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The final baseball game of the 2009 regular season was an absolute gem – perhaps the most exciting game of the season.  The Twins overcame a 3-0 deficit to outlast the Tigers 6-5 in 12 innings before the largest crowd in Metrodome history.  This was not a great comeback, however, so much as it was a grueling inning-by-inning slugfest.  Both teams made some terrible mistakes, as well as great plays, as players from each team lost – and then saved – the game time and time again. 

By way of example, Detroit leftfielder Ryan Raburn gambled and lost in the bottom of the 9^th inning when he dove for a base hit that bounced past him and went all the way to the wall for a lead-off triple, opening the door to the tying run being scored shortly thereafter.  But after opening that door, Raburn then shut it in the same inning when he gunned down the would-be winning run from left field with a perfect throw to send the game into extra innings. 

There was also a great bang-bang double play by the Twins to kill a late inning rally when Magglio Ordonez hit a line drive to the Twins shortstop, who then doubled up Curtis Granderson off of first base.  And then there was a great diving play by Brandon Inge for a 5-3 putout that otherwise might have knocked in the winning run had the hot grounder in the hole  gotten past Inge. 

And so it went, back and forth, until the Twins finally punched home the go-ahead run in the bottom of the 12^th.  The action was fierce, and the competitive play just riveting as hell.  In short, it was one of the most exciting games in recent memory – a shining example of baseball at its finest. 

All this having been said, our interests as Yankees fans in admiring this AL Central slugfest are admittedly more sinister.  While a great baseball game is to be appreciated, a 12-inning baseball game wherein the team you’re about to face in less than 18 hours has spent itself and its bullpen both physically and emotionally, on the other hand, is very encouraging indeed.  The Twins used 7 pitchers, including 1.2 innings from closer Joe Nathan, who presumably will be unavailable to pitch in Game 1.  Further, it is 10 p.m. EST.  The Twins now have to get on a plane, fly to New York, and try to sleep and prepare for a confident and well-rested New York team who, incidentally, went 7 and 0 against the Twins this year.  It is also worth noting that one-half of the Twins’ M&M combo, Justin Morneau, will not be playing in the ALDS.  Add all that up, and the Twins’ awesome evening may turn out to have been a very good nite for the Yankees as well. 

But all that remains to be seen.  For now, congrats to the Twins for their great victory, and goodbye to the 2009 regular season, which went out tonite with real style, courtesy of the Tigers and the Twins.

After the first loss to the Phillies this past series, MetsBlog.com writer, Regis Courtemanche wrote, “Win or lose, I love the way the Mets are playing right now.  They seem completely focused on the task at hand, and Citi Field seems to have finally come alive. Still disappointing to let this one get away though.” FYI, MetsBlog is one of the best (Mets) Blogs out there. To be honest, I disagree with the statement, however the Mets are without their starting SS, 1b, 2 SP’s and both our set-up men. That’s right – “both.” Eventually this season, the Mets will have Jose Reyes, Carlos Delgado, JJ Putz, Billy Wagner, Oliver Perez (and John Maine now) all coming off the DL. The Phillies are only 4 games ahead, but with a bullpen of K-rod, and potentially healthy and effective relievers, such as Wagner and Putz, the Mets rotation will only have to pitch 6 effective innings each night (for the most part). And that’s great because it seems Redding , Maine , and Oliver (and often times Santana and Pelfrey) can never pass that plateau. The offense will have to come out romping, however – something they couldn’t do last year and something they haven’t been able to do this season even prior to Reyes and Delgado going down. With that said, I’m still very willing to “wait and see” how the Mets perform after Reyes, Delgado, Maine, Oliver, Putz, and Wagner come back, however, the question is and will be – is it too late?

