Capp Your @#$!!! Twins Make Trade For Closer

For the past month, the Twins fan base has been growing restless for general manager Bill Smith to make a move. The starting pitching has been horrendous, and the fans wanted a big name to fix it.

However, the dreams of that slowly faded. First, Cliff Lee was dealt from the Mariners to the Rangers after the M's balked at the idea of taking Kevin Slowey (or Nick Blackburn...or both) and catching prospect Wilson Ramos. It was understandable after it was seen what Seattle got in return (Justin Smoak promises to be a beast in a couple seasons.)

Then, Dan Haren was traded from the Diamondbacks to the Angels. There was no chance for the Twins to get Haren as the D'Backs were looking to get a quality, young pitcher in return. Sadly to say, none of the Twins pitchers, on the team or down in Rochester, fit that description.

Roy Oswalt was on the Twins list too, but Oswalt stated that any team who obtained him in a trade had to pick up his 16 million option in 2012. Sounds pricey for a guy who repeatedly finds himself on the disabled list. Oswalt was traded from the Astros to the Phillies on Thursday.

There are still options out there. The most notable name on the block is Ted Lilly. However, Lilly has a list of teams on his no-trade list (Haren did as well.) and guess who popped up on that list? You guessed it...

The Twins needed to upgrade their pitching somehow, so they made a move.

On Thursday night, the Twins traded Ramos and minor league pitcher Joe Testa to the Nationals for Matt Capps.

At first, I hated this trade. The Twins already had Jon Rauch as their closer, and he was doing a pretty good job saving games. However, when you look deeper at the job Rauch has done, maybe he wasn't.

Only 5 of Rauch's 21 save opportunities were considered "clean" saves by the Twins brain trust. A "clean" save, which should be added to sabermetrics any day now, is a 1-2-3 inning. So basically Rauch was making Ron Gardenhire pull out whatever hair is left on his balding scalp when he came in to slam the door on opposing teams.

Also, we all knew Rauch wasn't a prototypical closer. He can't strike people out. Having a pitch to contact bullpen is detrimental to a team late in innings. When there are guys on second and third with nobody out and a one run lead, a grounder to second isn't going to help. That's where Capps comes in.

Before looking up Capps' stats, I thought he was about 30 years old and had an ERA of about 4. Wrong. Capps made the all-star team this season, which I was aware of, and had 26 saves on a bad team along with a 2.76 ERA entering Friday.

Capps also has a strikeout rate of 7.4 per 9 innings compared to Rauch's 6.3 per 9. Not spectacular, but it's still makes a better closer to have a power guy at the end of your pen.

People may also still have Capps' horrid '09 in their heads where he registered a 5.80 ERA with the Pirates. However, looking at his other numbers, Capps has consistently posted an ERA in the low 3's.

So then there's the issue of did the Twins give up too much for Capps? I don't think so personally. At first, I thought it was terrible to give Ramos to Washington for Capps rather than get a starter, but the thing is, the Twins aren't getting a starter.

As for Ramos, he was only hitting .241 this season and hadn't looked like the second coming of Victor Martinez as some people had called him in spring training. He'll be a good major league player, but to solidify the back of the pen it's worth it. Especially when you factor in...

Joe Nathan is coming off Tommy John surgery and will be 36 next season. It usually takes two years to come back from this surgery (look at Liriano) and it's not a given that Nathan will be the same closer he was two years ago.

Oh yeah, Capps will be here next year. He's not a rent-a-player. Capps is 26 and has a year of arbitration left, so the Twins will be able to keep him as not only an insurance policy, but potentially their future closer (that is if Anthony Slama doesn't take it away from him).

Of course, none of this matters until Mr. Capps takes the field, which could be tonight at Target Field when they host the Mariners. Let's hope Billy knows what he's doing.

Garza vs. Delmon

There has not been a more scrutinized trade in the history of the Minnesota Twins than the one that went down in November 2007.

In that deal, the Minnesota Twins, who were desperate to find an offensive superstar, gave the struggling Tampa Bay Rays promising pitching prospect Matt Garza, shortstop Jason Bartlett, and Eduardo Morlan for 2007 American League Rookie of the Year runner up outfielder Delmon Young, infielder Brendan Harris, and outfielder Jason Pridie.

Since that deal took place there have been numerous dissections of the trade, and several have been this blog alone. For the Rays, the trade sparked a rise from the basement of the American League, and for the Twins...well it brings up an interesting question.

