rogrulz30

The year has come and gone, and like every year it went by very fast. For me anyway it went by really fast because I got to bring in a new person to the world. I wanted to share the best and the worst of the year mostly in a sports perspective. I just got SI the magazine today in the mail and they had the moments of the year in sports. A lot of the year in sports had something to do with the Olympics. I don't understand why I have never really gotten into the Olympics, but I see why it is such a phenomenon. The Olympics can relate to the entire world. People can also relate to having a favorite story, or you can root for your favorite country. The sports are easy to understand, they are fast moving, they hold your attention level. I honestly probably watched 20 minutes of the Olympics this year. The one Olympic sports I enjoy watching is Hockey, but hey I am from Minnesota and hockey is something that is really enjoyable, and I was born in 1980, and every since I have been accustomed to hearing about the miracle on ice. Hell, I went to Babbitt-Embarrass High School and Buzz Schneider was from there, so I heard about it my entire life. Anyway, the Olympics didn't make my list. Here are the things that did. 1. AP coming back from injury and having a chance to break Dickersons record is a pretty amazing feat, let alone anybody trying to beat that record in a pass happy league. He is very exciting to watch every single time he touches the ball. The only person I can compare that too is Barry Sanders. 2. Minnesota Twins opening day, yeah that is pretty lame, but it will be on my list every year I am sure. I get excited to watch baseball. I, as well as the rest of us got frustrated after the first series. 3. Adam Greenburg gets an at bat after being away from the major leagues since 2005 after getting hit in his first AB ever. I still find this story touching, thinking about how exciting it would be to finally get your chance. You get your chance and you don't even get an official at bat, let alone wreck your MLB career. I was happy for him to get at least a chance, I found that as a very good story. 4. Minnesota Wild signing Parise and Suter. I remember checking twitter constantly on July 3rd and 4th, and finally not only did one sign, but both signed, too bad they haven't played a lick of hockey in MN yet. 5. MLB playoffs, I love the addition of the other wild card team, I may not love the 1 game playoff, but it is what it is. The last 2 years have been very exciting watching the teams go down, or win enough games against important opponents to get in. I couldnt help but root for the A's and Orioles. I want to get my last opinions in about the Twins offseason so far. After writing about what I would want Terry Ryan's priorities to be, I can now look at what happened, as nothing that I wanted has happened. Doesn't mean they were good or bad, but here is what I think. We didn't get a high profile guy this off season, but nobody really thought we would. In my opinion we have stregthened the ability to get our starting pitching more innings. #1 priority this off season would be keeping our starters in the game longer. We now have Diamond, Pelfrey, Gibson, Worley, Harden, Correia, Hendriks, May, Blackburn. OK, so Harden, Hendriks, May, and Blackburn aren't the ideal choices, but we have opportunity that could lend itself our way on the cheap. Looking at the last 2 seasons, we don't have to worry about the Liriano rollercoaster, Baker on the DL, Pavano on the DL, and painstakingly watching the combo of Duensing, DeVries, Walters, Blackburn go out there and not give ourselves a chance to win. The Twins didn't spend any money this year and we only lost a CFer. We have a 5 tool guy coming up and should be fun to watch. Did we really think we could go from worst to first in a year? Do you think at this point we can be competitive? The answers are no and yes. Why do I consistantly have optimism for the Minnesota Twins? I think it is because I have faith in Terry Ryan. Look we have pieces to a puzzle that could set us up to compete in the near future. Here is the deal for 2013. The Twins opening payroll is going to be about $85 million. Everybody wanted the Twins to spend money this year, but on what? Did we really need to spend money on way overpriced free agents? No, We have a big chunk of money going to my favorite Twins Justin Morneau this year, who will probably get traded in July, which we will get younger and have more money for 2014. Would it make more sense to spend that money then, of course it would. I don't want to box myself up and say I didn't want to contend in 2013, but I wanted to unload Mauer to the Red Sox and then spend. We didn't do that, so now I could be looking at the big picture to 2014, and 2015 and it could look really promising if the right things fall into place. There is not one thing that I am disappointed with this off season except not unloading Mauer. This season is coming up quickly, and I hope we play meaningful games at least til mid July. I don't have much optimism of us making the playoffs, but I do think the Twins are heading in the right direction. I don't think Terry Ryan is done this off season, I think we can still improve. All I can say is THIS IS MY TOAST TO THE NEW YEAR, I HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT 2013 AND GO TWINS!!!!!

I really feel free agency should only be used to set yourself up to position yourself to win a title soon, there is no sense to overpay these players if u aren't setting yourself up to win a title in the years u are signing the free agents for, if I were tr I would not go after a top tier guy right now, I wouldn't take the middle guys, I do think there is one guy I would get because he is young, and I would go for 3/30 and that is McCarthy. Developing the farm should be #1 priority and so far so good.

I like the fact that you totally disagree for a debatable issue, which I figured a lot of people would be against a trade, but freeing up $23 million a year, you certainly can add more talent, when you have a 3 hole batter hitting 10 HR a year that will eventually be a 3B, or a 1B, you are tremendously overpaying someone, if he is a full time catcher he is worth a lot of money, there is no question in my mind, I am just not seeing that happen. I truly believe with the talent that is coming through with what is going to be smaller $'s to those players we can build a talent bench around that having open money to spend. If we are not going to resign Morneau, after next year you already have another $14 million to work with, and you have Parmalee taking over. Losing Mauer and having $53 million this year, another $14 million next year, we have some really good options to fill a talented team. The $23 million a year we are spending on Mauer is just too much in my opinion. As I said before I think Mauer is a good player, not worth $23 million a year player.

I was eating lunch yesterday, my good friend sends me a text saying, " There is a Yankee fan at my poker table blabbing that the Yanks are trying hard to trade for Mauer. Any word on the Twins side?" (me) "small word on sox, but not yanks, I would love for the yanks to take that $23 million off the books, and get a few players" (buddy) I would think dumping that contract would be priority. If you get useful players as well, its all gravy. (me) I looked at all available for a sox trade, and us having $53 million to spend, we could really go after AJ, Scutaro, Sanchez, and McCarthy!! Plus prospects from Boston, I would be so fricken happy! (buddy) Do you trust Twins management to use the freed up resources constructively like that? I see them just pocketing the money and making some token moves to try and BS the fans" The conversation went on, and we came to the conclusion he is a good player not deserving of big money, compared him to a Mark Grace/ John Olerud. I have thought about the Terry Ryan era, which obviously just started last year, I am sure he had some input on signing Mauer, whether he was for it or against it, I was thinking about the top priorities Ryan has. Wouldn't it make sense to have that really be a top priority if teams have interest? Taking 23 million off the books the next years, having your pitching rotation depleted, wouldn't it make the most sense to really overhaul your needs if you can free up $53 million. If you have the opportunity I take it right now. Yes, you take a PR chance, but reality is it isn't that much of a chance after coming off to horrible seasons and the Target Field show is the "new" thing anymore. Target field is amazing and people are going to go to the park if they are competitive, if the Twins are playing for 2015, Mauer isn't going to be the full time catcher, he could be the Mark Grace or John Olerud of the Twins. I don't want to pay $23 million for Olerud. I really believe dumping Mauer should be a top priority, he is healthy, and had the best OBS in the league. If you look at my profile picture I am wearing a Joe Mauer jersey, I have a few of them, I like Joe Mauer!! At the time when we signed him I was happy for the Twins that he didn't go to the Yankees, as I despise the Yankees, but as happy as I was, I wasn't thrilled. Knowing this were to happen, I was a huge fan of signing Morneau, as he has been one of my favorite Twins players ever, and yes that signing has hurt due to injuries as well, still I really like Morneau. I will say this right now, as if you have read any of my other blogs or posts, If Joe Mauer is a full time catcher and bats in the 2 hole he is a phenomenal player, and very close to worth a lot of money. If he is not a full time catcher, or plays 3B or 1B in the latter half of the contract it will go down as one of the worst contracts the Twins will sign in order to be competitive. Terry Ryan has a big hill to climb, the more I looked at the Span trade I thought it made sense, again I think those kind of moves will make sense in 2015 if we sign young pitchers now, McCarthy/Sanchez/Villanueva, I think it will be another waste of money signing Saunders, Liriano, Dempster. At that point we may as well let the Duduno, DeVries, Hendriks, Gibson crew go back out there and unload Morneau, Willingham, and try to unload Mauer. The Twins have a lot of decisions to make, the decisions I don't want is just for us to stay relevant today, if we are playing to win 82 games, that doesn't do much, and doesn't leave a lot of room for Ryan to rebuild this team. To Summarize, if I was Terry Ryan I would agree with my buddy, #1 priority since the quarter of the 2012 season, take and woo clubs to ignite interest in offers for Joe Mauer, and if it is Boston, woo Mauer into hitting off the green monster and having spring training in the same place as the Twins. #2 priority rebuild this team to competitiveness with the money you have to spend this year with a very good lineup.

