I know I haven't been a writing very well or consistently the last couple of weeks. Over the next week or two, I will be continuing my Fantasy Perspectives series as well as a couple of other interesting articles in the works, for sure one for Monday. But starting Friday evening and continuing through the weekend, I am going to add some links here for articles that I have found this weekend and enjoyed and hope you do too. (Friday's AL East Preview is below) So, here we go...
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About
the same time I started hearing a lot about
Lebron James (probably his sophomore or junior year in
high school), we started hearing almost as much about
Sebastian Telfair (who is one year younger). The Coney
Island native was as much a basketball prodigy as James. The two
shared a cover of SLAM magazine back when I subscribed. I
have it in a clear plastic sheet. I have read so much on Telfair
in the last four or five years. It's hard not to want him to do
well. When he spurned Louisville and decided to enter the NBA
draft, some questioned how high he would go. Why? Not because of
his talent. No one questions his passing, shooting or
leadership. The question came from his position and size. See,
he is a 5-11 point guard. Well, it turned out to be a great move
for Telfair after the Portland Trailblazers took him with the
13th overall pick last summer. Sure, the Blazers had the
questionable influences of Damon Stoudamire and Nick
Van Exel, but 13th pick money is pretty good. So is the
money he got from a shoe sponsor. So far, he is averaging about
11 minutes and has played in 35 of the team's 47 games. He is
averaging 4.5 points and 1.7 assists. He is also leading the
league in turnovers per 48 minutes. All of this, the struggles,
would be expected from a 19 year old point guard learning the
NBA game. But he is playing more consistently and better of
late. Last week in a game against Charlotte, he scored 23 points
in 24 minutes. In other words, he is going to be just fine.
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OK, so you're asking why I am talking about Sebastian Telfair, right (and using 2 dots)? Well, there is a great article on FoxSports that talks about the whole process leading up to his decision to enter the draft, pick an agent, select a shoe to sponsor and much more. Was he offered money by Georgia Tech? I love the article, it is fascinating. But, my favorite part has to do with his cousin, Stephon Marbury. Apparently the two are not close. A year ago when Telfair was on the cover of SI, the SI people had wanted a cover with Telfair and Marbury. Marbury told SI that he wanted the cover to himself. SI said no, and told Telfair that they just wanted him on the cover still. A great line to sum up who Telfair and Marbury are is from this Telfair quote, "I can't tell you how many NBA people, that's the first thing they ask. 'Is he anything like Stephon?' When they find out I'm not, they're relieved." That's enough for me to like Sebastian Telfair even more than I did before.
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Kyle Lohse beat the Twins. Lohse had his arbitration hearing today and was awarded a 2005 contract of $2.4 million, instead of the $2.15 million the Twins had offered. Yes, that means Lohse got a raise of just over $2 million after his 9-13, 5.34 ERA 2004 season. But again, arbitration takes the full career into account, so I really don't think it is a bad deal. Plus, hopefully $250,000 isn't a huge deal.
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Earlier in the week, our friend The Baseball Savant took a detailed look at the 2005 Minnesota Twins. Yesterday, he posted his 2005 preview of the Cleveland Indians, likely the Twins biggest threat this season.
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Peter Gammons previews the AL Central as well. Regarding the Twins, he thinks that the addition of at bats between Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer will offset the infield losses. He discusses how the Twins pitching was the best in the AL, led by Johan Santana, Brad Radke and Joe Nathan. He thinks that the Twins lineup with Jason Kubel could have been great with the three young lefties in the middle of the order. Honestly, it is a very quick review. There is nothing 'insider' about the article that we didn't know before. But, for me, I still love national media talking about the Twins, even if they're not really saying anything. Plus, Gammons is going into the Hall of Fame this summer!
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Will Young's Twins website is now one year old. Congratulations Will! Also, he has had over 112,000 hits in that time. I'm soon going over 100,000, and it has taken about 21 months! Keep up the good work Will!
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Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban discusses statistics on shooting the longer three pointers versus the shorter three pointers, from the corners. It's pretty interesting.
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There is a great article on the KARE11 site today about blogging. The blog Power Line is the site that is responsible for uncovering the Dan Rather/60 Minutes controversy before the election last fall. The guys that run and write that site are from Minnesota. Apparently there site gets hundreds of thousands of hits, a day!
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John Sickels has launched his new website Minor League Ball. It looks great and obviously Sickels' writing is great! You can also sign up for his Baseball Prospect Book and his John Sickels Baseball Newsletter at his other site JohnSickels.com.
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It's Saturday now, I wonder what's going on in the world this morning!
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Apparently Vince Carter and former Timberwolf and current Raptors head coach Sam Mitchell got into an "altercation" while Carter was still in Toronto. Carter threw Mitchell onto a massage table after Mitchell challenged him. Apparently Mitchell also challenged PG Rafer Alston at halftime of a game. You have to think the league would look into these types of allegations, wouldn't they?
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Is anyone else sick of hearing about the Vikings impending sale? I am! Some days it sounds like Reggie Fowler's group is about to buy the team. Glen Taylor's name is always in the picture. I like Glen Taylor. I wish he'd buy the Twins!! But it is a football town and buying the Vikings would likely be a better investment.