With Matt Garza throwing a no-hitter for the Rays last night, it brings up a very interesting question. Would the Twins have been better off not making the deal and keeping a potential ace or adding to what has become an incredibly potent lineup since 2007.

In 2006 the Twins were surging to catch the Detroit Tigers. We all know what would happen, the Twins would catch those Tigers, but at the same time, the Twins had to patch a hole in their rotation when Francisco Liriano went down with an elbow injury.

The Twins would call up Garza and he would struggle in '06. (3-6, 5.76 ERA) It was clear that Garza needed more seasoning, so the Twins had him start the season in AAA Rochester. Garza wasn't happy with this move, as he blasted the Twins front office repeatedly as other pitchers would get the call over Garza.

Finally, Garza would be called up later in '07 and would register a 5-7 record with a 3.69 ERA. But the numbers didn't tell the true story. Garza fell out of favor with the organization as Garza wanted to blow hitters away with his amazing fastball instead of mixing in his pitches. Garza was in Ron Gardenhire's doghouse, and once you find yourself there, it won't be long until you're either moving to Rochester or another major league city.

But what if the Twins didn't pull the trigger? Could Garza had gotten over his issues with the Twins and become the staff ace that the Twins are currently searching for?

Statistically, you could make that argument. Garza has gone 30-26 with a 3.89 ERA since the trade. The win-loss record isn't there, but he's only 26 and is currently 11-5 with a 4.06 ERA this season. Also, how would this rotation look like to you?

1. Garza (11-5 4.06)
2. Pavano (12-6 3.26)
3. Liriano (9-7 3.35)
4. Baker (8-9 5.00)
5. Duensing (1-0 1.80*)
* Stats used from Duensing's lone start this season

You also need to take in effect the current Twins starting lineup. Without Delmon, the Twins wouldn't need to shuffle four outfielders into three spots. The could also start Jim Thome everyday, but would Thome be able to hold up over an entire season playing everyday? I have my doubts.

Also, Delmon is currently fourth in the American League in RBI. If the Twins lost Justin Morneau for an extended period of time, who would pick up the slack like Young has?

That looks impressive, but there's still the mental issues. When Garza got to Tampa Bay, Troy Percival got into Garza's face and personally, I feel that helped Garza mature as a pitcher. Would anyone on the current Twins roster do that? I don't think so.

Why The Vikings Will Suck This Year

Last January, I was at a local bar at River Falls watching the NFC Championship game. The Vikings were driving and it was looking great that the Vikings would make their first Super Bowl appearance in my lifetime, not counting dream after dream of them choking in the game, but regardless, the Vikings were driving.

We all know the story. 10 men in the huddle. Favre INT. This isn't Detroit, man! Game over and I'm laying face down in the local establishment. (I still think I got sick from that, by the way.) But, there was some hope for me.

First, I knew Favre was coming back. There's no way he wants his last pass as an interception. There have been two precedents of this and he'll go through hell and back to get another Super Bowl ring.

Second, the Vikings had a bunch of players returning. Sure, there were gray areas, such as E.J. Henderson's leg and Cedric Griffin's knee, but the core was still intact.

Third, the Vikings had an offseason to fix the problems that plagued them last season.

However, all that hope has soon devolved (Thank you, Joe Buck) into despair. The Minnesota Vikings are going to suck next season.

Yes, you heard me. The only acceptable outcome for a Vikings season is to win a Super Bowl with the roster they have, and right now, I don't see it happening with this team.

I talked about an entire offseason to get better, but at the time of the Vikings choke job, I didn't know that because of the lack of a collective bargaining agreement, the Vikings could not sign a free agent until they had lost one. With that, the Vikings were severely crippled in any move they could make.

The NFL Draft came and the Vikings had the 30th pick in the first round. However, the Vikings traded that pick to a team in their division, and the Detroit Lions got a potential Viking-killer in Javid Best. So who did the Vikings want to trade down for? Chris Cook: a mediocre cornerback. Note to the Vikings: last time you reached for a Cook in the second round, he was awful. I smell a repeat.

The Vikings then made another bonehead move in trading up for Stanford RB Toby "Don't Call Me Mike Alstott" Gerhardt to make up for Chester Taylor. Hey, coach! Peterson can run for power! Why are we getting another power back to "compliment" Adrian Peterson? Maybe they were thinking that one guy can hold onto the ball, and the other can't. That's a complimentary move.

So after the Vikings had a terrible draft, they signed an aging cornerback in Lito Sheppard. Hell, there was talk of adding JaMarcus "Sippin' on that Sizzurp" Russell to the team!

