soohockey15

Great comment about Genoway. They miss him terribly. He is a playmaker on offense and they need that NOW. Also ANYONE instead of Finley on the PP. There is 0 justification for him being out there.

Aside from Oshie, Duncan, Chorney....name our established skill players right now. LaPoint has shown promise, so has Frattin. And Kozek can score when the defense hands it over in their zone. We just don't have many players that can create for themselves. And last year we got to the Frozen Four with a lot of role players so it doesnt always mean bad. AHH idk what the hell is wrong we just need to start winning. No more excuses, just win.

Well i for one, certainly don't think we suck, but i also don't think were underachieving as much as most think. Were playing to exactly the level i figured we would, tonight we were in the game, and Denver is a fantastic team. * One more thing i forgot to mention- Our special teams NEED to get better. Running around on the kill and poor puck movement and standing around on the pp are killing the squad

Alright, here it is, i said it before the season and i'll ask it again what talent?!?! We have an awful lot of role players and it shows. Look at last year, the majority of the scoring came from that top line. The only other ones to score...especially at the end of the year were porter and vandy. Porter is now gone and vandy is on that top line. With the young guys the team will obviously get better as the season goes on, but i really am concerned about how much better. Goaltending: Were gettin all we can ask for, Phil is doin his job Defense: I don't know what the hell to think here. Chorney has been good and the two freshman have been encouraging. As for Finley i dont know who watched tonight but he was the worst player on the ice. Disgustingly slow and for being 6'7" he's the weakest player in front and along the boards i have ever seen. I don't even need to mention what it looks like when he has the puck. As for poor play Bina is a close second. No one gives up more odd-man rushes...NO ONE Forwards: The sioux go as Oshie and Duncan go. When they score we win, when they don't we lose. More so than past years that top line is really gonna feel the pressure to contribute every night and that will lead to pressing and forcing things. Why i see an issue here is i dont see much scoring from any other lines. The skill level on the ice declines so drastically when the top line comes off that its scary. I really hope they can kick it in the arse soon because were gonna have too. Not a good season to get too far behind in the standings because the W is pretty pretty even up and down. Hopefully everyone can pick up their play and consistency can come about. But until then expect a loooonnnnnnggggg first half

The career OBPs of Crisp, Punto, Tyner, and Casilla - .329, .314, .314, .263. League average OBP is about .340-.350 varying on the year, and the lowest OBP of any qualified leadoff hitter was Rafael Furcal at .338. None of those guys get on base. Regarding Santana and his value, you have to consider that Haren, Blanton, and Bedard are on the market with more years on their contract as well as cheaper. Haren and Bedard give you about 90% of the production that Johan gives you for less money and more years. Sounds like common sense to not sell the farm for Johan.

A weak, slap hitter? He'd fit right in there with Punto, Tyner and Casilla!

The rumored deal is Lester/Crisp/Lowrie/Bowden or Masterson. This actually wouldn't be a bad deal. Although I'd would much rather have Ellsbury and Bucholz, the Sox probably aren't going to give either of them up (Bucholz the more likely of the two). The Twins would also get Jed Lowrie, who can play short but is still a downgrade from Bartlett, but will probably need to move due to his below average range and inaccurate arm. A good switch hitter, he won't hit many homers and has decent gap power. He works the count well and takes his walks. Prototypical 2 hitter. Lester will be a good #2 starter, but he won't be as good as Bucholz long-term. There probably will be a void at the top of the rotation until Liriano can regain his former stuff. Crisp probably has more range than any centerfielder in baseball, but he's a well below average hitter who doesn't take any walks, therefore can't hit leadoff. Masterson is probably a tick better than Bowden, but both of those guys will be solid bullpen guys who will be able to step in somewhere in the middle of the year (Masterson before Bowden). This is probably the best offer they'll get, unless Anaheim offers a package or the Yanks offer Cano.

