Hope you’re all having a great Christmas! After a couple days of rain, we finally got some snow before noon today, so we are having a white Christmas after all.

It’s a tradition at the Runner family to make spaghetti for supper on Christmas Eve, yet our schedule didn’t look too promising this year, so the ever-thoughtful K decided that we would instead go to Fazoli’s for a late pasta lunch instead.  We are nothing if not adaptable!

After a busy afternoon of helping out at some of the church Christmas services and singing in the choir, we joined a nice gathering of friends at the Griffiths.  We eventually made it home to open gifts and get some well-deserved sleep. It’s been a wonderful holiday.

Oh, and among other great gifts, Mo & K framed this year’s Homer Hanky for me. Looks like I’ll have to update my blog banner sometime.

2009 Homer Hanky

As the first decade of the 2000s comes to a close, it seems like a fine time for a little reflection.

The Twins have arguably been one of baseball’s best franchises during the past decade.

Largely under the watch of underrated skipper, Ron Gardenhire, the Twins have won the American League Central five times.

Even more impressively, the club has maintained a high level of competitiveness all decade long, as Minnesota only finished lower than third one time, way back in 2000.

The success of the club as a whole has come as a result of numerous players over the last ten years.

As such, I’ve created the Twins All-Decade Team, a full 25-man roster meant to honor those players who played a big part in the most successful period of Twins baseball in franchise history.

Not all of the players listed below are the best players who have suited up for the club in the past ten years, but they are the players who had the biggest impact.

For example, Luis Castillo is probably the best overall second baseman to grace the Twins’ roster in the past decade, but his brief stint with the club didn’t warrant a position on this list. The same could be said about Joe Crede, who (when healthy) was arguably the best third baseman the Twins have had in years.

As such, all of the players listed have spent significant time—at least three seasons—with the Twins.

Some of the decisions were no-brainers and some required a lot more reflection. When you’re done with the slideshow, I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject.

Without any further ado, I present the Minnesota Twins All-Decade Team.

Check out the slideshow at BleacherReport.com.

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -

Here are our expert panels’ picks for Week 16. I would like to thank all of them for participating throughout the year. I am off to church now, but I hope you’ll check out the below sites. When I get back, I may have time to post the links, but they should all be on the left side of this screen. Many of the bloggers and writers are on Facebook and Twitter, so be sure to follow them there as well. Here are our NFL “Expert” Picks Panel:

• Dan Slowey – Kevin’s Brother and the author of Blogonoscopy.
• Kevin Slowey – Dan’s Brother and a pitcher for the Minnesota Twins.
• Jeff Manship – Twins Pitching prospect whose 1^st big league win came on the Twins final weekend in 2009!
• Kyle Waldrop – Twins pitching prospect.
• Steve Singleton – Twins infield prospect.
• Matt Fox – Twins pitching prospect.
• Michael McCardell – Twins pitching prospect.
• Dan Osterbrock – Twins pitching prospect
• Steve Blevins – Twins pitching prospect.
• Shooter Hunt – Twins pitching prospect.
• Kyle Gibson – Twins #1 pick in 2009, a pitching prospect.
• LaVelle E. Neal – Twins beat writer for the Star Tribune with blog at Twins Insider.
• Howard Sinker – the man behind the sports pages at StarTribune.com, and blog called A Fan’s View.
• Jonathan Mayo – minor league expert for MLB.com. check out his blog B3: Big, Bald and Beautiful.
• Phil Mackey – host of Twins Weekly on KFAN, blog at PhilMackey.com and the co-founder of the Minnesota Poker Magazine.
• Darren “Doogie” Wolfson – writes everywhere including GopherHole.com, cbssports.com, Star Tribune Your Voices and much more.
• John Bonnes – The Twins Geek, and part of TwinsCentric.com
• Nick Nelson – Nick’s Twins Blog and part of TwinsCentric.com
• Parker Hageman – Over the Baggy and part of TwinsCentric.com
• Josh Johnson – Twins blog called Josh’s Thoughts
• Travis Aune – Twins blog called Travis Twins Talk.
• John Meyer – He is the Twins MVB!
• Brian Pietrzak – sports blog at BP’s Baseball Blog.
• Andrew Kneeland – Twins blogger at Twins Target and The Bleacher Report.
• Blake Meyer – the man behind Twins Cards.
• Roger Dehring – minor league expert for Twinkie Town.
• Jack Michaels – host of The Jack Michaels Show on The Fan 710 in Bismarck, ND.
• Vic Quick – college roommate and the man in the sports production at KOTA-TV in Rapid City, SD.
• Cory Hepola – Fellow Perham-ite and a sports reporter at WROC-TV in Rochester, NY. He also writes a blog and more at CoryHepola.com.
• Melissa Lien – long-time friend and the person behind the inception of SethSpeaks.net.
• Michael Brasel – long-time friend.

That’s all for now. Enjoy your Christmas Eve. Please feel free to discuss here.

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -

As I mentioned yesterday, the weather terrorists beat me, that’s for sure. Fearing the 12 to 20 inches of snow that will be hitting central Minnesota later this afternoon, I left the Twin Cities Tuesday night. And now, we just wait. Should be fun! Anyway, still busy on several fronts, so again today, here are just a bunch of links for you to read. Hopefully you enjoy them:

• Over the Baggy has a very interesting article called The Evolution of Delmon Young. It’s really well written and includes video to show how he altered his game over the course of the season.
• Nick Nelson discusses The Waiting Game. As he says, the market is truly working itself out so far this offseason and the Twins are wise to be patient. Can Twins fans be patient too?
• Speaking of Nick, if you want to learn a bunch more about the Twins blogger, be sure to check out Curve for a Strike’s Twins Blogger Get To Know ‘Em on featuring Nick Nelson.
• Curve for a Strike’s Topper Anton will be on a plane, so he won’t be able to join Fanatic Jack on his Twins Talk podcast tonight at 9:00 central time. But you can still listen!
• Fanatic Jack thinks that Orlando Cabrera is the best choice for Second Base.
• Twinkie Talk posted its choice for the Twins #14 prospect. See who they selected.
• Travis Talks discusses his choices for Twins prospects #26-30.
• Be sure to continue voting in the Twinkie Town Top 50 Twins prospects. The most current is a run-off between Jeff Manship and BJ Hermsen for Prospect #18.
• Finally, be sure to check out and bookmark Schlepping Minnesota Sports, a relatively new blog that covers various sports. Check it out and say hi from me.  

