Two Words: Barry Bonds

The San Francisco Giants are ready to cut ties with Barry Lamar Bonds. They used his chase for the HR record to sell tickets, and now they're cutting him loose. It's probably the right move - if your best player is 43 years old, you are a team in turmoil.

But while the easy thing for Bonds to do would be to retire, he is adamant that he won't. You'd think a guy who's spent most of the last few years being dogged by the feds and the media would be looking to get the hell out, HR record in hand, but Bonds says he wants to keep playing.

Obviously, he needs to go to the AL. It's almost unfair watching him try to play LF these days. He just can't do it. He's a DH now.

So where to? Yanks? Red Sox? White Sox? Tigers?

Maybe.

But what better way for new GM Bill Smith to make a splash than to bring in Bonds to hit 3-hole? (I'm assuming Gardy would resist the temptation to play him everyday in LF, a la Rondell White)

Thing is, Bonds needs to be somewhere where the media glare isn't quite as intense. New York, Boston or Chicago would be an absolute nightmare. Maybe Texas or Oakland are a possibility. But why not the Twins?

No, he's not going to hit 70 homers anymore, but the guy, at age 42, has a .483 OBP and a .570 SLG. His OPS+ is 172. That's the best in the NL.

Now, maybe you're one of those Dick Bremer douche bags who thinks the Twins are better off signing "Piranhas", who hustle and star in gay commercials and say nice things to Marney and set an example of how to run the bases for your retarded child, and if that's the case, stop watching baseball.

But, if you think it might be entertaining to watch arguably the greatest player ever bat between Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, and think it might be more fun to win a World Series than to "battle your tail off" and go 77-85, you will realize it would be awesome to have Barry Bonds on the Twins.

PS - Yeah, I know. He did steroids. They all did. I don't care.
Yeah, I think the record is tainted. Don't care about that either.

Torii's last stand?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

The Ballad of Nick Punto

As the Philadelphia Phillies 21st round draft pick in 1998(scouted and signed by former big league manager Jim Fregosi), it was somewhat of a longshot for Nick Punto, who played collegiately at Saddleback Community College, to reach the major leagues, but he did so rather quickly.

A strong first impression
In his first full minor league season, at high-A Clearwater, he hit .305 and drew 67 walks in 106 games, good for a .404 OBP. This 106 game stint alone might be the reason Punto is in the big leagues today, because he never came close to repeating those numbers again. But, having made an excellent impression, the Phillies moved him to Double-A Reading in 2000, where he hit .254. He drew 68 walks and stole 33 bases, as well as hitting five homers, still his career high to this day.

The Phillies decided that was good enough to move him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in 2001. In 129 games he hit a paltry .229, but the parent club must’ve liked his 68 walks and 33 steals, because they called him up to the big leagues in September. He singled off Bob Scanlon for his first big league hit on Sept. 9, and ended up going 2-for-5 in four games. The Phillies decided he was ready, and he began ‘02 in the majors. But there was really no room for him, and he was demoted back to Scranton, where he had his best year since A-ball, hitting .271 with 76 walks (for a .378 OBP) and stealing 42 bases.

He got called up again in September, and ended the season 1-for-6. He again opened the season with the Phillies in ‘03, but again was sent down before the end of April. He ended up going back and forth a few times, and in 64 games in the bigs (92 at-bats) batted .227 with a .273 OBP. While he had played SS almost exclusively in the minors, he saw time at 2B, 3B and SS for Philadelphia. No doubt the Phillies had been intrigued by Punto’s ability to draw a walk while in the minors, but this 64-game stint was the first sign that, unless Punto showed some ability to handle the bat, major league pitchers weren’t going to walk him often.

Coming to Minnesota
Meanwhile in Minnesota, the Twins were becoming frustrated with Cristian Guzman, a highly talented but seemingly lazy shortstop whose development suddenly seemed stunted after a breakout season in 2001. They were also looking to deal some of their veterans to make room for younger, cheaper players. That off-season they sent catcher AJ Pierzynski to the Giants for pitchers Boof Bonser, Francisco Liriano and Joe Nathan, as well as sending Eric Milton to Philadelphia for Carlos Silva and Nick Punto. Silva had been a reliable set-up man in Philly, but the Twins immediately inserted him into their rotation. Punto was advertised primarily as a utility player, and would replace Denny Hocking, who the Twins released after the ‘03 season.

