h2oface

seems like LOOGY should just be LOOG, or LHOOG, which the pronounced H! it would still sound cool to say. maybe cooler. how did it become what it is? and thanks much for the summary. FREE ANTHONY SLAMA!

RA Dickey didn't click until his mid thirties. liriano will shine again. he is high risk but very high reward, but it is yet to be seen if he can be had on the cheap. and still in his 20's. anderson and gardenhire don't seem to be the ones to help him. maybe cuellar? instead, we will probably see him pitching his second no hitter against the twins.

no no no no no more pavano!

nice............ i agree with everything except terry ryan. he is stuck in the era past and i cannot be thankful he is at the helm. his old school mentality is a thing of the past and will leave the twins in this mode until he is replaced.

in the AFL, he played at a AAA level. for 6 weeks. start him there and see what he does. at his age, no time to be cute. see what you have now.

Jair Jurrjens will be back.......... and you just have to love his name, and the many ways people will pronounce it. he will be back, and i hope the twins grab him. i am not so sure anderson will be good for him though. when he is/was on his game and not injured...... he is/was as good as braves had. to be able to sign him without giving up anything............ well...... some team will for sure.

i just don't see the "hide/stash" scenario anymore. this is a new era in baseball. the old school mentality is proving to no longer work. oakland and san fran and tampa.......... they are examples. with stacking 12 pitchers, and 9 position players, and 4 bench, or however one divides the 25 man roster.......... with starting pitchers only being able to go (or allowed to go) 100 pitches, and many doing that by the 5th..... and then those guys that are hurt but not honest, and the team doesn't put them on the DL right away (sound familiar), the team is thinner yet. the national league teams have to use more pinch hitters. the twins were just about as horrible as it can get, and they wouldn't have brought up any of the guys in question, and i don't know how the twins could have possibly hidden anybody all year and taken up that precious roster spot. i see guys like butera as exposed, and not hidden. kinda like constantly having to have a pitcher come to bat. so exposed, not hidden. but again, i don't really think it matters to protect them, as they would come back. this group of 40 are the ones that ryan must see as the twins immediate future, and because he is still in the era past, this is how he believes he needs to play it. so this is what we see. ryan's vision of the team his is building for its fans. perhaps he is making sure he has the chips he is working on trades with? too hopeful? the gems in the draft might be those that were hurt, and not protected, that are actually ready to get the shot if they rehab to the same or better level. slama seems to be the perfect pick for a reliever. ready as can be, just untested. i sense his freedom is near.

for many of these guys.............. IF they are (would have been) chosen......... the odds of them staying on any teams' active roster is so minute, that it really doesn't matter if they are on the twins' 40 man. plus, the original team comes out 25K to the good. do they have to go through waivers when returned if you don't want them on your active roster? what is the harm of not protecting those that are in A ball or AA ball? you would get them back anyway. and probably sooner than later. thanks in advance for the clarifications.

so what is nate roberts' status. can he be selected in the rule 5 draft? with a full 40 man roster........ expectations of free agent pitcher signings are dimmed. at least in the very near future.

can i get a witness! tell it, jim crikket! the way ryan and gardenhire often talk down to astute, alert, and caring fans is key. i really enjoyed your perspective. it seems common sense is often misinterpreted.

exactly......... i had no problem understanding your post at all!

spent, finished, the end. definitely not. please.

competing against AA and AAA players in the AFL............. the twins' brain trust has to be paying attention, right?

other than hicks and gibson, i really don't think any need to be added to the 40 man roster at this point. none of them have a chance to stay on an active roster all year, and the twins would get them back then, probably for the better with a chance to be in a different system for a bit - for the experience, if nothing else. leave the spots open for all those amazing free agents ryan will be signing........... right??

the only twins really trusted to play in this game was nate roberts. (well....... bigley was a late inning replacement when hamilton got injured.) nate led the AFL in average, slugging, OBP, and OPS. will he be the anthony slama with a bat, and never get a shot? no twins' pitchers were close to getting in the game. i wonder what that means?

thanks for that summary, scottyB. as painful as it is to see, it is fun to see. it took some work on your part for sure, and i appreciate that, and i don't see you presenting it as "captain hindsight" at all, but as a treat for your fellow fans.

Anthony Slama. I wouldnt refer to Slama as a prospect anymore. I dont think anyone should have high expectations for him anymore either. Seems like he is and always be just a good minor league pitcher. seriously? how would one really know? i hope the twins trade him or release him if they don't give him a real shot to see. as for projecting who might have the luck of benson's 2012.......... i won't even go there. i can't think in those terms, i won't think in those terms - to close to "a self fulfilling prophecy" / a wish for misfortune.

torii really settled in at the TOP of the lineup - hitting second. i bet that is where he fits for the tigers, too. good luck to the man. he lives up to his contract wherever he goes.

yikes.

i think the most intriguing thing about this trade might be that new marlins manager, mike redmond, had been managing in toronto's system and might have been personally responsible for many of the prospects miami will receive, both as pieces of the trade and as a minor league manager. i think redmond managed marisnick this season in class A at dunedin of the florida state league. redmond may be sly like columbo, and the owner of the marlins may have just cleaned the canvas for more painting, and not be done...... but jeff loria has done some kinda shady/slanted (expos to mlb/then buying marlins with a loan for the difference from mlb in 2002) dealings in the past. oh, as an aside......... i think it should just be world series championship - not .....ships - , as the first marlin's championship loria was not a part of as owner.

---The name notwithstanding, Silver Sluggers are awarded to the best offensive player at each position. If coaches and managers are voting based on home runs, then they're doing it wrong. And Ichiro shouldn't have won any. If it were just about home runs, there would be no need to vote, the guy with the most HR's at each position would automatically get it. If it's about games caught, that's fine, I can understand that. That leads to the conclusion that Mauer, or any other guy who spends a lot of time at multiple positions, can't be considered at all no matter how good he is offensively. And it would not have been entirely unprecedented to give it to him. Guys like Giambi and Vlad G. won them for positions in years they spend a lot of time DH'ing. But it's a valid point. But the idea that AJ deserved it over Mauer because he hit more HR's, even though Mauer had him beat in every other offensive category is silly. gold gloves are often hard to understand as well. personally, i would have voted for mauer (or maybe i can't because i am a twins fan ;-/) on the voting wrong part - you certainly make a good point, but need to take that up with the players and managers of both leagues that get to vote. apparently, home runs did mean something to them this year. it had to be more than just games caught, i would think.

as the sliver slugger is voted on by coaches and managers from both leagues, and voters are prohibited from rewarding players on their own team...... it is interesting that AJ, even with all the hate that some folks have for him, gets the votes of his peers here! good for AJ. after all....... to be called a slugger, it is not about walks and singles, but home runs. home runs = slugger. that is probably why the hammer won, too. alas....... joe may have had a more impressive year in many categories, but he didn't catch that much, and he doesn't/didn't hit the dingers.

1. Johan Santana 2. Jim Kaat (tie) 2. Bert Blyleven (tie) 4. Frank Viola 5. Joe Nathan 6. Camilo Pascual 7. Jim Perry 8. Brad Radke 9. Jim "Mudcat" Grant 10. Jack Morris - for the greatest twins' pitching performance... game 7 was the game. i gotta stick with just the minnesota twins as the minnesota twins, and what they did as a member of the twins. no penalty for number of years on the twins.

personally, i can't stand twinkies. even when they play like them... like the last two years. i love the baseball projects' song....... "please don't call them twinkies". a great baseball tune.

just curious......... what is your call on "twinkies"?