Monthly Archives: August 2010

Manny in the Windy City

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Manny Ramirez is expected to make his Chicago White Sox debut tonight in one of his former home stadiums, as the Sox face the Cleveland Indians at Jacobs Field.

The White Sox acquired the oft-injured outfielder from the Los Angeles Dodgers yesterday on a simple waiver claim, meaning the Sox are responsible for the final $4 million owed to the slugger.

Ramirez still has some pop in that bat. The problem with ManRam is that he can’t stay on the field. He’s had three different stints on the disabled list this season, two because of strains of his right calf and the other for a pulled hamstring.

The 38-year-old Ramirez, who is hitting .311 with eight homers and 40 RBIs in 66 games this season, will be able to somewhat protect his legs since he will primarily be serving as the team’s designated hitter.

However, Manny’s injuries have cropped up after he’s been running the bases. Not much the Sox can do to protect him in that regard.

Chicago is four games behind Minnesota in the AL Central. If Ramirez can stay healthy for the remaining month of the season, he should have a big impact on the race. He’s a definitive upgrade over the platoon of Mark Kotsay and Andruw Jones. Can’t argue with that.

Ramirez’s addition makes an already interesting clubhouse that much more compelling. Hopefully, they put his locker next to catcher A.J. Pierzynski’s, somewhere near the office of manager Ozzie Guillen.

This should make for an entertaining five weeks.

Weekend recap: Twins, Vikings and make-believe football

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I’m sitting around watching the USA-Brazil men’s basketball game at the FIBA World Championships. Talk about something I never thought I’d be watching. Seemed like as good of time as any to rehash the weekend.

  • Twinkies take 2 of 3 vs. M’s. The Minnesota Twins couldn’t hold onto another 1-0 lead on Sunday, as the Seattle Mariners avoided getting swept in the three-game series. Twins offense has gone quiet as of late. Safeco Field is a pitcher’s park, but tough to see the offense generate just three hits and a run against someone named Luke French. I was at Target Field about a month ago when French and the Mariners played the Twins, and Minnesota couldn’t get anything going against him until the sixth inning of that game en route to a win. Just one of thsoe pitchers who seems to have their number. Twins fans should just hope that the Rays or Yankees don’t acquire him.
  • Not everyone loves the Fuentes deal. Came across an interesting opinion from Matthew Carruth of FanGraphs. Carruth writes that he doesn’t get the Twins’ acquisition of left-handed reliever Brian Fuentes and doesn’t think Fuentes is much of an upgrade over what the Twins have. I’m pretty puzzled by that opinion. Fuentes’ numbers for the season are solid, and he’s going to be much better as a lefty specialist than he was as a closer. The guy has given up five hits to left-handed hitters this year. Five! I think the Fuentes move was a great one that will pay big dividends in the playoffs should the Twins get there.
  • Favre throws two picks as Vikings win. Brett Favre got a good introduction to his new receiving corps on Saturday as the Minnesota Vikings defeated the Seattle Seahawks in that all important third game of the preseason. I argued a couple of days ago to one of my co-workers that Javon Walker will be a non-factor if he makes the team. But he made a nice touchdown catch in that game, though it wasn’t on a throw from Favre. Speaking of Favre, he threw a couple of interceptions, at least one of which he shouldn’t get too much blame for. Hard to write much more than that. Preseason games just don’t provide much to work with. Offenses don’t want to give too much away. Defenses don’t either. So take the results for what they are.
  • Fantasy football team gets real. Participated in my only fantasy football draft on Sunday. League grew to 16 teams this year, so it was a real challenge. I ended up with the No. 13 pick and drafted the always reliable Reggie Wayne at wide receiver. The team with the No. 14 pick drafted Favre with his first-round selection, which was shocking. I was ridiculed heavily for my second-round pick (No. 20 overall), going with KC Chiefs RB Jamaal Charles. It was a tough call, but I read Charles was the second-highest scorer in fantasy football from Week 8 on last year. And really, in a 16-team league, if you want a guy, you have to reach for him. Not like he was going to be there when I drafted again 25 picks later. Other interesting picks I made were suspended QB Ben Roethlisberger (Round 9 – 141st overall) and injured WR Sidney Rice (Round 10 – 148th overall). I like the squad if we can stay in the hunt long enough to get Rice on the field. He goes in the first two rounds for sure if he’s healthy. Starting lineup is: QB Rivers, RB Charles, RB Forsett, WR Wayne, WR Garcon, TE Witten, K Vinatieri, DEF Dallas Cowboys. Not a bad squad for a 16-teamer, but I really need Justin Forsett or Jerome Harrison to seize control of the starting jobs for their respective teams.

