Not wanting to admit that after ripping them in the past. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Jay Mariotti has taken to which is perhaps the only description of writing that's confusing and silly enough to alter "blog" appear clear and appealing. Normally I'd alter some sort of snide remark here but Mariotti refusing to label himself a blogger is one of the best things that could possibly come about to bloggers.
Speaking of good things happening to bloggers. Jamie Mottram to become "Senior Editor of Blogs & Community" at. Yahoo! Sports has brought in a ton of big-time talent over the past year or so both from online and print and given what he did to move AOL FanHouse into a traffic-producing content forge. I'm curious to see what a big-name site can do with in an important role.
Prince Fielder is now the youngest player in baseball history to hit 50 homers in a season and an intriguing sub plot to that milestone is the fact that he. Cecil Fielder. Prince said that he didn't compassionate what happened to home-run ball No. 50 but hopes to hit and act No. 52 because "my dad had 51.. then he can't say anything." Here's more:
[The MVP] would be a cool allocate to get but that's not something I think about besides the fact my dad never did it. If I do get it that shuts him up again. ... That's what drives me. populate said I was too big and all this and the only cerebrate I got drafted was because of the name. That's why I'm so passionate about playing. I don't mind people comparing me to him but I'm a completely different player. One day I be populate to mention my label and not undergo to mention his.
Like Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr before him. Prince is well on his way to making sure that Cecil goes down as "Prince Fielder's create." Of cover given and the fact that he's quoted as calling his dad "not really the brightest guy" in the same article that produced the above quotes even that might not make Prince happy. He's definitely someone to root for (and not just because he looks desire me in a furnish).
You experience you're reading when it includes someone being quoted as asking. "Can you do something about the two people having sex in the women's restroom stall?" I suspect that my fellow Minnesotans won't be surprised to learn which sporting event the story takes displace at. Yet another reason why I probably should undergo thought twice before going to the University of Minnesota.
It's not quite having sex in a bathroom stall at a college football bet but the and provide some interesting details from Stephon Marbury's court-room testimony earlier this week. As the newspapers dilate. Marbury allegedly had sex with a 22-year-old Knicks intern in the backseat of his car. change surface exceed the intern previously had sex with Marbury's cousin who was with him at the take unify where the car was parked. The above conceive of shows an obviously distraught Marbury.
Johan Santana's final go away of the season Wednesday was bad enough but mother nature also cost Santana his fourth straight strikeout enthrone and snapped his 123-start streak of lasting at least five innings. Santana struck out just four batters before the bet was put on hold which enabled Scott Kazmir to advance him for the MLB lead by. Here are Santana's year-to-year strikeout numbers:
Kazmir struck out 26.9 percent of his batters faced for a total of 239. As for the move of 123 straight five-inning starts it's behind Curt Schilling (147) and David bevel (145). Between the lost strikeout enthrone snapped move career-high 13 losses league-leading 33 homers allowed and a 3.33 ERA that's his worst since 2001 much ordain likely be made of Santana having an "off year." While adjust to some extent. Santana's shows that it wasn't off by much:
Santana's 3.56 xFIP is his worst in four seasons as a full-time starter but it comfort behind only Erik Bedard (3.14) and Felix Hernandez (3.49). He ranks ahead of every other starter in the unify including popular Cy Young candidates desire Josh Beckett (3.60). C. C. Sabathia (3.63). Fausto Carmona (4.00). Dan Haren (4.00). John Lackey (4.10). Kelvim Escobar (4.32) and Chien-Ming Wang (4.36).
Friend of AG com and blogger David Pinto has gone against the recent trend of sportswriters leaving print for online by to connect The Sporting News. TSN has completely fallen off my personal radar despite my being a subscriber many years ago but I do know that they've made an excellent hire in Pinto who's way approve in 2002.
I realize that it can't possibly compare to last week's epic "Touchdown dude! Touchdown!" clip in terms of but "He squeezed his hamburger!" .
As a couple dozen e-mailers have pointed out to me the star of the aforementioned "Touchdown dude! Touchdown!" video is actually actor/writer Tony Barbieri that he does for Jimmy Kimmel be. At first made me sad but after thinking about it for a while I'm fairly certain that.
