AaronGleeman.com
Friday, May 26, 2006

Link-O-Rama

  • The Tigers placed Dmitri Young on the disabled list earlier this week and called up Jack Hannahan from Triple-A. Not only is Hannahan a Minnesota native who starred at the University of Minnesota, he grew up along with me in St. Paul's Highland Park neighborhood, graduating from Cretin-Derham Hall (which also produced Joe Mauer and Paul Molitor) a few years before I graduated from Highland Park Senior High (which produced Jack Morris).

    I bring this up to note that a hometown boy has made good, but also to inform everyone that in addition to being a major-league baseball player Hannahan also participated in one of the greatest basketball games I've ever seen. Playing in the junior-high league at the St. Paul JCC while a grade school-aged Aaron Gleeman looked on, Hannahan's team battled Zack Neren's team in a multiple-overtime game that ended with both players having well over 50 points.

    I have no real point, other than to say that it's amazing how vividly you remember certain seemingly unimportant moments from your childhood. I never spoke to Hannahan and can't remember ever hearing of him as a baseball player before he played for the Gophers, but in my mind he'll always be the guy who scored a whole bunch of points in a basketball game that maybe a half-dozen other people can recall witnessing.

    Hannahan made his long-awaited big-league debut yesterday afternoon and may have made baseball history by going 0-for-6. Hopefully the Tigers give him a few more at-bats before sending Hannahan back to the minors, because that would be one ugly Baseball-Reference.com page.


  • Congratulations to friend of AG.com and fellow Twins blogger Seth Stohs, who is now the proud father of a baby girl named Jozie Sue-Elaine. Seth is without question one of the nicest, most genuine people I've "met" while doing this whole blogging thing, and his daughter is lucky to have him as a dad. In true Seth fashion, he apologized in advance for no longer having as much time to devote to his blog and then proceeded to pump out about 10,000 words over the next week.


  • Never before have I wanted so desperately to have my face bashed into a parking meter.


  • In last week's "Link-O-Rama" entry I described the amusement I received from reading Paul Katcher's pronouncement that "people who write open letters" are "hacks" and then immediately stumbling across an open letter on Will Carroll's blog. Well, it gets better. Jim "Shecky" Souhan's column in Sunday's Minneapolis Star Tribune began with the following:
    You've heard of open letters?

    This is an open thank-you note, addressed to those who made the new Twins ballpark possible.
    Sometimes life is almost too perfect.


  • If there's one thing I've learned in 23 years on this planet, it's that when Will Leitch of Deadspin deems something "the most brilliant thing you'll see all day" he's not kidding around.


  • Joe Christensen of the Star Tribune has a nice article today on the pitching matchup that I'm heading to the Metrodome to see in person tonight: Francisco Liriano vs. Felix Hernandez.


  • One of my biggest pet peeves is when people misuse the word "literally," so it gives me great pleasure to present this quote about the Twins' new ballpark from Bug Selig in the Star Tribune:
    This is the end of a long and painful journey. I know Carl [Pohlad] has taken some hits and the Pohlad family, but there's no family that wanted to stay there more in their hometown than they did. And Jerry Bell, who literally gave his life here and all the Twins people.
    For those of you unaware, Jerry Bell is very much still alive. On the other hand, Selig is literally still a creep.


  • I generally stay away from late-night talk shows because the celebrity interviews are so boring and scripted, but Artie Lange's nine minutes on Jimmy Kimmel Live was a tour de force performance.


  • Finally, a blog that's dedicated to a worthy cause.


  • I've already wasted far too much time on this, and the draft isn't for another month.


  • One of saddest aspects of my dog dying earlier this month is that people are now arriving here by way of Google searches for things such as "dog brain tumor" and "paralyzed right side dog" that are constant reminders. The worst part for me is that about a dozen of the people who have arrived here via search engines went on to send me e-mails asking for advice, as if I'm in any real position to give some.

    One particularly touching e-mail came from the owner of a 7-year-old Boston Terrier who is sadly experiencing many of the same symptoms that my 6-year-old Boston Terrier did before we found out that she had a tumor. I could sense the same sort of helplessness in the e-mailer that I felt at the time, and as much as it pained me to do so I advised her to think seriously about putting her dog to sleep.

