Just a quick break from fixing this blog's appearance and links and my, you know, real job, to hit a couple of things in case you haven't heard already.
- In really bad news, Pat Neshek of the Twins will need surgery and is likely out for all of next season. After sitting out nearly all of last year with this same injury, he re-injured his elbow last week throwing and will now need Tommy John surgery and will be down for the count. This makes an already high priority, getting bullpen help, the absolute number 1 priority no doubt. Forget Atkins or Blake or whoever else to play third base, get a top notch reliever. I have no idea who is out there, but if I feel like it later I'll get more into this. This sucks.
- One possibility would be Trevor Hoffman, who was unable to reach a deal with San Diego and will never play for the Padres again. He's a big name, and his entry music of Hells Bells is the best ever, but he's also 41 and has lost a lot of velocity. The good news for him is that his changeup has also been his out pitch. Can he become the Jamie Moyer of relievers? A quick look at his numbers says it's possible. He's just two seasons removed from finishing as runner-up for the NL Cy Young award, and last season posted a 1.04 WHIP and a 3.77 ERA, with opponents hitting just .229 against him. He would be a good fit with the Twins, as he doesn't walk anybody and his home run rate jumped through the roof last season. I think he would be a great get for the Twins, except for the pesky little salary problem. He made $7 million last year, and the Padres offered him $4 million plus incentives which he turned down in a huff. Even if the Twins were able to offer him a $4 million or so salary, doubtful at best, he would have to accept, also doubtful at best. I would love too see the Twins make an effort to get the future Hall of Famer, but fully expect someone like the Yankees to swoop in and offer him a contract more to his liking.
- Billy Beane is at it again, defying "conventional" logic and seemingly trading prospects for an expensive star player in the Rockies' Matt Holliday. Holliday is an awesome player, but you kind of have to wonder how inflated his numbers are playing in Coors (Sidler?) The A's are (allegedly) sending over Huston Street (established high-end closer), pitcher Greg Smith (highly regarded prospect) and OF Carlos Gonzalez (super highly regarded prospect) for a guy with only one year left on his contract at $13.5 million. I'll assume they won't make the trade unless they get a long term deal in place, but I still don't understand why the A's are making this move. I'm not going to question Billy Beane, but I'm very curious to see what the plan is here. If they don't get a long term deal done, my best guess is Beane thinks the pieces are there to make a run at the playoffs this season, and wanted a bat to put them over the top. If things don't work out he will just trade him again at the deadline.
- Lastly, as I'm sure everyone has already heard, Eric Decker won't be playing at Wisconsin this weekend because of that ankle injury. This is, once again, a huge blow to the offense and Adam Weber's radar lock. I'll also go ahead and take this time to officially admit I was very, very wrong about Decker. I thought his early season success was more a product of the talent on the other side of the ball that his own talent, but he's won me over. Hell, he could be the next Wes Welker.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
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19 comments:
I haven't done much research, but I think Holliday's numbers held up reasonably well on the road (better than Atkins for sure). The move to Oakland's cavernous stadium is going to make it look worse than it really is though. Basically, expect him to go from MVP-caliber numbers to merely All Star-quality.
This could be oversimplification and Beane really thinks they'll sign Holliday, but the A's have to be thinking they can get more than they gave up by flipping Holliday at the trade deadline.
Neshek's the latest in a line of Twins pitchers who have tried to get through injuries without surgery and failed--I think it started with Balfour, then Liriano and Crain. Is Carl skimping on the training staff?
This website (both the look and content)is too dark and depressing . I feel like going into my garage with a bottle of jack and a shotgun after reading this for 2 minutes.
why the hell wouldn't they just have had neshek have the surgery in the first place, considering he "rested" it long enough that he could have had it? If there was even a small risk that resting it wouldn't work and he would still need surgery why would they have risked it?
I agree with Dawg...I have a pounding headache here. I'm a slow reader but jesus...white lettering on top of black is re-god-gamn-diculous. Change it already!
PS, happy belated bday W...what does that make you now, 41ish?
Hoffman would be terrible in the American League. Move him to the majors and the homerdome and he wouldn't be worth the cash. Just start calling him Livan.
