Radio, radio

Beterr than in real life: My biweekly KMSU appearance talking Twins with Jim Gullickson. We recorded this one in advance, and he had the opportunity to edit out a question/answer that didn't make sense.

Which might be the case for a lot of what I say.

Linking up

Major league play resumes today after a four-day All-Star break. Here are a few links that might inform and/or entertain you in the meantime.

* I had my (usually) biweekly chat with KMSU's Jim Gullickson on Monday. It was actually the first time I'd been on the air in three weeks, but we'll get back in rhythm now. Second and fourth Mondays of the month, 1 p.m.

* Here's a lovely piece by the great Joe Posnanski on Glen Perkins and his All-Star experience this year.

Then the truck turned onto 7th and it stopped, and there were a lot of people there, thousands of people, and the cheers pushed up to 11, pushed to a sound Glen had heard before -- the sound he had heard for Mariano Rivera. Only this time those cheers were for him. Surreal.

Read it.

* Today is also the deadline for signing 2014 draft picks, and there is a bizarre late drama coming to a head between the Houston Astros and the No. 1 overall pick, Brady Aiken. To understand it, here's Ken Rosenthal's piece from earlier in the week that exposed the dispute to public view, and here's a Fangraphs piece that tries to make sense of it.

I have an opinion about this one, but it's really more of a bias. I have, with no real evidence to support it, a sense that the Astros are not a trustworthy operation. I don't know that they're trying to cheat Aiken; as Mike Pietriello says in the second piece I linked to above, cheating Aiken doesn't make any logical sense. I just don't trust them.

But I do think the Astros will sign Aiken today, and Jacob Nix, the fifth-round pick whose contract agreement is in limbo because of this dispute, as well. I can't see that the Astros are dumb enough to lose both players. And if this thing goes completely haywire, it's possible that the 'Stros will not only lose Aiken but their first-round pick next year (if Nix is ruled to have a valid oral contract at a number that pushes the Astros over their bonus allotment). There's too much at risk for the Astros; they have to sign these guys.

But they sure seem to be trying to screw this up.

Radio, radio

I've been remiss of late posting this link: Here's my Monday appearance on KMSU's Southern Minnesota Midday show, talking Twins with Gully.

Chief topics: What the Twins are doing with all these college relief pitchers, and why Aaron Hicks is at a career crossroads.

Radio, radio Vol. 2

It's up a day later than I expected, but here's a link to my KMSU stint Monday on "Southern Minnesota Midday" with Jim Gullickson.

Enjoy.

A change at shortstop?

Eduardo Escobar:
Is he about to claim
the shortstop job?

The Twins lineup for Sunday's game was posted before the postponement was announced, and I noticed that Eduardo Escobar was at shortstop for the second straight game.

Escobar for one game — especially a day game after a night game, as Saturday's start was — would be nothing out of the ordinary. Two games in a row suggests something else in play.

Ron Gardenhire has made his discontent with Pedro Florimon's anemic offense known the past few weeks, but most of the speculation about who would take over the position seems to have centered on Eduardo Nunez, picked up on waivers from the Yankees.

The problem with that notion: Nunez hasn't played a lot of shortstop at Triple A Rochester since the Twins picked him up. Danny Santana is there, and the Twins imagine a future with him securing the shortstop position for several years at least. I'm not as optimistic, but the point is: Developing Santana is a priority.

Plus, Nunez has pretty well established in New York that he's not a quality defensive shortstop, and the Minnesota pitching staff needs all the help it can get from its infield, especially considering the limited range of the outfielders.

Escobar is a more logical alternative if the Twins are about to pull the plug on Florimon as the regular. For one thing, while nobody should expect Escobar to be an offensive force, he has done some hitting in the minors — including a .307/.380/.500 slash line last year in Rochester (just 188 plate appearances).

Unlike Nunez, he is regarded as a capable defensive shortstop (he won the Gold Glove in the Venezulean Winter League during the offseason). I don't know how he compares to Florimon, but presumably the Twins think more highly of Florimon's defense. But no shortstop fields well enough to get away with hitting .115 for April.

I can foresee the Twins bringing Nunez up to take Escobar's utility role, with Escobar taking the regular shortstop job from Florimon. I can't see Nunez getting the shortstop job straight up.

---

Today is the fourth Monday of the month, so it's time for my scheduled stint on KMSU's Southern Minnesota Midday show with Jim "Gully" Gullickson, talking baseball and the Twins at 1 p.m. For those of you within range, KMSU is 89.7 FM (91.3 out of Austin); for those out of range, we'll put a link to a recording on the Free Press website later in the afternoon.

Radio, radio, Vol. 1

Here's a link to my debut appearance on KMSU earlier this afternoon. I'm scheduled for the second and fourth Mondays of each month this season.

Come for the baseball, stay for the babble.

Shameless self promotion

I'm fond of claiming that my journalism career had to go to print because I have a face made for radio and a voice made for newspapers.

We're about to test that latter piece of self-deprecation.

On Monday I begin a twice-a-month segment on KMSU's Southern Minnesota Midday show with Jim Gullickson, talking baseball and the Twins at 1 p.m. on the second and fourth Mondays of each month. And the plan is to put the result on the Free Press website, giving those of you out of the reach of 89.7 FM (91.3 out of Austin) a chance to hear my discomfiture. (As critical as I can be of the Twins broadcasters, I am quite certain that I would embarrass myself on a regular basis were I to attempt play-by-play.)

On Tuesday I taped a promo for these segments. We got it in one take, largely because Gully handled most of the talking. I don't think that's going to be the case when we go live Monday.