Seth Speaks and Morneau Misses

MVB on Seth Speaks

An exciting opportunity took place last night as I made a guest podcast experience on Seth Stohs' Podcast. Check out Seth's blog here to listen to yours truly as well as author Tom Swift and Twins' Prospect Nick Papasan.

More on Seth Speaks

I highly recommend checking out the Seth's upcoming book release of the  Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook 2009. Seth is not only a fantastic contributor to the Twins blogging community but is the number one resource in my opinion when it comes to the Twins minor league system. Seth has tirelessly worked to put together this 77 page handbook with over 175 player profiles and a foreword by Twins pitcher, Pat Neshek. It's a great holiday gift for any casual or intense Twins fan!

Morneau Misses MVP

As I predicted yesterday, Justin Morneau missed out on his second MVP award finishing in 2nd place behind newly crowned AL MVP, Dustin Pedroia.

Pedroia is a deserving winner but it's too bad Morneau came up a little short. Nonetheless, great to see Justin honored for his great season as well as Joe Mauer who finished 4th in the MVP voting. 

The M&M boys are undoubtedly the cornerstones of the Twins franchise and hopefully we'll get another MVP award between one of these guys.

Morneau for MVP?

We will see today at  1 pm EST. The honor would be a great one for Morneau who would join a small club of multi-MVP winners. However, I'm not feeling too optimistic about Justin's chances.

In no way a slight against Justin, the guy had an awesome season batting .300 with 23 homeruns and 129 RBIs, but I just feel like his stumble down the stretch will cost him this award. There is also a hot debate among Twins bloggers and writers if Morneau is even the MVP of his own team. As much as I like Justin, I happen to be in the Joe Mauer as team MVP camp and if any other MLB writers feel the same way it'll cost Morneau the award.

It's too bad because I feel like once Chicago's Carlos Quentin went down with injury the MVP was Morneau's to lose. Sadly, he did a pretty good job at trying to lose it down the stretch. It must be noted the Twins would not have even been in playoff contention if it weren't for their Canadian first baseman, but unfortunately in the final 10 games of the season Morneau batted just .135 with zero homeruns and only one RBI. He struck out nine times and just stopped coming up with the big hits that he had for the five months prior. It is no doubt that with the playoff pressure and talk of MVP Justin appeared to press a little at the plate but it's just too bad he couldn't have even hit just .200 with one or two homeruns and like five or six RBIs.

However, I'm not completely counting out Morneau. The American League race is wide open with Dustin Pedroia, Morneau, Carlos Quentin, Josh Hamilton, and Francisco Rodriguez all most likely receiving recognition. I think the winner will really come down to the 2nd and 3rd place votes. The numbers will be spread around and maybe like in 2006, Justin Morneau will come out the surprise MVP winner!

Round 2...FIGHT!

What a win last night! The Twins not only took the most important game 1 of the series but made a big statement in doing so.

Jason Kubel was the star of the game smacking two homeruns, hitting a triple, and picking up three RBIs. After a homer in his first at-bat and a triple in his second at bat, Kubel had me thinking cycle, but he chose to hit another homerun instead! Here Thor Nystrom of MLB.com writes, Kubel nearly didn't even start.

Delmon Young used the energy from the crowd and from Kubel's homerun immediately after to go back-to-back with a homerun of his own. Scott Baker pitched a very solid seven innings with one earned run and Justin Morneau set a new Twins record with his 47 double of the season while receiving incessant MVP chants from the crowd everytime he stepped up to the plate.

Last night's game one win was huge keeping the chances alive for a potential sweep and giving the Twins a good chance to win the essential two out of three. Tonight's matchups may be the toughest with Twin Killer Mark Buerhle (14-11) going against Nick Blackburn (10-10) who is 1-2 with a 7.58 ERA in four September starts. Blackburn has looked tired as of late, but hopefully the Metrodome crowd will pump him up to pitch a gem like Baker.

A Heartbreaker

The Twins took a punch to the gut last night with a 12-9 loss in the 11th inning.

The worst part was the game was set up to be a great win that could jolt this young club for the final stretch of the season. After starter Francisco Liriano struggled the Twins found themselves quickly down in a 8-1 deficit. I didn't even want to watch at this point.

