, he would be 0-for-the road trip.
Put another way…if Mike Redmond is our DH answer, wow, we are in trouble.
Dumping Monroe for Bill Hall makes no sense they are the same type of hitter only one plays 3B and as you mentioned poorly.
Did Rincon make the trip to Cleveland or did they leave him in Chicacgo?
BC check out this Bert link
Can’t at work jimmy i’ll look when i get home.
It’s just Bert doing an advertisemnet wearing an Angels uniform.
jimmybee what are your thoughts on John Kruks hair. I think we could solve the energy crisis by squeesing the grease out of that guys mop.
bc i was thinking more of hall replacing macri because he can play infield and of. not sure what to do with monroe doesn’t seem to be offering much to the team at this point. can’t see any good options in the minors, just trying to think of what might be out there and i know he’s expensive. can’t see them dumping much money, rincon, monroe and everett would be big, for the twins, right offs. kind of think we’re stuck with what we have at this point.
BC John Kruk’s hair. Bio diesel anyone? I could follow him around and collect the grease to make my own Bio diesel
Seth, isn’t nathan’s new amount in your $56.9MM? If not, is the salary number correct?
gobble I’ll probably get ripped for saying this but one of the problems is Monroe doesn’t play enough. I don’t want to hate on Young or Gomez or Cuddy but what would be wrong with rotating them with Kubel and Monroe more? I have no problem with Gomez getting the majority of the starts but the rest are interchangeable IMO.
Can we make Reyes grow a moustache and become the closer for the Twins. He would remind me of the stereotypical late 80’s closer
Seth, I assume you got those from the opening day rosters, and then added Nathan’s new salary based on ESPN or one of the other sites. Your numbers seem to gibe. In this day of the intertubes, I find it amazing I can’t google “current baseball salaries” and find a list of up to the minute salaries for each team.
bc it seems to be a gardy issue he over uses some guys (punto) and doesn’t use others. at this point monroe looks like a fifth wheel doesn’t fit anywhere. right now we have several parts that don’t fit anywhere.
With a mustache he would look like Cheech Marin. Then we’d have senoir smoke and senoir up in smoke.
BC of ND says:
June 10th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
With a mustache he would look like Cheech Marin. Then we’d have senoir smoke and senoir up in smoke.
BC LOL. That was good. I think he would look like Fernando Valenzuela as an adult film star
mike wants wins,
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/ has current information of all baseball contracts, broken down by team
Cot’s Baseball contracts is the best site for contract info that I’ve seen:
http://mlbcontracts.blogspot.com/2005/01/minnesota-twins_17.html
Seth, jinx
I love Redmond - but why did we get Monroe if you are going to put RedDog in at DH - what about Kubel - stupid move sorry gardy
looks like 57m includes the signing bonuses. better have enough to sign the draft picks this yr.
No, gobble. According to Seth’s 3:23 post, the $57M does NOT include the signing bonuses.
You two straighten this thing out so I’m not confused anymore.
:)>
Actually gobble asks an interesting question, and I don’t know if it does or doesn’t include the signing bonuses. I’m not going to try to figure it out because it’s not that big a deal to me, and I don’t want the Twins to spend money just to spend money.
Don’t they pro-rate the signing bonuses over the life of the contract when they figure the total team salary? So I think the $57M includes some of the bonuses, but not all.
I’m with Seth. Spend money if it’s warranted - not because it’s burning a hole in your pocket.
monroe has been so poorly used its incredible….you cant produce if you dont play and for a few twins, they dont produce even tho they do play everyday- i still would bet, had monroe just been given the job of dh and had a steady diet at the plate, we wouldnt even care about kubel…..jmho
Exactly, Seth. We’ve been getting harangued a bit by mj1, demanding the FO make a deal of some kind. But there is no “deal” out there.
So any extra payroll money can’t be used anyway — this year.
romer - who you kidding my friend, there are always deals out there, but you have to be willing to take some chances, have a little courage, maybe spend some money, but to say there are no deals, well i just cant buy that one…..everyone likes to de4al……
gobble
no insult taken. Was just trying to make some humor out of the Twins bench, um, um, “options”
I hear you, mj1. But one of the nice things about blogs is you can use your imagination and suggest specific stuff.
