The end of one era in Minnesota, and the beginning of another

[bwit43]

If only Reyes could do that in real life...

[st paul twins]

Do you foresee any other trades in the next six weeks prior to the deadline? This is a great string, by the way...

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

July 11, 2008

Off day for us and nothing else to report about.

July 12, 2008
Atlanta Braves (48-40) @ Minnesota Twins (53-36)
Twins 8 over Braves 5
WP: Scott Baker - 8IP 9H 0BB ER 8K (12-5)
LP:Chuck James - 3IP 7H 4ER 4K (7-4)
SV: Joe Nathan (30)

A real good game at the plate for the Twinkies to go along with Baker's gem. Gomez reached plate in all four of his plate appearances, with 3 hits and a walk, he also stole two bases. Delmon Young knocked home 4 runners with two hits and scored a run himself. Overall, everyone collected at least one hit and Figgins, Francoeur, Mauer, and Monroe all collected an RBI a piece, in addition to Delmon's four.


July 13, 2008
Atlanta Braves (48-41) @ Minnesota Twins (54-36)
Twins 8 over Braves 5
WP: Phil Humber - 8IP 6H BB ER 6K (3-2)
LP: Mike Hampton - 5 2/3IP 9H BB 2ER 6K (4-3)

Another strong game at the plate for the Twins. Everyone got at least one hit in this game as well, and everyone besides Alexi Casilla, Adam Everett, Joe Mauer, and Carlos Gomez hot two. Francoeur hit a homer and drove in three runs, Figgins stole two bases, and Craig Monroe got a homer and drove in two runs.


July 14, 2008
Atlanta Braves (48-42) @ Minnesota Twins (55-36)
Braves 2 over Twins 0
WP: John Smoltz - CG CHO 4H BB 13K (11-2)
LP: Livan Hernandez - 8IP 7H ER 5K (7-7)

This was an extremely frustrating game. We never really managed to get anything going and even on the few occasions where we did get a few guys, or even just one guy, on base Smoltz immediately dashed any hope of scoring by striking everyone out or getting us to ground into double plays.


July 15, 2008

Off-day for us again, nothing to report about.


July 16, 2008
Minnesota Twins (55-37) @ San Diego Padres (49-42)
Padres 2 over Twins 1 (10 Innings)
WP: Trevor Hoffman - IP H K (2-4)
LP: Joe Nathan - 2/3IP H ER (2-3)

Another rough one. Duensing pitched brilliantly in opposition to Peavy, going 7 innings giving up only two hits and two walks, allowing one run, and striking out 7. It remained tied at one into the tenth when Barrett hit a walkoff shot, his second homer of the game. Our one run came off a single from Mauer to score Francoeur.


July 17, 2008
Minnesota Twins (55-38) @ San Diego Padres (50-42)
Padres 7 over Twins 5
WP: Cla Meredith - 1/3IP H K (5-1)
LP: Jesse Crain - IP 2H 2BB 3ER (3-2)
SV: Trevor Hoffman (33)

Our third frustrating game in a row! Liriano pitched brilliantly (6IP 4H 2BB 3ER 12K), but the bullpen was putrid, giving up a total of four runs, and the offense struggled a bit as well. Two of our runs came off pinch hit singles from Monroe and Kubel. Jeff managed to smack a homer to get a run across, as did Lamb, but other wise our offense struggled.


A very up and down week. We played great the first two games against the Braves, but struggled thereafter. Some fantastic starts by Duensing and Liriano were put to waste by poor offense or the struggling bullpen.

Carlos Gomez has his batting average up to a solid .275, but is still getting on base barely 30% of the time. He still leads the AL in steals at 39. Figgins has really helped the offense, as I expected, scoring 32 runs in 33 games with the Twins, and getting on base at a .449 clip. Delmon has surpassed his rookie home run total of 13 with 15 in about 2/3 the at bats, and is only one RBI behind his rookie total, a stat he still leads the league in. Francoeur is struggling to get hits a little right now, however when he does get them they have been ending up in the stands or the gap, as 6 of his last 11 hits have been for extra bases.

