Major League Baseball as a whole may be pre-occupied with the Mitchell report and the problem of steroid abuse, but the main topic of conversation among Twins fans remains the possible trade of Johan Santana. No current Twins' players were mentioned in the report, so here in Minnesota we're free to keep talking about the possibilities of a trade.

Here's one man's opinion. Johan Santana is the best pitcher I have ever seen. Roger Clemens may be more over-powering, but if the art of pitching consists of keeping hitters off-balance and unable to time your pitches, Santana is currently in a class by himself. From what others have said, Sandy Koufax may have been his equal, but I was not old enough to see him pitch in person.

I'm guessing that knowing the size of Santana's potential contract, the Twins' payroll, and the fact that they have a new General Manager, other teams figured they could low-ball the Twins  and get him for a relatively low price. But the Twins have several holes to fill, including center field, and any deal for Santana needs to fill at least two of those holes. Nobody made that kind of an offer, and Bill Smith did the right thing in holding off on a trade. 

Continue reading "Minnesota Twins: Trade Talks, Signings, And Johan Santana"

One of baseball fans' favorite topics during the off-season is "Who should be in the Hall of Fame?" Every team's fans have their own list of who's been unfairly left out, for Twins' fans the two names that are usually the first to be brought up are Tony Oliva and Bert Blyleven. You can make arguments for and against either one. It looks now, though, like it's been too long for Oliva to have a chance, but Bert still might make it in through a vote of the Veteran's Committee.

For most fan, that's the main point of the conversation, but yesterday Lee Lowenfish raised an interesting question at Salon.com, "Who is currently in the Hall of Fame that doesn't deserve to be?" (Salon is a subscription supported site, if you're not a subscriber you'll need to click through an ad or two to read the article.)

Continue reading "In And Out Of The Hall Of Fame"

Perhaps more so than any other major league baseball team, the Minnesota Twins draw their fans from an entire region, and not just from a single metropolitan area. Walk by the bus parking lot at the Metrodome before a game and you'll see buses full of fans from all over Minnesota, Iowa, and North and South Dakota. It doesn't hurt that the games are played in Minneapolis with it's nightlife, cultural attractions and shopping, but the people on those buses are mainly baseball fans, and for a lot of people in small towns all over the Upper Midwest, the Twins are their team.

And for many years now, the Twins have been returning the favor. The Twins Winter Caravan takes Twins players, coaches, and a couple of TV announcers out on buses of their own to visit those towns the fans come from, and let them see and visit with some of their favorite Twins. As someone who lived in a couple of those small towns while growing up, I can tell you that it really is a big deal for the fans there. It's a great break from winter drudgery, a reason to get out and socialize, and, especially, a chance for kids to interact with players in a way they'd hardly be able to at a game. It also helps ensure that a lot of those small town fans will make a yearly trip to Minneapolis to catch a game or two.

Continue reading "Twins Winter Caravan Set To Roll"

The news just came in. Carlos Silva has signed a 4 year, 48 million contract with the Seattle Mariners. It's not unexpected, if the Twins weren't going to pay Torii Hunter 12 million a year they sure as heck weren't going to spend that much on Carlos Silva.

Still, you never like to lose pitching, especially without getting anything in return, and while Silva had his ups and downs, he was generally a pitcher who could be relied on to go six or seven innings every start, and at his best it would be one ground ball after another until the opposing hitters got tired of swinging at the low sinking pitch he threw.

While some might think just the opposite, I'd say this makes it even more likely that Johan Santana eventually gets traded. The Twins rotation now becomes mostly a group of young, if talented, pitchers who are still going to need a season or two to prove themselves. Trade Santana, and the Twins can surround those pitchers with a bunch of young talent and let them grow into contenders by the time the new stadium opens in 2010. For now, though, it's looking more and more like the next couple of years will once again be filled with growing pains for Twins players and fans.

Continue reading "Silva Signs With Seattle"

The New York Times' Murray Chass has an article in today's paper, and in the same way that the Washington Post's editorial page reflects the thinking of the Bush Administration, Chass's article offers a glimpse into what the  thinking may be inside the Yankee's management.

Chass starts out with a discussion of the Yankees payroll numbers, with emphasis on the luxury tax and revenue sharing fees that the Yankees, with the highest payroll in baseball, are forced to dish out. There's the usual complaint that some teams, the cubs in particular are named here, don't use their revenue sharing the right way. What's even more interesting is that the Yankees are still taking shots at Joe Torre, who is mocked for feeling insulted for turning down a contract offer that was obviously intended to be a last minute, take it or leave it insult.

Continue reading "Santana And The Yankees"

According to the Minneapolis/St Paul Business Journal, the Minnesota Twins and the Ballpark Authority are committing an extra 2.5 million dollars to construction of the new ballpark in order to gain certification as a "green" building from the U.S. Green Building Council.

This makes sense not only in practical and public relations terms, but also because of where the new ball park is situated. Compared to most stadiums built in wide-open suburban lots surrounded by vast parking lots, the twins stadium site in downtown Minneapolis looks like it's being wedged right into the existing city structure, and in many ways, that's true. Most of the infrastructure, including parking ramps, already exists, and the new stadium will connect up with light-rail transit, the propose northwest corridor commuter train, and will add the final piece towards connecting the bike paths that run into and through downtown Minneapolis. With an energy-saving design, the potential is that the new stadium will be fairly inexpensive to maintain, and for fans to get to.

Continue reading "Twins Stadium Going Green"