Prediction: Opening Day Roster

by mbennett on Nov 29, 2005 3:09 PM EST Comment 13 comments

Hope everyone had a stellar thanksgiving, and I hope the roads treated you well...it took my wife and I 16.5 hours to make an 11 hour trip on Sunday, so needless to say...it sucked.

Anyhow, I have been reading a bunch of information on "the market" and where the twins are at, and I feel that I am no ready to make a prediction as to who we will see on the field opening day. So, without any further adieu...here is the ol' starting offensive line-up, plus the starting pitcher.

Stewart - LF
Mauer - C
Piazza - DH
J.Mo - 1B
Tor/eye/eye - CF
Blalock - 3B
Ford - RF
Cuddyer - 2B
Bartlett - SS

Starter: The Bradke

OK, as many of you are yelling at your computers, allow me to make my justification. I really think that Piazza will land here, as much as I wish it was NOMAAAAH, it won't be. I think Piazza would take an incentive full contract, and work with the twins being he knows they could use a right handed bat at DH. As for Blalock, I know the twins are interested, being me and Ol' Carl are good pals...

He said, "mike...I want that Henry Blalock from texas...a nice boy he is. But of course...I am holding out for Williams!"

"wiliams" I ask.

"Yes mike my boy...Ted Williams!" responded Carl.

I then left Ol' Carl's office.

Honestly though, A little Lohse/Boof trade to Texas for Hank would make sense to me. A left handed power/average bat...and he has a glove. He isn't my pipe dream of Jorge Cantu, but hey, you can't win them all.

Frankly, I would be ok with that line-up taking the field.

Thoughts? Praise? Rippings of new a##holes?

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Good Ol' Carl...

Carl's a great guy. I remember you reporting once before that he had an infatuation with T. Williams. While he's at it, maybe he can snag Honus Wagner.

by Jesse on Nov 29, 2005 6:31 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

I had to beat this to death around here...

...but I really see no way on earth that Piazza would land here next year. Too much of his value comes from being a catcher, and he wouldn't be coming to the Twins to catch. Sure, Piazza's agent worked some quotes into the local media to try to boost his client's value, but I don't see Terry Ryan biting. For that matter, with what little money they have, I don't see them getting a DH. It's a position that the Twins practically try to ignore. Not that it's a good idea for them to ignore it, but that's been the case recently.

by ubelmann on Nov 29, 2005 8:09 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Meant to say....

...I hate to beat this to death around here.

by ubelmann on Nov 29, 2005 8:10 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Piazza and LeCroy

I agree. If they wanted a player like Piazza, they would have hung onto LeCroy. Same player at different ages going in different directions on the growht/decline curve.

Joe Mauer fan since 1998, when I lived next to Cretin's ballfield.

by cmathewson on Nov 30, 2005 12:18 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Chili

They had Chili Davis. I guess that wasn't recently.

I think the Twins under Gardy look at the DH as a place to burn some ABs with guys who are hurt. You have a full-time DH and when Stewart or Jacque or Morneau gets hurt -- or Gardy decides to slip Nick Punto in there for some bizarre reason -- he can't do it if a slug like Barry Bonds is occupying the spot.

I don't know that it's a bad strategy. It certainly is a way to get some production out of a guy you're paying good bucks to but otherwise would be sitting.

I think Piazza's value as a catcher is long gone. As a guy who can catch once every two weeks, maybe. He's just a DH at this point.

-- People can't stand much reality, and they can't even stand the reality of being told so.

by Firpo Marberry on Nov 29, 2005 9:22 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Bradke

I know he took a big pay cut to stay here in 2000 and all, but can we give this pretense that Bradke's the ace a rest? I'm sick of these opening day starts not only because Santana and Silva are better than he is, but also because he spends a great deal of the year going up against other #1 pitchers. He gets completely over-matched and we get 3 or 4 Joe Christensen articles a year about something Radke says in the press bemoaning his lact of run support.

I'm tired of the whining and tired of the lack of respect for the best starting pitcher in the game. Start Johan, dammit!

My 2006 lineup (in full effect June 1):

Stewart - LF
Mauer - C
Hunter - CF
Kubel - DH
Glaus - 3B (In that Joe Nathan trade :)
Morneau - 1B
Cuddyer - RF
Bartlett - SS (Though we need to give up on him already)
Castro - 2B (Because we need to give up on Nick Punto too)

by TheMattWilke on Nov 30, 2005 9:50 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Not so fast...

The difference in number of times over the course of the season where Radke faced the opposition's #1 and when Johan faced the opposition's #1 was rather neglible. That's not a real reason to get worried about this.

Also, I'm not convinced Silva is better than Radke. They were both injured for most of last year, and we don't know what the severity was of each injury, but that was also just one season. If Silva's better than Radke for this season, too, I'll say he's better.

I think it should really be a huge non-issue, though. Everyone, even Radke, knows that Santana is better. Starting Radke on opening day is not an attempt at saying he's better than Santana. That is, it is not meant as a disrespect to Santana. It's just an acknowledgement that Radke's been around longer than anyone taking the field in a Twins uni. Starting Radke on opening day is just respecting one's elders, and it has no real impact on the outcome of the season.

by ubelmann on Nov 30, 2005 9:57 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Also...

What he said and...

Assuming Santana is the number one starter and Liriano is the number five starter, they would pitch back to back when the rotation rolls over. Most managers want to break up their lefties to give the opposition a different look.

I don't know how much value there is in doing it (it would make an interesting study for a stathead). But Kelly was big on it, so I assume Kelly's protege is as well.

In the playoffs, though, you start Santana first.

Joe Mauer fan since 1998, when I lived next to Cretin's ballfield.

by cmathewson on Dec 1, 2005 12:27 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

But let's not kid ourselves

Radke's only had one good season in the last 4. The rest have been plagued with injuries and countless belt-high fastballs hit to Golden Valley putting the Twins in early holes.

Respect to the elders- Schmespect to the elders. We've given him the respect for starting 2004 and 2005 when Santana was better. The point's been made, let's get back to reality.

And Silva's 3.44 ERA to Radke's 4.04 is a big difference to me making Silva #2. The pitched a similiar amount of innings and the rest of their stats are similar, but Silva kept the Twins in ballgames more than Radke did.

Also, I'm very disappointed the Twins are going to be going sleeveless on occasion next season.

by TheMattWilke on Dec 2, 2005 12:30 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs