Friday, March 4, 2005
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TWINS GAME THOUGHTS
Good morning! Finally, a Twins game to talk about for the first time in months. Sure, it was just their first exhibition game, and the first regular season game isn't for a month from today, but that's ok. It's baseball. It's what we want to see. Well, did all of you Twins fans watch last night's game online? I am upset at myself because I missed the first three innings. But I did watch innings four through nine and had just a few comments to make based on them.
I really was planning on watching the game, and posting updates throughout on this site, but then I saw that it was being done (as it is for all Twins games) over at the Dickie Thon Twins Fan Forum, so be sure to check that out to see all the play-by-play and lots of great opinion. Lots of thoughts from the Red Sox perspective over at the infamous Son of Sam Horn site as well!
I watched JD Durbin struggle with his control a little bit in his second inning of worth (the 4th). After a 1-2-3 third inning, he gave up a single before walking the next two Red Sox hitters. I have to admit that there were a couple of pitches that looked close, but that is probably just the camera angle, and my home team bias. He then hung a curveball to Kevin Youklis, who amazingly swung at the first three pitches Durbin offered. Durbin then settled down to get the next three out.
I love spring training games because you never know who is going to be in the lineup and how much they'll play. For instance, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Luis Rivas, Michael Cuddyer, Shannon Stewart, Torii Hunter and Jacque Jones didn't play. They were replaced in the lineup by Mike Redmond, Matthew LeCroy, Luis Rodriguez, Eric Munson, Michael Ryan, Lew Ford (although Ford would be a regular) and Armando Rios.
Luis Rivas - maybe you've heard this before, but why did the team sign him again? First, Michael Cuddyer could do the job better, and Terry Tiffee would then play 3B just fine. The combination of those two would be better than any lineup that includes Rivas. But the organization could replace Rivas from within just as easily. Instead of pay Rivas $1.6 million for this year to be awful, why wouldn't they give Luis Rodriguez a shot at the 2B job? He has done well at AAA the last two seasons, walks as often as he strikes out and plays good defense. Maybe they even go down to AA and bring up Luis Maza, who hit .311 last year (and became one of my favorite Twins prospects) and didn't commit an error at 2B the whole year. Maybe you'd be losing a small notch defensively, but the offense could be no worse with the potential of being so much better.
Note - Maza made an error in the 8th inning while turning a double play. However, he was actually playing SS at the time and made a throw into the dugout (in raining conditions!). I was impressed with Maza at the plate as well. In his first at bat, he lined out to left field. In the top of the ninth, he rocketed a single up the middle that scored Brent Abernathy to cut the lead to one with two outs in the 9th.
And then, to make it worse, the team brings in Brent Abernathy. Now, he isn't good, hasn't been since his rookie season. But let's be honest, what he would give would be pretty much equivalent to Rivas, and for over $1 million less.
And, don't get me started on signing a utility infielder like Juan Castro who can't hit or field for a guaranteed two years and $2.05 million. Sure, Jason Bartlett had his question marks last year. But why bring in a nobody? Even if the plan might be to give Bartlett two months in Rochester, they could have done just as well, if not better, with the combination of Nick Punto and Augie Ojeda (and Andy Fox who was also signed to a minor league deal). They would have been just fine in the interim.
And, how many left-handed hitters off the bench need to be brought in to camp? I understand Eric Munson, because he has the ability to play 1B, 3B and be another emergency catcher. But, did they really need to sign Jason Tyner and Armando Rios to go with Michael Ryan and Todd Dunwoody? Granted, I don't think any of them will make the team (Rios probably has the best chance), but does Rochester really need them all either?
NESN does a nice job. I really enjoyed their interview with Theo Epstein. But, how long can fans actually listen to Jerry Remy? It is tough when he is on Fox's game of the week from time to time. Listening to him for a full game would be tough. I enjoyed his pronunciation of BARTLETT (BAHT-Lit). That's cool!
