Red Sox Trading For A Right Fielder?

As we all know by now Mike Cameron has been let loose. We also know that JD Drew sucks, and won't give us anything (except good fielding). That leaves Reddick in RF when the playoffs come around. One would wonder if the Sox would make a move to bring one in. There have been a couple names that have been popping up on the rumor mill around the league that would seem to fit the Sox (Jeff Francoeur, and Michael Cuddyer).

If we are picking between these two I will go with Cuddyer everytime. Sure is isn't as good of a fielder as Drew or Francoeur, but he tends to talk more then Francoeur and man play a ton of different positions (LF, RF, 1st, and 2nd). That's a great type of player to have on your bench and would give the Sox a lot of options depending on matchups, injuries, ect.

This is just a thought, but I do think he would be a very good fit here for the Sox.

Joe Mauer to 1st, Rut Roh

The Twins signed the Minnesota Kid for a 8 year, bazillion dollar deal last year. They did it with the thoughts he would be the Twins starting catcher for the next 8 years, however, after tired legs and whatever injury he just returned from, Mauer is now taking balls at 1st base. The best thing about Mauer is that he had great production from a relatively weak offensive position. Now that he is moving to 1st the writing is on the wall that he won't be a catcher for his whole career. Also, that makes his value go down a lot if he eventually moves there permanently.

I want to give Mauer the benefit of doubt and say he will go back to being himself, however I have a bad feeling.

Mauer Finally Coming Back

It sounds like Joe Mauer will be back Thursday. He is going to catch a couple more games, but the Twins seem happy that he has been able to play back-to-back games behind the plate, and feel he is ready to come back. The Twins have been given a lot of shit, for not having Mauer come back to be a DH, since he would've been back a lot sooner. It is an interesting argument, because right now the Twins sit in last place in the AL Central and 9 Games back of the Indians/Tigers. I don't see them being able to get back in this race, even though they are 8-2 in their last 10 games. Mauer means so much to this team, but with him being out so long they look like their season may already be over.

Slowey To Be Traded Soon

"The Kevin Slowey relief experiment has ended, and a change of scenery appears to be in order. The 27-year-old control artist told Twins manager Ron Gardenhire he doesn't think he can continue as a reliever, according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. Slowey is headed back to Triple-A to get stretched out as a starter, but Gardenhire implied on ESPN 1500 that the right thing is to find the righty a starting opportunity with another club. After Sunday's game, Slowey had this to say to Neal:

"I understand our situation here. I understand the starters we have here, and I understand that, even given past successes as a starter, this might not be the right fit for me anymore (MLBTradeRumors)."

We talked about this before the season even started, but it looks like it finally might happen. There are certainly going to be some teams that are interested (Yankees/Royals?), but I don't think you have to worry about the Red Sox getting involved. In my opinion that's a good thing. Slowey is a guy who would be a good pitcher in a large ballpark. As this site says "He's a righty with a 90 mile per hour heater. He's hittable, and his high flyball rate makes him prone to the longball." Those are not things you want to hear if you are playing at Fenway. Unless something really bad happens like Dice-K or Lackey getting shut down for the year I don't see them getting involved.

2 Red Sox, 1 Twins

Clutch Crawford won the game for the Sox.... Again.

After Jonathan Papelbon blew the save and Josh Becketts 7 inning performance. Carl Crawford hit walk off in the 11th and The Future aka Jose Inglesias scored from first base.

I was happy for Carl and for Jose as one has been struggling and one is a new comer.

Worth mentioning is Beckett. He seems to have got it back. 7 innings, 5 hits, 5 ks and lowered his era is now at 1.99.

Also the Sox are back to 1 game under .500.

A theory of mine is that Marco Scutaro will never be in a Sox uniform again.

Box Score

Twins @ Red Sox Preview

Red Sox offense seems to be waking up, as they once again close in to .500. Tonight we get Beckett vs. Nick Blackburn. Blackburn is 2-0 with a 3.20 ERA in three career starts against Boston, but he really is nothing special. On the season he is 2-4 4.41, so Boston should be able to pound him into submission.

Beckett looked good last time out, but the rain got in the way and he was only able to play 4 1/3 innings. Overall Beckett has been great. He hasn't lost since his first start April 5, allowing 7 runs with 31 strikeouts in 33 1/3 innings since that lose. The Twins can't hit anything right now, and have a bunch of guys on the field that I really don't know at all.

