After a month of watching the media collectively stroke Brett Favre 24 hours a day, I was just happy to see Favre end up somewhere... anywhere. It has been a month of non-stop Favre coverage on the "World Wide Leader in Favre Coverage" (aka ESPN), including his own ticker category, monopolization of entire episodes of NFL Live and Sportcenter and commentary from people that don't play football, don't know Favre and simply should not be commenting in the first place.
Normally, in the month leading into the NFL regular season opener, I would watch anything and everything football related, like NFL Live, to get ready for the season. Normally, I would read a favorite site of mine every day to read about training camp battles, key injuries, and who got arrested for what. Not this year. Everything has been about Favre and all the "he said, she said" bullshit between him and the Packers. Even if there are other storylines going on in the NFL (which I know there are), you have to filter through all the Favre-related content to find them, because Favre always comes first. Suffice it to say, my excitement for this season has been tempered.
I was especially excited about the Vikings this season, who look like a very good football team, that could make some serious noise this season. Then, we started to hear about all these rumors that Favre wants play for Minnesota and that the Packers are considering trading him to the Vikings. That was just too much to take. If he would have come to Minnesota, I would not have been in any way interested in the Vikings' season. People were talking about the Vikings winning the SuperBowl with Favre at the helm. I would rather go 0-16 without Favre than win the SuperBowl with him. Now, that sounds crazy, right? Because the ultimate goal is to win the SuperBowl. But if the Vikings won the SuperBowl with Favre leading them, it would be tainted. The media (not to mention all Packer fans) would say that Favre won the SuperBowl for the Vikings. He would be credited with the victory. He would be the sole reason the Vikings won the SuperBowl. I couldn't handle that. I wouldn't be worth it.
Finally, we know that Favre will not be wearing a purple jersey this year and I couldn't be happier. After all his crying and bitching and manipulating, trying to get his way, he ended up being traded to a team that he doesn't really want to play for. He's going to play for a team that is a 8-8 team at best, that will probably not make the playoffs. He will be playing for a bad team, which will remind him how good he had it in Green Bay and hopefully it will make him feel like it wasn't worth coming back and that he should have stayed retired. And then, next season, after he voices all of this in the media, he will play his bullshit game again about whether he'll retire or not. And we'll all be right back here, sick of all the coverage that he continues to receive for being a little baby.
I think I speak for a lot of football fans when I say "Brett, just go away". I don't want to see any more of his fake celebrations when he throws a TD, where he pretends to run around like a little kid because he's so excited. What a bunch of crap. Its so fake. I don't want to hear any more Madden orgasms over how much he loves how Favre plays the game, how he plays the right way, how he's the greatest ever. And most of all, I don't want to see or hear or read any more coverage of "Favre considers retirement" and "Favre retires" and "Favre considers return", and "Favre says he's not wanted" and "Favre breaks a nail" and "Favre has a slumber party with John Madden and all of ESPN". Seriously, I'm done. But of course, we're going to have to spend this entire season following his every move with a new team. And I think that I'm going to wear out the mute button on my remote.
Brett, seriously, I hope you tear your ACL. That's the only way we can finally be rid of you forever.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
The Twins' New Guys, Part 5: Brendan Harris
The first four parts of "The Twins' New Guys" series focused on the free agents signed by the Twins last off season. Now, I will turn my attention towards the players acquired via trades, who are currently contributing to the major league club. There will be three posts about such players.
Brendan Harris
Brendan Harris was acquired by the Twins on November 28, 2007, in a trade with Tampa Bay. The Twins sent Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, and Eduardo Morlan to the Rays for Delmon Young, Jason Pridie, and Brendan Harris. Although primarily playing at 3B throughout his minor league career, Harris has spent the majority of his major league time at SS and 2B. After bouncing around in several trades, Harris got his first prolonged chance at the major league level during the 2007 season with Tampa Bay, playing mostly at SS. In 500+ at-bats, he compiled a .286/.343/.434 line, which totals to an OPS+ of 106, making him a slightly above average offensive shortstop. When the Twins agreed to trade Jason Bartlett to Tampa Bay, it made sense to replace him with a SS whose overall numbers appear (on the surface) to be very similar to Bartlett's (.265/.339/.361 and an OPS+ of 88 for Bartlett in 2007).
So far this season: Due largely to injuries on the infield (Everett and Punto) and the ineffectiveness of Mike Lamb, Brendan Harris has seen fairly regular playing time. In fact, Harris has the 5th-most at-bats on the team, with 320, which is just 8 fewer than Joe Mauer. Unfortunately, Harris' 320 at-bats have not been as productive as Mauer's. Through 91 games, Harris has splits of .259/.315/.369, giving him an OPS+ of 87 (below average). However, his is in the midst of a pretty good stretch, hitting .313, including 13 extra-base hits (7 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR) since mid-June.