However, manager Ron Gardenhire showed early signs of having an odd appreciation for Punto by suggesting that he could compete for the starting shortstop job. This seemed to be little more than a motivational tactic aimed at Guzman, since Punto had done nothing in his entire career to suggest he was capable of being a full-time player in the majors. As disappointing as Guzman had been, he was still a far better option.

But Punto never really got his chance to light a fire under Guzman, as his penchant for diving headfirst into bases and after ground balls put him on the DL frequently. He actually performed reasonably well when healthy, posting a .253 average and .340 OBP, with a couple of homers, six steals and only one error in 38 games (91 at-bats). Guzman actually did have a slightly better season, hitting .274 with 8 homers, 31 doubles and 84 runs scored, but when the Washington Nationals offered him a 4-year, $26 million contract after the year, the Twins surmised he wasn’t worth that much.

A failure at 2B
While they were right, as Guzman failed miserably in Washington, the Twins horrible infield contributed heavily to their failure to reach the playoffs in 2005. Rookie Jason Bartlett and veteran utility man Juan Castro split time at SS, and neither produced much at the plate. Punto took over at 2B when the Twins grew tired of Luis Rivas, another once-promising talent who regressed after a strong rookie season.

In his first shot at playing regularly in the big leagues, Punto hit .239 with a .301 OBP. He hit four homers and struck out 86 times in 394 at-bats.

This failure prompted the Twins to acquire All-Star and Gold-Glover Luis Castillo in the off-season. The Twins also added veteran slugger Tony Batista to play 3rd in ‘06. Bartlett was expected to get another shot at the SS job, but despite hitting nearly .400 in spring training, he was sent to Triple-A, while Castro, who entered the season with a .271 career OBP, was named the starter. This left Punto and Luis Rodriguez as dual utility players.

The rejuvenation
According to a spring training story in the Star Tribune, Punto was approached by Hall of Famer Rod Carew on the field one day before practice. Carew held a printed copy of Punto’s stats, and had circled in red ink his .301 OBP, 45 runs scored, 36 walks, and 13 of 21 stolen base rate. Carew wanted Punto to know that these numbers were unacceptable, and were the ones he should focus on during the season. There was much rolling of the eyes in Twins nation when this story appeared.

Predictably, Castro and Batista failed, with Castro traded and Batista released in mid-June. Bartlett stepped in at SS and played well, while Punto took over at 3B simply because there wasn’t anyone else.

But apparently Punto had taken Carew’s instruction to heart, because, once given regular playing time, his numbers rose consistently from June through August. He was hitting well over .300 with an OBP in the .370 to .390 range for most of the year, while playing strong defense at 3B. The Twins got hot, in part thanks to the spark provided by Punto and Bartlett, and reached the playoffs.

While Punto had had the year of his life, he also faded sharply in September, and finished the season with a .290 average and .352 OBP. Fine numbers to be sure, but many observers viewed the late slump as evidence that his mid-summer surge was largely a fluke. Unfortunately, for no good reason, Gardenhire declared late in the season that Punto would be the starter again in ‘07 at 3B, effectively ordering GM Terry Ryan not to acquire a new one in the off-season.
As evidence that Ryan didn’t trust Punto, he signed free-agent Jeff Cirillo anyway. Cirillo had always been a strong hitter, particularly against lefties, but at 37, made it clear he could not play every day.

Crashing back to Earth
2007 would prove to be the most frustrating and disappointing season of the Gardenhire era, and Punto, perhaps somewhat unfairly, was at the center of the firestorm all year. He hit .220 in April, and after a decent May, in which he posted a .364 OBP, saw his season devolve into one of the worst in baseball history from an offensive standpoint. He batted .150 in June, .218 in July, and an embarrassing .127 in August, all while playing virtually every day.

Cirillo never got going, landed in Gardy’s doghouse for refusing to play regularly, and was traded to Arizona. Meanwhile Gardenhire continued to defend Punto, primarily for his hustle and defense. And while Punto did make many highlight-reel plays, he committed as many errors as your average 3B, and most statistics that measure a fielders range, admittedly an inexact science, found him to be league average at best. Gardenhire dropped him to the No. 9 spot in the order (he had opened the year hitting second), and asked him to bunt more often, but Punto failed several times to move runners over, popping up bunts or striking out after failed attempts several times.

