caulfield12

Balta, do you see any possible way out of this situation that's NOT going to cost us 20-30-40% of our season ticket base, not to mention decreased advertising revenues, tv and radio ratings, etc.? What is it? I think we just have to bite the bullet and hope we can make it back into contention in (hopefully) 2012 or at least 2013.

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 11, 2010 -> 09:54 AM) No. Read what I said: So, we bring up our top spects Next year: D2, Viciedo, and Flowers. Pierre Goes to the bench. Rios and Peavy aren't dealt. Linebrink still here. In that case, we're still starting at $72 million committed with $3 million coming in from the Dodgers, before arbitration hearings for D1, Quentin, and TPain. D1 is probably a legitimate nearly $10 million arbitration case. Quentin...The 2008 version of Quentin only knows what he'll get, but that's a couple million for both of them, maybe even pushing >$5 million if he gets hot towards the end of the year. So we're starting off the offseason with a lineup including 3 rookies, Teahen at 3b, Beckham and Ramirez and Quentin still as potential gaping holes, with no DH, 4 starters (bring up Hudson for the 5th slot presumably), we've lost 2 of our RH arms in the bullpen and need to replace those (Jenks and Putz), and we don't have an obvious experienced closer, so either we're trying out a kid (Santos L. Halper) in that spot WHO IS THAT? Santos, Sergio? Santos Rodriguez? LEFTY? or we're going for one on the FA market. And Randy Williams is still our 2nd lefty. In other words, we're over $80 million on commitments, probably closer to $85 or even $90 once you count guys who are in at the minimum, and we're starting 3 rookies and 3 young-ish players all of whom are struggling this year. Mark Teahen is basically the guy in your lineup you have the most confidence in. Then you go out and spend $10 million on a legitimate DH, a couple million on bench guys, and a RH reliever, and that's all the room you have to maneuver. Teahen I'd have ZERO confidence in starting for a team hoping to win the division or go deep into the playoffs. KW having him sign that extension b4 he proved anything with us was close to idiotic. I think you're right about Rios, you can also include Webster (Anthony) and Jeremy Reed in the list of potential "internal" CF candidates since Rowand. We've had so many, like Owens, Wise, Lillibridge, Anderson (last year) that were complete busts or disappointments. If we really want to lower payroll, we're going to have to gut Peavy/Buehrle/Konerko/AJ/Jenks and hold onto Danks and Floyd, hoping Hudson can become at least a 3 and maybe a 2, but most likely 3-4, like the Twins seem to have a ton of (Blackburn/Slowey/Perkins/Pavano). The question becomes who is easiest to trade? Which player do we want to keep the most (Rios, Buehrle, Peavy)....and which one gives us the biggest payoff in terms of minor league prospects from High A ball on up....(see the Indians' nearly complete decimation of all their talent the last 2 seasons, with the exceptions of Hafner/Sizemore/Peralta). Then, if you can't get Danksie to agree to that long-term extension that blows Floyd's deal out of the water (more like Lester's with BOSOX), then you have to look into what you can get for him. Those four players (Rios, Peavy, Buehrle, Danks) are the single biggest decisions KW has left to deal with....everything else seems pretty obvious at this juncture. We can also trade Garcia, Castro (or keep him as a starter next year with Flowers/Viciedo at 1B/DH, Flowers rotating with Castro at catcher), Linebrink, Putz, Andruw Jones, Vizquel, Kotsay (close to ZERO return for the last two, but they deserve chances to go out with playoff teams, if we can swing a deal and a contending team would be willing to give them the last spot on the bench).

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 11, 2010 -> 08:25 AM) If we're going to go into selling mode this season, yes, I think you trade Alex Rios. He's moved back to very high value this year to a team missing a CF bat who can play defense (Boston? SF?), he's terrifically expensive the next few years for a team with our salary level, and there's every reason to think that we're going to see a salary cut in the near future after this implosion of a season. Peavy I'd consider moving...but first of all, he has a no-trade clause that makes things difficult (See: last year), and second, between his injuries and his slow start to this season, unless he's in the middle of a 60 inning scoreless streak in July, I don't think you'd get anywhere near full value from him. And you actually trust KW to go out and find another CFer? That's been a hole in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009...a huge one.