So, the stage is yours.
BTW, if you project Kubel’s 2008 stats out to a typical full season, he’s a 20/90 HR/RBI guy.
So, yes, I care about Kubel.
“Oh no…Redmond’s in the lineup…oh no….”
There, I just covered about 90% of tonight’s comments.
“but you have to be willing to take some chances, have a little courage”
Like dealing Garza for Young? That seems to have gone over well (albeit hindsightedly)
Here’s the problem with the Twins stand in the trade market. They don’t have any “power” in terms of what they have to offer.
The teams aren’t dumb. They’re not going to trade for Rincon when they can just wait out the Twins and claim him off waivers.
Maybe Livan or Lamb could be worth anything, but that’s about it. Unless the Twins deal Kubel or Monroe…or Cuddyer.
Though I could imagine the backlash that would come from some if they dealt Cuddy, even when the signing wasn’t exactly welcomed with open arms by those same people.
It’ll be entertaining to watch the hand-wringing and stance-swapping once the Twins start making their moves.
Good Gardy interview and Twins talk at:
http://media.myfoxtwincities.com/livestream/webcast/archive.htm
And in all honesty, if you project Monroe’s 2008 stats out, he’d do as well as Kubel.
And now that I’ve looked at it, it’s Young who’s the klunker here. He comes in third behind Kubel and Monroe in Xbase hits, HR’s and RBI’s on a projected basis.
So why not put Monroe/Kubel in LF, with the other one at DH?
Because Young figures to be in the Twins long term plans much more so than one of Kubel or Monroe.
By the end of 08 one will no longer be a Twin…
Time for a win!!! Go Twins!
yes i could have easily said the same about kubel, had he been given the job full time, and i should have. its just that i prefer monroe over kubel, just because i feel hes just a more professional hitter than kubel, i guess i just like his approach at the plate, but they are both ugly when they go down on strikes…theres only room for one dh on any team and the best case scenario is to find someone who can hit both r and lefties
But T, it doesn’t matter if the Twins deal a Cuddy or whoever. They still don’t have a chance in post-season. There are no aces on the staff.
I don’t know why mj1 is in such a hurry, apparently —- or who he’d trade.
you would get no complaint from me if cuddyer was included in some trade package- untouchables as far as i am concerned are gomez, young, casilla, morneau, mauer- so we need 3 solid position players to make this lineup minus pitching a winning lineup…….
Is that serious? The Twins have played their last game at the Cell this season befoer they played their first at the Jake?
What kind of bass-ackwards scheduling is that?
Sabathia looked like the first game of ST in going after that Casilla bunt. What an elephant…..
I wouldn’t have Young on my untouchable list. And it’s nice to have Monroe around in case Young fizzles.
as good a bunter as mauer is, why not lay one down with nobody out…i never understand why they have to always let him hit away when you get two shots at driving in at least 2 runs
Although Gomez/Ulger had a brainfart, at least the Twins don’t look like they’re draggin’ after the Chisox sweep.
i think gardy just pulled his last white hair out….unbelievable…when things are goin wrong, they really go wrong….
man, the indians lineup looks a LOT worse than the twins…they’re in trouble for the future.
Yeah mj1, plus they would rattle Sabfatia even more.
I meant, Mauer bunting would have been a great thing.
they would probably be up 1-0 …..well now tied….lol
To all those people who wanted to hold onto Santana for “one more year” as a farewell tour, take a look at the Indians.
That is what the Twins would be. Well…what the Twins are
Except they wouldn’t have Gomez.
Master hitter, MISTER Mike Redmond.
Now look at that…Redmond hits where he normally would (3rd instead of Mauer) and that’s at least an RBI…
Delmon looking okay. Better luck next time.
Of course we’ve pretty much been saying that all season about Delmon, him being just an average hitter so far.
Two excellent pitches by Baker:
That K on the change-slider way inside to Choo, and the HBP to Blake.
Wow, Sabfatia can’t cover 1st!??
Sin Shoo Choo is the best name EVER.
Until Shooter Hunt…
Not a tricky move by Sabfatia. What was Macri thinking?
