SB Nation User Blog: montanatwinsfan

Mets non-tender 3B David Wright!

montanatwinsfan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:55:39 -0000

Mets non-tender 3B David Wright!

Ha, Ha! Just kidding, but here is the link to the most up to date non-tenders out there according to MLB Trade rumors.com

Twins get a live body for Boof

montanatwinsfan — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 03:51:32 -0000

Twins get a live body for Boof

SATURDAY, 9:26pm: The Twins acquired righty Chris Province from the Red Sox for Bonser, according to a press release. It should also be noted that the Sox signed Bonser for 2010.

The Coen brothers' take on Joe Mauer

montanatwinsfan — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 19:53:48 -0000

The Coen brothers' take on Joe Mauer

Jim Caple 'writes' a Cohen brothers script for the re-signing of Mr. Mauer. Pretty humorous overall.

Defensive Analysis Subjective

montanatwinsfan — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:36:59 -0000

Defensive Analysis Subjective

In case you haven't been wandering around the websites in an attempt to get your baseball fix lately, here are a few good articles. The link above is a pretty good piece about attempts to measure a palyer's defensive skills.

Here are two more about the state of MLB's financial situation and how it might affect this year's free agency, and impending contract negotiations.

Boras-Manfred war of words an unsettling omen

Money talks, but baseball won't listen

Manager of the Year

montanatwinsfan — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:23:38 -0000

Manager of the Year

Scioscia, Tracy Named Managers Of The Year

and Rich keep getting richer? Red Sox and Yankees both looking to get Halladay:

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/heyman-yankees-red-sox-have-shot-at-halladay.html

Update: Add another link, linking Washburn and the Twins:
http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2009/11/twins-and-brewers-on-washburns-radar.html

Mauer adds Silver Slugger to mantle

montanatwinsfan — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:17:15 -0000

Mauer adds Silver Slugger to mantle

From MLB.com "Gold Glove-winning catcher earns honor for third time"

2010 Free Agents

montanatwinsfan — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:52:29 -0000

Given all of the speculation regarding Iwamura today, I thought I would lay out the free agents for people to see. Here are the players up for free agency in 2010 according to Cot's Baseball Contracts.

A = type A free agent; B = type B free agent; *means club option

Second Basemen
Marlon Anderson NYM
Ron Belliard LAD (B)
Jamey Carroll CLE
David Eckstein SD
Orlando Hudson LAD (A)
Akinori Iwamura * TB
Omar Infante ATL
Felipe Lopez MIL (A)
Mark Loretta LAD
Placido Polanco DET (A)
Freddy Sanchez * SF (A)

Shortstops
Orlando Cabrera MIN (A)
Juan Castro LAD
Alex Cora NYM
Bobby Crosby OAK
Adam Everett DET
Alex Gonzalez * BOS
Khalil Greene STL
Ramon Martinez LAD
John McDonald TOR
Marco Scutaro TOR (A)
Miguel Tejada HOU
Jack Wilson * SEA

Third Basemen
Adrian Beltre SEA (B)
Geoff Blum HOU
Craig Counsell MIL
Joe Crede MIN
Mark DeRosa STL (B)
Pedro Feliz * PHI
Chone Figgins LAA (B)
Troy Glaus STL (A)
Jerry Hairston NYY (B)
Mike Lamb MIL
Melvin Mora * BAL (B)
Juan Uribe SF

Starting Pitchers
Brandon Backe HOU
Josh Beckett * BOS
Erik Bedard SEA (B)
Daniel Cabrera ARZ
Bartolo Colon CWS
Jose Contreras COL
Doug Davis ARZ (B)
Justin Duchscherer OAK (B)
Adam Eaton COL
Kelvim Escobar LAA
Jon Garland * LAD (B)
Tom Glavine ATL
Mike Hampton HOU
Rich Harden CHC (B)
Livan Hernandez WAS
Tim Hudson * ATL
Randy Johnson SF (B)
John Lackey LAA (A)
Cliff Lee * PHI (A)
Braden Looper * MIL (B)
Jason Marquis COL (B)
Kevin Millwood * TEX
Brett Myers PHI
Vicente Padilla * LAD (B)
Carl Pavano MIN (B)
Brad Penny SF
Odalis Perez WAS
Andy Pettitte NYY (B)
Joel Pineiro STL (B)
Sidney Ponson KC
Jason Schmidt LAD
John Smoltz STL
Tim Wakefield * BOS (B)
Jarrod Washburn DET
Brandon Webb * ARZ (B)
Todd Wellemeyer STL
Randy Wolf (A)

Since the list itself is a little dull, how about I spice it up with a question. What are the chances we could pry Omar Infante from the Braves as our second baseman? He's not a type B player, but has a career hitting line that isn't too bad for a 2nd baseman ( .264 .310 .391 .701 ) and still has good defense. Those offensive numbers aren't great, but then again he's only 27 and the average for his last three seasons is about .285 .340 .390 .730. Not bad. His 2009 contract was 1.85 million.

Redmond determined to keep playing

montanatwinsfan — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:46:42 -0000

According to MLB.com, Mike Redmond is determined to try his hand in the free agent market this winter in hopes of continuing to play somewhere in major league baseball. I am not in any position to analyze his worth over Morales or Butera or Ramos so I'll leave that to the heavy lifters here on this site.

Apparently Redmond brought a lot of good energy to the clubhouse, and every team needs some veteran leadership. In addition, it sounds like Redmond is interested in coaching and might be an effective coach for the organization, so it might be beneficial to keep him around. Nonetheless, I find it hard to believe he is worth keeping after a season where he "batted a career-low .237 with two doubles, seven RBIs and a .588 OPS in 135 at-bats. He also threw out only five of 40 runners while behind the plate."

No matter how raw Morales is, its hard to imagine he wouldn't be a significant upgrade over that.

Poll

so who should be the backup catcher next year?

Redmond (NBP and veteran leadership make up for declining skills)

5 votes

Morales (last season proved he's capable)

86 votes

Butera (when Mauer is down, defense is the highest priority)

2 votes

93 votes | Poll has closed

Twins prospect Sano issued work visa

montanatwinsfan — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 00:41:02 -0000

Twins prospect Sano issued work visa

Twins prospect Sano issued work visa
Club hasn't decided first step for 16-year-old's career

More Bad News

montanatwinsfan — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:09:13 -0000

Twins put Matt Tolbert on disabled list, activate Brian Buscher. I suppose this should be a fanshot rather than a fanpost as I don't have any real analysis to provide here, but I find this a bit discouraging.

Tolbert had really been getting some pretty good wood on the ball lately and had been playing well enough defensively that 3rd was no longer the twilight zone that it was for awhile after Crede went down. I have always liked Buscher and Harris, but let's face it, they are backups.

I've played enough competitive games to know how players can really rally when they are suddenly short-handed. That uphill battle can create a 'band of brothers' type mentality amongst those of you who are still strapping on the pads in the locker room. I think we witnessed this when Morneau and Crede went down. Suddenly our team turned it up another notch on the focus and intensity meters.

Nonetheless, its pretty hard to win when you have no choice but to field 2 or 3 backups every single night.