Wow
That title just about covers how I feel: wow. As everyone knows by now, the Twins won the American League Central Pennant last night by beating the Detroit Tigers in 12 innings. Almost everyone came up big for the Twins, considering they used 12 position players and eight pitchers.
Scott Baker survived his trademark big inning to turn in a quality start; Jon Rauch continued to impress me with his late inning performances; Bobby Keppel is my new hero; Alexi Casilla (or Sexi Lexi, as I lovingly call him) was clutch for us AGAIN; GoGo made things happen; O-Cab came up big with a go ahead homer and a game saving double play; Punto took great at-bats and got himself on base; Kubel’s moon shot (or Kubes Shot, as I call it); Tolbert’s clutch game tying hit; Nathans fireman work; Mahay’s ownage of Granderson; Cuddy’s good at bats and good defense (for a right fielder, he’s pretty good at getting the tag down when he’s pulled up off the bag); Mauer being Mauer; Delmon scaring them into walking him; Crain, though he gave up a run, pitched well and had great stuff; oh man, I could keep going.
One thing that leaves a slightly sour taste in my mouth was the game had by home plate umpire Randy Marsh. He squeezed Matty G and Baker BAD: I counted 4-5 pitches that came in just below the waist and broke to about 3 inches above the knees, right in the center of the dish, called balls. Porcello was getting those, and Rodney’s pitches (even lower, I might add) were called strikes. I do have to say, though, Nathan did get a LOT of favorable calls which helped us greatly. However, the real source of the sourness was the missed “hit by pitch” call on Inge. Now, it just grazed his jersey and the bases were loaded: the umpire could have totally decided he wasn’t going to let the winning run score that way and that it was so close he could claim he missed it. I’m not saying that’s right, but it could have happened. More likely: it was so loud in the ‘Dome, he just couldn’t hear the hit. It happens, umps miss things like that, but I’m sure Tigers fans are still groaning about it today. And rightfully so.
Time to face the Yanks! With zero time to rest, the Comeback Twins must now find the energy to take on the monster that is the New York All-Star Tea… er.. Yankees. Sure, the Twins are 0-7 against them this year. Sure, the Yanks have the best offense money can buy. Sure, they also bought the two best pitchers available last winter. Who cares? This Twins team has been written off so many times, I can’t put anything past them anymore.
That being said, the pitching match-up isn’t very favorable: Duensing vs. Sabathia. We can only hope that Duensing can be craft enough to fool Yankees hitters who haven’t seen much of him and that Sabathia will continue to struggle in the playoffs. His TERRIBLE final start of the season either means he will have corrected his flaw and be tuned up for the post season, or that he’s fatigued and the Twins might be able to jump all over him. He has wrecked the Twins in the past, so we will have to see.
The Line-up for tonight’s game:
Span CF
Cabrera SS
Mauer C
Cuddyer 1B
Kubel RF
Young LF
Harris DH
Tolbert 3B
Punto 2B
I only have one problem with it: no Carlos Gomez. Jose Morales was schooled by Porcello last night (I think he swung and missed six times, striking out twice) so Harris will get the start instead. While that move by itself is rational and understandable, I would have rather seen Gomez in center, Span in left, Young in right and Kubel DHing. In my opinion, the benefit of having Gomez and Span in the outfield far outweighs the offensive bump obtained by having Harris DH. I shudder every time I think of Kubel and Young gimping and bumbling around at the corners. Gardy’s decisions have works so far, so LETS DO THIS!
I have to admit, it feels really weird to be here without Morneau in the line-up. It makes me a feel a little guilty: its pretty sad to see him sitting on the bench, unable to help his team. If the ‘Dome is going to crack the spine of our MVPs, maybe a couple rain outs will be tolerable after all.
Coming Up Short
Bag ‘em and tag ‘em. Stick a fork in them. The fat lady is singing. No flying pigs in sight.
