O-Dog is Here (+ Penn State Preview)

The Twins have signed second-baseman Orlando Hudson to a 1-year, five-million dollar deal in an excellent move to shore up the weak infield positions, as well as giving the team a legit #2 hitter so Gardy can stop hitting Alexi Casilla and Matt Tolbert there.

Hudson is 32 and rumored to be on a decline according to some, but he's actually improved his OPS+ each of the last four seasons which just goes to show you can't trust a bunch of morons who use their preconceived notions and nothing more than their eyes and some kind of elusive "feel" to determine a player's worth. 

Last season he hit .283/.357/.417 with 62 walks and 35 doubles, and based on is last few seasons that is pretty much what you can expect next season, a massive bump from last year when Twins' second basemen combined to hit just .209/.302/.267 with just 25 extra-base hits.  Despite his four gold gloves, including one last year, his defense is probably slipping a bit according to a bunch of metrics I barely understand, but the upgrade on offense more than offsets any defects.

Simply put, a great signing by the Twins, and a good sign that they were willing to open the wallets and give a much needed piece five million dollars.  I was convinced they were going to offer three and lose him to Cleveland who would offer more money.  I'm a big fan of this signing.

I'm not as big a fan of the Gophers' NCAA chances at this point.  This Penn State game is obviously a must-win, but really it's more than that.  A win means, well, not much.  You just have to win it, because a loss is probably a season-ender.  Maybe not mathematically, but I don't think even the most ardent and optimistic gopher supporter would expect a bid if they lose on Saturday.

I was going to do a full five-question style preview, but what's the point?  You know the drill.  Penn State is a terrible team with one extraordinary player in Talor Battle and that's it.  About the only thing they do well is not allow offensive rebounds - they are mediocre to awful in every other measurable trait.  They're 0-10 in the Big Ten and already have losses to Iowa, UNC-Wilmington, and Tulane this season.  There is no real reason the Gophers should lose this game.

However.

Penn State won't end up going winless in the Big Ten this year, they just won't.  They're going to have to win at home, and they aren't going to beat Michigan State, Ohio State, or Purdue, so it's going to be Minnesota or Northwestern (or both).  The Gophers are coming off their most embarrassing loss of the season, there's turmoil all over the place both off the court and on the court, Tubby's proclamation that nobody's job is safe as well as his bizarre substitution patters likely have this team completely rattled and I doubt anybody feels really confident over there right now.

In other words, they're ripe for the picking.  Bring on the Shockers.

Penn State 68, Minnesota 60.

Friday Fillibusters

Wow, what a long week, am I right?  I could pretty easily not go back to work for a month and I wouldn't miss it - other than the money that is.  As such, I am going to go ahead and knock back a couple few Coors Lights and type random thoughts as they enter my brain.  If you're looking for a preview of St. Joseph's, scroll to the post underneath this one, genius.

-  We'll start with the Twins here, and how guys I wanted them to pick up are just flying off the board.  Iwamura was traded to the Pirates, Polanco signed with the Phillies, Figgins with the Mariners, Scutaro with the Red Sox, J.J. Putz with the White Sox, and Rich Harden with the Rangers.  That's almost my entire list of people I was interested in.  Who's left?

Adrian Beltre is still out there, and still someone I'd love to see land with the Twins, but that's looking less and less likely.  It was just reported today that the Red Sox, after shipping off Mike Lowell (someone I wouldn't have minded the Twins getting depending on how much of that contract the Sox were paying) have decided to move their intentions to Beltre.  It was also reported that Beltre has asked for a 5 year, $65 million contract.  At that price I'd be pissed if the Twins signed him, and we all know there's not way they would so let's just move on.

A name I've heard a lot on the radio recently is Mark DeRosa, another 3b who I would like to see signed, but once again it seems his asking price is fairly ridiculous - 3 years, $27 million.  It's been reported that Billy Smith has said the team has "substantial funds" to put together the roster for next year, but this, like Beltre, isn't a good spend (would you rather get the 35-year old DeRosa or the 31-year old Figgins?).

Orlando Hudson is still available and is probably my first choice to play 2b right now, although Felipe Lopez would probalby be cheaper.  Kevin Kouzmanoff is almost certain to be traded by the Padres and would be a good addition to the squad, but it seems San Diego wants more than just Glen Perkins.  Now, if that "more" is like, Aaron Hicks they should tell the Pads to go screw.  But if it's something more like "Bobby Keppel" (who apparently was more valuable than Bonser - seriously WTF?) or some low-level dingleberry whose upside is playing for the St. Paul Saints, just toss him in and do it and get it over with already.  I'm still convinced Melvin Mora ends up here.  

