.237-18-64

Those are the numbers of Justin Morneau, the Twins supposed Paul Bunyan.
He hit a 3-run homer last night that was basically the difference in the game, though he was back in the 7-hole doing it.
I've criticized Gardy for moving Morneau in and out of the cleaup spot this year, but lately he has shown to be utterly incapable of handling it.
I don't think anyone is ready to give up on Morneau, but he faces more pressure during the off-season than any Twin.
He has to get off to a good start next year, and he has to have 30-40 homers by the end.
It does make you wonder what happens in the off-season with these guys, because if you'll remember back, Morneau had a horrific off-season.
He had all kinds of illnesses, and basically couldn't do anything until spring training.
Does that have something to do with his crappy season?
Another factor of course, is that he hit 19 homers in 65 games last year, which made the whole league sit up and take notice (and scout him, adjust to him, and now, beat him).
Now it's time for Morneau and the Twins coaching staff to make adjustments in return.
Teach the kid to layoff the slider down in the zone.
Let him go the other way with the ball instead of pulling 4-6-3 DP's all the time.
Hell, just give him a fighting chance, because too many times this year he's looked overmatched - when last year he looked like the next Jim Thome.

Baker's the Man

Scott Baker appears to be pretty good. He still hasn't had a bad start in the big leagues.
This weekend was bad - because they lost another series to a losing team, and they blew another gem from Santana.
But as terrible as the Twins are outside of their pitching, they really aren't out of the race as long as the pitching keeps up like this.
This might be the best pitching staff, top to bottom, in baseball in a long time. The Twins are 69-62, and they have done that with a AAA lineup. That is no exaggeration, this lineup would fit in perfectly in the Pacific Coast League.
I guess it goes to show the old adage is true, that good pitching beats good hitting, because the Twins have a winning record.
Terry Ryan is still talking like he could make a move in the next two days, (the waiver deadline, which is the final deadline, is Aug. 31) but I would be stunned if something happened there.
On Sept. 1, rosters can be expanded (up to 40, but teams never add that many because they'd have to pay them all).
Expect the Twins to call up:
IF Luis Rodriguez, who went down to call up Baker
OF Jason Tyner, a veteran stolen base machine who can play all 3 outfield spots
C Rob Bowen, remember him?
IF Luis Rivas, remember him?
P Travis Bowyer, who has a high 90's heater and was the AAA closer this year
P Boof Bonser, who had a decent year in AAA, and of course...
P Francisco Liriano, the golden boy. I hope they bring him along slow, because the hype around him has gotten huge. He's been mentioned in the last two issues of SI, and Baseball America called him the top pitching prospect in the minors.

Same shit, different day

There have been many, many times that I've wanted to use that as my lead in a story about Augie football, but of course, I can't. That's the beauty of being my own editor at TwinsTown. I can do whatever the hell I want..
Had the Twins swept the Sox, I'd be getting really excited..
They nearly came back from down 6-0 last night, and tied the score today in the 9th, only to lose in xtra innings.
There could have been no better way to ensure a White Sox choke job than to pull off two big comeback wins.
And as much as we can take solace in that we at least scared the bejesus out of the Sox in these last two games, the bottom line is that the Sox won the series.
And those offensive woes of June and July? They haven't totally gone away, you might notice.
As I said before, I'm still not convinced.
I'm starting to lose my patience with Gardy..
No surprise there I guess, but I'm starting to wonder if he's the manager that can lead the Twins to a title.
I'll get into more detail on that later.

That was fun

Maybe I'm just an old fashioned purist, but I love a good pitchers duel.
Last night was as good a ball game as you'll ever see.
Terrific pitching, couragous defense, and a dramatic game winning homer to break up a no-no.
They've won 4 srtaight against the Sox.
But if Shannon Stewart is out for any lenght at all, they're in even deeper shit than they've been in.
Joe Mays goes against Mark Buehrle tonight.
That doesn't sound good, but ya never know.

