Sign Ray Durham

Sorry to step on your post, W, but I had a few minutes here and saw Tolbert is in the lineup again today.

You won't see me suggesting the Twins sign a washed-up veteran very often, but I haven't had the misfortune of watching the Matt Tolbert/Nick Punto middle-infield combo before this season. The Twins need to do something, and maybe that something is Alexi Casilla. So unless he officially retired, I say the Twins should go out and sign Ray Durham for the rest of the season.

What can a team expect from Durham this year?

Last year his AVG / OBP / SLG was .289 / .380 / .432
Baseball Prospectus puts his 2009 projections at .273 / .359 / .425

His ultimate zone rating (UZR)/150 games last year was -0.9, so he'll probably cost the team a couple runs with his glovework.

But what will Tolbert give the Twins?

2009 offensive projection: 100% suck
His UZR/150 numbers at second base have been brutal over the last two years, -16.8 last year and -28.3 this year.

Crappy offense, crappy defense, but a hell of a lot of Ecksteinian hustle and grit.

There's a chance (possibly a good chance) that Durham would be a repeat of the Bret Boone experiment from a few years ago. But the bar is so low right now that I have to think he'd be an improvement over the current 2B performance.

Delmon left his power in Montgomery

This ended up being more depressing than I expected...

Here are some stats for one current and five former Twins--the stats are only for the time they spent with Minnesota. Guess the correct player for each stat line:



The players: Delmon Young, Luis Rivas, Doug Mientkiewicz, Cristian Guzman, Jason Tyner, and Jacque Jones.

Yes, I'm biased against Delmon, he's one of my least favorite players on the team...and I get that he's still young and has time to develop. But damn, this isn't exactly an awesome list of players and his numbers are mediocre compared to this mediocre-or-worse group.

I'm sure everyone is just dying to find out if Delmon's isolated power is actually worse than Guzie or Rivas, so the answers will be in the comments Friday afternoon.

I've seen this before...

I realize this is piling on at this point, but Alexi Casilla hitting second every night is driving me crazy. And frankly, something needs to distract me from a pathetic fantasy baseball team...it is never good to add Russell Branyan and David Aardsma in the same night, but at least I also added Span.

The problem is, this Casilla thing is all-too familiar.

Here are a some batting avg. / on-base % / SLG splits:

.234 / .260 / .362
.221 / .321 / .253
.174 / .207 / .217

Those are Casilla's Aug 08, Sept 08, and Apr 09 stat lines.

Here's one more:

.210 / .291 / .271

That's Nick Punto's 2007 stat line; the one where Gardy drove Twins fans crazy by keeping Punto entrenched in the 2-spot for most of the season. Punto's April 07 was actually quite a bit better than the one Casilla just finished, sadly.

I get that Gardy wants to let him work through his slump--that strategy seems to be working out well with Cuddyer, who's suddenly hitting again--but let Casilla do it at the bottom of the lineup.

Sweet victory tonight for the Twins; Liriano was locked in, Span was awesome again, Cuddyer maintained his recent form, and the bullpen didn't pour a bunch of gas on the mound and start a fire. Almost everything was awesome except for Mauer, who sucked. I'm sure the Star Trib commenters are foaming at the mouth demanding he be moved to 3B or 2B so we can get Morales back.

Even Casilla got a hit and two RBI, but he also had the worst Twins play of the game when he didn't run out a bunt attempt, which led to a double play. That could be the play that lands him on the bench.

What the f*ck to do with the lineup...

With Baby Jesus days away from rejoining the team, it is time to think about what to do with the roster and lineup.

The easy assumption is that Jose Morales is going to head back to Rochester.  He appears to be ready for a backup catcher role--his bat looks more than ready for it, but his defense sucks.  There really aren't any other options unless a pitcher is sent down (or released) or the team makes a surprising move like sending Gomez to AAA...I just can't see the Twins doing that.