Do the Mets need to do something to shake the team up? In a prior post (http://www.majorleagueblogging.com/major-league-baseball/lets-play-gm-mets-crazy-trade-scenarios/), I talked about the potential need to shake up the team, and I threw out some crazy trade scenarios. The reality is, people, reporters, and teams are catching on that the Red Sox have 9 at least effective or ready major league starters. It’s also fairly clear they could use an effective shortstop, which is where, to me, the Mets should come in to play. I love Reyes, but could he land us both Clay Buchholz and Michael Bowden? I think he could. I think that’s worth it – for both teams. We could potentially add a catching prospect to the deal (Francisco Pena or Josh Thole) – they’re young, but the Red Sox have and may have a need for a catcher in the future if they don’t trade for/sign Joe Mauer/Twins (after or during) next year. Another potential aspect I would add to to the deal (if I were Omar Minaya) is Oliver Perez. This is only to free up salaray to trade for and sign another need (Matt Holliday)? That’s not essential, but if the Red Sox were willing to take on Perez’s salary in addition to losing their top 2 pitching prospects in the deal, then I would do that. I’d then, however, ask for a more than effective reliever: Manny Delcarmen/Takashi Saito. So i’d potentially like to see:

Mets Receive: Clay Buchholz/sp; Michael Bowden/sp; Takashi Saito/rp; Jed Lowrie/ss

Red Sox Receive: Jose Reyes/ss; Oliver Perez/sp; Josh Thole or Francisco Pena/c

I guess there’s a contingency – Jose Reyes’ health. Would this prevent such a trade? The Sox do still have Nick Green and Julio Lugo to hold down the ss job while Reyes is out. Again this would then allow us to potentially go for Matt Holliday, Mark Derosa, or other outfielders via trade this season or free agency after, so Daniel Murphy could stay at first next year with the assumption that Carlos Delgado will be gone. Our lineup would obviously hurt without Reyes for the rest of the year, but if we trade for another bat for the lineup, the Rotation with Buchholz and or Bowden would be much more effective than Tim Redding.

Agreed?

Notes: What I tend to do heavily in my rankings, unlike all the other rankings, is group players together based on their position/projection/potential. For example, in round 8/bubble I grouped together 4 cl (Brad Lidge and Jon Broxton as well as Matt Capps and Heath Bell). Broxton has had a great start and Lidge has had a rough one, but by season’s end the stats should be about the same. I also grouped together 6 sp (Rich Harden, Joba Chamberlain, Adam Wainwright, Yovani Gallardo, Josh Johnson, and Erik Bedard). These are all great sp’s with ?’s though – inning/injury concerns. Of course, I have 3+ weeks of the season now to include in my rankings (upping Zach Greinke and Josh Johnson on my list, but honestly guys like Carlos Quentin and Matt Kemp I already thought should be ranked where I have them), but here, I posted my rankings followed by a notes section [In the notes section,  I’ve bolded the players that are in the referenced round]. Within the rankings, I bolded some guys I like and ranked higher than most others, and italicized others I didn’t like as much or ranked lower than others or have since been hurt.

Top 12/Round 1:

In 2009, I think Miguel Cabrera could break 37 homers and 127rbis he had last season. He’s already off to a hot start, batting .431 up to this point. With an increase in runs from 85 to about 100 and to me – a sure increase in batting average from .292 to about .315, I think Miguel Cabrera could be ranked above David Wright this year. Similarly, I see Ryan Braun breaking 40hr and 15sb. If his avg raises passed .300, and I think it will, he too, could surpass Wright because of the HR total, but obviously I would take Wright over both Miggy and Braun b/c of 3b eligibility – Is Miggy 3b eligible in your league though??? Chase Utley to me at 2b just beats out Ian Kinsler (2b) because of the RBI total. He’s healthy, and he’s already got 4hr and 2sb with 12r, 12rbi, and a .362avg. One guy who is absolutely on fire, and probably will stay that way if healthy for a full season, is 2b (position scarcity) Ian Kinsler. His line is already: 15r-5hr-16rbi-7sb-.381avg. Most projections call for about 25sb, but I didn’t see why he can’t break 30 (now 35) with a full season – 118r-26hr-84rbi-34sb-295avg anyone??? Like I said, I’d honestly rank him above Utley if it wasn’t for Utley’s rbis’s – and for that matter at 2b he could also be above Wright/3b, Miguel Cabrera/1b, and Ryan Bruan/of by year’s end. Kinsler had 23 and 26sb respectively in the past 2 seasons in 483ab’s and 518ab’s. With health, and in that lineup, he should approach 550ab’s, score a ton of runs, and should have a decent amount of rbi opportunities. Evan Longoria jumps into the first round again because of position scarcity (3b) over Josh Hamilton (of) and Mark Teixeira (1b). He’s already on fire batting 10r-5hr-16rbi-1sb-.386avg.