Liriano hasn't been as insanely dominant his last few starts as he has been at time during the season. However they've been starts we should've won. Each of his last two starts hes allowed 3 runs in 6+ innings and collected 12 strikeouts, but we lost both games. The pitching has been quite strong since the start of the month, allowing more than 5 runs just twice, but we have only a 5-7 record to show for it.

Next we finish up the series against the Padres, then come home for three against the Pirates, we then have an off-day and head to Chicago to play a 3 game set against the White Sox.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Press Conference #1


Q1 (bwit, 5-31-08): With Liriano coming up on arbitration this year or next(?) will he be locked up long term like Francouer?

A1: We are certainly going to try our hardest to sign Liriano longterm as we did with Jeff. Liriano is an integral part not just to the pitching staff, but to the team as a whole. Liriano has been a great team leader and a great story because of how well he has rebounded from Tommy John surgery.

Q2 (bwit, 5-31-08): If he continues his dominance through the next few years, will the team be able to afford him, or will he be shipped off like Santana?

A2: We hope we'll be able to keep him, without a doubt. We hope that if we continue this success we will experience a large enough increase in payroll so that we would be able to hold onto all of our key pieces, Gomez, Delmon, Liriano, and so on, so that they can win some division, and hopefully world, titles in Minnesota. You also have to keep in mind that the GM's will be meeting to discuss the possibility of equalizing payrolls across the league, so our budget may not be as much of a concern soon as it has been in the past. However, if we feel it would be better for the short and longterm success of the team to trade Liriano, we will do so.

Q3 (st paul twins, 6-2-08): Do you foresee any other trades in the next six weeks prior to the deadline?

A3: We aren't going out and looking to make deals. However, we have had a few teams calling asking if we're interested in some of their players. Houston has called shopping around Roy Oswalt, and we did have some dialog on that front and we would love to add a pitcher of Roy's caliber, but his contract (14 mil per year through 2011) is a lot to bring on for a small market team like us, even with the possibility of equalized budgets. We will continue to discuss the possibility of bringing Oswalt to Minnesota however. I won't discuss the players involved specifically, except to say that the packages we've discussed involve some talented minor league pitchers and a pitcher currently in our starting rotation. We have also received calls from Florida about Dan Uggla, we are not interested in him however, we're happy with Casilla at second base and Lamb at 3rd. Another team who we've received calls from is Washington in regards to Luis Ayala, whom they want a minor league reliever for. We have considered bringing Ayala in but have yet to come to a consensus on him.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

July 18, 2008
Minnesota Twins (55-37) @ San Diego Padres (51-42)
Twins 5 over Padres 1
WP: Scott Baker - 8IP 3H BB ER 7K (13-5)
LP: Greg Maddux - 5IP 8H 3ER K (9-4)
SV: Joe Nathan (31)

We managed to avoid the sweep stealing the last game of the series. The game really shouldn't have been as close as it was, simply because we collected 13 hits but only managed 5 runs. Gomez and Figgins each went 2-5 with a steal, Figgins also scored two runs. Delmon went 3-5 with a two run homer and Francoeur and Morneau also got RBI's. Kubel also smacked a pinch hit homer.


July 19, 2008
Pittsburgh Pirates (49-44) @ Minnesota Twins (56-37)
Pirates 9 over Twins 2
WP: Ian Snell - 7IP 5H 2BB ER 8K (6-7)
LP: Phil Humber - 6 2/3IP 8H 3BB 4ER 6K (3-3)

Snell basically dominated us the whole game. We may have had a better chance of mounting some sort of comeback if not for Ricky Barrett completely blowing up, going one inning allowing 6 hits and a walk and allowing 5 runs to plate. One of our two lone runs came off a homer by Francoeur, and the other came off an RBI single from Alexi Casilla to score Morneau.


