Only 89 days until pitchers and catchers begin reporting!
So, Cuddyer likely won't be joining Thome in Philadelphia. My hope is that the Nationals sign him, since they have the first unprotected pick in the draft.
I don't think they've given up on Werth just yet.
You're right, probably not; but maybe they would like some roster flexibility?
He was a Twin for a little over four months as well. He was signed eight years ago today and the signing was voided April 1, 2004.
From the STrib:
Junior forward Jordan George’s power-play goal in the second period proved to be the only goal as Bemidji State edged North Dakota 1-0 at the Sanford Center. Beavers senior goalie Dan Bakala had 26 saves.
The BSU win ended a 41-year victory drought versus UND, according to a BSU news release, and snapped North Dakota’s 14-game winning streak in the all-time series. UND still holds a 22-2-1 record in the all-time series. BSU's first victory over UND was on Feb. 7, 1970
Also, the Gophers dropped to third in the poll after splitting with St. Cloud St. despite outshooting SCSU 43-18 in the loss. Also, the Gophers wrestlers beat No. 2 Penn St. this weekend.
So, Verlander won the MVP. I disagree with this choice. I think a pitcher can certainly be the MVP, but I don't think Verlander's season was worthy of it.
In other hilarious news, someone actually gave Michael Young a first place vote. Haha.
The only reason I'd strongly disagree with that choice is the fact that Pedro didn't win for his insane seasons, and that ship has long since sailed. I think it was enough of a toss up to where I was okay with him, Ellsbury, or Bautista winning it. Since that trio did, in fact, finish top 3 (albeit in a different order than I might have picked out), I guess I'm okay with it.
Ha. Michael Young, 1st place vote receiver. Ha.
Justin Verlander tied for the AL lead in rWAR. He was the unanimous Cy Young. He was probably as worthy of winning the MVP as any pitcher has been in a long time.
He was second in pitching fWAR in the AL to Captain Cheeseburger, and well behind Jacoby Ellsbury in fWAR overall, if one can compare fWARs across pitchers and position players.
I think there are compelling arguments to be made for him, sure. But Ellsbury or Bautista would've been better choices in my opinion.
And I imagine that, all other things equal, if he had 19 wins this season he wouldn't have been unanimous Cy or even in the top 5 for MVP voting.
He's certainly a better choice than Michael Young, though.
He's not a Yankee or a Red Sock, therefore he was a superior choice to Ellsbury.
This is true. I never took the time to figure out who I'd've supported, but I know that this is one thing that Verlander (and Bautista) had over Ellsbury.
If a "long time" is 11 years*.
* If Rodriguez won in 2000, that would have been okay as well.
Also worth noting, there were no Twins that received votes for any major awards (MVP, CY, ROY, MOY) for the first time since 1999.
But watch us smoke next year's Comeback of the Year categories!!!1!11
There have been ten pitchers to win the MVP award. You can attempt to name them here.
The STrib had a poll on what would mean more -- winning the Frozen Four or the Stanley Cup? First of all, it's November and a month ago that poll would have been ludicrous. Second, shouldn't the answer be obvious? The Gophers have a gigantic recruiting advantage and should be in this position every year, not just on occasion. Meanwhile, the State of Hockey has yet to win a Stanley Cup? How is that possible? That would be like Texas not ever winning the Super Bowl. Or Indiana not ever winning an NBA ... never mind. The Twins are still the only pro team in Minnesota (currently) to win a title. Winning the Stanley Cup would be gigantic for Minnesota. Only a small portion of the country even cares about who wins the Frozen Four.
Lynx!!!!!11111one111!!!!
We loves our Gophers hockey up here in the Northland. However, I bet if you asked which would you rather see, your local high school team win state hockey championship, Gophers winning Frozen 4, or Wild winning the Stanley Cup, the high school hockey team would win out.
Tangential to your point, I wonder how long the Gophers will be relevant in recruiting out of western Canada. Once the Big Ten teams leave the WCHA, I think enticing kids from BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to come play for Minnesota becomes harder.
The Goofs typically get first choice of the Minnesota blue chip players. They shouldn't need to recruit much out of the state. SoCal is right that they have a HUGE recruiting advantage that they fail to capitalize on. I also think that there are enough UND, SCSU, UMD, UW, Bemidji State and little mankato fans in the area who could really give a cr@p about the Goofs. However, most everyone in the area roots for the Wild.
