h2oface

---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"?

i have never bought into the stance that you hurt a young man to let him struggle a bit as you let him compete at the level that pushes him. you see it happen too often for other teams.... but the twins tend to bury their guys. or maybe.... they just don't pick as well as they promote they do, and don't have the minor league system they claim. how can it be worse than watching a team lose 99 and 96 2 years in row? you never know if you don't give them a shot. right anthony slama?

1. Rod Carew 2. Harmon Killebrew 3. Kirby Puckett 4. Tony Oliva 5. Joe Mauer 6. Kent Hrbek 7. Chuck Knoblauch 8. Justin Morneau 9. Bob Allison 10. David Ortiz the top three are really interchangeable to me. all the best for different reasons. the bottom 4 i almost didn't even make, as the top six are a couple grades above them. but for the game here, i make them. i doubt wartman will get on any list. and he shouldn't. if he is one of the twins' 10 best hitters of all time... then they where much worse than i remember. joe......... could be be best, but does OBP make one a better hitter? isn't it really about the hit, and not the eye? joe needs home runs to rule the roost, and is trapped in the throws of the "twins way". ortiz is the honorary pick, as he should have always been on the twins. the pick here is a testament to the great career that ryan and gardenhire sent packing for their misguided "twins way", and to any that did not fit in but should have with larger minded and more insightful management.

according to hardy............. that is not a rumor. that comes from hardy.

looks like home runs and the recently "undervalued" RBI are the key to most valuable player.......... and not OBP and average w/RISP. ...... and perhaps the new in vogue "boutique" stats. interesting. upper midwest player of the year? that is a strange one. what does that mean...... and is it just a twins' organization award?

either that........... or they obviously don't see something. so trade him or release him then. give the guy his freedom to have a chance somewhere else. anything but what they are doing. or maybe he just needs to make his fortune in japan..........

thanks for the update summary. free anthony slama.

cheers. point(s) taken. pseudosabr, i felt the same about your brief response, and i apologize for any tone that i engaged in that was perceived/conveyed as being disrespectful. maybe the angels' northeast scout, greg morhardt, was the only one that really, really got it. the sports illustrated article (august 27) by tom verducci, with "the supernatural" on the cover, was an intriguing read. 21 teams passed on trout, and even the angels took him with their second (25th) pick instead of their first (24th) pick of the 2009 "strasburg" draft, as even the angels braintrust other than morhardt wanted to sign him for the lower slot money. washington could have even had trout at #10 instead of the now famous game 5 NLDS closer, drew storen...... add that to bryce harper in 2010 at #1, and the scenario is mind bogglingly scary! it is most interesting, from a twins' angle, that mike trout's father, jeff trout (drafted in round 5 in 1983 as a second baseman), played in the twins system.......... and greg morhardt, the now angel scout, did too! morhardt was drafted in 1984 with the twins' second pick, as a first baseman. they played 3 seasons together for the then AA orlando twins. morhardt was promoted to AAA toledo during the 1986 season and never rose higher and was done in 1989 having fallen back to A ball for detroit. at the beginning of the 1987 (world series) season, and even though jeff trout was rising and had hit .321 with a .406 OBP the year before for orlando playing mostly third base, and lifting his minor league career average to .303, he was passed over for none other than ron gardenhire (then 29, kinda holding his own with about a .270 season and minor league career average, now abandoned by the mets' system, and destined to play his only year in the twins' system in what would also be his last in the minors as well), who got the AAA spot instead! jeff trout was 26, and with gary gaetti dug in at third for the twins, and with the prospect of being in AA for a 4th season (some things don't change, eh? ;-]), jeff trout hung it up, got a teaching job, and started a family............... catcher, gregory justin morhardt (goes by justin), greg's son, was drafted this year in the 39th round by the angels.

it will be an interesting vote. both are more deserving than others in other seasons that have won the award. i would bet on cabrera, because of the history involved, but trout would not be a surprise, and is certainly worthy.