    I'm hopeful that she didn't resent my "advice" too much, because I certainly would have if someone had suggested the same to me before we heard Sammi's terminal diagnosis.


  • On a related subject, a special thanks to Bat-Girl, who made a donation to the Minnesota Boston Terrier Rescue in Sammi's name, and to the anonymous reader who made a similar donation to the Humane Society.




    • Thursday, May 25, 2006

    Twins Notes

  • The subject of yesterday's entry, Pat Neshek, tossed 2.1 scoreless innings last night to pick up his ninth save of the season. Neshek now has a 1.98 ERA and 56-to-9 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 32.1 innings at Triple-A.


  • Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star Tribune had the following note about Kyle Lohse yesterday:
    The Twins don't seem to be in any hurry to trade Kyle Lohse, who was demoted to Class AAA Rochester last week. But among the teams interested are the New York Mets, Milwaukee Brewers and Toronto Blue Jays.
    I've heard several times from multiple sources who I trust that the Twins could have traded Lohse for what I would consider to be good value during the offseason, so there's some reason to hope that he's retained at least a fraction of that value despite his horrendous numbers this year.

    With that said, the Mets acquired Orlando Hernandez from the Diamondbacks yesterday, seemingly taking them out of the Lohse market, and given the Blue Jays' pitching depth in the high minors I'd be shocked if they wasted time on Lohse. I believe Lohse will be traded at some point in June, but I'll be surprised if it's for any real value.


  • I'm hopeful that Denard Span can eventually take over for Torii Hunter in center field, but within the same article that included the above note on Lohse Christensen presented another option:
    Torii Hunter flew home to Texas following the Twins' game in Milwaukee on Sunday, allowing him to watch his two sons play a Little League game for the first time in two years.

    It was quite a treat. Torii Jr. pitched a no-hitter in a four- inning game, and Monshadrik hit a homer, a double and had three RBI.
    I'll say this for the Hunter family: They've got some unique names.


  • Speaking of Christensen, he's now written two feature-length articles about Tony Batista within the span of three months. The first one romanticized Batista's religious beliefs, while the latest version focused on his odd batting stance. I criticized Christensen's first article for various reasons, but to his credit he makes a major effort to remain objective this time around.

    My favorite part:
    "Everybody doesn't like the way I hit," said Batista, a .251 career hitter in the majors with a meager on-base percentage of .298. "But everybody likes the results."
    The idea that "everybody likes the results" is absurd, of course. A more accurate quote might be: "Most people hate the results, but somehow I fooled Terry Ryan." I appreciate Christensen noting Batista's "meager on-base percentage" while pointing out that "the results have been disappointing," but rather than talk about his religion or the method behind his poor play, how about an article or two that are actually about his poor play?


  • With Batista hitting .241/.305/.404 while playing increasingly horrible defense and the season rapidly slipping away from the Twins, I've started to get frequent e-mails asking about Matt Moses. I wrote about Moses as part of my minor-league notes entry earlier this month and Patrick Reusse of the Star Tribune discussed him a bit this week:
    The issue with Moses, the Twins' first-round draft choice in 2003, remains fielding, not his hitting. Riccardo Ingram, Moses' manager at Class AA New Britain, said: "He's getting better, but he's by no means Gold Glove caliber. Being in the right position to catch the ball, the footwork involved ... that's more of a problem for him than throwing."
    Moses has cooled down since a hot start and his .289/.331/.467 hitting line on the year doesn't look particularly impressive. However, the Eastern League has skewed so heavily towards pitching this season that the entire league is hitting a measly .241/.311/.361. For some context, Nick Punto is a career .243/.309/.325 hitter.

    If you take Moses' numbers at Double-A and adjust them for the current offensive environment in the American League, they come out looking like .315/.395/.520. That's damn good for a 21-year-old in the high minors and certainly a step in the right direction after Moses entered the season with a career line of .271/.337/.415 in 169 pro games.

    If he continues to hit like this Moses has a chance to be relatively valuable at designated hitter or a corner-outfield spot, which means a lack of defensively development won't kill him. With that said, if Moses can hit like this and turn himself into even a marginal defensive third baseman he has a chance to be a star.