Harris began the year as the Twins' starting second baseman, with Adam Everett playing SS. However, he struggled defensively at 2B, committing 5 errors in 39 games and posting a well below average RFg of 4.03 (league average at 2B is 4.58). Alexi Casilla was called up from AAA to take over at 2B and Brendan Harris was moved to SS, the position where he played the majority of last season. Despite the fact that his defense still isn't stellar, Harris has looked more comfortable at shortstop, posting a well above average RFg of 4.65 (league average is 3.93) and committing just 3 errors in 43 games. Ultimately, defense isn't the strongest part of Harris' game, as he still has pretty hard hands and too often is unable to turn a double-play, even though he has appeared more comfortable at SS.
Outlook for the rest of the season: I think that for the rest of the season, Harris will be in a platoon at SS with Nick Punto, as long as Punto can stay healthy enough to play. Although Adam Everett is due back from the disabled list soon, I don't believe he will be a factor at SS (he is more likely a candidate for release or trade). If Harris can continue to produce the offensive numbers that he has in the last month, it will be difficult for Ron Gardenhire to keep him out of the lineup, especially against left-handed pitchers, as the Twins desperately need a right-handed batter to step up against lefties. I believe that Harris can produce somewhere near his career splits of .268/.326/.402, which would be acceptable. Based on his track-record, I don't believe Nick Punto will continue putting up the numbers that he has (in limited playing time) this season, which will make Harris all the more important down the stretch.
Synopsis: In my mind, the Twins could do a lot worse than Brendan Harris as their SS. The Twins are a better team with him on the field than they would have been marching Adam Everett out there every day. That being said, I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to Harris. He is absolutely brutal to watch defensively. I have to cover my eyes every time he is involved in a potential double play. On the other hand, offensively, Harris has shown some positive things. He began the year on fire and is now in the middle of another good stretch. He just needs to learn to be a little bit more patient and selective at the plate, as evidenced by his striking out in 23% of at-bats, while only walking 7% of the time. Unfortunately, as a 28 year old SS, in just his second full year in the majors, Harris has more than likely reached his full potential. Ultimately, I see Harris as a stop-gap shortstop, until the Twins sign a quality player in free agency or have a player from the minor league system take over.
In my post about Adam Everett, I talked about how I felt that trading Bartlett was a mistake. If you look at the trade with Tampa Bay as 3 player-for-player trades (which isn't a great view of the trade, but for comparison purposes here, it works), then Brendan Harris and Jason Bartlett were traded for each other. With that view, I still think that trading Jason Bartlett was a mistake. Despite having more power than Bartlett, Harris strikes out a lot, walks fairly rarely, and is below average defensively. I think that Bartlett's defensive ability, coupled with his superior on-base skills made him the more valuable player. Admittedly, Bartlett is having a pretty poor year in Tampa Bay this year, but that doesn't mean that he would have been as bad if he had remained with the Twins. As I said above, I have no real problem with Harris, but I would still prefer Bartlett at SS.
Brendan Harris
Brendan Harris was acquired by the Twins on November 28, 2007, in a trade with Tampa Bay. The Twins sent Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, and Eduardo Morlan to the Rays for Delmon Young, Jason Pridie, and Brendan Harris. Although primarily playing at 3B throughout his minor league career, Harris has spent the majority of his major league time at SS and 2B. After bouncing around in several trades, Harris got his first prolonged chance at the major league level during the 2007 season with Tampa Bay, playing mostly at SS. In 500+ at-bats, he compiled a .286/.343/.434 line, which totals to an OPS+ of 106, making him a slightly above average offensive shortstop. When the Twins agreed to trade Jason Bartlett to Tampa Bay, it made sense to replace him with a SS whose overall numbers appear (on the surface) to be very similar to Bartlett's (.265/.339/.361 and an OPS+ of 88 for Bartlett in 2007).So far this season: Due largely to injuries on the infield (Everett and Punto) and the ineffectiveness of Mike Lamb, Brendan Harris has seen fairly regular playing time. In fact, Harris has the 5th-most at-bats on the team, with 320, which is just 8 fewer than Joe Mauer. Unfortunately, Harris' 320 at-bats have not been as productive as Mauer's. Through 91 games, Harris has splits of .259/.315/.369, giving him an OPS+ of 87 (below average). However, his is in the midst of a pretty good stretch, hitting .313, including 13 extra-base hits (7 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR) since mid-June.
Harris began the year as the Twins' starting second baseman, with Adam Everett playing SS. However, he struggled defensively at 2B, committing 5 errors in 39 games and posting a well below average RFg of 4.03 (league average at 2B is 4.58). Alexi Casilla was called up from AAA to take over at 2B and Brendan Harris was moved to SS, the position where he played the majority of last season. Despite the fact that his defense still isn't stellar, Harris has looked more comfortable at shortstop, posting a well above average RFg of 4.65 (league average is 3.93) and committing just 3 errors in 43 games. Ultimately, defense isn't the strongest part of Harris' game, as he still has pretty hard hands and too often is unable to turn a double-play, even though he has appeared more comfortable at SS.
