The poll question stems from the Monday print column.
The new look to the blog is a bit inadvertent. I was fooling around Sunday with Blogger's new templates, clicked on the wrong button, and suddenly I couldn't go back to the old look.
I think I like this one more, but I may want to redo the header. Tell me what you think.
Seems fine to me--in much better shape than the Twins infield. Changing the subject, I hope the Twins at least seriously consider Lowell for third base/first base/right-handed bat. He might be slower than Thome and brittle/injury prone, but he can still hit more than Punto, Truffle, Harris, Valencia etc. Those players are bringing almost nothing offensively to the table; can't have that. Ed, any other ideas for a cheap, possible upgrade from another organization?
ReplyDeleteI just saw those new templates as well. You're right, the header doesn't fit anymore. I'm going to have to redo mine; I'll have to try to find the pixel width.
ReplyDeletelove the new template.
ReplyDelete----
Think of Billy Smith's track record so far:
Backed himself into a corner (with a big assist from Gardenhire who stated publicly he didn't want the same distraction Torii Hunter's pending free agency brought into his clubhouse during that season to repeat itself with Johan Santana) and had to 'settle' for the Mets trade offer. Mineya was bragging in an SI article on acquiring Johan that as things were going down with the Yankees and Red Sox that he told his owner, "They (the Twins) will be coming back to us." In essence, we don't have to up our trade offer to get him.
Gave a 3-year, $9M deal to Mike Lamb who Smith obviously thought by that contract offer was a long-term 3B solution. Then found out 1 month into the season Lamb was a cranky dude who didn't fit in NOR could he platoon at 3B. Lamb has had a couple of brief MLB cups of coffee since proving he is not a long-term solution, he is not even a MLB caliber bench player, something every other MLB club evidently evaluated about Lamb but Smith.
Sold low on Matt Garza and had no problem throwing Jason Bartlett into the trade. There is no fault in putting a premium on personalities in your clubhouse and valuing it highly and Garza (immaturity) and Bartlett (not a take charge of the infield Gardenhire-type player) both were deemed inadequate but SMITH traded both for a player (Delmon Young) who berated his manager, Joe Madden, in the dugout during a game late that season. Who should have held the upper hand in those trade talks, the Twins or the Rays? It was obvious the Rays were not going to bring Delmon back to that clubhouse after the Madden incident.
Were Garza's temper tantrums and hard headedness AND GOLDEN ARM that much more poison than a player who curses out his manager during a game that you had to throw Bartlett away to make the Rays say yes to the trade ?!
Gave a 2-yr, $8M contract with a club option for a 3rd yr at $4M to Nick Punto when there was OBVIOUS evidence to everyone but Smith that there was no competition for Punto at that PRICE! Gave out the deal way early in Free Agency for no reason, the market for Punto would have been set so much lower, 3-years at $2M per would have been a good get for Punto's agent when the dust settled.