Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Tuesday Update
Hey everyone. Real quick update today as I just don’t have a lot
of time, but I did want to touch on a few things.
·
The Tigers and Braves at least had the decency
and respect for the game of baseball that is nice to see. The two teams clearly
had a deal in place and waited until Monday to announce it. Edgar Renteria
went to the Tigers from the Braves in exchange for Jair Jurrjens and Gorkys Hernandez. I think this is an example of a good trade for both
teams. The Tigers get their shortstop and now Carlos Guillen can move to 1B full time. Renteria is coming off a monster year in Atlanta and should
do well for Detroit. But I think that the Braves did well. Jurrjens
did a nice job in the final month of the season for the Tigers after doing well
much of the season in AA. I think he projects to be a #3 or #4 starter
potentially, so the Tigers probably sold high, but if he can be a solid #3, the
Braves will be happy. But the big chip in the trade was Hernandez. He was the
player of the year in the Midwest League this year and is a centerfielder of
the future. He’s probably two years away from the big leagues, but in time, he
will be the name to remember.
·
Torii
Hunter and Carlos Silva both
declared for free agency on the first day that they could. No surprise
whatsoever. I mean, 55 others did on the first day and I’m sure the same number
or more will on Day 2. Not really a story at this point, although Torii sure is
trying to get away from the Twins, saying pretty much all of the wrong things! But
again, the Twins have 15 days to negotiate with Hunter exclusively, but Hunter
all but admitted that he has every intent to take full advantage of his right to free
agency.
·
The Twins released several of their minor league
players today. As someone who follows the Twins system so closely throughout
the season, it is something that I notice that others may not care about, but I
think that it deserves to be noted. I think several of these guys will turn up
with other organizations:
1.
Danny
Powers – The Twins 8th round pick in 2005 – This one
surprised me a little bit. Yes, he struggled in New Britain, and was sent back
to Ft. Myers. I would have liked to have seen him get another shot at AA next
year.
2.
Matt
Betsill – Hit just .155 with
Ft. Myers before going back to Beloit. There, he hit just .213, so I think this
makes sense, particularly with the Twins options at the corners.
3.
Jesse
Floyd – The Twins took him a year ago from the Giants in the minor
league portion of the Rule V draft. He didn’t excite the organization the same
way Brian Buscher, the other minor league Rule V guy,
did.
4.
Jesus
Carnevales – This one surprises
me. He went 5-5 with a 4.04 ERA for Beloit after being promoted from extended
spring. He was used seemingly every day. He didn’t do poorly, so I am
surprised.
5.
Wesley
Connor – Not a surprise and yet I think someone will pick him up. He hit
.293 in his second year at E-Town, but the outfielder likely would stall
because there will be no room in the Beloit outfield (Ozzie Lewis, Rene Tosoni, Matt Dolenc, Ben Revere,
Andrew Schmiesing).
6.
Michael
Rogers – Spent the year with E-Town, but he has been hurt most of the
time since the team drafted him in 2004.
7.
Jose
Castillo – he went 5-1 with a 2.25 ERA for E-Town. That’s not bad! Why
would he be released?
8.
Jose
Acosta – pitched OK at GCL.
9.
Nick
Biagini – Minnesota native played
some for GCL Twins after a college career in which he barely played for the
Gophers. Not sure why he was signed in the first place.
·
Catching up on the Arizona Fall League:
1.
Friday was the Rising Stars game. Trevor Plouffe
came in to replace Reid Brignac and went 0-1. Ryan Mullins pitched the second inning. He gave up a home run, but
he struck out the other three hitters he faced.
2.
Also on Friday, Phoenix played Team China. Matt Macri
went 0-3. Anthony Swarzak
pitched three scoreless innings. He gave up three hits, walked none and struck
out three.
3.
Saturday, Phoenix lost to Team USA 3-2. Brian Duensing
pitched for Team USA and gave up a run on two hits in his two innings. Matt Macri
went 3-4 with an RBI. Drew Butera went 0-3.
