Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Twins Thoughts

Twins Minor League Report

Quick Day

Good morning everybody! Today is going to be pretty brief. The Twins and Astros start a three game series tonight and I have a few thoughts on notes on some of the Astros players. I also have the team's minor league update. But, before I get started, I want to remind people to please e-mail me your questions for Pat Neshek. He will take the time to answer the questions, so please feel free to send them to me. Your questions and his responses will be posted later this week.

 

Q&A Announcement - On the site, I have been able to do Q&A's with several Twins prospects in the past. I have been able to ask a lot of questions. Well, we're going to go about the Q&A process a little differently for one this week. Pat Neshek has said that he would be more than happy to answer questions from my readers for an upcoming Q&A. So, what I would like you to do is e-mail me questions for Pat Neshek. I will be able to send them to him and he will answer them. So, please take a second or two to come up with some good questions for Pat. Pat is having a monster season this year at Rochester, the Twins AAA affiliate. I have added him to the "How are these guys still in AAA?" prospect section at the left. Please take a minute to review his statistics again! So anyway, he has been featured in Baseball America, he is the leading voter among all minor leaguers for the AAA All-Star game, and he has been getting several interview requests. So, it really is quite something and tells us a lot about Pat that he is willing to do this. So again, please take a couple of seconds to e-mail me questions for Pat Neshek, and be sure to check back later in the week for his responses. (please limit yourself to three questions, so make them good!) Thank you!

Have a great day! Please feel free to e-mail me or leave Comments below. 

TWINS THOUGHTS

The Twins had an off day on Monday. Tonight, they will start a three game series in Houston against the Astros. There are a couple of very intriguing pitching matchups in this series.

Tues - 7:05 Brad Radke (5-7, 5.83, 1.72, .344) vs Roy Oswalt (6-3, 3.21, 1.24, .281)

Wednesday - 7:05 - Carlos Silva (3-8, 7.07, 1.66, .352) vs Wandy Rodriguez (8-4, 3.49, 1.53, .277)

Thursday - 7:05 - Francisco Liriano (6-1, 2.16, 1.10, .277) vs Roger Clemens (341-172, 3.12, 1.17, .229)

OK, those Roger Clemens numbers are for his career. This is his overly hyped 2006 season debut. After a start at A ball, AA and AAA, he finally gets his first big league start of the season. And, he will get a lot of money for the rest of the season. So, on Thursday, we will get to see arguably the best pitcher of all-time, or the best right handed pitcher of all-time, or at least one of the Top handful of pitchers of all time. And he will pitch against the Twins and potentially one of the best pitchers today.

 

Speaking of great pitchers, Roy Oswalt has been just that over his 5+ year career. In that time, he is 89-42 with a 3.08 ERA. His ERA this year is 3.21, in his other five seasons, his ERA has only been over 3.01 one time (3.49). At just 6 feet tall, he defies common belief that a pitcher must be tall. 

 

Speaking of greatness...  Tony Batista does not fit that category. The Twins released him yesterday. It was shocking to read that the Twins could not find a single taker for his services!

 

Yesterday, I made some notes on the Twins players. I discussed streaks they were on and other notes. Here are some thoughts on some of the Astros players heading into this series:

• Craig Biggio has been around forever. I remember back in 1988, Score baseball cards came out with a card set for the first time. Later in the summer, they came out with an Update set. The baseball card shop in a nearby town had singles from that set. A friend of mine was heading over there, and I had a couple of dollars, so I asked him to pick up a Biggio rookie card for me. I wanted one other player's card from that set. Was it Mark Grace? No. Was it Roberto Alomar? No. It was the legendary Greg Briley! Oh well. Anyway, Biggio is now old. He has gone from being a catcher, to a 2B, to a CF, to a LF, and now he is back at 2B again. He is 1 for his last 14 and 3 for his last 23. Odds are that he will get hit by a pitch during the season.

• Mike Lamb is hitting .336/.386/.511. He is actually hitting like a first baseman. I knew he was doing alright, but never would have imagined Mike Lamb with a .897 OPS!

• Chris Burke hit the series-ending homer to send the Astros to the NLCS last year. He is again playing a number of positions for the Astros. In his last seven games, he is 11-23 (.478)

• Lance Berkman is very underrated, and I'm not sure why. He is one of the best hitters in baseball and has been for years. This year, he is hitting .315/.393/.599 with 18 homers and 60 RBI. He now has a seven game hitting streak during which time he is 11-28 (.393).

• Morgan Ensberg had a monster year in 2005, but the question was, could it be real? Well, although he is hitting just .250, he does have 18 homers. He recently missed several games with a shoulder injury. Since his return two games ago, he is 0-5. He is also 1-14 and 2-21 of late.

• Preston Wilson came to the Astros late in the Hot Stove season with a very strange, creative contract. He is hitting .275 with just seven homers making me believe that his options will not be picked up after the season.

• Brad Ausmus surprisingly has a batting average in the .280s. However, he has been slumping of late. Over his past 8 games, he is just 5-32 (.156).

• Adam Everett is one of those guys credited with being a good glove. Once in a while he hits too. He is in a four game hitting streak right now during which time he has gone 7-15 (.467). He is hitting just .227 on the year.

• Orlando Palmiero is primarily a pinch hitter, but occasionally, he gets a start in the outfield. His last seven appearances have come as a pinch hitter. He is 0-7 in that time.

• Eric Bruntlett is mainly a defensive replacement. That's good because he has just one hit in his last 15 at bats.

• Jason Lane is a name to remember. Last year, he finally was given full-time duty and responded with nearly 30 homers. Big things were expected this year, and it just hasn't worked out. Yes, he has 10 homers, but his batting average is resting at about .209!

Any other thoughts on the Astros or the Twins? E-mail me, or leave some Comments below.

 

TWINS MINOR LEAGUE NOTES

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