Yet the Twins battled back. With a huge MVP type hit from Justin Morneau in the 8th inning the Twins tied it up at 8. Then Delmon Young got the job done with a sac fly to take the lead 9-8. The stage was set... Eddie Guardado in the 8th, Joe Nathan in the 9th, and a comebac... WAIT!!! Not so fast Twins fans.

The lead was quickly erased by a solo shot from one of the best players in the game, Grady Sizemore. After a couple innings of nothing too exciting Joe Nathan came in the 11th inning and gave up a leadoff single followed by a walk. Then Victor Martinez sent a 1-1 fastball/meatball into the bleachers for a 12-9 Twins loss. HEARTBREAKER!!!

The Twins have a chance to make a statement again tonight as they face 22-2 soon to be AL Cy Young Winner, Cliff Lee. The Twins own one of Lee's two losses, but it will not be easy. We need this one boys!

Hamilton Wows, Morneau Wins!

I'm pretty certain I've watched the All-Star Game homerun derby every year since I was about nine years old. As a little boy I remember getting so excited for the contest and sitting in front of the television to watch only after getting bored 20 minutes later. I'll tell you what.... last night was not boring!



Last night was the greatest home run derby I have ever watched (well, I suppose 1998 when I was at the derby in Coors Field would be the greatest) but even on TV this may have been the best. Obviously, the night will always belong to Josh Hamilton and the way he made the derby and Yankee stadium look like a video game. At one point he had a run where 13 straight swings were homeruns, that's insane! I can't even do that on Ken Griffey Jr. baseball on my old Super Nintendo.

Hamilton and his incredible story is hard not to love, but in true Justin Morneau fashion, the quiet and calm star secretly won the derby with no one really noticing. Yeah, maybe Hamilton deserved it as he hit more total homers than Justin, but heck, Justin won and lets congratulate him. First Twin to ever win the award and an awesome trophy to add to his collection. Here's what our homerun king had to say...



CONGRATS JUSTIN!

All-Star Twins

As the all star game approaches I thought I would take the time to break down the mid summer festivities by reflecting on the game and also the 3 Twins who made the game. All in all I really do enjoy the MLB's All-Star Week, but it definitely has its ups and downs. A very heated debate over years past has been Bud Selig's decision that the winner of the all star game receives home field advantage in the World Series. I love this aspect of the game for it gives the game meaning and forces the players to play hard and take the game more seriously. I feel that the most over hyped aspect of all star week is the home run derby. The boo birds may come out for this statement but honestly I'm really only interested for the first 15 minutes and the next thing I know I'm watching reruns of Americas Next Top Model. I mean really how many times can we hear Chris Berman's "back, back, back, back, back, etc." in one night without going insane. Sure it's a fun event that the fans seem to adore, but I think it would be a lot better if it was tweaked to make it shorter and a little easier to watch.

Now onto the real important issue about All Star week, the Minnesota Twins that will represent one of the biggest surprises of the season. First I would love to tip my cap to Joe Mauer, for not only was he selected to the All Star game, he was also chosen to be a starter for the AL. This couldn't be more justified as he leads all catchers in runs and average and is also first in the AL in RBI's. It's also worth noting the job he has done in molding the young Twins pitching staff into one of the best staffs again this year. Another interesting thing I saw about Mauer came from the ESPN game last Monday verses the Red Sox (a heart breaker i know). During Mauer's last at bat Mauer was faced with a 3-1 count. Above the score on ESPN a statistic came up that said Mauer's average whenever the count as gotten to 3-1 is .480 on the season. That's right, Mauer gets a hit nearly 50% of the time if he gets ahead 3-1 in an at bat. I found this to be just an astounding figure and a true testament to the spectacular hitter Mauer has become .

The next Twin American League All Star is the punch to the Twins lineup. Cleanup hitter Justin Morneau was selected as a reserve at first base. This was another no brainer selection into the game for Morneau ranks 2nd among AL 1B in runs, and even better 1st in RBI's and Avg. Surprisingly so Justin Morneau is now battling aforementioned Joe Mauer for the batting champ not only on the Twins but also in the AL. Morneau has been a constant all year for the Twins and without him in the middle of the lineup the Twins probably would be sitting closer to where the Royals are now rather then 1 game and a half out of the division.