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/busi...ourbyhour/MSP:9 Looks like the weather will clear in the late afternoon/early evening....will feel like 40 degrees or so at game time.

I've been involved in enough fire Walker threads through the years. Firing him in-season won't do anything, and it makes little to no sense. It's the kind of move you wait until the end of the year. Yes, you can argue it's better for the new coach to get a head start on working with the hitters, but the problem is that the hitting coach we probably'd want is already under contract with another team. Having an interim organizational hitting coach like Chris Chambliss come in....well, it's a change, but just a change for changing's sake. It's just like putting red, white and blue bunting on the Titanic, the ship still sinks in the end, no matter how you try to dress it up. It also depends on how you view the struggles of Quentin (injury-related, psychological/intensity/stress), Ramirez and Beckham. Nobody could argue that he hasn't done a wonderful job getting Alex Rios and Andruw Jones turned around. Konerko's having a career year. As Dick Allen will point out, the runs scored is less of an issue than runs allowed by the supposedly #1-3 rotation in the AL coming into the season, yes? Did you really expect Juan Pierre, Mark Kotsay, Omar Vizquel and Mark Teahen to be good? Can anyone be surprised if AJ Pierzynski is declining with all the intense, pressure-filled games he's played in his career at catcher?

Do we really want to trade Alex Rios? Isn't he a cornerstone CFer we could build around? Where else are we going to get a player like him? Jordan Danks? Maybe if we're REALLY REALLY lucky, Mitchell or Trayce Thompson become that type of impact player in the outfield, but would anyone bet on it happening? Mitchell will also take at least 2 seasons to arrive now, from all likelihood, if not 2 1/2. Plus, we haven't had a solid everyday CFer since Aaron Rowand, and I wouldn't exactly consider him an All-Star. It took 2-3 seasons to prove to KW and then Guillen that he was actually an everyday player. They were about to give up on him, in fact, after he had that serious motorcycle accident in the offseason. It almost makes more sense to trade Peavy than Rios if we're going into a 2-3 year rebuild, because Rios won't do anything but give us salary relief. We won't get as much in return. With Peavy, we can clear salary and get 2-3 serious prospects to build the franchise back up. Plus, those huge contracts for pitchers are much bigger risks than they are for position players IMO.

QUOTE (SouthsideDon48 @ May 11, 2010 -> 01:15 AM) Katy Perry??? Who the hell is that? And she's not even good looking. In fact, I don't find that many women on the top 100 that attractive. It seems like the people at Maxim usually go for the skinny white blondes. That's boring to me. In that list, Zoe Saldana should've been #1, the two ranked #1 and 2 wouldn't even make my Top 100 list. Also, Rihanna? She's weird looking, I can think of tons of hot black women that are a lot more attractive than Rihanna and who should've been included in the top 100 list instead of all those blondes: Kellee Stewart, Traci Bingham, Esther Baxter, Tiffany "New York" Pollard, Tichina Arnold, Rosario Dawson, Beyonce, Alicia Keyes, Lil Kim, Jennifer Hudson, Serena Williams, Kerry Washington, and Ashanti. How is it possible that none of these beautiful women made it on the Maxim list????? Also, Halle Berry aint in it either, but I never found her attractive, anyway. Also, how is it possible that these women didn't make the list??? Eva Longoria, Carmen Electra, Pamela Anderson, Trish Stratus, Demi Moore, Anna Kornikova, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Lopez, Evangeline Lilly, etc???????? This list is a joke! I actually think I would find more women attractive in a Top 100 list from King magazine, or even if they made a Top 100 Hottest Women list in the Black Man magazine. It's funny how even though I'm white, my taste in women is drastically different from what they're trying to force-feed us as western ideals of beauty in Maxim, and that my taste in women is more in line with magazines geared towards black men. Is American society that messed up where guys think just because a woman is white, is anorexic-thin, and has blonde hair, they're hot? Naturi Naughton? I'm going to have to question Serena Williams and Jennifer Hudson, lol. Lil' Kim? REALLY? I can see someone like Traci Bingham, if you like the Playboy/Baywatch bikini bods. Rosario Dawson doesn't have a beautiful face, but she's "cute" and has the body, well, I know it's plastic surgery enhanced. What about Mike Tyson's ex, Robin Givens? You're not talking about that girl from Flavour of Love, are you? Oman? Naomi Campbell would have to be on my list, of course she's a b****, but for pure beauty. 10 years ago....same with Tyra Banks when she wasn't completely crazy.