We need Genoway healthy...now

Sssssssssssssssank you...should be a solid middle, right now I think it could go Mauer-Young-Morneau-Cuddyer-Kubel. With this move, the Twins have three of the best young hitters in baseball. They probably got the short end of the shortstop swap, however. Harris is a better hitter, but Bartlett's defense overshadows the advantage Harris has on offense. I would say Harris is in line for a move to second base when all is said and done.

The deal is done! Twins, Rays complete 6 player deal I like it from the Twins standpoint, upgrade over Bartlett and get a very promising young player in Delmon Young. Both teams get what they need.

I think both of those guys qualify as the news, if that's what you're saying. Nothing is official yet, but both teams are close.

Weird, I just went back to it and it says "Service Unavailable." Anyway, it was Matt Garza for Delmon Young. Twins, Rays looking to trade Star Tribune Link Neither work, maybe I just suck at posting links. Been reported as Garza for Young, could possibly include more players. More analysis coming as the story develops. Check out ESPN.com or La Velle Neal's blog on the Star Trib. site for further information.

Nothing is official yet, but this is just what I suspected. A young arm for a good, young hitter. Twins, Rays looking to deal.

Erstad is awful, I'll puke if he signs with the Twins. He would, however, fit right into their lineup. Can't hit, can't hit for power, and can't get on base, just like four other guys.

I'm glad you were in the clubhouse on a daily basis to find this leadership out. With Hunter beginning this season at 33 yrs of age, he will continue to lose that "step" in center. He has an above average arm but has never been accurate which, aside from Shannon Stewart (see super soaker for his arm strength), means just as much. Yes, he was the face of the franchise but baseball is a business and you DO NOT pay an aging center-fielder that much money for five years and consider it a good business decision. It's a promise that the Angels will be shocked when Hunter resorts back to his career .270 avg. with 20 hr's a year. I agree that they will lose a good guy and a good player, but at this point in his career resigning him would've been bad business. The front office guys have been running the franchise the same way for the last fifteen years (developing talent then trading for young guys), and Hunter is not going to do anything to change that.

I just woke up, but I think that's going to take the cake for the dumbest thing I'll read all day. Cuddyer had a higher OBP than Hunter did and his SLG isn't that far off as well, so to say teams will pitch around Morneau more than they did this year is wrong. If anything, Morneau's numbers will go up. Also, depending on who plays centerfield next year, it could be an upgrade (defensively) from Hunter.

I guess I'd be really surprised to see them trade Kazmir, he's not a free agent for three years and they Rays don't need any more hitting. Kid is a stud and only going to get better. Check out ESPN's Hot Stove League for continual free agent updates...it's a gift from the Gods in the offseason.

I think that the Royals could've built a solid foundation around young players and a few older guys, much like the Diamondbacks did this year. The Pirates are completely different. They continue to make absolutely insane decisions (Matt Morris, anyone?) and can't figure out if they want old talent, young talent, or just talent at all. I think the Royals took a step in the right direction by signing Meche (who I didn't think much of prior to this season), which has proved to be pretty good as he's developed in to a top-20 starter in the American League. They have a ways to go, however. I'm extremely excited to see what the Rays can do in the next few years. They have a bunch of young guys still on their rookie contracts, so they won't anything over the next few years. They could possibly win the division in the 2010-11 range. They will probably be able to trade Baldelli for some bullpen help this offseason. They will have three very good pitchers in the next few years and budding stars in the field (Upton, Dukes to name two).

Still in school; I see him at the Wellness Center every so often. He quit the team so he could focus more on school.

The Meche signing wasn't nearly as bad as the Byrnes, he posted a 3.67 in 216 IP. He probably would've been a better signing for a team that doesn't completely suck, however. The thing I don't get about the Royals and the Pirates is why they don't use their perennial top-5 draft pick to build a farm system. The Devil Rays (or as they will be known next year Rays) are in the process of doing this and building a great core of young players such as Carl Crawford, Evan Longoria (next year's ROY) and David Price. Scott Kazmir is already a number 1 and James Shields is a solid number 2.