Now, what about the lineup?  The top four hitters on the team are all left-handed, which creates problems.  In a world without platoon splits, it probably looks something like this:

Span

Mauer

Morneau

Kubel

Crede

Young

Cuddyer

Punto

Casilla

Unfortunately, that lineup begs the other team to put a left-handed pitcher in whenever the top of the order comes up.  As a team, the Twins have a sub-.600 OPS vs. left-handed pitching compared to a .740 vs. right-handers.

Clearly, it would help if the RH hitters in the lineup could get it together...the Crede-Young-Cuddyer triumvirate of suck is creating outs 70%+ of the time.

Gardy's usually predictable, but I have no idea what his lineup will look like this Friday.  Forget moving Mauer to third base, can he learn how to hit right-handed?

Delmon vs. Denard - or random bastardization of data

There's Delmon Young missing another catch.

This post doesn't have much of a point. I've had a couple of gin & tonics (WWWWWW, please note--no fruit juice) and I'm getting fired up that the Twins might have a defense that lives up to the hype this year. A good defense does not include Delmon...

After reading this post at USS Mariner about when, if ever, Ken Griffey Jr. should play in the outfield instead of the plus-defender Endy Chavez, I thought about the LF situation for the Twins--Delmon vs. Denard.

Instead of recreating the wheel, and owing to the fact that Dave and DMZ at USS Mariner are smarter than me, I'm just going to borrow their data. Follow the link if you want the details, but all MLB teams fell between 1,463 and 1,732 fly balls last year and 27% of those went to LF.

Since the Twins have three extreme fly ball pitchers, I'm going to estimate 1,700 for them this season. Twins pitchers gave up 183 HRs in 2008, so let's go with 180 this year--1,520 catchable fly balls for the outfielders. 27% of that total gives Twins left fielders 410 opportunities.

Again borrowing from USS Mariner, a really good defensive LF will get to 80-85% of chances and a bad one will be around or below 70%. Obviously Delmon isn't the good defensive outfielder of the two...

Over the course of the season, using a 70/80 split translates to Denard creating an additional 41 outs with his glove. USS Mariner says that each flyball out is 0.9 runs prevented.

Using that calculation, Denard's defense is worth about 37 runs compared to Delmonstrosity's rollerskating in LF.

I'm finally getting to my point--what kind of offense can Delmon provide to make up the 37 runs he gives up in the field?

That's about the difference between Delmon and Ryan Braun last year.

Granted, that's an extreme example since LF isn't going to be an either/or situation. Both players are going to see time in the field.

But despite a less-than-Spantastic spring for Denard, I don't see Delmon being that much better at the plate, even if he's platooned. I'm just hoping the Twins can minimize Delmon's damage in the field; keeping him off the field for Baker and Slowey starts is a good, easy way to do that.

Twins rotation outlook

Damn, the baseball season is finally almost here...it feels like Spring Training has been going for months. The Twins hype machine is fully operational though, someone on the radio broadcast said the team has a good chance of having multiple 20-game winners this season. The last guy to do it was Santana, who only managed to do it once despite being the best pitcher in baseball his last three years with the team. Seems a little hyperbolic to me, but let's take a look at the fortunately-Livan-free rotation from top to bottom.

Scott Baker
Key 2008 stats
3.45 ERA
4.25 xFIP
7.4 K/9
2.2 BB/9

Positives: Nearly every meaningful category improved in his second full season in the rotation. Held left-handed hitters in check. Only turns 27 this season. Pitched well enough to get Bert to shut up about keeping the ball down.

Red flags: Gives up a ton of fly balls, how many fly over the fence is variable and could cause an ERA spike. Stranded an above-average number of baserunners last year, that's tough to duplicate.

Useless Sidler Projection (USP): Pitches like a #1/2 starter and could be a fringe All-Star, but won't match last year's ERA.

Kevin Slowey
Key 2008 stats
3.99 ERA
4.14 xFIP
1.15 WHIP
6.9 K/9
1.3 BB/9

Positives: Began to show the promise his killer minor league stats suggested. Posted some of the best control numbers in the league while picking up 0.55 K/9 compared to 2007.

Red flags: Lefties combined to hit like Justin Morneau against him. HR rate was a little low, and like Baker, Slowey gives up a lot of fly balls.