The funny thing is that when he was first acquired for Borchard, before the famous (now) session with Cooper, Thornton asked to try becoming a starting pitcher.

QUOTE (G&T @ May 10, 2010 -> 04:47 PM) I think his dad helped build the technology that led to the energy core of the Iron Man suit, but was kicked off the project for some reason which led him to be sent back to Russia and live in poverty...er something like that. That was the implication, that Tony's dad was a "robber baron/thief," that Vanko (the father) was the developer of the technology and it was stolen out from underneath him....then he was deported to Russia before he could mount a legal counter-attack. Hence, the vendetta motivation, to get back for his family what he felt was unjustly taken...although that didn't make much sense, he never personally tried to profit exactly. As someone mentioned, not the strongest plot point. I tried to watch Valentine's Day and made it to the 80 minute mark...should I even bother watching the ending? Such a waste of 21 talented performers, minus Swift (annoying!) and Lautner. And I heard more "holiday-themed" movies are coming from Gary "Pretty Woman" Marshall.

Does anyone consider Boone Logan a Cooper "failure"? Just asking... I think Jenks' struggles have NOTHING to do with Cooper, FWIW. It's all about location, and the unwillingness to throw the yellow hammer, for whatever reason (pain in the elbow?)

QUOTE (Benchwarmerjim @ May 9, 2010 -> 11:40 AM) the best team? probably the 1992 team. Puckett, Knublauch, Shane Mack (man, he had a great run when he was with the Twins. 5 years, batted .309 and OPS of +120), Chili Davis. John Smiley was brought in and won a ton of games. Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson followed and Rick Aguilera closed the door in the 9th. The most memorable game that year was a game against the arch rival Oakland team. Eric Fox took Aggy deep and the Twins never could quite recover after that. I think other people would say the 2002 ALCS team or the 2006 comeback kids team, but the 1992 team had a ton of talent Now, if you ask me what is my favorite team? it had to be the 2001 team. After the 1992 season the Twins sucked, signing washed up hometown heros like Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor (who actually was very good for the Twins), Terry Stienbach. They dismantled the team trading Knoblauch to the Yanks, Aggy to the Cubs, Tapani to the Dodgers. The 2001 team was the team that brought baseball back from the doldrums with Hunter, Jones, Lawton, Mintkiewicz, AJ, and Radke leading the way. I spent my teenage years going to the Dome with attendance figure of like 7,500 (but really there were about 5,000 there). The team started to win with a cast of character and all of a suddent going to the Dome was cool again. I will never forget that I think Twins fans think need 1 'Ace' type pitcher to really get over that 'The Yanks are going to beat us in the playoffs' thing they have. I tend to agree The Twins have an asset in Glen Perkins. He is left handed and has his outs with Management. I think if the Twins make a move, Perkins is the centerpiece You can keep Teahen. Perkins has been getting rocked so far this season. No confidence in Duensing, Swarzak and Manship, etc.? BTW, Joel Zumaya has found it again. 24 K's and no walk, 102 MPH fastball. They're about to beat the Yankees and climb to just 3 GB again. It will be an interesting race...Minnesota has been better as a second half "stalking horse" (2006/2009) than when they have a lead and have to hold it.

