Shane Wahl

His delivery was usually under control so he wasn't recoiling and falling backwards and to third nearly as much. Still happened some and he would miss the zone. Anderson and Butera did a good job with him.

There's some other comment about the Yankees front office being gracious, unlike how it was with the Twins. Yikes. I know it is just Naulty's word, but still.

Also, that is a terrible story about the sexual abuse, and one has to wonder how frighteningly common such a thing might be with coaches.

I was busy today and had no intention of spending that much time reading an article, but I couldn't stop reading it. Pretty fascinating stuff and makes me think back to those days differently. I was a kid and teenager during that era so I looked at the game differently than I do now. I had no idea that steroid usage was like that back then. Furthermore, I didn't know until this day just HOW much they can impact/improve (for a time) one's game. Naulty's "development" seems a bit on the extreme end of the "effectiveness" of steroids, doesn't it?

Liriano is under control today

Well, I would like to see Pavano sent to the DL to rest his shoulder for a few weeks, come back with 8-10 starts or whatever of increased velocity and decreased earned runs and get his ass traded . . . maybe it's too bad Halladay didn't go down later in the year . . .

By the numbers: 68 IP, 20 ER (2.65 ERA), 45K, 20 BB, 1.25 WHIP. Of course that is not projectable out, in all honesty, but it is worth noting. Unfortunately, Liriano is returning and Blackburn will relatively soon as well.

Haha, yeah I talked to people and they said there is no way that he throws that hard. He was a 92-93 mph guy a few years ago.

98???? What?! I didn't know that. I thought he was a low-90s guy.

T.J. Oakes at 292, by the way. Kevin Plawecki ranked 67. I still want the Twins to take him at 63 or whatever it is.

Least I have some news to share for the sports staff at the Lafayette Journal & Courier tonight . . . That's pretty much all that will likely come of this. If the guy wasn't from where I have lived for the past near ten years, I would not like it given the Matt Hausers the Ricky Bowens, etc. yes. I don't mind finding guys like this, but again, aren't there players under 25 around to sign?

Haha, I know all about him. He's a good enough pitcher, but yeah, one would think there has to be under-25 guys available right?

Gibson, Bromberg (back now, thankfully), Stuifbergen, and now Wimmers and Salcedo (and Soliman?). It's like a curse. I fear for Hendriks and Hermsen . . .

Koch is 23.5 years old, not 24. Yes, he should be playing in Fort Myers immediately, but when the organization loads in terrible catchers from the top (Butera, Rivera, Towles), one cannot expect proper promotions (Herrmann up one, Rohfing, Pinto up one, Koch up one).

I agree completely. Do you get any sense that the increase in power and the decrease in OBP is due to experimenting with a different approach at the plate, trying to raise batting average and power (like when Parmelee originally hit for some power, but low average, they had reverse that, and he eventually has put the two together adequately)? Because I am a little concerned about the BB/K rate this year. Hopefully it is a part of an intentional learning/adjustment and not that which would make the great isolated discipline of 2011 a fluke. Herrmann seems like a good complement to Mauer and is a defensive upgrade over Doumit for a fraction of the cost.

Komatsu is certainly worth keeping around in favor of Mastroianni even if Mastro was out of options, I think. So this is just another weird move.

Other that that $1 million, one year offer Seth proposed, there is no way in hell they should bother with Baker.