USP: Bill James' projection system is a big fan of Slowey, and so am I. Slowey will be the best starter this year and put up better numbers than last year.

Francisco Liriano
Key 2008 stats
3.91 ERA
4.40 xFIP
1.39 WHIP
7.9 K/9
3.8 BB/9

Positives: It was a tale of two seasons for Liriano, and the second half--a 2.74 ERA speaks for itself. He's been a ground ball machine in Spring Training and the infield defense should be improved this season with Crede-Punto-Casilla providing + defense at their positions.

Red flags: He has control issues. Still learning how to pitch after Tommy John surgery.

USP: I might take that Slowey prediction back...a healthy, confident Liriano is the best starter in the division.

Nick Blackburn
Key 2008 stats
4.05 ERA
4.55 xFIP
1.36 WHIP
4.47 K/9
1.8 BB/9

Positives: Solid debut, awesome sideburns. Great control, solid groundball rate. HR rate well above his minor league performance. No extreme platoon splits. Improved infield defense will help him, too.

Red flags: Doesn't strike out many batters. 4.68 ERA after the All-Star break. Reminds me of Carlos Silva, performance could vary wildly throughout career.

USP: Won't match last year's ERA but will still be a reliable starter, especially for someone in the #4 starter slot.

Glen Perkins
4.41 ERA
5.05 xFIP
1.47 WHIP
4.41 K/9
2.3 BB/9

Positives: Much-improved walk rate compared to his minor league track record. Right-handed hitters performed worse than LH hitters.

Red flags: Horrible away from the Dome. LH hitters weren't phased by him throwing with his left hand, RH hitters knocked the crap out of the ball when they got a hit. High number of stranded runners. Doesn't strike out many hitters but lacks great control or a high groundball rate to make up for it.

USP: Perkins plants one foot in the bullpen by putting up a ~5.00 ERA this season. One of the many solid AAA arms in the Twins system will be pushing for the #5 spot by the All-Star break.


Wow, I didn't realize I was so optimistic about the Twins rotation this season. I'm not going to look around at other rosters, but I don't think many teams can match the Twins' 1-3 starters. With a potentially-improved defense behind them, the pitchers could lead the way to a big improvement in the team's run prevention (#16 last year). I think they'll need it, since the offense will be hard-pressed to match last year's performance...more on that later.

Sure, why not sign Crede

I am ambivalent when it comes to the Twins signing Joe Crede. W seems fired up about it though and it would be nice to know that Bill Smith didn't spend the off-season ice fishing at McHale's cabin up north. I decided to look at some numbers and despite often being wrong, I figured why the hell not, let's type.

Powered by New Belgium beer, not some pansy vodka/cran...

Here are six reasons why it is a good idea to sign Crede:

1. Sideburns. He'll fit right in.
2. The Twins are under budget, so who gives an F if they overspend on a one-year deal for a small improvement.
3. It'll shut fans up for a little bit.
4. He's a different kind of hitter than pretty much everyone else in the lineup.
5. His .460 SLG would have been third on the 2008 Twins and 55 points higher than the top RH hitter, Delmon-strocity.
6. No more Buscher defense at 3B.

But here are six reasons to temper the excitement

1. The dude hits into a lot of outs--his best on-base percentage from the last four years is worse than all 2008 Twins regulars other than Carlos Gomez
2. He has back problems and has played 144 games over the last two seasons.
3. Even though it was only 47 games, his 2007 season counts and it was awful.
4. This is his age 31 season, he's going to have a hard time matching last year's numbers
5. The Harris/Buscher platoon isn't a bad option and could put up .360 OBP/.440 SLG/ .800 OPS. Crede's OPS has been over .800 once in the last four years.
6. You might still have to platoon with Crede; oddly, he has sucked against LHP the last 3 years.


Fans and media are clamoring for Crede, but I just don't see him as a difference maker. He's not going to hurt the team's chances, though, and that's more than you can about most recent Twins free agent signings. Spending $7mil or so on a one-year deal isn't going to hurt the team's finances, so why not go for it and sign a someone-significant free agent for a change.

