Twins Insider » Blog Archive » Live from Midway Airport…

Live from Midway Airport…

Posted on June 28th, 2007 – 12:58 PM
By La Velle

I’m already headed to Detroit in advance of a huge road trip for the Twins. Got the Twins game on my computer (MLB.TV rocks) and saw Big Frank’s homer.

Frank leads all active players with 50 homers against the Twins, and he’s two behind Rocky Colavito for the all-time lead by a Twins’ opponent.

Anyway, it’s a lock that I’ll need to sleep for two days at the end of this trip. I’ve got two 4 a.m. wake up calls to make 6 a.m. flights during this trip, and I have to hurry out of New York on Friday morning to get to Chicago for the day-night doubleheader. Here’s where the mental challenge of being a seamhead comes in play…

Just picked up the USA Today, and I see that Twins’ first-round pick Ben Revere has been named to the All-USA high school baseball team. The kid already has been ripped because the Twins took him at 28 when others had him ranked much lower, but this honor can’t be ignored, plus he’s off to a good start (.350 avg, .458 OBP in five games)….

Most of you by now have read about the Twins’ interest in bringing back Jacque Jones. The chances have dwindled since the Cubs apparently have decided they can’t eat salary.

I’ve gotten some heated anti-Jacque e-mails, but I would have pulled the trigger if I only had to pay him $1 million from now through the end of 2008. We all know Jacque. First, he’ll be out of Chicago and back to a club that knows how to lift his spirits. He’d be batting seventh in the order, not 4-5-6 like he did when he was here the first time. And he’d cover plenty of ground in left field. Yes, his throws would scare all of us. But I’d bet he’d hit .275 with 12-14 homers and 45 RBI the rest of the season, which is way more than you guys are getting from left field, third base and DH right now. When and if Rondell gets off the RonDL, you’ve got a decent bottom of the order.

That’s all for now. I’ll podcast for Friday in advance of this big road trip.

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2007 at 12:58 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

74 Responses to "Live from Midway Airport…"

JimCrikket says:

June 28th, 2007 at 1:11 pm

Midway? Lucky you.

I would have taken Jones back at that price. You might be a little optimistic on his numbers for half a season, but it wouldn’t take much to be an improvement over status quo. For the price discussed, to me it’s a no-brainer. I might have had to close my eyes for a few minutes every time through the order, just to save myself the frustration of watching Hunter and Jones going back-to-back and reaching for anything thrown within a 3 state radius of the plate, though.

Lars says:

June 28th, 2007 at 1:12 pm

If Jacque came back, would Hunter consider taking a little less to stay with the Twins? He’s said he wants to stay, but his value on the market is crazy!!

Nico says:

June 28th, 2007 at 1:14 pm

seriously, is nobody watching Kubel right now? he IS the answer, just give him a chance

Klobs says:

June 28th, 2007 at 1:14 pm

You can’t give in to the Cubs in this situation. Jones has been horrible so far, and they are going to have to pay his salary if they want to get rid of him. Their owners will understand this in a few days. If they don’t agree to eat it, they’ll have to designate him for assignment, and will end up paying him anyways. Just wait it out, and if he can be had cheaply for the league minimum, bring him in. That deal would save the Cubs a few hundred thousand dollars, at least.

Funkytown says:

June 28th, 2007 at 1:16 pm

Take Frency back and tell him he needs to DH some days, at that price.

But please, first let’s fix third base.

Punto is awful, Cirillo is creaky and cannot play every day. GAPING holes at DH and 3B more than anywhere else on a “normal” day.

JimCrikket says:

June 28th, 2007 at 1:32 pm

I’m kind of with you, Klobs… I just dont see where the Cubs are going to find someone willing to take Jones without Chicago eating almost all of the salary. Just a matter of time before they realize that, i think.

MSG says:

June 28th, 2007 at 1:51 pm

La Velle — do you think Torii’s hitting so far this year has anything to do with his contract situation? Or is he just maturing at the plate?

Have fun in Detroit …

Nate says:

June 28th, 2007 at 2:03 pm

Most Twins fans would welcome Jones back with open arms. He didn’t jesture a full-page ad in the local paper thanking fans like Koskie, but Corey’s another story all together. He’d solidify the bottom 1/3 of the lineup, and be more consistant than Kubel/Tyner/RonDL would ever be. He’s also a left-handed stick. I’m a firm believer you can never have enough left-handed hitters. As far as the Hunter angle if Jones was brought back in… I don’t think it would persuade Torii to change the way he feels about staying already. Torii is a stand-up guy. Yes, he wants to get paid, and rightfully so. But who says he wants to go somewhere and be unhappy for 3-5 million more a year?! He’s constantly stated how it’s hurt to see his friends over the years leave because of rising salaries. Terry Ryan wouldn’t ask him to take less than what he’s worth, but I wouldn’t put it past Ryan and the Twins to offer him a fair market deal. The only way Hunter stays is if the club even OFFERS him a deal in the first place. Free agency, in my opinion, is nothing more than a bidding war which turns into retail shopping - overpaying for good that most of the time don’t live up to their pricetag. Regarding someone’s comment about Kubel being ‘the guy’ and needing more time… I see Jason succeeding (if at all) much like Cuddyer from last year. A late bloomer, but someone you don’t give up on as of yet. Before the season began, I predicted Kubel to be the biggest turn-around player for the team this year. Unfortunetly, if the Twins expect to compete with Cleveland/Chicago/New York/Oakland/Boston, they NEED more consistancy from the entire line-up, top to bottom. And they need it now. This is something that Jones could bring to the table.