This should be an easy win for Boston. I think Ellsbury and Gonzalez are going to keep rolling and Boston wins big.

Red Sox 8-2
Player of the Game: Gonzalez
Game starts at 7:10

9 Red Sox, 5 Twins

Again, Dice k is proving to everyone why he is the best pitcher on the staff. He is able to deal with adversity of errors and early missed calls by Varitek and still give a gutty performance for the win.

But other than Dice k the 2nd most impressive thing of the day is from the batting line up. We got on Carl Pavano early and often chasing him out of the game after 5 innings when he gave up 7 runs.

Adrian Gonzalez continues to mash as he hit another home run, Youk is shaking off his bad early start and the Sox in my eyes have officially turned it around.

Also, something to note is that Jose Inglesies is up with the team.

Twins @ Red Sox Preview

Well, last game was ugly. The Red Sox aren't hitting, they aren't pitching, and now they have guys hurt (Lowrie/Youk). At least the Twins have been worse (11-18), and the last 7 times they have come to Fenway they have lost.

Tonight we get Scott Baker against Tim Wakefield. Last game the Wake started he was surprisingly good going 5 2/3 innings allowing just 1 run, but as we have seen with Wake throughout his career you can't put much stock in the last game as he pitched. You just really never know what you're going to get.

Baker has been kind of a hard luck pitcher this year. His record is 1-2, but his ERA is only 3.16. He is really the definition of average, and one would think the Sox would be able to hit him.

I am hoping the Sox can pull this out, because I am really sick of writing about how they fucking suck, but I just don't feel it tonight. But you shouldn't put much into that since every time I pick against them they seem to win.

Twins win 7-5
Player of the Game: Kubel
Game starts at 7:10pm

Liriano Throws A No-Hitter

A day after I threw Liriano under the bus saying that he might lose his rotation spot to Kevin Slowey he promptly goes out and throws a no-hitter against the White Sox. In one for the oddest no-hitter you will ever see Liriano walked 6 guys, only threw 2 strikeouts, and threw 125 pitches to get through 9 innings.

I really don't know what to think. We all know Liriano had the talent, and although what he accomplished last night was impressive I really don't think that his season is suddenly going to turnaround. Maybe I'm wrong, like I said I thought he was going to be making a trip to the DL just 24 hours ago, but you have to look beyond just this game. Even with the no-hitter Liriano still has an ERA of 6.61 ERA (it was 9.13 coming in), and even in this game he had the same kind of struggles that have plagued him all season walks (24 BB in 32.2 inning only 20 Ks).

This game just highlighted how bad the White Sox have been. This is a team I thought could challenge for a World Series, now they are sitting at 11-20 (last place in the AL Central) and 10 1/2 games behind the Indians. I really don't understand why they aren't hitting with a lineup of Dunn, Konerko (who's doing his job), Rios, and Quentin.

Well congrats to Liriano, no matter what they can never take a no-hitter away from you, and I actually hope this does turnaround his season, but I doubt it.

Liriano Out Of Twins Rotation?

Liriano has looked terrible this season (1-4 with a 9.13 ERA) it has gotten so bad that the Twins are starting to think about mulling him out of the rotation. This is pretty shocking for a guy who was so good last year (14-10 3.62 ERA 201 Ks in 191.2 IP), but it seems his arm is hanging by a thread, and it might be the best option to sit him down for a while and figure out what the hell is wrong with him.

Kevin Slowey is making his way back, and it is getting pretty obvious that he is going to take Liriano's rotation spot, unless some dramatic turnaround happens soon. Either way this is all terrible news for the last place Twins, who are currently riding a 6 game losing streak.

Joe Mauer to the DL

Never good to hear that your catcher in the 2nd week of the season has to be put on the DL for leg weakness. Mauer had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in the offseason. With that he had a very light spring. But I have a bad feeling about the Twins all together this season.

If the White Sox could close a game they would be running away with this division. The Royals are a surprise team and the Tigers are always in the hunt. But with the loss of Mauer and the overall shittiness of Fransisco Liriano it could be a long year in Sota. I have a gut feeling this will be 1 of many injuries that slows Mauer down all season.

At least the Wolves have a shot at the number 1 pick in the NBA draft.