Besides, if all goes well with Danny Valencia at AA/AAA this year--not that he's going to be a star or anything, but he looks solid so far--the 2009 3B is likely just keeping the spot warm.

This guy is not a third baseman any more

Hi, the Sidler here with a quick Twins post.

Michael Cuddyer is not a third baseman at this point of his career. At best, he was OK and certainly a better option than Terry (S)Tiffee, Glenn Williams, and Tony Batista.

He hasn't played the position since 2005 and his fielding (as a RF) has gone downhill over the past couple years. He also can't stay healthy.

But fans won't give up on the idea. Apparently, neither will Star Tribune columnists.

Gardy hates the idea, reality hates the idea, and Cuddy hates the idea.

So please stop.

Best Comments of 2008

I realize most people do their best ofs before the year is quite over, but I'm like a week late. It's hard to go through a full year's worth of posts and read all the comments. Without further ado, here are the best comments of 2008 in no particular order, except chronologically:


- Dawg: "Do you think Hoffbauer will stick around for at least 2 years or will his guranteed NBA lottery pick status force him to leave after his freshmen season?"

- Anonymous: "I will take sweet sweet Pam Oliver anyday"

- Super Sioux Fan: "I am sure you are some old guy who has to stare at it because you cant get it. Creeper"

- The Todd: "I love women...especially ones that are deuce plus and/or in wheel chairs."

- Dawg: "Its a well known fact that Iowans are very anti-vampire."

- Snacks: "fake boobs are very weird"

- Rabid Husky: "Nice blog idiots"

- Joe: "You are without question the most cynical man alive"

- The Todd: "Reason #37 why you are my hero."

- The Todd: "shit my pants drunk or dance with fat girls drunk?"

- Kevin: "Shane Schilling was nice"

- Roy: "Snake is far from a dipshit"

- Jacie Z: "Hot chicks are so nasty!"

- Snake: "I also just had Billy Bob on. One of the greatest pieces of cinema I have ever seen. GOd Damn Mox can sling the pill!"

- Dawg: "I hope they at least have the decency to spit on "it" before they rape us this Sunday"

- Dawg: "I refuse to call a white guy Jamal"

- Everyone: everyone proving how retarded Dawg is about baseball.

- Anonymous: "It's "Hoffarber" not Hoffbauer. You'd think after 20 games you'd know that by now."

- The Sidler: "I always died of dysentery..."

- Larry Eustachy: "Thats the least she could do to make up for her tiny breasts."

- Just telling the truth: "Snacks is gay"

- Anonymous: "This blog just hit rock bottom! Thanks WWWWWWWWWWW, another reader lost!"

- Anonymous: "You guys have to lay off the pipe."

- Jimmy: "I'd rather watch Balls of Fury than read another post from Dawg."

- From the Barn: "another coach was forced to resign because he was underutilizing Rico Tucker."

- Anonymous: "Is that her snizz hanging out?"

- Dawd:"in the last year I've seen you get your ass kicked by a ballerina wearing a white vest and Momma Souix Fan."

- Said Person: "Four Letter Lie is the greatest band ever"

- Dawg: "Why does a team that relies on obtaining free agents on the cheap miss oportunities for a couple of studs that are coming off injuries ie Colon and Prior"

- Theory: "Dr. Acula's boyfriend, Camillo Villegas"

- Dawg: "Give the little gay meat raffle guy from the Knight Cap a pat on his sloppy bottom from me."

- Snack's wife: "i'm all real bitch!"

- Amanda Jax: "the parents will have to sue some poor mexican bar tender from Cancun for his donkey and wool blankets because those sissy mankato students can't handle their drinks."

- Dr. Acula: "My buddy has a gay brother named Colton. His last name is not Iverson. Probably no relation."

- The Sidler: ""Twins Baseball - you're going to need two flasks!""

- Bear: "I'm going to go read Up with Bucky, with a flaccid crank"

- Super Sioux Fan: "most sioux fans are complete douches"

- C. Garey: "If you're looking for friends you've come to the wrong blog"

- Anonnymous: "Has Gardy ever made a mistake? I guess not since he's forgotten more baseball than me."