I was eating lunch yesterday, my good friend sends me a text saying, " There is a Yankee fan at my poker table blabbing that the Yanks are trying hard to trade for Mauer. Any word on the Twins side?" (me) "small word on sox, but not yanks, I would love for the yanks to take that $23 million off the books, and get a few players" (buddy) I would think dumping that contract would be priority. If you get useful players as well, its all gravy. (me) I looked at all available for a sox trade, and us having $53 million to spend, we could really go after AJ, Scutaro, Sanchez, and McCarthy!! Plus prospects from Boston, I would be so fricken happy! (buddy) Do you trust Twins management to use the freed up resources constructively like that? I see them just pocketing the money and making some token moves to try and BS the fans" The conversation went on, and we came to the conclusion he is a good player not deserving of big money, compared him to a Mark Grace/ John Olerud. I have thought about the Terry Ryan era, which obviously just started last year, I am sure he had some input on signing Mauer, whether he was for it or against it, I was thinking about the top priorities Ryan has. Wouldn't it make sense to have that really be a top priority if teams have interest? Taking 23 million off the books the next years, having your pitching rotation depleted, wouldn't it make the most sense to really overhaul your needs if you can free up $53 million. If you have the opportunity I take it right now. Yes, you take a PR chance, but reality is it isn't that much of a chance after coming off to horrible seasons and the Target Field show is the "new" thing anymore. Target field is amazing and people are going to go to the park if they are competitive, if the Twins are playing for 2015, Mauer isn't going to be the full time catcher, he could be the Mark Grace or John Olerud of the Twins. I don't want to pay $23 million for Olerud. I really believe dumping Mauer should be a top priority, he is healthy, and had the best OBS in the league. If you look at my profile picture I am wearing a Joe Mauer jersey, I have a few of them, I like Joe Mauer!! At the time when we signed him I was happy for the Twins that he didn't go to the Yankees, as I despise the Yankees, but as happy as I was, I wasn't thrilled. Knowing this were to happen, I was a huge fan of signing Morneau, as he has been one of my favorite Twins players ever, and yes that signing has hurt due to injuries as well, still I really like Morneau. I will say this right now, as if you have read any of my other blogs or posts, If Joe Mauer is a full time catcher and bats in the 2 hole he is a phenomenal player, and very close to worth a lot of money. If he is not a full time catcher, or plays 3B or 1B in the latter half of the contract it will go down as one of the worst contracts the Twins will sign in order to be competitive. Terry Ryan has a big hill to climb, the more I looked at the Span trade I thought it made sense, again I think those kind of moves will make sense in 2015 if we sign young pitchers now, McCarthy/Sanchez/Villanueva, I think it will be another waste of money signing Saunders, Liriano, Dempster. At that point we may as well let the Duduno, DeVries, Hendriks, Gibson crew go back out there and unload Morneau, Willingham, and try to unload Mauer. The Twins have a lot of decisions to make, the decisions I don't want is just for us to stay relevant today, if we are playing to win 82 games, that doesn't do much, and doesn't leave a lot of room for Ryan to rebuild this team. To Summarize, if I was Terry Ryan I would agree with my buddy, #1 priority since the quarter of the 2012 season, take and woo clubs to ignite interest in offers for Joe Mauer, and if it is Boston, woo Mauer into hitting off the green monster and having spring training in the same place as the Twins. #2 priority rebuild this team to competitiveness with the money you have to spend this year with a very good lineup.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2773[/ATTACH] I had a Thanksgiving Baby, Lucille Wynn Irwin!! I am a super excited father right now, just went back to my first day of work, and finally the Minnesota Twins make a move. We have all seen that after Upton signed with the Braves the Twins had to find a way to trade Span for option 2. We all know now that Span was definitely gone this year, I am glad we were able to get a lot of upside in a deal for Span. My biggest issue with this was that we are trading away a team friendly contract for someone who isn't going to help the Twins now. I thought he would be a great option of if we were going to trade him, we would be able to help the team today since his contract was very team friendly. Turns out that isn't the case!! I hope there is a lot more to the story unfolding for the Twins 2013, I am not hitting the panic button yet, as I am hoping there is a master plan for Terry Ryan. I can only hope that we can find a rotation with $30 million, I have a feeling we are going to be looking at getting Dempster, Saunders, Blanton, and Liriano, in which I don't like any of those options. I am going to be very frustrated when guys like Sanchez, McCarthy, Villanueva, Marcum, Haren are gone. I really hope Ryan surprises everyone and makes some kind of move. (Like moving Mauer to the Red Sox) Like I responded in the Red Sox for Mauer Forum, $53 million to spend, add a couple of top prospects, use the $53 million on Sanchez, McCarthy-- Scutaro, AJ That would be the bomb, will never happen, I am just dreaming.

First off I want to thank John, Nick, Seth, and Parker, and Aaron for making the Twins Handbook, putting good time and effort into it, and making it affordable for a good read about our favorite baseball team. I wanted to comment on a few things in the book, and give my opinion on some others. Second off, if you haven't read the Handbook, read it. If you are a sabremetrics person or want ideas or thoughts on thinking outside the box read the "The Book" playing the percentages in baseball. Everyone has opinions on what the Twins should do right or wrong, I like reading peoples opinions, and I like debate no matter what it is. The Twins Handbook had a real good interview which I am glad there were so many questions, and it seemed Terry Ryan answered them about the best he could without "tipping his hat" as they say. Terry Ryan seems cool and collective and I get the feeling he was one of the best GM's in baseball for a lot of years. I am no expert but it seems he has a more holistic approach to the "system" than Bill Smith did. It is one of those things that I have a good feeling about him knowing the situation and not overreacting to the now, and he knows what his limitations are without throwing the Pohlad's under the bus. He knows we need pitching, and not only starting but having a solid plan in place for relief pitching as well. He isn't in a bad spot this year because, there looks to be the one glaring problem, "pitching". If that is not the problem and he gets some good arms then I think you have to go to the manager. One thing I really liked and disliked in the handbook was the player and $'s, you put them in the spot and come up with the end $ figure. I loved the concept, I wish we could have plugged the FA's in there and there "market" worth. For instance you have Diamond, Blackburn, Deduno, DeVries, Walters at the $'s, but it would have been nice to plug in a bunch of the free agents and expected worth. The exercise would have been great adding and subtracting where we need to be to be under lets say the 90 million mark. You guys kind of did that at the end in the blueprint. The same could have been said about all positions. I have been trying to do that myself when I could and it would be fun having a "fantasy football" white board with all the names and dollars and come up with the best teams. Yes I know I can do that in excel, being lazy it would be nice to have that set up already though. So we know the Twins need pitching, maybe some middle infield help. One name that I saw you guys mention more than I want to hear is Fransisco Liriano. Why? Haven't we given this guy enough of a chance. I would not even want to take a flyer on bringing this guy back. He is really fun to watch when he is on, when he is off it is a disaster. I just don't think we could take him back. I don't know who we are going to get, I have kept looking and maybe switching my opinions a little, but I really like McCarthy,( yes he is injury prone, last year was a fluke thing though) I like Villanueva, James Shields, Feldman. I hear a lot of talk about signing Dan Haren for a longer term contract, I think if we incentive laden a contract for Baker and he stays, I think we sign him over Haren. Also, if we are going to try and get "that guy on the cheap" we take a fly on Daisuke. I like trying to go young in making a signing of one of these guys, I am getting sick of plugging in the washed up guys on the super cheap eg. Ponson, Ortiz, Marquis, Hernandez, lets try to establish a signing we can make a team out of . Opinions and thoughts of the infield of the Twins has been a carousel for years as well. In theory the JJ Hardy deal was a good deal if Hardy didn't get hurt, it was going to be the Nishi, Hardy infield that never turned out. Back to the drawing board. Who do we have in the middle right now? Dozier, Florimon, Carroll, Escobar, Plouffe? I just want to say I have been a Plouffe fan for awhile and I think he is going to get the raw end of this again. First off I hope that Plouffe can play 3B. I personally like Carroll at 2B, now to find the SS, and/or someone that can challenge an infield position. What I think may happen is Plouffe ends up going to 2B, and we find a 3B, and please, please, please don't let that be Youkilis as I read a few times in the Handbook. Youkilis is slow, way declining, we don't need him. I actually hope Florimon pans out, so we can put more money into the rotation. I am hoping it ends up being Plouffe 3B, Florimon SS, Carroll 2B, Morneau 1B. Which leads to the next paragraph. Trading Span, Willingham, or Morneau? I have gone back and forth with this soo many times because as a fan you like these players. As a fan a lot of times you don't get to see the offers on the table for players like these. I love Morneau!! As a fan I don't want to see him go, but it would be so hard not to take a serious offer due to the fact we have Parmalee that is going to play this year. The questions have to be are we going to contend this year or next? If not we obviously have to really consider getting the most we can for Morneau and start Parmalee at 1B. I really like having a solid RH batter that can win a silver slugger award!! We haven't seen a guy that can do that for awhile in MN, which again leaves to wonder what is going to happen to Span. The guy doesn't want to leave, he is a fan favorite, and a lead off guy who is very dependable there. I still think at this point we have to move him. The team friendly contract really helps the ability to trade him to the Rays or Atlanta. If somehow we can get a pitcher on the mound in a trade for Span, this helps plug in the starting rotation quite a bit, I am almost saying it is a must to make a deal happen with him. A part of the Handbook had you grading the Twins current players that made up 2012. Later in the handbook you gave us kind of the depth chart going all the way down the single A. What I would have liked to see, since I don't think all of us know that much about the minors is seeing if there was a way to grade the depth in the minors. Looking in a GM way of thinking, and when you see these deals made for A, AA, or AAA type of guys it would be nice to understand what Terry Ryan may be thinking in terms of the long run. Obviously if we have a starter that is a D ranking at SS in AA, we need to improve that position, we don't get to understand those moves very well without some kind of ranking system. Understanding the time it takes to put in the time to do that is a burden, but in a GM lens I think it is something that would add a lot of substance to the Handbook. Last thing I wanted to say about the Twins off season and the Handbook that I got to finish was I really liked the layout of the opinions you guys would do in the blueprint. I got to see what you are thinking about as you write the articles and opinions on certain players and what your thoughts of putting the next team on the field. What I didn't get to see was Gleemans blueprint. I listen and read Gleeman, I would have liked to see what his thoughts were. I didn't want to get into the other Book that I read, which was "The Book" Playing the Percentages in baseball. As this got long enough, but I have some interesting comments and thoughts that surround that next time. Overall, first handbook I purchased and will be purchasing the next one, and hopefully have some ideas or suggestions around that. Comments are always appreciated.

