The WGOM

Joe Christensen is reporting that the Twins have dropped Lew Ford, Josh Rabe, and Tommy Watkins.

I think the Twins underrate Ford to a certain degree these days, as it seems to me that he could've helped the team out down the stretch in a platoon role with Tyner. Still, he's not a necessary component going forward, and this is an indication that the Twins don't consider a Ford/Tyner platoon as a Torii Hunter replacement.

Getting rid of Rabe gives me hope that the Twins will at least be looking to upgrade from Rabe (career .277/.343/.404 in the minor leagues with suspect defense in a corner outfield spot) to a AAAA outfielder.

Joe indicates that Watkins could be given a minor league deal and a spring training invite. That'd be fine by me. By all accounts, he sounds like a nice guy, and not everyone in AAA is going to be a big-time prospect. Of course, another team could pick him up, and thanks to injuries/ineffectiveness from other players in the organization, he could find himself in a playoff series against the Twins, collect four hits over two games, and be granted "Twins killer" status by TBS broadcasters.

Getting rid of some of these guys could be a good first step to improving the marginal talent in the organization, but that all depends on the second, third, and fourth steps.

Emergency intervention here. Jake Peavy (19-6, 2.36 ERA, .203 BAA, 234:64 K:BB) vs Josh Fogg (10-9, 4.79 ERA, .289 BAA, 89:57 K:BB).

In the interests of finding a Safeco-like comment about Fogg, he went 6 2/3 shutout innings his last start, Sept. 26 at the Dodgers.

Matt Garza vs. Julian Tavarez

Game results I would like to see today:

- Twins win
- Rockies win
- Mets win
- Phillies win
- Padres lose

Of course, whenever these four-way tie situations present themselves, it never works out, because getting four games to go a particular way is generally tough to do, but it'd be kind of fun nonetheless.

Carlos Silva vs. Tim Wakefield

This is kind of an interesting pitching matchup. I think of each pitchers as kind of a trick pitcher. Wakefield with his knuckleball and Silva with his two-seamer. Of course, Silva has seemingly been less of a one-pitch pitcher these days, but that's still how I think of him.

Kevin Slowey vs. Daisuke Matsuzaka

I've been swamped at work lately, and I don't have a whole lot to say about the Twins. I'm going to try to watch at least one of the two games this weekend, because the off-season is always too long, but for tonight I'm getting dragged to the Mariners game. (And I"m kind of disappointed, because I'd like to see Daisuke, but I suppose I'll probably see him in the playoffs anyway.)

To put things a little bit in perspective with Gardy, you should check out some of the fine, fine work being done by John McClaren in Seattle. Adam Jones--clearly the team's top prospect--was called up earlier in the summer, presumably because someone thought he could help the team make the playoffs. And it's easy to see why you might think that. Jones mashed in AAA this year, hitting .314/.382/.586 as a 21-year old, while playing center field. Nate Silver (by way of PECOTA) had Jones as the 26th best prospect in baseball going into the season, Baseball America had him as the 28th best prospect in baseball going into the season, and Kevin Goldstein had him as the 44th best prosepct in baseball.

As of September 17th, BP had the Mariners' odds of winning the playoffs at less than 1%--they were done. Since then, Adam Jones has gotten precisely 16 plate appearances. I've been a bit frustrated with Casilla's playing time, and to a lesser extent, Brian Buscher's PT, but Casilla didn't really knock anyone's socks off in AAA this year, and definitely has some things to work on. But taking a player as good as Adam Jones and not finding ways to get him into the lineup is just plain dumb.

Boof Bonser vs. Josh Beckett

If I had to rank the four AL teams according to how much I don't like them, for whatever reason, I would rank them this way:

1. Red Sox
2. Angels
3. Yankees
4. Indians

I just can't stand the Red Sox anymore, and it would be great if the Twins could sweep the Red Sox while the Yankees win out. It's not going to happen, but it'd be great.

Some splits:

.237/.337/.295 -- Nick Punto, April-May
.166/.245/.223 -- Nick Punto, June-August
.311/.344/.393 -- Nick Punto, September

.289/.373/.450 -- Michael Cuddyer, April-July
.253/.329/.395 -- Michael Cuddyer, August-September

.353/.446/.480 -- Joe Mauer, April-May 4th
.271/.364/.395 -- Joe Mauer, June 8th-Aug 26th
.233/.292/.372 -- Joe Mauer, September

.131/.212/.231 (oppenents' averages), 1.49 ERA -- Pat Neshek, April-July 19th
.288/.368/.513 (oppenents' averages), 6.14 ERA -- Pat Neshek, July 21st-September 16th

[Note: On July 19th, Pat Neshek made his sixth appearance in seven days.]

.165/.230/.291 -- Rondell White

Clearly, what this team needed was more players playing hurt. Hike up those skirts, Sally boys!

Johan Santana vs. Jair Jurrjens

Johan's last start left kind of a bad taste in my mouth. Hopefully some fall weather, Comerica's spacious dimensions, and Johan's pitching will conspire to keep the ball in the yard and runs off the board.