Losing to Eddie Bonine and the Tigers last night was pretty much a nail in the coffin. Even if the Twins win tonight, the Tigers can clinch by only winning one more game (or the Twins losing one more for that matter). The revelation isn’t too crushing though; I’ve readied myself for their elimination for the past month. They are missing 60% of their rotation, their starting third baseman, their All-Star first baseman and Matt Tolbert is in the starting line-up. If that isn’t a recipe for elimination, I don’t know what is. Respect has to be paid, though, considering the run the team made during September. Gardenhire was able to keep winning with a massively flawed team, Bill Smith turned a freaking disaster into just a massively flawed team, and the players themselves never gave up. Not to mention that Cuddyer guy mashing the ball while filling in admirably at first base.
And as much as the Santana and Tampa trades are still stinging, Bill Smith did a pretty good job this year. His moves were shrewd but also added value: Mahay has been a good LOOGY, Rauch has been good and will be here next year, Pavano has been a big part of the stretch run and Orlando Cabrera has been average at short while being a good motivator in the clubhouse. (O-Cab hasn’t been great, but he improved the black hole in the two-hole) The Front Office has also been more aggressive at handing out bonuses to young talent. They went above the slot recommendation to land first round draft pick Kyle Gibson, who had the option of going back to college to regain top 5 money he lost when a stress fracture in his arm shortened his Junior season. Max Kepler-Rozycki, a top Euopean prospect, was signed for nearly $800,000. Jorge Polanco, a shortstop from the Dominican Republic, was also signed. And the big one: Miguel Angel Sano was signed for a record $3.1 million dollars. If someone told me the Twins would be setting the record for a bonus paid to a international position player (Cubans excluded), I probably would have laughed in their face.
I like the aggression because I think it’s informed and calculated aggression. After seemingly getting walked all over in the Santana debacle, Smith went toe-to-toe with Scott Boras and was able to sign Joe Crede to a frugal, incentive laden deal that has been proven to be a wise move. Kyle Gibson dropped from Top 5 status to pick #22 because of a stress fracture in his arm and the Twins scooped him up after checking his medical records. They were even nice enough to realize that he had more talent than most #22 picks and gave him more money than recommended for his draft placement. This not only got him to sign instead of going back to college to raise his value, it most likely made a good first impression with Gibson: the Twins knew his value and didn’t try to screw him out of his bonus.
And then there is the Sano signing: from reading several articles it looks like the Twins were able to sign Miguel out from under the nose of the Pirates because the Twins were much better at forming a relationship with the Dominican’s family and agent. They also shelled out $3.1 million dollars for the kid, which is refreshing. I even read an article that quoted owner Jim Pohlad saying that he encouraged the team to go out and sign Sano. A filthy rich owner encouraging the Team to spend money? Yes please.
What does all this mean?
Is Bill Smith getting the hang of being a General Manager? I agree that the Santana trade hasn’t worked out, and that the Delmon trade has been a disaster, but maybe they were instrumental to his development as a GM. After seeing Delmon fizzle it’s possible that he is now more cautious with his gambles, making sure he considers the risks as well as the potential benefits.
Is the front office trying to impress Joe Mauer? It’s not secret that the Twins need to lock up Mauer this off-season before he hits the open market. What better way to keep him there than a new ballpark and spending money on top-tier talent?
If Smith will shell out money for prospects, is he going to pick up the Mauer bill for six-to-eight more year? God, I hope so.
Will Billy carry this aggression over into the off-season? I’m not sure how much money will be left after a potential Mauer extension, but could he possibly make some high-reward free agents? I don’t mean signing all the best free agents available, like the Yankees seem to do, but I can see them giving Harden a shot. He’s an injury risk (or injury guarantee) but he’s nasty when healthy. I can also see them going after Pavano for a couple year deal; he seems to fit in nicely with the club and isn’t too shabby a pitcher.
That’s why I love this team: good baseball, good people and always interesting.
Twins news a year ago:
Twins fall in AL Central tiebreaker – How fitting.
Orlando Cabrera is a Twin
There you go guys, you got your man. Now shut up and win some ballgames.
Kidding aside, I think this ended up being an okay deal for the Twins. They gave up toolsy 21 year old shortstop Tyler Ladendorf but were able to shore up their atrocious middle infield. Scutaro probably would have been a better acquisition, but considering the prices involved I think Bill Smith went with the safer choice (not that that is a bad thing, not at all). Since he’s gone at the end of the year, lets hope Cabrera can stay hot. He’s not the best on-base guy and his defense has deteriorated but he’s a veteran who knows how to play the game.