First off I want to thank John, Nick, Seth, and Parker, and Aaron for making the Twins Handbook, putting good time and effort into it, and making it affordable for a good read about our favorite baseball team. I wanted to comment on a few things in the book, and give my opinion on some others. Second off, if you haven't read the Handbook, read it. If you are a sabremetrics person or want ideas or thoughts on thinking outside the box read the "The Book" playing the percentages in baseball. Everyone has opinions on what the Twins should do right or wrong, I like reading peoples opinions, and I like debate no matter what it is. The Twins Handbook had a real good interview which I am glad there were so many questions, and it seemed Terry Ryan answered them about the best he could without "tipping his hat" as they say. Terry Ryan seems cool and collective and I get the feeling he was one of the best GM's in baseball for a lot of years. I am no expert but it seems he has a more holistic approach to the "system" than Bill Smith did. It is one of those things that I have a good feeling about him knowing the situation and not overreacting to the now, and he knows what his limitations are without throwing the Pohlad's under the bus. He knows we need pitching, and not only starting but having a solid plan in place for relief pitching as well. He isn't in a bad spot this year because, there looks to be the one glaring problem, "pitching". If that is not the problem and he gets some good arms then I think you have to go to the manager. One thing I really liked and disliked in the handbook was the player and $'s, you put them in the spot and come up with the end $ figure. I loved the concept, I wish we could have plugged the FA's in there and there "market" worth. For instance you have Diamond, Blackburn, Deduno, DeVries, Walters at the $'s, but it would have been nice to plug in a bunch of the free agents and expected worth. The exercise would have been great adding and subtracting where we need to be to be under lets say the 90 million mark. You guys kind of did that at the end in the blueprint. The same could have been said about all positions. I have been trying to do that myself when I could and it would be fun having a "fantasy football" white board with all the names and dollars and come up with the best teams. Yes I know I can do that in excel, being lazy it would be nice to have that set up already though. So we know the Twins need pitching, maybe some middle infield help. One name that I saw you guys mention more than I want to hear is Fransisco Liriano. Why? Haven't we given this guy enough of a chance. I would not even want to take a flyer on bringing this guy back. He is really fun to watch when he is on, when he is off it is a disaster. I just don't think we could take him back. I don't know who we are going to get, I have kept looking and maybe switching my opinions a little, but I really like McCarthy,( yes he is injury prone, last year was a fluke thing though) I like Villanueva, James Shields, Feldman. I hear a lot of talk about signing Dan Haren for a longer term contract, I think if we incentive laden a contract for Baker and he stays, I think we sign him over Haren. Also, if we are going to try and get "that guy on the cheap" we take a fly on Daisuke. I like trying to go young in making a signing of one of these guys, I am getting sick of plugging in the washed up guys on the super cheap eg. Ponson, Ortiz, Marquis, Hernandez, lets try to establish a signing we can make a team out of . Opinions and thoughts of the infield of the Twins has been a carousel for years as well. In theory the JJ Hardy deal was a good deal if Hardy didn't get hurt, it was going to be the Nishi, Hardy infield that never turned out. Back to the drawing board. Who do we have in the middle right now? Dozier, Florimon, Carroll, Escobar, Plouffe? I just want to say I have been a Plouffe fan for awhile and I think he is going to get the raw end of this again. First off I hope that Plouffe can play 3B. I personally like Carroll at 2B, now to find the SS, and/or someone that can challenge an infield position. What I think may happen is Plouffe ends up going to 2B, and we find a 3B, and please, please, please don't let that be Youkilis as I read a few times in the Handbook. Youkilis is slow, way declining, we don't need him. I actually hope Florimon pans out, so we can put more money into the rotation. I am hoping it ends up being Plouffe 3B, Florimon SS, Carroll 2B, Morneau 1B. Which leads to the next paragraph. Trading Span, Willingham, or Morneau? I have gone back and forth with this soo many times because as a fan you like these players. As a fan a lot of times you don't get to see the offers on the table for players like these. I love Morneau!! As a fan I don't want to see him go, but it would be so hard not to take a serious offer due to the fact we have Parmalee that is going to play this year. The questions have to be are we going to contend this year or next? If not we obviously have to really consider getting the most we can for Morneau and start Parmalee at 1B. I really like having a solid RH batter that can win a silver slugger award!! We haven't seen a guy that can do that for awhile in MN, which again leaves to wonder what is going to happen to Span. The guy doesn't want to leave, he is a fan favorite, and a lead off guy who is very dependable there. I still think at this point we have to move him. The team friendly contract really helps the ability to trade him to the Rays or Atlanta. If somehow we can get a pitcher on the mound in a trade for Span, this helps plug in the starting rotation quite a bit, I am almost saying it is a must to make a deal happen with him. A part of the Handbook had you grading the Twins current players that made up 2012. Later in the handbook you gave us kind of the depth chart going all the way down the single A. What I would have liked to see, since I don't think all of us know that much about the minors is seeing if there was a way to grade the depth in the minors. Looking in a GM way of thinking, and when you see these deals made for A, AA, or AAA type of guys it would be nice to understand what Terry Ryan may be thinking in terms of the long run. Obviously if we have a starter that is a D ranking at SS in AA, we need to improve that position, we don't get to understand those moves very well without some kind of ranking system. Understanding the time it takes to put in the time to do that is a burden, but in a GM lens I think it is something that would add a lot of substance to the Handbook. Last thing I wanted to say about the Twins off season and the Handbook that I got to finish was I really liked the layout of the opinions you guys would do in the blueprint. I got to see what you are thinking about as you write the articles and opinions on certain players and what your thoughts of putting the next team on the field. What I didn't get to see was Gleemans blueprint. I listen and read Gleeman, I would have liked to see what his thoughts were. I didn't want to get into the other Book that I read, which was "The Book" Playing the Percentages in baseball. As this got long enough, but I have some interesting comments and thoughts that surround that next time. Overall, first handbook I purchased and will be purchasing the next one, and hopefully have some ideas or suggestions around that. Comments are always appreciated.

