March 18, 2010

“Look away, I’m hideous”

This is how I feel right now:

To make a long and boring story marginally shorter and less boring, Blogger has recently made some big changes that forced me to alter the way this blog is published and in the process of making that switch earlier this week everything basically fell apart. Suddenly all the pictures ceased displaying, none of the links to old entries worked, and I saw my blogging life flash before my eyes. Rather than attempt to patch things back together, I got fed up and decided to ditch Blogger after seven years and switch to Wordpress.

I’ve since learned that this is a fairly huge undertaking, particularly when it wasn’t even planned, so you’ll notice that things look slightly different and quite a few aspects of the blog are out of whack. Hopefully by Monday things will be mostly back to normal, but in the meantime I apologize for the mess and also for the lack of new content.

In the long run Wordpress should be a better experience for everyone involved, although as a control freak with some weird OCD-like tendencies for the appearance of this blog the whole process may forever haunt me. Thanks for being patient during the blog makeover and please feel free to leave comments or drop me an e-mail with suggestions for the overhaul or notes about anything that just seems “off.”

March 15, 2010

AG.com NCAA Tournament Pool

I created an NCAA basketball tournament “office” pool for AG.com readers, which you can sign up for by clicking here or going to www.madness.nbcsports.com and entering in the following information:

Pool ID: 2884
Password: Mila

Once you’re done here, check out my NBCSports.com blog and Twitter updates.

March 14, 2010

Twins Sign Span To Long-Term Deal


All is quiet on the Joe Mauer front since false reports from Mark Rosen and Dan Cole claiming that an extension had been agreed upon, but that hasn’t stopped the Twins from handing out other long-term deals. Last week Nick Blackburn inked a four-year, $14 million contract with an $8 million team option for 2014 and over the weekend Denard Span agreed to a five-year, $16.5 million deal with a $9 million team option or $500,000 buyout for 2015.

For both Blackburn and Span the Twins basically pre-paid for their remaining team-controlled seasons while securing a team option for their first season of free agency, with the only real difference being that Blackburn has accumulated one more year of big-league service time than Span and thus would have been eligible to hit the open market one year sooner. In other words, only the addition of a 2014 option for Blackburn and a 2015 option for Span alter how long the Twins would have been able to keep them.

Blackburn’s contract struck me as an unnecessary risk without much upside, as they already controlled him through 2014 anyway and his skill set makes decline more likely than a breakout during the life of the deal. Because of that, committing $14 million up front when the Twins could have just taken things year-to-year with him is a questionable tradeoff in exchange for a bit of cost certainty and an $8 million team option on a 32-year-old Blackburn for 2014.

Span is a different story even through the contracts are nearly identical, because he’s currently a clearly more valuable player than Blackburn despite being two years younger and also projects as more likely to maintain his performance long term. Not only is Span at $16.5 million for 2010-2014 more likely to be a bargain than Blackburn at $14 million for 2010-2013, there’s a much higher chance that the Twins will actually want to retain Span for $9 million in 2015 compared to Blackburn for $8 million in 2014.

Here are the contract breakdowns, with “MIN” standing for minimum-salaried, pre-arbitration seasons, “ARB” representing arbitration-eligible seasons, and “FA” equaling free agency (numbers in millions):

             MIN2    MIN3    ARB1    ARB2    ARB3    FA1
Blackburn            0.75    3.00    4.75    5.50    8.00    option
Span         0.75    1.00    3.00    4.75    6.50    9.00    option/0.50 buyout

All of which isn’t to say that Span’s contract is a no-brainer for the Twins, because as someone whose big-league career consists of just 238 games in less than two full seasons and has been dramatically superior to his underwhelming minor-league track record there’s some risk there too. He’s gone from hitting .287/.357/.358 in the minors to .305/.390/.422 in the majors, upping his walks by 25 percent and showing 60 percent more power with 10 percent fewer strikeouts to emerge as an ideal leadoff man.

However, he’s better and younger than Blackburn with less likelihood of a decline and far more upside, making him a much more viable and impactful long-term building block. And even my once-prominent (and warranted) skepticism of Span being the real deal has all but vanished during the past two years, so while the risk of up-front money outweighed the reward of cost certainty and delayed free agency for Blackburn taking the same plunge with Span was a lot more worthwhile. Now, about this Mauer guy …


Once you’re done here, check out my NBCSports.com blog and Twitter updates.