He was going on first movement
Let’s see…….Silva gets $12M-per. How FAT a contract would you give CC?
Nobody out, so go on first movement? Who does he think he is, Torri Hunter?
torri went before first movement. lol
Oh…my bad. Torri went BEFORE first movement.
Did White tell him to go? Did Ulger NOT tell Gomez to go (back to 2nd)?
Ha-ha.
I swear, Carlos G, I wrote that before your post came up.
This is one finely-tuned base running team. Well Schooled!
Another hard luck play. There was no way that didn’t end in a DP. Either he catches it and doubles off Mauer or it one hops him and he tosses it to 2nd to start a DP that way.
GREAT play by Casilla!
That one hurts…both the pride and the pride.
In Rochester:
Liriano 4 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 4 K, 54 pitches
T, sometimes ya have to have a strong prostate to not wind up prostrate.
romer,
Just checked… Hunter with 8 SB and 3 CS this year. I wonder if he is still running in anticipation or if the cast of hitters around him has made him more conventional? Any Angel watchers have any insight?
thrylos,
Have you seen any speed readings on Frankie’s pitching lately? Those numbers look very fine today. Thanks.
Baker so far giving the Twins what they’ve been needing. *knock wood*
And I’d like to know why Mr. Liriano walked 4 last game? On FB’s? Sliders?
Looking forward to your final report tonight, thrylos!
In Rochester:
Liriano 5 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 K, 68 pitches
Macri’s AB’s have looked pretty good. And he looks pretty good as an athlete.
So far, he impresses me a little more than a Tiffee or a Buscher. He just turned 26.
Why would we need Buscher right now?
No speed readings or pitch selection on Liriano, recently. Watched the last 3 Rochester games live but he was not pitching. All I can tell from these 3 games is that Duensing is a very good pitcher and can help the big team this year, Graves doesn’t have it any more and that Ruiz should be with the big club sooner than later… I’ll keep posting Frankie’s game results tonight
The need is an extra infielder, not necessarily a third baseman. Buscher may be the only viable option.
Twin’s inning to do something. The Meat part is due up. The 3M’s. Mauer, Morneau, and Michael.
Liriano 6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 94 pitches 58 strikes.
I think he is heading for the showers.
Franchise: 6 IP, 6 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K on 94 pitches [58 strikes]
Nice AB by Mauer. That was ridiculous.
So, if Blake doesn’t get plunked earlier in the game, maybe he covers the plate a little better and that ball to the fence has another 10 feet of carry for a HR.
Baker doing his job tonight.
The heart of our order has been absolutely brutal tonight. Mauer with a dumb baserunning mistake as well.
Guys, I just got here and was looking at the earlier posts, Redmond is 12-23 or something like that against C.C. and you know how much Gardy likes to play the matchups.
This is a game where a little power would be nice to have on the roster. Two baserunning gaffes according to Gladden. When was the last game the Twins did all the little things right?
Austin, read T’s post at 7:00.
OK. THIS is the Twin’s inning to do something. Red Dog, Young’n, and Hairass.
Baker doing a LOT of what the Twins need him to do right now…
Twins making CC look like Cy Cy tonight.
“When was the last game the Twins did all the little things right?”
Judging by the blogs sometimes…a better question is: “When’s the last time the Twins did anything right?”
Great pitching duel. Glad to see one of these for the Twins this year. Hope than Rincon is not getting up…
I have no idea what will happen in the ninth. However, it is fortunate that the Twins are in Cleveland and adjacent to the world famous Cleveland Clinic. They are staffed with perhaps the finest Cardiac surgeons in the world and, if ever a team needed a HEART, this group should be placed first in the line for a transplant!
Not a terrific outing by Baker because the strike ration wasn’t that high.
But I’m not complaining. He’s the best starter. It’s reasonable to expect Blackburn and Slowey to look this good next year.
Liriano is out for the 7th. Final line:
6 IP, 6 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 7 K, 94 pitches 58 strikes.
Rochester up 11-1
Well-well, will we see any bunts?
7 ip and 1 run allowed who cares about how many strikes he threw he was outstanding that is just whining and nitpicking.