With the exception of Kershaw (LHP, Dodgers) all the others I mentioned are Major League ready and have at least one year experience under their belts. The pitchers could step in to at least a #2 role on most teams, and the position players would be top of the order guys as well. Also, Carlos Quentin would be the bat they acquire (presumably for one of the young pitchers), but he won't get a chance in Arizona because apparently Eric Byrnes is worth $32 mil over three years. Completely agree regarding Hunter, although they probably wouldn't have gotten a whole lot for him as there wasn't a big market among the playoff teams for a guy like him, so the return wouldn't have been as good as the first round pick and the sandwich pick the Twins will receive as compensation in the 2008 draft (Remember, Clay Bucholz was a comp pick by the Red Sox in the 2005 draft and has developed in to a top five pitching prospect).

Explanation: See above.

The fact that people still think Torii Hunter is deserving of a Gold Glove are people who don't pay much attention to defensive metrics other than "Web Gems" and who don't watch enough players around the league. He still makes great plays, but only on the balls he can get to. He ranked 7th out of 10 qualified centerfielders in range factor with six better defensive centerfielders ahead of him (Crisp, Granderson, Cabrera, Ichiro, Matthews, DeJesus. Crisp and Granderson were MUCH better choices for the GG, but I don't want to get another thread shut down). Hunter has reached the point of winning Gold Gloves on reputation, basically because sportswriters are clueless on how to measure defensive players. Although Hunter has saved games for the Twins in the past, his over-aggressiveness has also killed the team (anyone remember the two inside the park home runs he gave up in the playoffs?) in some situations. I fear that as he gets older and his range shrinks even more, Hunter will still believe he can make the highlight reel catches, where in real life he'll be hurting the team. To make a point about Santana being more valuable than Hunter, think about this...how many pitchers would you take over Santana (on my list, it's zero). Now think of how many centerfielders you would take over Hunter (Granderson, Sizemore, Ichiro, Beltran and thats just to start...I will probably add Hanley Ramirez to that list when the Marlins shift him to center due to his atrocious defense at short). Also, everyone looking for Liriano to be anywhere near the same pitcher he was two years ago think again. Eventually (2009) he will revert back to form, but this year look for him to throw no more than 150 innings and start the year either in the bullpen or Triple A. The Twins will take ZERO chances regarding his health as he will prove much more valuable in years to come. The Twins cannot let Santana go without getting anything for him. He will be traded or resigned, but there is absolutely no way they let him go for free. Also, look for one of the young pitchers (Baker, Garza, Slowey) to be traded this offseason for a young outfielder (possibly Carlos Quentin from Ari).

First of all, it was smart of the Twins to let Hunter go. He's 32 and wanted a rediculous amount of money. In his new contract, he will be payed $18 mil when he's 38. By that time, he will be a fourth outfielder on most teams. Also, he won't get any better at the plate. He'll hit between 22-27 homers for the two years, but doesn't get on base at all (.324 career OBP). Using the money that would've gone to him to resign players like Nathan and Morneau is a much better value than paying an aging outfielder. Santana is the best pitcher in baseball, this isn't really debatable. In his new contract, he'll command between $20-25 mil and even when the Twins move into the new stadium, that would take up about 1/4 of the payroll. In trading him, the Twins will get at least two major league ready prospects who will have between 4-6 years left on their current contracts (From the Yankees Cabrera and Hughes, from the Red Sox Bucholz/Lester and Ellsbury, from the Dodgers Kershaw/Billingsley and Kemp), not to mention the one or two other Grade A prospects that are in the respective clubs farm systems. The young players I mentioned will be All-Star caliber players in the next two to four years; making one of these deals would fill a hole in centerfield and in the rotation. The Twins have shown success by developing young talent and parlaying that into trading for younger, more serviceable talent (Knoblauch for Guzman and Milton, Pierzynski for Liriano, Bonser, and Nathan). Also Sicatoka, to say that Hunter is a bigger loss than Santana is laughable. Teams eagerly pitched to Hunter all year, as he isn't really as good of a hitter as everyone believes (look into his OBP and SLG).

You people probably don't understand how much better off the Twins will be if they trade Santana. That's ok, I didn't really expect it out of you guys.