Meet your 2008 Twins!

[boblee]

HR's- 28th
Triples-25th
Doubles-24th
Runs-27th
Hits-23rd
OBP-30th
Slugging-27th
RBI's-26th
Total bases-29th
BB-30th (10 teams have double the number they do) opposing pitchers have no fear of throwing balls over the plate against this lineup.
SB-4th yippee!

Where do they rank in batting average?

[EREmpireStrikesBack]

And the dream ends...

Thomas, released by Blue Jays, returns to Oakland
Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Big Hurt is coming back to the Bay Area.

The Oakland Athletics agreed to terms with designated hitter Frank Thomas, who was released Sunday by the Toronto Blue Jays to become a free agent after becoming disgruntled about his playing time.

Oakland will be on the hook only for about $337,000 -- a prorated share of the $390,000 minimum -- so this move was a bargain for general manager Billy Beane and a club looking to boost its power numbers.

To clear roster room, the A's placed outfielder Travis Buck on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 19 with shin splints and transferred six-time Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez to the 60-day disabled list.

The 39-year-old Thomas, who will get the vast majority of his $8 million salary this year from the Blue Jays, is hitless in his past 13 at-bats and had gone 4-for-35 since homering in three straight games April 5-8. Known as a slow starter, he batted .167 with three homers and 11 RBIs for Toronto this year.

He left Oakland after the A's 2006 AL championship series season, signing a $18.12 million, two-year contract with Toronto.

Thomas remade himself with the small-market A's, and his paycheck wasn't as small as it looked coming into the year. He signed an incentive-laden one-year deal for $500,000, but earned all $2.6 million of his possible bonuses based on plate appearances and keeping his troublesome left foot healthy.

In 2006, he batted .270 with a team-leading 39 home runs and 114 RBIs in 137 games after missing all but 108 games the previous two seasons with the Chicago White Sox because of injury.

[packerboy]

ER, With the ranking we have in all of those offensive categories, why would we want him?

I mean come on...we have Jason Kubel.

[Irishmans Shanty]

HR's- 28th
Triples-25th
Doubles-24th
Runs-27th
Hits-23rd
OBP-30th
Slugging-27th
RBI's-26th
Total bases-29th
BB-30th (10 teams have double the number they do) opposing pitchers have no fear of throwing balls over the plate against this lineup.
SB-4th yippee!

Where do they rank in batting average?

17th
3rd in the Central

12 points ahead of the division leaders.

[Govs93]

And the dream ends...

Thomas, released by Blue Jays, returns to Oakland
Associated Press

OAKLAND, Calif. -- The Big Hurt is coming back to the Bay Area.

The Oakland Athletics agreed to terms with designated hitter Frank Thomas, who was released Sunday by the Toronto Blue Jays to become a free agent after becoming disgruntled about his playing time.

Oakland will be on the hook only for about $337,000 -- a prorated share of the $390,000 minimum -- so this move was a bargain for general manager Billy Beane and a club looking to boost its power numbers.

To clear roster room, the A's placed outfielder Travis Buck on the 15-day disabled list retroactive to April 19 with shin splints and transferred six-time Gold Glove third baseman Eric Chavez to the 60-day disabled list.

The 39-year-old Thomas, who will get the vast majority of his $8 million salary this year from the Blue Jays, is hitless in his past 13 at-bats and had gone 4-for-35 since homering in three straight games April 5-8. Known as a slow starter, he batted .167 with three homers and 11 RBIs for Toronto this year.

He left Oakland after the A's 2006 AL championship series season, signing a $18.12 million, two-year contract with Toronto.

Thomas remade himself with the small-market A's, and his paycheck wasn't as small as it looked coming into the year. He signed an incentive-laden one-year deal for $500,000, but earned all $2.6 million of his possible bonuses based on plate appearances and keeping his troublesome left foot healthy.

In 2006, he batted .270 with a team-leading 39 home runs and 114 RBIs in 137 games after missing all but 108 games the previous two seasons with the Chicago White Sox because of injury.

The dream ends?! Are you kidding? It's like a dream come true!


I thought he would've ended up in Seattle. That's a team where he could've played everyday and potentially could've made a difference. He's going to split time with Jack Cust in Oakland.

[Govs93]

ER, With the ranking we have in all of those offensive categories, why would we want him?

I mean come on...we have Jason Kubel.

Again, a valid point...

Just for the sake of argument, let's pull Kubel's 3 HR's, 13 RBI's, 10 runs, 20 hits and .431 SLG and replace them with Thomas' 3 HR's, 11 RBI, 7 Runs, 10 hits and .333 SLG.