  • I've grown tired of many things Ron Gardenhire does on a regular basis, but perhaps none more so than his embarrassing tendency to make a fool of himself while being thrown out of games. It accomplishes nothing and makes Gardenhire look pathetic, and the idea that it "fires up the team" is beyond laughable at this point. If someone in a management position in just about any other field behaved like that as often as Gardenhire does they'd no longer have a job.


  • Showing that he's stuck somewhere in the 1970s, the St. Paul Pioneer Press' Gordon Wittenmeyer discussed the Twins' leadoff options yesterday without once mentioning on-base percentage and suggested that Jason Kubel would be miscast in the role because he "struck out 23 times in 120 at-bats for Class AAA Rochester, putting him on a 100-strikeout pace for the season."

    I've heard it argued that strikeouts are worse than other outs for a middle-of-the-order hitter because it keeps them from driving runners in from third base with sacrifice flies or ground outs. Even if you buy into that--and studies have suggested that it isn't necessarily the case--the job of a leadoff man is primarily to get on base, so I fail to see how striking out in that situation is any worse than grounding out or popping out.

    What matters is not making an out, period. Perhaps in another couple decades the good people in charge of covering the Twins in the mainstream media can get past "batting average and RBIs good, strikeouts and errors bad."


  • I'm heading to the Metrodome tomorrow night for the Francisco Liriano-Felix Hernandez matchup, which has a chance to be the sort of thing you brag about seeing 20 years down the line. I've been avoiding going to games this year because I'm frustrated with the team and hate watching baseball in the Metrodome, but Liriano and King Felix are more than enough to change my mind for at least one night.




    • Wednesday, May 24, 2006

    Who Is ... Pat Neshek

    I've received a tremendous number of e-mails over the past month about Pat Neshek, perhaps more so than any other Twins-related topic. Baseball America inexplicably didn't see fit to include Neshek among their top 30 Twins prospects coming into this season, but he's been on my radar for some time now.

    Last May in this space I described Neshek as "one guy who is worth keeping an eye on" and since then he's improved his prospect stock dramatically. After posting a 2.19 ERA and 95-to-21 strikeout-to-walk ratio while holding opponents to a .225 batting average in 82.1 innings at Double-A last season, Neshek has put up the following numbers at Triple-A so far this year:
     G     GS      ERA       IP      H     HR     SO     BB
    18      0     2.10     30.0     21      4     53      9
    Those are dominant numbers, and the native Minnesotan and former sixth-round pick out of Butler University now sports a career ERA of 2.21 with 333 strikeouts compared to just 202 hits allowed in 264.2 pro innings. Neshek has been used as a closer in the minors, saving 24 games last year and eight already this season, but as a side-arming right-hander he profiles more as a middle reliever in the majors.

    In fact, the single biggest negative with Neshek at this point is that his unique delivery (shown below) leaves him vulnerable to left-handed hitters, particularly those who hit for power. Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star Tribune discussed Neshek a bit in his column earlier this week and quoted Neshek as saying that he's "retired the last 15 lefties" he's faced.

    (Video courtesy of Neshek's personal website.)

    That may be true--stats in the minors aren't sophisticated enough for me to check easily--but for the entire year Neshek has allowed lefties to bat .279/.326/.558 with four homers in 43 at-bats against him. What makes those numbers particularly noteworthy is that Neshek has held right-handed hitters to a remarkable .123 batting average, striking out a ridiculous 39 righties in 65 at-bats.

    The inability to consistently retire left-handed hitters hasn't really hurt Neshek in the minors, but it'll certainly impact his effectiveness in the big leagues. As a closer or late-inning setup man Neshek would inevitably be faced with an avalanche of left-handed pinch-hitters to go along with the usual assortment of left-handed sluggers who reside in the middle of most lineups.

    However, as a middle man he could be used against predominantly right-handed portions of lineups, and because he'd be pitching in the middle innings opposing managers would be less likely to make bench moves against him. Because of that I like Neshek's chances of putting together a lengthy big-league career, perhaps even one that is a step up from guys like Steve Reed or Chad Bradford.