Minnesota Deer Hunting opener obviously comes once a year. I have hunted pretty much since I was able to, around 12 years old, and it is almost a holiday in northern Minnesota. I have gone up to the Cotton/Toivola area now for the last 5 years, and I am amazed at the amount of orange you see out there for the 2 days. First off, I think a lot of people are like me, as it is a reason to get out of town, or get away with your friends. I hunt with 3 of my great friends and I look forward to getting to the cabin as soon as I can. We get there and we crack a beer and right away we get to playing cards. The game of choice has always been hold 'em, we play 4 way, and the previous few Thursday nights before opener we have been up til daylight. This year was a little more calm, we started the first few hours with Poker, then moved to Smear. Smear, I would only have to have been invented on the Range, but now it is the game of choice in Duluth with all of my friends. It is really fun getting up there, and we all talk about the same things, our home life, how good or bad it can be, Minnesota Sports, including how much we like the lineup of Power Trip, PA, Common, Barreiro. (My faves are Common, Power Trip, Barreiro, PA, in that order, even though I enjoy listening to them all.) It is the time where we get away from the wives and can talk about the things we want to talk about. As I was sitting in my stand on Saturday morning at 6:30 I have to share a few of the things that go through your mind on when you are alone in a stand, and you don't see anybody for 13 hours, and you don't talk to anyone for 13 hours. I wanted to throw out some of the things that I thought about most in the stand for the 2 days, 13 hours one day, 5 hours the next, keep in mind I saw 2 deer the entire time. 1. I am having a baby in 3 weeks, you can't help but to think about how my life would change with the baby coming, and how excited I am to be a father. I don't know what the sex is, so I got to think about what it is going to be like having a boy or a girl. I think that would easily be number 1. 2. Sex, yes I am a male, sex is going to go through your head even out in the cold, I am not going to go into detail around this part, but I think I would be lying if it wasn't part of my thought process. 3. Minnesota Twins---- Now I am having a baby, I mentioned that earlier, since my wife doesn't want to find out what we are having I have had to try and buy neutral clothes, well baby onsies in my mind are all neutral, and all the clothes I have purchased are Twins clothes. I thought about our lineup, and thought about our pitching rotation so stinking much in the stand it was a joke. I get 1 small bar of service in the stand and I was trying to see if there was any news about who the Twins may be going after, and the name I saw most was Earvin Santana. There are going to be a lot of names out there, I realize that, nothing is really going to happen any time soon I don't believe, but I am really trying to see where this team is going to go. I truly believe we have a 2 year window with the guys we have here, that includes Morneau, Mauer, Willingham, Doumit, Span. We have some tools that can make a contender. Can we get a pitching staff in free agency that can win a championship? I really don't think so unless you go after Greinke, and that is a really big chance. Or do we unload the key players? Well one thing for sure, is we are going to have too much money tied up into Mauer to make a run in Mauers career with the Twins, unless we take a chance now. It would be hard to think we can unload the likes of Morneau and Span to help with the rotation, you are just robbing Pual to pay Peter, unless you think Parmalee is as good offensively and defensively as Morneau, I dont' think so. I would love to keep Span, he wants to stay here, but if we can somehow get pitching for him, we can move Revere to center and Parmalee to right. Are we really going to get starting pitching for Span? I think the answer is no? At that point I really think we need to draft well this year, which means we will have 2 consecutive draft classes that should be promising, and go for it this year in free agency. I don't know the cost of Greinke, but if it is the only chance we have other than staying in medicrocy than dont' we have to go for it? I don't even know if I like it, but it seems our only option due to Mauers contract, unless we can unload Mauer to the Red Sox. I understand if we can't get Greinke, my next choices to look at would be McCarthy, Villanueva, Dice K. 4. What if I saw a Sasquatch in the Woods? This is where the ridiculousness of sitting in a stand comes into play. I was sitting there hearing noises and I randomly thought about what would I really do if I saw a Sasquatch. I need to say I watch the "Finding Bigfoot" show, and I can't not watch it because of how ridiculous it is. But there is a 2% chance I am giving it, that it could be real. At least imagin with me sitting there and you see an animal that is standing on 2 feet walking towards you that looks like Bigfoot. What are your options. 1. Shoot it. 2. Watch it and do nothing. 3. Try and get your cell phone out to record it. Lets explore option 1, Ok nobody has ever had in captivity or found a BigFoot, this would be the biggest story ever to actually have a Bigfoot. Would it be illegal to shoot the Bigfoot? Would it be considered a human, and you get a murder charge? There are lots of problems with actually doing that. Let's look at option 2, Watch in awe at this thing and have not one person every believe you, and maybe hope you can see tracks of the animal, this I don't think could ever be an option. 3, if you spook it you don't get a chance to watch it, and what if it started coming up your stand as you are trying to video tape this thing. Do you try and talk to it, or do you have to just shoot it? Pretty crazy things go through your head, the funniest part of this whole scenario is when I get home and I look on Yahoo!'s page there was a really interesting Sasquatch video. http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/39929/hikers+take+flight+when+what+they+thought+was+a+bear+resembles+bigfoot/ if you haven't seen it. 5. Why the hell am I sitting here staring at the same places for hours on end hoping to see an animal I have seen for 32 years quite consistently? I am only here to shoot a trophy, and the odds of that are pretty slim. I had a doe sit in front of me for 15 minutes I could have shot, but that isn't why I am out there. I am out there because of the adrenaline rush you get when you are out in the woods with a weapon, for the opportunity to see a big animal that you have paid a registration to the DNR to shoot, and brag to your friends that this is what I shot. There are two unknowns that are really exhilarating, 1, when the bobber goes down and you have sucker minnow on it, there are lots of options of what that fish could be, and it could be a 30" walleye, 40" Northern, or a 50" Musky. 2, when you hear the sounds of what could be a deer walking towards your stand, and it could be a small fawn all the way up to the 30pt buck, and I guess that is worth sitting in the stand that long every year. 6. The Book-- The "Book" of Baseball-- This went hand in hand with the Minnesota Twins lineup, which I am going to talk about in my next blog post, along with the Twins Handbook. I thought it would be a fun post, as it was a long weekend sitting reflecting on things sitting in a cold deer stand seeing only 2 deer. If you went hunting this weekend or any weekend and have some fun thoughts thorw them out there.

Minnesota Deer Hunting opener obviously comes once a year. I have hunted pretty much since I was able to, around 12 years old, and it is almost a holiday in northern Minnesota. I have gone up to the Cotton/Toivola area now for the last 5 years, and I am amazed at the amount of orange you see out there for the 2 days. First off, I think a lot of people are like me, as it is a reason to get out of town, or get away with your friends. I hunt with 3 of my great friends and I look forward to getting to the cabin as soon as I can. We get there and we crack a beer and right away we get to playing cards. The game of choice has always been hold 'em, we play 4 way, and the previous few Thursday nights before opener we have been up til daylight. This year was a little more calm, we started the first few hours with Poker, then moved to Smear. Smear, I would only have to have been invented on the Range, but now it is the game of choice in Duluth with all of my friends. It is really fun getting up there, and we all talk about the same things, our home life, how good or bad it can be, Minnesota Sports, including how much we like the lineup of Power Trip, PA, Common, Barreiro. (My faves are Common, Power Trip, Barreiro, PA, in that order, even though I enjoy listening to them all.) It is the time where we get away from the wives and can talk about the things we want to talk about. As I was sitting in my stand on Saturday morning at 6:30 I have to share a few of the things that go through your mind on when you are alone in a stand, and you don't see anybody for 13 hours, and you don't talk to anyone for 13 hours. I wanted to throw out some of the things that I thought about most in the stand for the 2 days, 13 hours one day, 5 hours the next, keep in mind I saw 2 deer the entire time. 1. I am having a baby in 3 weeks, you can't help but to think about how my life would change with the baby coming, and how excited I am to be a father. I don't know what the sex is, so I got to think about what it is going to be like having a boy or a girl. I think that would easily be number 1. 2. Sex, yes I am a male, sex is going to go through your head even out in the cold, I am not going to go into detail around this part, but I think I would be lying if it wasn't part of my thought process. 3. Minnesota Twins---- Now I am having a baby, I mentioned that earlier, since my wife doesn't want to find out what we are having I have had to try and buy neutral clothes, well baby onsies in my mind are all neutral, and all the clothes I have purchased are Twins clothes. I thought about our lineup, and thought about our pitching rotation so stinking much in the stand it was a joke. I get 1 small bar of service in the stand and I was trying to see if there was any news about who the Twins may be going after, and the name I saw most was Earvin Santana. There are going to be a lot of names out there, I realize that, nothing is really going to happen any time soon I don't believe, but I am really trying to see where this team is going to go. I truly believe we have a 2 year window with the guys we have here, that includes Morneau, Mauer, Willingham, Doumit, Span. We have some tools that can make a contender. Can we get a pitching staff in free agency that can win a championship? I really don't think so unless you go after Greinke, and that is a really big chance. Or do we unload the key players? Well one thing for sure, is we are going to have too much money tied up into Mauer to make a run in Mauers career with the Twins, unless we take a chance now. It would be hard to think we can unload the likes of Morneau and Span to help with the rotation, you are just robbing Pual to pay Peter, unless you think Parmalee is as good offensively and defensively as Morneau, I dont' think so. I would love to keep Span, he wants to stay here, but if we can somehow get pitching for him, we can move Revere to center and Parmalee to right. Are we really going to get starting pitching for Span? I think the answer is no? At that point I really think we need to draft well this year, which means we will have 2 consecutive draft classes that should be promising, and go for it this year in free agency. I don't know the cost of Greinke, but if it is the only chance we have other than staying in medicrocy than dont' we have to go for it? I don't even know if I like it, but it seems our only option due to Mauers contract, unless we can unload Mauer to the Red Sox. I understand if we can't get Greinke, my next choices to look at would be McCarthy, Villanueva, Dice K. 4. What if I saw a Sasquatch in the Woods? This is where the ridiculousness of sitting in a stand comes into play. I was sitting there hearing noises and I randomly thought about what would I really do if I saw a Sasquatch. I need to say I watch the "Finding Bigfoot" show, and I can't not watch it because of how ridiculous it is. But there is a 2% chance I am giving it, that it could be real. At least imagin with me sitting there and you see an animal that is standing on 2 feet walking towards you that looks like Bigfoot. What are your options. 1. Shoot it. 2. Watch it and do nothing. 3. Try and get your cell phone out to record it. Lets explore option 1, Ok nobody has ever had in captivity or found a BigFoot, this would be the biggest story ever to actually have a Bigfoot. Would it be illegal to shoot the Bigfoot? Would it be considered a human, and you get a murder charge? There are lots of problems with actually doing that. Let's look at option 2, Watch in awe at this thing and have not one person every believe you, and maybe hope you can see tracks of the animal, this I don't think could ever be an option. 3, if you spook it you don't get a chance to watch it, and what if it started coming up your stand as you are trying to video tape this thing. Do you try and talk to it, or do you have to just shoot it? Pretty crazy things go through your head, the funniest part of this whole scenario is when I get home and I look on Yahoo!'s page there was a really interesting Sasquatch video. http://www.grindtv.com/outdoor/blog/39929/hikers+take+flight+when+what+they+thought+was+a+bear+resembles+bigfoot/ if you haven't seen it. 5. Why the hell am I sitting here staring at the same places for hours on end hoping to see an animal I have seen for 32 years quite consistently? I am only here to shoot a trophy, and the odds of that are pretty slim. I had a doe sit in front of me for 15 minutes I could have shot, but that isn't why I am out there. I am out there because of the adrenaline rush you get when you are out in the woods with a weapon, for the opportunity to see a big animal that you have paid a registration to the DNR to shoot, and brag to your friends that this is what I shot. There are two unknowns that are really exhilarating, 1, when the bobber goes down and you have sucker minnow on it, there are lots of options of what that fish could be, and it could be a 30" walleye, 40" Northern, or a 50" Musky. 2, when you hear the sounds of what could be a deer walking towards your stand, and it could be a small fawn all the way up to the 30pt buck, and I guess that is worth sitting in the stand that long every year. 6. The Book-- The "Book" of Baseball-- This went hand in hand with the Minnesota Twins lineup, which I am going to talk about in my next blog post, along with the Twins Handbook. I thought it would be a fun post, as it was a long weekend sitting reflecting on things sitting in a cold deer stand seeing only 2 deer. If you went hunting this weekend or any weekend and have some fun thoughts thorw them out there.