- C. Haskins: "I want to see a winning product. I couldn't give two shits less what the graduation rate is"

- Holy Hell: "I found this blog by googling suck my crank"

- Anonymous: "I didn't expect Blackburn to regress to the mean in the span of one inning..."

- Hawkeye Fan: "Sorry "friend", You got owned by a farmed raised Iowa boy." - after owning Dawg in one of the staggering amount of arguments he lost in the comments.

- Klinger: "I should clarify for this blog...NHL = National Hockey League - my apologies for wandering into this uncharted territory."

- Snake: "Young's problem is he doesn't swing enough. He needs to take less pitches and just chop away!"

- SLombardozzi#4: "Beasley will be a poor mans Anthony Mason in 2 years."

- Theory: "Tiger could punch an old lady in the face and the announcers would be like, "She probably deserved it."

- The Todd: "My main summer attire includes crocs, workout shorts and an old T'wolves KG jersey from Walmart."

- Snacks: "God I can't stand the people on the gopher hole"

- The Sidler: "Livan is the best pitcher on the team--he has 9 wins"

- Jeremy: "this dude is frickin' hilarious."

- Tiffany L: "So what ever happened to Van Peebles two anonymous "colored" friends on the boat? Hopefully they didn't end up in the water because I am guessing they couldn't swim very well."

- Sharks Love Revenge: "this is by far the best movie review of all time. If I had to listen to that queer talk about paladin's one more time I was going to have to go jump in the ocean hoping that some shark wanted revenge on my family too."

- Tom: "You are clearly one of the top 5 or 6 gopher bloggers out there"

- The Todd: "I'm also known as a very solid penetrator and am currently listed at 5'9/235 with a 17 inch vert and 6.7 forty time."

- Faldo: "Doctors say he will be fine but I say blindness, thats what you get when you dont come through for Faldo you get blindness"

- Dawg: "Blacky wins 16 games next season and probably starts dating Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan."

- Anonymous: "there is nothing worse than homer fan"

- Dawg: "By the way my name is Dawg McDawgerson."

- Anonymous: "Gardy is an asshole and so is anyone who doesnt agree."

- Anonymous: "This blog sucks so I would love to read a blog that is average!"

- Bear: "I think it's called You're A Douchebag In C Minor."

- Bogart: "I live in Chicago where I'm a fancy rich lawyer who makes tons of money and I am so much better than you, peasant."

- Matt: "Please spare me with this "blueprint" and "small ball" bullshit."

- Dawg: "The Gophers blew the doors off of Montana State the supposed cream of the I-AA crop."

- Dawg: "Naked Guy looked great taking naked BP today."

- Justin Bobby: "Heidi with Brody, haha, thats just proposterous!"

- Tiffany: "Bogart- You have been portrayed perfectly on this site by WWWWW. Gambling problem (check), poor eye for NFL QB talent (check), love of wearing NFL jerseys (check) and poor skin (check)"

- The Todd: "Suck it long and suck it hard Dharma Bum."

- Theory: "I thoroughly enjoy these golf posts. They're the only posts on here that I read."

- Trig: "Brady is a man's man, ultimate teammate, and a complete gamer"

- Anonymous: "Reason #2986 why dawg is a complete sports retard!"

- Dawg: "The difference between Okposo and a figure skater is the figure skater isn't afraid to get his hands dirty"

- Mama Dawger: "yeah, your a dork. But I still want to be your live in girlfriend."

- Dawg: "I love you more than Woody Allen and Dusty Rychart combined."

- Super Sioux Fan: "everyone looked at me like I was retarded or something."

- Super Sioux Fan: "I am gay"

- Super Sioux Fan: "I hate the gays..........and the jews."

- Dawg: "When your only interaction with African Americans is watching them from 15 rows up at a Gopher Basketball game then you are probably a racist."

- Mama Dawger: "You have obviously never wrestled. It is a pure man's sport. There is nothing homoerotic about it. Other then the singlettes, the 'saturday night ride' and 'checkin the oil'. I know it makes it "sound" gay. But it's really not."