Twins upgrade bullpen with Fuentes, Flores

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While the second-place Chicago White Sox are in negotations with the Los Angeles Dodgers to try and acquire Manny Ramirez, the first-place Minnesota Twins have made a couple of pretty nice moves.

Most recently, the Twins traded for lefty reliever Brian Fuentes, who was the closer for the Los Angeles Angels. The Angels will receive a player-to-be-named-later. Earlier in the week, Minnesota got another lefty reliever in Randy Flores off waivers from Colorado.

Fuentes and Flores will replace injured southpaws Jose Mijares and Ron Mahay. Mahay is out for the season. Mijares is out for the next three weeks.

Fuentes, in particular, has been very good. After struggling to start the season, he has a 2.08 ERA since the All-Star break. He’s given up a run in just two appearances since June 20.

Fuentes’ numbers will only get better as a set-up man to closer Matt Capps, because the 35-year-old four-time All-Star has been absolutely untouchable against left-handed hitters to the tune of a .132 opponents’ batting average.

These are the kinds of moves you have to love. Considering the Twins gave up the second-best prospect in their system for Capps just makes a trade like the one for Fuentes look even better.

Flores made his Twins’ debut last night and it wasn’t very pretty. He allowed two hits and a walk while getting just one out before Matt Guerrier came in and induced an inning-ending double play.

The Twins are hoping to do for Flores what they did for Mahay, who was a struggling lefty specialist for Kansas City before his trade to the Twins last year.

Flores won’t be leaned on quite as heavily now that Fuentes is on the team. Both fill big voids created by injuries.

Fuentes may not be Manny (who is?). But he’ll be of the utmost importance during the Twins’ playoff push.

Tackling the fallout from the leaked MLB financial documents

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The last couple of days, I’ve become pretty obsessed with the reporting Deadspin.com has done thanks to leaked financial documents from a number of Major League Baseball teams.

Deadspin has links to a number of opinions on the matter. Two of my favorites are Yahoo’s Jeff Passan calling out Florida Marlins management, and Maury Brown of FanGraphs wondering what this all means for revenue sharing.

The fact that a team like the Marlins made $49 million over the last two years, yet held Miami-Dade County hostage for a new stadium, isn’t a big surprise. That’s how pro stadiums are built these days, with a few exceptions.

Passan’s column will make your stomach turn. He really goes into detail on the stadium deal that will give the Marlins a new Miami ballpark in 2012. Here’s an excerpt that will make you squirm:

Such sentiments are echoed when looking at the Marlins’ deal. One of the county’s loans is particularly egregious. According to the Miami Herald, J.P. Morgan gave a $91 million note – $80 million of which will go toward construction – that from 2041-47 will cost $118 million per year. In all, the county will spend $1.2 billion to pay off $91 million.

That seems hard to believe. How can a deal like that happen? No wonder our country’s economy is in the shape that it’s in.

I don’t know how it would be governed, but if I was a politician on a national level, I would push for no more public funding for stadiums of elite professional sports leagues. I’ve long felt that way.

The only reason a taxpayer wants to fund a stadium so athletes who makes millions and millions of dollars can play in it is because they want to keep up with the Joneses. If Minnesota doesn’t pay for a Vikings stadium, Los Angeles will, and the Vikings will leave.

This idea that pro sports teams can’t afford to build stadiums is insane. But what are local and state governments to do when a team threatens to move?

Vikings left without Rice

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Sidney Rice, the Minnesota Vikings biggest receiving threat, will miss the first eight weeks of the upcoming season after having surgery Monday to repair a hip he injured during January’s NFC Championship loss to New Orleans.