I am def in favor of signing Baker, I do believe the Baker/Gibson idea is good, one of those guys should make it. I do not want to have Morneau leave, but I am open for Span leaving. I think if we let Span/Casilla go, we can still build a rotation, we will have to spend money, not sure if they are looking to do that, but the window is closing, either you go for it, or unload it all in my opinion. WE do have chance to get guys in free agency, only problem is we will have to overpay, knowing the Twins situation, this could be a good thing for the fans, because the franchise has to do it, which means we should get a couple guys.

I am a very frustrated Twins fan right now. I am looking at what could be a complete overhaul, or a spending spree for 2013. I am not sure what to root for. As of this second you have to look at what the Twins could throw on the mound next opening day roster. Gibson? Baker? Diamond Walters? De Vries? Deduno? Hendriks? Duensing? (Please no) Blackburn? (Please no) So lets look at diving into free agency this off season, and see who I can peg off the list. I am going to just shoot out the top 10 names and my opinions of what I think, and knowing the Twins for years what they might think, and lets put together a SP rotation. Greinke-- $21 million a year, I don't think I would do it, I am pretty sure the Twins will not do it. I would consider a 4 year $80million, but he is going to get way more than that. Peavy-- I like Peavy, He would get about $18 million a year. I am pretty sure this is too steep for the Twins as well, although I would also try for a 4 year deal around $75million, he is going to get more than that. Kuroda-- He is too old, his value is too much for the Twins for a 2 year player, he will get about $15M a year. Dempster-- Not a fan, going to be paid too much $15M a year Lohse-- Former Twin, always consistent, I like him, he has found a comfort zone in the NL, I think he will get overpaid, I don't think the Twins are interested in $14M a year Sanchez-- Talk about a down year for a highlight player, whoever signs him is going to take a gamble, I don't think the Twins are gambling $13M a year Jackson-- same name that came up last 2 years for the Twins, value is at $11 M, if they haven't gotten him yet, I don't think he is coming. Colon, Saunders-- I wouldn't take either of these guys, already in down parts of careers. Feldman, Lewis-- both World Series guys, both have a 2.2 WAR, both would be getting paid around $9M a year. Neither of these guys were really impressive this year for the Rangers, Feldman is still relatively young, if I were to take stab it would be for him, even though he is throwing up a +5 ERA so far this year. So those are the top 10 Free Agents on the board, do you see any one of those guys in a Twins uniform? I really don't. I am going to throw out 3 names that are past the top 10 that I would take a chance on. First: Villanueva- 19th best SP in free agency, he has pitched for the Blue Jays, and anybody who pitches in that division gets about a .5ERA nock off, pitching anywhere else IMO. 3.42 ERA in 14 starts, 118 IP, his value is $6.4 Million a year. About a K, an inning. This guy is 29, and I would take a chance on somebody like this. Dice K- I know what you would think, we don't need another injury bug, but the deal is, if we are going to gamble on somebody, which we do every year, I say lets give him a chance. He is 32, coming off injury, he didn't put up good numbers right away, I think he is coming back strong, reports are good, I would even overpay, to take a chance at him. We need a top of the rotation guy, he could be it at a discounted price. Pavano- I really think Pavano wants to stay, I would not pay an extra penny of his expected worth, which is tough to say because of injury. I don't think it is a big chance on him, I mean look at the 3 years previous he has had 200 IP, if we can get him at a (I like the organization, I want to stay) price, I don't think that is a problem as long as he is recognized as a number 2-3 guy. So after all of that searching, and by the way here is the list in order, to take a look at and have your own opinion. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2012&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=945,6428,1937,583,1,1142,1650,2073,6176,718,45,8219,46,126,548,8585,81,4849,6387,4759,1995,4022,1412,1855,4788,2179,906,813,2467,375,1571,1243,1767,273,185,2047,517,1392,1771,555,4251,1442,278,6283,1601,3886,3912,4684,1906,429,3263,1077,818,1845,520,1794,1793,1943,521,2072,1573,1926,1875,1772,1757,729,4593,1116,3273,1305,8245,1307,1213,731,8267,607,470,656,2437,1841,8645,2234,1702,96,332,19,3856,1930,3283,1698,3731,243,1259,563,4604,3201,739,4556,3114,199,7416,1260,1312,1852,6204,105,4616,1659,7775,4662,106,25,1467,1091,962,1658,3057,1556,296,206,1638,745,571,1617,2886,964,2918,2129,790,1051,934,535,2332,443,746,1176,2170,1824,7986,1475,7619,843,844,1642,970,754,1760,1551,6021,3284,7507,3200,4366,795,3469,1555,3867,2197,4606,6941,1101,4599,10091,3811,409,1135,2265,5015,1726,1677,4138,411,2074,1012,1491,1017,976,715,1935,3196,2140,305,1904 At this point all I can say is this is what I would do!?! I would take the biggest chances on Villanueva and Dice K, lets say we got those guys. I would say Baker wouldn't be ready to go opening day, I would give hope that Gibson may be, we will be optimistic, so then you would have the void of one of these guys, (Pavano, Hendriks, Deduno) I am just putting one of them in there. It could look like this. Dice K Villanueva Gibson Pavano Diamond How much would that cost the Twins next year to have that starting rotation, then having Baker coming back off of injury, and pay him the $9.25M next year, which I don't think will happen, but I think the Twins will try to resign him for less, and do so. Is $25.5 to little to say that could happen, is $25.5 too much to completely revamp the starting lineup? The Twins spent $24 on SP in 2012. What can you expect, if you find an Ace, that is $20 for one pitcher, if you look at this we added 3. You take Span off the books, which you may be able to swap one of those guys for a pitcher if that is what he gets traded for. I am not sure, but I think this is what I would do. To be competitive next season you are going to have to spend money, if you don't completely gut everything including the managers, and start over if you can.