Naked Pictures of a left-fielder

First off - a warning.
When I typed the name Shannon Stewart into a seach engine, looking for a picture of the Twins leftfielder to use for this entry, I was bombarded with nude photos of a healthy looking young lady with the same name who apparently posed for some magazine that had something to do with bunny rabbits. It wasn't until about page 8 that I found any shots that had anything to do with baseball. This ended up taking a while.
So if you're planning on looking for pictures of Dick Bremer's favorite player, make sure you're not at work. You might get in trouble.
As for those Twins, they are now 2.5 games out of the wild card, essentially disallowing me to disavow them.
Kyle Lohse and JC Romero both have been placed on waivers, claimed, and pulled back, meaning that, by rule, they can not be traded the rest of the season. Since they were the only cards to play the Twins really had, we are basically assured that the Twins will play out the season with what they have.
It's funny, the last three years as the Twins have coasted to division titles, I've occasionally heard complaints from fans that there was no drama, that it was too bad Chicago couldn't give the Twins a true, exciting September pennant race.
Well, now we have one.
I have to admit, it'll be pretty exciting if the Twins do go right down to the wire.
I recently compared Shannon Stewart and Lew Ford to Randy Bush and Chad Allen, respectively.
Over the last week, those two played more like Rickey Henderson and Kirby Puckett, respectively.
And Matt LeCroy is hitting. And Cuddyer. And Mauer and Bartlett, etc.
The guy we're still waiting on is Morneau, and if Torii Hunter doesn't come back (and it sounds like he won't, at least not until October) Morneau is the one guy who has to get it going for the Twins to have a chance.
Baker and Liriano will be here Sept.1, and that will help the pitching, but we all know that hasn't been the problem.
This team is still highly flawed, I still don't see Ford as more than a fourth outfielder, and I still think the best days of Stewart and maybe even Jacque Jones are behind them.
I don't know where he's going to come from, but the Twins have to add a bat, a big one, for next year.
But at least they've set things up to be exciting this fall.
Worth mentioning: To be eligible for the playoffs, players must be called up by Aug. 31. Rosters don't expand until Sept. 1.
That means the Twins better find a way to get Liriano on there by the 31st.
Just in case.

I Think This List is Going to Keep Growing

The rumour mill is on fire around MLB, as there have been whispers for weeks that two more players, described as "bigger than Palmeiro" have tested positive for steroids.
The two names that have surfaced are Roger Clemens and Johnny Damon.
In what can only be deemed pure hearsay, the two apparently were informed of their positive test, appealed, lost and are now awaiting MLB's formal announcement.
Clemens, who at age 42 is having his best season ever, was roughed up last night.

My gut feeling is that these rumours are true, and I have a feeling that this will continue.

I'm Still Not Convinced

Let me just say that if Torii Hunter was not on the D.L., I would really like the Twins chances of coming back and getting the wild card.
Really.
But with Torii still on the shelf, I just don't see it happening.
Everyone's all excited about Nicky 'walks, bunts, 'N' steals' Punto, Brent Abernathy, the resurgence of Cuddyer and Ford, etc., but no matter how great the pitching is, I don't think they can catch the Yankees. (Screw the A's, they won't be there)
I will say it was really nice to sweep the White Sox, and nice to see LeCroy hit 2 homers. A little satisfying, and they even beat Mark Buehrle (I know I spelled that wrong but I'm not going to look it up).
The team's actually been fun to watch this week. Frisbie is doing cartwheels.
Here's the thing about the Twins, though - their everyday players are not only not as good as they'd hoped, but not even as good as the Twins think they are now.
At this point in his career, Shannon Stewart is not Rickey Henderson, he's a right-handed Randy Bush.
Justin Morneau is not Kent Hrbek (yet), he's Tony Clark.
Joe Mauer is not Don Mattingly (yet), he's Jeff Cirillo.
Nick Punto is not Chuck Knoblauch, he's Denny Hocking.
Jason Bartlett is not Greg Gange (yet), he's Jeff Reboulet.
Michael Cuddyer is not Gary Gaetti, he's Scott Leius.
Lew Ford is not Dan Gladden, he's Chad Allen.
Jacque Jones is not Shane Mack, he's Bobby Higginson.
And so on.
Everyone (for the most part, present company included) nodded in agreement when the Twins said this year's lineup would score more runs. But use those other names: Clark, Cirillo, Hocking, Reboulet, Leius, Allen, Higginson, Bush....that's one shitty lineup. And that's what the Twins, essentially, have.
But now with the Twins playing well again, several questions are raised.
Is Santana regaining his 2004 Cy-Young form, and is he still in the hunt to win the award this year?
Will Abernathy get a shot at the starting 2B job next year?
What the hell are we supposed to make of Michael Cuddyer?
Will Scott Baker replace Joe Mays in the rotation soon?
Will Francisco Liriano replace JC Romero as the LH setup guy?
Will Torii Hunter be rushed back to help, even if it's only to DH?
Will Terry Ryan try again to make a deal for a hitter, and if so, can he sneak it through the waiver wire?
Will a Twins hitter ever hit 3 homers in a game again?
Why did Matthew LeCroy stop dying his hair?

