caulfield12

We've traded with the D-Backs for Vazquez and then the Brandon Allen/Pena move, any others? Difficult position for KW...go for broke with Fielder/Dunn or take the safer choice, but one who probably doesn't put you over the top in LaRoche. I think they'll be very hesitant to remove Kotsay and especially Pierre when the team is winning.

Just one of those days. If AJ gets a hit to put us up early 4-0 or if Ramirez isn't incorrectly called out on the Beckham strikeout, probably we would have just buried the Cubs early. 15-1 or 16-2 ain't so bad. And Danks just didn't have it, location was off, just not in synch after the first two innings. Pena came in with really flat stuff out of the pen, too. That said, we're only down three runs against the Cubs' pen, and they can't use Kashner (unless it's against Paulie, hopefully).

Or Justin Verlander. Or all the pitches Dusty Baker's starters were left out there for...Hudson/Zito/Mulder threw a ton of pitches with the A's, too.

Yes, but you have to let the market settle a little bit, if you over-reach out of desperation, you end up paying way too much. Shedding Flowers or Hudson now, before we see how well the White Sox stand up head-to-head against Minnesota and Detroit...probably not the smartest move in the world, because obviously AJ and Freddy Garcia aren't going to be around forever. And it's not like the White Sox just took off and cruised when they added Rios and Peavy. Obviously, Peavy was hurt, but Rios was in a funk all year long, and that funk was passed on to JD, who saw the writing on the wall in terms of his future and he started moping and it affected the attitude/chemistry of the entire team. So you have to be very careful when you tinker with something that's going so well. Like in 2006, all the changes KW made were "logical" ones but sometimes you can mess around with a good thing too much. We just need to ride this out to its conclusion, then, you can start thinking about changes/tweaks/improvements to the roster. Who knows how long we can ride Vizquel, how Beckham ends up...but we need to give this at least two more weeks of constant monitoring.

I don't think the Cubs are to the point where they do that yet. Imagine if you're the owner, would YOU try to rebuild his value to get something back for him, see if they can get his fastball back in the mid 90's and dangle him before teams in playoff contention or just hold onto him into the offseason, or would you simply eat that contract and cut your losses? It's probably going to be similar to what happened with the Silva/Bradley deal...two bad contracts exchanged, with the hope at least that both prosper in new environments.

QUOTE (pktmotion @ Jun 26, 2010 -> 12:54 AM) It's called Budvar and you can find it at Binny's or specialty liquor stores. Czechvar is more common around here, made by the same brewery and almost alike. Can't go wrong with any Czech beer. If you want to check out a good underrated European beer, try Skopsko, brewed in Skopje Macedonia since 1922, but original recipe came from guess who "Czech immigrant farmers". http://budweiser-budvar.cz/en/kontakt/prod...ru/ostrava.html When I was in Ostrava in late 2006, they were still marketing it as Budweiser, just different logo.

