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Friday, April 25, 2008
Link-O-RamaSetting aside the fact that Miller wearing a baseball uniform might be the greatest thing I've ever seen, it's very impressive that she made the throw all the way from the mound while showing off an arm that would make Shannon Stewart and Rondell White jealous. However, the good people at Yangtze then informed me that even before the price increase the cost of each order had already included $5 to account for the seemingly minor "extra rice" part. So now, after ordering the exact same thing from the exact same restaurant multiple times per week for the past 7-8 years, I've come to the startling, highly disturbing realization that I've likely spent somewhere around $2,500 on white rice. If only Guinness had a category for carbohydrate-based stupidity.  With 45 percent of the vote and nearly four times as many votes as the second-place finisher, "Double Stitches" from Dan Olson is the winner:  With over 50 submissions the response to the contest was far beyond my expectations, so thank you to everyone who sent in a design. You'll notice that the new logo hasn't been added to the site yet, mostly because my extremely limited web-design skills guarantee that it'll take me a while to figure out how to actually make that happen. Answer never changes when someone asks if he read a Bill Simmons column: "No. What newspaper is he with?"Bill Simmons isn't with a newspaper, of course. Instead, he writes for a media outlet that people under the age of 50 actually read. One of the most rewarding aspects of blogging or creating a website like The Hardball Times is that your writing has to speak for itself and your audience has to seek you out. Unlike Reusse's column this blog isn't thrown onto someone's doorstep each morning along with a bunch of local news, advertisements, and coupons, so people read it solely because of the content. There's something satisfying about that, even if it means old-school newspaper writers like Reusse are automatically dismissive of your work because it doesn't appear as ink on a page. Meanwhile, his column appears alongside the brilliant prose of Sid Hartman and Jim Souhan in a medium that sees its audience decline further each day. The shift has already begun to some degree and in a few years people may be dismissive of writers like Reusse because they work for a newspaper. One longtime Twins fan is willing to bet that, at season's end, Twins rookie pitcher Nick Blackburn wil have a lower earned-run average than ex-Twins starter Johan Santana of the New York Mets.That sentence is fascinating on a number of levels, beginning with the notion that the opinion of "one longtime Twins fan" is somehow noteworthy enough to deserve space in a newspaper. Walters gives no hint about who the "one longtime Twins fan" might be and that one sentence is the entire extent of the note, which is found in the middle of a lengthy column made up of similarly random tidbits such as "the Gophers are trying to close a deal to schedule a home football game with Texas in 2015." As if Walters devoting column space to an anonymous, random thought from "one longtime Twins fan" isn't absurd enough--seriously, think about that for a moment--the Pioneer Press' editors failed to catch an obvious misspelling and "wil" made it to print, as if the newspaper is some lowly, unedited blog. Of course, as 10,000 Takes pointed out, the most amazing aspect might be that "there are actually people who pay money to have this kind of incredible sports insight 'dropped' on their doorstep each day." If all my money wasn't currently tied up in rice, I'd pay a decent price to have him replace Dick Bremer. Once you're done here, check out my latest "Daily Dose" column over at Rotoworld.     
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Twins Notes: Bonser, Gomez, Cuddyer, Thomas, and KrivskyAVG OBP SLG OPSGomez was handed an everyday job in the majors as a 22-year-old despite having a month's worth of experience at Triple-A and his minor-league track record suggested that he was anything but ready to thrive against big-league pitching. Sure enough, he's hitting .230/.247/.310 with a horrendous 24-to-2 strikeout-to-walk ratio through 20 games, underperforming even those modest projections and making him a .231/.272/.307 hitter in 78 career games once his time with the Mets last season is included. He's drawn a total of eight non-intentional walks in 228 career plate appearances while striking out 51 times, which isn't the type of ratio that lends itself to being a quality leadoff man, especially when it accompanies a .272 on-base percentage. Nearly one-fourth of Gomez's career hits have come via bunts and he's unsuccessfully laid one down plenty, which leaves him as a .202 hitter with a measly .278 slugging percentage and 50 strikeouts in 203 plate appearances when he swings away. That works out to a strikeout in 25 percent of his non-bunt plate appearances, which would've ranked as the eighth-highest strikeout rate among AL hitters last year. Even with the bunt attempts included, Gomez has whiffed in 22 percent of his career trips to the plate, which would've ranked 14th-worst among AL hitters last season. Gomez's speed makes him plenty exciting, but he's been rushed to the majors despite having huge holes in his game and has predictably been overmatched at the plate. Gomez can wreak havoc once he reaches base, but that rarely happens because he has horrible plate discipline, struggles to make consistent contact, and possesses little power. He has loads of potential and has shown flashes of brilliance, but isn't an MLB-caliber