Cup of Coffee

December 6, 2012: Unexpected Benefit

106 Comments

These all-week meetings I'm going to are really, really fun. If these meetings were the job, I would always love going. Of course, if these meetings were the only part of the job, there would be no use for the meetings.

106 thoughts on “December 6, 2012: Unexpected Benefit”

  1. Jesus Christ, the Lakers saving David Kahn from himself:

    It's an open secret around the league, meanwhile, that Timberwolves general manager David Kahn has been trying since last season to acquire Gasol to join fellow Spaniard Ricky Rubio in a three-man core with All-Star forward Kevin Love, but sources say that the Lakers continue to resist Minnesota's attempts to build a trade offer around 2011's No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams and center Nikola Pekovic.

    http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/story/_/id/8719587/los-angeles-lakers-rebuffing-trade-inquiries-pau-gasol

    1. I heard about that when I got in to work this morning. I wonder if Adleman would just quit on the spot if Kahn did something so increadibly stupid.

    2. I'm not sure what's more ridiculous: Khan trying to trade a top-10 center about to enter the prime of his career for a guy with no knees who's making $19 million, or the Lakers not taking that trade offer.

      1. The more I think about the second item, the more I wonder if someone is exaggerating their reporting and Pek either wasn't offered, or Kahn wanted more than just Pau if Pek were involved.

      1. It could be fun. Maybe Arcia in right, Pamelee at 1B if they trade Morneau? I dunno. I guess I could get behind this. Especially if one of those trades brought back a legit middle infielder, too.

      2. It's easy to be optimistic in the long term!

        (I don't mean that as snark. I'm very much optimistic in the future of the team. The current state... not so much. The sooner the future becomes the present, the better.)

        1. The sooner the future becomes the present, the better.

          Well, that's kind of my point. I don't think either Span or Revere were going to be the starting CF on the next good Twins team. Hicks actually had a really nice year at AA.

          1. Aww. Me too. I'm more sad about this one than I am Span, for exactly that reason.

            That, and my kid has a picture of Revere on his wall. /paging AMR.

          2. Remember when he ran so fast he fell over and did a sommersault and he was still safe and then I picked him up and put him in my pocket and Dad said I could keep him?

                    4. My understanding is the best thing for inside-the-park home runs is quirky fields, such as some corner where it bounces unexpectedly. Looks like CBP is rather tame, but the corner in LCF could cause a ball to ricochet behind the left fielder. I'm going to rate the chances as higher at CBP than TF.

          1. I'm feeling pretty good about it. Worley has three more days of service time, so they're essentially the same for cost. I feel like the Twins traded Revere for an equivalent starting pitcher and got a potentially interesting minor leaguer as well. May might not stick as a starter, but he at least has the fallback of being a reliever.

      4. So basically the Twins are playing the role of Sylvester McMonkey McBean for the NL East, eh?

      5. This doesn't hurt my feelings. Dino was the guy that I liked, but I understood trading him. Revere, eh. Now, they need to go the distance and see what they can get for Morneau, Willinghammer.

        1. I'm not going to be surprised to see Willingham gone soon, but won't that essentially signal to every free agent that the twins will sign them to reasonable contracts only to use them as trade bait?

          1. I see the Red Sox (Adrian Gonzalez, Edgar Renteria, Julio Lugo) are still able to sign players. Money's money.

          2. That just means the FA will need to ask for a no-trade clause, which the Twins, unlike the Marlins, are willing to agree to. Added bonus: no-trade clauses should bring down total cost of the K.

            1. If a FA needs to come to Minnesota for a year in order to prove value to get traded to a contender, well, that's the price of getting a shot for a ring.

              1. i was going to type something about how willingham wouldn't necessarily be traded to another team, but then i realized that pretty much anywhere is a better team.

          3. Maybe. But much less so now than if they had traded him at the deadline last year. Last year they were (stupidly) making a run at the division. Now they're clearly rebuilding. I don't think it'll cause much harm. And significantly less harm than having a really, really bad baseball team.

            1. I guess if was a FA, and the team was willing to trade me into a decent situation if they went to crap, I'd see that as a positive.

          1. Me too, especially because it prompted several of my former roommates with whom I hadn't spoken in about year to contact me for a scouting report.

      6. So... Mets and Marlins still need outfielders from the Twins, right? (Braves probably not so much any more?)

    3. I love this trade.

      I see the twitter rubes are out in full force by calling this a salary dump. awesome

      2. Yeah, that half a million dollar salary was absolutely crushing this team's ability to compete for top talent on the open market.