The homers got all excited early this season about their twinkies with the new staduim in place. But little did they realize the dome was their main weapon in staying competitive for the last decade. Without the dome Joe Mauer is a puch and judy singles hitter. Cuddyer, Kubel, and others won't put up the numbers they did in the past with the notable exception of Young. The pitching on the road is horrendous and not much better at home. The Sox manager was right withou the dome the twinks are dead. Teams emulate their managers When the guy in the dugout has no fire do you really expect the team to play with passion. Ozzie Guillen can be a jerk but he has the ability to get his club going. Losing is one thing but losing do to lack of effort is not the Twins way and its time Gardy shows some leadership. Too many of our guys look like baseball is just a job. I love my team, but even I have taken to calling them the Two-Single Twins. Twins are done And why does it seem like Mauer gets a day off every other day? On second thought, that might be a good thing. Have you seen his batting average lately? Ouch. I'm assuming that Mauer will have tomorrow off too. We can look forward to Punto, Butera, pitcher. That will strike fear into Santana. He probably won't get much sleep tonight thinking about it. Both Mauer and Moreau, and especially Morneau, need to assess their roles and stand up and take some real leadership. Actually, they should both watch the Mets telecasting of the game and listen to the New York announcers about their lack of good play. The sun will come out tomorrow. I remember when the Twins' manager used to, you know, like, say stuff or do things. Now all we get is some head-scratching and a shoulder-shrug Guaranteed contract? Is Mauer's contract guaranteed? For 8 years? At 23 million a year? That is a better con job on Bill Smith than Newman and Redford pulled on Robert Shaw in the sting. Only not as entertaining. Lethargic? Listless? Lazy? Quitters! Gardenfire has allowed his lethargic, listless, lazy approach to take root. Now, sad to say, they've become quitters. Prediction Twins in third place by July 4. Gardy goes bowling. Twins Not worth commenting on anymore. Gardy is regressing Did you see how the Mets hit and ran and pitched and caught the ball? I think the Twins used to do that. Joe (Souhan), (La)Velle (Neal), and Howard (Star Trib writers) Spring Training was fun and entertaining, but here's where you guys are really going to have to earn your money. The Ft.Myers restaurant thing was entertaining. Maybe it's time to do best bars to commiserate with fellow Twins fans. Hopefully things get back on track for your sakes as well as those of us who take this stuff seriously, (sometimes possibly too serious) So when will Gardy stop making excuses, admit his mistake and make some changes? Maybe he needs to pull an Ozzy... look what happened to the White Sox after that move?! Pitching On A Hope And A Prayer With no "Ace" and a staff of mediocre starters, the Twins tired arms may deliver the team right into third place by the time they return to Target Field. Everybody in baseball (even Souhan) is practically screaming for the Twins to trade for Cliff Lee, as he would be a great fit and would, by example, raise the level of everyone else on the pitching staff. Seattle wants to deal him (and his contract). Watch the Twins sit and watch Detroit go after him. What's with the lack of energy? Posted by Howard Sinker (www.startribune.com/sports) Last update: June 25, 2010 - 9:16 AM The Twins put together a stunning comeback on Saturday and take out one of the best pitchers in baseball on Sunday and then go to Milwaukee -- playing a team they have pretty much owned in recent years -- and play like the Baltimore Orioles. Thursday's performance, which most of us I'm guessing had the good fortune to miss for one reason or another, was marked by a dismal enough showing for Justin Morneau to express concern about a lack of energy. The Twins didn't exactly get after it in Milwaukee, much less do the little things rights ... or battle their tails off ... or even do the things that fans have a right to expect of them (and that players should expect from themselves). Playing without energy, or whatever, makes the current group look like spoiled children who expect others to do more and more for them while they do less and less. I had been pondering the energy issue a couple of weeks back, and again after the Nick Blackburn puker in Philadelphia last Friday. I was starting to wonder if the Twins, for all of their talent, were missing Orlando Cabrera. It was Cabrera who gave the Twins a dugout presence last season when he arrived from Oakland. And while I tend to minimize that sort of fire in favor of production -- Cabrera had a .313 on-base percentage batting in the No. 2 spot and was inconsistent in the field (11 errors in 57 games) -- when a star player like Morneau starts talking "energy," it makes me wonder. This is the part of the season -- interleague play -- that the Twins typically own. They will need to beat the Mets 2 out of 3 to finish this year's version at .500. That will be followed by a stretch against the Tigers, Rays, Jays and White Sox during which the kind of play current on display, if continued, could easily land them in third place in their winnable division. The Twins are a team that have been doted on by their management and fans -- new ballpark with fabulous facilities, an upgraded roster and daily capacity crowds. In addition, they are playing in a division that doesn't feature the three best teams in baseball. (And they are finished with the Yankees and Red Sox, at least until October.) The Twins shouldn't need a flawed cheerleader like Cabrera to make them right. For "energy" to even be an issue is lame. ** A few weekend-starting thoughts: If you like the idea of Michael Cuddyer at third base to get more offense, you'll have to live with balls he can't get to. There were two balls hit in Wednesday's game that I would have bet on a more skilled third baseman handling. And I'm not putting a failed double-play turn that night on him as much as Orlando Hudson's slow turn at second. Cuddyer wasn't a good third baseman back when he played the position regularly and he's no better at the position now. And as much of a Cuddyer fan as I am, there would be no harm in sitting him now and again with Delmon in left and Jason Kubel in right. The fifth spot update: Cuddyer is batting .229 with runners in scoring position with a .302 on-base percentage and a .337 slugging percentage. Delmon is batting .379 in those situations with a .397 OBP and .576 slugging percentage. Delmon's OPS with runners in scoring position is 333 points higher than Cuddyer's. Delmon has 47 RBI in 241 plate appearances; Cuddyer has 33 in 294. Perhaps moving the player with the team's second highest OPS up in the batting order would impart some, ummmmmmm, energy into the lineup.