But that's not even the half of it. Has anyone noticed the drama on this team lately?

Visthante Shiancoe and Darren Sharper are in a Twitter War. Usually this type of things is reserved for Hollywood socialites that I could care less about, but these two are brawling to the point where Shiancoe took a picture of Bin Laden and added a 42 to it. Stay classy, Minnesota.

Then there's Adrian Peterson, who not only has the fumbling problem with him, and the speeding ticket, etc. But Peterson didn't show up for an OTA practice because his hometown was holding "Adrian Peterson Day." Peterson had an excuse to skip one practice for this occasion. After all, he's being a better hometown hero than say...LeBron James? However Brad "Captain Blood" Childress wanted Peterson there for whatever reason and the elephant in the room appears.

"Well if Favre isn't there why should Peterson be there?"

Ugh...then Jared Allen didn't help matters.

"If I were in [Peterson's] shoes, I wouldn't be here either.]

Great...so the Favre drama is already spicing things up for a wonderful 6-10 season...but wait there's more.

There's a new report that Peterson is unhappy with his contract. So the rioting going on between the players union and the NFL continues! Peterson is going to make a meek 10 million dollars next season, not including contract incentives. To quote Mr. Sprewell, how is he supposed to feed his family on that?

On Peterson's part, what the hell is he doing? What is he going to go in there and say?

"Alright Zygi, I know I fumbled 10 times in the biggest game in recent franchise history, but I deserve to get paid! What's that? Oh yeah, I know I only ran for 100 yards three times last year. Yeah, I fumbled 7 times and lost 5 of them...but everyone else is doing it. Can you blame me?"

So there's another distraction on top of Peterson fumbling anytime someone takes a breath in the Metrodome. His timing can not be worse.

By the way, after the Vikings brilliant moves, every team in the division has gotten better. The Bears signed Julius Peppers, who made Bryant McFatAss look like his personal whipping boy last December. The Packers improved their offensive line, so don't expect Aaron Rodgers to be tossed around like a rag doll this year. You can expect that to happen when the Lions unleash Ndmukong Suh on John Sullivan. Oh and the Lions got a solid addition with Best and Nate Burleson (Don't laugh. Remember what Burleson did when he played with Randy Moss? That would be 68 catches, 1,006 yards, and 9 TD.)

Mix in the fact that the Vikings aren't playing the pitiful NFC West and AFC North and you can see this disasterous car wreck of a season coming to fruition.

I know what you're thinking. Another stupid Viking fan with no faith in his team. You don't understand. Being a Viking fan is like being in a trailer park trash relationship. The woman gets beat around and thinks about leaving, but then the guy gets on his knees and begs her to come back...and she does...just to get abused some more.

Want more analogies? It's like stabbing yourself in the face with a rusty knife. It's like cooking with Lorena Bobbit. It's as useful as EMT training with Gary Coleman's wife. It's like being Tombstoned by the Undertaker over and over again. It's like cheating on Tiger Woods wife. THERES MORE PAIN INVOLVED THAN PREGNANCY. (Have I offended anyone yet?)

The Vikings need to get things together, or else this one last chance for redemption is going to once again fall just short.

Enough Is Enough (And it's time for a Change!)

Ah, yes. That's one of my favorite wrestling quotes that go perfectly with sports. R.I.P. Owen Hart. Now to the business at hand...

Let's give credit where credit is due. Ron Gardenhire has done a great job with the Minnesota Twins. Five division titles don't lie, he can be a successful manager and he's proven that. He deserves a little bit of leeway. Until now that is...

Last offseason, the Twins made moves to enhance the roster right now to not only win the AL Central, but to make a deep run into the playoffs. Jim Thome and Orlando Hudson were signed to be the missing pieces of a team that went 17-4 in September and October to win the division in 2009.

Things were good at the beginning of the year. Gardenhire got the team off to a quick start and the Twins seemingly had a stranglehold on first place. They even won at Yankee Stadium believe it or not! Things were good in Twins territory.

However, after that Kubel grand slam, things have gone downhill. The Twins enter Sunday's tilt with the Tigers 4 games out of first place and things don't appear to be getting any better. The Twins are underachieving, and when a team with talent underachieves, the first person to get the blame is the manager. And in this case it's well deserved.

Gardy's gotten a free pass over the years because he's won. Hey, how can you second guess a winner? But the fact that the Twins have the talent to be more than AL Central Champions of the World is what's driving this debate now.

First, Gardy plays favorites. The primary example of this is Nick Punto, and that's been well documented by bloggers and message board posts over Twins Territory. However, it runs deeper than just Punto.