March 11, 2010

Link-O-Rama

  • There’s a lot of wackiness within this story about a guy getting stabbed at a Shutter Island screening, but one question really stood out: “Why would someone bring a meat thermometer to a movie theater?”
  • Mattel is now producing a Mad Men line of Barbie dolls, depicting Don Draper, Roger Sterling, Betty Draper, and of course Joan Holloway. According to a lengthy New York Times article “the dolls are part of a premium-price collectors’ series for adults that Mattel calls the Barbie Fashion Model Collection,” which senior vice president for Barbie marketing Stephanie Cota says “do a great job of embodying the series.” Yet oddly the design doesn’t do a great job of embodying … well, Christina Hendricks‘ body.
  • This might be the end of the line for Eddie Guardado. And no, he’s not a closer option.
  • My best ridiculous analogy this week was how Milton Bradley is just like Britney Spears, but actually one of his recent quotes sounded exactly like me: “I pretty much stayed at home, ordered in every day, never went anywhere.” Does that make me the Bradley of bloggers or him the Gleeman of outfielders?
  • You guessed it … Frank Stallone.
  • I’m gradually getting more comfortable doing radio interviews via phone, so this week I was a guest on three different shows. Wednesday afternoon I talked Twins on KFAN with Paul Charchian, who was subbing for Dan Barreiro. Yesterday morning I did a segment with John Hanson and friend of AG.com Darren Wolfson on KSTP. And last night I spent an hour chatting with Seth Stohs on his great podcast, with “Big Poppa” by The Notorious B.I.G. and “Superfly” by Curtis Mayfield as my intro songs. Naturally.It looks like KSTP didn’t make the show available for download, but to listen to the KFAN segment just click here and zoom forward two-thirds of the way through until I come on. And definitely listen to Seth’s podcast, because we basically had an hour-long conversation about the Twins that covered all kinds of topics. Oh, and if you haven’t already, check out Seth’s excellent Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook, which is sort of like my “Top 40 Twins Prospects of 2010″ series on steroids.
  • Speaking of local sports radio, friend of AG.com Phil Mackey just announced that he’s leaving KFAN for a job at KSTP, where he’ll team with Patrick Reusse starting at noon each day. I like Phil a lot, he’s a funny, smart guy who’s good on the air, and he’s big into both baseball and poker while also covering the Vikings beat for KFAN, so KSTP did well to add him to the lineup. Reusse’s head may explode the first time Phil brings up Ultimate Zone Rating or xFIP on the air, though.
  • Kelly Brook has stepped up her game after controversially being left off the candidates list following last week’s Official Fantasy Girl of AG.com shakeup.
  • My invitation must have gotten lost in the mail:


    The outtakes are pretty funny too.

