The Young Team of the Almost Immediate Future: YOUR! 2006 Twins thread (or mine, maybe)

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14 wins in the last 16 games, Liriano outdueling Clemens, Bartlett replacing Castro, Morneau channeling Killebrew, Mauer hitting .368 (after a slump!), Rondell White pretty much vanished, Santana destroying all in his path, a 5th starter named Boof and a new stadium in 5 years: is this the most exciting .500 team in all of baseball or what?

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Monday, 26 June 2006 03:37 (eighteen years ago)

And to think, these last five years of not-quite championship-caliber ball would never have existed in Bud Selig's ideal world.

Johan Santana and Francisco Liriano are the best 1-2 combo around in terms of awesome names.

― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Monday, 26 June 2006 12:02 (eighteen years ago)

They ain't bad w/ them stat things, either.

― David R. (popshots75`), Monday, 26 June 2006 12:59 (eighteen years ago)

stats are overrated

― barefoot manthing (Garrett Martin), Monday, 26 June 2006 15:18 (eighteen years ago)

I wish the Twins were better/not 14.5 (or however many games) back, because Nathan/Liriano/BOOOOOOF are getting wasted this year -- and I say that as a Giants fan.

― c(''c) (Leee), Monday, 26 June 2006 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

Nate, just thank the idiotic Giants mgmt for your closer and 40% of your rotation:

AJ Pierzynski 2004:
.272/.319/.410
11 HR
45 R
74 RBI
19BB:27K
27 GIDP (#25 all-time, #3 in last 20 years)
VORP = 7.4 (#7 in NL catchers, #17 in MLB catchers)

VS:

Joe Nathan 2004-2006:
IP: 174 1/3
Record: 13-6
Saves: 99 (9 blown saves)
ERA: 2.17
WHIP: 0.94
K/9: 11.72
K/BB: 3.85 (227:59)

Francisco Liriano 2005-2006:
IP: 90
Record: 8-3
1 Save, 1 Hold, 0 blown saves
ERA: 3.10
WHIP: 1.07
K/9: 10.70
K/BB: 4.12 (107:26)

Boof Bonser 2006:
IP: 32.2
Record: 2-1
ERA: 4.68
WHIP: 1.35
K/9: 6.34
K/BB: 2.88 (23:8)

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Monday, 26 June 2006 15:32 (eighteen years ago)

Haha, karma for the Carew trade (Ken Landreaux?!?!)

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 00:17 (eighteen years ago)

wow that was a bad trade

― j blount (papa la bas), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 02:56 (eighteen years ago)

Compounded even further in its hilarity since the dude what's catching for us now since we ditched A.J. is currently hitting like a radioactive monster and if some schmuck from the Cubs tried elbowing him he'd fuckin' vaporize him with his eyes.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 04:39 (eighteen years ago)

Anyhow, tonite's Dodgers slaughter:

Silva = learning once again how to be not shitty
Mauer = 4-4, 3B, 5 RBI (4 with 2 outs), back at the magical '77 Carew line again
Hunter = only 1 GIDP!!

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 04:43 (eighteen years ago)

http://www.bat-girl.com/archives/chairmanmauer8aj.jpg

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 04:43 (eighteen years ago)

Compounded even further in its hilarity since the dude what's catching for us now since we ditched A.J. is currently hitting like a radioactive monster

You left out the part when his knee exploded: oh mattlecroypaws...

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 12:38 (eighteen years ago)

I called in to San Francisco sports talk to make fun of that AJ / Nathan/Liriano/Bonser trade back when Liriano and Bonser were both buried in the minors. It was about halfway through AJ's season with the Giants. The host was incredulous that anyone would criticize the trade since the Giants "needed" a catcher (even though Torrealba was a much better defender and never got an opportunity to start).

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 15:10 (eighteen years ago)

(xpost)

Actually more like Henry Blancopaws, but we're over that now.

So are you a Giants fan or something? 'Cause, y'know, exploding knees... yeah.

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 15:10 (eighteen years ago)

The idea of a 20y/o catcher sitting out a season due to knee reconstruction is not the most comforting thought (not that he wouldn't make a great 1B at any rate).

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 15:23 (eighteen years ago)

Giants and Cubs fans could get pretty interested in a Minnesota-Florida World Series.