Quick Free Agent Glance:

Alright, Twins seem to be looking at 3B, and needing a 3B. Some want to add a pinch hitter who, that’s all he does. Here are my top X at those various positions… what do you think?

Second Base:

1.)    Felipe Lopez, 2.)    Orlando Hudson, 3.)    Mark Derosa, 4.)    Adam Kennedy, 5.)    Jerry Hairston, 6.)    Orlando Cabrera

Third Base:

1.)    Miguel Tejada, 2.)    Adrian Beltre, 3.)    Mark Derosa, 4.)    Melvin Mora, 5.)    Joe Crede

Pinch Hitting Types (are you/we interested in any of these guys?):

1.)    Mike Sweeney, 2.)    Jim Thome, 3.)    Matt Stairs

 Do any of those names intrigue you? That’s all for now Please feel free to discuss here.  

I POSTED THE BELOW LATE YESTERDAY. THERE ARE  A FEW MORE LINKS FOR YOU TO CHECK OUT, IF YOU LIKE:

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

No Podcast Tonight

The weather terrorists won. If there is really going to  be like 15 feet of snow coming to central Minnesota between Tuesday night and Friday night, I am going to head out of town and enjoy my Christmas holiday a little early. Therefore, no new podcast tonight. The podcast will start up again next Tuesday night, December 29^th, at 9:00 p.m. Until then, here are a few links for you to peruse:

• Check out some of the old SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcasts, you know, just for fun!
• Travis posted his choices for Twins prospects 31-35.
• Jeff Manship or BJ Hermsen? Who would you vote for as Twins Prospect #18?
• Looks like R.A. Dickey is going to sign with the New York Mets.
• The blogosphere is pretty quiet, which is not unusual for this time of year. I will be back tomorrow with the NFL “Expert” Picks.

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -

Good morning everyone. This will just be a real quick update. I am spending the day writing about baseball. I’m so far behind on several of my projects, but I again wanted to give a quick update on the projects that I am working on.

• SethSpeaks Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2010 – If you want the 2009 Prospect Handbook, it is priced way down, so get your copy now! As I mentioned earlier, last year the handbook was out by Thanksgiving. This year, my hope is to have it available by around January 18^th. I think this is a good thing in that, the Rule 5 draft is past us, hopefully we will soon hear about minor league signings, and it will be more timely. I also hope that you will think that the quality of the book is much higher. There will be more stats, but don’t think it is a statistical book. It’s not the key part. The key is that I have been able to get a lot of scouting information from various sources on most of the players. I think that the prospect profiles will be much improved. I will also be writing a few additional articles/stories. It will again include some prospect rankings. I’m working on finding a few Foreword writers. But it is getting closer, and I really hope that you will want to purchase and use as a reference throughout 2010.
• The TwinsCentric crew is working on a joint venture project that will be complete by the end of January.
• I am also writing some Twins content for Fox Sports that will appear in a magazine as well.
• Please note that if I suddenly don’t write much of anything for a couple of weeks, it is because my fingers, hands and wrists no longer work, or carpal tunnel surgery has been necessary.  

 Here are some quick links for you to read today:

• Even with the holiday, it will be a busy week for Twins podcasts:

1. Tonight at 5:00 central time, Travis from Travis Twins Talk will be hosting his very own podcast. Be sure to check out his inaugural show. It will be a little different in that he will talk about all Minnesota sports, the Twins, the Vikings, the Wolves, the Gophers and more. So, do me a favor and be sure to check it out here!
2. The SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast will be on Tuesday night at 9:00. Guests are currently being recruited!\
3. And on Wednesday at 9:00, Jack Steal from Fanatic Jack Talks Twins will be hosting his weekly Twins podcast, so you will certainly want to listen to that and call in.

• Check out Curve for a Strike’s most recent Twins Blogger Get to Know ‘Em with Parker Hageman from Over the Baggy and TwinsCentric.
• Vote for Prospect #18 in the Twinkie Town Top 50 prospect rankings.
• Brian Pietrzak of BP’s Baseball Blog called the 2000s the best decade in Twins history.
• Twinkie Talk named its #15 Twins prospect.
• Here are Travis choices for Twins Prospects 36-40.

 Alright, that’s it for now… I’ve got a ton of writing to do. I hope you understand. If there are Twins topics that come up, I’ll try to write, otherwise, please feel free to discuss below.

As we wrap up the year, my posting is liable to be a little spotty due to a host of family commitments.  Regardless, check in each Thursday for continuations of the series on the men who integrated the major leagues.  Today, though, I want to join the bandwagon of sports sites doing best of decade retrospectives.  In particular I want to focus on the best regular season baseball game of the last 10 years.  In the postseason, I think Game 7 of the 2001 World Series wins hands down, though Game 5 of the 2005 NLCS will always have a special place in my heart. (Check out the Retrosheet play-by-play for Pujols’ home run – “Pujols homered [Eckstein scored, Edmonds scored]; the ball hit the windows above the train track on top of the wall” – that is the greatest Retrosheet play-by-line I have seen, and the emphasis is in the original.) Postseason games will always outweigh regular season games, but baseball lets us cheat. One-game playoffs are regular season games, and there have been three (2007-2009) in the last decade. Which was the decade’s best game?

The 2008 tiebreaker is the first game eliminated. Though this game may have been the most crisply played of the three, it lacked the sheer excitement of the two that bracket it. It did not go to extra innings, instead revolving around two excellent pitching performances. John Danks went 8 innings for the White Sox, giving up no runs and getting the win. Nick Blackburn went 6.1 for the Twins, giving up a home run to Jim Thome leading off the bottom of the 7th inning. That would be the game’s only run. A well-played game? Certainly. Exciting? Sort of, because it was close. The best of the decade? No, because the other two tiebreakers were better. It also loses points for thwarting the will of God, i.e. that His Chosen Team should always win.

