Thursday October 16, 2003
ALCS THOUGHTS (GAME 7 TONIGHT!)
NLCS THOUGHTS (MARLINS TO THE WORLD SERIES)
YOUR THOUGHTS
ON THE 2004 MINNESOTA TWINS ROSTER
It was time for another Discussion Question of the Week, and with the end of the Twins season, at the hands of the Yankees, it was time to look ahead to next year. So that was out question:
The Twins had a very good 2003 season. Terry Ryan has some very difficult roster decisions to make. IF YOU WERE TWINS GM TERRY RYAN, what would you do this offseason? What would your priorities be? Who do you think will be on the 2004 Minnesota Twins team roster?”
I want to thank the many people who sent me their thoughts on the question. There are nine entries below, the most we’ve had yet for a Discussion Question. I hope you find it interesting and fun. I figure that you read my stuff every day, so it’s only fair for me to read your stuff, in your words, unedited (unless you use certain words). Now, if you want to go back and see my answer to this question, please click here for my thoughts on the Twins 2004 Roster. (And remember that my thoughts were posted before the Twins picked up the option on Corey Koskie.) So, here are you thoughts:
First, from Kevin, from DC -
If I were the Twins' GM, I would look at my payroll and my roster and begin crying. Those big contracts to those average arms are catching up to me. In the best case scenario, I can keep 2 or 3 of the free agent/arbitration eligible guys.
Outfield: There is no way I can afford to bring Stewart back. Anybody who thinks I've got another $8 million to spend on any single player is smoking something. I've got Jones and Hunter under contract, so they stay. Hunter is the face of this team, and Jones has the Puckett-before-the-bathroom-mauling personality that makes Minneapolis feel good. So I think to myself, we'll try Ford in right as the lead off guy and see how he does. Its not ideal, but for $350,000, Ford's a bargain and might put up a .280/.350/.430 line. And we need a lead off guy more than an unproven power hitter (the other options)--because Jones is so much better in the 5 or 6 spot. Of course, Mohr will smash AA level pitching in the spring, and Gardy will probably trot him out there instead. . . . Bottom line: Stewart walks, the contract guys stay, and SERFs stay, with Ford penciled in to start, and the best of the spring to take the back up roles. I hope that Restovich makes the team, because I'd like to see him platoon with Jones and take a little bit of DHing. If he gets hot, maybe he gets Ford's job.
Infield: Here are the big decisions. As much as Guzman and Rivas are holes in this team, they are signed and they are pretty cheap, and there is nothing better in the system or more affordable on the market. Maybe Bartlett comes up in 2005. If Mientkiewicz could play second. . . . If Cuddyer could play at all. . .
Mientkiewicz and Koskie are two sides of the same coin. Both are patient hitters, wizards with the glove, and #2 hitters that Gardy won't put there! I figure arbitration for Mientkiewicz will cost me $3 million; Koskie's option is $4.75 million. Minky is blocking Morneau; Koskie is blocking Cuddyer, maybe Tiffee.
I exercise the Koskie option and offer Mientkiewicz arbitration. I think 2002 is the aberration year for Doug. His line will look like 2003. Then I trade Koskie. His market FA value is higher than the option, so someone will pick him up. But his injuries are possibly chronic and too risky to assume, his power is all but gone, and he is as bad as Jones at hitting lefties! I pray Cuddyer is ready. This is his year to show it or get pushed out. He is my everyday 3B.
In return Koskie, I am looking for a A-/B+ middle infield prospect (ready for AA next year) and an affordable 5th starter. I also let Mientkiewicz take some balls there, and, when the lights are out and no one is around, I let AJ take some balls at 3rd. Because if Cuddyer is average, I hope that AJ Pierzinski is starting @ 3rd in 2005. . . .
Catcher: I don't care is Maurer's almost ready. We need that kid in 2005 to sell seats if this team fails. . . . And more importantly, AJ Pierzinski is 26 and one of the best 5 or 6 catchers in the league. AJ is staying and starting. If the Twins look like they're falling out of it, AJ can be moved if Maurer is tearing up AAA, and AJ can't play 3rd (to be learned at those midnight sessions taking grounders), and Tiffee is struggling and AAA. Any cheap scrub is back up (fine if its Bowen)/LeCroy also stays on roster as primary DH and back up.
Backups. I offer Hocking $800,000. I know, he's terrible. But my boss likes loyalty in his organization, and frankly, there is something extremely valuable about having a guy I can put an any position who also switch hits. On the lookout for overlooked veteran utility infielders (who might, incidentally, steal a start or two from Rivas…). Gomez walks.
