Against 'Moneyball' Why the richest teams in the game--and not the lowly A's--are dominating the postseason once again.

That's the title of an article in TNR by Buzz Bussinger, author of Friday Night Lights and a noted blogger hater.

Whatever happens in the National League and American League Championship series unfolding over the next week or so, one outcome has already been decided--the effective end of the theories of Moneyball as a viable way to build a playoff-caliber baseball team when you don't have the money. That no doubt sounds like heresy to the millions who embraced Michael Lewis's 2003 book, but all you need to do is keep in mind one number this postseason: 528,620,438. That's the amount of money in payroll spent this season by the teams still in it--the New York Yankees, the Los Angeles Angels, the Philadelphia Phillies, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Moneyball? You bet it's Moneyball, true Moneyball, like it always has been in baseball and always will be.

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What should the Twins Off-Season priority be?

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My immediate thoughts after the last out (at 5:56pm my time) cross posted from my non baseball blog. As you can see I went from anger, sorrow and humiliation and out the other side to melancholy acceptance and hope at the end.

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I know there are still many games left, but you have to start looking ahead at some point. After checking out the Twins win today, I hopped over to ESPN's Hunt for October and was reminded that if the race ended today, the Tigers would face the A's and the Twins would for the third time in the last 4 years, face the New York Yankees. If the Twins win the Central they will play the As as the Wild Card team is likley to come from the Central Division. Both Boston and the Angels are 7 games behind us.

Let me remind you of the results of those previous meetings...

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Taking a break from the Twins, I thought I'd articulate an idea I've been running around in my head for the last year or so.

Jackie Robinson, we all know that name -- the man who broke the color line in baseball, the man whose number was universaly retired, venerated even now and of course a damn good player. Baseball is my favorite sport, only soccer has the kind of international appeal that baseball has, and especially with the birth of the WBC (which I fully support) it's become a truly international game.

The barriers beside  talent and poor management skills are falling. There are increasing numbers of players coming over from Japan and Korea, from Europe and it's expanding in Central Asia as well hopefully displacing Crickett (boring to watch, and astonishingly, even MORE boring to play, sorry Crickett fans.)

The Women's College World Series just finished up in Oklahoma as well, Arizona swept Northwestern and the ladies took home another title putting them that much closer to UCLA's record of softball titles. I must confess, I was rooting for Northwestern because it was their first time.

So can you guess where I'm going now? Maybe. There is one line that baseball has yet to cross and if it did, it would be a blockbuster. That's right, the gender line. I still can't figure out how to make the extended entry work, but here goes.

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My last diary was a fantasy post. I was honestly surprised by the response. So I tried a little harder and looked at the teams we might realistically consider trading Hunter to and what we could get from them in return which I determined to be middle-infield (2B/3B Castillo is awesome but he is not a part of a 2 year rebuilding effort and free Bartlett) or maybe bullpen help. I looked around for teams who are 1) contending or about to contend in the next 2-3 years and 2) teams that need a center fielder 3)teams that are freespenders or with low-payroll

If a team is not about to contend in a few years, I'm not sure how much they'd want Torii and his salary since he is in his prime now and for the next few years (unless they want him to pacify the fanbase).

A note: I don't know much about what are in the respective teams minor league systems except the Twins so I'm focusing on the major league rosters. Also, because of our spotty record with call-ups I'd prefer having someone who already has been introduced to the major leagues.

In the AL those teams turned out to be the Mariners and the Angels. More below the fold, if I can get the extended sections to work right...

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Thanks to Jesse on the frontpage, we have a clear comparisson over how Hunter has played over the last month. Now obviously he has an (expensive) option for next year, but remember all that trade talk after May?

Can you imagine the value we can get for Torii if we can trade while he's this hot? How would we get? Yes, I'm going to propose a trade.... Torii Hunter + Scott Baker/Kyle Lohse + prospect TBD for Miguel Cabrera. Would this be likely? Well probably not but it's not out of the realm of possibility. What do you think?

Is it possible that Rondell White is just done, that his skills disappeared in 2006? Even with his "10 game hitting streak" he's hitting .185 with an OBP of .194 before tonight. His power is almost non existent. Even Juan Castro has a higher slugging %.

Now some said just wait on white, patience, he will return to his form (which while not utterly spectacular was that of a solid veteran.

How much longer should we wait and who can we replace him with? Kubel and hope that he gets his licks in the majors and improves because he surely seems to have more potential than White?

I think is the first time they did it, and maybe I'm wrong... but I think this is the first time the Twins have lead start to finish in a game. Congratulations Twins on winning a game in a way that doesnt' depress me in the first few innings!

A couple of questions spring to mind.

-Is Jesse Crain back? That would be huge.
-Is Santanna all warmed up now? That would be huge as well.
-Is Liriano going through some bad luck, or are players starting to figure him out so he needs to adjust to the league? Something to think about.

Gardenhire:
"Baseball goes in cycles, always in cycles," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We had a good April last year, and it didn't exactly work out the way we wanted to. This year we've not had a very good April. Maybe we can turn it around and play better the rest of the year."

When Dick and Bert do it, I understand. They're announcers on TV they have to parrot the organization line. When Gladden and... I'm drawing a blank on the other guy right now forgive me, but when the radio guys say things like it annoys me more because radio is a freer medium than TV but I still understand. They need to spin things for the Twins.

So you'd think I understand when Gardenhire says stuff like this... but you'd be wrong.

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