Outlook for the rest of the season: I think that for the rest of the season, Harris will be in a platoon at SS with Nick Punto, as long as Punto can stay healthy enough to play. Although Adam Everett is due back from the disabled list soon, I don't believe he will be a factor at SS (he is more likely a candidate for release or trade). If Harris can continue to produce the offensive numbers that he has in the last month, it will be difficult for Ron Gardenhire to keep him out of the lineup, especially against left-handed pitchers, as the Twins desperately need a right-handed batter to step up against lefties. I believe that Harris can produce somewhere near his career splits of .268/.326/.402, which would be acceptable. Based on his track-record, I don't believe Nick Punto will continue putting up the numbers that he has (in limited playing time) this season, which will make Harris all the more important down the stretch.
Synopsis: In my mind, the Twins could do a lot worse than Brendan Harris as their SS. The Twins are a better team with him on the field than they would have been marching Adam Everett out there every day. That being said, I'm pretty indifferent when it comes to Harris. He is absolutely brutal to watch defensively. I have to cover my eyes every time he is involved in a potential double play. On the other hand, offensively, Harris has shown some positive things. He began the year on fire and is now in the middle of another good stretch. He just needs to learn to be a little bit more patient and selective at the plate, as evidenced by his striking out in 23% of at-bats, while only walking 7% of the time. Unfortunately, as a 28 year old SS, in just his second full year in the majors, Harris has more than likely reached his full potential. Ultimately, I see Harris as a stop-gap shortstop, until the Twins sign a quality player in free agency or have a player from the minor league system take over.
In my post about Adam Everett, I talked about how I felt that trading Bartlett was a mistake. If you look at the trade with Tampa Bay as 3 player-for-player trades (which isn't a great view of the trade, but for comparison purposes here, it works), then Brendan Harris and Jason Bartlett were traded for each other. With that view, I still think that trading Jason Bartlett was a mistake. Despite having more power than Bartlett, Harris strikes out a lot, walks fairly rarely, and is below average defensively. I think that Bartlett's defensive ability, coupled with his superior on-base skills made him the more valuable player. Admittedly, Bartlett is having a pretty poor year in Tampa Bay this year, but that doesn't mean that he would have been as bad if he had remained with the Twins. As I said above, I have no real problem with Harris, but I would still prefer Bartlett at SS.
Friday, July 25, 2008
The Twins' New Guys, Part 4: Livan Hernandez
Livan Hernandez
Livan Hernandez broke into the majors in 1996 with the Florida Marlins. In his rookie season (officially speaking, his rookie season was '97, although he made one appearance during the '96 season), Livan was the runner-up National League Rookie of the Year and helped lead the Marlins to their first World Series championship. Since, Livan has established a reputation as a durable "innings eater", pitching 200+ innings in every season since 1997, with the exception of '99 when he pitched "just" 199 innings. Prior to this season, he pitched for 4 other teams (Florida, San Francisco, Montreal/Washington, and Arizona) and was a two-time NL All Star. As Livan has gotten older, he has lost a lot of velocity on his pitches, resulting in declining effectiveness. His ERA and WHIP have increased steadily every year since 2003, while his K/9 has drastically decreased. Essentially, as he's aged, Livan has been missing fewer bats and become very hittable, resulting in him giving up a lot more runs.
With the trades of staff ace Johan Santana and the promising, young Matt Garza, the Twins were looking for pitching to solidify a very young staff. More specifically, the Twins hoped to find a veteran to step in as the new (if only temporary) staff ace. Enter Livan Hernandez, who signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Twins. In addition to Livan's ability to "eat innings", the Twins also loved that he would bring a "veteran presence" to the rotation.
So far this season: Livan has continued his trend of the last few years, by having an ERA and WHIP higher than the previous season, while striking out fewer batters. He has a terrible 5.39 ERA and a 75 ERA+, making him a well below-average pitcher. He has the 7th-lowest WHIP in the majors, giving up 1.5 walks and hits per inning. He has struck out a league-worst 3.31 batters per 9 innings. True to form for Twins pitchers, Livan has walked just 1.69 batters per 9 innings, good enough for 11th-best in the big leagues. However, the fact that he has walked so few batters makes his high WHIP that much more concerning, as it means that he has been giving up a ridiculous number of hits.
If you want to look at the "positive" side, Livan is once again on pace to pitch 200+ innings, thus living up to the "innings eater" tag. Plus his VPIOYPI (Veteran Presence Impact on Young Pitchers Index) is through the roof, at an astounding 8.92. OK, I made that stat up. But the Twins believe that Livan is teaching the young pitchers on the team (Slowey, Perkins, Baker, and Blackburn) how to pitch the right way and is having a very positive influence.
Outlook for the rest of the season: If you were to ask a Magic 8-Ball about the outlook for the rest of Livan Hernandez's season, I'm fairly certain the response would be "Outlook not so good". Livan will continue to "eat innings", just like the Twins want. Ultimately though, I think his overall numbers will remain approximately the same, meaning that he will pitch another 100 way below sub-par innings in the season half of the season. There have been rumblings (mostly just wishful thinking I guess) that Livan could be traded to a contending team who wants his "veteran presence" down the stretch. However, I don't really see that happening. Given what a bad year he has had, I don't really believe there are any teams that would be willing to take on his salary, his bad innings, and given the Twins something in return. Therefore, Livan will remain in the Twins rotation (I also see no chance of him being moved to the bullpen) and the Twins offense will need to continue to score a lot of runs when he starts, in order to win any games when he pitches.