To anchor my article I decided to go to the anchor of the Twins rotation. Joe Nathan was probably the least likely of the three to make the All Star game coming into the year. No it wasn't because his skills had diminished or that he signed a lucrative deal, but rather because the Twins would be horrible and his save chances would be minuscule. But as it turns out the exact opposite has occurred as Nathan seems to have to close the door on a game at least once a series and almost always get the job done without giving my grandma any chance of having a heart attack (Something Latroy Hawkins and Eddie Guardado struggled with). When the Twins gave Nathan so much dough at the beginning of the year I questioned it thinking there wasn't a way closers were worth that kind of money. But Nathan has made me eat my words as he has been lights out in the 9th inning and is very deserving to be traveling to New York to pitch July 15th. - DY21

I certainly can agree with DY21 that Chris Berman's Home Run Derby commentary can be quite annoying, but with Twin Justin Morneau becoming a late addition to the derby I'll be watching tonight. Although Morneau has the least amount of homeruns of the 8 competitors, I think he an underdog candidate for tonight's competition. Morneau struggled last year in this same contest in San Franciso, but I believe he's learned from last time and will benefit from short right field porch in Yankee Stadium. Chris Singleton of Baseball Tonight predicted Justin Morneau as the winner. MVB's pick - Josh Hamilton. Enjoy the homers!

On the campaign trail

The Twins faltered in the finale in Milwaukee, but still were able to pick up a series win taking 2 of 3 from the Brewers. With the Colorado Rockies handing the White Sox two losses the Twins reduced their deficit to 4.5 games; however, the Twins are still two games under .500 and only one game ahead of the Indians and a game and a half ahead of the Detroit Tigers. After a day off today, the Twins head home to the dome for six game homestand that included three games against the Washington Nationals and three games against the Arizona Diamondbacks. I'm excited for the Diamondbacks series, but lets hope the Twins can first sweep the Nationals starting tomorrow.

Speaking of Washington D.C. and politics, two Twins are making their case to start in the All-Star game at Yankee Stadium next month. As catcher Joe Mauer has seen his batting average rise, his All-Star votes also rise. Mauer now trails Boston catcher Jason Varitek by just 41,000 votes. Mauer clearly deserves the starting nod over the old Red Sox catcher, but it's always tough to pass the big media markets of the Yankees and Red Sox.

Justin Morneau also sits in second place for AL 1st baseman trailing another Sox member, Kevin Youkilis, by nearly 300,000 votes. Certainly a hefty amount of votes, but Morneau has enough time to make up this difference. The reason I dedicate today's post to this topic, well... the Twins are now offering a chance to win four lower club tickets and a ball autographed by both Mauer and Morneau if you cast your votes for the two Twin stars. If you have 10 minutes to waste, you're eligible to vote up to 25 times so let's get our stars in the starting lineup on July 15th.

VOTE HERE!

Interesting thing to look for in the National/Twins series, the Young brothers - Dimitri and Delmon - take the field together for their first time in a regular season game.

Guest Blogging, Boof, and Blackburn

An exciting Twins MVB first: I was asked by Kansas City Royals Blogger, Jeff Parker, to be a guest blogger and do a team preview for the 2008 season on his blog. To read my thoughts on 2008 Royals and a very good blog check out the link. Parker's Royally Speaking can also be found in the MVB sidebar.

So after a thrilling opening day things for the Twins have come back to reality. Tuesday night Boof Bonser got hit hard and looked confused at times. The Twins managed just six hits against the Angels Jon Garland and suffered a 9-1 defeat.

Wednesday night, pitcher Nick Blackburn made his first Major League start and definitely rose to the occasion. The rookie allowed 1 run on 5 hits over 7 innings. However, the Angels Joe Saunders did just a little bit more allowing no runs on just 4 hits through his 8 innings as the Twins fell 1-0. The pro was seeing a great performance from the young Blackburn who won the final rotation spot with a good spring and was called a "sleeper pick" for rookie of the year by ESPN expert Peter Gammons. The con was the slow offensive start this season. Justin Morneau is still looking for his first hit and the bottom half of the order is not delivering. I'm not in panic mode yet about Morneau's hitless start of year, but just slightly concerned. This young Twins team needs to have a strong April to have a good season, and to have a strong April they need their MVP to deliver.