2007 and 2009 both went to extra innings, the 2007 game going 13 and 2009 12. Both games existed because of great runs/great collapses. The Rockies were in the midst of one of history’s great hot streaks, and the Twins had a very good run of their own. Simultaneously, the Padres and Tigers were both choking away easy playoff spots. Neither game was crisp. Jake Peavy, about to win the NL Cy Young Award, would walk 4 in 6.1 innings, and the Padres walked 8 batters in the game. Rick Porcello of the Tigers would hit a runner with a throw to first, and Alexi Casilla of the Twins would get thrown out at the plate with the potential winning run. Nevertheless, both games were extremely tight. The biggest lead of 2007 was three runs; the Rockies led by 3 after 2 innings but instantly gave up 5 in the top of the 3rd. In 2009 the biggest lead was also 3, held by the Tigers after the top of the 3rd; the Twins would get their first run in the bottom of the inning. Each game had a team take the lead in extra innings, only to lose. So how can these two be separated?

I think the only thing to hold against either game is the last run of 2007. Matt Holliday scored the winning run off of Trevor Hoffman on a face-first dive for the plate. From every angle I have ever seen, he missed the plate. Nevertheless, he was credited with the game-winning run. In 2009, the since-traded Carlos Gomez scored cleanly on a single by presumed-goat Alexi Casilla. Because of the cleaner ending, I give the nod to the 2009 tiebreaker, won by the Twins over the Tigers, 6-5. If you prefer 2007, I would give very little argument. Both were great games, and baseball’s now yearly tiebreaker has added a distinct level of excitement to the regular season.

Any games that have stuck with you from the last decade? I have only focused on the one-game playoffs, leaving out great games like Randy Johnson’s perfect game and, of course, this gem. Joking aside, what do you think was the best regular season game of the last 10 years?

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -

I haven’t been real great at linking to other Twins sites and such, so I thought a quick Weekend Links posting would be good. Enjoy!

• First of all, don’t mess with the Twins! If you’re a blogger, be very careful of what you show on your site, specifically if you are hoping to make any money off of it. Check out this story about Ballpark Magic!
• The Twinkie Towns Top 50 Twins Prospect voting is now attempting to select the team’s #17 prospect. Check it out to see who the top 16 are.
• Also, Roger posted his Weekly Twins Minor League Report.
• After spending the last few months doing silly things like studying, Travis is back and he is starting to display his Year End Top 50 Prospects. Here are his choices for 46-50.
• Turning the Tables (by Nick Nelson) sure received a lot of attention. Nick talks about how the Twins could become the big spenders in the AL Central.
• Parker from Over the Baggy asks “Could the Twins  Actually be Serious about Aroldis Chapman?” In my opinion, they should be involved, but I also think giving too much money to any pitcher (as I believe there is an inherent risk with any pitcher. Really, how many pitchers have had no arm problems?). I do think that the Twins should seriously consider Chapman, but their way to convince him to pick the Twins can’t be money. The Twins should try to convince him that he will make his money down the road, but it is more important to his career and to the Twins that they not rush him. Consider this, he is 21 years old, left-handed and has been clocked at 102 mph. But does anyone believe that he is more polished that Kyle Gibson, or even someone like David Price. Chapman should sign and go to the Florida State League for a half season in 2010. He should end the year at AA. He should not make his big league debut until he is ready. The Twins would have the patience for that, would Chapman and his representatives?
• Have I mentioned lately that Josh Taylor is back… and that’s a good thing!
• The Twins Geek asks “What is Kenny Williams up to?” I do think that the White Sox are the Twins primary competition in the AL Central in 2010. The moves they made in 2009 convince me of that. Jake Peavy will help tremendously and give them four solid starters. Alex Rios will figure things out and be very good. Their offseason moves don’t have me scared at all. Juan Pierre is not intimidating at all. Mark Teahen is a nice player, but not scary. Andruw Jones is done, and he doesn’t care. They let go of Jermaine Dye and Scott Podsednik. Not huge losses, but I’m not certain that the offseason additions make up for their losses.  
• Granny Baseball predicts the 2010 Rochester Red Wings roster.
• Twinkie Baseball takes a look at some of the Twins Dominican Summer League Prospects. Here are his thoughts on Pedro Guerra. His thoughts on Wander Guillen.

 There you go. A little bit of Twins talk for you on a Sunday morning. Please feel free to discuss here.

‘Same Card, Different Paths’ – Card #26

1978 Topps - Card #703 – AKA – ‘The Jack Morris Rookie Card’

Larry Anderson – Lasting just 16 games, Larry Anderson had a very short major league career.  With 41 innings pitched, Anderson compiled a 2-3 record while striking out 23 and walking 22.  A career ERA of 5.66 with 28 allowed runs aided Anderson is his quick dismissal from the big leagues.

Tim Jones – Jones had a very short 3-game major league career.  In those three games, Jones started one game and earned 1 win.  And with 10 total innings pitched, he gave up 4 hits while striking out 5 and walking 3.

Mickey Mahler – Mahler’s career spanned 8 seasons and he suited up for 7 teams during that time.  With a career record of 14-32 with 1 save, Mahler was never able to establish himself as a solid starter.  His biggest opportunity came in 1978 when he got 21 starts; in those starts, he went 4-11.  A career ERA of 4.68 and his 1.38:1.0 K:Walk ratio kept Mahler from getting steady playing time. 

Jack Morris – The winningest pitcher of the 1980’s Morris compiled a 254-186 record during his career en route to 5 All-star appearances and 7 Top 9 finishes for the Cy Young award.  Morris won 3 World Series championship titles during his career – 1984, 1991, and 1992.  In ‘91 he won the World Series MVP award as he led Twins to the championship capturing 2 of the team’s 4 wins.

So people are starting to pay attention to the unwritten rules. In a September 29 game against the Tigers, Minnesota’s Joe Mauer doubled against Justin Verlander. From his vantage point at second, he then read every sign Detroit catcher Gerald Laird put down. As Mauer took his lead, he proceeded to send a series of blatant signals prior to each pitch to the hitter, Jason Kubel, about what to expect.