Greg, they've been a lot more meticulous about birth certificates and authentication in the last 2-3 years. I don't think KW would have invested that kind of money had his age not been legit, especially after the fiasco with Wilder/Gomes/Silverio/Dominican scouts or buscones. And even at 26, he would be right in the beginning of his prime years. And we control both him and Ramirez for the next 6 and 3 year, respectively.

QUOTE (iamshack @ Jun 25, 2010 -> 09:55 PM) When did you get the lap dance? Let's see, I want to say sometime around 2002/03.

If you like to drink beer, Eastern Europe's the place. They actually have Budweiser beer which is claimed to be THE ORIGINAL version...sorry, StL Cardinals fans and Mark Buehrle. Since it's the weekend, you can google Davon Kim, but I would recommend not doing it at work! I'm sure she has her own personal pages at freeones.com or asianthumbs.org. And no, she's not a lesbian, either. I'm sorry that I could never make it to one of her shoots for bikinipleasure.com (I think Midwesterners would still be shocked to see a girl actually wearing a "micro-kini" at a public place), that would be impossible to be an "objective" observer at...right now she's in the Canary Islands/Buenaventura with a Ukrainian model doing a shoot.

20 or 30? The way the White Sox are blowing up, she could have her own fan club by the end of the weekend, with a personal website and calendar (especially if you dressed her up in "sexy" Sox gear, lol) BTW, Spearmint Rhino in LA, haha. Not Spearmint Albino. At least I got the rhyme and basic sound correct. And she is so plastic/silicone (Jenna Jameson) in person, I wasn't that impressed. I'll take a natural girl you wake up next to in the morning without make-up on and and she's still equally beautiful and recognizable from the night before.

QUOTE (stretchstretch @ Jun 25, 2010 -> 09:25 PM) so now, what's the nearest airport one should fly into? Brno or Praha (Prague). Then go to Hungary, Budapest. If you are very very daring, you can go to the Ukraine, but I wouldn't recommend going by yourself, you have to be with someone you trust (friend, tour guide, g/f or fiance, etc.) I'm telling you guys, Colombia has the most beautiful woman, it's cheap (you can eat steaks and go horse back riding all afternoon for less than $20, it's not over-ridden by tourists, so many interesting animals, mountains, flowers, nature, mountains and waterfalls) and it's a lot closer than Europe or Asia. Many men come to Thailand and the Philippines (because the women there speak English)...but, since I speak Spanish pretty well, I would STRONGLY recommend anywhere in Central or South America. Well, maybe not Venezuela now, it's dicey with Chavez, he kind of hates gringos and americanos. Except for Oliver Stone, but that's another story.

QUOTE (Thunderbolt @ Jun 25, 2010 -> 09:13 PM) Nay, for me. Are you voting Nay for Cangelosi's girl, lol? Or not Born? At first, I thought someone wanted to acquire Michael Bourn Supremacy, Willie Taveras or Lastings Milledge for leadoff when I saw the thread title. Cangelosi, she's a cute girl, looks like she hasn't had too much plastic surgery. Just joking...but did you ask her permission to post her picture? I'm not sure if she would be too happy, my wife would seriously kill or John Wayne Bobbitt me if I took her lingerie and bikini pictures and posted them on-line. Where are you heading to next, Buda-Pest Hungary? If you think CR, Poland and Slovakia are interesting, you're in for some eye-opening experiences.