Kevin Slowey takes the mound today for the Twins in their afternoon game. Let's hope for the bats to catch fire and the Twins to end the series at 2-2 against a very good Angels ballclub.

First Base

The only other position as locked up as Joe Mauer at catcher would have to be Justin Morneau at first base. The nicknamed M&M boys are undoubtedly the leaders and future of this franchise.

Morneau 2007 season was solid considering it is tough to follow up on an MVP season from 2006. The first baseman hit .271 with 31 homeruns and 111 RBIs. Having someone in the lineup to hit 30 HRs and 100 RBIs in back to back seasons is enough to make Morneau one of the best Twins hitters of the past 15 years.

After signing the biggest contract in team history last month, Morneau, like Mauer, is going to be counted on to produce and be both a leader on the field and a leader off the field. His bat is arguably the most important one in the lineup. Some critics feel the new contract is overpaying Morneau considering his career track record, but I think it was important move in many ways. The Twins learned their lesson this offseason losing former stars Johan Santana and Torii Hunter, and signing Justin to a 6-year deal not only shows their committed to keeping their star players but is sends a very needed positive message to Twins fans.

I'm excited to see Justin thrive this season it what I would claim as an improved lineup. Ideally, I'd love to see Morneau stay in his cleanup No. 4 spot in the lineup with new LF Delmon Young batting in front of him at No 3. and RF Michael Cuddyer hitting behind him at No. 5. If we can convince Ron Gardenhire to bat Joe Mauer in the No. 2 spot, we'd have a great lineup of left, right, left, right in Mauer, Young, Morneau, and Cuddyer.

I'm convinced this lineup will score more runs than last year and it must to make up for the youth and inexperience in the rotation. For the first time in many years, we may see some 10-9 and 8-6 Twins victories. If those victories are to pile up and the Twins are to have a winning season Justin Morneau must be a team MVP... and hopefully another AL MVP!

If you're a big Morneau fan check out his own website at www.justinmorneau.com. Random Morneau info, Justin announced this offseason that he is engaged to a "Minnesota girl." Sorry ladies!

YOUR OPINION: If you were manager, where would you bat Morneau in the lineup?

Twins join Super Bowl frenzy

If you need any proof as to the direction of the Twins future, look no further than last week's Super Bowl commercials. For the first time ever the Twins joined the madness of the Super Bowl ads and constructed this 30 sec. piece preparing for the new ballpark in 2010. The new leaders and stars of the team Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Michael Cuddyer appear along with one more guest in the end. If you recognize who it is let me know if the comments!

Morneau, Cuddyer, and Dan are winners

Friday marked a historic day in Twins history. The Twins inked former MVP Justin Morneau to a six-year $80 million deal, the largest contract in franchise history. The Twins didn't stop there as they also locked up rightfielder Michael Cuddyer to a three-year $24 million deal. In amazing news, Twins owner Carl Pohlad opened his wallet 104 million dollars deep, which we all know is still pocket change to the billionaire banker.

The sighs of relief across Twins Territory were great enough to blow the air out of the Metrodome as Twins fans know two of their stars will be sticking around for awhile longer. After an offseason that has seen franchise star Torii Hunter leave and the imminent departure of ace pitcher Johan Santana, we're reassured to see Cuddyer in the new ballpark in 2010 and we can rest easy as Morneau will not be a free agent until 2013.

I was ecstatic to read this news and see new GM Bill Smith be proactive and lock up our key players which past management has failed to do. I think the Cuddyer 3-year deal is a good one given the current high market value. Initially it may seem more than he is worth, but it is key for the Twins to know they have a stable right hand bat to produce for three years in the middle of the lineup. Cuddyer brings a great outfield arm, below average defensive range, but it is a great man for the clubhouse and the Twin Cities. Having Morneau locked up is such an important move for this franchise. This is the first time Twins fans can know they will have a star player like Kirby Puckett sticking around Minneapolis for awhile. Morneau will not only be around for the opening of the new ballpark but for many years after. He will be the new face of the franchise along with catcher Joe Mauer, so let's hope for a few more MVP awards.