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Concordia (Moorhead, MN) WR Andrew Passanante is being looked at by NFL scouts. The other day a Broncos scout watched him in a personal workout. He will also be taking part in NDSU's Pro Day in early March. You have to cheer for the Division III guys to make it!
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Remember how similar the 2004 seasons of Johan Santana and Ben Sheets were?? Well, as Twins fans know, Santana's arbitration hearing is set for Tuesday with him asking for $6.8 million and the Twins countering with $5 million. Well, Sheet's arbitration case is also set for Tuesday morning. He is asking for $6.5 million with the Brewers offering $5.5 million. Sounds like the sides aren't too close to settling.
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When I ranked the Top Prospects last year, the name Greg Miller appeared near the top of that list (#3 in the National League). As an 18 year old, Miller shot up the Dodgers' system to AA where he continued to impress, almost earning a September call-up. But then in the offseason, during a bullpen session, he hurt his biceps and had surgery. He recently had a second surgery to shave some bone off his shoulder blade because it was shaped in a way to cause inflammation. The prognosis is good that Miller showed pitch early in 2005.
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The Twins Geek takes a look at all of the two-year contracts that Terry Ryan and the Twins have handed out this offseason. Thursday, he discussed how the Twins rumored 4 year, $40 million would be a bad move for the Twins.
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OK, it's 4:45 on a Saturday afternoon, the 12th of February. I just came in from outside. I was doing a little bit of shoveling. A normal thing for mid-February. However, the fact that I shoveled, wearing shorts and my Joe Mauer t-shirt was pretty exciting for me! According to weather.com it was just 34 degrees, but it feels a lot warmer than that! At noon, Abby and I drove into town and walked for an hour and a half. I like nice weather!
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THIS JUST IN - The Minnesota Timberwolves have fired coach Flip Saunders. Kevin McHale will replace him as coach for the rest of the season. Ridiculous! That's all I have to say! After 10 years and doing so much for the team. He has his first disappointing season and now he gets fired. It is terrible. Maybe someone will come in and all will be great! Maybe it will be a Jack McKeon or Phil Garner mid-season hiring that will bring the team to the playoffs. Who knows? I just do not think that the problem is Saunders and he is being made out to be the scapegoat. I realize that in sports, the manager or head coach is the one to go, but I thought Glen Taylor was different. I thought he was more loyal. I thought he would actually be one to stick by his coach and acknowledge what other teams don't, that it is the players who are not performing. It will be interesting to see what Kevin Garnett has to say about this. He has been loyal to the Wolves, to McHale and to Saunders. They better keep Garnett happy!
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ESPN.com's Marc Stein puts the entire blame on two guys, Sam Cassell and Latrell Sprewell. And this article was written before the firing.
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Anyone else notice that it was Kevin McHale who brought in all of these players. I think he may be next!
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The Baseball Savant has posted his 2005 Chicago White Sox preview.
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Hey, Kevin Costner is doing another baseball movie! He will star in The Upside of Anger in which he plays an ex-baseball player who drinks too much and is very unenthusiastic as a radio personality. It actually is a romantic comedy and it doesn't sound like there will be much baseball involved. Costner had previously been in Field of Dreams, Bull Durham and For Love of the Game.
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Listening to Peter Gammons on ESPN this morning, he was asked the question about who he is most looking forward to seeing play this year. His #1 is Joe Mauer. He says that he isn't just a good player, but a great player. Later, I was driving around and listening to ESPN News radio, and heard him interviewed again. He was asked the same question and again said Mauer, but this time he added that if the Twins can get 1,200 at bats from Mauer and Morneau this year, that he can see the Twins in the World Series.
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The Wolves, playing for the first time since Flip Saunders was fired and coached by Kevin McHale, lost to the Chicago Bulls. It didn't help that Wally Szczerbiak and Sam Cassell didn't play. Garnett played well, scoring 23 to go with 14 rebounds. Latrell Sprewell added 26 points.
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Stick and Ball Guy may be gone for a week, but it didn't stop him from posting his thoughts on Saunder's firing.
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Did you see the halftime show of the NFL's Pro Bowl? It was a tribute to Hawaii. Don Ho sang a bit, but the headliner was Jasmine Trias. You will remember her as a finalist on the last season of American Idol. She had a single flower always behind her ear. Well, tonight, she seems to have almost a bouquet! She's signing I'm Walking on Sunshine.
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Jim Souhan, who did a Q&A for this site about a year ago, wrote a great article placing the blame for Flip Saunders' firing in a Sunday article.
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Karl Malone officially retired from the NBA as the league's 2nd leading scorer of all time, and clearly the best power forward in NBA history. But to me, another retirement announcement was pretty important too. Cincinnati Reds' SS Barry Larkin announced that he is retiring. He said he didn't think he could give another team the proper commitment, and that is fair. The 40 year old took a job as a special assistant with the Washington Nationals.
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More names are coming out of Jose Canseco's book. He mentions stories of Roger Clemens, Bret Boone and Sammy Sosa. What an embarrassment for Canseco?! He has no pride! That said, as I've said before, we can't just dismiss his claims on anything. It would be naive to think that he is just making it all up.
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If you ever have any questions or comments on anything you've read here, please feel free to e-mail me.