OFFICIAL Minnesota Twins 2009 Season Thread (87-76)---> AL CENTRAL CHAMPS! Great season guys.

[jpzx]

I want Cabrera and a quality relief picher by the deadline....let's get it done. Hopefully these comments by our All-Stars will persuade Billy because Them> Him

 

[651akathepaul]

If nothing gets done I swear....I won't do nothin', but dammit this is getting frustrating.

It makes no sense to me as to why they want to wait and pick daisies when they have a steady breeze of success blowing through the open window and are theygonna wait to justify not making moves until the new stadium opens up to bring in more revenue stream?

If you have a team on the brink, my philosophy is to attack the situation and not wait for the right circumstances arrive before you pounce. That risks thewindow being slammed shut and Minnesota fans again aghast at the lack of managing from a team always coming close...But no cigar.

 

[RyGuy45]

The ownership has not changed. This is their business and they are in it to make money (or lose the least amount of money possible). If they win some gamesgreat, if they dont then that's fine too. And the ownership also hires front office people who share this philosophy, aka a no-name Bill Smith who has beena "yes man" his entire working career and would probably be shaking in his boots at the thought of walking across the hall and asking the Pohlads tosign off on a new contract or player. And the Pohlads love that.

So moving forward....

You look at a situation like the 2B position. The owners would rather wait it out and let Casilla and his .180 BA play there for $200,000 a year than trade foran all star 2B making $5-10 million per. We as fans might not like that, and Gardenhire and his staff SURELY don't like that, but that's how they runthings. I wouldn't accuse the Pohlads of being the cheapest dudes of all time (nor would i say they dont want to win)....but they know how to cut thecorners and they do it at all costs. And that is why i usually stick up for Gardy.

The new stadium sounds fine and dandy. But it is not going to be used to go out and get people. They've even already come out and said it. It'sgoing to be used to pay their own players, within reason. This team hasnt made barely one major trade deadline deal in 30 years....nothing is going to change.We are a cute team who is on the brink (just like every year) and then in the end if they dont win out then "well we were RIGHT there!!"

And as we've been over in here countless times, this organization is content with AL Central titles. That's like their World Series. They blast this"accomplishment" every year like we just cured cancer. Zombie Minnesota fans eat it up. And they put up another banner opening day the followingseason and everyone forgets about the little things.

The hardcore fans though want to go for the juggular just once...and so do the players. Who like others before them will likely bolt when given theopportunity because as they said, why stay in a place forever if you know you never are in it to really win?

And lastly remember this.....this is an organization that the year they got the new stadium passed they cut their payroll by over $20 million and letHunter walk, Silva walk, and gave away Santana for 4 players making about a combined $500,000.

You can't make it up.

 

[651akathepaul]

I understand their bootstrapping philosophy, I'm just sayin'....Makes no sense (in terms of actually winning something outside of the central).

 

[RyGuy45]

This is my own cheat sheet for Twins baseball seasons. This can be applied to every season before it starts.

1. Twins get off to decent start. Hit middle-season swoon and recover enough to be in the Central race.
2a. Trade deadline passes with no deal. GM says "we worked the lines hard....teams just were asking way too much and we are not going to break up our farmsystem." (also see 2b, below)
3. Player morale goes down.
4. Team hangs in till the end and if Gardy/Rick Anderson can work magic we sneak into playoffs

*2b. Have in-our-pocket Sid Hartman write annual column making it look like we are trying. Oh wait what do we have here in today's paper...

[h1]Smith can't be accused of not working hard[/h1]
The Twins general manager is busy working the phones trying to make a deal for a pitcher and infielder.

By Sid Hartman, Star Tribune

It was Sunday morning but Twins GM Bill Smith was busy in his office working the phones to try to improve his team with the addition of a pitcher and/or a righthanded hitting second baseman.

"We are working away, there is a lot of conversation going on," Smith said. "I think, all teams are out there working the phones, and we've got a lot of people out, seeing major league games and we're going to see if we can pull something together in the next few days.

"We're going to have to right the ship. We've got to play better to start with. It's our job to try and help this club and bring in some reinforcements. There are a lot of buyers and not many sellers, because teams are in contention."

Smith talked about the fact "that it's been a terrible week for us."

Fortunately, the Twins won their finale of the 10-game road trip, beating the Angels after losing the first three. The Twins finished the road trip 4-6.

Nothing is easy and now the Twins come home to face the White Sox and Angels, two of the top teams in the American League.

''We've got a big series coming up with the White Sox," Smith said. ''So, there's not much rest. We're going to have to do it on the field

"Unfortunately, we've had to tap into the Rochester market a few times this year. Certainly, with [Pat] Neshek and [Boof] Bonser and now [Kevin] Slowey, on the DL, we've tapped that market. I think we probably have to look further outside now. Jesse Crain is back and threw the ball well the other day. And hopefully he can come back and help us here over the next two months.''

Smith said he believes the A.L. Central is a winnable division, with 10 games left with the Tigers and nine with the White Sox.

"And they've got games left against each other," he said. "They also both have to go play more games in the AL East, which is a tough division."