Pitching. I offer Rogers $3 million tomorrow. He was decent, pretty consistent, and comfortable. He kills the opposition's running game and doesn't serve it up like others. If he rejects it, then I hope Koskie got me somebody ready to start, because I think I want Balfour in the pen and Durbin in Rochester. Santana, Radke, Milton, Lohse are 1-4. Koskie's bounty, Rogers, or Rincon will be #5 to start the season.
Pen. So. We haven't signed Stewart. We shed Koskie's salary. We probably don't get Rogers. Guess what? We have a little extra money (assuming it isn't all taken up in the Koskie bounty). We might have enough for both, but I doubt it. Hawkins is the priority. If Eddie walks, he walks. If we end up with extra money, we hold onto it until the deadline, because if the Astros aren't playing well, maybe Jeff Kent will be available…
If Eddie's gone, LaTroy is my closer again. He can do it, and I don't think it was his confidence in 2001. It was that he wasn't a very good pitcher. Now he is. Romero (pray) becomes a decent lefty set up, and Balfour and Rincon will battle for the #1 righty set up man role. The two other spots are up for grabs, but I hope that Thomas can take one. And I'm probably in the market for another cheaper lefty in the summer. Crain starts the season at AAA. And I'd see if we could have Crain start at Rochester. He is a closer by accident. And we desperately need to develop starters for the future. Let's see if he can "Balfour" down there.
My team isn't as good as this year's team. I know that. If we are in it in July, we will make moves. If we are out by more than 5, we will unload. And if we are going to be hanging around on a pace to win the division while winning a paltry 85 games, then we will happily count the receipts from another short
playoff appearance.From Peter, from New York -
I'm sure you saw that they picked up the Koskie option. Here are some of my thoughts...
First of all, do you think A.J. and Santana will only get $1M? I thought they'd get a little more than that.
Last I heard, we have about $44 M committed to Radke, Milton, Mays, Koskie, Hunter, Jones, and Guzman.
I think it's safe to say that LeCroy, Morneau, Cuddyer, Ford, Ryan, and Restovich will begin the season with the club (at about $2M total). I see Rivas, Doug, and A.J. coming to about $7M total.
I see us bringing back Santana, Romero, Rincon, Balfour, Lohse, Pulido, and Crain/Durbin (1 young prospect) for about $5M total.
This leads to a payroll of $58M with two holes in the bullpen and one backup infield role available. The utility role isn't a big deal...Hocking or Gomez will come back cheap or we'll find someone within the organization (Bartlett, Rodriguez, Prieto, etc.) at a negligible cost. The two holes in the bullpen are more troubling. I'd hope that at the very least, they will be filled with 2 veterans...we have enough young pitchers in there already. I just don't know if they'll spend the kind of money that would be necessary to bring back LaTroy and Eddie (probably around $10M). The chances maybe go up a bit if they can get some insurance $$$ for Mays. If your arbitration estimates for A.J. and Santana are accurate, subtract another $2M.
I agree that Stewart is gone, and it actually doesn't bother me that much. However, if they could resign him and trade Jones, it would only be $2-4M difference and the could possibly get a 2B or reliever in return, in addition to reloading in the minors.
A question...could Doug ever play 2nd base? I know he was breaking in a glove at one point during the year. Imagine being able to raise the OBP of our 2B slot by 100 points AND opening up space for some prospects to step in. We'd still have Rivas as the 2B/SS backup and he could start with Doug at first occasionally. The 1B, RF, and DH could be filled by some combination of LeCroy, Morneau, Cuddyer, Restovich, Ford, Ryan...whoever sticks. If Mauer appears ready to come up and no one's getting the job done at 1B, A.J. could take a turn there, too. I think Doug moving to 2nd base could be THE answer offensively...much more significant than re-signing Stewart. Basically our 2002 lineup minus Ortiz, with the hottest of 5 prospects sitting in for Rivas. I guess, if Cuddyer can play 2nd it's basically the same thing.
Basically, I agree with all your positional player picks, except that I know Koskie will be back, which you didn't at the time. That probably means that Gomez or Prieto will be gone. I think Balfour will be the 5th starter and agree that they should skip his spot in the rotation when possible early in the season until he proves his worth. I'm less optimistic about LaTroy and Eddie, but I pray they'll find a way to keep them here. If they do and they can find a way to get Rivas out of the lineup once in awhile, I think this team could be much improved without bringing back Stewart. The starting rotation will be amazing, and our offensive ceiling will definitely be very high.From Jeremy Kovash, who appeared on my list of the Best Baseball Players I have ever played ball with -
Pitching…Keep Rogers… he’s cheap. Dump Eddie (he’ll want too much money) Keep LaTroy as a closer.
