Tuesday, June 28, 2005
LINKS AND SUCH
Good morning everyone! The Twins got a great pitching performance and just enough offense to beat the Royals. And offense wasn't at all a problem for any of the Twins minor league affiliates last night. See below for details. Today, I am going to post a number of links to some great Twins blogs that I read daily. Most of these site's writers have helped me out tremendously with links or e-mails or ideas, so it's only fair for me to spend a day pointing people in their direction.
Aaron Gleeman writes Aaron's Baseball Blog and for The Hardball Times, among many other places. Yesterday he penned an article on his selections for the AL All-Star team. for THT and today he gives more thoughts on the Timberwolves draft tonight.
Stick and Ball Guy has had more great articles of late. He has also added poll questions to his site which are a lot of fun. He also writes about Shaquille O'Neal getting his MBA.
There is so much good reading and writing over at Twins Territory. John Bonnes's articles are great, but throughout the community, there are a number of great writers who make some great points. For instance, is Glenn Williams the New Lew? What happens when Nick Punto comes back from the DL?
Add The Rake Magazine's Warning Track Power to your list of great Twins blogs. Brad Zellar writes some incredible comments on the Twins.
Aaron over at Twins Killings made the trek to Milwaukee to see last weekend's series and he had plenty of thoughts.
The 7th Angel has thoughts today on the NBA, SportsCenter and ESPN in general, including ideas for each.
The Baseball Savant spends a day thinking about Indiana basketball.
Bryan Smith of The Baseball Analysts takes a look at 23 rookies who have made their mark in the big leagues already this year.
Last week, Smith looked at some players in the minor leagues who have broken out this year. The list, of course, includes Francisco Liriano, but it also includes Alex Romero.
I've mentioned that the Brewers are becoming a team that I will be following closely because of their prospects getting a chance to play. The best place to follow what's going on with the Brewers is over at Al's Ramblings!
John Sickels' Minor League site ran a Prospect Retro on former Twins DH David Ortiz that is interesting.
He also asked an interesting Either/Or regarding Trevor Plouffe or Matt Bush. Which 2004 first round shortstop would you take?
BrentNet doesn't seem too excited about the summer's crop of movies in the theatres.
There are obviously more sites that I check out and would encourage you to check out many of those on the left side of this screen and decide for yourself. If you would like to recommend any sites to me, I would love to hear about them, please e-mail me.
It may not be a big feet to beat the Kansas City Royals these days. However, these are the types of games that the Twins have to win if they want any chance for a playoff spot this year. And last night, they did just that. Joe Mays looked like the Joe Mays of 2001, beating the Royals and making them look silly for the most part. Ground ball after ground ball found their way into the Twins defender's gloves for easy outs. Really, in eight innings last night, Mays made just one mistake. He got a pitch up to David DeJesus, one of the few legit bats in the Royals lineup, and he deposited it well into the Dome's upper deck. The rest of the night though, Mays was on. Six hits. The one run. No walks. Three strikeouts. Then Joe Nathan came in for an actual save opportunity and converted it for his 19th save (in 21 chances) this season. He struck out two in the ninth inning.
There wasn't much offense, but it was just enough. In the second inning, Jacque Jones singled in a run and later scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Lew Ford to give the Twins a 2-0 lead. DeJesus home run in the top of the eighth cut the lead to one, but with the bases loaded, Glenn Williams got jammed by a Jimmy Gobble fastball, really bad. The ball hit right off of Williams hands and he fisted it over the pitcher's head and just in front of SS Angel Berroa's glove for an infield single to score the Twins third run. Because it was such a strange play, Ford snuck around 2B likely expecting some sort of throw to be made and he was picked off at 2B.
Glenn Williams had another hit earlier in the game to increase his hitting streak to 12 games to start his career. He has now started five straight games and seems to be the regular 3B. For now, that means a platoon at 2B between Luis Rodriguez and Michael Cuddyer. Juan Castro went 2-3 on the day.