hitter at this stage of his career, let alone an MLB-caliber leadoff man. Perhaps the Twins feel that he'll learn more in Minnesota than Rochester, but in the meantime he's burning through pre-free agency service time while dragging the lineup down. Gardenhire said he's against moving Gomez from the leadoff spot, reasoning that he needs at-bats and he'll be better off down the road if he stays at the top of the order.Gomez would still get plenty of plate appearances at the bottom of the lineup and staying at the top of the order won't help anyone involved if he doesn't actually perform well enough to warrant being there. Gardenhire views speed as having tremendous importance atop the lineup and regardless of what you think of that stance Gomez's wheels do have plenty of value, but Harris figures to get on base about 20 percent more often and that's far more important. Interestingly, Thomas is rumored to be negotiating a return to Oakland, where he'd presumably replace Mike Sweeney as the A's designated hitter. Sweeney revealed yesterday that he "had some talks with the Twins early in the offseason" and "was pretty excited about the possibility" of coming to Minnesota before "talks calmed down" and he signed with the A's for just $500,000. He then went 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs in the A's 3-0 victory last night, improving to .309/.391/.418 on the year. Once you're done here, check out my latest "Daily Dose" column over at Rotoworld.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
AG.com Logo VoteA few weeks ago I asked people to submit designs for a new AG.com logo/header, because this site has long been overdue for a new look and Sony had sent me a bunch of video games to give away via some sort of contest. My only requirements were that the design couldn't involve a copyrighted image (such as the Twins' logo) and had to include "AaronGleeman.com." Amazingly, over 50 designs were submitted and I'd like to thank each person who took the time to send me something. My seven favorites are shown below, but before you take a look please note that the images have been scaled down to fit the space and may appear somewhat blurry. They're all intended to be used atop the page as headers and would be bigger than what you see below, so to view full-sized versions of each design simply click on the image. Once you're finished looking at all seven designs, please take a moment to vote for your favorite in the poll at the bottom of the entry. UPDATE: Polling is closed. Thanks for voting. No. 1 - "Double Stitches" (Submitted by Dan Olson): No. 2 - "New Ballpark" (Submitted by Joe Stahlmann):  No. 3 - "Lots of Baseballs" (Submitted by Jory Dyvig):  No. 4 - "AG.com Ball" (Submitted by Dan Olson):  No. 5 - "Women of AG.com" (Submitted by Tom Berrisford):  No. 6 - "Eyebrows" (Submitted by Robin Decaire):  No. 7 - "Old School" (Submitted by Dan Olson):  Once you're done here, check out my latest "Daily Dose" column over at Rotoworld.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Twins Notes: Liriano, Blackburn, Everett, and MorneauLiriano had a career-high five walks in his first start and matched that total Friday, throwing just 47 of 88 pitches for strikes. He got Grady Sizemore to swing through a two-strike slider to lead off the game, but struck out just two of the next 21 batters and uncharacteristically induced more fly balls than grounders. Liriano showed Friday that he should be capable of pitching effectively once his command settles in, but he remains nowhere close to regaining the stuff that dominated the league in 2006.  With that said, even limited improvement can be viewed as a major positive at this point, even if Liriano didn't seem very pleased with his second outing. "I'm rushing too much with my fastball, trying to make a perfect pitch, and it's not working that way," Liriano said. "I've just got to calm down and get better, hit my spots with the fastball." Predictably, Ron Gardenhire had a slightly more optimistic view of Liriano's performance:Frankie was better than last time. He's still not commanding his fastball and the strike zone in general. The arm's there, the velocity's there. He had some spurts where it really came out of his hand and it looked really good, but he was still missing the zone a little too much. It was a step forward. It's just about the fastball now, throwing it in the zone.Gardenhire saying that "the velocity is there" seems odd given that Liriano frequently failed to crack 90 miles per hour, but at this point the Twins seem pleased that he's simply able to throw an MLB-caliber fastball even if it's not close to a Liriano-caliber fastball. "There's still enough jump on his fastball, enough life at the end, that he doesn't have to pitch to spots," pitching coach Rick Anderson said. "He just has to pitch to an area." Liriano's next start will come Thursday against the ever-patient A's. Blackburn racked up 11 strikeouts through his first two starts, which was completely out of character based on his minor-league track record, but has gotten into character by totaling one strikeout in two starts since. He's made up for the lack of missed bats by inducing 26 ground-ball outs over that stretch and has induced a grounder on 55.3 percent of his balls in play overall. Unlike some low-strikeout pitchers who experience immediate success, Blackburn hasn't gotten lucky on balls in play. The defense behind him has actually converted balls in play into outs at a slightly below-average rate and because of that his .289 opponent's batting average is sub par. He's limited the damage of those hits by serving up zero homers and handing out just three walks in 103 plate appearances. Blackburn allowed eight hits Saturday against the Indians, but didn't issue a walk, kept the ball in the ballpark, and wriggled out of trouble repeatedly by coaxing four double plays.  