Typically Western Canada belongs to the Fighting Englestad's. I can't even remember the last time the Gophers had a Canuck on their squad.
Oh, I know who Ralph is. The Fighting Who is how they're referred to in Fargo.
The words to the new fight song are
"Fah who Foraze!
Dah who Doraze!
Fah who Rahmus!
Dah who Dahmus!"
They did away with Deutschland über Alles?
Only around the holidays.
Doug Woog used to only bring in Minnesota kids. The current roster has zero Canadians and only two from out of the state. They also have one from Finland, but he went to high school at Shattuck-St. Mary's. I think the reason the poll was so even was because this is largely a team of Minnesotans. But still, the Stanley Cup is the Stanley Cup.
Daughter has first curated showing at art school the next couple of weeks (with all other freshman). If anyone is in the Milwaukee area, I will give you details. She has 4 photos in the show, below is one.
no link, free.
congrats to her. I hope you are keeping her apprised of the Travails of the Artist thread that runs through the wgom. Perhaps meat's hellride can help her avoid similar professional troubles down the road.
Hey BS, I didn't provide a link, just an image. Can you see that because I can.
Right now I'm just making sure she gets through school. Lessons on the "outside world" will have to come later.
Nope. Can't see an image.
I can't see the image either, FWIW.
I can see it... and it is a cool picture. Looks professionally done!
ahh. Looks like Websense is blocking the image here at my office. Stupid Websense.
Twitter
1500ESPNJudd
Vikings-Broncos move from CBS to Fox on Dec. 4 is the first time the NFL has ever done that, according to an NFL spokesman.
as of now, there are 8,000 tix left and the game is in danger of being blacked out. Will Tebowmania get the game on air?
A secondary that can't stop the pass playing against a QB who can barely complete a pass? I know I'm intrigued.
Another shout out to our boy on the Emerald Isle. Meat cupcakes.
So the boy (a Pee Wee) and the girl (a U10) went 0-5 collectively the first week of youth hockey. We were feeling a little worried of a looooonnggggg season. However, they went 6-1 this past weekend to put them at .500 for the year so far. The girl's team was the big surprise. After getting hammered their first 2 games, they dominated in 4 games over the weekend. Youth hockey is so unpredictable.
One thing I'll miss about my move from North Sioux City is going to youth hockey games.
Well, thank god we have Capps locked up, then!!!111one111!!!
If they retain Capps, then I hope they sign Broxton and Coffey, too. Actually, I'd like to see those guys added anyway if the money's right.
$14.5 million for two years, including the buyout. Bit more than I would have liked the Twins to offer, so easy to see why he signed elsewhere.
I'm really, really sad about this.
You'll get over it. 15 mil for two-years is way too much for Twitchy. (And I loved the the guy.)
This.
I agree that it's far too much to pay for him, absolutely. Just sad to see him in another uni. At least he's not a Yankee or White Sox.
And this!
At least he's not a Yankee or White Sox.
Indeed. Plus, he's a Texas boy. He has a better shot at grabbing a ring back home than he does up here. (And that makes me really sad...)
At this point. Let's see what the Twins will do this offseason. There's a long ways to go.
I'm with Zack. It's not anybody's fault. I don't blame Nathan for taking the money, and I don't blame the Twins for not matching Texas' offer. I just liked having Joe Nathan as a Twin, and I'm sad to see him gone.
He mighta had a taste a bourbon 'fore he posted all dat, yo.
(Or his account was hacked by the ghost of Carl Pohlad.)
If I were a person of consequence I could never have a twitter account. I would really have a tough time not making smart remarks to people who criticized me, especially when drinking.
Are we supposed to believe that actually is Top Jimmy? If so, what a f-ing wanker.
Reading his twitter isn't much different than reading the Strib comments, but at least I don't have to burn one of my 20 monthly articles to get it.
This.
Yeah, that guy is a piece of work.
Comments like that tweet don't even merit a response.