Round 2/Players 13-24:

There may be some surprises in round 2. Justin Morneau is so clutch, I just can’t rank him any lower. I think 27-30hr and 120rbi with 95r and 300+ avg is justified where I have him. Alex Rodriguez will miss time, but there’s no question he could still go 100-32-105-12-300. There is only 2 more sure thing 3b’s in Kevin Youkilis and Aramis Ramirez in the next 4 rounds (Chone Figgins, just there for speed and Chipper Jones is so injury prone I think he should be in round 7). The New-B’s here are Carlos Quentin (of) (who is already studding it up, and I have no idea why most projections were so low on him maybe batting avg. He’s got 7hr already); Matt Kemp (of) (don’t love his lineup spot, but still a great lineup with a lot more rbi opp’s and he’s such a great power-speed combo – already at 13r-3hr-14rbi-4sb-.362); Nick Markakis (of) (who would be first round material if he gets more than my projected 23-25hr and 9-12sb. He should hit 100-105r and 105-110rbi with a .307-.315avg.

Round 3/Players 25-36:

Tim Lincecum/Manny Ramirez/Dustin Pedroia/ BJ Upton are all still 2^nd round material to me depending on if you like drafting one ace very early in Lincecum or stolen bases in Upton or position scarcity in Pedroia. Kevin Youkilis somehow remains underrated (especially because he’s 3b eligible). He contributes greatly to 4 categories: about 100-105r; 27-30hr; 109-115rbi; 3sb-4sb; .305-.315avg. I just don’t love Matt Holliday outside of Coors and in Oakland, but his 95/25/95/15 potential is still 2^nd round material if that’s his line by season’s end. Aramis Ramirez could be ranked right before Kevin Youkilis or maybe early into round 4, but at 3b, I still love him in the Cubbies lineup.

Round 4/Players 37-48:

Ichiro Suzuki is sometimes ranked in the top 24, and his avg, runs, sb’s make him worth it there, but his lack of hr and rbi keep him down here for me. I’m usually doing fine with sb providers by now (say Kinsler/2b-27sb, Longoria/3b-11sb, Kemp/of-30sb) or (Wright/3b-18sb, Soriano/of-25sb, and Markakis/of-10sb) – that’s 68sb and 53sb respectively. If you end up with like: Howard/1b-1sb and Santana/sp, and Crawford (of) or Roberts (2b) are already off the board, than Ichiro can get bumped up if you think you’ll need the sb. I’d rather someone else and go for Shane Victorino/Jacoby Ellsbury in round 5 though. To me, Brian Roberts is Ichiro Suzuki at 2b, so Roberts is much more valuable to me. Some people still think Carl Crawford can approach 20hr in a season, and depending on his lineup spot he could knock in 85rbi, but in the 2-whole it looks like he should have a line of 90runs;10-12hr;70-75rbi;30-40sb;283-287avg, which will still justify this rank or even a little higher. I think by now he can be considered injury prone. I honestly think he has top third round potential, but every guy I have in round 3 just knocks him down to round 4. Brandon Phillips is great at 2b, and he’s a solid 4 stat contributor with a nice young lineup, but his average keeps him in round 4 to me. I like Cole Hamels and Brandon Webb here so long as they’re healthy because they symbolize the end of the 4 category top-notch fantasy aces (w,era,whip,k). Josh Beckett, Roy Oswalt, and Chad Billingsley are great, but Beckett’s era could be somewhat high as can Billingsley’s whip, and Oswalt looks to be slowing down a bit and striking out less batters although he was fantastic in the 2^nd half of last year. I like the 3 catchers: Victor Martinez, Brian McCann, and Russell Martin here. McCann’s eye is a worry and Martin’s starting off somewhat slow, but by season’s end I think they’ll be worth it here. If the latter 2 slip into round 5, fine.