July 20, 2008
Pittsburgh Pirates (50-44) @ Minnesota Twins (56-38)
Twins 7 over Pirates 2
WP: Livan Hernandez - 8IP 5H 2ER 3K (8-7)
LP: Matt Morris - 2 1/3IP 7H 2BB 6ER K (7-4)

Francoeur seems to be heating up again, after collecting two hits and two RBI's. Mauer also went 2-3 with a walk, and Gomez, Figgins, Young, and Morneau all collected one hit, with Figgins and Morneau each getting an RBI. Gomez suffered an injury in this game and will miss 9 games as well.


July 21, 2008
Pittsburgh Pirates (50-45) @ Minnesota Twins (57-38)
Twins 3 over Pirates 2
WP: Brian Duensing - 8IP 4H 2BB 2ER 4K (2-2)
LP: Paul Maholm - CG 5H 3ER 5K (5-4)
SV: Joe Nathan (32)

Jeff Francoeur got another two hit, two RBI game in this one. Morneau knocked across our other run.


July 22, 2008

Off-day, nothing to report.


July 23, 2008
Minnesota Twins (58-38) @ Chicago White Sox (44-54)
Twins 7 over White Sox 4
WP: Francisco Liriano - 7 2/3IP 7H BB 3ER 7K (14-3)
LP: Mike MacDougal - 2/3IP 3H 3ER (3-4)

We managed 13 hits in this game. Everyone logged a hit except Everett and Casilla, both of whom still managed RBI's. Mauer, Figgins, and Young all got 3 hits. Delmon added another RBI, and Figgins and Morneau got two. Figgins and Young each hit homers as well.


July 23, 2008
Minnesota Twins (59-38) @ Chicago White Sox (44-55)
Twins 10 over White Sox 1
WP: Scott Baker - 8IP 6H 4BB ER 3K (14-5)
LP: Jose Contreras - 3IP 7H ER 3K (2-11)

Everyone got a hit besides Casilla, who managed a walk, in this blow out. Morneau and Francoeur collected two RBI's a piece, while Lamb, Mauer, Span, Figgins, and Young each got one RBI.

I can't be unhappy with a 5-1 week! I managed to reclaim my lead in the central by a half game and the team is playing very well right now.

Delmon isn't driving runs in like he was a few weeks ago, but hes still 97 RBI's on the season. Morneau's power still hasn't come along and hes slugging only .426. Francoeur is really heating up lately. Hes hitting .333/.364/.643/1.007 with four homers and 12 RBI's in his last 10 games.

Liriano has been great as always, but Baker has been downright dominant lately. In his last 10 starts he is 7-1 with a 2.22 ERA and 54 K's in 73 innings. Hes also averaging just 101 pitches per start in those 10 starts. I know I usually slobber all over Liriano, but Baker has been just as good this season.

We finish out the month by finishing the 3 game set against the White Sox, we then come home to host the Indians and Red Sox to end the month.

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Alright, we need a nickname for the 2-headed monster that is Liriano and Baker:

I'm thinking "Shake-n-Bake".

Just throwing that out there.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I don't feel like doing some conversation post for this so I'm just gonna post the parameters of the deal and stuff like that.

Houston had been offering Oswalt to me for about three weeks and eventually the temptation of Liriano-Baker-Oswalt became too great to pass up, even with the money Oswalt is making. Theres a good chance cities/budgets are equalized soon and I should have enough cash even after cutting everyone's cash to handle his 14.5 mil per year contract, so I decided to make a deal. After going back and forth with the computer for a while this is what I came up with:

Minnesota Twins and Houston Astros on July 31, 2008

Houston Astros acquire:

SP Tyler Robertson (76/93)
SP Phil Humber (83/90)
SP Anthony Swazark (67/84)
OF Craig Monroe (74)

Minnesota Twins acquire:

SP Roy Oswalt (93)
OF Victor Diaz (74/80)
3 mil cash

I think its a very balanced trade, and to some degree they may have gotten the better end of it. Monroe and the cash was to balance the contract a little bit and Diaz was included to replace him as my DH vs. lefties. I actually didn't realize how good Robertson was when I made the trade, and he may not have actually been that good at the time of the trade, I think he got a vitals jump right after the trade. The young pitchers the Astros got should really help them for the future and Oswalt should go a long way towards my playoff push, despite not pitching well so far this season.