While these kind of fundamental lapses often land younger or more talented players in Gardenhire’s doghouse (like rookie 3B Brian Buscher, who hit well after a call-up but rarely played because of his shaky glove), the manager strangely continued to defend Punto, who by now had become a pariah among fans, who viewed him as a symbol for everything that was wrong with the team.

By late August, Punto’s average was under .200. As if that weren’t bad enough, his slugging percentage was in the .250 range, on par with many NL pitchers. Punto warmed up some in September, and as of Sept. 20 had his average up to .209, and his OBP to .292. His 54 walks rank fourth on the team behind Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer.


Another chance?
On Sept. 17, Gardenhire told the Star Tribune that Punto was his choice to open the 2008 season as the starting 2B. The Twins had traded Luis Castillo to make room for rookie Alexi Casilla at the position, but Casilla struggled both physically and mentally, at the plate and in the field.

Gardenhire’s announcement sent many Twins fans into fits of rage, as the idea that a starting job would be handed to a player coming off arguably the worst season in history seemed counterproductive, to put it mildly. Almost on cue, Punto made two glaring mental mistakes the next day, getting hung up between 2nd and 3rd for an out early in the game, then later getting thrown out while trying to stretch a double into a triple leading off an inning.
The irony was thick.

In retrospect, it’s hard to blame Punto for anything that has gone wrong this year. Quite simply, it isn’t his fault that Gardenhire has tried to make him into something he isn’t - a major league regular. Like trying to force a square peg through a round hole, Gardenhire stubbornly kept sending him out there, even though it was apparent to everyone it couldn’t work.

Punto is what he is - a light-hitting infielder with a reliable glove and above average speed. That can be useful to a team, but only if utilized optimally. However, anyone who has watched the Twins with any regularity knows that using players optimally has never been Gardenhire’s strength (see Jacque Jones, Matthew LeCroy, Lew Ford, Shannon Stewart, Jason Kubel, Michael Cuddyer, etc, etc).

But the announcement that Punto opens 2008 with a leg-up on the 2B job should be taken witha grain of salt. What choice does Gardenhire have but to say this? Casilla has been awful, and promising him a job is no way to accelerate his development. It’s clear that this is a motivational tactic to some degree, and it’s one that had to be made.

Quite frankly, as bad as Punto has been, Casilla has probably been worse, all things considered. Right now Punto is the better player, which says alot about the state of the Twins infield. Additonally, Punto is unlikely to be as bad in ‘08 as he was in ‘07, even if he does end up playing every day (which he likely won’t).

However, it also seems unlikely that Punto will ever go back to being the .300 hitter we saw for much of ‘06 (even then he posted an OPS+ of 90, meaning he was 10% below the league average that year in offensive production).

There’s no real explanation for Gardenhire’s fascination with a guy who is nothing more than a mediocre utility player. Jeff Reboulet and Denny Hocking were both far better players, and never got near the opportunities that Punto has been afforded.

That would seem to be the fundamental difference between Gardenhire and Tom Kelly. Gardenhire oddly tears down his most talented players and staunchly supports the bad ones. With TK, you could either play, or you couldn’t play. The Twins were in far better hands in those days. Nick Punto would never have started for a team managed by Kelly.

Presented without comment

This is a story in today's Star Tribune, in regards to Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla, and next year's starting IF.


By LaVelle E. Neal, III
Star Tribune

When the Twins traded Luis Castillo to the Mets in July, the belief was that prospect Alexi Casilla would step in next season as the starting second baseman.

On Monday, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire let it be known who is his first choice at the position for 2008.

It's Nick Punto, who hasn't let his tremendous defense suffer this year despite one of the worst offensive seasons in recent major league history. Putting Punto at second would enable the Twins to search for a new third baseman this offseason.

"If we were to start right now I would say Nick would have a head up on [Casilla], believe me there," Gardenhire said. "I know what he can do, catch the ball, and make all the plays. So he's got a lead going into spring training, as far as I'm concerned.

"I hope [Punto] comes out and has a good spring. I like him in my lineup, somewhere. He makes things exciting. But he's got to play [well]. Got to come back and rebound, we all know that."

Punto has played most of the season at third base. While he could make a tidy sum selling DVDs on how to field the position, he is batting only .205 with one homer and 23 RBI and is one slump away from being the first full-time major leaguer since Rob Deer in 1991 to bat under .200 in a season.

In fact, Punto is batting .293 in September, raising his average to its highest mark since Aug. 14.