There will be no Cy for Santana this year, but I'm still hopeful for a Gold Glove.

Pointless Santana stat of the evening: In his career, Santana has limited opponents to .205/.262/.311 in September and October. For reference, Nick Punto is hitting roughly .212/.293/.273 this season.

Matt Garza vs. Yorman Bazardo

Carlos Silva vs. Nate Robertson

To make the playoffs, Detroit has to essentially win every remaining game while the Yankees lose every remaining game. Not gonna happen.

Silva and Robertson are both pretty bland innings guys at this point.

As far as the lineup today goes, I have two comments:

1) Watching Matthew LeCroy catch could prove to be entertaining, but probably not in a boy-this-improves-the-team's-chances-of-winning way. (But it's fine because Mauer's health is more important to the team than the outcome of the game, and who cares about the difference between Heintz and LeCroy.) I hope LeCroy throws someone out on the bases tonight.

2) Jacque Jones got 671 plate appearances against left-handed pitching in four seasons under Ron Gardenhire, when viable platoon options abounded. Jason Kubel has gotten 124 plate appearances against left-handed pitching in roughly two seasons under Ron Gardenhire, while the platoon options have been awful.

.232/.280/.354 -- Jacque Jones vs. LHP, career
.252/.323/.369 -- Jason Kubel vs. LHP, career

Rondell White is not a good hitter. Jason Kubel is a good hitter. This is not a good lineup choice under the guise of trying to win the game or trying to win games in the future. It is also inconsistent with lineup choices that have been made in the past. Kubel was more or less the only reason I would have wanted to watch this game. Maybe watching LeCroy catch offsets that some from an entertainment standpoint, but Kubel is one of the few reasons to think this team might do something next year and he's not even being given playing time (that he's obviously earned by this point) in games where the Twins need to be prepping the team for the future. That is phenomenally frustrating to me.

It'd be nice if Toronto and Milwaukee could have a good last week, helping to solidify the Twins' #14 draft slot.

UPDATE: Ford did something to his hand, so he's out of the lineup and Kubel is in. I would've rather seen Rondell sit, but whatever, Kubel managed to make it into the lineup--not that his performance today will have any bearing on how he is used in the future.

Gavin Floyd vs. Kevin Slowey

Last home game of the season for the Twins, who are 40-40 at home.

The Sox have done a pretty good job with Floyd. PECOTA projected Floyd to have a 6.09 ERA, with about a 5 K/9 and 4 BB/9, and based on his track record, that seems pretty reasonable to me. But Don Cooper is pretty good at taking pitchers with decent stuff and getting them to throw strikes. Floyd dropped his BB/G rate down from nearly 5 BB/G to 2.5 BB/G this season, with a strikeout rate around 6 K/G. Now, he's something of a fly ball neutral pitcher, so you'd expect him to give up a fair number of HR, but with a nearly 20% HR/F rate, he's had a big problem with the long ball. His xFIP of 4.97 makes him nothing more than a serviceable guy at the back of the rotation, but some teams have trouble finding guys like that. (Ask the Mariners, for instance.) It's possible Floyd will never solve his HR problem, but if they think he can, the Sox can probably pencil Floyd in for the #5 spot in the rotation next year.

Slowey has also had HR problems that will also probably go away, but there is no guarantee of that. His strikeout rate is now a pretty healthy 5.5 K/G, with a walk rate of 1.7 K/G. (PECOTA had Slowey forecasted at 5.9 K/9 and 1.7 BB/9 before the season started.) His GB% has been a problem so far, but it's 54 innings, so who knows.

Javier Vazquez vs. Scott Baker

It's Convention Time!! Hopefully the lads (and lasses?) have a good time at the game.

If you're like me, and rely on mlb.tv (or extra innings) to watch the games, it looks like we'll be blacked out. Usually I blame this on FOX, but I'll blame this blackout on FOX's ridiculous blackout policy and the University of Minnesota's silly idea to abandon their on-campus stadium to play in the Metrodome.

Pressured by downtown Minneapolis business interests and athletic boosters, the school elected to move out of [Memorial Stadium] to the Metrodome about two miles away during the spring of 1982. Athletic director Paul Giel cited the advantages of recruiting by playing in a new NFL venue. Also, the attendance was expected to go up with protection from harsh late fall weather.

So, how's that decision working out for you? Lots of top-notch recruits? Attendance records galore?

Javy Vazquez is probably a bit on the underrated side these days. (Of course, I haven't seen his ratedness posted anywhere, so it's a little tough to say.) The Twins' "offense" takes on the AL's seventh-best pitcher by xFIP today. Last night, Dick was droning on about how impressive it was that Mark Buehrle had pitched 200+ innings for the last seven consecutive seasons. Vazquez has pitched 198+ innings for the last eight consecutive seasons.

I like that Baker will be representing the Twins today at the Convention. We're behind ya, Timmy.

So, if you've got some time, pull up a chair and pipe up with a comment or two or twenty--we figure to be a little undermanned today. There's nothing quite like listening to a baseball game on the radio at 11am (or 9am) on a Saturday morning.