Cangelosi, I think I have you beat. 1) Married Russian model named Irina, check. Separated for 4 1/2 years but not divorced, check. Still a top 10 lifetime accomplishment for "middle class" teacher, lol. 2) I can't say that I had a serious Czech or Slovakian g/f, but I dated lots of Brno and Ostrava girls, lol. One of the most beautiful women in the world, Tereza Kolarikova...well, I just wish I was 30 and not 40, and RICH. And super good looking. Maybe then, maybe, I'd have a chance. Or if I was Brian Anderson, Gordon Beckham, Jon Garland, Paul Konerko, Mark Kotsay, Pods or LHP Williams. 3) http://s1024.photobucket.com/home/caulfield12 (I'm currently putting on a fundraising concert/fashion show/bachelor auction for Operation Smile here in China and I've been lucky enough to interview 50+ Chinese models as part of my job...one of the models even goes to Brown University and is double majoring in Biomedical Engineering and Economics/Business) 4) I am very good friends with a pseudo-porn star (she's never actually done B-G), just google Davon Kim. Not South Korean or Chinese, she's Filipina, from Cebu City. Her real name is Marienel, she's the sweetest girl in the world, but sorry guys, she's now happily married and living in the Netherlands. 5) I have had the opportunity to live/work in Colombia, the Philippines, Thailand and China twice...although I will agree with you that Eastern European/Russian/Ukrainian and then South American (Colombia, Venezuelan, Brazilian, Argentinian) women are the most beautiful in the world. 6) I once had a lap dance from Jenna Jameson for $20, lol. Can't remember the name, Spearmint Albino something strange like that out in LA. 7) I don't take pictures or video...but let's just say Anna Kournikova is, at best, an average Russian beauty.

Ah, the Internet generation. I was born in the same decade that Harrelson and Yaz were Golden Gods (barely, late 1969). First baseball game attended I think was, yikes, Cardinals/Cubs in Wrigley in 1979, when Garry Templeton was still the Cards' SS. I guess my first memories of the Sox are those collared jerseys, Bill Veeck, Disco Demolition Night, Claudell Washington, Mike Squires, Lamar Johnson, lol. Since then, I've only set foot in Wrigley one more time...because all my friends went to NU, the Sox were out of town the day I was visiting, and it was closer to Evanston.

August 4th, 2005 White Sox 70-37, up 14 August 17th, 2005 White Sox 74-44, up 11 games (CLE 54-56) September 19th, 2005 White Sox 90-59, up 2 1/2 games (CLE 88-62) This was the famous Crede/Riske point in history. Cleveland had gone 24-6 while the White Sox stayed afloat at 16-15 (with a lot of help from Contreras and McCarthy, we lost two in a row to DET, we somehow lost a huge lead to the Royals)...the lead got all the way down to 1 1/2, then we took off again that final week, with the key moment (#2) of the season being Grady Sizemore's ball lost in the sun against the Royals that second to last Sunday. What's amazing is that Cleveland run required over one full month to make up 8 1/2 games. We've done it in seemingly half that time. The scheduling gods look on us with favor this year, yes, the 2nd half gets tough again...but the opponents (NL East), where we've been able to play them (the Braves are now something like 25-7 at home), the Cubs sucking, the Brewers deciding to show up to play the Twins...I just hope we haven't peaked too early, haha! We're still missing the LH hitter/DH, a really good leadoff hitter, we don't know what Beckham will do going forward and Williams sucks, but I am starting to like our chances. We definitely have all the momentum in the world behind us for the time being, (fingers crossed). At the very least, this compares favorably with the end of the 2008 season, Buehrle's no-no's, Beckham's 2009 season, Thome's 500th, Konerko/Dye hitting 300 HR mark in the same game, etc.