Synopsis: During a recent Twins broadcast, Bert Blyleven said one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard in my life. He and Dick Bremer were discussing Francisco Liriano possibly returning to the rotation and Bert said something to the extent of "there is nobody that deserves to be taken out of the rotation to make room for Liriano". Now, I realize that the local broadcasters see things through rose-colored glasses, but honestly, there isn't anybody who deserves any consideration for being removed from the rotation? Let's just say I disagree. People like to point out that he has 10 wins this season. He's winning games, what more do you want? Well, actually, I would argue that Livan Hernandez isn't winning those games so much as the offense is carrying him on their backs and getting him those wins. Regardless, wins are a meaningless stat for pitchers. Livan, on average, gives up about 5 runs a game and gives up 1.5 hits and walks every inning. Compare that to Liriano's 3.30 ERA and 1.13 WHIP so far this season (admittedly that's against minor league talent, but its impressive nonetheless, considering he's coming off of major surgery on his throwing arm). Tell me that Livan doesn't deserve to be removed from the rotation.
The there's the whole topic of "veteran presence". Honestly, I can't say whether or not Livan's presence in the dugout and in the locker room is having a positive influence on the other pitchers. That is an intangible thing that cannot possibly be measured or even proven to be a factor at all. Therefore, due to lack of evidence, I must dismiss this concept as not increasing Livan's value. It sounds nice, but I'm just not buying it.
However, in a surprise twist, I'm going to end on a positive note by arguing that the signing of Livan Hernandez was not the worst signing in Twins history. In fact, despite his horrible performance this year, he has been essentially as good (bad) as Carlos Silva has been this year. Consider the following stats (Hernandez/Silva):
IP: 127.7 / 121.7
ERA: 5.29 / 5.62
ERA+: 75 / 71
WHIP: 1.58 / 1.46
K/9: 3.31 / 3.92
BB/9: 1.69 / 1.48
HR Allowed: 16 / 14
As you can see, Hernandez and Silva have been essentially the same pitcher this year. But here's the big difference and the reason I don't think that Hernandez was a terrible signing: Hernandez was signed by the Twins for 1 year at $5 million, while Carlos Silva was signed by the Mariners as a free agent for 4 years at $12 million per year. That's a $7 million difference for essentially equivalently bad pitching. Plus, the Twins can easily allow Hernandez to leave as a free agent at the end of the season, while the Mariners are stuck with Silva (and the likelihood that they could trade him with his bad performance and such an inflated salary is pretty low). I'm not saying that Livan Hernandez was a great signing, not even close. In fact, the Twins should have just trusted their young pitching talent in the minor league system. However, considering that the Twins had quite a bit of money to spend after Santana left, $5 million for one year of bad pitching isn't the worst move the Twins have ever made. It could have been much worse: they could have resigned Carlos Silva.
Livan Hernandez broke into the majors in 1996 with the Florida Marlins. In his rookie season (officially speaking, his rookie season was '97, although he made one appearance during the '96 season), Livan was the runner-up National League Rookie of the Year and helped lead the Marlins to their first World Series championship. Since, Livan has established a reputation as a durable "innings eater", pitching 200+ innings in every season since 1997, with the exception of '99 when he pitched "just" 199 innings. Prior to this season, he pitched for 4 other teams (Florida, San Francisco, Montreal/Washington, and Arizona) and was a two-time NL All Star. As Livan has gotten older, he has lost a lot of velocity on his pitches, resulting in declining effectiveness. His ERA and WHIP have increased steadily every year since 2003, while his K/9 has drastically decreased. Essentially, as he's aged, Livan has been missing fewer bats and become very hittable, resulting in him giving up a lot more runs.With the trades of staff ace Johan Santana and the promising, young Matt Garza, the Twins were looking for pitching to solidify a very young staff. More specifically, the Twins hoped to find a veteran to step in as the new (if only temporary) staff ace. Enter Livan Hernandez, who signed a one-year, $5 million contract with the Twins. In addition to Livan's ability to "eat innings", the Twins also loved that he would bring a "veteran presence" to the rotation.
So far this season: Livan has continued his trend of the last few years, by having an ERA and WHIP higher than the previous season, while striking out fewer batters. He has a terrible 5.39 ERA and a 75 ERA+, making him a well below-average pitcher. He has the 7th-lowest WHIP in the majors, giving up 1.5 walks and hits per inning. He has struck out a league-worst 3.31 batters per 9 innings. True to form for Twins pitchers, Livan has walked just 1.69 batters per 9 innings, good enough for 11th-best in the big leagues. However, the fact that he has walked so few batters makes his high WHIP that much more concerning, as it means that he has been giving up a ridiculous number of hits.
If you want to look at the "positive" side, Livan is once again on pace to pitch 200+ innings, thus living up to the "innings eater" tag. Plus his VPIOYPI (Veteran Presence Impact on Young Pitchers Index) is through the roof, at an astounding 8.92. OK, I made that stat up. But the Twins believe that Livan is teaching the young pitchers on the team (Slowey, Perkins, Baker, and Blackburn) how to pitch the right way and is having a very positive influence.