MLB Preview: Minnesota Twins

2010 Record: 94-68
Offense:
1. CF Denard Span. Team highs in 2010: 10 triples, 26 SBs
2. 2B Tsuyoshi Nishioka. .429 OBP, .911 OPS in Japan in '10
3. C Joe Mauer. .406 SLG at home last season; .524 on road
4. 1B Justin Morneau. Averaged 30 HRs, 118 RBIs from '06-09
5. RF Michael Cuddyer. 32 HRs in 650 PA in '09, 14 in 675 in '10
6. DH Jim Thome. 25 HRs led team in '10, but 59 RBIs were 5th
7. LF Delmon Young. .335 AVG, 81 RBIs before Aug.; .240, 31 after
8. 3B Danny Valencia. .979 OPS at home in '10; .658 on road
9. SS Alexi Casilla. .301 AVG as No. 2 hitter in '10; .238 in 9 hole

I like the line up but there are a ton of questions surrounding it to be honest. 1. Will Justin Morneau ever recover from the concussion he had mid season last year. 2. Can Mr. Roboto's game transfer to the MLB, we have only seen a couple of offensive foreign imports succeed in the MLB, can Robot be one of them? 3. Will Jim Thome be as effective as he was last year?

That's a lot to take. If Delmon Young can progress from last years break out they should be in good shape.

Rotation:
1. RHP Carl Pavano. Led rotation with 17 Ws, 221 IP, 1.19 ERA in 2010
2. LHP Francisco Liriano. Career highs in '10: 14 Ws, 191 2/3 IP, 201 K's
3. RHP Brian Duensing. 7-2, 3.05 ERA in 13 starts last season
4. RHP Nick Blackburn. 4.03 ERA, 1.37 WHIP in '09; 5.42, 1.45 in '10
5. RHP Scott Baker. 8-3, 3.86 ERA at home in '10; 4-6, 5.14 on road
CL: Joe Nathan

I like this line up a lot I just believe the White Sox and the Tigers have a better rotation then the Twins. I think Carl Pavano's 17 wins last year was luck, he could easily go 8-14 with a 5 era and wouldn't be surprised at all. The only saving grace is Fransisco Liriano who looked finally back from his Tommy John surgery, if he can be as or more dominant then he was last year, they should have someone to build off of. I don't get the rest of their pitchers, they are all junk pitchers who somehow get the job done.

Overall:
The Twins will be overtaken this year and most likely drop to third in the division. The pitching staff/ bullpen worries me too much. Also, who knows if they will get Morneau back and healthy too.


85-77

Blue Jays Trading For Kevin Slowey?

"The Blue Jays like Kevin Slowey, according to Joe Christensen of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (on Twitter). Christensen hears that the Blue Jays have relievers to spare and had three scouts watching Slowey pitch in a 'B' game against the Pirates this morning (MLBTradeRumors)."

I like Kevin Slowey, he is a solid back of the rotation kind of guy. Last year, Slowey posted a 4.45 ERA with 6.7 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 in 155 2/3 innings and he is still only 26 years old. With that being said I really don't see why the Blue Jays would be interesting in trading for him. They already have 4 guys (Jo-Jo Reyes, Jesse Litsch, Marc Rzepczynski and Kyle Drabek) fighting for 2 rotation spots. I have heard that Litsch has looked really good this spring, and it seems like it is Drabek's time to break into the majors, so I just don't understand taking away a strength (bullpen) to add another starter.

Justin Morneau Finally Back On Field

"MLB.com reports that Justin Morneau will make his first appearance in a spring training game on Tuesday, playing in the Twins' "B" game against the Pirates and starting at first base. He had been making steady progress since the opening of spring training, as he works his way back from a concussion he sustained last July (CBS Sports)."

About damn time, I was really starting to wonder if he had permanent damage or something. The good news is (for us nerds) that he is much less of a risk going into MLB fantasy drafts.

As for the Twins, this is obviously great news. When healthy the Twins should have a very good lineup with Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Delmon Young, and Kubel. You add that with an above average starting rotation and the Twins should once again be making a push for the playoffs.

Yankees Aggressively Going After Francisco Liriano

Liriano, 27, was 14-10 with a 3.62 ERA with 205 Ks and if you were the Yankees this is a must for them. They are currently going into the season with CC Sabathia, un proven Phil Hughes, erratic AJ Burnett, Ivan Nova or Bartolo Colon, Freddy Garcia or Serge Mitre. Gross. Liriano would automatically make them 5 or 6 wins better.