  • In one of the oddest casting choices in recent memory, Jonah Hill has a part in the Moneyball movie playing someone other than Jeremy Brown. And in semi-related news, if they ever make Jake Peavy’s life into a movie Jeremy Renner probably shouldn’t even have to audition.
  • Since losing 90 pounds a few years ago only to put the weight back on I’ve unsuccessfully re-started a weight-loss program countless times. My latest attempt began February 1 and things have gone well so far. I’m down 37 pounds, which is obviously a ton of weight to drop in just six weeks and has a lot of people asking how I’ve done it. Diet and exercise definitely help, but the biggest key is being fat enough that 37 pounds doesn’t even make that much of a dent. Once you master that aspect, the rest is easy.
  • One nice food discovery this time around is the low-calorie pasta from FiberGourmet.com. I’m a big pasta and rice eater, but in the past have always cut them out of my diet when trying to lose weight. I’m still not eating any rice and have cut way back on the pasta, but stumbled across the products while searching for low-calorie options last month and have decided that it tastes about 90 percent as good as regular pasta despite having 40 percent fewer calories thanks to a huge increase in fiber.I realize the above paragraph may sound like an advertisement, but I can assure you that I’m not getting paid to say that. In fact, the only real downside to the low-calorie pasta is the cost, which ends up being about three times as much as regular pasta once shipping fees are included. Anyway, if you’re trying to limit calorie intake and can’t live without pasta, I recommend giving it a try. I bought a 12-pack sampler, which is three types of pasta plus macaroni and cheese. Buy some and maybe they’ll send me more!
  • Speaking of diets, native Minnesotan, former Gopher, and current Mariners backup Jack Hannahan had an amusing quote when asked about losing 18 pounds during the offseason: “I know why people don’t like losing weight. You have to eat food you don’t like.”
  • I’d proudly wear about 99 of these shirts, if only they made them in XXXXXXXL.
  • Bob Ingrassia of Minnesota Public Radio created a ranking of the Top 50 Minnesota Baseball Blogs and I’m proud to say AG.com tops the list. I’m not exactly sure of the criteria used for the ranking system other than it seems to be based on stuff like site traffic, RSS subscriptions, and inbound links, but who am I to quibble with results like that? Anyway, along with further inflating my ego the list is also a handy guide to the Twins blogosphere. If you like AG.com, odds are you’ll like many of the other blogs listed.
  • What do Jason Kendall, an ex-wife named Chantel, and Rod Stewart’s son have in common?
  • Check out Rotoworld’s annual Fantasy Baseball Draft Guide, because I’m the editor, and along with Matthew Pouliot, Drew Silva, D.J. Short, Craig Calcaterra, Thor Nystrom, and other writers spent an insane amount of time working on the product for the past few months. So if you’re a fantasy baseball player please consider buying it. Just last month we received the “Best Online Draft Kit” award from the Fantasy Sports Trade Association, so it’ll definitely be worth the money and also keeps me employed.
  • I’m not sure if I actually like HBO’s new series How To Make It In America, but the show’s soundtrack has been great every week.
  • Along with his usual excellent writing work for Basketball Prospectus, friend of AG.com Kevin Pelton has a new job as a front office consultant for the Indiana Pacers. Nathan Jawai for Danny Granger?
  • I’m addicted to WhatIfSports.com’s great Hardball Dynasty game and we’re starting a new season in “Gleeman World 2″ soon, with a couple franchise openings. Hardball Dynasty is not a fantasy baseball game, but rather a simulation of running a fictional MLB organization from rookie-ball to the majors. It’s incredibly detailed and time-consuming with a steep learning curve, so first and foremost we’re looking for owners with Hardball Dynasty experience, although anyone is free to express interest in a spot.
  • Finally, this week’s AG.com-approved music video is the theme song to the aforementioned How To Make It In America, “I Need A Dollar” by Aloe Blacc:


    • Once you’re done here, check out my NBCSports.com blog and Twitter updates.

    March 10, 2010

    Radio, Radio

  • Yesterday afternoon Paul Charchian subbed for Dan Barreiro on KFAN and had me on as a guest to talk about the Twins for 20 minutes or so. We mostly discussed Joe Nathan, but also touched on a few other topics, and the segment was very enjoyable. If you missed it live, you can listen to the interview on KFAN.com. Just click here and zoom forward two-thirds of the way through the clip, when I come on.
  • This morning at 8:00 a.m. I’ll be calling in to KSTP-1500 to chat about Nathan’s injury and the Twins with Doogie Wolfson, which is always a good time. You can listen online by clicking here, and hopefully they’ll also make the clip available to download afterward.
  • And last but definitely not least tonight at around 9:10 p.m. I’ll be appearing on Seth Stohs‘ podcast, which is an absolute must-listen for any Twins fan because in addition to talking to fellow bloggers like me he typically has one or two players on each show as well. You can listen online by clicking here and Seth always makes the show available for download afterward.

    • UPDATE: Seth tells me that I can pick a song for my intro on the podcast, which now strikes me as the most important decision of my life. My first thought was something by Otis Redding, just because he’s awesome. My second thought was “Big Poppa” by Notorious B.I.G., but upon inspection it may not work because he doesn’t get to the hook until after some swearing. My third thought was “Stand Up” by Steel Dragon, which plays when Nathan comes out of the bullpen. Suggestions? Funny, serious, whatever.



    Once you’re done here, check out my NBCSports.com blog and Twitter updates.

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