Hey Everyone,

Not sure who is out there but hopefully someone is!    Anyway, for those that don't know my name is Joe and I've been a Twins fan since I was six years old.  I hope you find this blog entertaining and thought provoking.  Let's get started shall we?!

In my first entry I'd like to discuss how the Twins acquired a new shortstop for the 2010 season and what I think of the acquisition and also the news that was announced today, that they are going to be wearing new uniforms next year.

The Twins have acquired shortstop J.J. Hardy from the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Carlos Gomez.  I am excited about this acquisition.  It potentially fills a very big need for the Twins, a right-handed bat with good power and an infielder at a position of need.  It thins out the Twins depth in the outfield but they still have four guys who are capable of playing out there everyday and you can only have three out there everyday.  Gomez is very talented but he gets way too excited when he's at the plate a lot of the time which causes him to swing wildly and strike out a lot.  He has the potential to be special at the plate if he ever calms down his approach.  He is an excellent defender as well.

Continue reading "A new shortstop and new uniforms!"

Hey Everyone,

The results of the American League Cy Young Award voting has been announced and the winner is Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals over Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners.  Greinke posted a 2.16 ERA in 229.1 innings, striking out 242 batters and walking just 51 and won 16 games for the last place Royals.  If you are interested in the story and how the voting actually went, you can see the story here, http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4663979

My feelings on this is that the correct man won.  Yes I know he was on a last place team but that, to me, makes it more impressive.  The man was just dominant and managed to win 16 games on a team that was terrible.  Think of what he could have done had he been on the Yankees, Phillies or take your pick of any team better than Kansas City!  He most likely would have won 20 or more games!  Would love to read anyone else's thoughts and if you feel the right man or the wrong man won this award.  Take care everyone.

Continue reading "Royals Greinke wins AL Cy Young"

Hey all,

Managers Mike Scioscia of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies were named the Managers of the Year in the American and National Leagues respectively today.  Ron Gardenhire of the Twins and Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals finished second in the voting in the respective leagues.

Of course I wish Gardy would have won the award in the AL but I don't have a huge problem with this.  Mike Scioscia is a great manager and his team plays much like the Twins are supposed to play, not a lot of stars, just a bunch of good players with low to no egos who do things the right way and win most of the time.  Also remember that his team went through a really tough situation earlier this year when rookie Nick Adenhart was killed by a drunk driver after his firt major league win this year.  To guide a team, after an event such as that, to the ALCS can't be an easy thing.  

Continue reading "Angels' Scioscia, Rockies' Tracy win Manager of the Year awards"

Hey Everyone,

The National League Cy Young Award winner was announced today and it is Tim Lincecum of the San Fransisco Giants for the second year in a row.  He becomes the first repeat winner since Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Randy Johnson, who ironically was a teammate of Lincecum's this past season.

The vote was a close one with Lincecum beating out St. Louis Cardinal teammates Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright.  Only 10 points separated the top three vote-getters. Carpenter was second and Wainwright finished third despite getting the most first-place votes.

Lincecum received 11 first-place votes, 12 seconds and nine thirds for 100 points in balloting released by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Carpenter had nine firsts, 14 seconds and seven thirds to take second with 94.

Continue reading "Lincecum wins NL Cy Young Award, free agency signing period begins tonight!"

Hey All,

Hope your Monday is going well.  For those not aware, today is the day we find out who wins the American League MVP award.  The main contenders appear to be Derek Jeter and Mark Teixeira of the New York Yankees and Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins. Mauer is said to be the odds on favorite.

If indeed Mauer wins as expected, this is both good and bad for the Twins.  It is good, obviously, not only because Mauer had maybe the greatest season ever produced by a catcher, hitting .365, 28 home runs and 96 RBI even though he missed all of April with an inflamed joint in his back.   But also because it brings more attention to just how great of a player he has been, is and will be for years to come barring injury.  It also sheds a good deal of light on the Twins as an organization who would have had two MVP winners in the last 4 seasons in Mauer and Justin Morneau.

Continue reading "AL MVP Vote to come today. Why Mauer winning is both good and bad."

Hey Folks,

The results are in and yes, as expected, Twins catcher Joe Mauer has been named the American League MVP receiving 27 of 28 first place votes.  To read more about this, check out this story:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/71639757.html?elr=KArksi8c

He is the second Twin to win the award in the last four years, Justin Morneau being the other in 2006.  He is the 5th Twin to win the award all-time.

Take care everyone.

Joe

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Continue reading "It's official, Mauer named MVP"

Hey All,

Well, I don't have a ton to say today.  St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols was named the National League MVP this afternoon.  He was voted this unanimously.  He received all 32 first-place votes and 448 points in balloting announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.  Florida's Hanley Ramirez, the NL batting champion, was second with 233 points, followed by Philadelphia's Ryan Howard (217) and Milwaukee's Prince Fielder (203), who tied Howard for the big league lead in RBIs.  This is the third time he's been voted the MVP in his career. 

No problem with this whatsoever on my part.  Pujols is definitely the best player in the National League, if not the entire sport and is most definitely the most feared hitter in the sport today.  Personally, my feeling is that Pujols is second behind Joe Mauer as best player in the entire league simply because he plays first base while Mauer is a catcher, a much more demanding defensive position.

Continue reading "Albert Pujols named NL MVP"

Hello Everyone,

I don't have a ton to say today, basically because there hasn't been much going on in the world of baseball lately.  I mean, if you really want, I can break down the Blue Jays acquisition of Alex Gonzalez but I'm guessing you all would be in a coma by the end of that!

I just wanted to give my two cents as to why we haven't seen much action in the free agent market yet.  I believe that it's due to the affects of 1. a slow economy and 2. the fact that the date for clubs to offer or decline offers of arbitration to free agents hasn't come yet.  I really believe that once we see this date come and clubs make those decisions, the signings will start to happen.

Basically what offering or not offering arbitration means to clubs wanting to sign free agents is they find out if signing said free agent will cost them a draft pick or not.  Also, if the player accepts the arbitration offer, then he will go back to the team that offered it to him, which is why a lot of teams will not offer arbitration to some of their free agents, because they don't want him back!  Or, maybe they do want him back but for more than just one year in which case, they will want to try and work out a multi-year deal instead.

Continue reading "First ten days of free agency a real yawn fest"