-  Seriously, nice job keeping Keppel over Boof.  I can't even remotely come close to wrapping my head around that one.  Just weird.

-  Had a chance to watch a decent chunk of the Dayton/Old Dominion game tonight (thank you internet + knowing where to look) and let me tell you something - Dayton is awful.  Just awful.  They have squeeked by ODU, George Mason, Miami (OHIO), and Towson this year.  The only good player on the whole team is Chris Wright, who is actually a beast.  Like, literally, a beast.  He's built like Ving Rhames and plays like a slightly less athletic Blake Griffin.  Consider me very impressed with him, but super unimpressed by the team.  Kind of like Fergie.  Super impressed by the body, disgusted by the face.  That's Dayton.  Dayton = Fergie.  

-  FUN FACTS:  Dayton's last first round NBA pick was way back in 1979 - Jim Paxson, despite Negele Knight having a fantastic 1990 season - 22.8 points and 6.8 assists per game.  Also back in the very early 80s when DePaul was a dominant program (seriously, it happened) they had a 49-game home winning streak.  It was broken on January 10, 1981 on a steal and layup at the buzzer by Old Dominion.

-  Speaking of those FUN FACTS, I owe you one on St. Joseph's, don't I?  Well, Jameer Nelson ended his career as the Hawks all-time leader in points, assists, and steals, won the A-10 Rookie of the Year, the A-10 Player of the Year, and the National Player of the Year, and started every one of the 125 games he played in his career.  There's a reason I referred to it as "Jameer Nelson U" in my preview.


-  And I don't think I gave one for Morgan State either.  But did you know that the best player in Morgan State history, Marvin Webster, played from 1971-1975 and is still the team's all-time leader in points and rebounds, holds the single-season record for points and rebounds, and once grabbed 32 boards in one game.  He also has perhaps the best nickname of all-time, "The Human Eraser."

-  Have I mentioned how much I love the College Basketball Encyclopedia?

-  I ended up having to make a few changes to the final Fantasy College Hoops roster, including the heart-breaking and devasting decision to cut Ralph Sampson loose.  I think I'm just a year early.  He'll probably end up in consistent double-double territory by the end of the year, and then explode his junior season for the first of two Big Ten Player of the Year Awards.  Anyway, here's the final (probably) roster with the season starting on Monday:

G Jordan Crawford, Xavier
G Deonta Vaughn, Cincinnati
G Nic Wise, Arizona
G Chris Warren, Ole Miss
G Mikhail Torrance, Alabama
G Ronald Moore, Siena
G/F Tyler Smith, Tennessee
G/F Edwin Ubiles, Siena
F Luke Harangody, Notre Dame
F Jon Leuer, Wisconsin
F Damian Johnson, Minnesota
F Draymond Green, Michigan State
F Jamelle Horn, Arizona
F/C JaJuan Johnson, Purdue
F/C Derrick Favors, Georgia Tech
C Kenny Lawson, Creighton

Seems like a championship to me.

-  I wonder where Raymar Morgan would have been drafted if he had come out after his sophomore year (if he would have been drafted at all).  He's certainly been in free-fall mode since, absolutely refusing to build off that excellent sophomore year.  I can't remember what happened to him.  Did he get mono or something like that?  AIDS?  I don't remember.  And do you think the chicks call him Ray-Ray?

-  I love how Tiger is taking an "indefinite leave" from golf in order to fix his marriage.  Yeah, this will last all the way until the Masters.  No chance in hell he's going to miss a major - no chance in hell.  If Elin hasn't taken him back, or at least comitted to making it work and giving him "permission" to go play he's just going to go play.  No chance his misses a major.  If he has to, he'll just play the "addiction" card and get out of jail free.  You know, like every celebrity who has ever been in trouble for anything.  Sex addict, alcoholic, drug addict, gambleholic - it doesn't matter, just play the "disease" card and you're fine.  He probalby should have just pulled that shit right off the bat.  But - again - no way he misses a major.

-  Lastly, according to this article filled with a lot of mindless speculation and opinions reported as fact, it seems the Big Ten will be pushing for a twelfth team soon (apparently so it can be known as the Big Twelve, part II).  I don't know who it would be, but it seems clear it won't be Notre Dame since they've turned them down for like, 100 years.  Maybe a MAC team.  That would make sense.  Or what about a Missouri Valley team if their football team is ready to jump to D-IA?  Northern Iowa actually makes a ton of sense here since their basketball/football programs are probably most ready.  Although who am I kidding?  This decision, if we're pretending it's actually going to happen, will be made with football and football only in mind, so maybe Ohio?  I think best case (outside Northern Iowa) would be Temple, but I don't see them leaving the A-10.  In any case, this is really pointless and stupid.  Like your face.