― mattbot (mattbot), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 20:54 (eighteen years ago)

florida in the series again would be just about the last thing i'd want to see! i'd rather see the yankees there. though my hope for the AL comes down to an Oakland/ChiSox/Tigers/Blue Jays playoff quartet.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 21:02 (eighteen years ago)

The AL is going to destroy the NL.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 21:04 (eighteen years ago)

didnt u call the mets "the best team in baseball" the other day?

― INSANE CLOWN FOSSE (Adrian Langston), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 21:47 (eighteen years ago)

God I hope not. I do think they are the best team in the NL though.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 21:52 (eighteen years ago)

nm, you said "in the league". i took that to mean both leagues, bizarrely.

― INSANE CLOWN FOSSE (Adrian Langston), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 22:21 (eighteen years ago)

"though my hope for the AL comes down to an Oakland/ChiSox/Tigers/Blue Jays playoff"

Except for maybe the Jays I'd say those are pretty legit hopes.

― Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 22:51 (eighteen years ago)

basically i'm hoping the jays win the division and either the chisox or tigers have a good enough record to shut boston and nyy out of the postseason. if i have to choose, obv i'd rather see boston in than the yanks.

― gear (gear), Tuesday, 27 June 2006 22:55 (eighteen years ago)

I'm glad to see Morneau has not ended up on the DL for tripping on his shoelaces or cutting himself shaving this year. I dogged him out pretty bad earlier this season as being over rated, so I don't mind seeing him finally show up.

― Earl Nash (earlnash), Thursday, 29 June 2006 03:28 (eighteen years ago)

I will probably regret picking up Nick Johnson instead of Morneau in my keeper league, despite Nick's superior peripheral stats.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 29 June 2006 04:57 (eighteen years ago)

Justin seems to be at the center of a Wacky Fielding Adventure maybe every other game, so I'm assuming his increased patience (and resulting approaching-.290 average) are basically just him going "I really need to look a lot less like Dave Kingman".

― Stupornaut (natepatrin), Thursday, 29 June 2006 13:51 (eighteen years ago)

HI DERE:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=d_bE0O0LDUA
http://youtube.com/watch?v=tu1BHRKfv0g

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 30 June 2006 00:05 (eighteen years ago)

The Dugout weighs in, sorta

― nate p. (natepatrin), Saturday, 1 July 2006 18:20 (eighteen years ago)

What's up with the NAVY caps?

mms://a1503.v108692.c10869.g.vm.akamaistream.net/7/1503/10869/v0001/mlb.download.akamai.com/10869/2006/open/tp/archive07/070206_milmin_liriano_12k_tp_350.wmv

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Monday, 3 July 2006 14:58 (eighteen years ago)

Enough with the Giants, I'm a Twins fan now.

― sLeeeter Kinney (Leee), Monday, 3 July 2006 19:27 (eighteen years ago)

is there a way for me to open that with VLC, windows media player makes the image look all crazy

― INSANE CLOWN FOSSE (Adrian Langston), Monday, 3 July 2006 21:39 (eighteen years ago)

VLC? GET ONE MEDIA PLAYER CLASSIC. (Unless you're on a Mac.)

― sLeeeter Kinney (Leee), Monday, 3 July 2006 22:14 (eighteen years ago)

I ALREADY HAVE IT DICKWEED >:O

― INSANE CLOWN FOSSE (Adrian Langston), Monday, 3 July 2006 23:29 (eighteen years ago)

Serious Question:

Is Liriano the best lefty in:
A) Minnesota
B) The AL Central
C) the American League
D) MLB

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 01:18 (eighteen years ago)

None of the above, because Santana is a lefty and is better than Liriano. Maybe Liriano will eventually be better, but not yet. He's having a nice run, but let's see him do it for a year before we start comparing him to the guy who should have won the Cy Young the last three years.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Tuesday, 4 July 2006 02:31 (eighteen years ago)

NO NO NO Polyp you seem to be confused! This is ILOVEBASEBALL where pitching phenoms are welcomed as our new overlords. Get with the program!

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 03:47 (eighteen years ago)

Watch it, Shasta - Paxton Crawford has a posse.

― David R. (popshots75`), Wednesday, 5 July 2006 03:56 (eighteen years ago)

Aw, Contreras got a boo-boo. However will we fill his spot?

