Friday, March 17, 2006

FRIDAY NOTES

Good morning everyone! It is Friday and another week has gone by! Today, I am going to be a little lazy, but sleep, or lack thereof, is catching up with me a bit! So, for today, I am going to just point out a few notes from here and there that I think you may find interesting. Hopefully I'm right! I hope that some of the comments or articles will create lots of discussion in the Comments, so please feel free to leave some thoughts on these, or any other topics, in the Comments below. 

• How upset do you figure the US Government is that Cuba is in the Final Four of the WBC, especially since USA is not?

• Former Twins "All-Star SS" Cristian Guzman now officially has an excuse for being so bad... apparently he has a tear in his shoulder. He is not going to have surgery right now, instead will rehab and be evaluated in a couple of weeks again.

• I really like when minor leaguers get called up for a day during spring training. I think it is a great way for the young players to get to interact with the Major League players and coaching staff. It was nice to see Tim Raines, Jr. get a couple of at bats backing up Jason Tyner. You have to wonder why he, like Andres Torres chose to sign a minor league deal with the Twins though. Especially Raines, who did not even get a big league camp invite. I have no clue where he fits into any OF plan at either the big league or AAA level, and I can't imagine that he would be willing to play down in New Britain.

• I was also extremely happy to see that Doug Deeds got into the Twins split-squad game against the Indians yesterday. He even got a 9th inning at bat. What did he do? He hit a home run! Nice way to make an impression! Now, you may be saying that it was in the 9th inning, it was probably against one of the Indians minor leaguers. However, the home run came against Jason Davis who has been pitching (albeit not great) against the Twins and the rest of the league for the last three years. Deeds has been so consistent throughout his minor league career. I am happy for him, and hope he gets a shot at Rochester this season.

• Seriously, Bob Davidson is really single-handedly doing a great job of making fans believe the old "The Ump must be Blind" saying! How did he possibly not see that Mario Valenzuela's fly ball hit off the foul pole, a good eight feet above the fence?!

• Is it possible that the "F Tatis 3B" that has been showing up in the Baltimore Orioles box scores this spring is none other than Fernando Tatis? I could probably look it up, but if I would be wrong, well, then I would miss an opportunity to write something about Fernando Tatis.

• This may get to some of the A-Rod fans out there, but do you think that if A-Rod would have decided to play for The Dominican Republic, or not at all, that Team USA would be in the semi-finals?  

• Here is an interesting discussion question for us. I would love to hear your thoughts. The Twins have some very good beat writers and baseball writers with their local newspapers. I would like for you to talk a little about the Star-Tribune's LaVelle E. Neal III and Joe Christenson and the Pioneer Press's Jason Williams and Gordon Wittenmeyer. Which writers do you like best, and why? Is there one that you read first? Please leave some Comments, or e-mail me if you prefer.

• A few people asked me if I play any Texas Hold 'Em online, and if so, where? Well, yes, I do play online. I have recently started playing at Full Tilt Poker. But no, I do not play for money.

• John Sickels wrote a nice Nostalgia Prospect Retro on former Twins OF Shane Mack.

• Mack was also involved in what the writer of The Baseball Card Blog deemed the Worst Pack Ever!

• On Sickels' Minor League site, there is also a nice Diary on Jason Kubel, discussing his chances of making the Twins opening day roster based on his recent success.

• The Hardball Times' Dave Studeman wrote a very interesting piece yesterday in his weekly Ten Things I Didn't Know Last Week article. The first point was in regards to where a ball was hit. It provides very interesting information, and to me, some information to explain the Twins struggles a season ago. In 2005, the Twins ranked fourth in the league in infield hits, third in hits in the SS/3B hole and fourth in hits up the middle. What do all of these types of hits have in common? They're all singles. On hits to the outfield, you may not be surprised to read that the Twins were last in the big leagues in hits to the LF gap and the third fewest hits to the RF gap.

• Three Twins players were drafted in Baseball America's Dream Draft. What an interesting concept? Ten BA writers held a draft in the attempt to build the best organization. It is similar to a fantasy baseball draft in that participants take turns drafting. They held just ten rounds and everyone was eligible. Two Twins were taken in the First Round, while a third was drafted in the Third Round. I am sure that you can guess who those players were, but check them out to see for sure.

• Speaking of Fantasy Baseball, there are a couple of interesting articles in David Dorsey's Blog the last couple of days. He went to far better sources than I would have to help him determine his keepers! Very interesting stuff!

• Nick & Nick are out to Left Field in their Twins Position Analyis reports. Be sure to see if you agree with their assessments.

• Be sure to check out the New Kid on the Block of Twins Bloggers. Check out For the Love of the Game. Tell him hi from me!

• On Wednesday, Andy Wink of Twin Killings wrote a very nice, complimentary piece on many of the Twins bloggers. He said nice things about this site (especially the length of most of my postings). The only thing he got wrong is that I don't write from Fargo, but from far north of there in Warroad, MN. Thanks Andy!

• The Baseball Savant did a nice preview of the Boston Red Sox for today. Earlier in the week, he previewed the Chicago White Sox.

• Here is an interesting article on AJ Pierzynski from espn.com.

• Finally, a "close personal friend" of Batgirls has written the third book of a Trilogy. Check it out here.        
   

And with that, thank you again very much for stopping by my site. I hope you enjoy what you read, but if you have any questions or comments on anything, please feel free to e-mail me. Have a great weekend!