Ron Gardenhire would put in a righty at this point, what will Wedge do?
I look for gomez to go yard in the 9th - no bunt.
Make him pitch Macri! Don’t sucker for the inside slider….
Isn’t this when Monroe should be PHing for Macri? Isn’t he here to PH and hit a HR off the bench?
Nuts
Carlos G,
that was close
Almost, Carlos G!!
Another one bites the dust…….
It’s still a loss, but feels a lot better than those 4 games of 40 runs.
So this is what it’s like to see a pitcher throw a complete game…
Sabbathia thanks the Twins for that trip down memory lane. He once was a pitching powerhouse.
I’d take this game over any of the last 4.
This team could lose 10 plus in a row
Send a pinch hitter up for a guy whose hitting almost .400? A HR in that situation would have only tied the game then Lamb would be in at 3rd.
btw, Chicago is losing at Detroit 6-4
this one is all on gardy…by not bunting in the 1st inning with mauer up and two on and no out, how dumb can it get…move the runners over and well one would have scored on the fly out…instead we got 0000000000000……its one thing to lose close games, but when you lose because you do stupid things, thats another case…atta boy gardy…maybe this game is paasing you by, and damn i never thought i would say such a thing……
“”A HR in that situation would have only tied the game…”"
LOL. Only on the STrib blogs.
Need a SS.
Need a HR from our LFer.
what a waste of great pitching….gardy needs to apologise to baker, really
Macri should have bunted on the 3-1 pitch. lol
Well, gonna switch channels and cheer for the other Minnesota team. Lakers.
“Update (4 p.m.): Fairly quiet pregame.”
Fairly quiet game.
Fairly quiet manager.
Fairly quiet FO.
Fairly quiet year.
The Twins are building for ‘10 you say? Would that be 2110?
When you compare on a position-by-position basis with what a contender looks like (take your pick, CWS, BRS, NYY, LAAoA, whatever) the Twins may have about 6 players that would be in the starting lineup/rotation on those teams.
Morneau and Mauer are legit, although they may be playing at their ceiling already and improvement may be from somewhere else. Nathan would be pitching in the last inning on most championship contenders. Baker would be a 3rd, maybe 2nd pitcher (although, as Reusse pointed out today it is doubtful that any Twin starter would be in the CWS rotation)
Gomez and Young (doubtful based on early returns) could be in a WS lineup.
Bottom line? The management of this team needs to seriously upgrade the talent and, if 2010 is the target, then they need to start executing a series of savvy trades to compile said talent.
The needs are many… a top of the rotation pitcher (none in the org. except for, maybe, Guerra), power arms in the bullpen (not many 94+ arms in the org. right now), power hitters, left-side infielders. This team is farther from the “finals” in terms of talent than the Wolves are and yet the front office of the Twins gets a free pass from media and fans while Mcfail (and rightly so) gets crucified.
There are quite a few teams with “young” talent in the offing that are ahead of the Twins.
I’ts going to be a mediocre decade unless they get a personnel guy that can make moves/judge talent better than what is there now that has yielded a minor league org. that has no one to come up and fill holes.
These guys are in trouble as an org. and the only thing that will save them is the three year honeymoon the new stadium delivers. In essence they have until 2013 to get the org. restocked.
Austin, Gardy just classified Mauer’s getting doubled off as a baserunning mistake.
Oops, now he “corrects” himself saying Mauer was in no man’s land.
I like what you say, Det. Robert.
So, not only is it wait till next year, stated within the them of shoot for 2010, but not the bottom line is 2013.
God, will I be alive then!?
blame everbody gardy - but please look at the game u called…baseball 101
Detroit Beats White Sux. Unbelievable.
Not really, but shoulda been us.
Sorry, I meant —–
So, not only is it wait till next year, stated within the theme of shoot for 2010, but now the bottom line is 2013.
Some of you love it when the Twins lose.Positivity is no fun.So for this game,hire Anderson back and fire Vavra.Good times and bad always fire Gardy.
Det. Robert Thorn,
“the Twins may have about 6 players that would be in the starting lineup/rotation on those teams.”