Outlook for the rest of the season: If you were to ask a Magic 8-Ball about the outlook for the rest of Livan Hernandez's season, I'm fairly certain the response would be "Outlook not so good". Livan will continue to "eat innings", just like the Twins want. Ultimately though, I think his overall numbers will remain approximately the same, meaning that he will pitch another 100 way below sub-par innings in the season half of the season. There have been rumblings (mostly just wishful thinking I guess) that Livan could be traded to a contending team who wants his "veteran presence" down the stretch. However, I don't really see that happening. Given what a bad year he has had, I don't really believe there are any teams that would be willing to take on his salary, his bad innings, and given the Twins something in return. Therefore, Livan will remain in the Twins rotation (I also see no chance of him being moved to the bullpen) and the Twins offense will need to continue to score a lot of runs when he starts, in order to win any games when he pitches.
Synopsis: During a recent Twins broadcast, Bert Blyleven said one of the most ridiculous things I've ever heard in my life. He and Dick Bremer were discussing Francisco Liriano possibly returning to the rotation and Bert said something to the extent of "there is nobody that deserves to be taken out of the rotation to make room for Liriano". Now, I realize that the local broadcasters see things through rose-colored glasses, but honestly, there isn't anybody who deserves any consideration for being removed from the rotation? Let's just say I disagree. People like to point out that he has 10 wins this season. He's winning games, what more do you want? Well, actually, I would argue that Livan Hernandez isn't winning those games so much as the offense is carrying him on their backs and getting him those wins. Regardless, wins are a meaningless stat for pitchers. Livan, on average, gives up about 5 runs a game and gives up 1.5 hits and walks every inning. Compare that to Liriano's 3.30 ERA and 1.13 WHIP so far this season (admittedly that's against minor league talent, but its impressive nonetheless, considering he's coming off of major surgery on his throwing arm). Tell me that Livan doesn't deserve to be removed from the rotation.
The there's the whole topic of "veteran presence". Honestly, I can't say whether or not Livan's presence in the dugout and in the locker room is having a positive influence on the other pitchers. That is an intangible thing that cannot possibly be measured or even proven to be a factor at all. Therefore, due to lack of evidence, I must dismiss this concept as not increasing Livan's value. It sounds nice, but I'm just not buying it.
However, in a surprise twist, I'm going to end on a positive note by arguing that the signing of Livan Hernandez was not the worst signing in Twins history. In fact, despite his horrible performance this year, he has been essentially as good (bad) as Carlos Silva has been this year. Consider the following stats (Hernandez/Silva):
IP: 127.7 / 121.7
ERA: 5.29 / 5.62
ERA+: 75 / 71
WHIP: 1.58 / 1.46
K/9: 3.31 / 3.92
BB/9: 1.69 / 1.48
HR Allowed: 16 / 14
As you can see, Hernandez and Silva have been essentially the same pitcher this year. But here's the big difference and the reason I don't think that Hernandez was a terrible signing: Hernandez was signed by the Twins for 1 year at $5 million, while Carlos Silva was signed by the Mariners as a free agent for 4 years at $12 million per year. That's a $7 million difference for essentially equivalently bad pitching. Plus, the Twins can easily allow Hernandez to leave as a free agent at the end of the season, while the Mariners are stuck with Silva (and the likelihood that they could trade him with his bad performance and such an inflated salary is pretty low). I'm not saying that Livan Hernandez was a great signing, not even close. In fact, the Twins should have just trusted their young pitching talent in the minor league system. However, considering that the Twins had quite a bit of money to spend after Santana left, $5 million for one year of bad pitching isn't the worst move the Twins have ever made. It could have been much worse: they could have resigned Carlos Silva.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Hey, those are my cans
Well, its been over a month since my last post and I've gotten several complaints about that. Sorry about that. Work (where I do most of my writing) hasn't allowed must time for blogging. In any case, I'm going to digress from the Twins postings in order to discuss something that just pisses me off.
There are these two guys that live in one of the buildings in our apartment community and they happen to have a garage right across from ours. Pretty much every day when I come home from work or pretty much anytime I come or go from my garage, at least one of them is out in their garage doing their thing. What is their thing, you ask? You see, their garage is filled with bags of cans, scraps of metal, and old appliances. They are constantly sorting through the cans, organizing the metal scraps and stripping the old appliances of their various metal components. All of the work that these two fine gentlemen do in their garage is so they can sell this metal at the local recycling center.
On the surface, this all sounds legit so far, right? It's certainly their right to make a little money off of recycling their used cans and old appliances. Except, I have a hard time believing that two people could produce hundreds of empty cans each week. I also notice that different appliances appear in their garage each week. I have an even harder time believing that they own all of these appliances and that they just happen to keep breaking all the time such that they can scrap them for parts. So then, where are they getting all of these items which they can sell for money?
Answer: The dumpster/recycling bins
These nice men are dumpster-divers. I have seen them many times (usually early in the morning and after dark) literally climb into the big dumpster outside our apartment building and pick through the garbage looking for anything that would have metal that could be sold. They take entire bags of people's recycling out of the bins and place them in their garage. In short, they steal other people's garbage and sell it for their livelihood.