    1. Features a four-seam fastball that sits 90-91 mph and occasionally tops out at 93 MPH. Primarily relies on a cutter that sits 84-87 mph with inward break on lefties. Can leave it in middle of the plate too much.

      Perfect!

    2. Yeah, it's starting to become clear that TR is going back to what's worked for him before. Fill the farm system with a lot of young pitchers and let what cream there is rise to the top. Keep the best and trade off some of the middlin' to fill position spots. I don't hate that strategy because he's had some success with it, but it's not going to pay off for the major league club for at least a couple of years. After two painful years of teh suck, I was hoping for more short-term fixes. But in the starting pitching arena that basically means free agents and we don't compete all that well in that market.

      1. In a world where Joe Blanton is getting 2/$15 million, I'm not so sure we'd be getting a reasonable ROI on most FA pitchers.

        1. This is about where I'm at with the whole thing. Like I saw n a tweet last night, this year's offseason's theme seems to be "Isn't <dollar ammount> a lot of money for <player>?"

      2. That's pretty much what I predicted Ryan would do when he returned as GM. It may or may not work, but at least it's a plan. That was my big problem with Bill Smith--that he had no plan other than just trying to plug holes. Sometimes, any plan is better than no plan.

    3. Taking a quick look at Pressly's minor league numbers, I don't see a whole lot to recommend him. On the other hand, it's the Rule 5 draft. Take a look at him in spring training and if you don't like what you see, it didn't cost you much to find out.

  5. Three guesses on who wrote this gem:

    Throughout the world of baseball players, [Michael] Young is viewed with the same kind of respect as Derek Jeter. That is, universal. Right or wrong, there will be a perception that the Rangers yanked Young all over the infield and then simply squeezed him out and dumped him after making it clear that if he stayed he could lose significant playing time. This is the business of baseball. It’s probably what the Rangers have to do if they view their current roster as nothing more than assets and debits. But, while MLB players deal in big dollars, they also have very human emotions and they talk. And the Young situation is liable to have some kind of long-term effect on how attractive players consider Texas. Yes, it almost always comes down to dollars, but there are exceptions. You’d hate to lose those occasional exceptions.

    Spoiler SelectShow

      1. ClearChannel gonna ClearChannel I guess. When they bought KFGO they riffed basically all the on-air personalities before they sold the station. It was pretty nuts.

  7. My prediction for a Twins starting rotation for 2012:

    Diamond
    Hendriks
    Worley
    Liriano
    Livan Hernandez (cause someone gotta eat some innings)

    1. My prediction is:

      1/10th of the time Liriano
      Diamond
      Hendricks
      Worley
      Hernandez (cause someone gotta eat some burgers)
      .
      .
      .
      9/10ths of the time Liriano
      Bullpen!

    2. I'll say Diamond, Worley, Marcum, McCarthy, Hendriks, with Gibson in the bullpen to start the season.

      Though I have an irrational desire for the Twins to bring Johan back. Maybe wait until next year after the Mets buy out his option.

          1. I could live without any more DeVries, but I guess a few more updates from his livejournal wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

    3. I'd much rather look forward to an eventual rotation of Berrios, Gibson, May, Meyer and one of Diamond or Worley (or even whoever the Twins draft in June in the first round). May could start in AAA for the Twins and could be up as early as June. That's somewhat of a stretch, but once you're in AAA, you're just an injury away. Meyer could start in AA and could get a September call-up. Berrios should start in A+ and I've seen speculation he might be skipped to AA as well. And of course Gibson should be in the Twins rotation at some point this season.

    1. Oooooooh yeah! I know not everyone around here loved the first one, but I very much did, and I'm very much excited for this one to.

      Also, the name of the film has me convinced that it's all just setup for #3.

        1. I feel you and all, but the Terminator certainly played to Schwarzenegger's strengths. The guy could do stoic and intimidating just by doing...you know, nothing.

    2. Karl Malone's 2003-04 season never happened.

      Also, Dr. J never played for the Lakers. He scored over 30,000 in his pro career. The league saying he hasn't scored over 30k because a chunk was in the ABA is an embarrassment to the league.

      1. Should NFL recognize Herschel Walker's single season rushing record? It was in the USFL, but it should count, right?

        I thought of that little factoid myself by the way.

        1. One could make the distinction that the ABA merged with the NBA, and some teams were absorbed into the league, while the USFL simply folded. You may or may not think that distinction matters, of course.

            1. I'm in favor of anything that limits anything written down that might remind anyone of Hershel Walker in the NFL.

              1. Yes, they do.

                As for the ABA/NBA thing, it is a shame that we never got to see Erving play with the Nets against NBA competition. But the (relative) success of the Spurs and Nuggets in the early years after the merger is telling.

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