    Will he get a chance in the Twins' bullpen this season? I think so, although given the Twins' sudden reluctance to trust young players you never know. In Neshek's case it's going to be very difficult to keep him in the minors for much longer given that he has 53 strikeouts in 30 innings at Triple-A and has put up the following numbers at each level:
    LEVEL            IP      ERA     SO/9
    Rookie         27.1     0.99     13.5
    Single-A       82.0     1.64     11.1
    Double-A      125.1     2.87      9.9
    Triple-A       30.0     2.10     15.9
    It's one thing when a washed up journeyman in his thirties beats up on inexperienced competition in the minors, but when a 25-year-old former early-round draft pick consistently dominates like that at every step on the organizational ladder you've got to think that the Twins view him as a big part of the bullpen's future.

    Another reason that Neshek's future is far from a given is that throughout baseball history teams have been overly cautious with "trick" pitchers. Whether it's side-armers like Neshek, knuckleballers, or soft-tossers whose great numbers don't match up with their sub par velocity, you have to work a lot harder to get a legitimate chance than someone with mediocre results who throws in the high-90s with perfect mechanics.

    With that said, Neshek throws much harder and has better overall stuff than most guys with non-traditional deliveries. He's also far from the complete disaster against lefties that many seem to think, giving up a relatively acceptable .280 batting average against them over the past two years. Neshek has certainly given up too many homers to lefties this season, but we're talking about a very small sample and he's also managed 13 strikeouts in those 43 at-bats.

    Neshek is one of the Twins' most intriguing prospects and in a minor-league system filled with promising young pitchers he is perhaps the most overlooked as well. I expect him to play a significant role on the pitching staff beginning in 2007 and he deserves to be the next pitcher called up should the Twins need further reinforcements in the bullpen this year.



    Tuesday, May 23, 2006

    Twins Notes

  • I suggested a couple weeks ago that the Twins would be smart to trade Shannon Stewart before he becomes a free agent this offseason, but the potential return on such a deal dropped yesterday when the Twins placed Stewart on the disabled list with the dreaded "plantar fascia tear."

    Jason Kubel was recalled from Triple-A to take Stewart's place on the active roster, and despite Ron Gardenhire's spotty track record on such things I'm hopeful that he'll actually get a legitimate chance to establish himself in the lineup this time around. Kubel hit .283/.343/.475 with four homers and 13 total extra-base hits in 30 games at Triple-A.

    A platoon of Kubel against right-handed pitching and Lew Ford against left-handed pitching should have little problem duplicating Stewart's relatively modest production offensively (.298/.355/.376) and they'll be better defensively regardless of how the playing time is distributed.

    As good as Stewart was down the stretch in 2003, the decision to sign him to a three-year contract extension is looking like a mistake. Stewart hit well (.304/.380/.447) while missing 70 games in 2004, hit poorly (.274/.323/.388) while missing 30 games in 2005, and now this year is looking like a repeat of last season.

    If the Twins are lucky they will have gotten about 350 games of .290/.340/.425 hitting from a sub par defensive left fielder for $18 million, which isn't the sort of thing a small-payroll team can make a habit of doing if they hope to remain successful. Perhaps the Twins can recoup some of that value if Stewart returns from the DL in time to be traded at midseason, but I'm not holding my breath.


  • B.J. Garbe, who is one of the biggest draft busts in Twins history, retired over the weekend. A toolsy high-school outfielder from Washington who was the fifth overall pick in the 1999 draft, at no point did Garbe ever resemble a quality prospect after a decent 41-game stint at rookie-ball to begin his pro career.

    Garbe went on to post OPS totals of .636, .597, .619, .508, and .561 in five full-season stops in the Twins system, spending two seasons at both Single-A Fort Myers and Double-A New Britain. After hitting .201/.283/.278 in his second year at Double-A in 2004, the Twins traded him to the Mariners for 41-year-old backup catcher Pat Borders in September.

    Garbe hit .275/.335/.426 as Single-A roster filler in 2005 and then latched on with the Marlins' Double-A team this season. Still just 25 years old, Garbe finishes his eight-year pro career with a .235 batting average in 722 games and is the middle man in a three-year run of top-10 picks (Ryan Mills in 1998, Garbe in 1999, Adam Johnson in 2000) that provided the Twins with zero value.


  • Gordon Wittenmeyer had a nice article in the St. Paul Pioneer Press Friday about Corey Koskie's first season with the Brewers. Koskie was one of my favorite players while he was with the Twins and I was very disappointed when Terry Ryan failed to bring him back when he became available at a discount this offseason, so seeing him do well in Milwaukee is tough to take.