Michael Cuddyer still hits 5th in this lineup, which blows my mind. Gardy doesn't ever want to tinker with his lineup to try something new to shake up his team. Tony LaRussa, who's a level above Gardenhire on the greatness scale, moved Matt Holliday to the two hole in the batting order to get his struggling offense going. It worked, and the Cardinals are seeing a little bit of an improvement. (Although they are currently two games out of first in the NL Central.)

Something like this should be considered with Joe Mauer, who has not put up the numbers worthy of a 184 million dollar contract. But back to Cuddyer, Delmon Young is hitting about .400 with runners in scoring position. A lot of people say that it's a great job by Young to be leading the team in RBI from the 7th spot in the batting order. I would say that it speaks a lot about the guys who are supposed to drive in those runs (the 5th, 6th guys in the lineup) leaving people on base, which seems to be the Twins motivation.

Second, Gardenhire never seems to want to be questioned. Heck, nobody does. However, he's in a position of power, so he's going to get questioned, just like he is in this blog. I hate to say it, but look at Ozzie Guillen. At least when his team plays bad, he lets them know about it. He doesn't spill B.S. line after B.S. line about how they're "battling their tails off."

Clearly, they aren't battling anymore. Hey, I'm not a big Punto fan, but when I watched the Twins game yesterday Punto was the only guy hustling around the field trying to make plays. This team is very non-chalant, which matches the manager's personality.

There are times where I wish Gardy just had a recliner and an ice cold lemonade in the dugout, because he seems completely oblivious to what's going on.

The hitters aren't putting up the numbers they need to. Same with the pitchers. Gardy has done a lot for the Twins over the past couple of years, but with a team that's built to win now, there isn't much room for error. Perhaps a change at the top will give those underachievers a kick in the pants they desperatley need. After all, Orlando Cabrera isn't coming through that door folks.

King of Their Worlds

The sports world has been stopped. Nothing else matters right now except for one thing. No, it's not the World Cup Final that will take place Saturday between Spain and the Netherlands. No, it's not the Twins trying to obtain Cliff Lee from the Seattle Mariners. It certainly isn't the Timberwolves courtship of David Lee either. Nope, it's LeBron James.

Where will he go? What will he demand from his suitors? How much money could he possibly make? What did he eat for breakfast this morning? What color is his stool today? Etc, etc, etc.

LeBronamania has been running wild all over ESPN and every other sports network. Obviously this is a big deal. It's not often when the best player in a sport becomes a free agent and there's a good chance that he could leave his current team. And I'm talking THE best player. With all do respect to Mr. Kobe Bryant, LeBron has actually gotten the CLEVELAND CAVALIERS to smell a NBA title, although not win it. LeBron does make his players better to an extent, just not good enough.

But LeBron is good enough. He's "The King." And the way that he's gone about free agency has sure shown that.

Suitors have lined up with their pitches to LeBron, as he sat on his throne and ate a chicken leg. LeBron only wanted to hear from serious suitors as he banished the Los Angeles Clippers after one hour. (Compared to 2-3 from other teams.) Then, LeBron made his decision, but he doesn't want the public to know in that way. Besides what good would a simple e-mail or contract signing do? LeBron called ESPN and asked for a one hour special to announce his decision.

That's right folks, tomorrow night at 8:00 central time, you can watch people praise LeBron and then finally after this monstrosity is over, LeBron will end it with "Oh, by the way, my greatness is going to _______."

So, let's look at LeMe a little bit closer here. LeBron was a prodigy in Ohio, who played for one of the greatest private schools in the state. He was selected first overall by his home state team in the 2003 NBA Draft, and immediately became one of the best players in said league. Hmmm...sound familiar?

Well, there is a Twins catcher who was a prodigy growing up in Minnesota. He then starred for one of the best private schools in the state. He was selected first overall by his home state team and has grown into one of the best players in his league. That would be Joe Mauer.

Like James, Mauer was considered "God" in the state in which he played. Also like James, Mauer was due a huge pay day. But that's where the similarities end. Mauer never got to free agency, but it's hard to believe that Mauer would make his suitors come to Minnesota and deal with his lutefisk eating posse to try and obtain his services. Then, I'm pretty sure that Mauer wouldn't call ESPN to come and worship him at a neutral site.

Minnesota has to be thankful that Joe Mauer didn't act the way LeBron James did during his re-signing period. LeBron has been a spoiled brat since this process has started, and it makes me hope that LeBron has one last similarity with Mauer...a down year after signing a big contract.