― nate p. (natepatrin), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 00:35 (eighteen years ago)

Pierzynski should feel lucky to clean Mauer's cleats.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Tuesday, 11 July 2006 03:47 (eighteen years ago)

HOLY SHIT
RONDELL WHITE HITS HOME RUN
HOLY SHIT

― nate p. (natepatrin), Sunday, 16 July 2006 23:53 (eighteen years ago)

BREAK UP TE TWWINS

― Jimmy Mod: NOIZE BOARD GRIL COMPARISON ANALYST (The Famous Jimmy Mod), Monday, 17 July 2006 01:39 (eighteen years ago)

One more and he'll catch Bronson Arroyo

― nate p. (natepatrin), Monday, 17 July 2006 02:06 (eighteen years ago)

Soo... any odds on Liriano winning ROY and CY?

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 15:18 (eighteen years ago)

Has that happened before?

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 15:43 (eighteen years ago)

Fernando Valenzuela... not sure if there's any others.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

Whatever happened to TNSNAAPP!?

Regardless, I wish the Giants had someone like this.

― c('°c) (Leee), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:06 (eighteen years ago)

Too
Numerous
Strikeouts,
Nary
An
Apropos
Player
Prevails?

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Wednesday, 19 July 2006 16:16 (eighteen years ago)

Haha holy shit, Rondell White has hit not one but TWO homers tonite. And a double. This is hilarious, I hope his season splits are first-half Mendoza/second-half Pujols.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Thursday, 20 July 2006 00:39 (eighteen years ago)

Fernando Valenzuela... not sure if there's any others.
Dwight Gooden came close... finished second in Cy voting in his rookie season (and arguably had more impressive numbers than Rick Sutcliffe).

― ojitarian (ojitarian), Thursday, 20 July 2006 06:29 (eighteen years ago)

Polyp:

None of the above, because Santana is a lefty and is better than Liriano. Maybe Liriano will eventually be better, but not yet.
-- polyphonic (polyphoni...), July 3rd, 2006 8:31 PM. (polyphonic)

I understand your sentiment, even though I think it's false. Liriano continues dominating the same teams that Santana struggles against. Santana's fatal flaw has always been the taco, which isn't an issue with Liriano. The GB:FB ratio spells this out (Santana 146:148 vs. Liriano 141:69).

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 20 July 2006 20:22 (eighteen years ago)

Skipping 96 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I'm being good and not linking to any baseball-porn-fiction sites. (Kyle Farnsworth appears fairly often, along with A-Rod and Jeetz of course.)

Saw some Twin champagne footage -- Joe Nathan is pretty sweet.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:47 (eighteen years ago)

I'm being good and not linking to any baseball-porn-fiction sites. (Kyle Farnsworth appears fairly often)

I can't even picture that after reading the Dugout for so long

― nate p. (natepatrin), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:54 (eighteen years ago)

(Case in point)

― nate p. (natepatrin), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:54 (eighteen years ago)

Kyle stretches the uni pants in very pleasing ways, whether Torii would bite his superb butt I dunno.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 20:12 (eighteen years ago)

It is on nights like this that I wonder how Joe Nathan has gone this long with only two blown saves and zero losses. I don't think even Mariano Rivera's pulled that off.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Wednesday, 27 September 2006 02:46 (eighteen years ago)

Fucking Mark Redman
Fucking Carlos Silva
So much hate

― nate p. (natepatrin), Thursday, 28 September 2006 00:29 (eighteen years ago)

Well, Radke's back tonight. So there's that.

― Thermo Thinwall (Thermo Thinwall), Thursday, 28 September 2006 13:22 (eighteen years ago)

What's amazing about Mauer's likely batting title -- his BACKUP's hitting .350!

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 September 2006 13:39 (eighteen years ago)

Mauer is actually Mike Redmond's Tyler Durden.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Thursday, 28 September 2006 15:12 (eighteen years ago)

It's amazing that nobody in Twinsville realizes (publicly) that Mauer is more valuable than Morneau. RBI bias strikes again.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 September 2006 15:38 (eighteen years ago)

The Twins 2006 allstar representatives:

Mauer
Santana
Liriano

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 28 September 2006 15:47 (eighteen years ago)

http://static.flickr.com/78/200337898_a460549c91.jpg

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Thursday, 28 September 2006 15:48 (eighteen years ago)

well, Morneau has admittedly gone nuts with the bat from late June on.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 September 2006 15:52 (eighteen years ago)

Morneau was a bit crap in April and May.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Thursday, 28 September 2006 15:57 (eighteen years ago)

Yeah, I dropped him in one of my leagues to pick up Nick Johnson. Oy.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Thursday, 28 September 2006 16:03 (eighteen years ago)

Johnson is more likely to end up on my NL MVP ballot than Morneau on the other one...