Jordan Danks K's 2/3 AB's, but an RBI Torres had a good start Brandon Short 2/4 with 2 doubles, .379 Justin Edwards with a simply terrific start Trayce Thompson 0/4, down to .232 M. Gonzalez 2/4, up to .195 Collop with a "very solid" start compared to previous results

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ May 10, 2010 -> 04:09 PM) There's clearly a reason why it's getting out now. They're likely getting ready to cut him, and management doesn't want to take a PR hit by having it come as a surprise. It's because two Mariners players were honest enough to talk about it candidly. One even tried to make an excuse (see link). He wasn't even benched the next game, and some had the idea they REALLY could have awakened him had it been an absolute emergency...but when you're hitting like the M's, it doesn't really matter what buttons you try to push offensively. Still, not the best ending to his baseball career. Not quite Willie Mays, but not so far off.

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2010/05/10/1...d-mariners.html

http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/ar...b&fext=.jsp Daniel Hudson article http://web.minorleaguebaseball.com/news/ar...b&fext=.jsp Chris Carter article (hit 2 three run homers Sunday) Well, at least we proved we could draft a hitter in the 15th round and turn him into a Top 40 prospect down the line...that's something to be said for the scouting department, finding Brandon Allen and Carter in lower rounds.

Well, if Jose Contreras as his ancient age can be dominant in the NL, it's always possible for Jenks too.

http://www.baseballamerica.com/statistics/...ds/?pl_id=59642 Alex Gordon already with 2 homers with the O-Royals, low BA but 891 OPS. Must be very strange to come from Nebraska, the Golden Spikes Award, etc., and now to be returning "home" to Nebraska again under these conditions. I'm pulling for him, he seems like a good kid who's really gotten screwed over by a dysfunctional organization that for some inexplicable reason prefers to go down with Chris Getz and Alberto Callaspo over Alex.

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2010/05/disc...e-mariners.html Just substitute White Sox pathetic offense for M's. (MINUS FIRED hitting coach, former UT QB Alan Cockrell). Feels like we're in the offseason again looking for Thome's replacement with this list. Deja vu. Any names even worth debating? I guess the O's would make sense (for a lot of teams) as a trade partner, but probably not the Indians and Royals. Then again, we love our trades with KC.

It will never happen, for 10+ reasons that are well-documented, but I'm not completely against him going to the minors as a starter, and figuring out how to rely on his secondary pitches again...to get a feel for them. He wouldn't stay as a starter, of course, long-term, but I think starting and pitching 3-5 innings would force him to learn how to pitch again and stop throwing just fastballs and cutters. He'd have to find that curveball again, SOMEHOW. Unless the torque from throwing it hurts his elbow so much that he can't do it....in which case we have a real problem, which will end up in a non-tender and nothing to show for his departure. Of course, since he only cost $50-75,000 in the first place, he might be one of the three greatest investments in the last 10 years, along with Loaiza and Santos.

QUOTE (kitekrazy @ May 10, 2010 -> 10:02 AM) "Ozzie's Team" was put together to beat the Twins. Maybe it's time the organization start to model the Twins or the Rays and invest in your minor league system. It seems playing defense is the lowest priority in this organization. There is no situational hitting. There's plenty of players with low baseball IQ. The list goes on and on. Sending Beckham down=bad idea. Move him down the order. There's plenty of player who had great rookie season and tanked the next season. They hate participating in the free agent market and take risks on older veterans with hopes of being a comeback player. I'm all for restructure. It has worked with Andruw Jones and, to a lesser extent, JJ Putz. But with Kotsay, Vizquel, Teahen (although not "old," he's not a youngster anymore either) and Pierre, not so much. The Red Sox went through this same exact experience when they tried to "fill" around their core with Baldelli, Saito, Penny, Smoltz, Josh Bard and Mark Kotsay on the "cheap," only Penny has emerged as a value, and NOT with the Red Sox, of course.