NOTE 1: The links are to screenshots of the players stats/vitals this season.
NOTE 2: This trade wasn't made until Friday or so of the next week I need to update about, which is why Humber will still appear in the next update for one or two starts.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

I kind of like this format for doing trades I make so I think from now on I may just do this instead of a conversational trade post, or in addition to.

[BichetteMan]

Ooooh! That rotation looks amazing! Good luck during the last two months -- those guys should get you to the postseason.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

If Oswalt turns it around it'll be downright filthy, whether or not he can do that is yet to be determined. He makes his first start for me late next week.

[PotatoOfCouch13]

Liriano, Baker, and Oswalt?

Shake, Bake, and Cake?

Seriously, I'm running out of ideas here...

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

July 25, 2008
Minnesota Twins (60-38) @ Chicago White Sox (44-56)
Twins 6 over White Sox 0
WP: Phil Humber - 8IP 6H 2BB 0ER 7K (4-3)
LP: Mark Buehrle - 6IP 5H BB 2ER 3K (6-10)

We managed to nail down the sweep over a division rival! Delmon Young provided all of our offense, going 3-5 with two homers and five RBI's.


July 26, 2008
Cleveland Indians (61-42) @ Minnesota Twins (61-38)
Twins 4 over Indians 2
WP: Denny Reyes - IP (5-1)
LP: Paul Byrd - 8 1/3IP 9H 2BB 3ER 2K (10-4)

What a way to get this crucial series underway! We trailed 2-1 going into the bottom of the ninth with Paul Byrd going for the complete game, but Francoeur and Mauer managed to get on base, Craig Monroe then pinch hit for Adam Everett, and he proceeded to hit a 3 run walkoff bomb and earned us the win in the opening game of the series.


July 27, 2008
Cleveland Indians (61-42) @ Minnesota Twins (62-38)
Twins 3 over Indians 0
WP: Brian Duensing - 8IP 6H BB 0ER 4K (3-2)
LP: Cliff Lee - 5IP 5H 2BB 3ER 5K (5-6)
SV: Joe Nathan (33)

Duensing turned in another excellent outing. Span and Young each collected two hits, Span also got two runs and a steal, and Delmon got a run, a walk, and an RBI. Morneau got our onlt other RBI.


July 28, 2008
Cleveland Indians (61-43) @ Minnesota Twins (63-38)
Twins 3 over Indians 0
WP: Francisco Liriano - 7IP 2H BB 0ER 12K (15-3)
LP: C.C. Sabathia - 7IP 3H 5BB 3ER 5K (5-8)
SV: Joe Nathan (34)

Liriano hadn't been his usual superbly dominant self lately, but he sure as h*** was tonight! Morneau, Everett, and Casilla were the only players to manage hits in the game, but we still managed to scrap up 3 runs. Young, Morneau, and Everett were the ones to get RBI's, one each. Figgins and Span each walked once and stole a base. This was a HUGE sweep for us.


July 29, 2008

Off-day for us. Nothing to report besides the aforementioned trade, and Gomez will return for us in our next game against the Red Sox.



July 30, 2008
Boston Red Sox (65-41) @ Minnesota Twins (63-38)
Twins 6 over Red Sox 2
WP: Scott Baker - 8IP 4H 5BB 2ER 5K (15-5)
LP: Daisuke Matsuzaka - 4 1/3IP 6H BB 4ER 3K (13-3)

The offense came from the guys you'd expect to get it from tonight. Young and Francoeur each drove in two runs, sandwiched between Morneau's 1-4 with an RBI night. Francoeur hit his 22nd homer of the year and Delmon continued to pad his RBI total and make a case for the MVP award. Kubel also managed to knock a couple in near the bottom of the order.