The TV announcers were no different than most fans in this case, so predisposed with watching the primary action on the field that they missed the subtleties. Only in the pantheon of sign tipping, Mauer wasn’t doing much that could be described as “subtle.” Perhaps as a catcher he’s used to flashing blatant signals, but that’s hardly an excuse. Were discretion in sign delivery an official statistic, the guy never would have won the MVP.

Luckily, someone other than the announcers was paying attention, and took the time to repurpose the video for instructional purposes. Such is the beauty of YouTube.

Multiple instances of the same clip have cropped up, some with notably better video quality than the one below. I chose this one, though, because the user – Rolemodel2008 – took the time to embed a series of instructions about what to look for and when, and for the most part is right on the money.

This isn’t to say that Mauer is in the wrong; this kind of stuff happens all the time in the big leagues. The only surprise is that it took Detroit so long to catch on, not to mention the team’s lack of response (short of Laird becoming trickier in his signal calling).

“Some guys stood up there relaying location, and you could just tell,” Shawon Dunston told us during the course of interviews for the book. “I’d just go up to them and say, ‘Come on, now, you’ve got to be a little bit more discreet. It’s a little bit too obvious.’ They just give you a dumb look, but the next time the behavior had changed. They respected the game. You’ve got to get every edge — I don’t have a problem with that — but don’t be too obvious. And be prepared to get drilled if you get caught. Period. That’s how it is.”

Mauer’s next at-bat came with runners at second and third and one out; a perfect opportunity for Verlander to send a warning shot to the Twins. Instead, he got him to ground out to first on a 2-0 pitch, driving in a run.

One thing’s for sure: Were Verlander to have reacted, it wouldn’t have been on orders from Jim Leyland. “I don’t order pitchers to throw at guys,” he told us. “I don’t ever talk to the pitchers about throwing or not throwing at people. I kind of let the pitcher do whatever he’s got to do. That usually gets taken care of by itself – you don’t have to order anything. I’ve never told a pitcher a guy needs to be hit. Period.”

Check out the clip and decide for yourself.

- Jason

It took just 8 days for Jeff Reardon to return all 4 cards I sent him – and they are signed perfectly!!

Reardon lives roughly 40 miles North of me.  It’s nice to see how quickly these cards came back.

Jeff Reardon enjoyed a solid 16-year career in the big leagues and was a big-time closer for more than a decade.  While playing for 7 teams, he collected 367 saves and compiled a record of 73-77.  Back when 30 saves was something to brag about, Reardon was surpassing that goal regularly.  In total he had 7 seasons of 30 or more saves, with 3 of them reaching the 40-mark.

Jeff Reardon has a neat signature.  I have never seen a ‘J’ like that before and if you examine it closely it kind of looks like a ‘J’ and a ‘G’ are written on top of each other…

Thanks for the great autographs Mr. Reardon!!!

Best of 2009
For the first time since 2002, I will not be giving out my yearly awards.  I will, however, be listing my favorites of the year in pop culture!

Best TV Show: Dexter (2 years in a row!)
Best Movie: Inglorious Basterds
Best Sports Moment: Twins beat Tigers in Game 163 to win AL Central
Best Music Artist: Darius Rucker (2 years in a row!)
Best Song: “Roll with Me” by Montgomery Gentry
Best Athlete: Joe Mauer
Best Blog: Jordan Krogman Photography
My 2009 Pop Culture Icon: Michael C. Hall (2 years in a row! As much for his role on Dexter as his role in Six Feet Under, which I hadn’t seen until this year.)  Other candidates up for consideration included Quentin Tarantino, Darius Rucker, Joe Mauer, Montgomery Gentry, Rainn Wilson, Tracy Morgan, Orlando Cabrera, Phillip Rivers, Jordan Krogman, Weezer, and Neil Patrick Harris.

Best Oldies of 2009
I also am traditionally behind the times a little, not catching on to trends until it’s way too late.  So here are my favorites of 2009 that weren’t necessarily new in 2009 but were new to me.

Best TV Show: Six Feet Under (now perhaps my favorite all-time show)
Best Movie: The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, from our Best Picture project)
Best Song: “Spaceman” by The Killers (came out in 2008)

Dexter Finale Leaves Me Shaken
Finales are always the best episodes of TV shows, whether it’s a season finale or series finale.  The Office (BBC) brought tears to my eyes when David Brent closed out the series by finally telling a joke that made his co-workers laugh.  What I thought at the time was the Scrubs finale featured a musical look into the future that was so well-done Lauren and I chose it as our first dance song.  Six Feet Under left me speechless after they fast-forwarded through the years to show how all the main characters die.  And Arrested Development really wrapped things up perfectly after three short-lived seasons.

But none of those gave me quite the same feeling as this season’s Dexter finale which aired last Sunday.  That was five days ago, and I’m still thinking about how it ended!  [SPOILER ALERT!]  In the final minute of the episode, the writers gruesomely killed off one of the main characters in shocking fashion.  E! ranked it as the single most shocking death in episodic TV history.  It’s certainly a shame that they got rid of my second favorite character on the show (and by far the most attractive), but it will certainly open up Season 5 to some crazy possibilities.  (As amazing as this season of Dexter was, I’d still say Season 2 was the best, by a hair.  Season 1 would be third and Season 3 with Jimmy Smits would be last.)

As Christmas approaches, little appears to be going on with the Twins. Well, I guess their offices are moving from the Metrodome to Target Field over the next week, but there are not any real Twins rumors. But we’re fans, we can make up our own rumors and plans and such. I mean, take a listen to Fanatic Jack’s Twins Podcast from Wednesday night. He’s got all kinds of ideas for Bill Smith. So, there is plenty to discuss, and I will happily take your questions for an hour on Friday, starting at noon central time.

To set a reminder, to participate in the chat, or to read the transcript later, Click Here.

I will open up the chat room a little early, so get your questions in. If there is any Twins news to report, I’ll be sure to do that too.