Staff should be-- Santana, Radke, Lohse, Rogers, (Rincon or ??????????... See trade for OF)
We CANNOT afford to keep Koskie and Doug at the corners… Two corner infielders who play good defense, but produce limited runs (5 HR’s or so in the 2nd half combined?). This is priority #1. We have to give Morneau (or someone) at-bats at the big-league level to develop.
Keep Stewart and trade an outfielder… (Jones, Hunter, Restovich or someone for a quality starter or 1b/3b)
Preferably, we pick up a corner IF from free agency.
From this site, the wonderful webmaster, Melissa Olson -
The only opinion I had was they have to keep Koskie….then they did, so I’m happy!!
Also, if they trade Doug, I would probably quit watching baseball (The Twins at least. I mean, they are very lucky I am still a fan after they let Dan Gladden go after the ’91 season)!!!!!! I guess that I wouldn’t mind if they traded AJ and called up this catcher (Joe Mauer) that I’ve heard so much about! And as far as pitchers, I really like Rogers, so I hope they keep him. And I’m thinking that Stewart might take a little less and stay in MN. Just watching him play, he sure seemed to enjoy the environment here…
From Denise -
Ok then…my thoughts on the Twins 2004 season:
First off, I hate to see them get rid of anyone! This is the team that gave all Minnesotan’s hope in Baseball again!! I can be honest…I am totally a fair-weathered fan when it comes to baseball, and I didn’t start watching them again till 2 seasons ago!! But this team is exciting to watch. They could be down lots of runs, then, low and behold, they would somehow come back and pick up the win! My husband and I got hooked! All of a sudden we found ourselves watching every Twins game we could!! We would be bummed when they wouldn’t televise a game, and couldn’t wait for the next game to be played!! Maybe it’s because I’m older and more understanding of the game that makes it more exciting for me??? But all in all I think it’s this team?? This team is sooo exciting to watch and they look like they are having lots of fun out there (with the exception of their down time this season). So, if I was to pick the 2004 Minnesota Twins Roster…I wouldn’t want to change much at all. At first I was upset about the whole Stewart trade, but then he made me see why it was done, and now I would really hate to see him go!!! Not to mention Hunter, AJ, Koskie, Doug, Radke and Santana to name a few of our BIG players. Basically what I’m trying to say is that I’m GLAD I don’t have to make those decisions for the upcoming 2004 season! It would be a tough job because I do understand the reality of the game. So good luck to those of you that have too!!
From Tyler -
I came up with this really quickly. Here is what I would like to see. I picked Hocking over Gomez simply because he plays so many positions. Fat chance on not seeing both Rivas and Guzman not producing in the middle of the infield… What are your thoughts?
C – AJ
1B – Morneau (They have proved they need the big bat, and this is their best shot – sorry Doug)
2B – Cuddyer/Rivas (need Cuddyer’s bat)
3B – Koskie
SS – Guzman/Hocking
LF – Stewart
CF – Hunter/Ford
RF – Restovich/Ryan
DH – Lecroy – plenty of options here as usual!
SP - Santana, Radke, Milton, Lohse, and Balfour
RP - Nakamura, Pulido, Romero, Rincon, Hawkins, Guardado, and a crappy free agent
From Kirk Beller who wrote our Minnesota Wild Preview
with the knowledge that koskie's option has been picked up, these are the 10 things i would like to see the twins do:
1. move smilin' jacque jones. he bats .300 and plays pretty well in the field. that's it. i know a lot of people would rather see torii hunter moved, but i'll take his soft 25 hr and 100 rbi (he seemed to get a lot of these numbers when we were already leading the tigers 8-0) and spectacular outfield defense over jacque's .300 average any day. let's face it—hunter is the face of the twins. he's the most marketable twin. as much as stats-oriented folks might not like that, it translates into dollars at the gate when you put a player with some charisma out there. maybe i'm overstating his value--i don't know.