July 31, 2008
Boston Red Sox (65-42) @ Minnesota Twins (64-38)
Twins 4 over Red Sox 3
WP: Roy Oswalt - 8IP 6H 3BB 2ER 5K (8-9)
LP: Clay Buchholz - 3 1/3IP 7H 2BB 4ER K (8-3)
SV: Joe Nathan (35)

I mistakenly started Roy Oswalt in this one even though he had just made a start 2 or 3 days earlier with the Astros, it didn't seem to hurt him though! Gomez went 2-4 with two RBI's in his return from the DL. Young and Lamb also drove in a run each.


Upcoming:

1. Team Update
2. Down on the farm post (New thing I'm doing, just a post with all of my players minor league stats)
3. League update
4. Maybe one more week of games
5. GM Meetings about Equalized budgets/cities, etc.

NOTE: The teams records and probably some other stuff for this week of games are a little messed up. I accidentally closed the game down and didn't save because I thought I already had, so I had to re-sim these games again before I posted this, the scores and everything are correct, just note that the team records and some other things may be askew.

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

Liriano, Baker, and Oswalt?

Shake, Bake, and Cake?

Seriously, I'm running out of ideas here...

lol, I like that.

What about Jello, Mellow, and Yellow. Jello because Liriano routinely gives guys jello legs legs at the plate with his nasty off-speed, breaking pitches, mellow because Baker is so calm and collected on the mound, and yellow because its my favorite color and it rhymes with the other two!

[YEAH DAAAAWG]

June Review

GM Analysis/Feeling:

What a month! We started it out slow and it looked like we may fall back to the pack early in the month, going 3-4 prior to the All-Star Break, but pulled it together thereafter, posting a 12-4 record after the All-Star Break, and compiled a 16-8 record for the month. We also managed to sweep two division rivals, including our main competition, the Cleveland Indians, and grab a solid 3 game lead in the division. Theres not much I can do anymore as a GM to try to help my team with the trade deadline having passed by, so I'm left to sit and watch for the most part for the last two months.


Offensive Report:

Delmon Young is an absolute machine. He is far and away the RBI leader in the majors with 107, the next closest has just 94, and has cemented his case as a possible MVP award winner this season. He has been exceptionally good in his last 10 games, hitting .462/.488/.821/1.309 with 3 homers, 13 RBI's, 3 steals, and has struck out only 5 times. On the season he is hitting a robust .313/.349/.537/.886 with 19 homers, 107 RBI's, 17 steals (to only 3 caught stealing), with 38 doubles. He is crushing his rookie season totals, already surpassing or tying his number of homers (13), RBI's (93), steals (10), doubles (38), triples (0) from last season, he is also blowing his rate stats out of the water but its impossible to project those accurately. Morneau still isn't hitting well at all, only a .763 OPS, but his defense has saved him from getting traded. Hopefully his bat can come around a little in the last two months of the season. Mauer has struggled even worse. Hes barely breaking a .700 OPS (.715) and his slugging percent is barely higher than his OBP, .354 to .361. Luckily for him he plays great defense at the most important defensive position on the diamond. Where M&M have struggled, Jason Kubel and Jeff Francoeur have picked them up substantially. As a Twin, Francoeur has hit 15 homers, knocked in 54 runs, hit .294/.355/.502/.857 and played superb defense. Kubel has also hit surprisingly well, with a .278/.320/.557/.877 line.

Hitter of the Month:

LF Delmon Young - .313/.349/.537/.886 with 19 homers, 107 RBI's, 17 steals (to only 3 caught stealing), with 38 doubles.


Pitching Report:

Liriano wasn't his usual self this month, although he was still better than most. He had an ERA a tick over 3.00 for the month and 2-1 on the month with three 12 strike out games, however he was easily trumped by Scott Baker's fantastic pitching this month. Baker was absolutely fabulous this month, taking out his July 3rd start against the Royals, in which he gave up 7 earned runs in four innings, as an outlier, he was 4-0 with a 1.41 ERA during the month in 32 innings pitched. Joe Nathan also managed to collect 8 saves in the month. As a team this month we had an ERA of 3.21, which is a truly amazing ERA for an entire team, and we allowed 5 runs of more just 7 times in 24 games.

