* How the San Francisco Giants could go about a decade with this guy and this guy in the lineup back-to-back (not to mention this guy heading the starting rotation) and wind up with one NL pennant, one division title and zero World Series titles.
*Why Delmon Young (.245-.291-.284; that's right, two extra-base hits in 107 plate appearances) gets the majority of playing time over Carlos Gomez (.217-.289-.315 in 100 plate appearances). The offense is similarly offensive, and Gomez is far superior in the field.
* How Joe Mauer can be hitting .500 against right-handers almost a month into his season.
* How Matt Tolbert can survive striking out at a .267 clip. He has 14 hits — and 19 strikeouts. Gardnehire may love his hustle and attitude, but those attributes only go so far.
(Update on the Tolbert point: The Twins have put Nick Punto on the disabled list and recalled Alexi Casilla. Harris is to play short and Casilla second with Tolbert backing up both. That's more sensible than Tolbert as the regular second baseman.)
Here's one for the inexplicable ...
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me (and I have no absolute data to back this up) that there are very few pitchers after Randy Johnson that are in-line for 300 wins in the near future.
There are probably 100 reasons for that, but I like to think it's because of the massive failure of top pitching prospects in the 1990s. When I think of names like Todd Van Poppel, Brien Taylor, Cal Eldred, Alan Benes, Roger Salkeld and Kris Benson, I think of arm trouble and untapped talent.
Perhaps the current mindset among managers of not over-using young starters developed as a result; perhaps we've all learned something about over-valuing pitching talent.
But then again, the last two pitchers the Twins have traded - Johann Santana and Matt Garza - might have something to say about that.
Who knew Brendan Harris and Carlos Gomez would be all we have to show (at this point) for those two All-Star caliber players?