SB Nation User Blog: BeefMaster

Official Complain About Joe Mauer Discussion

BeefMaster — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:35:01 -0000

Yeah, he's tearing it up. But he's supposed to be perfect, not just incredible. Continue to point out the shortcomings of Minnesota's Golden Boy in the comments.

At current pace (1 HR/9 AB), even if he somehow gets 500 at-bats this season, he will hit less than 60 homers.

All of his homeruns are to the opposite field, so we are robbed of the grandeur of upper-deck blasts.

Complete lack of exciting stolen bases and triples.

Just barely on pace to break Bonds' OPS record.

Only 1-for-6 catching baserunners stealing, and the one CS was at third (NOTE: this is actually a legitimate criticism, although the fact that every Twins catcher sucked terribly at this makes me think a lot of it is the pitchers' fault).

At current pace, will not become the first player to bat in the .400s since Ted Williams.

No sacrifice flies, after leading the league last year.

No longer dating Miss America, as far as I know.

Former Twin News: J.C. Romero Suspended

BeefMaster — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 15:01:51 -0000

In what could be MLB's answer to the Kevin & Pat Williams case, J.C. Romero has been suspended for 50 games for taking a supplement he believed was legal.

Phillies (and former Twins) reliever J.C. Romero has been suspended for 50 games for a violation of MLB's drug policy. However, this is not exactly a straightforward case - Romero purchased the supplement at a GNC, and at the time of his positive test, MLBPA had assured players that any over-the-counter supplement purchased in the US was acceptable. Romero also had it checked by two separate nutritionists, although he did not call the MLB drug hotline. After he was notified of the positive test, he quit taking all supplements, and another test on October 1 confirmed that the banned substance was out of his system during the Phillies' championship run.

It's likely that Romero will challenge the suspension in court, and it would not at all shock me to see a situation similar to what happened with the Vikings' Kevin and Pat Williams this year - they tested positive for substances in supplements they had been told were legal, and a judge prevented the league from imposing the suspensions until he could make a decision on the case.

Interesting note about Romero's appeal hearing: He was told that if he admitted guilt, he could have a 25-game suspension instead of 50.

Gardenhire signs 2-year contract extension

BeefMaster — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 22:43:15 -0000

Gardenhire signs 2-year contract extension

Everyone's favorite and/or least favorite manager has been signed to a 2-year contract extension, taking him through the 2011 season. Rick Anderson, Steve Liddle, and "the rest of Gardenhire's top staff" were also re-signed.

MLB considering eliminating coin flips

BeefMaster — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:54:14 -0000

MLB considering eliminating coin flips

Wouldn't this rule have been nice a month and a half ago?

Sigh...

We should have seen it coming

BeefMaster — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:39:45 -0000

Remember the last time the Twins were in a one-game playoff? We should have known what would happen...

Everyone saw the Twins' dramatic one-game playoff defeat in Chicago as a first in Twins history, something that the franchise had never before experienced - but they were wrong. It had happened once before, and moreover, there was a common link in both games, a nemesis that the Twins simply could not overcome.

I'm speaking, of course, of the 1994 film Little Big League. In that film, the Twins go on a great run through mid-to-late summer, until hitting what "Wally Holland" (the team radio announcer, played by John Gordon) refers to as the "September Swoon". The Twins rally to sweep a key series at the end of the season, leaving them in a tie for a playoff spot with a team that had Ken Griffey Jr. in center field, triggering a one-game playoff. Ultimately, the Twins are defeated, as their best chance to take a lead in the game is foiled by a Griffey defensive play. The Twins end the season in defeat, but full of hope for next year after their surprising near-playoff run.

Any of that sound familiar?

Redmond is officially returning

BeefMaster — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:14:43 -0000

Redmond is officially returning

The Twins have exercised their option on Mike Redmond, bringing him back for a fifth season as the team's backup catcher.

Batting Stance Guy covers the Minnesota Twins

BeefMaster — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:55:37 -0000

Batting Stance Guy covers the Minnesota Twins

Twinkie Town Favorite Icon

BeefMaster — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:07:25 -0000

A little nerdery to distract us all from the wretched recent play of our favorite team.

As a frequent Twinkie Town visitor who has the site bookmarked, I'm thinking it's high time we got ourselves a favorite icon. For those of you who don't know, a favorite icon is the little picture that shows up next to the website address in your address bar and next to the site name in your bookmarks/favorites - for example, MSNBC.com has the familiar NBC peacock logo, and ESPN.com has their stylized E. More specifically, it's a 16x16 (or possibly 32x32, but I believe it's scaled down to 16x16 in the browser) pixel image, a size that's small enough to make it really difficult to come up with something that 's both small enough and recognizable.

Anyway, I think Twinkie Town should have one. Does anyone have any suggestions? A snippet of the skyline view that the site uses as its logo would be okay, I suppose, although it wouldn't end up looking like much of anything at that size. I've been thinking that a little Metrodome would be cool, but that's out of my personal range of artistic expertise. The TC and M logos could probably be reproduced okay, but I'd assume they're off-limits, as SBNation has tried to avoid using trademarks. I can't think of any other great Twins-centric ideas offhand, other than maybe a little Kirby Puckett face or something.