Here are the Week 15 picks from our Expert Panel! It had been awhile, but I am happy to say that the updated standings for this league can now be found here. I has been about three weeks behind, so big hat-tip to Melissa Lien for helping it get caught up! In Week 14, Dan Slowey and Mike McCardell led the way by going 14-2. Slowey (Dan variety) grabbed the lead in this competition early and has somehow managed to maintain it throughout. In fact, his lead is now three games over Dan Osterbrock and Steve Blevins. McCardell and TwinsCentric’s own Nick Nelson are both four games back of the lead. But now there are just three more weeks to go.  If you have any thoughts, leave Comments here. If not, Click here for our picks for the 15^th week of the season.

John Lackey has just one question to the fine people of Red Sox Nation: "do you party?"

Have this many aces moved in one day before? Red Sox get Lackey, Phills get Doc Holiday, and Cliff Lee (Mr. Tuff Nuts of game 1 in the WS this year) is moving to Seattle. Monday was crazy.

Obviously the California Angles of Anaheim by way of Los Angeles must not be too thrilled  (sad rally monkey). I don’t think the Matsui signing will be what everyone is talking about by the infinity pool this morning (sad thunder sticks).

The Mets are also big losers in this shuffle with the Phils getting a pitcher who will mow down NL and the Sox taking the best pitcher off the FA market.

Its like the drinking game “asshole” where you have to give up your best cards to the President and Vice President. The Red Sox and Phillies are the Prez and Vice and the Mets and Angles are the asshole. They have to wear silly hats and get John Henry beer. The Sox and Phills can also make up rules… either this analogy has legs and I’m a genius or I just drink too much.

Seattle just got a whole lot better, and with the Red Sox all but out of the JBay sweepstakes Seattle might be a logical landing place for the best Canadian free agent. That would give the rainy city some power to go with their already impressive speed, defense, and newly acquired one-two punch of Lee and King Felix. They’ve got money and a hungry fan base that has never had a championship in any major sport. Look for Seattle to make some noise next year.

You have to think that this is just the beginning for the 2009/2010 off season as far as big moves are concerned. Bay and Holliday are yet to land and there are over 250 free agents on the move.  This is great, especially for us who love whatever is cooking on the hot stove.  With the CBA (collective Bargaining Agreement) up in 2011 things might a little different in years to come. If you think this is exciting, check out next years’ FA class.

Is it just me or does John Lackey look like Landfill from Beerfest?

[[Editor's note to 33 Problems: The Venuist has been on top of this story for months.]]

Fortunately, when John Lackey's 'original' Landfill died in Beerfest, Landfill 2 (featured above) saved the squad

I get the ‘defense wins championships’ thing, but don’t you find Cameron’s 8.5 million per year a little nuts.  Boston media is all crazy about the two moves, but they pose as many questions as they answer. Are they going to trade Ellsbury along with Bucholtz for Adrien Gonzalez?  (If so, 33 Problems’ sister would literally move to San Diego and claim that she was a lifelong Padre’s fan.) Are they just going to platoon Hermida and Cameron? Really?

Really?

They’s something else going down. So much for that bridge year.

"Don't Cry for Me Minnesota"

Joe Mauer Needs to Stay Put:

You would think the Twins would become players in something soon if they want to keep Joe Mauer happy. [[Editors Note: See Cleveland Cavaliers, Lebron James.]]  Any contract the Twins could possible afford to give Mauer would be a require a hometown discount. No way the Twins are going to match what the yankees, Red Sox, or Mets would be willing to pay for his services.

The way to keep Mauer would be to sign or trade for a serious guy (JJ Hardy does not count) to show that they are willing to build around Joe, then to offer him a contract rich for the Twins (roughly 40,000 grand a year plus health insurance but no 401k matching).  This guy is from Minnesoooota. He grew up rooting for the Twins. This is the only leverage they have. Joe can make more money, a lot more if you include endorsements  (Accenture is looking), in a big East Coast Market. He’s also going to be a contender every year. The Twins can’t just punt like they did on Santana when they got fleeced by the Mets.

Mauer needs to stay in Minny because I like watching good baseball games with good players with some semblance or competitive balance.

Mauer needs to stay in Minny because he is the heart of a quality franchise was the only interesting thing about the end of the season last year.

Mauer needs to stay in Minny because it will give the AL Central a bona fide superstar.

But mostly Mauer needs to stay in Minny because it will serve as an example that players aren’t just in it for the money, that small market teams don’t just serve as a glorified farm team to the big guys in Boston and Philly and LA and New York. It will be something that we can all point to when we get cynical about this sport.  Stay put Joe. They’ll name a street after you.

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net - 

I just heard now that former Twins minor leaguer Lee Martin passed away on Monday night in Arkansas. The 23 year old’s death is believed to be accidental, although details at this time are unclear.

Martin was drafted by the Twins in the 18^th round of the June 2007 draft out of Southern Arkansas University. He went 2-1 with a 3.21 ERA with the GCL Twins that season. In 2008, he played for the Elizabethton Twins. He went 4-2 with a 4.60 ERA in 18 relief appearances. In November of 2008, he was released by the Twins.

Considering he played with the organization for such a short time, he had a lot of great relationships with many current Twins minor leaguers. I wish to send my condolences to them as well as his family and friends.

Send me an e-mail, or leave your Comments here.

also available at www.SethSpeaks.net -

The SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins Podcast just finished up. It was a great, fun show with a ton of minor league talk. If you have any interest in the Twins minor league system, you will definitely want to listen to this show.

Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus was the first guest of the show. Last time he was on, he stayed on much longer than anticipated. This time… same thing. I had asked him if he would be able to call in and talk for 15-20 minutes. Well, he was on for about 35 minutes. I hope he didn’t mind, because it was a ton of fun for me, and hopefully for everyone that listen. Kevin has been around minor league baseball for a long time and has some tremendous sources around the league, with scouts and coaches and more. Last week, he posted his Future Shock: Top 11 Twins Prospects article. Please be sure to check it out because I think it is a great illustration of how far the Twins minor league talent level has risen over the past year. A year ago, they had a total of one player listed as either a four-star or five-star prospect. This year, Goldstein listed two minor league prospects as five-star prospects and three more as four-star prospects. There were five three-star talents. So basically, Kevin and I talked about several of his Top 11 Twins Twins Prospects and several others and about the Twins farm system in general.