When told of Gardenhire's comments before Monday's 5-4 victory over Texas, Punto, 29, sounded like someone who had just had a heavy burden lifted.

"For him to have the confidence in me, that means a lot, it really does," said Punto, who hit .290 last season. "I'm going to work as hard as I ever have this offseason and come back and have a very successful season next year."

Casilla, 23, has showed a lot of talent in his stints with the Twins, the latest since being called up from Class AAA Rochester on July 31. But he also has made a rash of mistakes, many of them mental. It has fueled a belief that he needs more development time in the minors.

Casilla, batting .241 with 11 stolen bases in 50 games, was on the bench Monday for a second game in a row after arriving to the ballpark late Sunday, although Gardenhire said it was more because Punto has played well lately.

"He's swinging better, shortened his swing," Gardenhire said of Punto. "He's hitting the ball on the ground. Some balls are rolling through that haven't."

The Twins' six homers from third basemen this season are the fewest in the majors. The club is evaluating Brian Buscher as a possibility. Former first-round pick Matt Moses has floundered in the minors and was demoted to Class AA New Britain during the year.

"It would be nice to have another power bat," Punto said.

Gardenhire said the organization will search for a third baseman with some pop during the offseason. The free-agent pool is not deep: Mike Lowell stands out among a handful of possibilities. The Twins might have to part with a couple of their young pitchers in a deal for a third baseman.

But the manager apparently knows who he wants at second.

"I go into next year thinking [Punto] is going to have a very good opportunity to be my starting second baseman if we get a third baseman," Gardenhire said, "That's what I'm looking for. We have talked about getting a third baseman and getting him back to the middle of the field."

The Terry Ryan era ends

Terry Ryan is out, Bill Smith is in as Twins GM. Scouting director Mike Radcliffe and baseball ops assistant Rob Antony are getting promoted to essentially work just underneath Smith. That should improve their ML scouting and development. Hard to say how it will affect their minor league scouting and the draft.

This may sound odd, but when you think about it, Terry Ryan stepping down as the Twins GM is an absolutely fascinating story, more so than even the departure of Kevin Garnett to the T-Wolves.
Everyone understood why KG had to go to Boston. But the Ryan story is a mystery. It could’ve been caused by a confluence of literally dozens of factors, and it could have repercussions that will still be felt 20 years from now.

I’ve ripped on Ryan hard this year, and I stand by all of it. He failed the team this year.
Having said that, my initial reaction to the news was an upset stomach, the feeling that this was merely the initial dropping of the bomb, with the horrible after-effects yet to come.
At Thursdays press conference it seemed that Ryan is simply ready to take on a lesser workload, as he will remain with the team as primarily a scout.
But there could be other factors that played into the decision.
*He feels as though he failed, and needs to step aside and let Smith, his replacement, take a shot.
*He fears that he has so angered Johan Santana, Torii Hunter and others, that the Twins will have a better chance of signing them with someone else doing the negotiating.
*The Pohlads have told him they will not pay Hunter and/or Santana, and Ryan is resigning in protest.
*He lost a power struggle with Ron Gardenhire. It’s a rather poorly kept secret that Gardy and Ryan butt heads regularly. Gardy butted heads with Al Newman and forced him out. Maybe he and Ryan are at odds often enough for Ryan to decide he’s had enough.
*He’s just tired of it. He’s always been the guy taking the bullet for Pohlad’s cheapness, and with the emergence of blogs and talk radio stuff in recent years, he’s taken much more heat from the fans, if not so much from the media. Some of it has been deserved, but I could understand if he’s had enough.

And the potential fallout
*My biggest fear is that Gardy will now have more power. He’s an awful evaluator of talent, and he’s dangerously loyal to bad players who “bust their tails.”
As much as Ryan failed to help the team this year, I was pretty confident that he’d do something to address 3B and LF. With Ryan gone, will Gardy lobby for giving Nick Punto another chance at 3B? Or 2B over Alexi Casilla? Will he be able to bully Smith? Or will Smith do a better job of reigning in Gardy’s lesser impulses?
*Will the team continue to have as much success in developing pitching? The rejuvenation of the franchise that began at the turn of the century came about because of a general change in philosophy to focus on drafting pitching, and Ryan was the driving force behind it. Ryan has struggled to identify valuable veterans, but he’s been more than astute at finding and developing young pitchers.
Ryan convinced teams to give away Santana, Joe Nathan, Francisco Liriano, Carlos Silva, Joe Mays and others essentially for free, and oversaw drafts that have loaded the Twins minor leagues with more pitching than any organization could know what to do with.
*Will Bill Smith make it his top priority to resign Santana and Hunter? It would sure help him make a good first impression with the fans and players.
However I’m afraid to say that I think it’s more likely Ryan is leaving because the team won’t let him sign those two than it is that he’s leaving to improve the chances of signing them.
*With a team on a payroll, erring on the conservative side is often the best way to go. Will Smith be an irresponsible spender? It sounds like he has a rep for being just as, if not more, conservative than Ryan.
On the other hand, Smith billed himself during Thursday’s press conference as an administrator, and made it clear he will lean heavily on his assistants to help in the evaluation process.