Now, we've all heard stories of meth-heads stealing copper wire and catalytic converters from people's cars and selling them for meth money, but I don't believe these guys are meth users. I think they're just too lazy to get real jobs. I mean for Christ sake, they could be trash/recycling pickup men, or work at the dump and it would be the same work. I'm guessing it probably doesn't pay as well though.
I probably shouldn't be as upset about this as I am. I mean, I am getting rid of the cans, etc, so why do I care what happens to them once I throw them out? And legally speaking, dumpster-diving is perfectly legal in most places. Essentially, when you put something in the trash, you give up your possession of the item and its free for anyone to claim. But you know what, when I put my garbage and recycling out there, I'm not putting there for someone to make a profit.
I would be even more upset if I were a home-owner. In some cities, home-owners have to pay a company to come collect their garbage and/or recycling. If I were paying for those services and then someone came along and stole my garbage and/or recycling to make money, I would be livid!
I guess one of the reasons that I'm so annoyed by these guys is that I think maybe they get some of their metal from places other than the dumpster and recycling bins at our apartment. They often have pieces of metal pipe that look like fence posts or something similar. So, are they going to construction sites or homes and taking pieces of metal? Not to mention the large number of appliances they have. Are they driving around and taking appliances off of people's curbs? At least once a week, they park their car, which is full of metal scraps, etc in front of their garage and unload it. The fact that they loaded their car up indicates to me that they didn't get most of that stuff near by.
When I was researching the legality of dumpster-diving and stealing of recyclables, I found this story. People are making a business out of stealing recyclables and garbage. Its completely ridiculous.
I'm so sick of lazy people who can't just make a normal living. I'm sick of those who have to prey on others and take advantage of everyone just for their own gain. Maybe what these guys are doing isn't that big of a deal, but it still falls under these types of behavior and I can be upset with them if I want to be.
I guess I'll just have to start taking my metal scraps to the recycling center myself...
There are these two guys that live in one of the buildings in our apartment community and they happen to have a garage right across from ours. Pretty much every day when I come home from work or pretty much anytime I come or go from my garage, at least one of them is out in their garage doing their thing. What is their thing, you ask? You see, their garage is filled with bags of cans, scraps of metal, and old appliances. They are constantly sorting through the cans, organizing the metal scraps and stripping the old appliances of their various metal components. All of the work that these two fine gentlemen do in their garage is so they can sell this metal at the local recycling center.
On the surface, this all sounds legit so far, right? It's certainly their right to make a little money off of recycling their used cans and old appliances. Except, I have a hard time believing that two people could produce hundreds of empty cans each week. I also notice that different appliances appear in their garage each week. I have an even harder time believing that they own all of these appliances and that they just happen to keep breaking all the time such that they can scrap them for parts. So then, where are they getting all of these items which they can sell for money?
Answer: The dumpster/recycling bins
These nice men are dumpster-divers. I have seen them many times (usually early in the morning and after dark) literally climb into the big dumpster outside our apartment building and pick through the garbage looking for anything that would have metal that could be sold. They take entire bags of people's recycling out of the bins and place them in their garage. In short, they steal other people's garbage and sell it for their livelihood.
Now, we've all heard stories of meth-heads stealing copper wire and catalytic converters from people's cars and selling them for meth money, but I don't believe these guys are meth users. I think they're just too lazy to get real jobs. I mean for Christ sake, they could be trash/recycling pickup men, or work at the dump and it would be the same work. I'm guessing it probably doesn't pay as well though.
I probably shouldn't be as upset about this as I am. I mean, I am getting rid of the cans, etc, so why do I care what happens to them once I throw them out? And legally speaking, dumpster-diving is perfectly legal in most places. Essentially, when you put something in the trash, you give up your possession of the item and its free for anyone to claim. But you know what, when I put my garbage and recycling out there, I'm not putting there for someone to make a profit.
I would be even more upset if I were a home-owner. In some cities, home-owners have to pay a company to come collect their garbage and/or recycling. If I were paying for those services and then someone came along and stole my garbage and/or recycling to make money, I would be livid!
I guess one of the reasons that I'm so annoyed by these guys is that I think maybe they get some of their metal from places other than the dumpster and recycling bins at our apartment. They often have pieces of metal pipe that look like fence posts or something similar. So, are they going to construction sites or homes and taking pieces of metal? Not to mention the large number of appliances they have. Are they driving around and taking appliances off of people's curbs? At least once a week, they park their car, which is full of metal scraps, etc in front of their garage and unload it. The fact that they loaded their car up indicates to me that they didn't get most of that stuff near by.
When I was researching the legality of dumpster-diving and stealing of recyclables, I found this story. People are making a business out of stealing recyclables and garbage. Its completely ridiculous.
I'm so sick of lazy people who can't just make a normal living. I'm sick of those who have to prey on others and take advantage of everyone just for their own gain. Maybe what these guys are doing isn't that big of a deal, but it still falls under these types of behavior and I can be upset with them if I want to be.
