Tuesday, February 28, 2006
The Big Hurt (feelings)
I haven't been paying a ton of attention to the Frank Thomas-Kenny Williams drama, but Williams sure sounds like a major league a-hole. I haven't seen all of Thomas' original comments, but from what I've read, the Big Hurt was unhappy with the way things ended in Chi-town. He wished Jerry Reinsdorf would have returned a call telling him he wasn't coming back, among other things. Again, I haven't seen all of Frank's comments, and maybe he made fun of the size of Kenny's package, or something. Because Williams sounds like a childish, whiny little punk. He's calling him "selfish," an "idiot," saying the White Sox don't miss him...also, he apparently wants all pictures of Thomas taken down, and thinks a statue crafted in honor of him should include a skirt!
OK, here's the original interview. Thomas definitely sounds a little whiny, and a little bitter, but big friggin deal! Obviously he and Williams never liked each other very much, and it does sound like the White Sox organization could have handled the stuation (his departure) with a little more tact. Kenny Williams just won a World Series. It doesn't get any better than that. But he has to spend entire days in spring training bitching about Thomas? Who else thinks the Big Hurt is going to absolutely crush the Sox this year every time the A's face them?
OK, here's the original interview. Thomas definitely sounds a little whiny, and a little bitter, but big friggin deal! Obviously he and Williams never liked each other very much, and it does sound like the White Sox organization could have handled the stuation (his departure) with a little more tact. Kenny Williams just won a World Series. It doesn't get any better than that. But he has to spend entire days in spring training bitching about Thomas? Who else thinks the Big Hurt is going to absolutely crush the Sox this year every time the A's face them?
Monday, February 27, 2006
And thus it begins...
Seeing as how I don't have anything on my mind right now, this post will be fairly worthless. Actually, I'll just copy something I wrote up on my personal blog, talking about a few new lists of top Twins prospects, and Aaron Gleeman's countdown of the top 40 Twins of all-time. Greg Gagne was added today, at #33. I might have bumped him up a little, since he was a very good defensive shortstop for two World Champ teams. Of course, that brings up the question: What criteria is going into the ratings? I would add points for rings- especially the guys that were on both the '87 and '91 teams. Anyway, here's that other post, to get things started.
Before I get to that- one quick note. There's probably no way Dusty Baker would ever do this, but Baseball Prospectus talks about the possibility of a Jacque Jones-Michael Restovich platoon in right field at Wrigley. How sad would it be for Twins fans to watch Jones finally used the way he should be used- crushing right handed pitching, and resting against lefties?
Baseball Prospectus recently released their annual Top 50 Prospects list. The good news for Twins fans? Francisco Liriano is ranked #4. The bad news? He's the only Twins prospect on the list, which, including honorable mentions, totals 65. And, it looks like it might take an injury or two for Liriano to join the starting rotation this season.
Baseball America just published their Top 10 list for the Twins organization, and here's John Sickels' top 20 list. Matt Moses, Denard Span, and Trevor Plouffe are all ranked higher than I expected. Twins fans know the system is loaded with pitching, but how nice would it be to develop a third baseman?
It's easy to get excited about these lists, but then you notice some of the former Baseball America top-ranked Twins prospects: David McCarty (twice), Rich Becker, Luis Rivas, Adam Johnson...
Aaron Gleeman has been doing a feature on the top 40 Twins players of all-time, which has been fun to read. The one rule: only stats with the Twins count (it sucks looking up franchise leaders on Baseball-reference.com, and seeing Walter Johnson's name everywhere). So far, seven players have been chosen by Gleeman: Randy Bush, Scott Erickson, Eric Milton, Jimmie Hall, Dave Boswell, Steve Braun, and Matt Lawton. That leaves 33 players, and I thought it would be fun to speculate. There are some very obvious ones, like Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett, Jim Katt, Bob Allison, Kent Hrbek, Tony Oliva, and Bert Blyleven.
Current Twins who should make the cut: Torii Hunter, Johan Santana, and Brad Radke. Joe Mauer will undoubtedly make the list very soon, but he doesn't even have 600 ABs yet. Jacque Jones may make the cut, since he ranks #11 for career home runs. (He also ranks 6th all-time in strikeouts, despite having a fraction of the ABs of the 5 guys ahead of him in the category.)