In the final analysis, Ryan’s career overall can be termed nothing less than a big success. After spending his first few years trying to keep an aging team afloat, he finally cut his losses, swallowed hard and blew the thing up. He started over, and by the turn of the century, had the organization poised for its longest period of sustained success in team history. With a strong finish, this year’s Twins could post a winning record for the seventh consecutive season. That would’ve seemed unfathomable in the 90s.

But in fairness, the success of the early 2000’s was due in part to the suckiness of the rest of the division. When the rest of the division got better, the Twins also had to.
They did, with the emergence of Santana, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Hunter and others. But if things continue the way they went this year, and Santana, Hunter and Morneau end up elsewhere, it’ll be hard not to look back at the Santana/Morneau era as a missed opportunity, and it would be hard to blame anyone more than Ryan for missing said opportunity.
No, not because the owner was cheap (though he unquestionably is), but because Ryan took the few discretionary funds he had and spent them on Ramon Ortiz, Nick Punto, Rondell White, Sidney Ponson, Tony Batista, Ruben Sierra, etc.

I’ll try to be somewhat optimistic that this can be a change for the better. Smith worked under Ryan and his predecessor, Andy McPhail, and will likely continue the basic philosophies that have worked for the team. Maybe he can make a couple significant moves early in his tenure to make a good first impression with the players.
But keep in mind, Ryan’s former assistant, Wayne Krivsky, got the Reds GM job, and by most accounts is off to an awful start there. So there are no guarantees.

And you can look at it this way - when Tom Kelly stepped aside, everyone was shocked, no one understood it, and conspiracy theories abounded.
Gardy replaced him, and despite being a buffoon, the Twins went on to great success.
There's a lot of similarities in this situation, and if the Twins can survive replacing TK with Gardy, they should be able to handle replacing Ryan with Smith.

One thing we know for sure, this will be one of the most important and interesting off-seasons in team history.

Ramble On, Sing my song

*Jason Kubel is up to .269, with 11 homers and 60 RBI. His OPS is approaching 800. His OPS+ has surpassed 100. Since the break, he's hitting .303/.374/.508. That's an OPS of 882, and an OPS+ of 130. That's really good.
And, while everyone has tried to pigeon-hole him as a DH, he's proven himself to be just fine in LF, far better than Jason Tyner or Rondell White.

I thought Kubel's breakout year would be this year, and thanks to a slow start and Ron Gardenhire's refusal to play him every day it hasn't happened.

But I'm pretty confident that Kubel will be one of the Twins best players in 2008.

*Brian Buscher's success between Double-A and Triple-A this year meant that his call-up was certainly well-deserved, and while I was anxious to get a look at him, I wasn't optimistic he was a legit prospect.

While he's been next to awful in the field, he's shown that he can hit major league pitching.
Yeah, it's been just 20 games, but in 50 ABs, he's at .280/.345/.400 and a couple homers. It would be a huge mistake to hand him a starting job next year, and the Twins wouldnt do that even if he was good enough to handle it, but I think he belongs on the '08 team. It'd be nice to have a good bat on the bench for once.

*I've defended Justin Morneau all year, and will continue to do so, but his homer drought is getting ridiculous. 1 HR since July. C'mon. Hit a goddamm dinger wouldja?

*Who else thinks USF could give the Michigan Wolverines a game? Notre Dame, too.

*I watched Blue Chips the other day. Probably the second best basketball movie ever, behind Hoosiers. Nick Nolte is awesome as the grizzled coach and Shaq is actually pretty good as the prized freshman center. Also, JT Walsh usually only shows up in good flicks.