Shawn Berg recently started a blog called On the Road with Shawn. Today, he completed his first Top 50 Twins prospect list by posting his top ten Twins prospects. He came on for the final 15 minutes of the show to discuss his list. Now, in comparing my top ten list to Kevin Goldstein’s, we had eight that were the same, and his #10 was my #11, so although the rankings were, in some cases, fairly different, the players were generally the same. Now, in comparing Shawn’s list to my list, just four of the ten are the same. Shawn developed a formula to perform his ranking, and you will definitely want to listen to his thoughts and then check out his blog and his top ten Twins prospects. I would guess that you may be a little surprised by who is in his top ten, especially by who his choice for #1 is.

For those of you who, for one reason or another, don’t want to listen in to the podcast’s conversation, I may post some quotes from it throughout the day of things I found interesting or noteworthy. But again, I definitely encourage you to listen to the show yourself. It truly was a fun time!

QUICK THOUGHTS

The Twins let PhilipHumber become a free agent after the season. Yesterday, he became a member of the Kansas City Royals organization when he signed a minor league contract.

The Twins sent a couple of scouts down to Houston to watch Cuban-defector Aroldis Chapman work out and throw some pitches off the mound. Reports indicated that he was hitting 96 mph easily. That he displayed a good changeup and slider. He was said to be having meetings with several of the teams after the workout. I don’t know that the Twins being there is really a big story, at least not from the standpoint that they could sign him. I don’t think anyone believes that the Twins are going to give any pitcher a $17-25 million signing bonus. But it is still a great idea to have their own scouting reports on any player whether it is to sign him, to potentially trade for him down the line, or to get a scouting report on him for when the Twins eventually have to face him.

Send me an e-mail, or leave your Comments here.

You knew it was only a matter of time….

Yes, today’s hottie is Joe Mauer. Frankly, I needed a pick me up and nothing does that better than Joe here.

It’s embarrassingly difficult to find pictures of Joe that we haven’t already used (and shamefully shocking that the shutterbugs aren’t out there fulfilling the need for more Mauer spreads)

And as though we didn’t all already have enough reason to love on Joe, here’s a pic of him loving on his mom and grandma. Only a picture of him covered in puppies would be more heartwarming (And if such a picture exists, we need to see it NOW)

SethSpeaks.net Weekly Twins Podcast starts at 9:00 central time. Guests include Kevin Goldstein, from Baseball Prospectus, and Shawn Berg, from On the Road with…, talkin’ Twins Prospects. In between, taking your Minnesota Twins related phone calls at 347-202-0548. Chat room opening soon! Tune in at www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SethSpeaks.

When someone mentions the term “study group” to me, the first thing I think of is college.

I think of four or five friends getting together to study a subject they have very little interest in and after 15 minutes saying screw this and play Madden.

Hopefully Bud Selig’s “study group” is a little more productive.

The Commissioner of baseball announced today he is formulating a special committee or study group for on-field matters. These on-field matters include the expansion of instant replay, expanding the first-round of the playoffs, scheduling, the pace of the game, and the umpire’s strike zone.

Selig has put together a study group

Here are the members of the committee who will be discussing these matters:

Tony LaRussa: Manager, St. Louis Cardinals

Mike Scioscia: Manager, Los Angeles of Angels of Anaheim

Jim Leyland: Manager, Detroit Tigers

Joe Torre: Manager, Los Angeles Dodgers

Andy MacPhail: President for Baseball Operations, Baltimore Orioles

Mark Shapiro: General Manager, Cleveland Indians

Terry Ryan: Former General Manager, Minnesota Twins

John Schuerholz: President, Atlanta Braves

Paul Beeston: President, Toronto Blue Jays

Dave Montgomery: President, Philadelphia Phillies

Chuck Armstrong: President, Seattle Mariners

Bill DeWitt: Chairman, St. Louis Cardinals

Frank Robinson: Hall of Fame player and currently works in the office of the commissioner.

George Will: Political Communist

I have a couple of thoughts on all of this.

First, I love the idea, and I love the fact that Selig does his best to try to improve the game. I have said it before and I will say it again–Selig always works on improving the game of baseball.

That is one thing you can not fault him on.

I would expect that some changes come out of this meeting. Changes to instant replay and pace of the game seem to be the easiest to implement.

Pace of the game came under question when Jorge Posada seemingly went to the mound on every pitch during the postseason. I always believed that there should be a maximum of two visits per pitcher per game.

That visit includes trips made by the catcher, pitching coach, or manager to the mound. On the third trip by any of the above during a game, the pitcher has to be removed.

If you have to visit a pitcher more than twice in a game, then that pitcher is probably not having a good night.

My other thought on this is why are there no current players in this meeting? Wouldn’t the people who play the game know what changes need to be made?

If I am Selig, I would much rather get input from a Curtis Granderson or a Carlos Pena than George Will. Why on earth is Will involved in this? For some reason this guy has Selig’s ear and I still haven’t figured out why.

When I think of Will, I think of that great Saturday Night Live skit in the 80’s when they did “George Will’s Sports Machine.” Dana Carvey played Will, Corbin Burnsen played Mike Schmidt and Jon Lovitz played Tommy Lasorda.

Will kept asking Schmidt and Lasorda questions they couldn’t answer. Questions like “The precarious balance between infield and outfield suggests a perfect symmetry. For $50, identify the effect of that symmetry.”

It was just classic. That skit makes me laugh every time I see it.

The group will meet for the first time during the Owner’s Meetings next month in Phoenix.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Guess which team has been the most aggressive this offseason?

The New York Yankees? Nope. The Los Angeles Dodgers? Not even close. The Boston Red Sox? Maybe.

How about the Chicago White Sox? Bingo.

On top of adding Jake Peavy and Alex Rios towards the end of last season, the White Sox have added Mark Teahen, Omar Vizquel, Andruw Jones, JJ Putz, and now they have added Juan Pierre this offseason.

