Hitting The Eephus

I am happy to announce that this blog has moved. It can now be found here. I know it may seem like there’s a lot of moving happening, but I don’t see moving again anytime soon.

I am not happy with the layout of tumblr, particularly not being able to see how to get to the comments from the main screen. I have have found a layout that this does work, but I do not like it. I will be moving on to a new blog hosting site in the near future.

Joe Mauer. Batting Champion. MVP. Silver Slugger. Gold Glove Winner. Catcher of a Cy Young Award Winner.

Joe Mauer is the heart and soul of this team. He has all the accolades. He should be the most fun to project.

So those are my projections. What do you think? PLEASE leave your projections in the comments.

I’ve decided to start projecting the Twins in order of position, with pitchers coming last. I will not project positions that are not locked down; those spots should be filled with a free agent or a trade in the coming weeks. If they are not filled, I’ll project them at a later date.

Please leave your thoughts and projections in the comments.

This is the roster as I currently see it

C-Mauer

1B-Morneau

2B-

3B-

SS-Hardy

LF-Young

CF-Span

RF-Cuddyer

DH-Kubel

SP-Baker

SP-Slowey

SP-Blackburn

SP-Pavano

SP-

CL-Nathan

The A’s have acquired Kevin Kouzmanoff and a minor leaguer form the Padres. The Padres will get pitcher Gio Gonzalez and outfielder Aaron Cunningham.

Kouzmanoff would have been a good fit with the Twins. Bill Smith is incompetent. Not much more can be said.

Thank you all for reading. I have been getting a few emails from readers and that makes me happy that I am reaching readers enough to get feedback.

I would like to invite each and every one of you to “sign the guestbook” in the comments. Please also leave likes and dislikes you have as it will help me improve.

Thank You!

According to Ken Rosenthal and Jon Morosi of Fox Sports, the Padres are again looking to trade Kevin Kouzmanoff, this time it is to clear payroll for Jermaine Dye. Earlier this offseason, the Padres wanted Perkins and a 2nd player.

On the outside, Kouzmanoff does not look like a great addition but his splits say much more. Kouzmanoff is a career .261 hitter, but he hits .284 away from his current home, Petco Park. His OPS is 131 points higher away from Petco at .805/.674. He doesn’t get on base enough for the 2-hole, but his .328 mark away from Petco is  better than Punto’s career mark of .322, and and Hardy’s mark of .323.

He is not a bad fielder either. His fielding percentage has gone up every year he has been in the big leagues. Last year it was .990.

He would be a decent option for Perkins and a lower prospect. He’s not the number 2 hitter we need, but he will be decent away from Petco.

There are only six weeks left until the Twins pitchers and catchers report. After the Hardy/Gomez trade there hasn’t been a move to fill second or third base. Nick Punto can fill either of the two spots, so only one free agent is needed, but two would be ideal.

Second basemen Ronnie Belliard, Jerry Harriston Jr., Orlando Hudson, Adam Kennedy, Felipe Lopez, Mark Loretta, and Pablo Ozuna remain unsigned. Third baseman Rich Aurilia, Aaron Boone, Joe Crede, Nomar Garciaparra, Melvin Mora, Robb Quinlan, and Miguel Tejada also do not have contracts.

Mark Loretta, Pablo Ozuna, Rich Aurilia, Aaron Boone, and Robb Quinlan really don’t bring anything valuable to the table. It is also unlikely that the Twins sign Belliard, Harriston, Garciaparra, and Tejada. That leaves us with Hudson, Kennedy, Lopez, Crede, and Mora.

The Twins lineup should look like this.

1. CF Span

2. 2B/3B Free Agent/SS Hardy

3. C Mauer

4. 1B Morneau

5. RF Cuddyer

6. DH Kubel

7. SS Hardy/ Free Agent

8. LF Young

9. 2B/3B Punto

Hardy is not really the OBP guy needed in front of Mauer, so the free agent needs to have a decent OBP. Crede and Mora do not have a good OBP, so that leaves Hudson, Lopez, and Kennedy.

As those three are all second baseman, the free agent signing needed really needs to be a second baseman, and it should be Hudson or Lopez. Kennedy would be a decent fallback option, but as Hudson and Lopez are not signed and won’t cost a free agent pick, one of them should be signed.

Now we have to ask, why have the Twins only pursued third baseman so far this year? It really doesn’t fit what the team needs.

I have been looking forward to this. The Twins have unveiled their jerseys and logos for the the 2010 season.

The home jersey stayed virtually the same. The only change is the slight change to the script that was originally found on top of the video board at Target Field. The home hat stays the same. It is still the navy blue hat with the “TC” logo.

The alternate jersey that will be worn on the home opener and every Saturday are the jerseys worn by the 1961 club.

The completely new road jerseys come with the script that could be found on the players jackets from 1961 to 1986. They are grey and no longer have pinstripes. These come with Louie’s approval.

The road jerseys will be worn with a navy blue hat with the “TC” logo. This navy blue hat will have a red bill.

The Twins unveiled 3 new logos. They have a new primary logo, an inaugural Target Field logo, and a 50 seasons logo.

All of these images are courtesy of mlb.com

Head on over to my new fantasy baseball blog Doc Fantasy where I discuss big Septembers.