Penny Hardaway, however, is the worst actor/athlete ever. Almost ruins the movie.

*Third best basketball movie ever? Toss up between TeenWolf and White Men Can't Jump. Remember the wise words of the coach in TeenWolf. Never play cards with a guy named after a city.

*Memo to Tiki Barber. Shut the fuck up.

*My votes for this year's baseball award winners:
AL MVP: A-Rod. Duh.
AL CY: CC Sabathia
AL ROY: Reggie Willits
AL MGR: Joe Torre

NL MVP: ummmm....Prince Fielder
NL CY: Brandon Webb
NL ROY: That Tuzolweski guy for the Rockies
NL MGR: Lou Pineilla I guess. Man I hate the Cubs.

*I've discovered that if I drink a ton of Gatorade before bed after a night of drinking, the hangover isnt near as bad. Also helps to brush your teeth before bed and again in the morning. I guess alot of the booze hangs out in your mouth.

*The Vikings are boooooorrrring. I don't get fans that say baseball is boring, but then get all worked up watching the Vikings and Falcons trade 3 and outs for three hours.

*Ok, maybe the Vikes wont be as bad as I thought. But maybe they will. The Falcons suck.

*I can't believe how many hot chicks work at the Argus Leader.

*Can we just assume now that any politician who is publicly opposed to gay rights is gay?

This is the assumption I now automatically make about anyone who says they belong to either party:

If you're a Democrat, you are a whiny pussy who opposes responsibility and personal accountability, and wants to tell other people what to do with their money. In other words, you're a woman.

If you're a Republican, you're a closet homo who wants to tell other people what to do with their penises. Maybe instead of trying to go around taking away everyone's porn and condoms you should try going to a strip club or buying a titty flick from Lodgenet. Good stuff. (I realize some republicans are republicans for fiscal reasons. Not my problem. These are the people ruining your party. If you don't like being painted with this brush than do something about it. Stop giving a forum to these hatemongers).

I think Lewis Black said it best when he said,

"We have the republican party, a party of bad ideas, and the democratic party, a party of no ideas."

*I went 13-3 predicting NFL games in week 1. I'm picking Detroit to beat the Vikes Sunday. If the Vikes win this one, maybe I'll start coming around.

*Do you realize that from the end of the Canaries season until the beginning of the Stampede season there are no sporting events in Sioux Falls, probably the whole state, in which you can purchase beer? No wonder I don't get into college football all that much.

*Go see 3:10 to Yuma. And Superbad. Unless you dont like dick jokes.

But come on, who doesn't like dick jokes?

*John Mayer - horrible. I just like reminding people.

A break from baseball

I just haven't felt up to writing much about the Twins lately. A look around the other Twins blogs on the net shows that I'm not alone.
And, judging by the decrease in traffic around these parts, it's not like people are dying without more analysis of Nick Punto's suckiness.

So I'll offer my take on the Vikings. This isn't a football blog and it never will be. My interest in the NFL seems to deteriorate more and more each year. The more popular the league gets, the more I have a distaste for it.

But while I'm not much of an NFL fan these days, I'm still a Vikings fan.
Here are a few thoughts on the '07 season. I'm not optimistic.

I don't expect the Vikings to be good.
At all.
Of course, nobody in the this era of the NFL is very good, so I guess there's always a chance.
(About this whole parity thing. I really hated how the 49ers and Cowboys won everything back in the day, but it seemed like the league was stronger and the games were better. Now it seems like every team feels like they have a chance going into the season, and thats good, but it seems like the league isn't as good overall. I honestly don't even remember the last time I enjoyed a Vikings game. Too bad I keep watching anyway)

I think the offense will be quite shitty.
For one, Tarvaris Jackson will be worse than Brad Johnson was last year. He will be more mobile and strong armed, but he'll make poorer decisions, and probably be less accurate on short and intermediate routes.

Also while mobile quarterbacks can keep plays alive, they also are prone to frequent fumbles. Taking a sack and punting is better than scrambling for six yards and losing the football.

Adrian Peterson gives the Vikings their first and only dynamic player on offense. But will he stay healthy?
Everyone talks about what a great 1-2 punch he makes with Chester Taylor, but Taylor is overrated to begin with. He controls the ball (and the clock), but, if you take away the one fluke 96-yard run against Seattle, he averaged a measly 3.7 yards per carry. He's basically Mike Alstott.