According to various sources, the White Sox have acquired Pierre from the Los Angeles Dodgers for two minor league pitchers. The Dodgers will get to pick two minor league pitchers from a list provided by the White Sox.

Pierre is waving goodbye to LA

Pierre has two-years and $18.5 million remaining on his contract. However, the Dodgers will pay $10 million of Pierre’s contract. The White Sox will pay Pierre $3 million in 2010 and $5 million in 2011.

The White Sox are really being aggressive this offseason. There is no reason for the White Sox not to be aggressive playing in the weak AL Central.

The Cleveland Indians are rebuilding, the Kansas City Royals are a mess, and the Detroit Tigers are selling off pieces left and right. That leaves just the White Sox and Minnesota Twins to compete in the AL Central.

Does Pierre put the White Sox ahead of the Twins in 2010? Probably not because I really don’t see how the White Sox are better because of this trade.

Player A hit .308 with zero home runs, a .365 OBP, a .392 Slugging Percentage, and 30 stolen bases in 2009.

Player B hit .304 with seven home runs, a .353 OBP, .412 Slugging Percentage, and 30 stolen bases in 2009.

The difference between these players is negligible. Player A is available via trade and Player B is available via free agency. So if all things are pretty much equal, wouldn’t you go with the player that is going to cost you less?

Player A is Pierre and Player B is Scott Podsednik.

I have no idea what prospects the White Sox are giving up. But I don’t care if they include me in the deal–a prospect is still a prospect and a prospect is a commodity.

Why give up two prospects and pay Pierre when they could have had essentially the same player (Podsednik) for no prospects and probably less than what they are paying Pierre?

I don’t get it.

I like the fact that the White Sox are being aggressive, but sometimes they would be better off making the simpler move. The simple move here would be to just re-sign Podsednik.

As for the Dodgers, this is a pure salary dump. The Dodgers are in such a financial mess right now that saving $8 million is a big deal for them right now.

I’ll update this story once it’s confirmed what prospects are going to the Dodgers.

You can follow The Ghost of Moonlight Graham on Twitter @ theghostofmlg

Good morning everyone,
Please bear with me for a little bit as things at work and in my writing world are more than crazy these days. Between the next TwinsCentric project, the Seth Speaks.net Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook – 2010, and a project with FoxSports, it’s rather hectic. Deadlines are fast approaching in all of the above. I will try my best to keep you updated on Twins news and other information.

For those of you who might be interested, I will be on The Fan 710 radio in Bismark, ND, this morning at 11:00 a.m. to talk about the Hot Stove League. It’s always a great time to talk baseball with Jack Michaels. So, if you’re in central North Dakota, tune in 710 on your am dial. Otherwise, check it out live online.

Tonight (Tuesday) at 9:00 central will be the SethSpeaks.net Weekly Minnesota Twins podcast. We will talk Twins minor league prospectus with Kevin Goldstein of Baseball Prospectus, who posted his Top 11 Twins Prospects last week. Other guests are in the works as well, so check out the show.

Quickly, the Twins received righty relieve Chris Province from the Red Sox in exchange for Boof Bonser. Province had a solid year in AA. He played on the same Mesa team in the Arizona Fall League a the Twins prospects. His strikeout numbers are not terribly impressive. However, apparently his sinker is just an incredible pitch that darts in on right-handed hitters and he gets a ton of ground balls. More bullpen depth for the Twins.

Remember last week, I mentioned a few times that big moves rarely happen at the Winter Meetings, but a lot of talking is done so don’t be surprised if a lot happens early this week. Well, I would say that was pretty much the case. Roy Halladay appears to be on his way to the Phillies. Cliff Lee is headed out the Mariners. Phillipe Aumont may or may not be part of the deal. I tried to see if his Facebook Wall said anything, but it was in French, so I couldn’t tell. Then Kyle Drabek may be heading to Toronto. I think the lesson in that rumored deal is that, until the deal is nearly official, it isn’t worth analyzing because it can change so much. Early in the day, I think the Phillies were getting a great deal. Now, I’m not so certain. Seattle is being called the big winner, but we shall see.

John Lackey and Mike Cameron appear to be headed to the Red Sox. Lackey will get big money. Cameron will get two years and $18 million, but where will he play? He doesn’t seem to make as much sense in LF as CF, but Jacoby Ellsbury is there, and Jeremy Hermida just came to the team in a trade last month and JD Drew probably isn’t going anywhere, so what will happen? Just a thought, but how about Ellsbury, Clay Buchholz, Casey Kotchman and two minor leaguers of note to San Diego for Adrian Gonzalez? Kevin Youklis can go back over to 3B since Mike Lowell will be undergoing surgery and then may or may not be traded.

Some teams are starting to announce their non-roster invitees to spring training. I would think the Twins will be doing that shortly as well. That should be an interesting list.

Where is Jason Bay going? Mariners? Mets? Angels? I would think the Angels will have to trade Gary Matthews before they could acquire Bay, especially now that Hideki Matsui has signed with them.

How about Matt Holliday? Do you think he’ll be able to get $100 million? Is it St. Louis? Or will the Yankees make a play for him?

Who has the best 1-2 punch at the top of their rotation (assuming the Mariners/Blue Jays/Phillies trade goes through)? Seattle could boast Feliz Hernandez and Cliff Lee. San Francisco has Cain and Lincecum. The Phillies would have Halladay and Hamels or Happ? The Red Sox would have Lackey and Beckett (or Matsuzaka)? The Yankees have Sabathia and Burnett? The Royals have Greinke and whoever you want to call their #2 pitcher? The Cardinals have Carpenter and Wainright?

Alright, that should be enough to start some baseball discussion, so be sure to leave your comments below. Again, thank you for your continued support of me and this site, and now for your patience. Have a great day!

Ah, Game 7, the ultimate baseball postseason game. Game 7 ends the season, game 7 ends the series, game 7 crowns  winner. It’s no wonder that there have been so many very good game 7’s. The best was the 27th of October 1991.

The Atlanta Braves and Minnesota Twins had battled through six games with 4 being decided by a single run and one being decided by 3 runs. This game was to be as close. The Braves sent John Smoltz to the mound against Jack Morris.