I am a very frustrated Twins fan right now. I am looking at what could be a complete overhaul, or a spending spree for 2013. I am not sure what to root for. As of this second you have to look at what the Twins could throw on the mound next opening day roster. Gibson? Baker? Diamond Walters? De Vries? Deduno? Hendriks? Duensing? (Please no) Blackburn? (Please no) So lets look at diving into free agency this off season, and see who I can peg off the list. I am going to just shoot out the top 10 names and my opinions of what I think, and knowing the Twins for years what they might think, and lets put together a SP rotation. Greinke-- $21 million a year, I don't think I would do it, I am pretty sure the Twins will not do it. I would consider a 4 year $80million, but he is going to get way more than that. Peavy-- I like Peavy, He would get about $18 million a year. I am pretty sure this is too steep for the Twins as well, although I would also try for a 4 year deal around $75million, he is going to get more than that. Kuroda-- He is too old, his value is too much for the Twins for a 2 year player, he will get about $15M a year. Dempster-- Not a fan, going to be paid too much $15M a year Lohse-- Former Twin, always consistent, I like him, he has found a comfort zone in the NL, I think he will get overpaid, I don't think the Twins are interested in $14M a year Sanchez-- Talk about a down year for a highlight player, whoever signs him is going to take a gamble, I don't think the Twins are gambling $13M a year Jackson-- same name that came up last 2 years for the Twins, value is at $11 M, if they haven't gotten him yet, I don't think he is coming. Colon, Saunders-- I wouldn't take either of these guys, already in down parts of careers. Feldman, Lewis-- both World Series guys, both have a 2.2 WAR, both would be getting paid around $9M a year. Neither of these guys were really impressive this year for the Rangers, Feldman is still relatively young, if I were to take stab it would be for him, even though he is throwing up a +5 ERA so far this year. So those are the top 10 Free Agents on the board, do you see any one of those guys in a Twins uniform? I really don't. I am going to throw out 3 names that are past the top 10 that I would take a chance on. First: Villanueva- 19th best SP in free agency, he has pitched for the Blue Jays, and anybody who pitches in that division gets about a .5ERA nock off, pitching anywhere else IMO. 3.42 ERA in 14 starts, 118 IP, his value is $6.4 Million a year. About a K, an inning. This guy is 29, and I would take a chance on somebody like this. Dice K- I know what you would think, we don't need another injury bug, but the deal is, if we are going to gamble on somebody, which we do every year, I say lets give him a chance. He is 32, coming off injury, he didn't put up good numbers right away, I think he is coming back strong, reports are good, I would even overpay, to take a chance at him. We need a top of the rotation guy, he could be it at a discounted price. Pavano- I really think Pavano wants to stay, I would not pay an extra penny of his expected worth, which is tough to say because of injury. I don't think it is a big chance on him, I mean look at the 3 years previous he has had 200 IP, if we can get him at a (I like the organization, I want to stay) price, I don't think that is a problem as long as he is recognized as a number 2-3 guy. So after all of that searching, and by the way here is the list in order, to take a look at and have your own opinion. http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=sta&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2012&month=0&season1=2012&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=945,6428,1937,583,1,1142,1650,2073,6176,718,45,8219,46,126,548,8585,81,4849,6387,4759,1995,4022,1412,1855,4788,2179,906,813,2467,375,1571,1243,1767,273,185,2047,517,1392,1771,555,4251,1442,278,6283,1601,3886,3912,4684,1906,429,3263,1077,818,1845,520,1794,1793,1943,521,2072,1573,1926,1875,1772,1757,729,4593,1116,3273,1305,8245,1307,1213,731,8267,607,470,656,2437,1841,8645,2234,1702,96,332,19,3856,1930,3283,1698,3731,243,1259,563,4604,3201,739,4556,3114,199,7416,1260,1312,1852,6204,105,4616,1659,7775,4662,106,25,1467,1091,962,1658,3057,1556,296,206,1638,745,571,1617,2886,964,2918,2129,790,1051,934,535,2332,443,746,1176,2170,1824,7986,1475,7619,843,844,1642,970,754,1760,1551,6021,3284,7507,3200,4366,795,3469,1555,3867,2197,4606,6941,1101,4599,10091,3811,409,1135,2265,5015,1726,1677,4138,411,2074,1012,1491,1017,976,715,1935,3196,2140,305,1904 At this point all I can say is this is what I would do!?! I would take the biggest chances on Villanueva and Dice K, lets say we got those guys. I would say Baker wouldn't be ready to go opening day, I would give hope that Gibson may be, we will be optimistic, so then you would have the void of one of these guys, (Pavano, Hendriks, Deduno) I am just putting one of them in there. It could look like this. Dice K Villanueva Gibson Pavano Diamond How much would that cost the Twins next year to have that starting rotation, then having Baker coming back off of injury, and pay him the $9.25M next year, which I don't think will happen, but I think the Twins will try to resign him for less, and do so. Is $25.5 to little to say that could happen, is $25.5 too much to completely revamp the starting lineup? The Twins spent $24 on SP in 2012. What can you expect, if you find an Ace, that is $20 for one pitcher, if you look at this we added 3. You take Span off the books, which you may be able to swap one of those guys for a pitcher if that is what he gets traded for. I am not sure, but I think this is what I would do. To be competitive next season you are going to have to spend money, if you don't completely gut everything including the managers, and start over if you can.

I totally agree, that would make my entire MLB year.

WRONG!!

First off, I finally got a chance to watch T.K.'s speech after retiring his number. I have to say I haven't seen a more nervous person give a speech. I thought when Hrbek said that a lot of his number being up there has a lot do with the number standing next to me was pretty cool. I thought T.K. had a decent speech, I would have liked to hear a few more stories. I thought Morneaus enthusiasm about the entire thing made me really want to keep him around, he is one guy who I think appreciates baseball more than a lot of players. I only know T.K. and Gardy, I am expecting a baby in November, boy or girl, I hope they play sports and I hope I can teach my kids about all the little things that you do right to play well. There is obviously going to be a lot of talk about Morneau in the offseason. I really would like him to stay as a fan. Terry Ryan is going to have a lot to think about this winter. Parmalee had a year in AAA that should give him a spot to play in 2013 regularly, which I am hoping is right field. I would still like to see Morneau stick around. He has been my favorite Twins since he came up. For the first time in a few years I think we can be pretty close to looking at this for a lineup with defensive positions. 1. Revere (CF) 2. Mastroanni, (wish it were Mauer) (LF) 3. Mauer © 4. Willingham (DH) 5. Morneau (1B) 6. Doumit/Parmalee 7. Plouffe (3B) 8. Escobar (2B) ??? 9. Dozier (SS) ??? Yes the bottom 2 guys are going to be a few question marks, but I don't see it changing to significantly unless they go out and get a SS. My biggest hopes for the Twins next year are keeping Morneau, trading Span, keeping Doumit, and giving Parmalee a chance to play most days, rotating between RF, 1B, DH. It would be really nice having that extra bench option rotating guys in there. The Baltimore Orioles!!!!!!!!!!!!! The last game I officially watched that didn't include the Minnesota Twins in the game was in 1995 when Ripken broke the record, and I still remember Berman doing the game and calling it when he made it. So that was 17 years ago! As I write this the Orioles are 1 game behind the almighty Yankees who had a 10 game lead in August. How can you not root for Showalter and the Baltimore Orioles. They get a new/(old) look this year, with 40% of the payroll the Yankees do, and they have a chance to win the East. It looks like the East is going to get 2 into the playoffs, and it is going to be very interesting. If I could hope for anything it would be Orioles #1, Rays #2, Yankees go packing. I root for 2 things in MLB, the Minnesota Twins first and for most, and the Yankees losing as often as possible, the Minnesota Twins play the New York Yankees from 24th of September to the 26th and September and all I can hope is the Twins taking at least 2 of 3. The team I am rooting for going forward this MLB season is from the AL East, which will always be a rarity, but go Baltimore Orioles!

First off, I finally got a chance to watch T.K.'s speech after retiring his number. I have to say I haven't seen a more nervous person give a speech. I thought when Hrbek said that a lot of his number being up there has a lot do with the number standing next to me was pretty cool. I thought T.K. had a decent speech, I would have liked to hear a few more stories. I thought Morneaus enthusiasm about the entire thing made me really want to keep him around, he is one guy who I think appreciates baseball more than a lot of players. I only know T.K. and Gardy, I am expecting a baby in November, boy or girl, I hope they play sports and I hope I can teach my kids about all the little things that you do right to play well. There is obviously going to be a lot of talk about Morneau in the offseason. I really would like him to stay as a fan. Terry Ryan is going to have a lot to think about this winter. Parmalee had a year in AAA that should give him a spot to play in 2013 regularly, which I am hoping is right field. I would still like to see Morneau stick around. He has been my favorite Twins since he came up. For the first time in a few years I think we can be pretty close to looking at this for a lineup with defensive positions. 1. Revere (CF) 2. Mastroanni, (wish it were Mauer) (LF) 3. Mauer © 4. Willingham (DH) 5. Morneau (1B) 6. Doumit/Parmalee 7. Plouffe (3B) 8. Escobar (2B) ??? 9. Dozier (SS) ??? Yes the bottom 2 guys are going to be a few question marks, but I don't see it changing to significantly unless they go out and get a SS. My biggest hopes for the Twins next year are keeping Morneau, trading Span, keeping Doumit, and giving Parmalee a chance to play most days, rotating between RF, 1B, DH. It would be really nice having that extra bench option rotating guys in there. The Baltimore Orioles!!!!!!!!!!!!! The last game I officially watched that didn't include the Minnesota Twins in the game was in 1995 when Ripken broke the record, and I still remember Berman doing the game and calling it when he made it. So that was 17 years ago! As I write this the Orioles are 1 game behind the almighty Yankees who had a 10 game lead in August. How can you not root for Showalter and the Baltimore Orioles. They get a new/(old) look this year, with 40% of the payroll the Yankees do, and they have a chance to win the East. It looks like the East is going to get 2 into the playoffs, and it is going to be very interesting. If I could hope for anything it would be Orioles #1, Rays #2, Yankees go packing. I root for 2 things in MLB, the Minnesota Twins first and for most, and the Yankees losing as often as possible, the Minnesota Twins play the New York Yankees from 24th of September to the 26th and September and all I can hope is the Twins taking at least 2 of 3. The team I am rooting for going forward this MLB season is from the AL East, which will always be a rarity, but go Baltimore Orioles!