    Here's an interesting excerpt from the article:
    Koskie, 32, still lives in the Twin Cities and said at one point he would have welcomed a trade back to the Twins, once the Blue Jays said they intended to deal him.

    And J.P. Ricciardi called the Twins first once he completed the trade for all-star third baseman Troy Glaus and decided to aggressively shop Koskie to break his infield logjam. But despite the Jays' willingness to pick up two-thirds of Koskie's salary over the next two seasons (leaving a $2 million-a-year cost), Ryan declined.

    The Twins GM already had the $1.25 million Batista on the rolls and said afterward the decision to turn down the Blue Jays was based largely on the same baseball decision the team made a year earlier when Koskie left as a free agent.

    In other words, a declining number of games for four consecutive years, because of injury, made Koskie a risk the team didn't want to take.
    Tony Batista is hitting .252/.313/.422 this season while Koskie is at .289/.363/.537, and they've each played 37 games. Quite the "baseball decision."


  • A take-it-for-what-it's-worth note from Bob Matthews of the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle:
    There is a much better chance of temporary Red Wings pitcher Kyle Lohse being traded than returning to the Twins. Minnesota should get a decent hitter from a team in dire need of a durable starting pitcher who would benefit from a change of scenery.
    "Durable" is certainly not the way I'd choose to describe Kyle Lohse at this point, but to each his own.




    • Monday, May 22, 2006

    Outdoor Baseball, Spring of 2010

    I'm too young to have been around when people actually thought that the Metrodome was a great idea, so for my entire baseball fandom it's just been the crappy place where the Twins play. I get asked a lot why I don't attend more Twins games in person and the reason is simple: I hate watching baseball indoors and especially hate watching it in a place that makes you feel like you're sitting in the middle of a warehouse.

    Not only would I rather watch the Twins on TV than pay to sit in a "ballpark" that has all the ambiance of a shoe box, I'd rather watch the St. Paul Saints play outdoors. Baseball is meant to be played outside, under the sun or stars, with wind in place of that ever-audible echo that serves as a constant reminder of what a depressing mess the Metrodome is. I've been to more Saints games than Twins games over the past five years, and for most of the time I couldn't name a single player on the Saints.

    I've avoided writing much about the Twins' quest for a new ballpark, in large part because I've seen hopes get up far too often on the subject. I became a hardcore Twins fan right around the time people were getting fed up with the Metrodome, so as far back as I can remember there's been a push for a new ballpark. And as far back as I can remember, it's failed. In fact, even now I remain sort of gun-shy about getting my own hopes up.


    A bill paving the way for a new ballpark in downtown Minneapolis passed the House and the Senate late Saturday night, and I'm sure Jerry Bell, Dave St. Peter, and Terry Ryan sipped champagne in the wee hours Sunday morning. Still, I half expect to hear about a "snag" that threatens to hold the whole thing up yet again. It's not that it seems to good to be true. After all, 10 new ballparks have opened within the last decade. It's that it seems good, and I've been conditioned to not believe that it's true.

    I've kept myself from getting too optimistic about the ballpark by avoiding articles on it and keeping clear of the artist renderings of what the whole thing might look like when it's done. That changed yesterday when I read all there was to read about the situation in both local newspapers and even found myself sneaking a peak at the drawings on the Twins' website. My hopes are officially up, although until I see some dirt being thrown around by guys in hard hats I doubt I'll truly believe it.


    There are all sorts of arguments being thrown around by both sides of the ballpark issue, but for me it's simple. A new ballpark will increase the Twins' revenue, which should lead to increased payroll. That'll give the Twins a better chance to remain competitive, while keeping the team in Minnesota for decades to come. It also means that 81 times per year I can head downtown for an MLB game in a real, outdoor ballpark, which is something I've never experienced in Minnesota.

    I've been to big-league games played in outdoor ballparks in Cleveland, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Toronto, and both sides of Chicago, and each time I've come away from the experience thinking about how wonderful it would be to have something like that for the Twins. I'm downright giddy right now, or at least as giddy as you can be about something that won't happen until 2010. After waiting all this time, you'd think it wouldn't be so hard to wait until then.

    E-Mail: AaronGleeman@Gmail.com



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