AaronGleeman.com

"I was trying to think of a really cool and original way to celebrate reaching 100,000 visitors, but I couldn't come up with anything brilliant to do. So, instead of doing something original, I am going to steal an idea I saw on another blog I visit occasionally. Sarah Crabtree, a Michigan State student who runs a non-sports blog called "The Dub Side," had the brilliant idea to create a "Frequently Asked Questions" page about herself.

I figure now that I have reached 100,000 visitors on this site, it's pretty obvious that I am going to be around, writing this blog for a while. At the same time, I get a ton of emails everyday asking me various questions, not only about baseball and this website, but about myself in general. So, not only are you stuck with me for the forseeable future, but there are those of you out there interested in asking me stuff.

Following Sarah's lead, I want to open the floor to "questions from the audience." Ask me anything you want. It can be about baseball, about this website, about my life in general. Whatever."

And boy did you!

I was deluged with emails, so much so that there was no chance of me answering them all in this space. Any thought I had of my audience not being interested in this idea was pleasantly squashed. I want to thank everyone who sent me emails and questions and I want to thank Sarah Crabtree of "The Dub Side" for allowing me to steal her idea (she actually emailed me and seemed happy to be stolen from).

Without further ado, I present to you...

Aaron's Baseball Blog: Frequently Asked Questions

Who are you and how did you get into my life?

Well, for starters, my name is Aaron Gleeman. I am a 20 year old college student, living in Minnesota. I attend the University of Minnesota and am majoring in journalism.

As for how I got into your life, that probably varies quite a bit. I started this blog back on August 1st of last year and, gradually, the readership grew. At first, I was ecstatic to be getting 20 visitors a day and now, the site is averaging about 1,000 visitors per day. The most likely scenario is that you came here either via a link on another website or by word of mouth.

Lately, I think the word of mouth thing may actually be getting to be a more popular way of finding this site, because the amount of people who come here by way of a Yahoo! or Google search for "Aaron Gleeman" or "Aaron's Baseball Blog" seems to be growing by the day, which is pretty awesome.

What the heck is a blog?

See, now this is a great question. It bothers me to think that there are those of you out there visiting this website everyday who have very basic questions about things related to it, such as this one. Why don't you send me an email and ask? I hate to think that there are people out there who have come here dozens of times and are wondering why it is called "Aaron's Baseball Blog" each and everytime.

Anyway, the word "blog" is short for web log (weB LOG). Here is one definition of the word, courtesy of Yahoo:

"A weblog is usually defined as a personal or noncommercial web site that uses a dated log format (usually with the most recent addition at the top of the page) and contains links to other web sites along with commentary about those sites."

I'd say that's a pretty good definition.

The majority of blogs are unlike mine, because they are frequently updated with shorter entries. For example, David Pinto over at Baseball Musings often has 10, 20 and sometimes a lot more entries every single day. Sometimes his entries are just a few words accompanying a link to an interesting article and sometimes they are longer. There are many other blogs like this and, in fact, the majority of blogs are like this.

My blog, on the other hand, is certainly known for anything but short entries. Except in rare occasions, I basically write one lengthy "article" or "column" each day. So, in a sense, this website isn't really much of a blog at all. But hey, it's probably too late to change the name now anyway!

How exactly does the "Today's picks" section work? And can you send me some of the money you've made so far this year?

I got this question quite a few times and I'm glad, because apparently a lot of you don't quite know what I have been doing at the bottom of every single entry this entire baseball season! Just like with the "What's a blog?" thing, you should have emailed me sooner and asked if you were wondering.

Anyway, it's pretty simple. Everyday, I make hypothetical bets on a few of that day's games, using the actual odds provided to me by a certain sports-betting website that shall remain nameless.

For example, you may see the following:

Minnesota (Radke) -150 over Detroit (Maroth)

What that means is that I have "picked" the Twins, who are starting Brad Radke, to beat the Tigers, who are starting Mike Maroth. The -150 means that, in order to win $100 on the Twins, I need to risk losing $150.