They said they would be unwilling to give up top prospect Jesus Montero or Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances but would be willing to give up Ivan Nova and Joba Chamberlain. I don't understand why the Twins would be interested in it figuring they have him for this year and next year and certainly the offer doesn't blow you away, but the Twins like playing moneyball sometimes. They say they are uninterested, but sometimes when there is smoke there is fire.

What The Hell Is Wrong With Justin Morneau?

It has been 7 months since Twins first baseman Justin Morneau took a knee to the head in Toronto and suffered a concussion that would put an end to his 2010 season. We were surprised that he wasn't able to make it back before the end of the season, but now it seems he is still having some trouble...

Twins general manager Bill Smith spoke about the matter on Saturday with ESPN 1500 AM:

“It’s still a work in progress,” Smith said. “He is not 100%, but I’ve talked to his doctors, I’ve talked to him. He’s getting better all the time, he’s doing very good workouts. We only want to go through this process one time. We want him to get healed, get back on the field and resume his career without having that rollercoaster up and down (NBC Sports).”

How bad was this concussion? I mean Aaron Rodgers has had two this year, and was able to come back in no more then 2 weeks, yet Morneau has had 7 months and his head still isn't right. I'm no doctor, and I'm not going to call him out for being a wuss, but this is all very strange to me.

People don't talk about Morneau a lot, but he is one of the best first basemen in the AL. In 2010 he was able to put up good stats even though he only played 81 games (.345 BA, .437 OBP, 18 HRs, 56 RBIs). If you build on those numbers over an entire season and we are talking about a guy who could challenge for MVP. Typically he is around a .300 hitter with about 30 HRs 115 RBIs, and is still only 29 years old.

The Twins are really going to need him to be 100%, so hopefully he can get over this concussion before Spring Training starts up.

Twins/ Pavano Sign 2 year deal

Carl Pavano and the Twins agreed on a $16.5 million, two-year contract Wednesday night, ensuring the popular right-hander who made the 'stache cool again in Minnesota will be back to provide stability to the team's rotation. ESPN

I would be shocked if Pavano had a year like he did last year when he was 17-11 with a 3.75 era, I would actually be shocked if had above a .500 record next year. He happened to have a good year and he is an innings eater guy, but he's no good. He has a low strike out rate and high contact guy.

On another note, the Yankees tried signing Pavano to a one year, high salary deal. That's hysterical figuring they tried Vazquez again and that blew up in his face, and the same thing would have happened with Pavano.

Twins Resign Jim Thome

"Jim Thome is staying with the Twins. Thome, who hit 25 home runs last year and was key in the Twins' run to the American League Central title, today agreed to a one-year deal to return to the team. MLB.com reported that Thome will make a guaranteed $3 million (CBS Sports)."

I am glad that Thome stayed with the Twins. The team and city really seemed to embrace him, and he is still a good source of power. I am a little surprised that they got him so cheap, since Berkman got $8 million. I just don't see that much of a difference between the two. Anyways, good deal for the Twins.

Jim Thome To Texas?

"Jim Thome was one of the last notable free agents to find a new home last season, signing a one-year deal with the Minnesota Twins in early February. The 40-year-old Thome is playing the waiting game again this winter, and there are indications that the Texas Rangers are looking to make a move. ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney reports that the Rangers are in serious pursuit of Thome, who may be a better fit in Arlington than Anaheim (ESPN)."

Thome is really old, but he still has pop in his bat (25 HRs last year). At first glance the Rangers don't make a lot of sense after signing Beltre, and moving Young to DH, but you could see Young play some first base since Moreland and Chris Davis are nothing special. Plus Thome at this point is a platoon player. So, if the money is right they could be a nice signing, because like I said before he can still hit the long ball.

Twins Closing Deal With Pavano

The Twins are nearing an agreement on a two-year deal with free-agent pitcher Carl Pavano, tweets Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports.

In 2010, he posted a 3.75 ERA with a 4.8 K/9 and 1.5 BB/9 in 221 innings. I think that won't happen again, but he is the last "good" free agent left. I'm not a Pavano guy but he is an "innings eater". The Twins will be an interesting team this year and have some question marks surrounding Fransisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Justin Morneau and also will have to battle it out with the White Sox who are poised for a great season coming up. With Pavano gone all the attention will be turned to try and trade for Matt Garza or James Shields from the Rays.