Sunday night notes
Posted on October 25th, 2009 – 11:42 PMBy La Velle
The Yankees have just knocked off the Angels to reach the World Series and look more than capable of knocking off the Phillies to win another World Series. With an excellent lineup, C.C. Sabathia able to start three games, talented relievers and the best closer in the history of the game, the Yankees will beat Philadelphia in five games.
But here are a few other things to get you going as the start of the work week is hours away.
Morneau checks in
I e-mailed Justin Morneau last week after one of my spotters spotted him in the Wild clubhouse with his hand wrapped up. I wanted to know how his surgery went.
He got back to me over the weekend and didn’t seem too worried:
“Hand is feeling better,” he wrote. “Get the cast off this week and it should be good as new in about 4 weeks. They found a floating chunk of bone that kind of looked like a tooth but no tendon or ligament damage. Went as good as it could go.”
Morneau’s hand should be healed from surgery by the end of the year - as should the stress fracture in his lower back that ended his season in September.
I remember talking with Michael Cuddyer during last offseason when he was coming off a 2008 that included so many injures. “I’ve never been more motivated to have good season,” he said then. Cuddyer went on to have a nice comeback year.
The guess here is that Morneau will feel the same way once he gets the go-ahead to resume workouts.
Spring Training neighbor?
This isn’t just about Boston’s deal with Lee County to move their spring headquarters a few miles south of their current downtown location (which - cough, cough - will put the Red Sox near the Twins’ ticket-buying base).
This isn’t only about the Orioles, who will move from Fort Lauderdale to Sarasota next year.
This isn’t just about how Fort Myers wants to replace the Red Sox downtown with another team, like the Brewers or Nationals.
This is about Naples, Fla., whose leaders have long had a, `we’re-above-that,’ view of spring training.
Naples is changing its mind. Well, it looks like there’s one team city leaders wouldn’t mind building a facility for.
The Cubs.
New Cubs owner Tom Ricketts has met with Naples officials about building a facility on 120 acres in Collier County. Here are more details. The Cubs can leave Mesa, Ariz after 2012 for a $4.2 million buyout.
Twins fans who have made the trip to Florida know that spring training travel in Florida can be a pain. But if all of this is pulled off, there would be three teams in the Fort Myers area plus the Cubs down I-75. Twins-Brewers spring games? Red Sox-Cubs spring games? With the Rays now in Port Charlotte and the Orioles in Sarasota, travel times could drastically improve in few years.
For more background, read this recent story.
Some one liners
Yes, my Bears stink right now.
Yes, my Illini are the worst football team in the Big Ten.
Yes, the weekend stunk for me.
If you see my byline under a Wolves headline this week - or occasionally over the next several weeks - don’t jump to conclusions. We’re just trying to give Jerry Zgoda a break. Joe C. will be on the clock the next few days, and we’ll both be around later in the week if there’s Twins news to report.
Finally….
Congratulations to Darren, `Doogie’ Wolfson and Laura Malat, who tied the knot over the weekend. It was great to see many of my friends at the ceremony and the reception. And, I must say, the Malat sisters know how to dominate a dance floor!
49 Responses to "Sunday night notes"
first!
Yankees suck! Go Phils, because it always sunny in Philadelphia!
Instead of a salary cap, MLB should put a cap on appearances in the World Series at 40 - once you hit that number, there would be a 100 year ban. The salary cap would take care of itself.
I am more worried about Morneau’s back.
Any news on that?
Lets see if the Umps make Yankee calls in this series. Maybe I’m a biased Fan of anyone playing the Yanks but it seems fairly lopsided so far towards the Yanks on some of these calls. (I’m not talking bout last night, just in general) I guess it goes to show Money talks. All I ask for is let the best team truely win without help
SI dished the Twins…………
Call Me: I have no idea what you’re talking about. The umpires are following the rules of the game to the letter when calling a game between the Yanks and another opponent.
Of course, those rules are different for the Yankees (for example: “A pitch will be called a strike if and only if the batter swings the bat and fails to make contact”)…but they are following them.
Say - has anybody else noticed who is leading the AL in postseason batting average???
(http://espn.go.com/mlb/statistics)
I doubt there is going to be any “news” to report on Morneau’s back until around ST time - unless it’s bad news. All he can do is rest the back and let it heal. The only news I would anticipate would be Justin saying “it’s coming along” or “it’s feeling better”.
Go Phillies! I picked them to repeat as World Series champs so it would be sweet to see them do that against the Empire.
Wilson Ramos is ripping up the VWL. In 13 games, he has a line of .407/.468/.833 with 5 HR and 21 RBI.
congrats Doogie!
ES16 what kind of competition is he facing though?
“Acta’s communication skills impressed the Indians, who see the Dominican Republic native’s ability to communicate with the team’s Latino players as a positive.”
Copied from the article about Cleveland’s new manager.
Bill, please take note.
BC of ND,
Mainly other minor league players, from what I can tell. Here are the other Twins’ position player prospects currently in the VWL:
Jonathan Goncalves .182/.182/.364
Justin Huber .316/.422/.395
Dustin Martin .209/.327/.349
Along with pitchers Pedro Guerra, Edgar Ibarra, Jason Jones, Winston Marquez, Frank Mata, Miguel Munoz and Oswaldo Sosa.
Thanks ES16 I wonder what the Twins will do with Ramos will he take Reddogs job and do some DHing?
“I wonder what the Twins will do with Ramos will he take Reddogs job and do some DHing?”
I believe you are speaking of Jose Morales.
Wilson Ramos is probably 1-2 years away from MLB.
