I saw that bit about Lohse. I think that’s pretty good for the Cardinals. That seems like a considerably better signing than Livan (similar or better performance, less money). Not that I would have touched Lohse with a 10 foot clown pole.

On a tangential note: It looks like Kyle Lohse signed with the Cardinals… one year 4.25 mil to be a sucky 3 or 4, awesome!

Also … if I were in Oakland I’d be pretty pissed off about that book. Beating the market and exploiting market deficiencies works best when you’re the only person doing it. After the book was released, there was basically know chance that Oakland’s “Moneyball” strategy would work any more. That market deficiency would quickly disappear.

Oh well.

I agree that this is an AL-only concept. I also am advocating waiting to get rid of Nathan until some closer goes down this year or at the deadline. You obviously don’t trade him now just for the sake of trading him. Especially if by some stroke of luck you find yourself contending at the All-Star break.

If Span’s starting to hit AAA after seeing the pitchers multiple times … that’s a positive sign. It shows he can learn and adapt at the plate, which is a sign of a maturing hitter.

Is it a knock against Joe Mauer that he gets better against most pitchers after he’s seen them a few times? Or Barry Bonds? Or Alex Rodriguez? Or … any hitter in the majors? Of course not.

Other than the fact that we don’t have quite enough players (we could use an upgrade offensively up the middle), I don’t see why it’s a foregone conclusion that this lineup simply cannot contend:

Mauer Young Morneau Cuddyer Kubel Harris Lamb Span Everett

And yes, that’s my proposed batting order. The way I see it, OBP goes at the top, the best hitters are front-loaded (giving them 50-70 more ABs over the course of the season), the DelBat is between the M&M boys, and we have the LRLR thing all the way through.

Giving Mauer/Young/Morneau 50-70 more at bats per season each seems like it’d be worth more runs than sticking Span/Punto at the top of the lineup just so Gardy feels “conventional.”

I see your point on Span, however the kid has been nothing but a headache and done nothing to deserve a spot on the big league roster. Aside from hit some AAA pitchers well after multiple cracks at them.

I think confidence is something that is relative (while you feel confident with Nathan on the mound I have less confidence in him now). We’ll have to respectfully disagree on relievers. I actually prefer a committee (whomever is throwing the ball well) to close out games.

As a side note I don’t mean to imply that anybody who can throw a baseball can close out a game. Obviously there is something about the person (either a funky delivery, fast as hell, wicked cutter, something) that makes them unhittable for an extended period of time. What I am trying to say is that paying for that commodity is unacceptable for a low payroll ball club because any pitching heavy organization will have several people in the organization able to fill that role. In other words, buy low and sell high (which is what I think the Twins will do with Nathan this year)

I go back and forth on the CF issue. One thing I am certain of is that this is not going to be a year that we will be in serious contention and with the way we are setup I prefer not to lose a year of Gomez.

As far as Casilla is concerned I would actually like to see him up with the big club, but only if he is playing everyday. The way it looks, he won’t and therefore should be in AAA hopefully playing SS.

What about Watkins as the backup? He’s learning how to C, and we know how much Gardy loves third catchers.

As I see it 1B- Morneau 2B- Harris (assuming Gardy pulls his head out of his ass) SS- Everett 3B- Lamb LF- Young CF- Pridie or Span (but not both) RF- Cuddyer DH- Kubel C- Mauer C- Redmond OF/DH- Monroe IF- Punto IF- ???? Either Watkins or Buscher (leaning towards Buscher)

That said … I’m not sold that Pridie is the best option for CF right now. (Although he can’t really pretend to be the “leadoff hitter” Gardy wants, possibly forcing him to do something that’s actually unconventional and use Mauer in the leadoff spot.) My stance on that is that Gomez should start the year in AAA, and the starter in CF should be either Span or Pridie (assuming we don’t do anything smart like signing Lofton), whoever wins the position outright. I’d prefer that it’s Span.

Before you have to crap … let me explain. I don’t mind wasting Span in case he fails, but I feel like it’s about time he got a shot at seeing big league opposition. If he does well, we have a nice trading chip we can use at the deadline or after the season (whenever we want to make Gomez the guy). If he craps out, big deal.

And I think Pridie needs to be groomed to replace Monroe as the 4th OF. But really, we’re getting too far ahead of ourselves. The 2008 season starts in under three weeks … but it’s not yet time to talk about 2009!

And I’m glad you’re liking it more than the strib. I had to stop going there after a while. Just couldn’t take it any more.