I Don't Know

It's not because of laziness that I haven't touched this space in over a week (although I was pretty damn busy last week, I put in about 20 hours of OT following minor league football).
It's because I haven't known what to say. I don't know what to think about this team right now.
They're suddenly, shockingly, inexplicably playing good baseball.
They're still a long way from me considering them back in the playoff race, but I get the sinking feeling that they're going to play just well enough to force us all to pay attention, only to fall short.
Maybe that's the Viking fan in me talking; the Twins do, after all, have a pretty good record when it comes to not letting down their fans.
I'm still just hoping they finish above .500. I guess we'll see what happens.

The Hitters - Who comes back?

Twins led 4-0 Monday. Lost 5-4. I'm fucking shocked.
In continuing the discussion from the other day...where the Twins roster stands for next year - the position players.
Well who's to blame?
Obviously the main reason the Twins aren't going to the playoffs this year is their offense, or lack thereof, but specifically which player(s) deserve blame?
After a closer look, the answer would seem to be pretty much everyone.
Everyone rips on Morneau and Cuddyer in particular, and yes, they've been a dissapointment.
Cuddyer has had plenty of time to prepare for a starting job, so his .260, 8 homers are certainly a bummer. Some bemoan the failure to resign Corey Koskie, but I won't. Koskie has 17 RBIs this year.
Morneau is hitting .249. Considering he's been about average on defense, you could argue the Twins would've been better off with Mientkiewicz at first this year.
Maybe so, but Morneau will still probably end up with around 20-25 homers, and 85 or so RBIs. Not what we all hoped for, but not bad for a guy who was almost eligible for Rookie of the Year.
I'm not letting these guys off the hook by any means. IF either of them had done what we all hoped, the Twins might be within striking distance of the White Sox right now, let alone the wild card.
But they are by no means the only guilty ones.
It might be time for a little housecleaning.
* Torii Hunter and Joe Mauer are the only two Twins who I won't criticize for this year, and I'm giving them both a break.
Hunter was having his usual year in which the numbers were good, but you got the feeling he could do better. But with his baserunning, hard nosed play and attitude, he was again the heart and soul of the team.
Mauer is 22, and he's batting over .300. Tough to complain. But batting 3-hole, the RBIs need to be way, way higher.
* I still think Morneau is a 40-homer guy. I guess nobody bothered to wonder if pitchers would make adjustments on a 23 year old who hit 19 homers in 65 games last year. That's what they did and we're seeing him struggle with it. But Morneau is not David McCarty. He's the real deal. He'll be okay. But he can't wait another year. He has to produce in 2006. And by produce I mean 30-40 homers.
* I wouldn't mind if the Twins told Shannon Stewart to take a hike. Yeah, yeah, we always hear about how he's such a 'professional hitter' and how he has such great at-bats and influences the lineup. Well, he's hitting .278, has a mediocre OBP of about .325, doesn't steal any bases, and is a liability in the outfield.
If Lew Ford is the alternative, by all means keep him. But let's stop pretending the guy is Rickey Henderson. There are many better leadoff hitters in the game today.
* I think it's finally safe to say Jacque Jones isn't going to be a 40-homer guy, which is supposedly the reason we're supposed to be afriad to trade him. But I will say that given the way the Twins young hitters failed them this year, I wouldn't be surprised if the Twins are a little more hesitant to bump him in favor of Jason Kubel than they would've been last year.
Locks - Hunter, Mauer, Morneau
That's it. Really. Isn't that sad? There's only three position players on the entire roster that the Twins absolutely have to keep.
Maybe bring back, maybe not - Stewart, Jones, Cuddyer, LeCroy, Glenn Williams, Mike Redmond, Castro
I think the Twins need to take a long hard look at their outfield, but Stewart will almost certainly be back, so Jones is probably gone. I would say Cuddyer blew his chance to be the everyday 3B, but as long as he's cheap I dont mind him off the bench.
LeCroy is fun to make fun of, but he's still a decent hitter. Still rather have David Ortiz though, wouldn't you?
Glenn Williams had a nice two weeks before he got hurt. I suppose he deserves another shot, but he's not the answer. Redmond is an excellent backup catcher, and Castro has actually been even better this year than could be expected.
Get lost - Ford, Rivas
Going into this year, the Twins feared Lew Ford's 2004 season, in which he hit .299 with 15 homers, was a fluke. They were right. The guy is worthless, hitting .250 with 4 homers. (Hasn't stopped Gardy from batting him in the 3-hole, though)
Rivas had plenty of chances.
Still feeling 'em out - Bartlett, Tiffee, Mike Ryan, Punto, Luis Rodriguez, Jason Kubel
If he's healthy, Kubel will be a starter next year. That makes me nervous. He looks like a great prospect, but there is no longer any reason to trust Twins hitting prospects.
Bartlett is the Twins top middle infield prospect, but that might say as much about their minor league depth as it does about him.
Tiffee is a switch-hitter. Aside from that, he hasn't shown a whole lot this year. I dont think he's a better alternative to Cuddyer.
Mike Ryan could be a great bench player for years. And nothing more.
Punto and Rodriguez have both done a nice job this year. But they seem more like platoon players or utility guys. I'm not sold on either one being an everyday player.
Ever.
The Twins as a franchise are still in good shape, with a very strong minor league system, and a big league team that will return many young players next year that contributed significantly to a team that will likely win 80 games or so.
But it seems to me they need to go out and get one player this offseason. Doesn't matter what position he plays, they have room in the infield and outfield, and they need a D.H.
I think Mauer and Morneau will only get better. And maybe Kubel will be more prepared than Bartlett was this year.
But their infield, aside from Morneau, is no scarier at the plate than a Brent Gates, Scott Leius, and Ron Coomer-led group.
We need another guy.