Now, if you see the following:

Tampa Bay (Kennedy) +200 over Boston (Martinez)

What that means is that I am taking the Devil Rays over the Red Sox and the payoff, should Tampa Bay win, is $200 for every $100 I bet. If they lose, I lose my $100.

In short, if the number is a "plus" number, like +120 or +150 or +200, that means I could potentially lose $100 and win whatever the +___ is. If the number is a "minus" number, like -120 or -150 or -200, that means I need to bet (and risk losing) the -___ amount, in order to potentially win $100.

Oh, and as for me sending you some of my "winnings," all "picks" are purely hypothetical and, I can assure you, no actual money is exchanging hands (my hypothetical lawyer told me to say that).

Why do you always pick whoever's playing against the Twins to beat them in your daily picks?

I got this question several times, in various forms. And yes, I was aware that I do it.

I am, admittedly, extraordinarily pessimistic when it comes to my favorite sports teams. I don't think there has ever been a game that I have watched when I said, at the start, "The Twins/Vikings/Wolves/Gophers will win this easily." That's just how I work.

Basically, when I think the Twins have a good chance of winning, I don't bet on them, possibly for fear of some sort of jinx or something. And I think I have a good feel for which teams/pitchers are bad matchups for the Twins, in which case I pick against them.

Some people wondered if picking against the Twins all the time takes some joy out of me watching the game or some happiness away from them winning. Absolutely not. I would happily give up a hypothetical bet (or a real one even) in a trade for a Twins win.

One reader of mine even calculated my record for picking against the Twins. According to "Tim" (as of June 30th):

"By my rough count, you have picked a Twins game 42 times & picked the Twins to lose 35 of them. I think that your record is 23-18 overall with one rainout."

That's interesting to me. I am actually surprised I took the Twins to win that many times, believe it or not. I went back through July's picks and saw that, since Tim's calculation, I have gone on to pick a Twins game 3 more times, all going against the Twins. I am 3-0, which means, (if Tim's numbers are correct), that I have picked a Twins game 45 times this year, going with them to lose in 38 of them. And I am 26-18, with one rainout. That's a .591 "winning" percentage, which is pretty great in baseball and awesome in baseball betting.

You're a Twins fan, so who's you're favorite Twin ever?

Hmm...this is a tough one for me. I'm pretty sure the older men in my family, the ones who have seen all or most of the Twins' 40 or so years as a franchise, would say Tony Oliva, and Tony O certainly seems like the kind of player I would have loved. But Oliva retired in 1976 and I wasn't born until 1983, so he's out of the picture for me.

No, my time period for Twinsfandom is from about 1990 until the present.

Here are my all-time (or at least 1990-2003), top 10 favorite Twins:

1) Torii Hunter - Great defense, streaky offense, good personality - sort of like Puckett-light (and no, that's not a weight joke).

2) Kirby Puckett - Yeah, I know it turns out that he isn't such a wonderful human being after all, but that doesn't wipe away all the memories of him I have. In fact, my first real memories as a baseball fan were of Kirby Puckett's heroics in the 1991 World Series. I mean, can you imagine the very first year you start seriously paying attention to baseball and your team wins the World Series? It doesn't get much better than that.

Can you picture how excited a little Aaron Gleeman was when Jack Buck screamed out, "...and we'll see you TOMORROW NIGHT!" Plus, it was fun to watch Kirby go from, "cute and pudgy" Kirby to "Wow, his butt is getting big, can he still play centerfield" Kirby to "He sure is getting fat since he retired" Kirby to "That's Kirby?! Geez" Kirby. Of course, "I heard his wife locked herself in the bathroom and Kirby sawed through the door with a power tool" Kirby wasn't quite so much fun, but you can't have everything, I guess.