I guess I'll just have to start taking my metal scraps to the recycling center myself...
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Twins' New Guys, Part 3: Craig Monroe
This is part three of an on-going series of posts looking at the newest members of the Minnesota Twins. As I said in the last post, I am first looking at the free agent acquisitions. Today we'll look at the 3rd of the 4 free agent pickups. Technically, he was not acquired as a free agent, but I will treat him as if he was. Enjoy.
Craig Monroe
Craig Monroe is a veteran of 8 major league seasons, primarily spent with the Detroit Tigers. After his rookie season in 2001 with the Texas Rangers, Monroe was claimed off of waivers by the Tigers. He became a regular part of the Tigers' lineup in starting in 2002, averaging almost 500 at-bats between 2002 and 2006. However, Monroe struggled mightily in 2006 and 2007, eventually being traded to the Cubs at the trade-dealine in 2007, where he continued to struggle. The Cubs were unwilling to pay anywhere near the $4.8 million Monroe made in 2007, considering his poor production. The Cubs were ready to release Monroe, making him a free agent, until the Twins came along.
The Cubs agreed to trade the rights to Monroe to the Twins for a marginal minor league player (Doug Deeds). This gave Minnesota exclusive rights to bargain with Monroe, instead of having to fight the competition for Monroe in the free agent market. The Twins hoped to get Monroe to agree to a lower salary, considering the likelihood that he would make anywhere near $4.8 million in the free agent market was unlikely. Monroe agreed to a $3.82 million, one year contract. So, although the Twins technically traded for Monroe, he was going to be released anyway and thus would have been a free agent, who the Twins would likely have signed anyway.
Reason for signing: At the time Monroe was acquired, the question of who would be starting in center field had still not been answered. The Monroe signing gave the Twins another option for center field, as a fourth outfielder, or even as a designated hitter. Monroe has historically hit left-handed pitchers very well, therefore, the Twins planned to use Monroe against left-handers in place of Jason Kubel, who figured to get most of the at-bats as DH versus right-handed pitchers. Regardless of his position in the field, the Twins certainly hoped that Monroe would provide some power for a fairly light-hitting lineup. Monroe's 28 HRs in 2006 intrigued the Twins enough that they felt it was worth the risk of a one-year deal for under $4 million for someone who has the potential for big power numbers, despite his struggles in recent years.
So far this season: Craig Monroe hasn't had the finest year so far. He hit a memorable pinch-hit 3-run homerun against the Royals on May 28th to cap off a 5-run 9th inning rally. But that is pretty much the high point of his season. Jason Kubel has spent a lot of time in the DH spot against right-handed pitching and even some days against left-handed pitching. And with the play of Carlos Gomez so far this season, Monroe has found it difficult to find at-bats. When he has been in the lineup, Monroe has been the player he's been the last two season, swinging at everything, striking out a lot (currently, he's struck out in an astoundingly high 38% of this at-bats), and hitting for a low average. Monroe has shown some power, hitting seven doubles and five homeruns, which comprise just under half of his hits. So, I guess if you want a bright side, that might be it. In the rare cases where he's gotten hits, they've been for multiple bases.
Outlook for the rest of the season: Barring any sort of injury that necessitates otherwise, Monroe will pretty much keep the role he has today. He'll start at DH against lefties, make an occassional spot-start to give one of the regular outfielders a day off and he'll pinch hit at the end of games when the Twins are behind, hoping he'll repeat his performance in KC a few weeks ago. Ultimately though, his numbers will remain poor overall. His average will be sub-par (to the tune of about .220), he'll hit for some power, but strike out so often that the power is pretty much negated.
Synopsis: Another swing-and-a-miss by the Twins. I won't say that signing Monroe is quite on par with the signings of Tony Batista and Sidney Ponson, but its not far off. I don't understand the logic of trying to rekindle the career of someone who had success for a couple of years, but has been absolutely horrendous for the last couple of seasons. I mean really, what are the chances that he's going to put up the numbers that he did between 2004 and 2006? His minor league track record also indicates that those years were statistical anomalies, meaning that there is really no chance that he will return to the form the Twins were hoping for. Paying somebody almost $4 million to play in less than 60% of the teams games and strike out nearly 40% of the time seems like a bad investment to me. Honestly, they could pay me $200,000 a year and I could strike out 38% of the time (maybe less). I'm not saying that the options in the minor league system are great, but at least they're inexpensive and in most cases they're younger, so there's the chance of improvement. Seriously, at some point the Twins need to realize that spending millions of dollars on washed up veterans who weren't ever that good anyway is a bad idea. Trust your minor league system and give some youngsters a chance and save a few dollars. Or just get it over and call me up.