Alex says:

June 28th, 2007 at 2:06 pm

newest addition to the twins… shea hillenbrand

jama says:

June 28th, 2007 at 2:33 pm

Rincon must have hired a nanny. He looks rested and is giving the Twins some nice trade value

TwinsTerritory says:

June 28th, 2007 at 4:16 pm

Yeah, Shea was DFA assignment. Do we have any interest?

Marty Andrade says:

June 28th, 2007 at 5:10 pm

Jacque Jones?

Are you kidding?

Jones is 32 years old, his fielding numbers are all down this year (signifying decreased range in the outfield) and his offensive numbers suck. According to the ESPN website Jones has an RC27 of 2.95. He creates just 2.95 runs per 27 outs. This would make him the worst offensive outfielder in baseball, the worst offensive DH in baseball and the worst third baseman in all of baseball based on run production.

Nick Punto produces nearly a run more than Jones per 27 outs.

He’s had it, he’s done. I wouldn’t play the guy if cubs ate his entire salary.

He has only 2 HRs in his last 202 at bats and he’s hitting .233 right now. How is he going to hit 12-14 HRs with a .275 average?

Jones would be a stupid pick up, sorry.

Erik says:

June 28th, 2007 at 5:16 pm

Why would the Twins be interested in Shea Hillenbrand?

The goal is to add good hitters…not bad ones. The Twins already have their fair share of those.

Roy says:

June 28th, 2007 at 6:23 pm

Actually, I doubt Rocky Colavito hit anywhere near 52 homers against the Twins, but even counting the Senators, it’s surprising he’d be the leader instead of Ruth or Foxx or Williams. Guess Griffith park was really hard to hit homers in.

Reggie Jackson hit 51 homers off the Twins.

JimCrikket says:

June 28th, 2007 at 6:32 pm

What I really find kind of comical is that, for all the talk about how everyone wants a new 3B, no matter who gets mentioned, a bunch of people think he’s a stiff and not worth adding (and much of the time, they’re right). It’s not easy coming up with a name that is even close to being realistically obtainable.

dick says:

June 28th, 2007 at 6:45 pm

For the love of God, Jones cost us the playoff series with the Yankees, leave him alone. Give Kubel a chance to play everyday, it worked for Cuddy last year.

cmathewson says:

June 28th, 2007 at 6:50 pm

Re Jacque: Kubel is better in every way right now. For one thing, Kubel can take a pitch or two. Second, Kubel can hit a curve ball. Third, Kubel has an accurate arm. I guess the only thing Jacque has that Kubel doesn’t have is speed. But why do you need speed out of the number 7 spot in the order?

RonDL will be back after the break. Hopefully he adapts to the DH role. We can wait for him if it means saving our few trading pieces for a third baseman who can bridge the gap until Danny Valencia is ready in 2009.

Craig says:

June 28th, 2007 at 7:01 pm

Jacque Jones has been subjected to hate mail, death threats, and racial slurs since joining the Cubs.

I would take Jacque back just to help him escape from the drunken sociopaths at Wrigley Field.

bufftwins says:

June 29th, 2007 at 10:35 am

On the topic of ex-Twins I really hope the Twins bring Corey Koskie back next year with a minor league deal. If he proves he’s healthy again, he could bridge the gap at third until one of our
young prospects hopefully is ready in a couple of years. I really want him back in a Twins uniform. Good guy, good player (when healthy), good in the clubhouse and the community. However, we would need some sort of backup plan if he isn’t ready, and no, it can’t be Punto playing 3B every day.

darin says:

June 29th, 2007 at 3:02 pm

• And it’s come to this for the Phillies, so flush in starting pitching before the season that they moved Jon Lieber to the bullpen: “The Real Deal” J.D. Durbin – a nickname he gave himself, since no one would dare say that about someone with a 94.50 ERA – starts tonight. And should he implode, as he did in a 2/3-inning, seven-run performance for Arizona in April, Durbin could get a new nickname: J.D.F.A. Already Durbin has been designated for assignment four times this season: Minnesota at the end of spring training, Arizona following the one-outing debacle, Boston one day after signing him and Philadelphia, so it could send him to Triple-A.

This was in an article on espn about the pirates fans walkout

Mr.Dean says:

August 18th, 2007 at 5:36 am

Where I read new articles?

phentermine says:

September 5th, 2007 at 5:16 am

How much does it cost to deploy a banner on your blog?

Victor says:

September 15th, 2007 at 10:49 am

Linkin Park says:

September 18th, 2007 at 7:56 pm

Combien il coûte, pour to développer drapeau South ton blog?