3) Bobby Kielty - I mean really, what's not to like? He's got the bright-red hair, the aw shucks personality, the switch-hitting power, the plate discipline. Plus, I like the fact that the Twins outfield of Hunter, Jacque Jones and Matt Lawton used to call themselves the "Soul Patrol" and, now that Lawton is gone, Torii and Jacque have become great friends with Kielty and have welcomed him into the Soul Patrol. There's just something likable about a big red-head that's part of a "Soul Patrol" with two guys named Torii and Jacque.

4) Johan Santana - Before he got to be a phenomenal pitcher, I liked Johan Santana just because his name was really cool. Now, I like him because of the name and because he throws 95 MPH gas by hitters on a regular-basis and then drops a devastating changeup on them. I like watching batters shake their head on the way back to the dugout after an at bat against Johan. And he is, of course, "The Official Pitcher of Aaron's Baseball Blog."

5) Matthew LeCroy - I don't know if this is true, but Matthew LeCroy strikes me as someone who is just a big goofball, a "good old boy" if you will. He's chubby, he is maybe the slowest human being on the planet, he's got one of the thickest southern drawls I have ever heard and he's almost always smiling. Plus, I like that, when he first came up to the Twins, the announcers and everyone else would call him "Matt LeCroy." He kept quiet for a while, but once he figured out he was gonna be on the team for more than a week or so, he sent official word up to the booth for the announcers to call him "MattHEW LEEEcroy" from then on. I still remember Dick Bremer and Bert Blyleven (the Twins' announcers) discussing the name change on the air.

Plus, as I always tell people, Matthew LeCroy is the type of baseball player I think I would be. He is really not interested in doing anything beyond hitting the baseball. He likes to eat, he doesn't like to run, he's got a nice goatee going and I bet he'd be perfectly fine with being a DH for the next decade or so. Heck, I bet he'd be even happier if he could just hit and then have a "designated runner" stand just outside the batter's box and take off for first base after he makes contact. A lot of people frown upon complete laziness in a person. For me, it makes you one of my favorite ballplayers.

6) Chad Allen - This might seem like a weird selection, but Chad Allen always struck me as a guy that would literally be willing to run through a brick wall for the team. Like if Tom Kelly had said, "Hey Allen, see that wall over there? Go smash your head into it," all Chad's response would have been (as he was running toward the wall) was "Yes Sir!"

Chad Allen will always be etched in my mind for something he did in Jacobs Field. He was playing right field at the time and a ball was hit up against the wall. Allen went after it and, in doing so, completely tore his knee. He fell to the ground, obviously in tremendous pain. But the ball was still live, so he pulled himself up, hobbled like 15 feet, picked it up, threw it to the cutoff man and then collapsed to the ground like he'd been shot. It was really quite amazing to watch and I'll always have a soft-spot for Chad Allen because of what he did that night.

7) Brent Gates - Gates' career was winding down when he got to the Twins, but he was a superstar at the University of Minnesota and I used to go to the Gopher baseball games with my uncle (before he had his own kids) and we'd sit by Brent Gates' family. Why? Well, for one thing, his sister was unbelievably attractive. I was like 7 years old at the time and, sadly, I never got anywhere with her (the first of many such instances in my life).

8) Lenny Webster - Lenny was the Twins' backup catcher for a few years. I met him once when I was like 9 years old at a "Twins Fest" and he signed a baseball card for me. He was very friendly and I thought he looked like he was about my age, so he's been a favorite of mine ever since.

9) Matt Lawton - I always had a soft spot for "Matty Law" and I'm not sure why. I guess he was just a very solid, all-around player that had a lot of nice moments as a Twin. Lawton and Brad Radke were sort of like the bridge from the Puckett/Knoblauch Twins to the current group. The Lawton for Rick Reed trade still confuses me, although I will admit that it has worked out much better than I thought it would have. Lawton has struggled with injuries and his hitting since leaving Minnesota, but he appears to be back on-track with the Indians, which is good to see.