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 28 September 2006 16:10 (eighteen years ago)

JESUS, what a game -- Mauer with a 2-out solo shot to tie it in the bottom of the 9th, and Bartlett with a bases-loaded double to win it in the 10th. And allasudden we're tied for first in the division. MADNESS. Put on your high heel sneakers, it's party time.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Friday, 29 September 2006 01:55 (eighteen years ago)

OK, Tigers have season series advantage over Twins in case of tie for best record -- what about NY-Minn?

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 29 September 2006 12:43 (eighteen years ago)

I say I'll be content regardless of how these few last games play out but goddamn... SO... ON... EDGE...

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Friday, 29 September 2006 14:35 (eighteen years ago)

Jim Baker of Prospectus: Mauer's VORP is the best by any American League catcher since 1960, and Mauer's WARP1 is now 8.9 to Morneau's 7.1.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Friday, 29 September 2006 18:24 (eighteen years ago)

But what are his INTANGIBLES?! I still can't tell if he's better than Jeter! :(

― nate p. (natepatrin), Friday, 29 September 2006 18:31 (eighteen years ago)

I think I'm going to be sick.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Saturday, 30 September 2006 01:40 (eighteen years ago)

b-b-but the Royals came through for you!

― Michael F Gill (Michael F Gill), Saturday, 30 September 2006 01:52 (eighteen years ago)

Squandered five-run lead (and other things). I AM sick. Well... just about.

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Saturday, 30 September 2006 02:03 (eighteen years ago)

The kind of shit you think about (and then calculate) when you've woken up at 5 AM and can't get back to sleep: if Mauer sits today, plays the finale tomorrow and goes 1 for 4, Cano and Jeter would have to go 5-8 and 6-8 respectively to pull ahead of him in the batting race (assuming they don't draw any walks, and Cano isn't exactly patient at the plate). I like those odds.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Saturday, 30 September 2006 10:59 (eighteen years ago)

And here's a somewhat convincing argument for playing the Yankees in Round 1. I don't believe the "Mussina pwns teh Twins" crap that ESPN's been spoonfeeding people (as a Yankee, he's been mediocre -- something like just sub-.500 with a 4.00+ ERA, and that's before Morneau and Hunter turned into 30+ HR players and Mauer evolved into Tony Gwynn II). We've already gotten to Rivera earlier this year, we pretty much win at will against right-handers, and Wang is overrated -- he's a control-pitching sinkerballer who doesn't strike people out, and it's not like we've been drawing a surplus of walks lately; I'm keeping my fingers crossed he'll go Silva at some point.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Saturday, 30 September 2006 11:10 (eighteen years ago)

The shorter the series, the greater the likelihood of an upset. Particularly when the best pitcher in baseball will pitch in 40% of the games in that series.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Saturday, 30 September 2006 13:04 (eighteen years ago)

All the talk about the SUPER-TERRIFYING!! Yankees lineup had me looking up their performance over the last month. Here are the conclusions I have come to:

SCARY: Cano, Jeter, A-Rod, Matsui
WORRISOME: Posada, Abreu
NO BIG DEAL: Bernie
LAUGHABLE: Damon, Cabrera, Giambi, Sheffield, most of their bench players

Twins-wise:
SCARY: Rondell (!), Hunter
WORRISOME: Morneau, Mauer, Redmond
NO BIG DEAL: Castillo, Tyner
LAUGHABLE: Punto*, Bartlett*, Nevin, Ford, maybe Rodriguez
*defensive assets

I dunno, it doesn't seem so much David vs. Goliath as it does Wolverine (healing factor!) vs. the Hulk (giant smashy monster but also mild-mannered scientist sadly walking away from an 8-0 loss to the Devil Rays as lonely piano music plays in the background).