The mind boggles at the idiocy of someone like him focusing on one player. Using rWAR, the Twins got 1.7 wins out of Mauer, which would be about $13.5M per win, which is certainly too expensive. However, the Twins paid $53.5M per win for Delmon's contribution (actually it was prorated, but I don't know the prorated portion and he was worth 0.1 wins with the Twins and -0.1 wins with the Tigers, so he was paid $5.375M for being exactly replacement level). Also, the Twins paid Morneau and Pavano together the same $23M for 1.2 wins. You can add in Joe Nathan's $11.25M to make it $34.25M for 1.2 wins. Even if they got Mauer of 2008 (8.7 rWAR), they still lose 93 games. Heck, because Butera is below replacement level and a healthy Mauer would have limited his impact, you could add another win in there to make it 92 losses, so the Twins end up with 70 wins woo-hoo!!. See, it's all Mauer's fault the Twins couldn't win 70.
Eve if Mauer had been 2009 Mauer, they still lose 95 games.
You're discounting the fact that if Mauer played more, it would have inspired the rest of the team to another 20 wins!!!
...and a piece of my soul turns black and withers. Top Jimmy's a weed
You're discounting the fact that if Mauer played more, it would have inspired the rest of the team to another 20 wins!!!
The reality is that 95% of the media thinks this is a true statement.
Well, that's what winners do. They win.
So lately I have been eating a lot of saltines in the evening. I realize this is not exactly a healthy snack but that doesn't concern me at this time. With that said, I have noticed they really open up my palate when drinking a nice delicious beer. Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Is this a well know technique for beverages? Or maybe I am just trying to justify my eating a sleeve of saltines each of the past four nights.
A gourmand would prolly serve pretzels.
Is that how you spell "German" in French?
legit palate cleanser.
Most wineries use soup crackers (probably due to their convenient size) but saltines work well, yes.
I realize that this statement is made for PR purposes, but then again who actually knows what that is alluding to that didn't go to law school?
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum?
the Boy is practicing his euph tonight. Huh. I guess he really does want to make the NorCal Honor Band. (Last year, he made it, but didn't know there was an audition on-site for chairs and had to sight-read the music when everyone else had, you know, practiced it; doofus).
Brian Dozier makes the AFL Top Prospects Team.
Only 89 days until pitchers and catchers begin reporting!
So, Cuddyer likely won't be joining Thome in Philadelphia. My hope is that the Nationals sign him, since they have the first unprotected pick in the draft.
I don't think they've given up on Werth just yet.
You're right, probably not; but maybe they would like some roster flexibility?
looks like philly is still in on cuddyer.
Awful news: Mariners outfielder Greg Halman stabbed to death in Rotterdam, police arrest brother as a suspect. Halman was twenty-four years old.
He was a Twin for a little over four months as well. He was signed eight years ago today and the signing was voided April 1, 2004.
From the STrib:
Also, the Gophers dropped to third in the poll after splitting with St. Cloud St. despite outshooting SCSU 43-18 in the loss. Also, the Gophers wrestlers beat No. 2 Penn St. this weekend.
So, Verlander won the MVP. I disagree with this choice. I think a pitcher can certainly be the MVP, but I don't think Verlander's season was worthy of it.
In other hilarious news, someone actually gave Michael Young a first place vote. Haha.
The only reason I'd strongly disagree with that choice is the fact that Pedro didn't win for his insane seasons, and that ship has long since sailed. I think it was enough of a toss up to where I was okay with him, Ellsbury, or Bautista winning it. Since that trio did, in fact, finish top 3 (albeit in a different order than I might have picked out), I guess I'm okay with it.
Ha. Michael Young, 1st place vote receiver. Ha.
Justin Verlander tied for the AL lead in rWAR. He was the unanimous Cy Young. He was probably as worthy of winning the MVP as any pitcher has been in a long time.
He was second in pitching fWAR in the AL to Captain Cheeseburger, and well behind Jacoby Ellsbury in fWAR overall, if one can compare fWARs across pitchers and position players.
I think there are compelling arguments to be made for him, sure. But Ellsbury or Bautista would've been better choices in my opinion.
And I imagine that, all other things equal, if he had 19 wins this season he wouldn't have been unanimous Cy or even in the top 5 for MVP voting.
He's certainly a better choice than Michael Young, though.
He's not a Yankee or a Red Sock, therefore he was a superior choice to Ellsbury.
This is true. I never took the time to figure out who I'd've supported, but I know that this is one thing that Verlander (and Bautista) had over Ellsbury.
If a "long time" is 11 years*.
* If Rodriguez won in 2000, that would have been okay as well.
Also worth noting, there were no Twins that received votes for any major awards (MVP, CY, ROY, MOY) for the first time since 1999.
But watch us smoke next year's Comeback of the Year categories!!!1!11
There have been ten pitchers to win the MVP award. You can attempt to name them here.
The STrib had a poll on what would mean more -- winning the Frozen Four or the Stanley Cup? First of all, it's November and a month ago that poll would have been ludicrous. Second, shouldn't the answer be obvious? The Gophers have a gigantic recruiting advantage and should be in this position every year, not just on occasion. Meanwhile, the State of Hockey has yet to win a Stanley Cup? How is that possible? That would be like Texas not ever winning the Super Bowl. Or Indiana not ever winning an NBA ... never mind. The Twins are still the only pro team in Minnesota (currently) to win a title. Winning the Stanley Cup would be gigantic for Minnesota. Only a small portion of the country even cares about who wins the Frozen Four.
Lynx!!!!!11111one111!!!!
We loves our Gophers hockey up here in the Northland. However, I bet if you asked which would you rather see, your local high school team win state hockey championship, Gophers winning Frozen 4, or Wild winning the Stanley Cup, the high school hockey team would win out.
Tangential to your point, I wonder how long the Gophers will be relevant in recruiting out of western Canada. Once the Big Ten teams leave the WCHA, I think enticing kids from BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan to come play for Minnesota becomes harder.
The Goofs typically get first choice of the Minnesota blue chip players. They shouldn't need to recruit much out of the state. SoCal is right that they have a HUGE recruiting advantage that they fail to capitalize on. I also think that there are enough UND, SCSU, UMD, UW, Bemidji State and little mankato fans in the area who could really give a cr@p about the Goofs. However, most everyone in the area roots for the Wild.
Typically Western Canada belongs to the Fighting Englestad's. I can't even remember the last time the Gophers had a Canuck on their squad.
The Fighting Who?
Ralph Englestad, patron saint and benefactor of ND.
Oh, I know who Ralph is. The Fighting Who is how they're referred to in Fargo.
The words to the new fight song are
"Fah who Foraze!
Dah who Doraze!
Fah who Rahmus!
Dah who Dahmus!"
They did away with Deutschland über Alles?
Only around the holidays.
Doug Woog used to only bring in Minnesota kids. The current roster has zero Canadians and only two from out of the state. They also have one from Finland, but he went to high school at Shattuck-St. Mary's. I think the reason the poll was so even was because this is largely a team of Minnesotans. But still, the Stanley Cup is the Stanley Cup.
Daughter has first curated showing at art school the next couple of weeks (with all other freshman). If anyone is in the Milwaukee area, I will give you details. She has 4 photos in the show, below is one.
no link, free.
congrats to her. I hope you are keeping her apprised of the Travails of the Artist thread that runs through the wgom. Perhaps meat's hellride can help her avoid similar professional troubles down the road.
Hey BS, I didn't provide a link, just an image. Can you see that because I can.
Right now I'm just making sure she gets through school. Lessons on the "outside world" will have to come later.
Nope. Can't see an image.
I can't see the image either, FWIW.
I can see it... and it is a cool picture. Looks professionally done!
I can see the image. Very nice.
Weird. Here's the link:
http://farm7.staticflickr.com/6102/6378421707_c09e9becc0_z.jpg
ahh. Looks like Websense is blocking the image here at my office. Stupid Websense.
Twitter
as of now, there are 8,000 tix left and the game is in danger of being blacked out. Will Tebowmania get the game on air?
A secondary that can't stop the pass playing against a QB who can barely complete a pass? I know I'm intrigued.
Another shout out to our boy on the Emerald Isle. Meat cupcakes.
So the boy (a Pee Wee) and the girl (a U10) went 0-5 collectively the first week of youth hockey. We were feeling a little worried of a looooonnggggg season. However, they went 6-1 this past weekend to put them at .500 for the year so far. The girl's team was the big surprise. After getting hammered their first 2 games, they dominated in 4 games over the weekend. Youth hockey is so unpredictable.
One thing I'll miss about my move from North Sioux City is going to youth hockey games.
Joe Nathan signs with the Rangers.
I think that is pointing to your daughter's phtography, not a Joe Nathan story.
I think it might be Joe Nathan at the Arlington airport.
My God, I win the internets or something today. Sheesh.
