Thursday April
22, 2004
What to do with Lew?
Thomas Traded
Twins Streak Ends
Twins Minor
League Report
Wolves Win Game 2
American Idol Thoughts
Bachelor Thoughts
A Little Brevity
There are just a few topics that I need to cover
today, and I promise, I will be brief. A few fairly big things came
up that I needed to deal with, so I apologize. If you have any
questions or comments,
send me an e-mail.
I would like to request anyone who is reading this and hasn't
introduced themselves to me to just
send me a quick e-mail.
Say Hi, let me know where you're from and how you came to this site.
I would also love to hear any thoughts you may have on this site,
the format, the content, anything. So, please
e-mail me.
What to do with Lew?
Today,
Torii Hunter is expected to come off of the Disabled List. As
I discussed yesterday, they will
need to send someone down to the minor leagues. I think it will be
either OF Michael Ryan or P Carlos Pulido.
Lew Ford did so much in the last two weeks that if he were
sent down, it would be the most unjust act in recent Minnesota
history!
Last
night, Ford went 3-5 with a triple and two RBI. He is now hitting
.444. He HAS TO stay in the big leagues. But let's be
honest, where or how much will he play with the return of Torii
Hunter?
First,
I feel the need to ask this question. Who is better?
Lew Ford or Torii Hunter? Torii is a
Gold Glove centerfielder. Lew is almost as fast and is still a
better than average defender. Hunter has a stronger throwing arm.
Offensively, Hunter has more raw power. He could hit 30 home runs in
a year. Ford could probably hit 12-15 home runs in a full season.
Torii could probably hit .290 in a really, really good year for him,
if things were going very well. I think Lew is a .300 hitter. Not
only that, but Lew Ford knows how to work a pitcher and work a pitch
count. He may not walk a lot, but he puts together great plate
appearances. How often do you see Torii swing at a bad pitch? You
rarely see Ford swing outside the strike zone. Look at
Ford's minor league numbers along with last season's numbers
with the Twins (And this year's!). Everywhere he had been, Ford has
hit!
I'm
not pretending that Lew Ford will become the Twins new
centerfielder, or that he "Wally Pipp'd"
Torii Hunter. That's not going to happen.
However, that is how it works when big salaries are involved. Hunter
makes a LOT of money. Ford makes about the league minimum. Who do
you think is going to get the at bats? However, the
fact is that the Twins may be a better team with Lew Ford in center
field.
But,
that isn't going to happen. The Twins would take a Public Relations
hit if they traded Torii Hunter. I think that everyone knows that
Jacque Jones is gone after this season. Ford's recent play may
have done one of two things. It could mean that the team could trade
Jacque Jones for some middle infield or pitching help and insert
Ford into right field. The other thing is that I would assume Terry
Ryan has been fielding phone calls on the availability of Lew Ford.
I bet there are a dozen big league teams that would love to have Lew
in their starting outfield.
So,
what should happen? I think that
Lew
Ford should play right field against left-handed pitching.
He should spell Torii Hunter in center-field once every couple of
weeks, same with Shannon Stewart in left-field. Those guys could DH
on those days. Ford could also DH. He has done everything that he
needs to do to prove that he deserves to play 4 or 5 times per week.
So,
let me propose two lineups for you:
versus LHP
versus RHP
Shannon Stewart LF
Shannon Stewart LF
Nick Punto 2B
Nick Punto SS
Doug Mientkiewicz 1B
Doug Mientkiewicz 1B
Torii Hunter CF
Corey Koskie 3B
Michael Cuddyer 3B
Torii Hunter CF
Lew Ford RF
Jacque Jones RF
Jose Offerman DH
Michael Cuddyer 2B
Henry Blanco C
Lew Ford DH
Cristian Guzman SS
Henry Blanco C
I
think these are two pretty strong lineups. Again, I would only DH
Ford occasionally. I would use the DH spot to give other guys a day
off from the field. Any of the OF could fill in there with Ford
taking over their spot on defense. Obviously when Joe Mauer
is healthy, he will be the primary catcher, probably batting 8th.