A Pitch for '06

It wasn't that bad of a week for the Twins, considering how things had been going, but if they think that winning a couple cheap ones and throwing in an inexplicable 12-0 rout means they can start talking about the playoffs agian, (which they did after Saturday's lame, 4-3 win) they might want to slow down.
The Twins won't make the playoffs this year, but I guess it would be nice to see them at least finish over .500 to keep their streak of winning seasons alive (this year would make 5 straight).
But that really doesn't matter, so, being that most Twins fans are now treating the season's final two months more like an extended spring training, or at least, an audition to make a case for next year's roster, I'll take a look at who should, and who should not, be on the Twins roster next year.
Starting with the pitchers: (btw, this is not what I think the Twins will do, it's what I would like to see them do)

Locks - Santana, Radke, Silva, Nathan, Rincon, Baker
For a team that has a league-best 3.70 ERA, you might think that there would be more pitchers that I'd be insistent on bringing back, but with so many great arms in the minors, the Twins have a lot of options.
Santana is obvious, though it'd be nice to see him get back to even close to Cy-Young form next year (his ERA was 2.61 last year, this year it's 3.68)
Radke, again, has gotten screwed by his team. A 3.71 ERA and a 7-10 record. This has been going on so long that I'm starting to think he'd be better off if he signed somewhere else. He's had so many 12-15 seasons because he didnt' get any runs, that if he'd played his whole career for the Yankees or Texas or some other team that could hit, he'd be closing in on 200 career wins.
The Twins, however, would not be better off. Radke will be back, and he's at the age where alot of off-speed pitchers hit their prime.
Silva has been the staff ace this year. They need to lock him up.
Nathan has been lights-out again, save for one bad week, and Rincon has recovered nicely from the steroid thing.
As for Baker, he's ready. I don't care how they make room for him, they just have to do it. Either that or trade him for a hitter. Having all this great pitching talent doesn't do any damn good if you sit on it.
Not-so fast - Crain, Liriano, Mays,
Mays would be more effective on grass - in the dome he'll always be inconsistent because there'll be days where all the ground balls get through the holes. Plus he makes over 7 million a year. He's made a nice comeback from the year off, but I'd let him go.
Crain was looking like the best young reliever in baseball back in May, but even then his strikeout numbers were scarily low. Now that's catching up with him. His ERA is 2.98, but considering it was 0.65 a couple months ago, that's not impressive.
In 49 innings he has only 17 K's and 19 walks. I'm not saying he should go to the minors, he shouldn't. But maybe the Twins should take the 'untouchable' tag off of him when it comes to trades. They could get alot for him, they should at least listen.
Liriano has been so goddamn nasty in AAA, (he's given up something like 18 hits in 55 innings with 70 K's) that fans are losing patience. They want to see this guy, especially since he's the reason the Twins didn't pick up Alfonso Soriano.
But there's still a big gap between AAA and the bigs, and the Twins steadfastly insist that he's not ready.
I'd still like to see him called up to pitch out of the bullpen for a couple weeks to get his feet wet, and then we'll see. But I don't think he'll be in the rotation to start next year.
Don't give up yet - Lohse
Everyone's favorite whipping boy, but Lohse has had a nice year. His ERA is a very respectable 4.38, not a heck of a lot worse than Santana and Radke. I still wouldn't rule out a move to the bullpen, but he's still relatively cheap (under 3 million) and could get a decent return in a trade.
Don't forget -Gassner, Guerrier, Travis Bowyer, Boof Bonser
Granted it's been mostly mop-up duty, but Guerrier has posted a 2.93 ERA in 43 innings this year. Apparently he's not totally worthless. Gassner has been hurt since his early season call-up, but he showed promise. If Crain fizzles, Bowyer is a righty with a high-90's fastball who could fill his role. The Twins once viewed Crain as the eventual successor to Nathan, they now look at Bowyer. Bonser has had a nice year in AAA, and might get a September callup.
Get the hell outta here - Romero, Mulholland
Teams are always looking for lefties (hence Mulholland's continued ability to get a paycheck) and they're always reluctant to give up on a lefty with good stuff (hence Romero's continued presence in Minnestota).
But it's time. Mulholland was a nice story, a good guy who had a great career and hoped to get a WS ring with the Twins. I would've loved to see him do that, but it wasn't meant to be. SO long, Terry.
As for JC, don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
He's got great stuff, but he's a chickenshit. Can't stomach pressure situations. To tell the truth, if I had to bring back one of these guys, I think I'd take Mulholland.
There's the pitchers. We'll see if Terry and Gardy see things anywhere close to how I do.
Next time I'll do the position players.