That would have to put the Twins in the top 10 in all categories, right?

[Govs93]

It might be time to give our buddy CarGo a day or two off as well. Let Denard roam around out in center for a couple of days, as PB says put Tolbert at the top of the order, and let Gomez get some time to figure out what's going on.

As bad as he's been recently, he may have reached a new low last night - if your leadoff man is fanning 4 times in a game and dragging his average down to .230, it's time to make some adjustments.

Our friends at the Strib are reading the bored again. Read the first sentence of the fifth paragraph.

Top of 1:

Carlos Gomez homerun. The day off worked.


To all of you from the Twins reading this, I'll swing by 34 Kirby Puckett Place to pick up my check by 5:00.

[boblee]

Liriano already with three walks in the first inning. Runs are coming in left and right. Send the kid back down. I know he needs to get his stuff back, but the twins need to win games. Give Glenn a call.

[boblee]

Liriano has now given up 5 runs on 4 hits and 3 walks in 2/3 of an inning. Jason Kubel helps out with an outfield assist.

[boblee]

The kid is done. 5 runs on 5 hits and 3 walks in 2/3 of an inning. Enter Brian Bass.

[Govs93]

Yeah, I have to believe this will be the last we see of Liriano for at least a few weeks if not longer.

Slowey had a rehab start on Monday and felt fine, and he has another one on Saturday. I'm willing to bet if he feels ok after that, he'll be back to take Liriano's spot which would come up next Friday at home against Detroit (I think). I thought I heard they wanted him to make 3 rehab starts, but this may change that.

[pacman]

Id Keep Liriano up but have him be in Long Relief Role, Send Bass to Triple A.

[boblee]

Id Keep Liriano up but have him be in Long Relief Role, Send Bass to Triple A.

No. He needs to make starts every fifth day. He needs to get into a routine somewhere. He isn't that far off. He needs to work on getting his arm strength back which should start helping with the control. Have him throw every fifth day for the AAA club.

[Govs93]

According to Lavelle, Liriano is going to Rochester and they're recalling Booby Korecky. I don't know that I completely understand the logic in recalling a closer, but as he notes, they have a chance to go with a 4 man rotation for a couple of weeks because of off days, so maybe they're buying more time for Slowey and opting for more short relief to support the starters. Who knows.

[packerboy]

All I know is that I can hardly wait for outdoor baseball.

One good thing though, if you miss doubleheaders, it will be Like Dream Come True.

[ChrisK]

This is a interesting breakdown of Liriano's mechanics http://www.baseball-intellect.com/Artic ... njury.html
The blog writer feels that the Twins have the choice of pushing different mechanics and having a no.3 level starter in Liriano or forgetting the injury and letting him keep his pre-injury ace level form with the risk that he'll get injured again. Of course, this blog is called "Baseball Intellect" two words that might be better off not meeting each other.

Pat Borzi at MinnPost had an article about Liriano a few days ago:

http://tinyurl.com/3enkw4

Apparently one of the reasons the Twins called Liriano up was that he was lax in following his conditioning regimen and felt they could keep him on task better with the major league staff baby sitting him. It will be interesting to see how this plays out now that Liriano's going back down.[/code]

[Irishmans Shanty]

1

Kubel foils the threat by going 4-3 for the third out

[Irishmans Shanty]

104
00

Morneau Salami

Blackburn doing what Twins pitchers do after some support, Getting in trouble. 2 on nobody down, work out of it kid.

[Irishmans Shanty]

104
005

Now this is a game with some sizzle!

He who stops scoring will lose. Advantage Rangers.

[Irishmans Shanty]

104-0
005-0

[pacman]

Liriano of course was Sent to the Minors but For Korecky???, Our Bullpen is full enough, Call up Perkins or Duensing, a 5th starter.

Heres a Better Move, Send Mike Lamb down to AAA and Call up Tommy Watkins or Alexi Cassila or somebody who can hit, Lamb is hitting .167 Fricken .167, this guy was a waste of money, or just sit the guy and Start Tolbert who has is hitting a hot bat.

[Irishmans Shanty]

104-000-00
005-000-00

I knew they'd bunker in and give us another snoozer after the early fireworks.

[Neutron 14]

104-000-00
005-000-00

I knew they'd bunker in and give us another snoozer after the early fireworks.

I'm with ya Shanty, bringer home in the extra frames!

[Irishmans Shanty]

104-000-000
005-000-000

Come on, who wants it, who wants it?

Neutron's on board, sounds like a win.

[Neutron 14]

Morneau Salami

First pitch swing!