Fortunately for the Twins, who are 6-19 against the East, they have only seven games left against the division -- three at home with Baltimore in the last week of August and four at Toronto in the second week in September.

"We've got our work cut out for us, but we're not looking to be sellers, we're looking to be contenders," Smith said of this week's trading deadline.

Once again though.....all it takes to change fan and player morale is to surprise us and make one move.

 

[jpzx]

Geez...Gomez and Span collision....Gomez got the worst of it, elbow to the eye. Looks like he's okay though.

If we have a good series against the Sox here, I think we'll be right back in the swing of things. Our SP needs to be consistently good on every nightthough, no mental breakdowns. Our last full series until the deadline passes, let's put on a show.

 

[jpzx]

Slowey shut down for the year

Looks like our rotation will be...

Baker
Liriano
Blackburn
Perkins
Swarzak

...the rest of the year unless we make a move for a SP. Swarzak has had two pretty good consecutive start...hopefully he can build on that.

....
EDIT: About time some bad luck goes to the other team and not us

....2-1

 

[jpzx]

WOW What a phenominal catch by SPAN

Good win tonight. Nice to get off on the right foot in this series against one of the teams we're trying to chase.

50-50

 

[kix4kix]

Gomez putting in work

Even though we won't get one we need a starter, then can move Liriano to the bullpen.....He is atrocious

 

[kix4kix]

I want Cabrera too.
P.S. I hate Sid Hartman.

 

[rsdplaya]

Originally Posted by kix4kix

I want Cabrera too.
P.S. I hate Sid Hartman.

ohhhh wowwwwwwwwwww, don't even open up that topic in front of me...guy is an absolute douche

 

[kix4kix]

Nice series of pitching. Back to getting owned by the Angels

 

[jpzx]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/bi...ive-blog-The-2009-MLB-trading-?urn=mlb,180076

Yahoo's Tim Brown says it's a done deal, with the Twins sending Tyler Ladenorf to Oakland for Cabrera.
Great deal for us....

Ladenorf is a 2nd round pick from last year. Sick numbers in Junior College but has yet to hit much with a wood bat.

I was worried that we were going to have to give up a lot more

 

[651akathepaul]

Good deal...Definitely helps out this ball club. Now, hopefully the guys keep on this torrid pace.




Still hope another deal or so is made, because Detroit landing Washburn was clutch on their part. It's gonna be tough to beat them out for the division.

 

[651akathepaul]

DP

 

[nicefitdominican]

Solid move for the Twins without giving up much...

 

[jpzx]

According to Lavelle E. Neal's blog.."Someone with the Twins just informed me that they are still, "wheeling and dealing."

 

[jpzx]

Martinez out of the Central

Concerning Cabrera:

Twins release has Cabrera in uniform tonight, wearing No. 18. Guess here is OC starts at SS, bats No. 2, with Punto at 2B.

Twins release says Cabrera will be in uniform for Saturday's game, wearing No. 18. He still hopes to be there tonight, however.
Damn

Taking over Ayala's #

 

[djaman]

This trade, while still a solid move as it regenerates the 2-slot, very easily should have been done 5 months ago. Remember how long it took Carbrera toinitially get signed by Oakland? We could have signed himr LESS than Punto and have him for an entire season. I hope he keeps up his recent hot streak.

It would have been bad if we went through this trade deadline without buying someone; the core of this team would be pissed off.

 

[jpzx]

I'm hoping we're not done though....we still have a lot of holes that we could fill in the next hour and a half. Knowing Bill Smith, this might be it.

 

[651akathepaul]

Originally Posted by djaman

This trade, while still a solid move as it regenerates the 2-slot, very easily should have been done 5 months ago. Remember how long it took Carbrera to initially get signed by Oakland? We could have signed himr LESS than Punto and have him for an entire season. I hope he keeps up his recent hot streak.

It would have been bad if we went through this trade deadline without buying someone; the core of this team would be pissed off.

Better late than never though. Only 2 games back so I think the time is perfect. 5 months ago, there was still high hope that Casilla would produce the way weknew and thought he could. There was time for him to get back on track. So no biggie really.

 

[GreenNGold89]

Solid pick up for the Twins. OCab has been on FIRE in July. Dude came into the month batting like .247 and is hitting .280 now. Plus, he'll be in a muchbetter lineup. Hope he does well for you guys.

 

[RyGuy45]

Yet another classic case of Twins not doing any moves unless it involves basically getting the player for free. And as an added bonus most of his salary willbe paid for by Oakland.

Im not gonna complain about the addition. But same old crap yet again if this is it (at deadline and offseason).

Maybe they'll shock us by tonight.

 

[nnarum]

Originally Posted by RyGuy45

Yet another classic case of Twins not doing any moves unless it involves basically getting the player for free. And as an added bonus most of his salary will be paid for by Oakland.

Im not gonna complain about the addition. But same old crap yet again if this is it (at deadline and offseason).

Maybe they'll shock us by tonight.

Detroit added Washburn on top of this... He usually gives us trouble...

 

[stringer bell 32]

O Cab batting 2nd

O Cab's defense