Do all these numbers being bandied about take Jenks into consideration for 2011 or not?

QUOTE (greg775 @ Jun 25, 2010 -> 01:09 AM) Yeah, Oz's reaction on Paulie's home run wasn't that of a man who LOVES winning and sweeping, was it? It was priceless, thrusting his arms in the air. We've done a good job of sweeping teams lately. Maybe Rios needs a refresher in this stretch. How the hell do we know how Rios is feeling? I still say there's a method to Oz's madness. Kotsay and Jones are on the roster. They have to play some days. And Lilly subbed today. It's not like Gordon's bat was missed. I think Bill Self should have hired you to be his media attack dog in the days before he won his national championship at KU.

Or Herschel Walker.

QUOTE (bmags @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 10:18 PM) I guess, but people are poor and tickets are expensive. You can't blame em for pickin a good'ne Plus, the rain/horrible weather cost us at least 5,000 (actual) fans the second game of the series. I'm sure JR and his partners won't have to make too many lifestyle changes, though.

QUOTE (qwerty @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 04:19 PM) How many opportunities said player(s) had to drive in a run, whether it be a runner in scoring position, or on first... compared to league average. That's pretty much it. Sure on occasion players can hit great with men on and poorly with none on... but as a general whole the numbers even out pretty well. If you are a .220 hitter... but are one of the league leaders in rbi opportunities... you better believe that player has a great chance of being among a league leader in rbi's. It works both ways. You can hit .350, but if you don't have the opportunities, what does it matter? Good work querty or Q-Berty.

VA FAN, what, other than hope, from having watched Beckham all season, is your cause for optimism? I think this might be a case like with Rios in 2009 where they just have to hit the "reset" button...leaving him much longer on the roster with us 2 1/2 games back (having one of the most abysmal, botton 3-5 OPS numbers in all of MLB, along with Pierre) is not doing the Sox or him much good. It's going to be a Brian Anderson 2006 situation soon where they have no choice but to put a veteran over there.

QUOTE (Jordan4life @ Jun 24, 2010 -> 03:42 PM) Oh my goodness. I want to kick your ass so bad. lol. And we should bring back Danny Wright or James Baldwin because they both won lots of games in seasons where they put up 5+ ERA's, lol. Because wins are the only things that matter for starters, just like Saves/SO for closers. Sure.

What is this argument even about? We've just won 8 in a row, 13 out of 14 and 14 out of 16 and this? Jenks might not be worth his contract numbers...when we have Putz, Thornton and Santos that all potentially could do the job. However, none of us know if any of those three could average an 80-85% save conversion rate in 2011, which is what you really need to keep your job (obviously 85% and higher is preferable). Is is worth saving $8-9 million next year on Jenks to find out the answer to that question, we just might find out soon enough.

Hopefully the Twins will get smart and trade Mauer for Lee straight up. It is a win-win situation. We can finally get rid of Mauer and the worst contract in the history of sports and bring up Ramos to play every day. Anybody who has any knowledge of baseball knows that Mauer has no incentive anymore since he took the Twins to the cleaners with his terribly inflated contract. Ramos if the future of the team . If they are not able to unload Mauer's contract, they will be crippled for years to come. Its too bad the hometown hero will end up destryoing the franchise. But I would miss Thought that was funny! So if you're Jack Z., you target Ramos, Gibson, Revere, Hicks, etc. The Twins might also want Aardsma, but that's a shaky proposition. The Twins counter with putting either Cuddyer (he's still not a 3B), Young (he's a DH, even though he's hitting very well) or Slowey/Blackburn into the deal. Right now, Blackburn would be the odd man out of the rotation, and he just signed one of those Gavin Floyd/Mark Teahen extensions. Another move the Twins might make is going after Tyler Wigginton, but definitely buying high with that move. The other option is to move early on either Oswalt or Haren, because the Lee sweepstakes will probably go down to the very end of July, based on the way things have played out in the past with the M's.