Twinkie Town, unleash your creativity!

Your Favorite Game

BeefMaster — Wed, 07 May 2008 15:01:48 -0000

Tell the story of your favorite game you've ever attended.

Chad Moeller - Baseball Hero

The best game I ever attended wasn't even planned in advance - I was living with my aunt in St. Paul during an internship, and we decided spur-of-the-moment to head to the Twins game that evening because Roger Clemens was pitching against Eric Milton (as a bonus, when we got there we found it was Dairy Queen Hat Day). This was in 2000, when the Twins weren't exactly good, but they were fun to watch, and you could see that the Koskie-Hunter-Guzman-Jones core was starting to come together.

The game started off as a pitcher's duel - Milton struck out 7 of the first 9 Yankees he faced, and the pitchers had dueling no-hitters until the fifth inning. The Yankees scratched together a couple of runs in the sixth off Milton, and it was looking hopeless - the Twins couldn't get anything going against Clemens.

But this was 2000 Roger Clemens, on a pitch count, and the eighth inning brought with it a new pitcher, and new life in the Twins' offense. The Twins strung together a series of hits to tie the game, and up to the plate, with runners at the corners and two out, came Chad Moeller. Moeller was the latest in the Twins' Rotten-Hitting Catcher Patrol, following Matt LeCroy (who hit .174 that year) and Marcus Jensen (.209) and preceding Danny Ardoin (.125). Moeller was hitting just under the Mendoza line at the time, and he had just one career extra base hit, a double.

Moeller proceeded to hit a low liner to left field, where Ryan Thompson was playing instead of David Justice. Thompson charged the ball and tried to make a diving catch... but he missed (I suppose we now would refer to that as "pulling a Torii"). The ball rolled to the wall, and by the time Bernie Williams got it into the infield, Chad Moeller had crossed the plate standing up for a three-run inside-the-park homer - the first homerun of his career, and his only one of the season. The Twins added another insurance run that inning, and LaTroy Hawkins finished off the Yankees in the 9th for a 6-2 win.

On that day, Chad Moeller cemented his place as one of my all-time favorite players. to the point that I was actually excited when he was the Brewers' starting catcher at a Twins-Brewers game I attended a couple years ago. He struck out four times.

Random Acquisition Proposal: Julio Franco

BeefMaster — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 20:11:43 -0000

The last active position player from RBI Baseball was recently designated for assignment... could he be a worthwhile acquisition for the Twins?

I'm proposing the Twins acquire Julio Franco, who the Braves designated for assignment when they acquired Mark Texiera. In my scenario, Franco would either be claimed off waivers or traded for an conditional prospect (like the Bret Boone deal), and the Twins would send down Luis Rodriguez to make room on the 25-man roster. Yes, I know Franco's almost 49 years old. Yes, I know he's only hitting .221/.324/.291 this year. But I'm serious about this. Here's an (admittedly off-the-cuff) analysis of pluses and minuses.

Pluses:

Have you seen the Twins' bench? With the standard Twins starting lineup, the only decent bench bat is the backup catcher, and although Gardy's been better about having both Redmond and Mauer in the lineup, it still wouldn't hurt to have another option available.
That horrific stat line could be an issue of small sample size. Julio's poor results this year have been in extremely limited at bats (just over 100 PA). As recently as two years ago, he put up an OPS near .800, and even the .700 he managed last year is a step up from Tyner at DH.
Really, will we miss L-Rod? Punto's move to the utility role has made Rodriguez pretty much redundant, as the Twins can back up any infield position with Punto or Cirillo.
I'd assume the Twins could basically get him for free, since the Braves will be letting him go anyway. I'm not sure of the 40-man roster situation, although I'd assume there's an opening thanks to the Castillo trade.
Karma - it seems like having the oldest player in the league on your team should be a positive force for your team somehow.

Minuses:

Did I mention that he's almost 49? That is older than both players who were inducted into the Hall of Fame this week. He's not getting any younger, and it's very possible that his struggles this year aren't a product of small sample size - they're a product of being old.
He's already been released by two teams this year... obviously they haven't found his performance acceptable.
The desire has been for a power bat... and Julio ain't it. His career high in homeruns is 20, and he hasn't had half that in over a decade (although he did hit 9 in 2005).
It's not a guaranteed upgrade by any means. Julio would likely be taking at bats away from Ford and Tyner (DH and PH), and he's not outperforming either of them so far this year.

In my opinion, the pluses outweigh the negatives just enough - an upgrade is an upgrade, no matter how small, and it'd probably be close to free.

TwinkieTown, tell me why this is a bad idea.

Poll

Should the Twins acquire Julio Franco?

Yes

17 votes

No

24 votes

41 votes | Poll has closed