Was I the only one that was thoroughly impressed with David Gassner? The lefty who led the International League in wins a year ago pitched the bottom of the 7th for the Twins. The team has brought in CJ Nitkowski and others to compete for a possible lefty-out-of-the-pen guy with JC Romero and Terry Mulholland. I think Gassner's name should be added to the mix. He throws harder than I would have guessed. He has an effortless delivery. I was also impressed by the fact that his changeup comes from exactly the same motion as his fastball. Obviosuly that is the illusion of the changeup, but I was very impressed. In his inning, he struck out lefty Simon Pond (who has major league experience), gave up a single to left by righty Chip Ambres, then got lefty George Lombard (major league experience) to ground weakly to 1B. Then he got another weak ground ball off of Adam Stern, another left-handed bat. I realize it's one outing. I realize he was facing fringe hitters. But at the same time, he showed me the stuff that makes me think he might be a good guy for that role in time!
Garrett Jones is a guy that I think will be interesting to follow this year. He's 22. He was drafted by the Braves, but he was released before getting out of rookie league. Last year, he lit up AA, hitting for average and power. Can he repeat those numbers again, likely at Rochester this year? He is someone who could come up to the Twins if anything bad happens. But, he's also someone who you can still see needs time. He was very anxious in his at bats. He popped up on the first pitch in two of three at bats. That's the sign of a young guy trying to do too much, trying to hit the ball a mile to impress the coaches, rather than just putting together a solid at bat. That's normal for a young guy.
Terry Tiffee was the DH and the only player to play the whole game. Of course, that meant four or five at bats. He has such a smooth swing. I really do believe he will be good. He had a nice double leading off the 9th inning.
Willie Eyre is another guy that looked good. He pitched the fifth. He gave up a single before getting a double play and a strikeout to end that inning. He also pitched an easy 1-2-3 sixth frame. I'm sure he's tabbed for Rochester as well, but bullpen depth is always important too.
Another guy that I like is Josh Rabe. The man is almost as big as Michael Restovich and just as quick! He has good at bats and when he hits the ball, hits it hard.
For the Red Sox, Hanley Ramirez just has the look of a star. He looks long and lanky, similar to Edgar Renterria. I'm guessing he moves to 2B at some point and that the Red Sox will have an infield of Youklis, Renterria, Ramirez and a question mark at first in 2006.
Oh, the Twins lost 4-3. That just doesn't seem to matter. At no point did I even realize what the score was. At least not until the Twins made a run in the 9th. It was just fun to watch baseball again!
If you have any thoughts, please e-mail me.
FORMER TWINS
Most teams played spring games today. Here are how the former Twins (with some leeway, minor leaguers, etc) did yesterday:
Midre Cummings - RF - Orioles - 0-1
Chris Gomez - SS - Orioles - 2-3, 2 R
James Baldwin - P - Orioles - 2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Casey Blake - LF - Indians - 2-3, 2B, R
Jose Morban - 2B - Astros - 0-2, E
Peter Munro - P - Astros - 2 IP, 5 H, 3 ER
Brian Buchanan - LF - Devil Rays - 1-1, 2B
Matt Lawton - RF - Pirates - 1-3, RBI
Todd Ritchie - P - Pirates - 2 IP, 1 BB, 0 H, 0 R
Todd Walker - 2B - Cubs - 0-2
Jose Offerman - PH - 0-1
Aaron Fultz - RP - 1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 2 K
Quinton McCracken - OF - 0-1, RBI
David McCarty - 1B - Red Sox - 0-1, R
BASEBALL NOTES
Twins Geek is the subject of this week's game of Pepper! with Stick and Ball Guy! Twins Geek is the inspiration for all other Twins blogs! Check it out!
OTHER THOUGHTS
Hey, yesterday, I posted the following bullet point and got back some really great responses. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. I will likely post thoughts on Tuesday, so email me to have your voice heard.
Should the 10 Commandments be allowed on public property? That really is a great question tugging right at the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights! I am fully supportive of 'separation of church and state!" But, what if a monument of the 10 Commandments is instead considered a 'historical piece?' Would the terminology make a difference? I don't know. I just think it's an interesting question. I'd love to hear your thoughts. E-mail me.
And I'd love to hear your thoughts on anything you've read today, or anything. Maybe you'd like to ask me Twins questions, or get my thoughts on other topics. Feel free to ask me anything. I'd love to hear from you and answer any questions. So please feel free to e-mail me.
Have a great weekend!