Tonight, the Twins will send their most consistent pitcher, Carlos Silva, to the mound. He is 6-3 with a 3.18 ERA. Despite allowing opponents to hit .296 against him, his WHIP is a very impressive 1.20. Of course, that is largely due to his five walks in 96.1 innings pitched. He will be opposed by the Royals' JP Howell. Howell has made three starts for the Royals after being taken as their supplemental 1st round pick in 2004. He is 1-2 with a 5.63 ERA. In 16 innings, he has 13 strikeouts, but he also has nine walks.
Do you have any thoughts on the Twins or Royals or anything baseball. Feel free to e-mail me. And don't forget to answer the Discussion Question on the State of the Minnesota Twins.
ROCHESTER REDWINGS
David Gassner improves to 6-5 on the season with a nice seven inning performance in the Redwings 7-3 win over Louisville. He allowed just one run on seven hits and two walks. Willie Eyre and Ricky Barrett each gave up a run in an inning. The offense was led by Augie Ojeda who was 3-5 with two doubles. Terry Tiffee went 2-3 with a double. Kevin West was 2-5 with a double. Chris Heintz hit his 3rd home run, and Luis Maza hit his first.
NEW BRITAIN ROCKCATS
The Rockcats seem to have a new life with all of their changes. Last night they did not play. Today, they start a series at Binghamton.
FT MYERS MIRACLE
Ft Myers topped Dunedin by a score of 13-9. So, obviously offense was the story of the night. SS Matt Tolbert went 3-5 with a walk, his second homer and four RBI. Kyle Phillips went 3-5 with his tenth double. 2B Jose Leger went 2-5 with his first homer and four RBI. Brock Peterson was 2-4 with a walk, and Justin Arneson went 2-5. Tristan Crawford got the starting nod for the Miracle. He gave up three runs on five hits over four innings. He walked none and struck out five. Josh Gray got his first win in over a year with three shutout innings. Jay Sawatski had a relief appearance that he would love to forget. He got just two outs and gave up six runs on six hits and two walks. Just three of the runs were earned, but in that time, Sawatski had two errors himself. Julio DePaula came in and got the final four outs to preserve the lead and the win.
BELOIT SNAPPERS
Likewise, Beloit had an offensive explosion with a 14-5 win over Kane County. They were led by David Winfree who was 4-5 with his 18th double and five RBI. Luke Hughes and Dwayne White were both 3-5. Deacon Burns went 3-6. Trevor Plouffe went 2-5 with his seventh double and sixth home run. Jay Rainville started and went six innings. He gave up four runs on five hits and two walks. Jonathon Martinez improved to 3-0 by pitching the final two innings in which he allowed just an unearned run.
ELIZABETHTON TWINS
And finally, the E-Town Twins beat Johnson City 11-4. Local product (from East Tennessee State U.) catcher Catcher Caleb Moore went 3-5 with his first two professional home runs and five RBI. Edward Ovalle hit his first homer as well. The team had just seven hits but got help from five Johnson City errors. Oswaldo Sosa gave up three runs (1 earned) in his six innings. He walked one and struck out five. How good has 2nd round pick Kevin Slowey been so far. Last night, he pitched a perfect 1-2-3 inning, all strikeouts.
Finally, the Gulf Coast League Twins beat the GCL Red Sox by a score of 5-3.
So, today, I am going to ask a bunch of questions and ask for your thoughts on them. It will be a discussion question with the answers posted on Friday. Sure, it is possible that the Twins could win their next four games before this, but they are against the Royals and the Devil Rays, so those wins won't necessarily tell us where the Twins are. However, it is also possible that they lose a few of those games, and maybe that tells us exactly what we need to know. So, here are a number of questions on the Twins for you to think about:
Right now, the Twins are 40-33, 9.5 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central. They have basically the same record as they did last year, however, the White Sox are playing incredible baseball.
1.) The Twins have problems everywhere right now.a.) Pitching
Brad Radke is giving up a lot of homers and has returned to a big league average pitcher. He has not been as good this year as last, not that any of us would have expected that. What is the difference?
Let's be honest, Johan Santana has not been pitching like Johan Santana is capable of yet this year. Sure, we have seen a few glimpses of greatness and plenty of strikeouts, but the consistency has not been there as much as the long-ball. What is wrong?
