Friday, January 2, 2009
Friday Quick Notes
Things are pretty slow with the
Twins to this point in the offseason, at least in terms of major league moves.
Likewise, things are a little slower during this time with Twins blogging as
well. But there are a few things going on that people should be aware of, so
here are some links and thoughts for today:
·
Josh Johnson,
at Josh’s Thoughts, is working
very hard on his Top 50 Twins prospects. He is trying a new format that I
really like. It includes some background, stats, and video on the player, if
available. He has posted his choices for #47-50, and none of the four made my
Top 50, although I happen to think all four of these names are very intriguing
and all about potential!
·
Nick Nelson,
at Nick
& Nick’s Twins Blog, is a bit disappointed that the Twins did not
acquire Mark DeRosa.
Cleveland got the infielder/outfielder from the Cubs in exchange for three
minor leaguers. Jeff Stevens is a
reliever who apparently has better stuff than Anthony Slama. John Gaub has apparently lost some
velocity since he was drafted out of the University of Minnesota. Chris Archer is the other player. None
of them even ranked in
Cleveland’s Top 10 prospects. Could the Twins have beat
that offer, if they wanted to? Certainly, and easily. But unlike many
Twins fans, this doesn’t bother me at all, for several reasons. One, Mark DeRosa
hit 20 homers last year in hitter-friendly Wrigley Field, but the 34 year old
has just 69 career home runs, so he isn’t the power hitter that the Twins would
need. He isn’t as good as Casey Blake
or Ty Wigginton.
In fact, I am of the belief that if Brendan
Harris got the number of at bats in 2009 that Mark DeRosa would get, Harris would have
equal, if not better, numbers. I think that it would have minimally helped the
Twins in 2009. That said, I think it was a great trade for Cleveland. They will
be able to play DeRosa at 2B while finally being able
to move Asdrubal Cabrera to SS and Jhonny Peralta to 3B. Of course, you’ll also want to check
out Ubelman’s take.
·
Happy Birthday to Aaron
Gleeman this weekend!
·
Over the
Baggy did a really good article
on The
Curious Case of Matt Guerrier.
·
Jesse at Twinkie
Town posted a very difficult Who Am I, Minor League edition.
·
Over at Blogonoscopy, you can read an entertaining Brief
History of the Fashionability of the Moustache.
Are there other Twins stories,
articles or links that you’ve read, please link them in the comments. Please leave
your comments or links here.