Round 5/Players 49-60:

I usually have top power guys (David Ortiz/Carlos Pena), top speed guys (Rafael Furcal/Shane Victorino/Jacoby Ellsbury), or power-speed combos (Nate McLouth/Bobby Abreu/Corey Hart/ Carlos Granderson) as well as position scarcity (Geovany Soto/c; Rafael Furcal/ss; Alexei Ramirez/2b-ss) all in round 5. Soto is just too good to let drop for a catcher. I could see him being a 4^th rounder next year with another consistent year – similar to where McCann, Martin, and a healthy Victor Martinez are. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Victor Martinez, Brian McCann, Geovany Soto, Russell Martin, Joe Mauer, and Matt Wieters all go in round 4 next year. 12 players-6 catchers-1 round…Mark it (round 5 the latest).

Round 6/Players 61-72:

I love Joey Votto for his 7-10 sb and .290-300avg in addition to 24-28hr and 90-100rbi. I wouldn’t mind going with Robinson Cano here either at 2b in the Yankees lineup either. I love Cano slipping to round 7/8 because I think he can perform to the line of 90-95r;18-20hr;90-95rbi;4-5sb;.292-.302avg. Here, I like the 4 closers too: Mariano Rivera, Joe Nathan, Joakim Soria, and Francisco Rodriguez – all great 3 category pitchers with a good amount of k’s for relievers as well, however, personally I wait to draft closers and may look to draft 3 in a row, come round 13/14. Chad Billingsley is already showing why I have him ranked here with 4 wins and a 26:9 k:bb ratio, and a Dodger team that should be just as good for years to come. [Dodgers Lineup: Furcal-Hudson-Manny-Ethier-Loney-Kemp-Martin-Blake] – wow! If Billingsley keeps the whip down, he’ll jump to round 4/5 prior to Beckett and Oswalt. I don’t love Chone Figgins at 3b or Dan Uggla’s avg, but you can’t go wrong with Figgins’ sb’s and Uggla at 2b. Ryan Ludwick (already at 5hr and 16rbi, 1sb, and batting .370), after a great year last year, was way too underrated in this year’s drafts – the power and rbi’s should be there.

Round 7/Players 73-84:

Chipper Jones gets drafted much earlier, and at 3b, he’s so good, but he just doesn’t stay healthy enough for me to rank him higher. We should all know about Chris Davis’ potential by now (and flaws). Carlos Delgado could be Delgado of 2008-2^nd half or 2008-1^st half. I think he’ll go 33-35hr; 110-115rbi. Aubrey Huff was great again last year, and at 3b & 1b, I like him a lot with Brian Roberts, Adam Jones, and Nick Markakis in front of him. I like Garret Atkins enough to rank him in round 6 at 3b, but to me everyone above him as a little more potential/better power/better position scarcity ala Michael Young (ss;3b). Adam Dunn, Joe Mauer (c), and Andre Ethier are all solid options here as well. Dunn looks to be on a mission; I love Ethier batting clean-up in that Dodger’s lineup (and he should get you some sb’s with a nice avg.) I like James Shields and Zack Greinke (round 8 ) b/c each will have both good era’s and whip’s, where as the next few sp’s could have a high whip or era.

Round 8/9; Players 85-104:

Here, as you can see, I favor sp’s. I actually get my first ace in round 7 or 8 and then attempt to draft 3 or 4 in a row. Felix Hernandez and Scott Kazmir can have fairly high whips, while AJ Burnett can have a fairly high ERA, and as good as the next wave of SP’s are (Harden; Joba; Wainwright; EBedard; JJohnson; Gallardo), they all have question marks in some way (inning concerns, injury concerns, or not enough of a sample size). Derek Lee is in a solid lineup, but hit only 22 and 20 hr in the past 2 years. Without pop, and slowing down in sb as well, I can see him falling out of the top 9 rounds next year.

As I said in my notes section, I group players based on positioning/potential/and your statistical needs. I probably won’t rank the next 15 rounds only because I over/under-rate some players based on position, stats, and potential, and then I’d give away all my strategy.Feel free to question/criticize/comment.