2. keep shannon stewart if he'll agree to a $6 mil contract. That would mean no raise for him, but that seems to be the way of the free-agent market right now. even though i'm pretty sure the turn-around in the twins is due more to the pitching coming through in the second half, it can't be denied that stewart played a big part in this team getting on the right track. he's regarded by a lot of people as being the most legitimate twins' candidate for the MVP this season. i think that losing a player with that sort of fan-appeal could cause some ill will toward the team, and might result in lower ticket revenue. not enough to offset what you're paying stewart, but still, it's something to be considered.
the other thing about paying stewart is that you can use him as your leadoff hitter next year, and if things don't go as planned in there, you can deal him as long as you pick up a good chunk of his salary. in effect, you can use those dollars you spend on stewart as a way to buy some prospects later down the line if you're not contending.
3. trade pierzynski. i'm not entirely certain about this one, and i'd hate to see him go, but between his trade value right now (who wouldn't want a cheap, young, good-hitting, defensively-decent catcher?) and the situation with some of the prospects, i think that we can afford this one. You’ve gotta think that if ugueth urbina can net you 3 good to high quality prospects, then pierzynski could command something pretty decent in return. Then you bring up mauer, and let he and fat matt split the catching duties. If you get lecroy some time behind the plate, that opens up some dh at bats which is important because i think you need to . . .
4. get morneau his stinkin' at bats. let the guy play somehow. if it means moving mientkiewicz around, or using him as a defensive sub late in the games, or whatever, morneau needs to get in there on an everyday basis. we need power from somewhere, and this guy looks like the best chance the twins have at getting that.
5. pick a freakin' right fielder and let him play. and don't have it be dustan mohr. pick one of the three mikes, or pick ford, or jason kubel, or jodi mientkiewicz (how sweet would that be?)--i don't care. just pick someone, and let him play every day instead of rotating guys in and out of there. if you can afford to give jones two season's worth of at-bats against both righties and lefties, you can afford to try the same experiment with any of those other guys.
6. take a hard line with guardado and hawkins. i love these guys as much as anyone. however, the line between great relief pitcher and sucky relief pitcher is a fine one. i just think that the bullpen is the one place where you don't want to overpay for talent. if we pay hawkins $4 mil + per season and he ends up reverting to anything close to pre-2002 form, we're screwed. Offer him a deal that's comparable to his current salary ($3 mil, right?) and say "thanks but no thanks" if that's not good enough. let him walk to the yankees and implode there. ditto with guardado. if they won't play for the twins with those kinds of deals, we bring up crain and balfour and pulido and thomas and durbin permanently and see who has the guts to be a major leaguer.
7. beat cristian guzman about the face and head or find some other method to convince him to keep his mind on the game. i really don't give a crap if your best friend is now the dh of the red sox—you’ve gotta play like you want to be here.
8. find yourself a bargain starting pitcher to go with radke, santana, milton, and lohse. don't rush balfour or durbin into that job.
9. resist any and all temptation to put adam johnson on the 25 man roster.
10. put denny hocking's bed in the parking lot during spring training a la willie mays hays in major league. see if he gets the hint that he's not wanted/needed.Here are the thoughts of Will Young, who writes Will’s World
I believe that Terry Ryan has a very unenviable job this offseason as he needs to retool the Twins while maintaining a contender on a limited payroll. First, I would stock the team with many minor league free agents from the middle infield to challenge Rivas and Guzman, and pitchers in the hope that some of them will stick and fill in the back of the bullpen or fifth starter spot. Second, I would try to gauge the interest in Shannon Stewart and offer him arbitration if it looks like he will be involved in a bidding war. If not, I would avoid him because his value of definitely overblown at this point. While I would like Guardado and Hawkins to return, I realize that it is not entirely feasible on the payroll. Therefore, I would focus on the one who would be willing to sign for fewer years and at less money (probably Guardado) and keep him. Finally, I would frequently call Ron Gardenhire and inform him that this is the year in which he finally accepts the plethora of young prospects I keep providing the team. Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer will both be getting 400 plus at bats at DH and rightfield while Lew Ford and Michael Ryan will be the fourth and fifth outfielders as Dustan Mohr will be sent on his merry way. Michael Restovich and Michael Ryan will also be dangled in numerous trade proposals during the offseason in the hopes of snagging some middle infielders.
And finally, from Brock -
HERE GOES - NEXT YEARS TWINKIES
THE 4 STARTING PITCHER’S ARE A GIVEN (I LIKE THE BIG LEFTY STARTING FIRST)
MILTON, RADKE, SANTANA, LOHSE, BALFOUR/RINCON
BULL PEN
HAWKINS, ROMERO, RINCON/BALFOUR, NAKAMURA, ROGERS (NEVER WILL RESIGN, IF NOT A STARTER)
CLOSER
EDDIE (BUT I REALLY THINK HE GOES TO YANKS)
LINEUP (IN ORDER, THE MORE CONVINCED I AM AT THAT POSITION)
C- MAUER, 1B MIENTKIEWICZ, CF- HUNTER, 3B- KOSKIE (A GIVEN W/THE SIGNING), LF STEWART, RF FORD/MOHR, DH MORNEAU/FORD, SS TRADE, 2B TRADE
To see the thoughts on this question of one of our football “expert” panelists, Anthony Fox, please check out his website The Bad Twin.