Matthew Lecroy will be the DH unless the Twins wise-up and bring
Justin Morneau up to DH soon! A couple other things you may
notice. Michael Cuddyer is in there every day. I have
included Nick Punto in the lineup every day. Luis Rivas
is not in either lineup. Cristian Guzman is only in one
lineup.
What
do you think? Can the Twins win with these lineups? Where did I go
wrong? Any thoughts?
E-mail me.
BRAD THOMAS TRADED
Last week, the Twins designated LHP Brad Thomas
for assignment. Because he was out of options, the team had to trade
him within ten days or any team could claim him. Because he is
left-handed and throws 93 miles per hour, it was clear the Twins
would be able to trade him. Yesterday, the Twins traded Thomas to
the Boston Red Sox either for a Player to be Named Later or
Cash. The Twins probably will get a list of four or five of
the Red Sox low-end Class A 'prospects' (or suspects), and will have
to pick one of them. You hate to see the Twins lose Thomas, but he
isn't young and seemed so nervous when pitching for the Twins. He
has been in the organization a long time, so maybe a change of
scenery will be good for him. The Red Sox are believed to be putting
him on the Disabled List with an elbow problem. Makes you wonder if
the Twins knew he was hurt. Either way, the Twins did not need him,
so this is not as bad a loss as it was to lose Michael Nakamura,
in my opinion.
TWINS STREAK ENDS
I think that being brief is the best thing when
discussing last night's Twins 11-8 loss to the Tigers!!
It was just a bad game for the Twins all around,
starting right at the beginning. Brad Radke gave up four
first inning runs. There wasn't really even a well hit ball the
whole inning. He gave up two more runs in the second inning, and
that was it for his day. The funny thing is that in those two
innings, he gave up six runs and seven hits, while throwing just 28
pitches. So, he could have gone longer. However, I agree with
Gardy's decision to take Radke out. First, it was just one of those
games where, no matter what he threw up to the plate, it would have
fallen in for a hit. Secondly, Radke may be able to come back a day
quicker in the rotation. But also, it could have been Carlos
Pulido's last day with the Twins, so I'm sure Gardy wanted one
last look at Pulido before sending him down today (TBD). Well,
for his sake, it didn't go so well for Carlos. In three innings, he
gave up five hits and two walks for five earned runs. After that,
the bullpen did well. Terry Mulholland and Joe Roa
each threw two scoreless innings.
Positives for the Twins were that they scored eight
runs. Most nights, that should be enough to win. Lew Ford was
3-5 with a couple RBI on a triple. Jacque Jones went 3-5 with a
double. Ivan Rodriguez led the way for the Tigers with a 4-5
effort. Craig Monroe had three hits and Alex Sanchez
had two hits and 3 RBI.
So, the loss to the Tigers, coupled with the White
Sox loss to the Yankees, means the Twins are still in first, 1/2
game ahead of Detroit and one game ahead of the Sox.
The team now plays this afternoon against the Tigers.
It will be Johan Santana (0-0, 6.46 ERA) against Mike Maroth (2-0,
3.38 ERA).
What do you think that Twins should do?
E-mail me, or
chime in over on the Twins board!
TWINS MINOR
LEAGUE REPORT
ROCHESTER REPORT - The Redwings got crushed.
OK, that's not nice, but unfortunately, it's true. They lost a 14-4
game to Pawtucket. Justin Morneau paced Rochester with a 3-4
effort. He also hit his 5th homer of the season. Michael
Restovich was 2-3 with his 4th home run. Jason Bartlett
went 1-4 to drop to .404 and back behind Morneau who is now at .433.
Peter Munro was the starting pitcher for the Red Wings. He
lasted four innings. He gave up 8 hits and 8 runs (of which four
were earned). He did strike out three, the same number of home runs
he gave up. Joe Beimel came in and went 2 2/3 innings. He
gave up five hits and three walks, and six runs, all earned. Todd
Erdos got the last out of the 7th inning. Then Jesse Crain
pitched one inning and struck out two. The Red Wings are off
today before starting a three game set against Scranton-Wilkes Barre.