I agree with Sidler that Holliday will be good in Oakland, if not as good as he was in Coors. I think you are overstating what the A's are giving up. Street has been going downhill for a couple of years, Smith was about to get squeezed out of the rotation by better prospects, and Gonzalez might never put it together (although, he could be awesome). I look at it as the A's can make a run this year and then Holliday will walk and the A's will get some prospects that are similar in value to what they gave up (unless Gonzalez blows up, then it will look bad).
1. I agree on Neshek. It's ridiculous that he's going to be out for two years.
2. Comparing Hoffman to Livan is not a good comparison. Hoffman pitched very well last season, albeit in a pitcher friendly park. I don't think he's the answer, but don't you want to see the Twins go after SOMEBODY. No, not Hoffman just because he's going to get too much and be a huge question mark, but somebody would be nice.
3. I agree about Smith, but Street is not exactly washed up and Gonzalez is the #2 guy in their system and #23 in baseball, just seems like a strange move.
4. I already effed around with the look here forever last night, and finally got one I liked and then found out another Gopher blog had the exact same layout so this is what you're gonna get. Maybe.
Is the gold writing better?
I sure hope this isn't the permanent layout. This is god awful and I'll have to stop visiting the site. Enough with the black background!
As for Hoffman, do you really think that one of the top closers of all time would sign with the Twins to be a setup guy? Please, it wouldn't matter how much money we threw at him. Or would you rather move Nathan to a setup guy?
Did anyone catch the rerun of the family guy last night on TBS? Its the one where lois gains all the weight then they suck it out and at the end peter is caught "doing" the fat like the pie f'r in American Pie. It doesnt add to the conversation but it sure was funny, thank you TBS for rerunning the best cartoon ever created 18 times per week. I usually mock TBS and their redundant running of movies and other shows but they have this one right...just keep pumping out the episodes.
Also, I think the "flipping" comment about the A's strategy on Holliday is pretty inciteful, but who even at the deadline will be willing to give up more than what they gave, we know the teams that have money but who has the wealth of young talent, other than the Rays?
Does anyone think the twins will actually spend more this year? Will they fill gaps or will they stay pat and continue to be a good enough team divisionally but never get to the next level?
Black background? What is this amateur night?
What was wrong with the way this site looked before? Pathetic, you've changed it just for a change. If you're trying to attract new or retain old readers, try having better content.
Fall is over and we're headed into winter. The sky has already turned it's depressing gray, and it will stay that way another 4 months - and you go with black. Your soul must be so empty and dark.
If you want to cheer everybody up, you should write about the best college hockey team in the country. It will attract traffic too.
The black background sucks!
Reading more about the trade, I like it more and more for the A's. Street's OK but not great and is so bad against lefties that he shouldn't be a closer (notice he didn't close for the A's this year). The other pitcher is basically a RH Glen Perkins at best, and Gonzales is like a freak combination of Carlos Gomez (tools) plus Delmon Young (declining performances after single A).
The only potential blue chip is Gonzales and he's all projection. The A's have a ton of holes in their infield but have quite a few OF prospects. My guess is they flip Holliday for a B+ infield prospect and some young arms at the trade deadline. It would be an interesting way to re-stack the deck of prospects, that's for sure.
As far as the Twins are concerned, I'd rather them not spend as much money if the other option is dumping $20mm on Casey Blake.
Hi everyone. I changed the color scheme because the old layout didn't work anymore. I'm still tinkering with this a bit. All feedback is welcome, even if you're an ass.
When looking at the new layout of DWG I feel like I stumbled across a hardcore S and M site. I feel scummy just coming here. Maybe you should add some skull, gun, whip/chains graphics to go along with your black background with white, red and gold lettering. Just a thought. Pervert!
"Hi everyone"? You are such a douche.
You are all extremely helpful.
And I'd take a guest hockey post from pretty much anybody at this point, even The Todd.
My eyes thank you for changing the background.
Low blow W.
I would attempt to get something together but I don't have cable right now and haven't really seen any action this year other than highlights on the news.
I think we're due for a Pancheros run tomorrow, you in?
PS, can I go to another basketball game this year? I'll buy you a soft pretzel with cheese even. Maybe we'll run into Miles Tarver this time.
I vote Panchero's for next week.
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