Thursday March 12th

Twins VS Pirates

Score: Twins 4 Pirates 6

Starters:

Twins: Scott Baker

Pirates: Virgil Vasquez

Summary: The Spotlight Really has to go to Outfielder Craig Monroe, Who blasted 3 Homeruns in his first 3 AB’s Giving him 4 RBI’s for the day. The Twins started Rallying late, But unfortunately could not catch up. The twins are 8-4 in the grapefruit league so far this year. On the twins side of the ball Carlos Gomez flashed some power and shot a leadoff home in the 4th inning. The only twin with more than one hit in the game was DH Brock Peterson. On the Mound Baker allowed four homeruns in

Gomez Had a Leadoff homerun in the 4th.

four innings, Making four of his five hits allowed homeruns. He only walked one and struck out 3.

The twins RP Boof Bonser is out for the season with a torn rotor cuff and Right Labrum. He is likely to be out for the whole 2009 season, after doctors found the tears this Wednesday. Bonser began experiencing pain late last season. When Bonser attempted to throw again in January he still felt discomfort. The MRI’s continued to be negative. The latest MRI showed he did have structural damaged, and went into surgery immediately.

Twins Bullpen: With Bonser out of the Pen The young phillip humber is the favorite to win the final spot in the pen. The twins deal with the Diamondbacks for Juan Cruz is seeming more likely as the Twins continue to take blows to the bullpen.
Thanks

Bonser is out for the season with arm injurys...

Hello, I am the new Twins author here at Major League Baseball Blog. In my posts i hope to inform you about Game Reports and other twins news such as Trades, Free Agent signings ETC.I hope you enjoy my posts as much as I enjoy writing them. This will be a learning process for me so bear through my first couple of posts as i try to get better, thanks.

Sincerely

Aaron Bickler

News:

After a Rather quiet off-season, the Twins look as good as ever with the Signing of 3B Joe Crede. The new deal which is worth 2.5 Mil Base Salary but has the potential to get the slugging Crede 7Mil in Incentives, these start once he reaches 250 or more at bats. The Twins are hoping that this will motivate Crede to stay healthy, after being plagued with back problems.

My Analysis: This move gets the twins what they needed most this off-season, a power bat. Better yet he bats right and will not have to face the Baggie in the Dome. This also makes the twins more like the standard AL team, with power at both corners of the Infield. The irony in all of this is we are hoping the man who ended our 2008 season with a HR off of Blackburn, will help take us to the world series in 2009.

Joe Crede signs with the Twins.

Twin Catcher Joe Mauer hasn’t picked up a baseball.

That was until two days ago.

For the first time since his surgery last December 22, Mauer played a little bit of catch on Friday.
“It was good just to get on the field,” Mauer said.

Mauer knows that his playing time, as well as his performance will be limited when Spring Training starts, mainly because of the surgery which had hampered his offseason training, Twins pitchers and catchers reported at the Hammond Stadium clubhouse Sunday and Mauer had said that he was just too undecided of what he will do when the group’s first official workout starts on Monday.

“I should find that out in a little bit,” Mauer said Sunday afternoon, as he planned to talk to the club’s medical staff.
Doctors found some kidney obstruction after Mauer complained that he was experiencing back pains during the offseason. Even in this predicament, he still played the final six weeks of the 2008 season.

Mauer said he gained about 5 or 10 pounds during the offseason because of his limited conditioning.
Exercise wise, Mauer said that he was able to do some cardio work on the bike and the elliptical machine, but with no running. He also added that he has been doing a lot of core exercises to “wake that area back up”.

Bill Smith, the club’s general manager said that Mauer has been cleared by his doctors and can resume his baseball duties although the Twins are expected to take it easy with Mauer.

“Our focus is still on getting him ready for Opening Day,” Smith said. “So we’ll proceed with caution as we would with any player that has had any kind of surgery or any kind of injury. We’ll just move a little more slowly with him. We’ll give him all he can handle and go from there.”

Spring Training had been extended to a week this year, due to the World Baseball Classics. In this regard, the Twins will only hope that Mauer will be ready when they face off against the Mariners this coming April 6.
“We have plenty of time for him to get ready,” Smith said.