It’s a bit of a head-scratcher for some left wondering why he waited so long to have the surgery.

Rice said that there were “significant changes” since seeing a doctor about the injury earlier in the offseason.

Either way, it’s a huge blow to the Vikings. And you have to wonder what would cause Rice’s hip to get that much worse. Is this the type of injury that’s going to linger for his career?

The Vikings have some depth at receiver, but that’s been tested in recent days with Percy Harvin battling migraines. Without Rice and Harvin, the Vikings are left with Bernard Berrian and Greg Lewis, along with the recently signed Javon Walker. But who knows what can reasonably be expected of Walker, who hasn’t caught a pass in the NFL for a couple of years.

No doubt the first eight weeks will really test Brett Favre‘s knowledge of the Vikings offense. And a few untested players will be tested, too.

Leave it to Joe to break up no-no

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The way Joe Mauer is hitting right now, it’s hard to believe if he gets four chances to break up a no-hitter, he’s not going to do it.

The Minnesota Twins dropped a 4-0 decision to open a four-game set against the Texas Rangers on Monday in Arlington, with their start catcher breaking up a no-hit bid from the Rangers pitching staff with one out in the ninth inning.

Facing Rangers dynamite closer Neftali Feliz, Mauer laced a single to center field after an Orlando Hudson walk. Feliz struck out Jason Kubel and induced a harmless ground out from Michael Cuddyer to end the game.

Mauer continues to be red-hot since the All-Star break. He has only two hits in his last four games, but that’s mostly due to the fact that he’s walked seven times in 15 of those plate appearances.

And despite the fact that the current cleanup hitter Jason Kubel continues to mash, who can blame teams for pitching around Mauer?

In 33 games since the Break, Mauer is hitting an astounding .416 with a .497 on-base percentage and .632 slugging percentage. Further proof that he’s seeing the ball well is his 2-to-1 K/BB ratio since the Midsummer Classic. Pretty amazing how quickly he went in the batting average race of being outside the top 10 to reaching No. 3 with a .330 average, behind only Texas’ Josh Hamilton (.357) and Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera (.341).

Feliz was the third Rangers reliever trying to finish what Rich Harden had started. Harden is known as much for his injury-laden past as he is for his bona fide ace yet often wild stuff.

The right-hander, who is battling through the worst season of his eight-year career, tossed 6 2/3 hitless innings. But a high pitch count that resulted in five walks forced Rangers manager Ron Washington to pull him from the start.

This is a familiar setting for Twins fans, who just one week ago saw starting pitching Kevin Slowey yanked from a start after seven no-hit innings because of a high pitch count. Slowey, of course, landed on the disabled list following his next start.

Favre, Twins and Rubio

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No shortage of games to watch for the Minnesota sports fan last night.

The Minnesota Vikings played their second preseason game – and first with Brett Favre – last night on NBC. At the same time, the Minnesota Twins wrapped up a three-game set with the Los Angeles Angels on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.

And later on – albeit on tape delay – ESPN2 had the Global Community Cup basketball game between USA and Spain, which featured former Minnesota Timberwolves first-round pick Ricky Rubio playing for the Spaniards.

Favre didn’t play much in his exhibition opener,a 13-yard dump pass to running back Adrian Peterson being the lone highlight. Favre was sacked by San Francisco’s Patrick Willis a couple plays later as the Niners beat the Vikings 15-10.

Favre was expected to get 10 spans behind center, but that changed when it took the Vikings offense a long time to gain possession at the start of the game. He ended up being on the field for only four plays.

The 40-year-old QB and his balky ankle survived the powerful hit from Willis, so that’s a positive sign.

The Twins completed a series win against the Angels, thanks to a homer from Danny Valencia and a three-run double from Michael Cuddyer.

Worth noting that starting pitcher Scott Baker might be turning the corner. He threw seven shutout innings Sunday, giving him a 2.81 ERA in four starts this month. The Twins really need him down the stretch to be that No. 3 starter.