― nate p. (natepatrin), Saturday, 30 September 2006 13:41 (eighteen years ago)

Do you really think Sheffield, Damon, and Giambi are laughable? I mean, maybe they weren't so good in September of 2006, but they are supremely good hitters.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Saturday, 30 September 2006 16:36 (eighteen years ago)

I'm basing things mostly on momentum, though by those standards, by the last week, the Twins in their entirety would probably be filed under "laughable". DO SOMETHING WITH YOUR BATS YOU FUXX I AM NOT HAPPY

― nate p. (natepatrin), Saturday, 30 September 2006 16:51 (eighteen years ago)

Funny how the Twins player I forgot to mention in my half-assed analysis up there was the sole provider of offense today. Cuddyer I will designate as "NO BIG DEAL" -- dude hasn't been the model of consistency lately but he hasn't been a vortex of shit, either.

Anyways, whatever point I was trying to make up there is probably better left in the garbage anyways, supplanted with this: if more teams had a bullpen like the Yankees, everyone'd have a batting order that looked as intimidating as theirs.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Saturday, 30 September 2006 21:34 (eighteen years ago)

This is hilarious, I hope [Rondell's] season splits are first-half Mendoza/second-half Pujols.

(AVG/SLG/OBP)
BEFORE BREAK: .182/.215/.209
AFTER BREAK: .320/.542/.354

― nate p. (natepatrin), Sunday, 1 October 2006 19:37 (eighteen years ago)

ROYALS WIN
TWINS WIN
MAUER IS BATTING CHAMP
TWINS FACE THE A'S
GET RETARDED

― nate p. (natepatrin), Sunday, 1 October 2006 20:44 (eighteen years ago)

BEST PENNANT RACE EVAH (if it had actually meant something)

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 1 October 2006 20:48 (eighteen years ago)

Seriously though, the Twins are fucking amazing for pulling this off after being under .500 until mid-June, losing Liriano, and having to clinch against the World Champs while Detroit only had to play KC.

― NoTimeBeforeTime (Barry Bruner), Sunday, 1 October 2006 20:50 (eighteen years ago)

They completely deserve this -- and they deserved an on-field celebration, so it's a shame the Royals-Tigers game had to drag out so long.

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Sunday, 1 October 2006 20:58 (eighteen years ago)

DETROIT, U MAD

― Young Fresh Danny D (Dan Perry), Sunday, 1 October 2006 21:00 (eighteen years ago)

i can't explain why, but i can't help but hate the twins. despite liking johan, mauer, morneau, etc.

― hstencil (hstencil), Sunday, 1 October 2006 21:42 (eighteen years ago)

Maybe it is because their fans are dicks?

― nate p. (natepatrin), Monday, 2 October 2006 01:16 (eighteen years ago)

naw i hardly have ever even known any twins fans, and they've been fine.

― hstencil (hstencil), Monday, 2 October 2006 01:23 (eighteen years ago)

three weeks pass...

Surgery for Liriano?

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2637773

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 26 October 2006 14:01 (eighteen years ago)

oh crap, we're gonna pick up Silva's option now, aren't we

help

― nate p. (natepatrin), Thursday, 26 October 2006 20:20 (eighteen years ago)

Perhaps after this surgery he can work on not snapping the hell out of his arm when he pitches. If he doesn't correct his mechanics, he will be done within ten years -- if not sooner. Elbow injuries are very easy to predict with a motion like that.

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Friday, 27 October 2006 17:59 (eighteen years ago)

(Okay, wow: all this exposure to McCarver is rubbing off.)

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Friday, 27 October 2006 18:27 (eighteen years ago)

Liriano had a pre-screening for Tommy John in LA today.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 3 November 2006 00:25 (eighteen years ago)

It's official... Liriano will have Tommy John on Monday.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 3 November 2006 20:59 (eighteen years ago)

see you in 2008 dude.

― Steve Shasta (Steve Shasta), Friday, 3 November 2006 21:12 (eighteen years ago)

We still got Santana + Boof and maybe Garza will step up, so... uh...

Ah, fuck.

― nate p. (natepatrin), Friday, 3 November 2006 21:31 (eighteen years ago)

There goes the heart of my keeper league team.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Saturday, 4 November 2006 00:05 (eighteen years ago)

two weeks pass...

!!!!!!!!!!

― Pamplaxico Polancobon (Andy_K), Monday, 20 November 2006 21:21 (eighteen years ago)

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