10) Doug Mientkiewicz/A.J. Pierzynski/Corey Koskie - I can't decide which of the current "veteran" Twins I like more, so I'll give them a tie for 10th. I like Mientkiewicz because his defense is phenomenal and, while his hitting may never be great, I always have the feeling like he'd be the one guy I would want at the plate with the tying run on base in the 9th inning. I like Pierzynski because he plays catcher and he hits, which is a rare combination. Plus, he appears to be a pretty sizable jerk and a lot of other teams despise him, which is always fun. Koskie is just a very good player and has been for a lot of years. He's the veteran hitter on the club and seems to just go about his business very quietly and professionally, which I admire.

Honorable (and dishonorable) mention: Al Newman, Bernardo Brito, Otis Nixon, Hector Carrasco, Kent Hrbek, Shane Mack, Carl "Big Train" Willis, Scott Leuis, Frankie Rodriguez, David Ortiz, Bob Tewksbury, Cristian Guzman.

Do you think Frank Thomas will make the Hall of Fame?

Absolutely.

The beginning of my time as a baseball fan was somewhere around 1990 or 1991, which coincided very nicely with Frank Thomas' arrival in the major leagues. I took a liking to "The Big Hurt" almost immediately. He was my favorite baseball player for my entire baseball-watching childhood, from 1990 until around 1997 or 1998. I used to collect all his baseball cards, watch every White Sox game I could on TV and check out his amazing numbers in the boxscore every morning.

I'm not quite sure why I liked Frank Thomas so much as a little kid. I think it was that he was such a hulking, menacing presence in the batter's box and that his offensive numbers simply amazed me. The batting averages, the RBIs, the home runs - I loved it. I'd like to say that, even at the age of 9 or 10, I liked Frank Thomas because he took walks and posted amazingly high on-base percentages, but I had no idea what an on-base percentage was back then and the only thing I knew about walks was that Frank Thomas got a bunch of them.

It is funny though that, as a kid, before I knew about on-base percentages and slugging percentages and all that sort of stuff, my favorite player was the epitome of the type of player I would grow up to admire and tout as the desired type of hitter. He took walks, he got on base, he made pitchers throw him his pitch and, when they didn't he took it for a ball and, when they did, he smacked the hell out of it.

Okay, enough with the childhood memories, let's talk a little bit about Frank Thomas and his Hall of Fame credentials...

Quite simply, Frank Thomas is one of the greatest hitters in the history of baseball.

There is a stat that I like to use called OPS+, which adjusts a player's offensive contributions for the eras, leagues and ballparks he played in. For example, a player who played from 1995-2002 and had Coors Field as his home ballpark is going to have severely inflated numbers when compared to someone who played from 1960-1968 and played half his games in Dodger Stadium.

OPS+ adjusts for that, putting everyone in baseball history on (essentially) an even playing field. So, where does Frank Thomas rank among the all-time best OPS+ career numbers?

Well, here is where he stood, prior to this season:

#     Player              OPS+       PA

1     Babe Ruth           207     10617

2     Ted Williams        190      9761

3     Lou Gehrig          179      9660

4     Barry Bonds         177     10417

5     Rogers Hornsby      175      9475

6     Mickey Mantle       172      9909

7     Dan Brouthers       170      7658

      Joe Jackson         170      5690

9     Ty Cobb             167     13072

10    Frank Thomas        163      7505

      Jimmie Foxx         163      9670

      Mark McGwire        163      7660

That's it, that's the top 10 (or actually 12) in the entire history of the sport. You've got 8 Hall of Famers, 1 guy who got in trouble during the 1919 World Series and Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire. Oh, and Frank Thomas too.

So maybe the guy wasn't the greatest fielding first baseman and maybe he is a bit of a jerk sometimes, but who cares - the man can hit! From the time he debuted in 1990 through his age-29 season in 1997, Frank Thomas was an absolute monster offensively.

Here are his on-base percentages during that time-span:

.454

.453

.439

.426

.487

.454

.459

.456

And now here are his slugging percentages:

.529

.553

.536

.607

.729

.606

.626

.611

And what the heck, here are his batting averages:

.330

.318

.323

.317

.353

.308

.349

.347

That is offensive domination at its finest. From the time he debuted at age-22 until the time he was 29, Frank Thomas hit .330/.452/.600. The league during that same span hit .267/.338/.415 and the "average" first baseman hit .277/.364/.465 - meaning Thomas' offensive performance was about 40% better than the league's and 30% better than the average player at his position. That is dominance.