Other possible old-school Twins include Zoilo Versailles, Earl Battey, Jim Perry, Mudcat Grant, Camilo Pascual, Cesar Tovar, and Larry Hisle.
Rick Aguilera and Eddie Guardado are the only relievers worthy of this list, although Jeff Reardon has an outside shot. He was an important part of the '87 team, but he only played three seasons in a Twins uniform.
Frankie "Sweet Music" Viola definitely belongs, and Kevin Tapani will probably finish in the top 30.
The rest of the guys I've got pencilled in are from the 80s and 90s: Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky, Chuck Knoblauch, Brian Harper, Roy Smalley, Shane Mack, Greg Gagne, and Dan Gladden. Playing on 2 World Series Champions certainly helps. Gladden stole a fair amount of bases, and was certainly an emotional leader, but he was not a very effective lead-off hitter- his career OBP for the Twins was .318, barely ahead of Ron Coomer (.315) and Denny Hocking (.310)!
That's 32 players, so I'm one short. Corey Koskie's #15 in career HRs, and had a good glove, so maybe he makes the cut, but I'm sure I'm missing deserving players from the 60s and 70s.
Before I get to that- one quick note. There's probably no way Dusty Baker would ever do this, but Baseball Prospectus talks about the possibility of a Jacque Jones-Michael Restovich platoon in right field at Wrigley. How sad would it be for Twins fans to watch Jones finally used the way he should be used- crushing right handed pitching, and resting against lefties?
Baseball Prospectus recently released their annual Top 50 Prospects list. The good news for Twins fans? Francisco Liriano is ranked #4. The bad news? He's the only Twins prospect on the list, which, including honorable mentions, totals 65. And, it looks like it might take an injury or two for Liriano to join the starting rotation this season.
Baseball America just published their Top 10 list for the Twins organization, and here's John Sickels' top 20 list. Matt Moses, Denard Span, and Trevor Plouffe are all ranked higher than I expected. Twins fans know the system is loaded with pitching, but how nice would it be to develop a third baseman?
It's easy to get excited about these lists, but then you notice some of the former Baseball America top-ranked Twins prospects: David McCarty (twice), Rich Becker, Luis Rivas, Adam Johnson...
Aaron Gleeman has been doing a feature on the top 40 Twins players of all-time, which has been fun to read. The one rule: only stats with the Twins count (it sucks looking up franchise leaders on Baseball-reference.com, and seeing Walter Johnson's name everywhere). So far, seven players have been chosen by Gleeman: Randy Bush, Scott Erickson, Eric Milton, Jimmie Hall, Dave Boswell, Steve Braun, and Matt Lawton. That leaves 33 players, and I thought it would be fun to speculate. There are some very obvious ones, like Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Kirby Puckett, Jim Katt, Bob Allison, Kent Hrbek, Tony Oliva, and Bert Blyleven.
Current Twins who should make the cut: Torii Hunter, Johan Santana, and Brad Radke. Joe Mauer will undoubtedly make the list very soon, but he doesn't even have 600 ABs yet. Jacque Jones may make the cut, since he ranks #11 for career home runs. (He also ranks 6th all-time in strikeouts, despite having a fraction of the ABs of the 5 guys ahead of him in the category.)
Other possible old-school Twins include Zoilo Versailles, Earl Battey, Jim Perry, Mudcat Grant, Camilo Pascual, Cesar Tovar, and Larry Hisle.
Rick Aguilera and Eddie Guardado are the only relievers worthy of this list, although Jeff Reardon has an outside shot. He was an important part of the '87 team, but he only played three seasons in a Twins uniform.
Frankie "Sweet Music" Viola definitely belongs, and Kevin Tapani will probably finish in the top 30.
The rest of the guys I've got pencilled in are from the 80s and 90s: Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky, Chuck Knoblauch, Brian Harper, Roy Smalley, Shane Mack, Greg Gagne, and Dan Gladden. Playing on 2 World Series Champions certainly helps. Gladden stole a fair amount of bases, and was certainly an emotional leader, but he was not a very effective lead-off hitter- his career OBP for the Twins was .318, barely ahead of Ron Coomer (.315) and Denny Hocking (.310)!
That's 32 players, so I'm one short. Corey Koskie's #15 in career HRs, and had a good glove, so maybe he makes the cut, but I'm sure I'm missing deserving players from the 60s and 70s.