So there you have it, many of your thoughts on the make up of the Twins roster next year. Thanks again to all those who wrote me their thoughts! Please be sure to check back in my archives and specifically at my thoughts on the Twins 2004 roster.
ALCS SERIES (SERIES TIED AT 3, GAME 7 TONIGHT!)
In a game of big innings, the Red Sox just had one more big inning taking Game 6 by a score of 9-6. Jason Giambi homered to give the Yankees the early 1-0 lead. In the 3rd inning, the Sox countered with a solo homer by Jason Varitek, a 2-run single by David Ortiz and an RBI single by Kevin Millar. That gave the Sox the 4-1 lead. But, then in the 4th inning, the Yankees put a 4-spot on the board to reclaim the lead. Nick Johnson had an RBI double, Aaron Boone knocked in a run with a ground out, then Alfonso Soriano hit a double to score two more. A Jorge Posado solo home run in the 5th inning increased the Yankees lead to 6-4. But then it was the Sox batters turn to take over. In the 7th inning, Nomar Garciaparra hit a triple and scored on an error. After a Manny Ramirez double, David Ortiz singled him in to tie the game at 6. The Sox took a one run lead when Johnny Damon was walked by Felix Heredia with the bases loaded. Then, in the top of the 9th inning, with a runner on, Trot Nixon unloaded on a ball, knocking it well into the upper deck at Yankees Stadium. That gave the Sox a 9-6 lead, a lead that Scott Williamson held.
So, here we are: Game 7, Red Sox/Yankees, Pedro vs. The Rocket, the Curse of the Bambino vs. The Evil Empire, in the House that Ruth Built. OK, so what will happen? I don’t know, but I’m excited to see! This is the same matchup as in Saturday’s Game 3 and, well, we know how that turned out. Based on that, I want the Yankees to win the game. I want Pedro to get knocked all over the field and over the fence. I want Manny Ramirez to strike out every time up. My predictions - We’ll get a pitcher’s dual, unlike last night’s NLCS Game 7. Both pitchers will bring their A-games. Tim McCarver and Joe Buck will mention how this could be the final start of Roger Clemens’ illustrious career about 73 times. They will show the video of Pedro Martinez pointing at his temple toward Jorge Posada about 32 times. Oh, you want a score prediction? Well, here you go: Remember Game 7 a couple years ago, when Luis Gonzalez blooped a single to center field off of Mariano Rivera to win the World Series? Well, I see the same thing happening tonight. Final Score: Red Sox 3, Yankees 4. (I see Mariano Rivera blowing a lead for the Yankees in the top of the 9th on some freak play. But then I see the Boston bullpen, a bullpen that was much maligned in the early stages of this season, a bullpen that has really been solid in the postseason, will implode and the Yankees will keep the Curse alive.)
NLCS SERIES (MARLINS WIN SERIES 4-3, ADVANCE TO WORLD SERIES!)
Yesterday, I predicted that the Marlins would have all of the momentum and win Game 7 by a score of 9-2. Well, the Cubs did put up a big fight, and with a 2-run Moises Alou home run in the bottom of the 3rd inning, they held a 5-3 lead. But let me start at the beginning.
In the top of the first, with 2 on and 1 out, my man, Monster Miguel Cabrera uncorked a 3-run homer deep to left center. (Brief Aside - If there are any Twins personnel reading this, I have to point out… again, Cabrera was called up from AA and thrown into left field, a position he had never played before. He had some successes. He had many failures, but the team stuck with him, even in a new position. When Mike Lowell was hurt, Cabrera went back to his natural position 3B. Now, in the playoffs, when Lowell was healthy and the team had acquired Jeff Conine to play LF, it was Lowell, not Cabrera sitting on the bench. And when Lowell was deemed 100% and ready to go, did Cabrera go to the bench? No. He was thrown into RF, in the playoffs, another position he had never played before. And he’s come through time and time again! So, my point to the Twins, you’ve jerked Michael Cuddyer around enough. Once with Justin Morneau was enough. Don’t let it happen with Mauer when he is eventually called up! Let the guys struggle. Let them make their adjustments! Let them play!)