During his first 7 full-seasons in the majors leagues, Frank Thomas drove in 100+ runs every single year, scored 100+ runs every single year, batted .300+ every single year and drew 100+ walks every single year. He won back-to-back American League MVP awards in 1993 and 1994 and was selected to 5 straight all-star games. He was also among the top 10 vote-getters in the MVP balloting every single year.

After turning 30, his numbers haven't been as dominant and he's been a whole lot less consistent. After ranking either 1, 2 or 3 in American League OPS+ in all of his first 7 full-seasons, Thomas was not even in the top 10 in 1998 or 1999. He bounced back in a huge way in 2000 though, hitting .328/.436/.625 with 43 homers, 44 doubles and 143 runs batted in, on his way to a 2nd place finish in the AL MVP balloting. After an injury-wrecked 2001 season and a very un-Frank Thomas-like 2002 season, The Big Hurt is back in a big way this season and is currently batting .275/.413/.563, the 4th-best OPS (on-base % + slugging %) in the AL.

If he hadn't had the performance drop-off after turning 30, Frank Thomas would be one of the top 5 hitters in the history of baseball. As it stands now, he is one of the top dozen or so and he should absolutely be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

How many ballparks have you been to? What's your favorite and least favorite?

My least favorite, by far, is the Metrodome. However, that might partly be because, when it was at it's "peak" in 1987 and 1991, I was never in attendance to feel it. I've just been there for the "there's 12,000 people here and the turf looks really crappy" days.

My favorite is Jacobs Field in Cleveland, because it is the type of stadium I dream about for the Twins. It is beautiful, open-air, has some cool new stuff in it and is simply a fantastic place to watch a baseball game.

Other stadiums I have been to: Wrigley Field, Milwaukee County Stadium, Comiskey, Midway Stadium, Scottsdale Stadium, Peoria Sports Complex, Maryvale Baseball Park, Phoenix Municipal Stadium, Mesa HoHoKam Park, and just about every other Spring Training/Arizona Fall League complex in the state of Arizona.

Best sporting event you've ever attended in person?

This one is easy. While I was a student, my high school (Highland Park) won the Minnesota high school basketball tournament, the final 2 games of which were held at Williams Arena, where the U of M Gophers play. I attended both games and the title game was, by far, the hardest I have ever rooted for a team in my entire life. The fact that every single person sitting near me was rooting just as hard for the same team was amazingly exciting. Plus, it was a hell of a game and we won! After the game, everyone went back to the high school for a little pep-rally that lasted well into the night, during which all the players (including current Gopher star Mo Hargrow) were treated like the Beatles. It was really just an awesome experience and the most "a part" of a team I have ever felt.

Worst, most gut wrenching, silent the entire 4 hour drive home, sporting event you've ever been to?

Well, I didn't go to this one, but last year's ALCS loss to the Angels was pretty bad. The Angels just kept getting hits and Adam Kennedy kept hitting like Babe Ruth. It was really quite sickening to watch.

If I am only counting games I was at, I would have to say the Timberwolves' first-round loss to the Rockets several years back. It was the first year Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury were together and it was the first season the Wolves ever made the playoffs. The excitement in the Target Center was awesome and the game was tight the whole way, but Hakeem, Barkley and Mario Elie (yes, Mario Elie) were too tough. Of course, if I knew Marbury would be leaving a couple years later, maybe it wouldn't have been so heartbreaking. Or maybe it would have been even more heartbreaking, who knows?

What do they actually do behind the curtain at the Metrodome?

Trust me, you don't want to know.

Bull Durham or Field of Dreams?