Pitcher of the Month:

RHP Scott Baker - 4-0 with a 1.41 ERA during the month in 32 innings pitched (Aside from his July 3rd start)


Injury Report:

No current injuries.


Batting Stats:

Player Name	Team	AB	H	HR	RBI	Avg	OBP	SLG	SB	CS
Young, Delmon	MIN	441	138	19	107	.313	.349	.537	17	3
Figgins, Chone	MIN	432	142	6	36	.329	.387	.454	36	12
Gomez, Carlos	MIN	425	118	3	43	.278	.317	.362	43	8
Francoeur, Jeff	MIN	425	125	22	77	.294	.350	.525	7	0
Mauer, Joe	MIN	382	99	3	34	.259	.354	.361	10	1
Casilla, Alexi	MIN	364	92	2	42	.253	.286	.330	15	8
Morneau, Justin	MIN	350	95	10	54	.271	.349	.414	3	4
Lamb, Mike	MIN	311	83	11	47	.267	.315	.479	3	3
Everett, Adam	MIN	285	65	2	28	.228	.273	.302	4	3
Kubel, Jason	MIN	255	71	15	53	.278	.320	.557	3	2
Punto, Nick	MIN	74	13	0	4	.176	.315	.216	0	2
Diaz, Victor	MIN	40	4	0	3	.100	.119	.100	0	0
Oswalt, Roy	MIN	40	7	0	3	.175	.195	.200	0	0
Redmond, Mike	MIN	34	11	0	3	.324	.343	.412	0	0
Pridie, Jason	MIN	15	6	1	3	.400	.500	.733	1	0
Liriano, Francisco	MIN	6	1	0	0	.167	.167	.333	0	0
Baker, Scott	MIN	6	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Hernandez, Livan	MIN	3	1	0	0	.333	.333	.333	0	0
Bonser, Boof	MIN	2	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Duensing, Brian	MIN	1	0	0	0	.000	.500	.000	0	0
Rincon, Juan	MIN	1	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Nathan, Joe	MIN	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Reyes, Dennys	MIN	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Crain, Jesse	MIN	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0
McCardell, Mike	MIN	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	0	0

Pitching Stats:

Player Name	Team	Starts	W	L	ERA	IP	K	SV	CG	OBA
Baker, Scott	MIN	22	15	5	3.10	154.0	105	0	1	.245
Liriano, Francisco	MIN	22	15	3	2.82	147.0	166	0	0	.207
Hernandez, Livan	MIN	21	8	7	4.17	144.2	73	0	2	.258
Oswalt, Roy	MIN	24	8	9	5.13	140.1	102	0	0	.261
Bonser, Boof	MIN	15	4	7	5.38	98.2	74	0	1	.279
Duensing, Brian	MIN	7	3	2	3.00	51.0	30	0	1	.199
Crain, Jesse	MIN	2	3	2	4.03	44.2	27	0	0	.242
Nathan, Joe	MIN	0	2	3	1.29	42.0	40	35	0	.179
Rincon, Juan	MIN	0	0	1	3.43	42.0	42	0	0	.239
Reyes, Dennys	MIN	0	5	1	2.63	37.2	35	0	0	.217
McCardell, Mike	MIN	0	0	0	36.00	1.0	3	0	0	.625

Team Notes:

• Due to Mauer's extreme struggles the lineup vs. Righties now looks as follows, with the left handed lineup remaining the same:
  
  1. CF Carlos Gomez
  2. SS Chone Figgins
  3. LF Delmon Young
  4. 1B Justin Morneau
  5. RF Jeff Francoeur
  6. DH Jason Kubel
  7. 3B Mike Lamb
  8. 2B Alexi Casilla
  9. C Joe Mauer

Looking ahead:

Next month is going to be rough. We have only one off-day the entire month (Monday, August 22nd) and we play the majority of our games on the road, 17 on the road to 13 at home, including two 7 game road trips. We play some critial opponents as well, including the Indians, Angels, Tigers, and Rays.

[bwit43]

Heck Mauer's .354 OBP and 10 steals are better then some teams leadoff hitter