Early on Sunday morning in the midst of the Minnesota Twins trying to sweep the high and mighty Boston Red Sox, the Sox were trying to get the starting 3B for the Twins. When Terry Ryan heard about this he was trying to assess his worth. Ryan had him pegged for about a 6 pack of long sox for his players. The Sox called Terry Ryan and Sox offered the Twins a tub of eye paint. Terry Ryan knew that Valencia would be a perfect fit for the arrogant Red Sox, and it totally made sense that the Red Sox would be calling. Being as crafty as Ryan is in getting talent for marginal players he hung up and started looking for all options since he was already ahead of what he thought Valencia was worth, he was going to try and make an impact move since he was unable to do anything at the deadline. 2 things were going through Ryan's head 1. No matter what we are taking offer one, 2. This is the ideal time to get rid of him as Boston is the best place possible for his arrogant pompous ass attitude, and the Red Sox would pay extra for him, lets see what we can do. Ryan calls back with a couple names from Bostons farm system, they quickly say no, which was fine, but upped the price for Valencia, Boston came back with a year supply of Big League Chew, this is a really good deal at this point, but Ryan said no deal and threw out one last name in a last ditch effort to actually get a player for Valencia, Pineda, 21, hit .421 with 22 RBIs in 36 games for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox this season. He's a switch-hitter and is capable of playing all three outfield positions. HE DID IT, he pulled threw a deal for someone who is worth a 6 pack of socks to getting a real player. If you have read my posts before I am the biggest Valencia hater, he is my least favorite Twins player ever. This is obviously a mockery of what happened, but in my mind that is what would have went through it. Danny Valencia, the uncoachable, horrible team player, pompous ass went to the absolute perfect team, the debacle of the Boston Red Sox since losing Epstein is in perfect motion. I have had soo much fun watching the Twins the last week and a half. Blowing out Clevelend, playing good baseball against there biggest rival, which they could have won all 3 games, and beating 3/4 against the Red Sox. Common denominator----------- Good Starting pitching. The Twins lineup is very good right now. Who isn't having fun watching Revere batting over .300, Morneau really heating up against everybody, especially getting over his struggles against LHP. Mastroanni teaching everyone how to steal bases, he is a fun player to watch out there. The Twins have obviously been so bad in SP, but they win ball games just getting quality starts. When the Twins are in the playoff run I absolutely love watching the team, this year they are completely out, yet I love watching every game almost just as much as they are a competitive team. All we can hope is that the Twins rookie pitchers continue to throw good ball games the rest of the year so the Twins have some options. Not saying the DeVries, Deduno, Walters will be starters next year, but damn wouldn't it be great to have options. It is going to be a very important off season for the Twins to get pitching. I am sure Terry Ryan is going to try to make moves for an impact Ace no matter what happens the rest of the year, he is unlikely going to succeed, so we are going to just add a 3, or 4 guy or guys, but at least we have major league ready options next year. DeVries, Deduno, Walters, Diamond are going to have key starts through September, I hope they are quality starts so the Twins can have options and confidence going into the 2013 season.

Early on Sunday morning in the midst of the Minnesota Twins trying to sweep the high and mighty Boston Red Sox, the Sox were trying to get the starting 3B for the Twins. When Terry Ryan heard about this he was trying to assess his worth. Ryan had him pegged for about a 6 pack of long sox for his players. The Sox called Terry Ryan and Sox offered the Twins a tub of eye paint. Terry Ryan knew that Valencia would be a perfect fit for the arrogant Red Sox, and it totally made sense that the Red Sox would be calling. Being as crafty as Ryan is in getting talent for marginal players he hung up and started looking for all options since he was already ahead of what he thought Valencia was worth, he was going to try and make an impact move since he was unable to do anything at the deadline. 2 things were going through Ryan's head 1. No matter what we are taking offer one, 2. This is the ideal time to get rid of him as Boston is the best place possible for his arrogant pompous ass attitude, and the Red Sox would pay extra for him, lets see what we can do. Ryan calls back with a couple names from Bostons farm system, they quickly say no, which was fine, but upped the price for Valencia, Boston came back with a year supply of Big League Chew, this is a really good deal at this point, but Ryan said no deal and threw out one last name in a last ditch effort to actually get a player for Valencia, Pineda, 21, hit .421 with 22 RBIs in 36 games for the Gulf Coast League Red Sox this season. He's a switch-hitter and is capable of playing all three outfield positions. HE DID IT, he pulled threw a deal for someone who is worth a 6 pack of socks to getting a real player. If you have read my posts before I am the biggest Valencia hater, he is my least favorite Twins player ever. This is obviously a mockery of what happened, but in my mind that is what would have went through it. Danny Valencia, the uncoachable, horrible team player, pompous ass went to the absolute perfect team, the debacle of the Boston Red Sox since losing Epstein is in perfect motion. I have had soo much fun watching the Twins the last week and a half. Blowing out Clevelend, playing good baseball against there biggest rival, which they could have won all 3 games, and beating 3/4 against the Red Sox. Common denominator----------- Good Starting pitching. The Twins lineup is very good right now. Who isn't having fun watching Revere batting over .300, Morneau really heating up against everybody, especially getting over his struggles against LHP. Mastroanni teaching everyone how to steal bases, he is a fun player to watch out there. The Twins have obviously been so bad in SP, but they win ball games just getting quality starts. When the Twins are in the playoff run I absolutely love watching the team, this year they are completely out, yet I love watching every game almost just as much as they are a competitive team. All we can hope is that the Twins rookie pitchers continue to throw good ball games the rest of the year so the Twins have some options. Not saying the DeVries, Deduno, Walters will be starters next year, but damn wouldn't it be great to have options. It is going to be a very important off season for the Twins to get pitching. I am sure Terry Ryan is going to try to make moves for an impact Ace no matter what happens the rest of the year, he is unlikely going to succeed, so we are going to just add a 3, or 4 guy or guys, but at least we have major league ready options next year. DeVries, Deduno, Walters, Diamond are going to have key starts through September, I hope they are quality starts so the Twins can have options and confidence going into the 2013 season.

The Liriano deal is done. When I heard this deal, and the timing of the deal I was quite surprised. First, why are we trading top tier potential pitching to the AL Central? Why are we trading before his next scheduled start? Are you sure there isn't going to be a better deal out there? I can't answer these questions but I can speculate. My speculation is that Liriano is hiding an injury, didn't want to take the chance at him putting a stinker out there vs the Indians and lose all value. I am quite sure there was interest from a lot of teams for Liriano. Every team knew we weren't pursuing a longer term contract and are looking to get something for him. The White Sox came a calling and now we have a utility guy and a 23 year old pitcher. I don't know much about them, and we can all look that stuff up. John Bonnes came up with about 20 reasons why he hated the trade, and labeled it one of the worst. I am not sold on that yet, as we don't know all of the details on Liriano's health. If he is healthy, then I really don't get it at all, we could have waited til Tuesday. The Indians are horrible vs LHP, Liriano is at home, this was a perfect time for Liriano to make up for his last start. Something doesn't smell right!!!!! The Gardy rumblings are calling once again, as it happened in April/May. I specifically wrote it was time for a change, even though I really like Gardy. Gardy wants to manage this team, and I think he will. You can't compete as a ballclub without starting pitching. We have had horrible starting pitching this year. We have had injuries that have obviously not helped out the situation. I still think the Twins are bought into Gardy, and I personally changed my stance on him earlier this year, thinking we shuld keep him around. I am a Danny Valencia hater I guess you could say. I have always said he is a plague to this team. That being said, this is his last time to shine. If he can't get things going given this opportunity it is all she wrote and we should try and trade him for anything. Now on the flip side of this, lets say I am wrong and Valencia come back with and plays like he did in 2010. To have a good 3B, and Plouffe playing SS or 2nd that would be a very big upgrade in the lineup. Or better yet, IMO, he plays really well and we have the ability to trade him in the offseason. I found out on Friday that we got some good seats for the Twins game on Tuesday, find out Saturday that Liriano got traded, and looking at the projected starters for Tuesday I get to see Liriano for the first time in a dreaded White Sox uniform. That part will be fun, bad part is I was at the last game Blackburn faced the White Sox and gave up like 13 hits. I am hoping by Tuesday we don't trade Willingham, Morneau, or Span.