Here's a link to the MLB Trade Rumors post.
Well, thank god we have Capps locked up, then!!!111one111!!!
If they retain Capps, then I hope they sign Broxton and Coffey, too. Actually, I'd like to see those guys added anyway if the money's right.
$14.5 million for two years, including the buyout. Bit more than I would have liked the Twins to offer, so easy to see why he signed elsewhere.
I'm really, really sad about this.
You'll get over it. 15 mil for two-years is way too much for Twitchy. (And I loved the the guy.)
This.
I agree that it's far too much to pay for him, absolutely. Just sad to see him in another uni. At least he's not a Yankee or White Sox.
And this!
At least he's not a Yankee or White Sox.
Indeed. Plus, he's a Texas boy. He has a better shot at grabbing a ring back home than he does up here. (And that makes me really sad...)
At this point. Let's see what the Twins will do this offseason. There's a long ways to go.
I'm with Zack. It's not anybody's fault. I don't blame Nathan for taking the money, and I don't blame the Twins for not matching Texas' offer. I just liked having Joe Nathan as a Twin, and I'm sad to see him gone.
And he did it the day before his birthday.
Happy Birthday, Twitch.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QRPRT19xRg
For some reason, Dave St. Peter is responding to his "@'s" on twitter tonight regarding the Nathan signing. This probably isn't a good idea.
He mighta had a taste a bourbon 'fore he posted all dat, yo.
(Or his account was hacked by the ghost of Carl Pohlad.)
If I were a person of consequence I could never have a twitter account. I would really have a tough time not making smart remarks to people who criticized me, especially when drinking.
Word.
Nathan's a Ranger because Mauer's a pussy.
...
Are we supposed to believe that actually is Top Jimmy? If so, what a f-ing wanker.
Reading his twitter isn't much different than reading the Strib comments, but at least I don't have to burn one of my 20 monthly articles to get it.
This.
Yeah, that guy is a piece of work.
Comments like that tweet don't even merit a response.
The mind boggles at the idiocy of someone like him focusing on one player. Using rWAR, the Twins got 1.7 wins out of Mauer, which would be about $13.5M per win, which is certainly too expensive. However, the Twins paid $53.5M per win for Delmon's contribution (actually it was prorated, but I don't know the prorated portion and he was worth 0.1 wins with the Twins and -0.1 wins with the Tigers, so he was paid $5.375M for being exactly replacement level). Also, the Twins paid Morneau and Pavano together the same $23M for 1.2 wins. You can add in Joe Nathan's $11.25M to make it $34.25M for 1.2 wins. Even if they got Mauer of 2008 (8.7 rWAR), they still lose 93 games. Heck, because Butera is below replacement level and a healthy Mauer would have limited his impact, you could add another win in there to make it 92 losses, so the Twins end up with 70 wins woo-hoo!!. See, it's all Mauer's fault the Twins couldn't win 70.
Eve if Mauer had been 2009 Mauer, they still lose 95 games.
You're discounting the fact that if Mauer played more, it would have inspired the rest of the team to another 20 wins!!!
...and a piece of my soul turns black and withers. Top Jimmy's a weed
You're discounting the fact that if Mauer played more, it would have inspired the rest of the team to another 20 wins!!!
The reality is that 95% of the media thinks this is a true statement.
Well, that's what winners do. They win.
So lately I have been eating a lot of saltines in the evening. I realize this is not exactly a healthy snack but that doesn't concern me at this time. With that said, I have noticed they really open up my palate when drinking a nice delicious beer. Has anyone else noticed this phenomenon? Is this a well know technique for beverages? Or maybe I am just trying to justify my eating a sleeve of saltines each of the past four nights.
A gourmand would prolly serve pretzels.
Is that how you spell "German" in French?
legit palate cleanser.
Most wineries use soup crackers (probably due to their convenient size) but saltines work well, yes.
Steve Nash to Minnesota?
Inappropriate forum shopping.
I realize that this statement is made for PR purposes, but then again who actually knows what that is alluding to that didn't go to law school?
A funny thing happened on the way to the forum?
the Boy is practicing his euph tonight. Huh. I guess he really does want to make the NorCal Honor Band. (Last year, he made it, but didn't know there was an audition on-site for chairs and had to sight-read the music when everyone else had, you know, practiced it; doofus).