PRIZE WINNER!

I apologize as I cam currently on a 10 day roadtrip and internet access will be rare. That's why this breaking news from Friday is posted so late. But the Twins contract announcements came as a great opener for the 2008 Twins FanFest at the Metrodome. From what I've read and seen in pictures, the weekend looked like another great success and most importantly there was good news to share.

Attending the Twins FanFest will be the winner of the first ever Twins MVB Free Prize Giveway, Dan. Dan is an avid MVB reader from Farmington, MN.

Congratulations to Dan and I promise another free prize giveaway in the future.

Until then, celebrate the good Twins news and prepare for more with the Santana trade clock ticking down to four weeks.

Morneau signs... just for one

Justin Morneau and the Twins agreed this morning to a one-year deal avoiding arbitration between the two parties. Morneau signed for $7.4 million which is a $3 million raise from the $4.5 that he made last year. Morneau isn't eligible for free agency until after the 2010 season but this offseason is an indication of why the Twins must sign their star players to long-term contracts. I understand simply avoiding arbitration and giving the 2006 MVP a fair deal, but I don't understand why the Twins are so hesitant to give Morneau the $4 million more that separated them last time they attempted to lock him up long-term. This is a top priority!

In related news, yesterday the Twins avoided arbitration with Jason Kubel and locked the 26 year-old outfielder to a one-year deal worth $1.3 million. After these two signings, this leaves RF Michael Cuddyer and pitchers Matt Guerrier and Juan Rincon as the remaining players who could possibly enter arbitration.


Joe Sheehan of Baseball Prospectus writes in his column that Jason Kubel is one of the nine players in baseball poised to have a breakout season in 2008. Here's to Sheehan's projections coming true. Kubel was destined for great things in 2004 when he flew up the minors all the way to the Twins playoff roster. After a devastating injury caused him to miss the entire '05 season and took him two more seasons to regain his swing, Kubel seems ready to establish himself as one the Twins' top hitters. If Kubel emerges, Delmon Young improves on his rookie season, and Joe Mauer can stay healthy the middle of the Twins' order along with Morneau and Michael Cuddyer could be very dangerous and solve our "run problem" from last year.

What do you think of the possibility of Kubel breaking out in 2008?

Show Morneau the Money

With news from the Santana front appearing relatively still (could change any day now), I wanted to focus my attention on a different Twins star: Justin Morneau.

I think with Torii's departure to the Angels and the high likelihood of Santana still being traded away, the Twins stand to learn a lesson this offseason. SIGN YOUR STARS TO LONG TERM CONTRACTS AS SOON AS YOU CAN!


In the past, the Twins have maintained the philosophy of not signing long-term deals for fear of the signed player suffering a significant injury or turning out to be a fluke after a career year. I understand this is wise as the small market Twins cannot afford to get bogged down by bad long term contracts; however, there is something to be said for rewarding your star players and locking them up while you can still afford to do so.

During 2006 season when Johan Santana was revving up his campaign for his second AL Cy Young award the Twins could have locked up Santana to long term deal of roughly $15 million a season. This was the market value at the time for frontline pitchers. It was clear Santana was no fluke. He had already won one Cy Young award (should have won two) and had proven his durability over multiple seasons. Instead, Santana is set to change the market for star pitchers as he may possibly command a salary of nearly $25 million a year.

In that same 2006 season while Justin Morneau was putting up his MVP winning numbers, the New York Mets signed their young stars, David Wright and Jose Reyes, to long-term deals of 6 years $55 million and 4 years $23 million respectively. These may appear like heavy contracts, but these two players were emerging stars and now have very affordable contracts. It's ok that the Twins wanted to make sure that Morneau's MVP season wasn't just a fluke, but this past season he clearly showed he is a major league star. Granted, Morneau's 2007 season was a down year from the year before but he is one of baseball's best young players and an integral part of the Twins' future.

Joe Mauer was signed to a 4 year $33 million deal before the 2007 season to ensure he will be playing when the new ballpark opens in 2010. Now Justin Morneau MUST be signed to a long-term deal while we still can.

Consider the loss of Torii Hunter and the probable loss of Johan Santana a lesson. I don't think Twins fans could take much more.