Joe Mays is in the final year of his Twins contracts. Mays will become a free agent at the end of the season, for no compensation. The Twins couldn't possibly be interested in bringing him back next year, could they? If not, can they trade him for anything? Maybe a minor league bat?
I just can't imagine the Twins offering Kyle Lohse arbitration. Scott Boras is his agent and you would have to assume that he would accept it and the Twins would have to pay him about $4 million to be poor next year again. So, instead of losing him for nothing, can he be traded? I envision him going to the Braves and working with Leo Mazzone and becoming the star pitcher that we all think he is capable of becoming. I hope for him that that can happen, however, it will never happen with the Twins
Joe Nathan is off, and he has been for the last four to six weeks. Is it just inconsistent save chances or is something different with what he is doing?If the Twins fall out of contention, is he worth trading now before he starts getting expensive? The team could give the closer's job to Jesse Crain, or even call up Travis Bowyer to replace him for the league minimum.
Juan Rincon has been better of late, which is good to see again. He joins Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier as the consistent bullpen options right now. Do you think that his suspension affected his pitching? Physically, or mentally?
JC Romero continues to be awful. Pennant contending teams usually like having another lefty out of the bullpen. Maybe the Twins can get something, anything for him!?
Same thing with Terry Mulholland. He has not been bad and has really done a lot in his roles for the Twins, but he can't be in the Twins plans and trading him would allow someone new to get some pitching time with the Twins.
b.) Hitting
Right now, it is impossible to say much bad about the offensive performances of a few Twins (Hunter, Stewart, you guys), but others are really struggling.
Which of the Twins outfielders is most expendable and should be traded now? The easy answer is Jacque Jones because 1.) he's struggling and 2.)the Twins will get nothing in return for him this offseason. However, Torii Hunter is going to get expensive starting next year, so should the team look to trade their clear leader? Maybe his value is as high as it'll get right now?
Here is an interesting thought. The Twins have done well the last couple of seasons bringing up players from their minor league system who have found a way to contribute right away. Michael Ryan two years ago. Justin Morneau, Terry Tiffee last year. This year, it has been the likes of Luis Rodriguez and Glenn Williams. However, it seems that eventually the league catches up to them and finds ways to get them out. So, who is to blame for that? Is it the player for not making adjustments? Is it the hitting coach for not finding the means to help the player know what the pitchers are trying to do to each hitter so that they can work on those weaknesses? I don't know what the answer is to that question. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Michael Cuddyer is a big question mark to me. I personally still think that he will hit, and I also think that he will hit for power. However, he has not found a consistency this year, even with consistent playing time. He will show some power at least for doubles, but then he'll go in prolonged slumps. He takes a lot of pitches and some walks, but seems to find himself in 0-2 and 1-2 counts frequently. Do you still see a future for him with the Twins? Also, is it just me, or is Michael Cuddyer far better defensively at 2B? Suddenly his offensive output doesn't look quite as bad if he plays that position.
Juan Castro or Jason Bartlett?
What can they do with Luis Rivas? Keep marketing him as a utility infielder and try to get a low Class A outfielder for him? Release him?
With Glenn Williams and Luis Rodriguez playing well, what are their roles, particularly when Nick Punto comes back? Let's not forget that the Twins slump very directly corresponded with the Punto injury.
What should be done with Matthew LeCroy?
Will Justin Morneau make the necessary adjustments. I think he'll stay in that .280 range, but when will his power stroke come back?
There are probably more thoughts or questions that you ahve about the Twins right now. I guess the overall summary Discussion Question is:
What is the state of the Twins now and what should be done about it?
PROCESS - OK, the process remains the same for the Discussion Questions. This question is posted today and will be kept up all weekend. I will also post it on Monday. I will then take all of the responses to these questions that I receive and post them on this website on Thursday night at 11:30 p.m. So, read and re-read the questions, consider your response, and then be sure to e-mail me before Thursday night.
On that note, I am going to call it a day!I hope everyone has a great week! As always, please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts on the Twins, the minor leagues, or anything you would like to discuss.