The Liriano deal is done. When I heard this deal, and the timing of the deal I was quite surprised. First, why are we trading top tier potential pitching to the AL Central? Why are we trading before his next scheduled start? Are you sure there isn't going to be a better deal out there? I can't answer these questions but I can speculate. My speculation is that Liriano is hiding an injury, didn't want to take the chance at him putting a stinker out there vs the Indians and lose all value. I am quite sure there was interest from a lot of teams for Liriano. Every team knew we weren't pursuing a longer term contract and are looking to get something for him. The White Sox came a calling and now we have a utility guy and a 23 year old pitcher. I don't know much about them, and we can all look that stuff up. John Bonnes came up with about 20 reasons why he hated the trade, and labeled it one of the worst. I am not sold on that yet, as we don't know all of the details on Liriano's health. If he is healthy, then I really don't get it at all, we could have waited til Tuesday. The Indians are horrible vs LHP, Liriano is at home, this was a perfect time for Liriano to make up for his last start. Something doesn't smell right!!!!! The Gardy rumblings are calling once again, as it happened in April/May. I specifically wrote it was time for a change, even though I really like Gardy. Gardy wants to manage this team, and I think he will. You can't compete as a ballclub without starting pitching. We have had horrible starting pitching this year. We have had injuries that have obviously not helped out the situation. I still think the Twins are bought into Gardy, and I personally changed my stance on him earlier this year, thinking we shuld keep him around. I am a Danny Valencia hater I guess you could say. I have always said he is a plague to this team. That being said, this is his last time to shine. If he can't get things going given this opportunity it is all she wrote and we should try and trade him for anything. Now on the flip side of this, lets say I am wrong and Valencia come back with and plays like he did in 2010. To have a good 3B, and Plouffe playing SS or 2nd that would be a very big upgrade in the lineup. Or better yet, IMO, he plays really well and we have the ability to trade him in the offseason. I found out on Friday that we got some good seats for the Twins game on Tuesday, find out Saturday that Liriano got traded, and looking at the projected starters for Tuesday I get to see Liriano for the first time in a dreaded White Sox uniform. That part will be fun, bad part is I was at the last game Blackburn faced the White Sox and gave up like 13 hits. I am hoping by Tuesday we don't trade Willingham, Morneau, or Span.

The Legion of Doom was awsome!!!!!!!!!!!

So baseball is the main sport going on right now. Unfortunately our Minnesota Twins conversations are pretty much surrounding the trade deadline which is unfortunate. As I watched the Twins at Sox game I was also recording the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw. I quit watching the Twins game when the Twins got another first guy on base being down 7-2 and failing to do anything with it. I switched it to the recording of the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw that started in 1993 when I was 13 years old. I am 32 years old now and I have probably watched 3 Monday Night Raw episodes in 8 years. I will have to admit that I did have to download Wrestle Mania when I heard the Rock was going to be there. The Rock was probably my favorite wrestler ever, and brought back memories of watching Raw with the family. Both my parents sucked it up and watched Saturday Night Main Event, which then got bigger to Sunday Mornings, which then was prime time on Monday Night. Both my parents to this day say they still enjoyed it once they got into it. I sat here watched Raw tonight, my wife came home and was utterly embarrassed that I watched this show tonight. I told her about my favorite wrestlers and how cool it was watching wrestling back in the day. I think I was 15, my friends and I would go to each others houses pay $5 to the parents that ordered it and had a good time, probably watched wrestling til I was 20. It was entertaining. This is a Minnesota Twins blog, but I have all the right in the world to post whatever I want in my mind and I think people enjoyed wrestling, and I wasn't really disappointed watching the 1,000th episode of RAW. I wanted to throw out some of my favorite moments in my era of watching wrestling. I am going to try and make this a top 10. 10. All I can say is Road Warriors. I used to love the tag team of Hawk and Animal. I loved the outfits coming down to the ring. My favorite tag team ever. 9. The Ultimate Warrior vs Hulk Hogan WrestleMania 6. When I looked up the year of 1990 I couldn't believe I remember this match and I was 10. The ultimate warrior got me hooked to wrestling I think. He was one of the first to really have more movement in the ring, add more agility to wrestling. 8. Shawn Michaels vs Triple H I remember this match, looked it up it was a Summer Slam match in 2002. All I remember was Triple H really breaking into the seen, Shawn Michaels stole the show all of the time, rightly so, but Triple H was becoming bigger and bigger. This match made Triple H what he is still today. 7. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock in Wrestlemania 17 (2001) Both were the most polarizing figures in wrestling at the time. This is about the end of my era watching wrestling. 6. Hulk Hogan slamming Andre the Giant. I can't say that I watched this live, but I did watch the behind the scenes and the match, which is what propelled the WWE to what it is today. This would normally be higher, but I was too young. 5. When Hulk Hogan came back to the WWE as the good guy, first time back to the WWE playing the "Real American" Song. 4. [h=1]THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND JAKE "THE SNAKE" ROBERTS BATTLE FOR THE VACATED MILLION DOLLAR CHAMPIONSHIP[/h] Don't know why I remember this, I guess I loved Jake the Snake Roberts, hated the million dollar man w/ Virgil, which I hated. All I wanted was the snake to go over Ted Dibiase and it never happened and I was pissed. 3. I will never forget the Hell in the Cell match between Undertaker and Mankind. Mankind went through the top of the cage. He landed on tacks, he went through the table. This match was unbelievable knowing what these guys had to go through physically. 2. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon throughout the years of Monday Night Raw which kept me watching as he was thoroughly entertaining. 1. The Rock overall kept me watching wrestling and the stupid sayings he had. "Do you smell what the Rock is cooking", Really, that is what is main saying was and it was great every time. Favorite wrestlers of all time I guess in no particular order. Junkyard Dog Macho Man Randy Savage Jake the Snake Roberts The Rockers, Marty Janetti/Shawn Michaels The Road Warriors Hulk Hogan Stone Cold Steve Austin ManKind Undertaker George "the Animal" Steel The Rock

So baseball is the main sport going on right now. Unfortunately our Minnesota Twins conversations are pretty much surrounding the trade deadline which is unfortunate. As I watched the Twins at Sox game I was also recording the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw. I quit watching the Twins game when the Twins got another first guy on base being down 7-2 and failing to do anything with it. I switched it to the recording of the 1000th episode of Monday Night Raw that started in 1993 when I was 13 years old. I am 32 years old now and I have probably watched 3 Monday Night Raw episodes in 8 years. I will have to admit that I did have to download Wrestle Mania when I heard the Rock was going to be there. The Rock was probably my favorite wrestler ever, and brought back memories of watching Raw with the family. Both my parents sucked it up and watched Saturday Night Main Event, which then got bigger to Sunday Mornings, which then was prime time on Monday Night. Both my parents to this day say they still enjoyed it once they got into it. I sat here watched Raw tonight, my wife came home and was utterly embarrassed that I watched this show tonight. I told her about my favorite wrestlers and how cool it was watching wrestling back in the day. I think I was 15, my friends and I would go to each others houses pay $5 to the parents that ordered it and had a good time, probably watched wrestling til I was 20. It was entertaining. This is a Minnesota Twins blog, but I have all the right in the world to post whatever I want in my mind and I think people enjoyed wrestling, and I wasn't really disappointed watching the 1,000th episode of RAW. I wanted to throw out some of my favorite moments in my era of watching wrestling. I am going to try and make this a top 10. 10. All I can say is Road Warriors. I used to love the tag team of Hawk and Animal. I loved the outfits coming down to the ring. My favorite tag team ever. 9. The Ultimate Warrior vs Hulk Hogan WrestleMania 6. When I looked up the year of 1990 I couldn't believe I remember this match and I was 10. The ultimate warrior got me hooked to wrestling I think. He was one of the first to really have more movement in the ring, add more agility to wrestling. 8. Shawn Michaels vs Triple H I remember this match, looked it up it was a Summer Slam match in 2002. All I remember was Triple H really breaking into the seen, Shawn Michaels stole the show all of the time, rightly so, but Triple H was becoming bigger and bigger. This match made Triple H what he is still today. 7. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs The Rock in Wrestlemania 17 (2001) Both were the most polarizing figures in wrestling at the time. This is about the end of my era watching wrestling. 6. Hulk Hogan slamming Andre the Giant. I can't say that I watched this live, but I did watch the behind the scenes and the match, which is what propelled the WWE to what it is today. This would normally be higher, but I was too young. 5. When Hulk Hogan came back to the WWE as the good guy, first time back to the WWE playing the "Real American" Song. 4. [h=1]THE MILLION DOLLAR MAN AND JAKE "THE SNAKE" ROBERTS BATTLE FOR THE VACATED MILLION DOLLAR CHAMPIONSHIP[/h] Don't know why I remember this, I guess I loved Jake the Snake Roberts, hated the million dollar man w/ Virgil, which I hated. All I wanted was the snake to go over Ted Dibiase and it never happened and I was pissed. 3. I will never forget the Hell in the Cell match between Undertaker and Mankind. Mankind went through the top of the cage. He landed on tacks, he went through the table. This match was unbelievable knowing what these guys had to go through physically. 2. Stone Cold Steve Austin vs Vince McMahon throughout the years of Monday Night Raw which kept me watching as he was thoroughly entertaining. 1. The Rock overall kept me watching wrestling and the stupid sayings he had. "Do you smell what the Rock is cooking", Really, that is what is main saying was and it was great every time. Favorite wrestlers of all time I guess in no particular order. Junkyard Dog Macho Man Randy Savage Jake the Snake Roberts The Rockers, Marty Janetti/Shawn Michaels The Road Warriors Hulk Hogan Stone Cold Steve Austin ManKind Undertaker George "the Animal" Steel The Rock