- Bear: "I thought this was Down With Goldy, not Down With A Blatantly Offensive & Racist Mascot"

- Anonymous: "The only thing that could make that show more gay is to have unicorns prance around the set with rainbow streamers tied onto their little horns."

- Dawg: "Weber throws to Decker every time because nobody can cover him."

- Bear: "Hitler wasn't really that bad of a guy"

- The Todd: "Optimator and I would make out every time the Gophers scored."

- Anonymous: "Sounds like Dawg knows as much about Fantasy Football as he does Baseball and college hoops"

- Super Sioux Fan: "I think I am going to remain drunk until the end of this hockey season"

- Anonymous: "But as we know from Twins talk on this blog, expectations cant change mid year and we need to just accept that this team is doing as good as it is being so young."

- Anonymous: "billy bean can shove moneyball up his gay ass"

- Dawg: "I wish I would have got to see him bean Joe Morgan in his fat head."

- Snacks: "Remember how Hargrow used to put his head down and take it to the rack every single time he had a white guy guarding him?"

- Tubtastic: "D2 football = not able to let go. It is the xfl equivalent for college football. They should blast "Glory Days" in the background during all D2 football games."

- The Todd: "You'll be happy to know I babysat my nephew last night which allowed me some cable access for a few brief hours. And in my stupidity I came across a Gopher basketball game. At Indiana. Thinking it was live. I didn't realize until the very end that it was from last March."


And that'll do it. Do I have a favorite? Nope, comments are like kids, I hate every one equally. Keep up the good work in 2009, comments pretty much make this blog.

Let's talk Wolves, baby!

I have too much time on my hands now that the baseball season is over and was disappointed to find out that a dominating MAC team still has to play in the Motor City Bowl in NCAA Football 09. So I've actually watched the Wolves a little bit this season and have some opinions:

1. Randy Wittman still really sucks as a coach. His starting lineups change too often, there is no rhyme or reason to his substitions, and his teams get smoked in the 4th quarter.

2. It looks like the Wolves are finally giving up on the "Randy Foye is a PG" thought. Thankfully.

3. This team could be really interesting offensively. Jefferson is a beast on the blocks, Love brings some skills to the table, Mike Miller can shoot, and Telfair has come a long way from his early days. The pieces fit together fairly well.

4. This team is interesting defensively, only because it is a train wreck. Brewer's the only plus defender and they don't appear to have much of a game plan (see point #1). Expect the Wolves to be one of the worst defenses in the league again this year.

5. They could have four first round picks next season if things fall in place. FOUR!!! Will McHale take Abu Shamala before the NBDL can get him?

They still look like a 30-win team that might have some issues with the way their young players fit together, but I'm thinking they'll be more interesting since offense will be better and Love and Jefferson are worth watching.

I KNEW I should have drank more before writing a Wolves post. W, you know you want to do a drunken Wolves liveblog later in the season.

A quick Twins addition--please don't sign Casey Blake. Thank you.

Am I the only person who didn't know this?

Some things I've learned this postseason:

Red Sox fans are still annoying
I miss Matt Garza
Tim McCarver is worse than I remember

B.J. Upton's first name is Melvin. I always figured it was Benjamin or something. What does B.J. stand for then? Bossman Junior. That's fucking awesome.

BOSSMAN JUNIOR. This is not getting enough attention from the media. In a world filled with pseudo-nicknames like A-Rod, Bossman Junior Upton is flying under the radar.

I want this guy to play SS for the Twins next year

Tell me this guy wouldn't end up in a ton of commercials for the Twins.

As I've mentioned more than a few times, I think J.J. Hardy is the most logical SS option for the Twins next season. Unlike some other options; he's young (25), talented, has power, is right-handed, and isn't named Punto.

One of the least-attractive rumored options is Orlando Cabrera. Aaron Gleeman did the work I was going to do in a post, but let's just say I don't think it is worth 3-years and $30 million to sign a 33-year old SS that was statistically worse than Nick Punto this season. Seriously, Punto is 3 years younger and had a better batting average, on-base AND slugging percentages, and a better revised zone rating than Cabrera.