It was an outing straight from the Carlos Silva tight-rope walking handbook. Blackburn issued just 19 free passes in 148.2 innings between Double-A and Triple-A last season, so his control is legitimately outstanding. A dozen strikeouts in 25.1 innings is also about what should be expected based on his track record. In other words, he'll keep pounding the strike zone and pitching to contact, which leaves Blackburn's ground-ball and home-run rates as the big variables.Inducing 55 percent grounders all year would make him one of the most ground-ball heavy pitchers in baseball and give him a strong chance for continued success, but his ground-ball rate was 50 percent in the minors over the past two seasons and facing MLB hitters tends to equal more fly balls. It seems unlikely that Blackburn can continue to induce so many grounders and either way he'll eventually serve up some homers, but he's certainly been impressive enough to make me look silly thus far. Everett's throwing problems now make sense after the Twins placed him on the disabled list Saturday afternoon with right shoulder tendinitis. Everett called the shoulder injury "a little shocking" because he's never experienced previous arm problems while starting for the Astros over the past five seasons, adding: "I don't feel like anybody's seen me really play yet because I don't feel like I've been 100 percent healthy, so maybe I can get back and show you guys that I can actually play the shortstop position."  With Everett heading the DL the Twins called up Brian Buscher from Triple-A to replace him on the roster, which is well deserved given that he was batting .345/.397/.586 in 15 games at Rochester this season after hitting a combined .309/.385/.493 in 103 games between Double-A and Triple-A last year. Buscher would normally be somewhat superfluous and highly unlikely to get significant playing time, because third base, first base, and designated hitter are all manned by left-handed hitters.However, until Michael Cuddyer comes back from his dislocated finger Gardenhire will have the option of opening up the DH spot for Buscher by playing Kubel in right field and benching Denard Span. That alignment was suggested in this space when Cuddyer headed to the DL two weeks ago and seems like an obvious move to make for a team struggling to score runs, but not starting the light-hitting Span in right field to begin with once seemed plenty obvious too. In fact, Tolbert has surprisingly already started three games at shortstop this month while Punto played third base. That's telling, because for all the talk among fans and the media about Punto's supposedly great defense, the Twins have been willing to stick him at the position where they typically start Mike Lamb and his poor defensive reputation while a rookie plays shortstop after starting just eight games there in the minors last season. Either Gardenhire has some odd theory about infield defense that involves playing Punto at third base while the middle infield is manned by a pair of inferior gloves or he simply doesn't actually agree with the portrayal of Punto as a great defender. Whatever the case, Tolbert will likely see plenty of action at shortstop as long as he continues hitting well. Of course, Tolbert's bat figures to slow down soon given his .280/.345/.405 career hitting line in over 1,500 minor-league plate appearances. Once Tolbert's bat comes crashing back down to earth the Twins may begin to more clearly see him as something less than an asset defensively at shortstop, in which case Punto would be in line for increased playing time. Punto, Tolbert, and Harris are the only middle infielders on the major-league roster and the only legitimate shortstop options at Triple-A right now are Alexi Casilla and Chris Basak (and Tommy Watkins, if you're really feeling generous defensively). In case you're curious, Jason Bartlett is hitting just .210/.234/.242 in 17 games and has already made four errors--including a huge one against the Twins last week--as the Rays' starting shortstop. Once you're done here, check out my latest "Daily Dose" column over at Rotoworld.
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 Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com OFGoAG.com Timeline: Heidi Klum (8/2002 - 12/2003) Jessica Alba (12/2003 - 10/2004) Elisha Cuthbert (10/2004 - 11/2006) Vacant (11/2006 - 6/2008) Keeley Hazell (6/2008 - 3/2010) Mila Kunis (3/2010 - Present) OFGoAG.com Candidates: Marisa Miller Jenna Fischer Kate Beckinsale Keeley Hazell Diora Baird Top 40 Twins Prospects of 2010: 1. Aaron Hicks, CF 2. Kyle Gibson, SP 3. Wilson Ramos, C 4. Miguel Angel Sano, SS 5. Ben Revere, CF 6. Angel Morales, CF 7. David Bromberg, SP 8. Danny Valencia, 3B 9. Matthew Bashore, SP 10. Billy Bullock, RP 11. Rene Tosoni, RF 12. Chris Parmelee, RF 13. Adrian Salcedo, SP 14. Joe Benson, CF 15. Jeff Manship, SP 16. Tyler Robertson, SP 17. Carlos Gutierrez, RP 18. B.J. Hermsen, SP 19. Anthony Slama, RP 20. Max Kepler, CF 21. Alex Burnett, RP 22. Robert Delaney, RP 23. Luke Hughes, 3B 24. Ben Tootle, RP 25. Deolis Guerra, SP 26. Shooter Hunt, SP 27. Trevor Plouffe, SS 28. Michael McCardell, SP 29. Reggie Williams, 2B 30. Estarlin De Los Santos, SS 31. Derek McCallum, 2B 32. Jose Morales, C 33. Chris Herrmann, LF 34. Bobby Lanigan, SP 35. Danny Rams, C 36. Josmil Pinto, C 37. Steven Tolleson, 2B 38. Anderson Hidalgo, 3B 39. Loek Van Mil, RP 40. Joe Testa, RP |