Wrapping Things Up

With the death of Carl Pohlad earlier this week, I was looking back through the Victoria times to find this this post.

I don’t think Carl Pohlad was evil. I didn’t hate him. While my arguments in that post might not be the arguments I would use to say that he wasn’t evil, I believe he did try to do things for the state of Minnesota and Twins baseball. While people like to complain about him being a miser, it behooves me to remind you that the first player to earn :gasp: $3 million per year was Kirby Puckett. Who played for the Twins. Under Carl Pohlad. Mr. Pohlad was willing to spend money when he knew a player was very special. Yes, Johan Santana was very special, too, but a pitcher contributes less to the overall success of a team (he only plays in 1/5 of the games), and the contract he demanded--and got--is risky. I hope the man plays all the year, healthily, but the fact is that this is very uncertain, especially with pitchers. One of the GMs for the Twins (I believe Terry Ryan) said that Pohlad never denied him when he would ask for the payroll to be increased--but it was a level of trust that Pohlad valued. The GM knew Pohlad would give him what he needed, so he didn’t abuse it; he only asked when there was a situation that was vital. Pohlad was responsible both to his wallet, but he was also responsible for the team. I send my sympathies to the family and friends of Mr. Pohlad. I’m grateful for all he did.

As I searched for the particular article, I found a few other posts that needed wrapping up.

To start with, I said in early September I complained about Yahoo’s poor auto-drafting skills. My offense was respectable, but my defense was a debacle. I said that it was a good thing that I didn’t plan on winning. I would check on the team most weeks to make sure the guys in the line-up were playing. In the league of eight, we came in fifth in total points, but the league was head-to-head, and we came in first in the coveted wins. We faced good team in their down weeks, a bit of luck that continued through the playoffs to the eventual championship win. My apologies to Yahoo auto-draft. I only dropped a few players, but for the most part, the team stayed with the players it gave me in the victory. My life is such that it didn’t surprise me at all that the only time in my life I’ve known good luck is playing fantasy football--a sport that I don’t really know.

Then, in April, I made a bunch of predictions, so I’m going to take a look back and see how I did.

• I'm putting on the record that Justin Morneau does not hit any home runs in April. He'll pick up in June, and in July he'll be back to the guy we thought we were getting four years ago. But not until then.
  Um, yeah. He hit six home runs in April, but ended the year with “only” 23--still enough to lead the Twins, but very reminiscent of those years from 1987 to 2006 when no Twin hit 30 home runs.
  
• The Royals, to the surprise of everyone except me, will finish the year in second place in the American Central. I've felt they've been on the verge of good-ness for a couple of years now, but never quite pulled it together, but this will be the year.
  It’s fashionable to make fun of the Royals, but they will break out. It didn’t happen in 2008, so we’ll wait for 2009. They made great strides in 2008 by not coming in last place.
  
• I'm not sure which of the Tigers and Indians will find themselves in first, but the other will be in third.
  Hey, the Indians came in third! I got half of my prediction right! I just couldn’t fathom that the two well-stocked teams would flutter through the year. I could not have imagined on April 3 that the Tigers would be in last place at the end of the year. I still can’t believe it.
  
• The Twins and White Sox will battle for last. The Twins will be as frustrating as the pitching and hitting will not come together on the same days. Expect many more days when the Twins will lose 0-1 or 9-11.
  The White Sox and Twins did battle for position at the end of the year, but at the other end of the rankings. The Twins young pitching staff (and Livan) managed to keep the team in order, and the Twins offense managed to keep the games competitive. The White Sox won the one-game playoff game.
  
• At least four guys will make major league debuts for the Twins by August 31--we've got Bass and Tolbert already!
  Making their major league debuts before August 31: Matt Tolbert, Brian Bass, Denard Span, Matt Macri, Bobby Korecky, and Randy Ruiz. That’s six! (September call-up debuts included Jose Mijares and Jason Pridie.)
  
• At least eight guys will make starts in the pitching rotation for the Twins by the end of the year.
  Fail. Only seven guys started for the Twins: Nick Blackburn, Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins, Livan Hernandez, Francisco Liriano, and Boof Bonser.
  
• Scott Baker will pitch a gem and lose, and pitch horribly and win.
  One of his worst starts of the year with a win happened twice, where he gave up three runs in five innings. He had his obligatory eight inning/two-hit/one-run loss. Incidentally, his ERA in games he won was 3.60, and in losses was 2.60 (no decisions, which he had many, was 4.09).
  
• Carlos Gomez, who should wear tall socks, will not, or at least will not at any game I attend.
  He did wear tall socks with some frequency towards the end of the year. I was delighted.
  
• In April, Matt Tolbert will have a higher batting average than any other infielder.
  Matt Tolbert had the highest batting average of any Twin in April (.300).
  
• The Twins will have a higher win percentage than the Timberwolves.
  I don’t remember what the Twins or Timberwolves records were in 2008, but I can tell you this: the Twins definitely did better. I know the Timberwolves were not above 50%, and the Twins were.
  

Finally, the first Minnesota Swarm lacrosse game is Saturday night against the San Jose Stealth. Come out and support the un-defeated Swarm (who won last Saturday against the Portland Lumberjax, 11-7).

Timberwolves update: 10-25 (6-4 since last time, 6-10 since McHale)

It looks like the Timberwolves are generous enough to make sure that I don’t have to attend a game. Their win percentage is almost 30%! There are five teams worse than the T-Wolves out there.

Marian Gaborik Injury Status/Prediction: If he plays again for the Wild, it will be less than ten games. He had hip surgery Monday, January 5, and will going through at least ten weeks of re-hab/conditioning before he plays again.