Bobby Wade and Robert Ferguson could be decent WRs. I think Troy Williamson might snap out of it this year and actually catch some footballs. Sidney Rice might end up being the best WR on the roster.

I think they will miss Jermaine Wiggins.
I don't like the right side of the O-line.
Defensively it will be good to have a healthy Chad Greenway. Ben Leber and EJ Henderson are average.
Erasmus James, Kenechi Udeze, Kevin Williams - what can we expect from those guys?
Will Cedric Griffin survive in the secondary? And how bad will they miss Mike Tomlin? Will teams ever bother to even try to run the ball against them?

Bottom line - I don't think this team is ready. I think Brad Childress deserves some credit for recognizing what a poor job he and his staff did last year in handling the offense and in some cases even the personal relationships with media, players and fans, and taking steps to improve in those areas.

But I'm still not sold on him being a capable coach.
He took over a 9-7 team with lots of talent. If they go 6-10 again, or worse, does he deserve another year. Why couldn't he have tried to improve the 9-7 club? Why did he have to start all over and force us to watch this garbage?

Zim's 2007 NFC North Predicted Standings
1. Chicago 10-6
2. Green Bay 7-9
3. Detroit 6-10
4. Vikes 5-11

Some other Vikes predictions

Sports Illustrated Preview: 6-10

Jim Souhan, Strib: 7-9

Pat Reusse, Strib: 9-7

Newt, skolvikes.blogspot.com: NFC North Division Champs

Shut up, Johan

Johan Santana will not win the Cy Young award this year, thanks in part to the fact that he is 0-5 against the 1st place team in the division, the Cleveland Indians. He pitched crappy against them again Monday, as the Twins fell back to 69-69.
Santana is 14-11, with a 3.15 ERA and 203 Ks in 194 innings. He's been outstanding to be sure, but this is shaping up to be the least impressive year of his career since joining the rotation.
That's all fine and good. Even if he's been a little down this year, Santana is not one of the reasons the Twins will be watching the playoffs on TV this year.

Having said that, I would like to tell Johan to shut the hell up.
For the second straight start, Johan pretty much knocked his own team out of the game early. Last time he gave up four runs in the 1st inning, this time he gave up a run in each of the first three (a Jason Bartlett error contributed to one of them, but so did his own leadoff walk). Yes, the Twins struggled to score runs, but Johan flat out failed to pitch like an ace in his last two starts.
Yet he blatantly threw his teammates under the bus in his postgame comments both times. Rather than take any responsibility whatsoever for leaving pitches up in the zone and walking too many hitters, Johan says, essentially, it's not my fault, I did my part, we lose as a team, and the rest of the team isn't measuring up.
For one it's only half true, and for another, it doesn't do any good to say those things anyway.
Johan has been victim of poor run support pretty much his whole career, so I sympathize on some level, but dude, shut the fuck up.
Blaming the Twins for not scoring against CC Sabathia when you gave up 8 runs in 12 innings in your last two starts just makes you look like a dick. How 'bout giving some credit to Sabathia for doing to the Twins what you, as a 2-time Cy Young award winner, should've done to Cleveland.

*There's a firestorm brewing over a Jim Souhan column in the Strib suggesting that its time to move Joe Mauer to 3B. Gardy and Mauer are all pissed about it, especially the suggestion that Mauer should make a better effort to play through pain.
I'm not for Mauer moving out from behind the plate yet, but it's pretty obvious it's gonna happen eventually.
Souhan does point out that players like Mike Sweeney, Craig Biggio and Todd Zeile all went on to improved offensive numbers when they moved out from behind the plate, but Gardy also points out that none of those players were as good behind the dish as Mauer is.

*Would've been pretty cool if Scott Baker had finished that perfect game. Either way, the dude's been pretty good lately. Kinda like I said he would all year long.

*Nick Blackburn got called up and threw a scoreless inning Monday. He made it from Double-A to the majors this year, the latest quick-rising pitching prospect the Twins have raised. I wonder if they're ever going to trade one of them.

*If the reason Gardy keeps playing Nick Punto, Jason Tyner and Rondell White is because the team hasn't been officially, mathematically elminated from the playoff race, then he's a total, blithering idiot.
Seriously, there's no reason not to give Brian Buscher a long look, not to mention giving Jason Kubel as many ABs as possible. Wouldn't mind seeing Denard Span and Matt Tolbert, too.