ROCK CATS REPORT - They didn't play yesterday.
They next play Akron in a three game series.
MIRACLE REPORT - The Miracle had a day off
yesterday. They will start a three game series on Friday at
Lakeland.
SWING THINGS - The Swing had the day off too.
They will start a series on Friday at Dayton.
Any thoughts on the Twins or their minor league
affiliates, send me an
e-mail.
WOLVES
TAKE TWO-GAME LEAD
Garnett Notches Triple-Double
Last night, the Wolves played Game 2 of their Best of
Seven series against the Denver Nuggets. Game time was against
scheduled for 8:30. However, they are obligated to wait until TNT's
first game is finished before starting. So, it was 8:50 again last
night. That is better than the 9:10 start time on Sunday night!
Anyway, the game was fairly close for about a quarter
and a half, but then the Wolves took over. Monday, I mentioned that
I believed the Wolves needed to get Latrell Sprewell into the
offensive flow right away in the first quarter. Well, the certainly
did that! He scored 14 first quarter points, including 4-4 from
three-point range. But former Gopher star Voshon Lenard was
up for the challenge, scoring 15 points in the first quarter and
keeping the game close.
After that it was all Wolves. The team held the
Nuggets to just nine second quarter points on their way to an easy
95-81 victory.
Having the three-headed monster of KG, Sam and Spree
is so important. If the opponent cuts off the head of one, they
still have two options (And Wally, O and some others are good
options too). After scoring 40 on Sunday night, Sam Cassell
had just 12 points but did have 9 assists. Sprewell contributed 31
points by hitting 11 of 17 shots from the field, including seven of
eight three pointers. And what did Kevin Garnett do? Oh, just
recorded a triple-double. He ended the game with 20 points, 22
rebounds and 10 assists. Wally Szczerbiak had 11 points on
just 4-6 shooting. Trenton Hassell was his usual, incredible
defensive self in guarding Carmelo Anthony. Anthony did have
15 points, but he was forced into 7 turnovers. Lenard led the
Nuggets with 24 points.
The series heads to Denver where the Nuggets will try
to get a couple of wins at home. Saturday night, the teams play at
8:30. The game will be on ESPN. I do think that the Nuggets will win
one of the two games in Denver before the Wolves finish the series
in Game 5 back in Minneapolis. What do you think? E-mail
me!
AMERICAN IDOL THOUGHTS
Last night on
American Idol, the American vote again showed that voting is
overrated and doesn't mean much at all! I know that sounds harsh,
but what did last night's vote tell us? Voting is a popularity
contest. How did LaToya London and Fantasia Barrino,
clearly the top two performers remaining, end up in the bottom
three? Jennifer Hudson had a great week, and now she's gone.
All the while, John Stevens and Diana Degarmo, who are
not good at all, at least in comparison, are still in the contest.
It's just wrong.
I don't know what the producers of the show can do to
make the voting more accurate. When you know that people can vote
for a person as many times as they want, the results really are
tainted! I know people who vote over twenty times a week for the
same person, every week. If I know that, you know there are probably
people who vote upwards of 100 times a week. Sure, then it looks
great when 25 million people voted, but that's not true.
Any suggestions for how this can be remedied (or
other American Idol thoughts)?
E-mail me.
BACHELOR THOUGHTS
Jesse
Palmer dropped four more future brides last night, including his
spy, Jenny. He is left with six women to chose from. My
professional soccer playing Mandy was eliminated last week.
Mandy J is still in there, and that's great, but I have a new
favorite... TARA!
Wow! How cute is she? And Trish... ICK! She's not on the show
any longer to be a future bride. Palmer is keeping her around for
one reason!! Not a bad reason, but not the "right" reason!
Any thoughts?
E-mail me.
And that is it for today. If you have any questions
or comments on anything you've read, let me know. If you have any
questions, comments or ideas for postings, please feel free to
e-mail me. Thanks
for stopping by, and have a great day!
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