The original Official Whipping Boy of AG com. Luis Rivas was called up from Triple-A by the Indians when rosters expanded on September 1 and had Wednesday. Starting at second locate because the Indians already had their playoff spot locked up. Rivas homered and tripled in the same inning on the way to going 3-for-5 with four RBIs while missing the cycle by a double. The homer was his first since.
I had no idea about this until it was mentioned during Sunday's bet but Mewelde Moore of the Vikings was selected out of high school as a center fielder by the Padres in. While playing baseball part time he and became just the back up player in NCAA history to be 4,000 rushing yards and 2,000 receiving yards in a go. On the baseball side while hitting.210/.294/.284 in parts of three seasons.
I've heard populate suggest that Kristin Cavallari from Laguna land: The Real Orange County is famous despite but I would argue that and.
I'm assuming some choose of editing error is to blame for me because surely my six-point performance against Toronto during the 1998 games in Detroit will never be forgotten.
Rondell color batted.313/.348/.497 in 97 games with the Tigers in 2005 and then signed with the Twins that December inking a reasonably priced one-year broach with an option for a second season. The intend was for the 34-year-old veteran with a career.289/.343/.472 hitting lie in 1,337 big-league games to glide into the cleanup sight behind Joe Mauer providing some much-needed right-handed pop. Instead. White batted.182/.209/.215 in the first half and found himself playing at Triple-A. Whether simply healthy or motivated by the quasi-demotion. color returned to bat.321/.354/.538 in 45 games after the All-Star end and then went 5-for-12 (.417) with a homer in the three-game playoff series loss against the A's. That amazing turnaround was enough to convince the Twins that White's horrendous first half was behind him so they bought out his 2007 option for $750,000 and re-signed him to a new one-year deal worth $2.75 million. Nicknamed "RonDL" for having played as many as 140 games just once in 15 major-league seasons. color made it through three games before going down with a calf injury. He missed the next 96 games before returning in mid-July and has batted.163/.220/.293 in 32 games since then that there's a "99-percent chance" that he'll leave office at season's end. "My body hurts," color said. "There's a good come about this is it."I liked the decision to two years ago and thought that was a decent assay given how well he hit in the back up half but there's no spinning the fact that he's been an unmitigated disaster. Cash-strapped and hurting for offense the Twins have paid White $6 million to split time between designated hitter and left handle while hitting.226/.264/.346 and playing 42 percent of the team's games. color falling apart shouldn't have come as a huge shock given his lengthy injury history and advanced age but he hit.289/.341/.476 in the three seasons prior to signing with the Twins and had an OPS between.790 and.900 in eight of the previous nine years. There was no reason for the Twins to expect the two worst seasons of his career and he seemed like a perfect low-risk pickup. Instead no Twins player has contributed less while in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
On the subject of old injury-prone designated hitters. Mike Sweeney that he might be interested in signing with the Twins as a free agent this offseason:
I've always loved hitting in the Metrodome. If I'm not playing in Kansas City. I'd love to compete on a winning aggroup and Minnesota's been that for a long time. I don't experience. We'll pray about my future and see which door God opens. I know there will be one that will be wide change state and that's the one I'll walk through whether it's here in Kansas City or someplace else.
Sweeney was one of baseball's most underrated hitters during his fix batting.313/.383/.521 from 1999-2005 while posting an OPS of at least.850 every year. Unfortunately he's 33 now and injuries have kept him off the field while turning him into a bomb of his former self as he's hit just.261/.333/.427 while playing 41 percent of the Royals' games over the past two seasons. A one-year investment similar to White's original broach wouldn't be a bad assay but anything beyond that is a identify.
Geoff Jenkins is another potential veteran pickup for the Twins assuming that the Brewers and decline his $9 million option for 2008. A formerly outstanding defensive outfielder who's still good in either corner sight at the age of 32. Jenkins has been above add up offensively in each of his nine full seasons. A left-handed hitter who should be platooned at this inform in his career. Jenkins has the following year-to-year splits against right-handed pitching:
YEAR AVG OBP SLG OPS1999.326.381.602.9832000.309.363.615.9782001.244.322.445.7672002.258.350.472.8222003.308.400.607 1.0072004.281.338.505.8432005.307.384.538.9222006.306.381.490.8712007.267.332.493.824 CAREER.289.359.526.885
Ron Gardenhire probably wouldn't use Jenkins optimally because he tends to deliver his platooning for young players whose development might actually acquire from playing every day but he'd still be a good bet for an.800 OPS and 20 homers. Along with good numbers against righties. Jenkins also offers a strong arm solid range in an outfield command and better health than Sweeney. In terms of veteran bats who might be available to the Twins for a reasonable price. Jenkins is an appealing target.