We made a big pickup after all

If you're a Twins fan, I'm sure you're starved for good news.
Here ya go.
When the Twins called up Jason Bartlett it left an opening on their AAA roster. To fill that opening they signed (Drum Roll) Brian Buchanan!
That's right, the same Bucky Buchanan that the Twins TRADED TO GET JASON BARTLETT IN THE FIRST PLACE!
That's right. The Twins got Bartlett for Bucky back in 2002, and now he's back. For nothing. We HOSED San Diego on that one. To be honest, with the way this Twins have been hitting, he should be called up and inserted into the cleanup spot.
Let's start the campaign now. We want Bucky!!!!

Are You Ready for Some Football?

Let the record show that the Minnesota Twins 2005 season was laid to rest on Sunday, July 31, at 3:00 central time.
The team had suffered a near fatal wound on Friday the 29th, when their best player and inspirational leader suffered a season-ending ankle injury.
Attempts were made in vain by the team's General Manager to resuscitate the season by acquiring a highly skilled (and highly paid) mercenary, but when no suitable reinforcements could be found, the team, and it's season, passed quietly.
You'll get no complaints from me, by the way, that a deal was not done.
The Twins and their fans were kidding themselves if they thought any hitter, even Manny Ramirez, would be able to save this team once Hunter went down.
The minute Torii was carried off on a stretcher, Terry Ryan should've started looking for ways to dump Romero, Lohse, Boone, Mays, Cuddyer, Mulholland, Ford, Rivas, and any other underachiever or big contract that could get anything in return.
With Lohse and Mays staying put, the Twins can't even call up Scott Baker and Francisco Liriano to get some starts.
I'm ready for those two, as well as Jason Bartlett and maybe even Denard Span (speedy outfielder hitting .330 in AA) to start getting some PT.
This season is over.
Some fans will undoubtedly complain about the team 'giving up', and the Strib's Pat Reusse takes that view today in a terrific column that is bitingly accurate, albeit a little quick to blame - http://www.startribune.com/stories/503/5535999.html
I'm not going to complain, and I'm not going to blame Terry Ryan.
My guess is that as hard as he supposedly tried to make a deal today, his heart probly wasn't in it knowing Hunter is gone.
I will resist the tempation to turn this space into VikingsTown (for now) and try to look for positives the last two months.
Having said that, I think it's likely that the Twins will end up in 4th place in the AL Central, and possibly below .500.
Not trying to sound fatalistic, it's just that this team seriously lacks fire, and the silence of the front office speaks volumes to the players. They're not stupid.
They know a white flag when they see one.