"It's a baseball game," he said. "Sometimes I tend to forget that because of how well I want to do. "I thought of something (Thursday) night that I've always told myself that I haven't thought about this year. Just go out there and be fun to watch. That's a little different than going out there and having some fun. What I mean by that is just play the game the right way. People respect guys that go out there and bust their butt because they have too." dailyherald.com Yes, FlashTizzle, I got your point, b4 you edited it. I was in KC when Zach Greinke "flaked out" and I listened to him describe how he would just like to take his golden arm, walk out of the clubhouse, go back home and just ride around mowing lawns and plugging his Walkman or I-pod in to block out the world...obviously, Beckham's not used to dealing with a slump of this magnitude, and he's putting too much pressure on himself. Maybe everyone's right and Beckham and Ramirez need to get things turned around without going to Charlotte. There's not a clear "right" or "wrong" answer in this situation. Arguments abound for each side, obviously. And maybe the White Sox will become so "under the radar" that he can just quietly have a great second half, like Fields or Owens did in 2007, without anyone noticing. Whatever the decision it, it has to be based on preserving his ability to be a franchise cornerstone for the next decade...because we're running low on those "face of the franchise" type players if we shed Danks, Buerhle, PK, Jenks, AJ, etc. I really thought that Quentin and Ramirez would become, if not All-Stars or MVP candidates on a yearly basis, above average MLB players at their positions. And that still might be the case. The way I look at it, we have to find those players (yes, it sounds so simple) that have the ability to be MORE than average or below average. Teahen, forget about it...same thing with Pierre. I know someone will argue that even the Yankees and Red Sox don't have All-Stars at every position, yes? Beckham can be above average at 2B...Ramirez can be at SS because of his power, speed and POTENTIAL defensive ability if he puts it altogether, Quentin, yes (but he has to hit 900-950 OPS because of his shoddy defensive play, reminiscent of JD), Alex Rios, hell yes... That leaves Tyler Flowers at catcher (sacrifice D for offense at USCF), possibly Morel at 3B, Viciedo at 1B/DH/RF/LF. I'm close to ruling out Jordan Danks as capable of being "above average" at any outfield position. It would absolutely HAVE to be CF, and I'm not sure we want to move Rios back to RF to make way for Jordan. It think the odds are stacked against Morel because of his lack of power to play at USCF 81 games per year. Then Hudson needs to be a 4 starter at worst and 3 starter at best. Mitchell, Viciedo and Trayce Thompson, ideally two of those three guys, need to become our version of Carl Crawford, BJ Upton or Evan Longoria. Superstar, game changing players.

I thought I was depressed...lol...well, you can still at least make an argument for Teahen over Punto/Harris at 3B. And it's hard to say Morneau is clearly better than Konerko based on 2010 results alone, they're pretty even. And for most of our starting pitchers and bullpen head-to-head against the Twins' pitchers in the same slots.

Roberto Clemente was very underrated...until he became so popular and revered because of his off-field community work and the nature of his death, he became mythologized almost.

Trayce Thompson 1/3 with a 2B, .244 BA.

Jenks was asked by ESPNChicago.com if a change might be coming and that a meeting with Guillen and pitching coach Don Cooper might take place. "That doesn't make sense," Jenks said. Cooper seemed agitated by the situation, but was cordial about questions after the loss to Toronto. Asked what the problem was, Cooper said: "It has to be location. It's always location. You do or you don't make pitches. He didn't make them today." Cooper was asked by ESPNChicago.com if there was a meeting planned and if a change could occur in the closer's role. Cooper asked, "What did Ozzie say?" When told Guillen said he might need to have a conversation with Cooper, the pitching coach said: "Then that's what we'll do." I really hate it when the writers try to "trick" the coaches into saying something negative about each other...or a player, right after a game when the coaches haven't even had a chance to meet or regroup.