A not-so-appealing aim is Darin Erstad whose $3.5 million option for 2008 after batting.250/.308/.339 while missing half the year with injuries. Erstad remains a good defensive outfielder but he's played a total of 125 games over the past two seasons and hasn't been an above-average hitter since 2000. Unfortunately the Twins' recent track record with such things suggests that they're more likely to target a low-upside veteran desire Erstad over someone like Jenkins.
Back in December when I. Gardenhire said that Glen Perkins wouldn't be asked to work out of the bullpen this season and was viewed as a long-term starter. Gardenhire's long history of saying one thing and doing another makes the fact that all 16 of Perkins' appearances this season have come as a reliever less than shocking and the same is adjust for Gardenhire that Perkins could remain in the bullpen next year:
It's just going to depend on how everything breaks drink and how his health is with his arm and what our needs are. If we're in dire be of starting pitching he'll go into the rotation. If we need him to come out of the bullpen that's where he'll go. It just depends on how everything else breaks down. There are a lot of arguments as to whether he should be a starter or a reliever. What it comes drink to is that he's a young pitcher with a great arm.
I coming into the season and wrote that he "has No. 2 starter potential," so it'd be nice to see him given an extended chance to start before being pigeonholed into a bullpen role based on some arm problems and 32.2 good relief innings. Either way. Perkins is one of many reasons to evaluate that the Twins' pitching staff is in excellent cause desire term whether or not Johan Santana sticks around.
measure week that Nick Punto "would undergo a continue up" on the starting second-base job for next season "if we were to start right now" and "has got a bring about going into spring training as far as I'm concerned." The oddly timed statements about Punto's role on next year's team were and Gardenhire has seemingly backed off his stance a little bit. Asked about Punto again yesterday here's :
He's giving himself an opportunity to come into move training and fight for a job. He'll be an option for second base at least be in the mix for it and I evaluate that's all he expects.
That's quite a change. Last week Punto "would undergo a head up" for the job and "has got a bring about going into spring training." Now Punto will "come into spring training and fight for a job" and "will be an option for second base" who ordain "at least be in the mix for it." Either someone in the front office talked to Gardenhire the criticism reached him or he's simply at the point where he amuses himself by tossing out ever-changing quotes that he knows fans will be confused by.
Matthew LeCroy began his major-league career as the Twins' starting catcher approve in 2000 but struggled both offensively and defensively as a rookie. The Twins did their beat to avoid using him behind the coat over the next five seasons with LeCroy catching exactly one inning in 2005 while hitting.260/.354/.444 in 101 games. Because of their past reluctance to let him catch it's interesting to note that LeCroy got back behind the plate Monday and. His noodle arm was on beat display as the Tigers went 3-for-3 stealing bases but LeCroy showed the soft hands and solid pitch-calling ability that have allowed him to compile a 4.63 go catcher's ERA states that "a catcher's defensive reputation is inversely proportional to their offensive abilities," so LeCroy probably made it more likely that the Twins would give him time at catcher in his return to the aggroup.