While I don’t think this will make the Twins much better, it will keep the players happy. Who knows, it might spark the others to play harder now that they feel that the “front office is behind them”. It’s always sad to see talented players like Ladendorf leave, but it was a necessary evil to both keep the players happy and remove at least one black hole from the line-up. Cabrera is not a big bat but he’ll certainly hit better than Punto or Casilla. Actually, he’s pretty much another Brendan Harris who might actually see regular playing time; It would be nice if Harris could get out of his currently slump and learn how to turn double-plays at second base. A batting order containing Harris and Cabrera is much better than one containing Punto and Casilla, though the defense wouldn’t be anything to brag about.
Fun Fact: Apparently Cabrera hasn’t been very good against lefties this year. (So says Baseball-Reference). That gives up at least two right-handed hitters that don’t hit lefties (Cabrera and Crede).
One Year Ago in Twins History:
Twins don’t find fit in potential trades – Unlike this season, Bill Smith was unable to do anything to improve the team at the non-waiver trade deadline last year. Maybe if they had gotten someone to help them win just one more game…
The Quiet Before the Storm?
Well, the Twins just lost out on another middle-infield candidate. With Sanchez being traded to the giants, the only two serious options left are Orlando Cabrera and Marco Scutaro. Though it depends on what the Jays end up doing with Halladay: if they don’t end up trading him, Scutaro might not go anywhere (I don’t see why not though. He’s going to be a free agent anyway and they aren’t exactly in contention). Let’s hope that Billy Smith has something big up his sleeve for today or Friday because I’m sure there will be an uproar from fans and players if nothing is done to improve the team.
On that note, I’m hoping they don’t go and get Cabrera. He is a good ballplayer but he’s only a slight improvement over Harris and I don’t trust Gardy to go with a Cabrera-Harris combo in the infield. I also think that the Twins will end up overpaying for him; he’s a 34 year old short stop with diminishing range and power and I just have a bad feeling that the Twins will overpay in prospects. If they were going to give up prospects of any worth, I would have preferred Freddy Sanchez.
If the Twins are still looking for infield and bullpen help, should they now also be looking for a starting pitcher? Liriano was scratched last night due to “forearm inflammation”. The team and Cisco say that it’s nothing serious, but I’m not sure I’m buying it. Is it just me or has “forearm inflammation/tightness”, more often then not, led to a visit to Dr. Andrews? Considering Cisco’s history, I’m worried about him and the fact that they are having him throw again this weekend. Check out this series of events from 2006:
Liriano scratched from start with pain – “The Minnesota Twins are scratching pitcher Francisco Liriano from Wednesday’s start against the Rangers because of discomfort in his left forearm.”
Liriano injured as Twins fall to Tigers – “But this time, the pain returned in what Liriano deemed a different spot and it seems to be worse than before. It’s something that has even caused Liriano to be a bit scared of what may be causing the pain.”
Liriano to land on disabled list – “On Tuesday they took another precaution, as the club decided to place the left-hander on the 15-day disabled list due to the pain he has been experiencing near his left elbow.”
Spooky, huh? Lets hope the Twins are extra special careful with him. They had better not send him out to pitch Wednesday if he’s not 110%. I guess it is a good sign that Liriano isn’t too concerned with the situation. After all, he’s already been through this and he’d be the one who could tell if it was the same kind of discomfort as 2006. If the Twins lose Liriano and don’t pick up any more starting pitching, they could be toast. Even if they do pull off a playoff appearance, there is no way a shaky top three of Baker-Blackbern-Perkins goes very far. I was still waiting for Liriano to get back into 2008 form to carry the team during the second half, but I think that is a forgone conclusion now. If he came around, and Slowey was healthy, Baker-Slowey-Liriano would have been much more formidable. Who knows, maybe all the pitching injuries has the front office throwing in the towel. I guess we’ll find out by Friday.
I had fun looking up those old articles, so lets see what was going on one year ago today for the Twins:
Gomez getting back into groove – Gogo!
Two Years Ago:
Luis Castillo traded to the Mets – Ah yes, this one went over well with the team.