Here's why Hardy would be an awesome addition--the list of Twins regulars with a better SLG than Hardy is as follows: Justin Morneau.

Twins regulars with a higher OPS: Morneau and Mauer.

Did I mention he's right handed and plays solid defense at a premium defensive position? And he's under team control (from what I can tell) for the next three seasons, albeit in the starting-to-get-expensive arbitration years.

What I can't figure out is what the Brewers will want in return. The rumors are that he's available since the Crew thinks Alcides Escobar is ready to take over at SS. But Hardy's bat and glove fits at 3B and 2B, so maybe they will move him to one of those positions to take over for Ricky Weeks or whoever is scheduled for 3B (Counsell, Hall, or Mat Gamel?).

With Sheets and Sabathia presumably leaving via free agency, I have to think Milwaukee would be interested in pitching. Another opening could be CF, but the corner OF spots are filled by Braun and Hart.

Would a Perkins + (minor league pitching) or Blackburn+ package be enough? What about Gomez and Span, could they have enough value? The Brewers system had a ton of solid hitters, so maybe expand a trade and get more minor league pitchers involved for some of Milwaukee's hitters?

I really have no clue what Milwaukee would want in return, but Hardy is a great fit for the Twins. Stick Harris and Buscher at 3B, call the infield done for 2009, and move on to the bullpen.

That was SPANtastic!

WWWWWW gave up on them, don't let him tell you otherwise.

Unbelievable game.  I'm not sure what was more amusing, Carlos Gomez's post-game interview or watching Ozzie Guillen look thoroughly unamused in the dugout every time something went the Twins way.

Dr. Clutch comes through

Good thing Gardy is a genius and knew Adam Everett was due to hit a double.

Baseball is a fucking random game. I give up.

This time Gardy doesn't have Casilla bunt...

and he hits a 2-run HR to tie it up.

More bullpen fun coming up for the Twins...time to get another beer.

Continuing the quasi-liveblog

Down 3 with 9 outs remaining in the game. Runners at first and second, no outs, a fast guy at the plate. Why the hell does Gardy call the sac bunt?

At least we get to see David Price now.

Crappy QBs, featuring Tarvaris Jackson

That didn't last long. After all the off- and pre-season posturing, it took all of two games for Chili to bench Tarvaris Jackson. And now the Vikings turn to Gus Frerotte...whenever that's the answer, the question sucks.

I'm not here to pile on Jackson's shitty QB play, the coaching, the desperation involved in turning to a washed-up vet like Frerotte, or how the front office has handled the QB situation completely opposite of how they've handled the rest of the roster.

No, I'm more interested in the effects a bad QB decision can have on a franchise and how much of a failure the strategy of drafting a mid-first to second round QBs has been lately.

Between 2002 and 2006, the following QBs have been drafted between round 1 pick 19 and the end of the second round: Patrick Ramsey, Kyle Boller, Rex Grossman, WWWWWW's boy JP Losman, Aaron Rodgers, Jason Campbell, Kellen Clemons, and Tarvaris Jackson.

These dudes were drafted in 2007 and 2008 and haven't had the chance to suck: Brady Quinn, Kevin Kolb, John Beck (safe to say he's terrible), Drew Stanton, Joe Flacco, Brian Brohm, and Chad Henne.

Not that this is an indicator of much, but what is there, one guy from that list who is starting for more than 10% of the fantasy football teams out there? If you look at the year they were drafted and compare it to two years later, only one of their teams had any improvement (Bears went from 4 to 5 wins, wow). And only the class of 2005 is still starting.

The stats for the group include an 81-94 W-L record, 188 TDs and 181 INTs. Only Aaron Rodgers, in his two starts, has a completion % above 60% and he's the only one with a QB rating over 80. These players represent a lot of wasted starts on what could have been some good teams.

Beyond the shitty individual and team performances, the spiral of suck caused by a wrong QB choice can be staggering. Plenty of teams have been through it with top 10 picks as well...Texans/Carr, Lions/Harrington, Bengals/everyone but Palmer, Colts/Jeff George...