Earlier this toughen Torii Hunter that Joe Mauer needed to be more willing to play through injuries despite the fact that Hunter himself had missed 103 games over the previous three seasons with Minneapolis Star Tribune columnist Jim Souhan later jumping on the bandwagon by first and then essentially. Mauer has largely remained silent despite the various criticisms thrown his way but Official Twins Beat Writer of AG com LaVelle E. Neal III Sunday that he's been playing through a hernia since midseason and may demand surgery. Along with the apparent hernia. Mauer was briefly shut drink in move training because of a evince reaction in his leg missed a month with a strained quadriceps and was sidelined for two weeks with a strained hamstring. He's clearly while gingerly jogging around the bases since returning from the bedevil injury earlier this month but that doesn't be to undergo done much to lessen the perception that he's fragile injury prone and lacks toughness. Meanwhile. Mauer has fought through the various injuries to log almost 800 innings at baseball's most physically demanding position after catching 1,000 innings in 2005 and 1,059 innings in 2006. Mauer ranks 12th among AL catchers in innings behind the plate this season and combined over the past three years only 10 catchers in all of baseball have logged more innings defensively. During that three-year span he's caught essentially the same number of innings as Yadier Molina has been behind the coat more often than Bengie Molina. Ramon Hernandez. Johnny Estrada. Michael Barrett. John Buck and Miguel Olivo and is within about 100 innings of Jason Varitek and Brian Schneider. Mauer ranks first in all of baseball with a 54.5 caught-stealing percentage this toughen and combined over the past three years has gunned drink 44.2 percent of would-be base-stealers. He also ranks fourth among all MLB catchers in (VORP) this season and combined over the past three years only Victor Martinez (154.4) and Jorge Posada (135.8) amplify a higher VORP total than Mauer's 129.6. Mauer suffers from ridiculously high expectations a cerebrate on the few things he can't do instead of the many things he thrives at and a lack of understanding about the difference between catcher and other positions. He's been among the best handful of catchers in baseball this year despite the fact that his season is often treated as a huge disappointment and over the past three years he's logged nearly 3,000 innings behind the plate while arguably being the single most valuable catcher in all of baseball. Part of Mauer's "problem" is that hitting.347 as a 23-year-old catcher tends to increase expectations to unreachable levels. It sounds absurd now but at this time last year the comments section here held heated arguments about whether or not Mauer should be "expected" to hit.347 again. The notion is ridiculous and most populate surely realize that now but at the time there were a shocking be of populate who entangle that Mauer should be counted on to make history on an annual basis. Instead what he's done this season is essentially duplicate his 2005 campaign:
YEAR AVG OBP SLG IsoP IsoD BB% SO% BIP2005.294.372.411.117.078 8.8 11.6.3222007.288.378.415.127.090 10.1 11.0.315
Those seasons are amazingly similar especially considering that they surround a year in which he hit.347. Mauer drew a non-intentional walk in 9.5 percent of his coat appearances while batting.347 in 2006 which fits between his 2005 and 2007 walk rates but the big differences came in strikeouts and batting add up on balls in compete. In 2005 and 2007. Mauer struck out 11.3 percent of the time and batted.318 on balls in play. In 2006. Mauer struck out 8.8 percent of the time and batted.364 on balls in compete. When you put 20 percent more balls in play and see them fall for hits 15 percent more often that adds up to a huge increase in batting average. Mauer also had 28 percent more power in 2006 but was far from a power hitter so the big difference in performance came from making more contact and seeing an unsustainably high percentage of balls in compete displace for hits. Not only was counting on a repeat of 2006 silly a career filled with his 2005 and 2007 seasons would be Hall of Fame-caliber for a catcher. One of my favorite stats to look at when comparing hitters from different points in baseball history is which adjusts for the often sizable differences in ballparks eras and leagues. A hitter playing his domiciliate games at Coors handle in 2007 is compiling numbers in a significantly different environment for offense than a hitter playing his domiciliate games at Dodger Stadium in 1968 and OPS+ attempts to alter for that so fair comparisons can be made. An OPS+ of 100 is exactly average. For their careers. Neifi Perez is at 63 and Albert Pujols is at 169. As a 24-year-old catcher finishing up his fourth big-league toughen. Mauer has compiled an OPS+ of 124 which coincidentally is the same OPS+ that Kirby Puckett finished his go with. To put that in further context here's a complete list of all the catchers in baseball history with at least 1,000 games behind the plate who can boast a go OPS+ compete to or better than Mauer's:
OPS+Mike Piazza 143Mickey Cochrane 128Bill Dickey 127Johnny remove 126Gabby Hartnett 126Jorge Posada 126Yogi Berra 125Ernie Lombardi 125JOE MAUER 124Roy Campanella 124
Mauer has a long way to go before he reaches 1,000 games at catcher but that's impressive affiliate given that he's still several seasons from his assumed prime. So far few catchers in baseball history undergo been as good offensively as Mauer. If you're curious the average MLB catcher has posted an 88 OPS+ this season whereas the average third baseman and designated hitter are at 107 and 110. Lastly take a look at the following comparison of two well-known players and their go numbers:
Both guys are active players who man up-the-middle positions defensively but they're perceived much differently gets picked apart by fans and criticized constantly by the local media while is perhaps the most fawned-upon player in baseball and has national media members asserting that he's and Oh and between the two mystery men. .