Get together with the “fire Gardy”, “fire Vavra” and “fire Anderson” mobs and decide if we are short of talent or short of coaching.
Without a consensus, its difficult to determine a course of action.
“Detroit Beats White Sux. Unbelievable.
Not really, but shoulda been us.”
I don’t know… I don’t think ‘we’ could compete… I’m picturing romer at 2B. t must play CF. mj1, he’s the right fielder. The Real Craig, he’s the leader, he can play SS. mike wants wins - he’s the ‘real’ pitcher that “we” need. I call 3B because I played it in college and since it’d be so easy for Mauer to move there, maybe I could play it at the big league level. BC Beneke gets LF because he must be better than Delmon, right? Thrylos, you can play 1B. Jason can DH.
Maybe “we” can beat the White Sox after all!
I’d vote on the talent-short side… a few lesser strategists have won big with high talent teams. I haven’t seen, in my 50+ years, a lot of the reverse.
Since I am a person who always enjoys the topic of trade talks, these are the moves I would like to see happen this trade deadline or offseason:
TWO of Bonser,Perkins,Slowly, and Cuddyer, and maybe a prospect or two for Atkins
The Rockies would pull the Trigger because:
The Rockies need young pitching and they will need an outfielder when Holliday is gone(unless they trade for one with holliday, that is why maybe the Twins should try to trigger the trade befor holliday is gone). Also Atkins is expendable since they have Stewart.
The Twins should pull the Trigger because:
The Twins are expendable at young pitching. Liriano should be ready next year, and this pitching rotation should be fine.
1.Baker
2.Liriano
3.Blackburn
4.Bonser,Perkins,or Slowly
5.Mulvey or seasoned vet FA
The Twins NEED a 3B hitter for average with substansial power, meaning 25-30. Valencia does not cut it. Also Cuddyer is expendable. Kubel/Monroe would be fine holding down the fort until Revere is ready.
Livan/Everett and Rincon to a contending team for a Jason Bartlet type SS. (great D,speed, and decent BA)
A contending team would like a back of the rotation starter, a reliable defense SS, and take a chance on a once excellent bull pen arm
(hopefully)
Tyler - cuz either of those trades could happen. First, have you looked at Atkins’ splits to see how well he hits at Coors Field and how he hits everywhere else?
Do you think there is much demand for Rincon and Everett to get a major league SS?
Just a second. Mudcat pitches.
“He reached his pinnacle with the 1965 pennant-winning Twins, leading the AL in victories and winning percentage (21-7, .750) and in shutouts (six).”
Ok. Carry on.
Hey, I thought I was the new CF.
I can close games too.
Or, you can trade me for a real 3b. lol Seth!
Thanks for the Field of Dreams, Seth. Your personal attention is appreciated.
How’s your sick daughter? (I had a nasty respiratory thing for 10 days.) She can be the first one “circled” on the TV coverage.
We can play at the new Millers park in Burnsville starting next year. Of course the name will be the Christensen Clowns.
Managers? Former Presidents Clinton and Bush-2.
Did anyone really think we would be better than a five hundred team after losing Torri and Johan? The only hope was that Lirano would come to 2006 form.Gomez,Casilla and Blackburn have been pleasant surprises.Does anyone know anything about the 3b that defected from Cuba?
I’m no pitcher. I played some 2B and LF, but I think I’m not even Mendoza like in my hitting these days.
Now, if we need a softball pitcher, I’ve done that more than a few times.
I liked your shot at my “real pitcher” comment though, that was well played. I think I’ve been pretty consistent in saying that Baker is a number 2 (though I may have wavered at one point) and Blackburn has impressed me (though it seems almost smoke and mirror like at times). Slowey is a 4 or 5 right now, maybe he can improve and be a 2 or 3. But, I still say they need a guy with ace type stuff, a stopper. I don’t trust Perkins to be a starter long term, but I think he’d be a great short reliever. Boof - he has the stuff be a good reliever also, it’s harnessing the talent that I’m not sure he can pull off right now. Liriano will return as a number 1-3, depending on how confident he gets in his slider and other pitches. Livan, he’s a short timer. did I miss one?