Lot's of teams passed on Trout... ahhhh............ the classic type of response to support mistakes............ every kid says it....... "everyone else has one" ........people say it about steroids........ "everyone was doing it".... you are obviously correct, and obvious. 21 teams passsed trout, and the twins did too. that makes the ineptitude all OK, eh? i will get over it when and if gibson becomes a star pitcher, because he will have to be a star for that to happen, not just a number 4 or 5.

gibson will have to rack up quite a career for me to ever forget that the braintrust of the minnesota twins could have had mike trout instead, even as low as they picked when they chose gibson. but then one wonders....... if the twins would have still had trout playing high a or double a last year, and been trying to make him hit the ball different than his unorthodox style..............

the wartman was 24, not 21, in 2003, so even though he got called up in that situation, i don't know why you feel cuddyer is a good comparison to garcia. if i was a young star that had potential at a early age, i would never ever sign with the twins. they continually make a habit of retarding a young players evolution, and many times, have managed to destroy it.

he sure has been money for the tigers in the playoffs. who would have thunk it?

great discussion on trout/cabrera. for me, if trout was the MVP..... he would have taken the angels to the playoffs. playoffs matter a ton to me, and all you have to do to have a chance to win a world series is get in. like jack morris' greatness, the tigers played to what they needed to do to get in. trout may lead in the new age of boutique stats....... but a triple crown is a triple crown. massive. while you can't knock people in and accumulate rbi if nobody is getting on base in front of you..... the pressure to get them and knock them in is a special talent that most can't achieve. trout can build his rep and continue his stat assault (or not) and take his team to the promised land and then win an MVP. his end of the season slump, when he should peak and follow through until the end..... seals the deal for me. that and cabrera's triple crown. that is a massive accomplishment for a player and for baseball. as for the "low quality teams" that cabrera got to play more.... interesting that they could only fare as well as he/they did against the much trashed central, but yet march through the rest of the division's best on the way to the american league pennant. (a prediction up 3-0... is it safe yet?)

another tired past the prime degrading third baseman does not make me want to get excited about the twins present or future. let youk fade somewhere else.

how could anyone, including you or me, do WORSE than this manager and his staff the last two years? i don't agree that you necessarily have to practice in the minors and on the bench before you do the job. managing isn't writing. not even close. Molitor could be one of those that can do it. And the new blood and different mind could very well be just the twins need, and send this stagnant twins way and it's perpetrators down the road to do it somewhere else if that is their fate then. and if he fails......... it would be no different than the last two years, and what many or most fear in the coming year(s) with gardenhire still here.

fun, informative, and at times funny piece. thanks much.

very probably..... not for long.............. however you may think.

i don't remember any expectations from rod carew for power. carew was not a big guy. about 6 foot but only weighed about 170 during his playing career. (killebrew same height, but about 195-200 lbs) .........no where near 6'5" and 230-240 lbs. i never see discussions and the exchange of ideas as whining myself, so i don't see any here either.

How does this translate to the pitcher's he caught. I think you have to factor in how the pitcher's hold runners to get a truer picture his CS % (and all catchers for that matter). For instance, catching for Mark Buerhle every fifth day would could make a poor catcher look capable. certainly a pitcher with a bad move can be a part of this. i just presented the stat. it is what it is. "lies, damn lies, and statistics". you can truly spin stats however you like. maybe it is nothing to note at all.

I beg to differ. FanGraphs researched his HRs for 2009/2010. He had an almost comically large amount of HRs that barely cleared the fence to LF. For some reason his doubles power that year carried a little bit longer. In this case, Mauer doesn't ryhme with power. http://www.fangraphs.com/community/index.php/another-look-at-mauers-power/ which could also mean......... he was at the age he is getting stronger, and that was a trend that was starting... to hit the ball a little further each year. i guess i just believe he is one of the rare players, that with a very slight bit of tweaking, could be the best hitter in the game. i see you don't. i still think he can. but home run production is a part of that. the future will tell the story.