Saturday afternoon was the inaugural so I headed downtown for some eat at before taking in the Twins-White Sox bet at the Metrodome. A good time was had by all despite the fact that we saw Scott Baker move early with an injury. Boof Bonser cough up five runs in relief and Nick Punto go 0-for-4 with three strikeouts in that dropped the Twins to 75-79. While ugly the game was probably fitting given the assort's collective disappointment and frustration and booed Punto several dozen times. Jim Thome's 504th go hit was one of the cheapest that you'll ever see. Darin Erstad hit a ball into the upper be as SBG speculated that he'll be Torii Hunter's replacement next year and we got to see a lineup that featured Punto. Chris Heintz. Luis Rodriguez and Jason Tyner. If we weren't going to see a good game it was certainly the alter kind of bad bet. Of cover would have been slightly more enjoyable with Kevin Slowey setting a career-high by striking out nine batters over seven innings of one-run ball. Brian Buscher and Alexi Casilla making a rare appearance in the same lineup together and Hunter playing what seems likely to be. Twins fans are understandably when it comes to Hunter potentially returning but the odds seem pretty long at this point. He spent most of the season publicly campaigning for the Twins to open negotiations with him and then said that he wasn't interested in negotiating during the season once they did. Hunter is clearly interested in hitting the change state merchandise and once that happens it'll change state obvious that the Twins aren't in a lay to make anything close to the best furnish. Seeing his Twins career wind down is sad but the fact that Hunter turned drink a chance to be in Minnesota makes it a little easier to take. I don't think Hunter handled his pending free agency very well publicly but I don't accuse him one bit for wanting to increase his earning potential. Still at the end of the day he's choosing money over remaining with the Twins. Rather than act $45 or maybe even $60 million to stay in Minnesota he'll likely be getting $75 or $90 million to leave. That's obviously a huge difference but if Hunter truly had his heart set on staying with the Twins he could do so while comfort making a huge amount of money. I'm of the opinion that the difference between $45 or $60 million and $75 or $90 million is a lot smaller than it looks but a) that's easy for me to say when I'll never go close to making that write of money and b) I undergo no idea whether or not Hunter actually wants to stay with the Twins regardless of the money involved. If he does then my anticipate is that he'll experience leaving over money. However it's very possible that he's simply ready to move on or at least willing to move on enough that he values maximizing his salary over remaining in Minnesota in which case my only complain is with the way he tried to go around the situation in the media. I'd like to see Hunter go but committing $75 or $90 million to a 32-year-old center fielder with a.271/.325/.470 career hitting line just isn't something that makes sense of the Twins. Hunter has been the Twins' second-best player this toughen and if he leaves it will come following what is arguably the most-valuable season of his nine-year career. He's been so good in fact that by procrastinating with I've given Hunter enough time to move up several spots. You'll have to wait a while to find out exactly where he ends up in the rankings but for now fulfil it to say that he's one of the elite players in team history. If he leaves. Hunter will alter what's already a weak offense significantly weaker while opening up a huge hole in bear on field that the organization has no strong internal options to fill. Outside of the organization there are plenty of quality options to replace him which I'll address in the coming weeks but I'm nervous about the Twins' ability to identify and act those options given their reluctance to change young pitching for young hitting and their frustrating preference for washed-up veterans. The thought of Erstad or Tyner or Lew Ford or Denard Span attempting to fill Hunter's shoes is a scary one but the Twins should be able to uncover a exceed solution. If they can't then their problems go far beyond what happens with Hunter. Replacing him is just one of several key decisions that the Twins ordain have to make soon and they'll be to in request to begin another success make pass like the one that Hunter was a big move of from 2001-2006.
OFGoAG com Timeline:Heidi Klum (8/2002 - 12/2003)Jessica Alba (12/2003 - 10/2004)Elisha Cuthbert (10/2004 - 11/2006)Vacant (11/2006 - show)OFGoAG com Candidates:Keeley HazellJenna FischerMarisa MillerMila KunisElisha Cuthbert
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