Here's What Happened - 4/13/2009

Here is the first installment of the daily updates. I considered other names, like Studs & Duds, The Awesome & The Awful, The Good & the Bad, Yesterday's News, Three Stars, and other stupid crap, but for now have settled on "Here's What Happened." Suggestions are welcome, but not required. Anyway, instead of five entries in each category, I'm just going with three since I'll be hopefully doing this every single damn day now. I hope you choke on it.


WHO WAS AWESOME

1. Zach Duke. Who the hell is Zach Duke? Sounds like either a non-threatening actor popular with the Tweens or a character in the next installment of the Fast and the Furious, am I right? I mean, am I right? Unfortunately not. It turns out he's actually a pitcher for the Pirates, and is throwing some serious cheddar. Yesterday afternoon he completely shut down the Astros, dealing a complete game shut out while giving up just four hits. And it wasn't exactly a one start wonder. Last time out, Duke pitched well against St Louis, giving up just five hits and one earned run in six and a third, and is currently sporting a 2-0 record, an ERA of 0.59 and a WHIP under 1.00 for the suddenly over .500 Pirates - something you don't get to say very often. Zack Attack was a pretty highly regarded prospect when he broke in five years ago, and even finished fifth in the NL RoY voting, but has pretty much sucked since then. Perhaps he's finally putting it all together.

2. Orlando Hudson. I've never been much of an O-Dog fan, partially because Hudson is a city in Wisconsin and everything about Wisconsin sucks donkey ass and partially because his nickname is "O-Dog", but I bit the bullet this year and drafted him as one of the last middle infielders taken in my draft because I had really no choice - it was either him or Punto. The point is that Hudson hit for the cycle yesterday against San Francisco since Randy Johnson is washed up and pitches as poorly as he looks now, adding in three runs and two rbi to go with his four hits. Andre Ethier, also on my fantasy team, added in two homers and four rbi as the Dodgers killed the Giants 11-1 (no mercy rule in play).

3. Travis Snider. I told you about this guy. Two bombs last night, including the game winner in the 8th, to sink the Twins into the depths of a three game losing streak, the likes of which they will never be able to claw their way out of. I think they should probably just go ahead and contract.


WHO SUCKED

1. Rockies Offense. Usually if a team gets 1-hit, you chalk it up to an awesome performance by a hot pitcher, usually someone like Zach Duke, but what happens if you get 1-hit by a combo of four pitchers? That's what happened to the shitbox Rockies yesterday, as the Cubs beat them 4-0 and were a Garret Atkins seventh inning single away from a weirdo combined no-hitter. Ted "the Lilly" Lilly pitched the majority of the game, sailing through six and 2/3rds and giving up just that one single and a couple of walks while striking out 8 to move to 2-0 on the season, and when he was out the Rockies managed to get zero hits against Aaron Heilman, Angel Guzman, and Kevin Gregg to finish out the game. So, in summary, Ted Lilly = good, Colorado Rockies = bad.

2. Chien-Ming Wang. Oof, is Wang awful this year, and especially yesterday. Guess how many innings he pitched yesterday against the Rays? One. One plus, to be accurate, but only one officially, giving up six hits, three walks, and 8 earned runs, but at least he split it out equally giving up four runs in each of the first and the second inning, and as a bonus teaming up with Old Man Posada to give up four stolen bases in that time - two by BJ Upton who is sitting on my DL because I didn't know he was back yet. That makes two starts for Wang, and a total of four and 2/3 ips, 15 hits, 6 walks, and 15 earned runs allowed for a robust 28.93 ERA and 4.50 WHIP, with an opponents BA of .600. What's wong, Wang?

3. Luis Ayala. I'm already more sick of this jackass than I was of Guerrier last year, and we're in week #2. He clearly looks like Gardy's "guy", having pitched in five of the eight games thus far, and looks awful. He's given up 10 hits in five innings, which works out to opponents hitting .435 against him - at least he hasn't walked anybody though, so he fits in with the overall Twins theme. Awful. Just awful.


And that's it for the first ever daily update. As a closing thought, I want you to know that there are thirty people with the name "Jenna Talia" on Facebook. And that's one to grow on.