Jesse Crain got out of an eighth-inning jam in his first appearance since the Twins lost the second of their two left-handed specialists after Ron Mahay joined Jose Mijares on the DL. Have to assume the Twins are working the waiver wires trying to make a trade for a lefty reliever.

But as GM Bill Smith pointed out on the Sid and Dave show on Sunday, it’s a lot tougher to make waiver trades this year because the Twins’ record is much better than it was last year. Teams get priority on the waiver wire based on how poor their record is.

The Star Tribune’s Jim Souhan penned a column in today’s editions about the Twins success this year despite injuries to perennial All-Stars Joe Nathan and Justin Morneau.

And finally, great basketball game last night in the Global Community Cup as Kevin Durant led the USA to an 86-85 victory against Spain.

For those interested, Rubio had seven points and three assists, but his five turnovers proved costly to the Spaniards.

Catching up with the last few days

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I took a little break the last few days from the blog while enjoying a week off from work. But that week is going to end shortly, so I better get back in the swing of things.

The Minnesota Twins have played OK as of late, though a couple of losses (Thursday and Saturday) have been somewhat ugly. I was at Thursday’s 11-0 loss to the White Sox – way to pick ‘em, right? – and that was not enjoyable.

Saturday’s was ugly not just because of the 9-3 defeat to the L.A. Angels, but also because pitchers Kevin Slowey and Ron Mahay both ended up on the disabled list after the game.

I’m not surprised about Slowey. I defended the Twins’ obvious, yet highly publicized decision to pull Slowey from his last start, despite tossing seven no-hit innings.

Slowey did something in the late innings of his last start that made me wonder if something was up. He would shake his arm after pitches during the sixth and seventh innings, like there was a mosquito on his elbow.

The Twins recalled Nick Blackburn and Anthony Slama to replace Slowey and Mahay, with Blackburn returning to the rotation.

Finally, keep an eye today on news regarding L.A. Dodgers longtime broadcaster Vin Scully. Scully is planning an announcement prior to today’s game about his future plans. He could announce this season is his last.

Favre makes predictable trip to Minny

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On the day that the man who hit the “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” died, the man that sent the “Text Heard ‘Round the World” appears headed for a second season with the Minnesota Vikings.

Bobby Thomson – who died at the age of 86 – became famous for what he did on the field. Brett Favre, meanwhile, has seemingly gained more fame for what he does and doesn’t do off the field.

But Minnesota Vikings fans couldn’t care less. All they want is Favre back on the roster, and that appears to be just what they’re getting.

Favre’s flight from Mississippi landed in the Twin Cities just a couple of hours ago, and it’s expected that later tonight Favre will announce he’s back with the Vikes.

Minnesota’s Super Bowl chances just improved significantly with the return of Favre. I agree with most of the pundits today that said a Tarvaris Jackson-led offense makes the Vikings merely a Wild Card-berth contender.

I for one am glad the Favre drama for this year appears to be over. And it’s nice that it happened on a day off for me, too. I’m getting a little worn out of Favre “will he or won’t he” talk and have done my best to avoid blogging about it. But it appears that it will all end today.

Closer look at Inge

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Came across an interesting little rumor today. The Detroit Tigers will reportedly move third baseman Brandon Inge through waivers sometime this week with the possibility of trading him.

MLBTradeRumors.com speculates the Minnesota Twins are the first team that could have interest in him, despite how well Danny Valencia has played.

Valencia has done well enough where the Twins would not add Inge to supplant him at third base. But Inge could be a nice bench player on a contending team. He’s in the final year of a four-year, $24 million contract, so there isn’t much left owed to him.

Inge is hitting just .252 with seven homers this season, one year after hitting 27 homers. So his numbers are down. But he ranks as a solid defensive option at third base, though not quite what he used to be.

And Inge has had versatility. As recently as 2008, Inge started 12 games in center field and 56 games at catcher. His catcher days are now on an emergency-only basis, but playing all of these positions at least shows that he’s a good athlete who has an understanding of the game from a lot of different positions.

Would Detroit trade Inge to an intra-division rival? That I don’t know. But they have to figure he’s a free agent after the season anyway, so why not get some prospects from a division rival?