The two pitchers engaged in a fantastic pitching duel. Through 7 innings neither team had scored. The Braves had left 6 men on base, the Twins only 5.  In the 8th inning Braves Designated Hitter Lonnie Smith singled followed by 3rd baseman Terry Pendleton’s double. A great decoy play by the Twins middle infielders (Greg Gagne and Chuck Knoblauch) caused Smith to pause long enough that he was unable to score and was forced to stop at 3rd.  With one out 1st baseman Sid Bream hit into a nifty first base to catcher to first base (Kent Hrbek-Brian Harper-Kent Hrbek) double play to end the threat. Not to be outdone the Twins hit into a crucial double play in the bottom of the eighth. Neither team scored in the ninth, although the Twns did leave two men on base.

In the 10th inning the Braves went in order. The bottom of the 10th saw Dan Gladden drop a hit which he stretched into a double. Knoblauch sacrificed him to third. With one out the Braves walked both Kirby Puckett and Kent Hrbek intentionally to set up a play at any base. That brought up pinch hitter Gene Larkin who singled over a drawn-in outfield to drive in Gladden with the Series clinching run. Morris pitched 10 shutout innings for the win.

I watched it in something like amazement. I still consider it the greatest game I ever saw entirely through.

Honorable mention game 7:

1912-in extra innings New York Giants outfielder Fred Snodgrass drops a crucial flyball opening the door for the Boston Red Sox to win the Series.

1924-also in extra innings the Washington Senators push across a run against the Giants to give Walter Johnson his first World Series victory and the Senators their only championship.

1926-In what is probably the most famous strikout in baseball history, Grover Cleveland Alexander, with the bases loaded, strikes out Tony Lazzeri to preserve the Cardinals lead. Later Babe Ruth will be caught stealing to end the game and the Series.

1940-Paul Derringer outduels Detroit’s Bobo Newsom 2-1 to bring home Cincinnati’s first untainted World Series triumph.

1946-tied in the bottom of the 8th Cardinals right fielder Enos Slaughter runs through a stop sign to score the winning run all the way from first on a double. Harry Brecheen shuts down the Red Sox in the ninth for his third Series victory as Ted Williams is a loser in his only World Series appearance.

1955-By a score of 2-0, the Brooklyn Dodgers finally win the World Series.

1960-a 10-9 slugfest between the Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees ends when Bill Mazeroski leads off the bottom of the ninth with a home run. It is his second home run of the Series. In the regular season he hits 11.

1962-Willie McCovey hits the ball with the tying run on base. Bobby Richardson snags it to preserve the Yankees victory.

1965-Sandy Koufax, on 2 day’s rest, shuts out the Twins on 3 hits, two singles and a double.

2001-With the Yankees ahead and Mariano Rivera on the mound in the bottom of the ninth, the Arizona Diamondbacks score two runs to upset the 3-time defending champions.

2002-With the score tied 1-1, the Angels load the bases against the Giants and Garrett Anderson’s double plates all thee runners for the margin of victory in the last game 7 played to date.

If game 5 was the easiest Series game to pick because it was so obvious, game 6 was the hardest. There have been an inordinate number of quality sixth games in World Series history. I saw a number of them, so I chose the one I found the most exciting.

Down 3 games to 2 to the Atlanta Braves, the 1991 Minnesota Twins went into the Metrodome for game 6 needing two wins. What they got was a great game. They also ended up with the Kirby Puckett show.

The Twins broke on top with a Chuck Knoblauch single, a Puckett triple and a Shane Mack single for an early 2 run lead. In the 3rd inning Puckett made one of the most sensational catches against the glass I ever saw. It stopped a Braves rally cold. The Braves did break through in the 5th inning with two runs of their own. Terry Pendleton popped a two-run homer. Not to be outdone, the Twins went back into the lead in the bottom of the inning on Puckett’s sacrifice fly.

It took the Braves until the 7th inning to tie the game on a force out. The game remained tied until Puckett smashed a leadoff home run against Charlie Leibrandt to end the game and tie up the Series. In game 6, the Twins tallied 4 runs, Pucket had 3 RBIs and scored two runs. Heckuva performance.

Honorable mention game 6:

1947-The Dodgers tie up the Series. Famous for Al Gionfriddo’s great catch robbing Joe Dimaggio of a home run.

1975-Carlton Fisk’s “body English” home run in extra innings tied up the Series, which the BoSox lost the next night.

1986-in maybe the most famous error in World Series history, Bill Buckner leaves the wickets open.

1993-Joe Carter’s two-run blast for the Blue Jays wins the Series for Toronto.

2002-The Giants have the World Series wrapped up until the Angels rip off 3 runs in both the bottom of the 7th and the bottom of the 8th to tie up the Series. They win it all in game 7.

2003-Josh Beckett stifles the Yankees to record Florida’s 2nd World Series victory in franchise history.

Minnesota Twins general manager Bill Smith just got a reprieve.

After sitting idly by and watching a number of the club’s offseason targets sign elsewhere in the past two weeks, Smith now has a second chance at making some major moves this offseason.

Smith’s reprieve comes as the free agent pool just received an infusion of new talent.

This infusion came as a result of the non-tender deadline, which passed at 11:59 p.m. ET Saturday.

Teams had the option to not tender a contract to any player with less than six years of service time, rather than enduring the arbitration process.

In doing so, those players are then released by the club and become free agents.

In total, 39 players were non-tendered last night, including some very big names.

Of those non-tendered, many could be good fits for the Twins’ roster next season.

Making them all the more attractive is that most of these players should be willing to sign one-year, make-good contracts to re-establish their market value and/or build for a solid raise via arbitration next winter.

Obviously signing a non-tendered player wouldn’t inspire the inhabitants of Twins Territory in the same way signing Adrian Beltre, Felipe Lopez, or even Joe Crede would.

These players, despite the lack of fanfare, could still provide a major boost to the Twins’ championship hopes next season and at a fraction of the cost that their heavily-acclaimed counterparts will no doubt require.

With that in mind, here’s a look at five newly-minted free agents that should be of significant interest to general manager Bill Smith in the coming weeks.

Check out the slideshow at BleacherReport.com.