Let me tell you all something very important. There are two types of people in this world - people who prefer Bull Durham and people who prefer Field of Dreams. Bull Durham is a movie about baseball. Field of Dreams is a movie about god knows what, and it contains some baseball in it. Wanna take a guess at which one I like better?

Don't get me wrong, they are both great movies and I have watched them both too many times to count. But there is no contest between the two and one of the first things you should ask someone upon meeting them is, "Bull Durham or Field of Dreams?" It can tell you just about all you need to know about someone right away.

You seem to have an opinion on such things, so who is the best looking woman on the planet right now?

Long-time readers of Aaron's Baseball Blog may remember that I often used to post pictures of beautiful women on this site. It hasn't happened as much lately, mostly because I have gotten emails from people telling that, if I continue to post pictures of Jennifer Aniston's butt and Halle Berry's...well, you know what, then they will eventually be "blocked" from coming to this site at their office. Apparently, many places of business have a thing that tracks the websites their employees go to and is able to tell what type of content is on them. And, since many of you visit this site from your office, I certainly wouldn't want to become "blocked."

That said, for old time's sake, here are the 4 main contenders for the title of "best looking woman on the planet," as I see it:

As if you all didn't know, that is Heidi, Halle, Tyra and Ashley.

To paraphrase something a great man once said: "I wouldn't kick any of them out of bed for eating crackers."

The designated hitter. For it or against it?

As much as this probably pains several members of my family and much of my audience, I am actually for the DH. But, even more than that, I am for both leagues having the same rules. Playing by different rules was fine when there wasn't inter-league play, but now that the two leagues are playing hundreds of games against each other every year, there needs to be one standard set of rules. I really don't care if there is a DH or not to be honest, I just want whatever rule there is to be universal. I will say this though: Double-switches and sacrifice bunts are fun, but they don't make up for watching the pitcher make an out 85% of the time.

Okay, let's go into the lightning round...

Favorite baseball player?

All-time: Ted Williams

Current: Barry Bonds

Favorite food?

The best food I have ever eaten in my life is the Philly cheese steak at a place called "Greasy Tony's" in Scottsdale, Arizona. If you are ever out there, you must go there and get yourself a "36 with no onions." It will change your life. It's a little hole in the wall with like 3 parking spots and they steal their napkins from a McDonalds down the street, but I have been to Arizona numerous times in my life and the highlight of the trip (beyond the baseball) is always Greasy Tony's. I don't know the exact address, but it's right across from the "Improv" and a couple blocks from where the Arizona Cardinals play.

Other than that, I am a sucker for pretty much anything Italian with red sauce on it. My number one food in Minnesota would have to be mostaccioli with sugo sauce from Cafe Di Napoli in downtown Minneapolis.

Honorable mention goes to nacho chips and hot cheese, because I have never had that anywhere and not enjoyed it.

Favorite TV show?

As I have become a bigger and bigger sports fan, I find myself watching fewer and fewer sitcoms and dramas on TV. Pretty much the only shows I consistently watch are NYPD Blue, Seinfeld reruns (which are on 3 times a day here!), Larry Sanders reruns (which, sadly, are not on 3 times a day here) and The Simpsons.

Other than that, it is baseball, baseball and more baseball. And then basketball, basketball and more basketball. And then foot...well, you get the picture.

Oh, and Howard Stern every night on E! At some point, I should write about my obsession with Howard Stern, but I'll save it for another day.

Favorite book?

No contest. The best book I have ever read is Ball Four, by Jim Bouton. I have read it cover-to-cover at least 6 times in the few years I have had it and every single time I enjoy it even more than I did the time before. If you don't have this book, you need to get it.

Favorite actor/actress?

Al Pacino, hands down. I would watch him read the phonebook and I'd probably rent it on pay-per-view. "Hoo-ha!"

Favorite website?

Obviously, Aaron's Baseball Blog is my favorite website, as I am sure is the case with everyone reading this right now. Right? RIGHT?!