4.
No Games on Sunday.
5.
On Monday, Matt
Macri went 1-3 with his 6th double. Trevor Plouffe
went 0-3. Eddie Morlan
walked one in a scoreless inning.
6.
Nick Blackburn continues to dominate the AFL. On
Tuesday, he started and went four shutout innings. He gave up just one hit,
walked none and struck out five.
·
Catching up on the Venezuelan League:
1.
On
Friday, Aragua lost 1-0 to Margarita. Brian
Buscher went 1-3. Yohan Pino took the loss. He gave up a run on
two hits and a walk in 1.2 innings. Jose
Mijares went 2/3 of an inning and struck out one.
2.
On
Saturday, Aragua lost 2-1 to Caracas in 14 innings. Jose Mijares gave up a single to the lone
batter he faced. Frank Mata walked
three but didn’t give up a run in 2.2 innings.
3.
Aragua
beat Margarita 4-1 on Sunday. Former Twins farmhand Luis Maza was 2-4 with a double. Brian Bass had another excellent start.
He went the first 6.1 innings and gave up no runs on three hits and no walks. Bobby Korecky
pitched the 8th and struck out two. Yohan Pino came in with the tying run up to
bat. He got him out to record the save.
4.
No
Games scheduled on Monday.
·
Knowing
how much I enjoy following the Twins minor league system,
be sure to check out Aaron’s
posting today showing a different look at how the Twins minor league
hitters did this year.
·
I
really didn’t write anything about the Twins decision to pick up Joe Nathan’s $6 million option for
2008. Why not? It may have been the easiest decision that Bill Smith will ever make in his life as a GM!
·
Hey,
the NBA season starts tonight! Are you excited!? I am in a keeper fantasy
basketball league this year with a group of guys that I’m in a fantasy keeper
baseball league with. This was the first year, and the draft just concluded
today, after more than a week of e-mailed picks. My roster consists of (by
round I selected them, 15 teams, 16 rounds, I had the fifth overall pick): Amare Stoudemire, Deron Williams, Luol Deng, Greg Oden, Rajon Rondo, Andre Miller, Richard Jefferson, Chris
Wilcox, Joakim Noah, Mickael Pietrus, Desmond Mason, Rasho Nesterovich, Thaddeus
Young, Damien Wilkens,
Antonio McDyess,
Jarvis Hayes. I’m actually happy
with the roster, but we shall see how well it goes!
·
Last
week, I said that the obvious choice to replace Joe Torre as Yankees manager was Joe Girardi. Maybe Brian Cashman reads this site. Yeah
Right! But the Yankees GM did announce that Girardi
would be the team’s new manager. Sounds like Joe Torre could take over for Grady
Little with the Dodgers and likely would bring Don Mattingly with him.
·
I’m
not a fan of how the A-Rod news came out the other day. I don’t know how anyone
could turn town about $230 million. But then again, I haven’t had to live under
the New York scrutiny that Alex
Rodriguez has the last couple of years. And secondly, he was contractually
well within his rights to opt out of those final three years, and he decided to
do that, so I don’t begrudge him in any way.
·
Jonathan Papelbon is crazy, and thanks to David Ortiz before the team’s parade
through Boston, we know that Pap spent a good amount of time on the team’s
flight home being, well, sick!
·
If you’re interested in knowing what is going
on at the Twins Ballpark meeting today, here is a Live Blog
from someone there.
·
Be
sure to check out the T-Wolves Blog for news and information
on Minnesota’s NBA team. Yes, they still have a team, even with all of the
trades. I actually am very interested in seeing how they do and how the youth
comes together. Randy Foye being out
for awhile with a knee injury (a
stress reaction… yes, it is a real injury!) certainly is not good news.
If you have any questions, comments or ideas for future postings,
please e-mail me.
Have a great weekend!