But here's a worst-case scenario for the Vikings and the fallout from TJack being a CFL-quality QB:

Year 1 - TJack drafted but not ready, team sticks with over-the-hill Brad Johnson for one more season. Season is lost.

Year 2 - Brad Johnson is so over-the-hill that TJack starts his rookie season. Predictably, he plays terribly and the team misses the playoffs.

Year 3 - TJack again handed the starting job, turns out he still sucks. Gus Frerotte is the savior...I'm going to say this season has a good chance of being wasted.

Year 4 - What do the Vikes do...is TJack completely out or does he get one more chance...does Frerotte keep the job or is another old vet brought in...do they draft another QB? This could be another lost season without a good move by the front office.

Year 5 - Let's say they drafted a QB the previous year and put him in...first-year QBs often suck. Another lost season.

Year 6 - Hopefully the new QB is not TJack and the team can finally put a decent passing offense together. But what's the rest of the team like at this point?

One crappy decision at QB could screw the franchise, in year two of what appears to be a win-now strategy, for 5 years.

I tried to warn you

So much for MarQueis Gray making an impact for the Gophers. He's pretty good in NCAA 09.

The Mariners keep giving

Great return to the Dome for Silva tonight: 3.1 IP, 9 H, 9 ER, 0 k, 1 BB

I actually feel a little bad for Chief, it isn't his fault the Mariner's front office thought it was a good idea to put a ground ball pitcher in front of one of the worst defenses in the league.

Liriano has cruised through 7, giving up only 2 unearned runs, even though he's still struggling with his control.  Since he's at/near 100 pitches, I assume he's done for the night.

My favorite Mariners-related news from the night has to be Jarrod Washburn's reaction to the Seattle front office declining the Washburn-for-Bonser swap, according to a Seattle Times report:

If that was the case, how much more do you think you're going to get?  A young guy with a great arm who's cheap.

Heh, good thing Washburn's not running the team or else the Twins would have a new, way-too-expensive, crappy starter.

Unrelated to the Twins...Michael Phelps is ridiculous.

The Mariners are teh stoopid

My initial reaction to the Twins claiming Jarrod Washburn off waivers, after WTF?, was that it had to be a defensive move to keep him away from the White Sox, who are desperate for pitching after Contreras’ Achilles heel asploded.

But that’s not the case, the Twins were apparently dead serious about getting Washburn and his $13mm salary through next season, offering up Boof Bonser on top of the 100% salary relief from the Mariners. Why the hell would they do that? The only thing dumber than offering that deal is to turn it down…thankfully, the Mariners are staking their claim to the worst-run team in all of sports. Don’t believe me? Here’s the USS Mariner reaction to the non-deal:

These people don’t deserve success. They deserve to be looking for new jobs.

Fire them all.

Of course the Twins homers on KFAN think Washburn will turn into Scott Kazmir since he’ll be pitching close to Wisconsin or that he can turn into a shut down 8^th inning guy. Unfortunately, there is no evidence that Washburn would be anything better than a white, thinner, left-handed version of Livan Hernandez.

Washburn is a flyball pitcher (sub-37% GB rate) who doesn’t strike guys out (5 K/9), has more control problems than anyone else in the Twins rotation (over 2.5 BB/9 each of the last four seasons), has a 1.45 WHIP, and pitches in an extremely pitcher-friendly home park. As a LHP his HR rate (just over 1 per game) would probably increase by 25% without the expansive Safeco left field*. For the record, both Boof’s and Livan’s peripherals are superior to Washburn’s.

*(Slowey has better stuff, strikes 34% more batters, but has similar FB tendencies and serves up 1.27 HR/game)

Before considering Washburn’s $10mm contract for 2009, this deal is stupid. But it is sheer lunacy for a small-budget team with this young, cheap pitching depth to consider bringing in a slug like Washburn. Attempted moves like this, or going after Alan Embree instead of Chad Bradford or LaTroy Hawkins, do not make me feel great about the current decision-making process in the Twins front office.

There is one positive though, the team appears to be serious about improving the roster and are willing to spend money to do it. They just need to be smart about it.