Other than that, the first 5 sites I check every morning are:

1) ESPN.com

2) BaseballPrimer.com

3) BaseballProspectus.com

4) TwinsGeek.com

5) BaseballAmerica.com

Honorable mention goes to Baseball-Reference.com, which I use constantly, as well as the DTFC Twins Forum, where I can usually be found, arguing about Luis Rivas.

Do you have any pets?

Yes, I have a soon-to-be 4-year old Boston Terrier named Samantha. She is, quite possibly, the worst behaved dog in the history of dogs. She may also be the cutest dog ever, which, fortunately for her, saves her most of the time.

Britney or Christina?

Ah, the age-old question on everyone's mind...

Let me put it to you this way: In their primes (which, in my opinion, was about 2 years ago), Christina Aguilera could maybe have competed with Britney Spears in the looks department on her best day and Britney's worst day. Maybe.

At this point though, neither of them are really at the tops of their games, but Christina is in a serious, Roberto Alomar-like decline phase. She recently colored her hair black and appears to have put on about 30 pounds.

Meanwhile, Britney is no longer Britney, but she's still one of the best. She is sort of like Barry Bonds right now. He's not at the same level he was at in 2001 or last year, but he's still unbelievably good for anyone other than Barry Bonds.

Britney may no longer be able to reach this level...

...but, like Bonds, her sub par performances are pretty good...

...meanwhile, Christina occasionally looks like this, which should put any and all comparisons to rest...

And finally, let's finish with the question I got asked the most, in one form or another...

Don't you have a job? Do you work and simply write your entries at work? Or do you not work? Do you just wake up around 10am and eat breakfast while surfing the net, then spend a few hours writing, then watch baseball on TV, then go to bed and get up to do it all over again?

Bingo!

The other day, a fellow blogger wrote the following about me:

"As I've written here before, I am a big fan of Aaron's Baseball Blog. Aaron claims to be a college student, and I suppose he probably does take classes during the school year, but it is quite clear from reading his blog that all he does during the summer is sit around his mom's house watching baseball on satellite TV."

I am, without a doubt, the laziest person I have ever met. And, I suspect, if you were to ever meet me, you would be able to say the same thing. There are very few things in life that I enjoy more than sitting in front of a big-screen TV, watching baseball on DirecTV, with my dog by my side. I suppose it could be better. I mean, you could add in some sort of strip-club element or hold the actual contest for "best looking woman on the planet" in my room or I could actually be in San Francisco watching Bonds or in Boston watching Pedro, but the setup I have during the summer is pretty damn good.

As for the whole job thing, no I am not currently employed. My dream is that someone with the ability to employ me will notice my writing on this blog (and on Baseball Primer) and they will offer me a writing job. Will it ever happen? Who knows, but it's my dream.

I actually write my entries at home (during the summer) or in my dorm room (during the school year). I work on an HP laptop computer and I don't really have a set time period during the day when I write. During the summer, I wake up whenever I'm done sleeping (see what I mean about it being a good setup?) and I check my email or watch some TV or go outside with the dog or go to the park to play some baseball. And, when a topic hits me, I start typing. During the school year, it's a little more difficult to find time to write stuff, so I usually work on entries at night or between classes if I have a big break.

The whole Aaron's Baseball Blog operation can best be described through a quote from my favorite TV show:

"Far as I can tell, your entire enterprise is little more than a solitary man with a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken."

And let me tell you Aaron's Baseball Blog visitors, with your help and support, I'll get that chicken!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed this question and answer session. I want to thank everyone who sent me questions and feel free to send me more at any time.

If you missed some of this week's entries or feel like reading them again, here they are:

Monday: JOHAN SANTANA, FREE!

Tuesday: The Most Underrated Player in Baseball

Wednesday: The SI Player Survey

Thursday: Below .500

Have a great weekend and I'll see you Monday...

Today's picks:

Chicago (Prior) -150 over Atlanta (Hampton)

Philadelphia (Wolf) -150 over New York (Heilman)

Los Angeles (Nomo) -110 over Colorado (Stark)

Minnesota (Santana) +125 over Anaheim (Ortiz)