So anyway, back to the game, the Marlins had the early 3-0 lead. In the 2nd inning, with the Cubs down 3-1 and a runner on base and the pitcher, Kerry Wood hitting with a full count, it was pretty clear what would happen next. Redman would think “Hey, I’m throwing to a pitcher, fastball, down the middle. He can’t hit me. I’m great! (Twins fans laugh!!)” What me, and probably most baseball people were thinking, “Redman’s going to throw his 85 mph fastball right down the middle of the plate, thinking he’s throwing to a regular pitcher, not knowing how good and strong a hitter Kerry Wood is. Wood will be thinking the same thing, and will absolutely unload on this pitch.” And that’s exactly what happened. You would think Redman was thinking he was pitching to Mike Mordecai or something! So, that tied the game at 3.
In the 5th, Moises Alou hit his 2-run home run to increase the Cubs lead to 5-3. But that’s when the momentum completely switched up again, in the direction of the Marlins. Kerry Wood just didn’t have it last night. His control was off, his curveball hung, his fastball wasn’t popping. He just wasn’t the same pitcher as he had been throughout the playoffs. Many will rush to judgment, blaming Dusty Baker for the high pitch counts that Mark Prior and Kerry Wood have pitched throughout the playoffs, and that certainly could have been a factor in Game 6 and 7. I would say that he was more guilty of simply trying to let his stud pitchers work out of problems without their good stuff, rather than trusting his bullpen.
In the bottom of the 5th, Ivan Rodriguez doubled in a run. Miguel Cabrera got his 4th RBI of the game on a ground out before Derrek Lee singled in the third run of the inning, giving the Marlins the 6-5 lead. In the 6th inning, Luis Castillo singled in another run. In the 7th inning, Alex Gonzalez doubled in another run. That gave the Cubs a 9-5 lead, and even with Troy O’Leary’s solo homer in the 7th inning, the Marlins held on for a 9-6 win, earning them a trip to the World Series!
Pudge Rodriguez was named the series MVP and certainly deserves it, but I would have to think that Josh Beckett would have received a lot of votes. His 2-hit shutout in Game 5 was incredibly impressive and dominant. But then he came back on 2 days rest to give up just one run over four innings last night. He was dominant again. And, the fact that in those four innings, he threw just 45 pitches means he should be able to start Game 1 or Game 2 of the World Series.
Other Notes - Too many people will point to the fan in the stands in Game 6. The poor man couldn’t even go to work yesterday. He had to disconnect his phone. His life will never be the same, and it’s unfortunate. Believe me, the Marlins didn’t score 8 runs in the 8th inning just because of that incident. So people of Chicago, please leave Mister Bartman alone!!
Maybe Ugueth Urbina was worth all those top-level prospects? The goal is to win now, right? And that’s just what the Marlins have done!
The Marlins won the World Series in 1997, six years ago. Then came all of the (sorry the pun) Blockbuster deals. That team was pretty much demolished by mandate of owner Wayne Huizenga, within a couple of days of winning it, when Moises Alou was traded. Who else was on that 1997 Marlins team? Here’s the list:
C - Charles Johnson, 1B - Jeff Conine, 2B - Luis Castillo/Craig Counsell, SS - Edgar Renterria, 3B - Bobby Bonilla, LF - Moises Alou, CF - Devon White, RF - Gary Sheffield, PH - Jim Eisenrich, Bench - Cliff Floyd, Darren Daulton, Mark Kotsay. Pitchers - Kevin Brown, Alex Fernandez, Al Leiter, Livan Hernandez, Rick Helling, Antonio Alfonseca, Felix Heredia. A pretty impressive group, and only Luis Castillo has been with the team since. Jeff Conine was in Kansas City in 1998 and Baltimore from 1999 until just August.
I have my team to cheer for in the World Series now, regardless of what happens tonight in Game 7 of the ALCS! I am officially on the Florida Marlins bandwagon! The no-names (to the common fan), the small market team, some charisma guys. That’s my team!
Well, that’s it for today. I hope you enjoyed reading each other’s thoughts on the 2004 Minnesota Twins. If you would like to chime in, send me an e-mail. I am probably due for a Mailbag posting again sometime soon! Or, if you have any thoughts on the Championship Series, or the potential World Series, I’d love to hear them. In any case, be sure to check back tomorrow for our Experts Football Picks, as well as next week’s Discussion Question of the Week!