Re-sign Redmond for more than the current market price on 39-year-old FA catchers.
sane
I thought Ramos was a catcher as well.
BC of ND,
“I thought Ramos was a catcher as well”
He is.
I thought that you may have mixed the two. (Morales and Ramos)
Obviously, you did not.
My bad!
I’m guessing Ramos will start the season in Rochester.
Call Me Stupid: I’m as much of a conspiracy theorist as anyone (yes… there WAS a shot fired from the grassy knoll), but if we’re going to look suspiciously upon the umpiring for giving the Yankees a bye in to the World Series, then I think we also need to cast an equally suspicious glance at the rosters of the Twins and Angels.
I’ve never seen two playoff teams, supposedly known for playing fundamentally sound baseball, find more ways to give away outs to another team. I’d try to go back and add up all the mental and physical errors those two teams made in their respective series with the Evil Empire, but it would just be too damn depressing to actually see the total.
Where is Commissioner Landis when we need him?
JC, Commissioner Landis is no doubt trying to keep African Americans out of wherever Commissioner Landis is right now. It keeps him pretty busy, I’m sure.
Btw, I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist, but I agree there was a shot from the grassy knoll.
“Commissioner Landis is no doubt trying to keep African Americans out of wherever Commissioner Landis is right now.”
If Judge Landis is trying to keep African-Americans out of hell (where he now resides), he is indeed atoning for his sins on Earth.
I heard that Judge Landis gave up on keeping African-Americans out of hell, as there are too many attorneys keeping him busy trying to keep them out.
Say what you will about Landis (and we obviously could say plenty), but at least he knew a rigged deck when he saw one and had the backbone to do something about it. As opposed to Bud “what could I do about it?” Selig.
Until someone not wearing a diaper occupies the Commissioner’s office, we will never see such things as meaningful drug testing, revenue/salary equity, or even something as simple as having both leagues play under the same set of rules. And don’t even get me started on the “home market blackout” issue.
OK, I’ve done my ranting about the worthless Commissioner now.
OK I’m not done after all… I can’t believe I didn’t even mention Bud’s opposition to using replay to correct obviously blown calls out of concern for slowing down the game… despite his apparent lack of concern over this issue every time a network has wanted more dead-time to accommodate an extra commercial.
By the way… does anyone believe for even a moment that, had a few more of those blown calls gone AGAINST the Yankees instead of in their favor (and heaven forbid resulted in them losing a game, or even a series), we’d have instant replay IMMEDIATELY imposed? Hell, he’d probably have made it retroactive so he could change the outcome of the games and give the poor Yankees the WS they would otherwise have been cheated out of!
WOW!!!
That future spring training venue sounds super!!
I just keep seeing that Yankee AllStar team stealing our catcher though.
Then the venue goes downhill.
I remain optimistic however.
HAVE FUN !!! GO TWINS !!!
Continuing……..
83 AB, 3 HR, .241 BA, 31 SO,
Half his hits (20) are either doubles or HR’s though. And his OBP is .351.
So he showed some improvement against lefties after the AS game.
If he comes through against Sabathia and Pettitte, the Phillies have a chance. Otherwise, not much.
No way does NY top Philly in five!! No way! Did you even watch the NLCS, LEN? The Dodgers could’ve beaten the Yankees, and they got manhandled by the Phillies.
I could care less who wins it, but I’m telling you right now, Philly wins it in six. They’re the better team, hands down. Better 1-9 (the Yankees have a 1-4 and not much else), better rotation, better bullpen, and much better defense.
You’re wrong LEN. The Phillies win in six. Then again, you would’ve actually had to watch the NL playoffs to know that, and I’m sure you were at a Dunkin’ Donuts while those games were played.
Who the hell are you talking about romer?
Jeez DrDon, it’s obvious to the rest of us, what are you asleep? He is talking about the player who had 83AB, 3 HR, .241 BA, and 31 SO. Duh…
I agree though, the Phillies have a much better chance if that guy comes through against Sabathia and Petite.
“Continuing……..”
From where?……..when?………why?
romer are you talking about John Kruk?
Kruk? I thought he was talking about the stats from Steve Philips pick-up efforts and various relational escapades. Least that’s why I figured the slugging % was on the rise, and strike outs were leveling off. I’d look for a bombardment of intentional walks going forward though.
I heard Steve Phillips is going to get his own late night talk show.
BC ND,
Yeah,
Steve Philips is taking over “Loveline” from Dr Drew…
Anyone else having trouble with this “Your comment is awaiting moderation” stuff?
romer i’ve noticed that it’s very sensitive to certain words and if it’s awaiting moderation that usually means it’s never going to be posted.
To bypass the “awaiting moderation” roadblock, simply replace all the words in your original post with replacement words.
Piece of cake.
moderation = black blog hole. It’s never coming back.
But, what’s the replacement value of the word being moderated?
“But, what’s the replacement value of the word being moderated?”
sorry bop but I haven’t seen Thrylos98 around lately or I’m sure he could break that all down for you.
I think VORW for any cuss word is = to the number of syllables in said word, mulitplied by a factor of .963
Yawn.
I’m not sure how to calculate, but if the replacement value of the word being moderated is > +2.3 letters, then by all means try to trade for that word immediately. If a trade doesn’t work out, then next try to pick up that word when the free wordancy season starts. If all else fails, look for a decent word that you can pick up during the Rule 5 vocabulary draft. Maybe with a little work it can be re-hyphenated or something.
But if the replacement value of the word is negative, just dump the word, let it clear waivers or let it remain in moderation. Maybe another language will come along and see some value in it.
Bottom line is I apparently can’t say anything about the Phillies’ 1st baseman.
Testing…