Buscher hit another dinger in Roch, that knee must not be bothering him too much…
He is hitting .328/.410/.514 with 9 HR and 30 RBI in 51 games.
Too bad he is a butcher in the field and we already have a left handed DH.
That was my exact prediction, GENO —.500 unless Liriano returned to super-excellent.
As for the 3B defector, you’d better believe that Managers Bush & Clinton will snatch him up faster than a speedboat ride across the Rio Grande. (Sorry, Third Baseman Stohs…)
Rob Thorn-
I disagree with your assessment that we have no top of the rotation pitchers in the minors…
1. Francisisco Lirano
2. Tyler Robertson
3. Deolis Guerra
and maybe-
4. Anthony Swarzak
5. Jeff Manship
We have a lot more top end pitching prospects than most MLB teams.
Thanks Seth, i appreciate the position…but there will be no magic tricks in my bag…just serious baseball..lol….till we play again..nite all..
Ryan, of those, the first three might be top of the rotation guys. Liriano has already proven he can be one, of course, he’s been injured in the minors and the majors now, so that is a concern.
Robertson - some are really high on him (seth) others are not as high (BA and, dang, can’t remember where I just was reading on him).
Guerra - he’s really young, and throws a lot of walks. In most chats lately on ESPN where they compare prospect, he seems to come out badly in comparisons. He does appear to have some good stuff, but control is a major issue.
Swarzak - he’s got a chance to be good, but I don’t think he projects as a number 1 type.
Manship - he’s a typical Twins pitcher, in that it is about pitching for him, not stuff. Most of those guys turn out to be good starters or relievers, the Madduxes of the world are exceptions.
Of course, this is all projection at this point…so anything could happen. Who outside of BA thought Blackburn was this good?
Good breakdown, my point was that we have some options, even if it is only 3.
Saying we have “none” when refering to top of the rotation guys in the minors is silly.
SETH:
Your clubhouse is in turmoil.
Well, I also think Duensing (sp?) is a good prospect. He’s in that 3-4 range, I think. I think they are laden with guys that are 2-4 types. What they seem to be missing that nasty pitcher (which is why Seth mentioned me as a “real pitcher” in his post, I believe).
Seth
Was that sarcasm “cause any of those trades could happen” or do you really think any of those trades could happen?
And no I have not looked at the Atkins splits. Are they bad? I do not think it could make to big of a difference if you are hitting above .300 and plunkingnear to 30 HR out a year.
Well Lirano has been nasty, and has been progressing rather well of late.
Guerra and Robertson are both 6′5″… and both young (19 I think) so it is hard to say how nasty they will be.
Von Mil the 7′1 guy throws mid 90s, he might be the nasty bullpen guy we can look at… and watching that Gutierrez guy pitch for Miami the other night, he could be a fast mover through the system in the pen. Still a reach in the first round, but I like his sinker…
I like Atkins, but he is Cuddy-like with his streaks. He disappears for weeks at a time.
And he is Mike Lamb-like in the field. Or Brian Buscher-like, whichever you prefer.
Ryan
But I like that his streaks have ended with a near or above .300 average, and 25-30 HR.
seth,
I know I’m not MLB-ready, but jeeze!
If I can’t even play on THAT crappy team, my parents should have bought me a guitar instead of a baseball glove when I was a kid!
I could have joined a rock band, become a multi-trillionaire rock star, bought my own team, which would have destroyed THAT team!
Huh?………………………………What were we talking about?
“what a waste of great pitching….gardy needs to apologise to baker, really”
And who apologizes to Gardy after that 4-game embarrassment by the pitching staff?
Mariners have already fired their hitting coach to shake up the team.. it’s time something was done by Billy Smith to wake up this club.. once again fundamental mistakes by a supposed team that “does all the little things right” Twins have 2nd most errors in AL.. I thought the team would struggle to be .500 this year I just didn’t think it would regress in “playing the game the right way” Grady has clearly slipped and has lost this team.. time for a new manager
“Grady” didn’t cause all the injuries. The White Sox have no injuries this year.
FINALLY! I think I am going to go crack a beer in celebration of Juanie being demoted. Perhaps a stiff drink……