Championship: Purdue 6, Indiana 5 A nearly-empty stadium in Columbus is not the usual setting for a Purdue-IU matchup. Usually the rivalry brings out the best (or worst) of the schools' respective fans in packed stadiums and arenas. The two teams made up for the lack of fan frenzy with a ninth inning brawl around third base, of all places. After Field of Twins draft-endorsed catcher Kevin Plawecki's second homer of the tournament and 7th of the season put Purdue up 5-4 in the 8th inning, Indiana tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a sac fly (which came after a blatantly blown third strike call by the umpire). In the top of the ninth, Purdue put men on the corners. With one out, Eric Charles chopped a grounder to third, forcing a rundown. As Indiana's third basemen made the tag he pivoted and threw wildly to third base to try to get the runner advancing from first. The runner scored easily, but Charles, for whatever reason tried to make it all the way to third on the play. What happened next was either an intentionally violent slide or an example of a runner getting stuck between a head-first and feet-first slide and unintentionally running into the third basemen. The third baseman initially reacted, but stood up and Purdue coach Schrieber got in between the players. Then IU's shortstop charged into the back of the third basemen, knocking him down into Charles. Both benches poured out and Charles eventually threw a punch and was ejected. The melee last for a few minutes, but the game was delayed for over 15 minutes because one of the umpires was injured. The game resumed in the bottom of the ninth and Field of Twins draft-endorsed pitcher Nick Wittgren struck the first two batters out before coaxing a fly ball to center to end the game. Plawecki was named tournament MVP. Purdue will likely host in the CWS, but it will be at Gary's U.S. Steel Yard instead of in West Lafayette due to delayed construction on the new stadium. Michigan State is the only other team that could make it into the tournament as the Big Ten is a weak conference. Later in the week, I will wrap up a discussion of those players who could be drafted.

Championship: Purdue 6, Indiana 5 A nearly-empty stadium in Columbus is not the usual setting for a Purdue-IU matchup. Usually the rivalry brings out the best (or worst) of the schools' respective fans in packed stadiums and arenas. The two teams made up for the lack of fan frenzy with a ninth inning brawl around third base, of all places. After Field of Twins draft-endorsed catcher Kevin Plawecki's second homer of the tournament and 7th of the season put Purdue up 5-4 in the 8th inning, Indiana tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a sac fly (which came after a blatantly blown third strike call by the umpire). In the top of the ninth, Purdue put men on the corners. With one out, Eric Charles chopped a grounder to third, forcing a rundown. As Indiana's third basemen made the tag he pivoted and threw wildly to third base to try to get the runner advancing from first. The runner scored easily, but Charles, for whatever reason tried to make it all the way to third on the play. What happened next was either an intentionally violent slide or an example of a runner getting stuck between a head-first and feet-first slide and unintentionally running into the third basemen. The third baseman initially reacted, but stood up and Purdue coach Schrieber got in between the players. Then IU's shortstop charged into the back of the third basemen, knocking him down into Charles. Both benches poured out and Charles eventually threw a punch and was ejected. The melee last for a few minutes, but the game was delayed for over 15 minutes because one of the umpires was injured. The game resumed in the bottom of the ninth and Field of Twins draft-endorsed pitcher Nick Wittgren struck the first two batters out before coaxing a fly ball to center to end the game. Plawecki was named tournament MVP. Purdue will likely host in the CWS, but it will be at Gary's U.S. Steel Yard instead of in West Lafayette due to delayed construction on the new stadium. Michigan State is the only other team that could make it into the tournament as the Big Ten is a weak conference. Later in the week, I will wrap up a discussion of those players who could be drafted.

Yes and yet the references to his MLB time keep coming.

Haha. Octavio Dotel was the pitcher I wanted the Twins to sign instead of Capps.

The worst part is, the Twins have to keep trotting Pavano out there since he is the only starter who could possibly be traded for someone.

This is what I was talking about, YourHouseIsMyHouse. And there is another comment like this by someone else elsewhere.

Michael is not a bust, he just probably needed some Beloit time before going right into high-A. I suppose someone else like Bryant would have been placed there and perhaps struggled too though.

I generally agree about the #5, AAAA, AAA similarity here, but there is something to be said about people breaking out of that given certain opportunities, environments, etc. Maybe P.J. Walters is a case of someone who has always been at that level but now is going to perform at a higher level like Diamond probably will. The Twins need to figure out the bottom three spots of the rotation this year and blow up what served as the top (Pavano, Liriano).