Craig Monroe
Craig Monroe is a veteran of 8 major league seasons, primarily spent with the Detroit Tigers. After his rookie season in 2001 with the Texas Rangers, Monroe was claimed off of waivers by the Tigers. He became a regular part of the Tigers' lineup in starting in 2002, averaging almost 500 at-bats between 2002 and 2006. However, Monroe struggled mightily in 2006 and 2007, eventually being traded to the Cubs at the trade-dealine in 2007, where he continued to struggle. The Cubs were unwilling to pay anywhere near the $4.8 million Monroe made in 2007, considering his poor production. The Cubs were ready to release Monroe, making him a free agent, until the Twins came along.The Cubs agreed to trade the rights to Monroe to the Twins for a marginal minor league player (Doug Deeds). This gave Minnesota exclusive rights to bargain with Monroe, instead of having to fight the competition for Monroe in the free agent market. The Twins hoped to get Monroe to agree to a lower salary, considering the likelihood that he would make anywhere near $4.8 million in the free agent market was unlikely. Monroe agreed to a $3.82 million, one year contract. So, although the Twins technically traded for Monroe, he was going to be released anyway and thus would have been a free agent, who the Twins would likely have signed anyway.
Reason for signing: At the time Monroe was acquired, the question of who would be starting in center field had still not been answered. The Monroe signing gave the Twins another option for center field, as a fourth outfielder, or even as a designated hitter. Monroe has historically hit left-handed pitchers very well, therefore, the Twins planned to use Monroe against left-handers in place of Jason Kubel, who figured to get most of the at-bats as DH versus right-handed pitchers. Regardless of his position in the field, the Twins certainly hoped that Monroe would provide some power for a fairly light-hitting lineup. Monroe's 28 HRs in 2006 intrigued the Twins enough that they felt it was worth the risk of a one-year deal for under $4 million for someone who has the potential for big power numbers, despite his struggles in recent years.
So far this season: Craig Monroe hasn't had the finest year so far. He hit a memorable pinch-hit 3-run homerun against the Royals on May 28th to cap off a 5-run 9th inning rally. But that is pretty much the high point of his season. Jason Kubel has spent a lot of time in the DH spot against right-handed pitching and even some days against left-handed pitching. And with the play of Carlos Gomez so far this season, Monroe has found it difficult to find at-bats. When he has been in the lineup, Monroe has been the player he's been the last two season, swinging at everything, striking out a lot (currently, he's struck out in an astoundingly high 38% of this at-bats), and hitting for a low average. Monroe has shown some power, hitting seven doubles and five homeruns, which comprise just under half of his hits. So, I guess if you want a bright side, that might be it. In the rare cases where he's gotten hits, they've been for multiple bases.
Outlook for the rest of the season: Barring any sort of injury that necessitates otherwise, Monroe will pretty much keep the role he has today. He'll start at DH against lefties, make an occassional spot-start to give one of the regular outfielders a day off and he'll pinch hit at the end of games when the Twins are behind, hoping he'll repeat his performance in KC a few weeks ago. Ultimately though, his numbers will remain poor overall. His average will be sub-par (to the tune of about .220), he'll hit for some power, but strike out so often that the power is pretty much negated.
Synopsis: Another swing-and-a-miss by the Twins. I won't say that signing Monroe is quite on par with the signings of Tony Batista and Sidney Ponson, but its not far off. I don't understand the logic of trying to rekindle the career of someone who had success for a couple of years, but has been absolutely horrendous for the last couple of seasons. I mean really, what are the chances that he's going to put up the numbers that he did between 2004 and 2006? His minor league track record also indicates that those years were statistical anomalies, meaning that there is really no chance that he will return to the form the Twins were hoping for. Paying somebody almost $4 million to play in less than 60% of the teams games and strike out nearly 40% of the time seems like a bad investment to me. Honestly, they could pay me $200,000 a year and I could strike out 38% of the time (maybe less). I'm not saying that the options in the minor league system are great, but at least they're inexpensive and in most cases they're younger, so there's the chance of improvement. Seriously, at some point the Twins need to realize that spending millions of dollars on washed up veterans who weren't ever that good anyway is a bad idea. Trust your minor league system and give some youngsters a chance and save a few dollars. Or just get it over and call me up.
Friday, June 13, 2008
Big Tuna Joke of the Day
Partially because it was requested and partially because it just happened yesterday, I thought I would take a small break from my baseball-related posts and tell another Big Tuna story. This will be a fairly short post, but don't worry, I have something planned for next week. The Big Tuna is leaving on vacation next Tuesday for three whole weeks, so I thought I would have a send-off post to celebrate. So, be sure to tune in next week for that.
In my introduction to the Big Tuna, I mentioned that he likes to re-tell the same, not funny jokes all the time. He thinks that he's a real comedian, but really, all he ever gets is pity laughs. In any case, one of the most annoying things about a lot of his jokes is that they rely on "audience participation". The "rock" joke I mentioned last time is a great example. The joke is initiated by him asking you a question or making a comment in your direction (e.g. "So how big was the rock?"). At this point, the "audience" is required to respond in an appropriate way in order for the joke to be completed (e.g. "What rock?"). Finally, after the response from the "audience", he hits you with the punchline (e.g. "The rock you used to iron that shirt"). A pretty high percentage of the Big Tuna's jokes follow this pattern.
True to form, the Big Tuna dropped another one of his favorite jokes of this type on us yesterday. This particular joke needs to be put into context for you. In order to tell the joke in the office, it must be told on a weekday, other than Friday. Thursday being the ideal day. The person telling the joke or the person listening to the joke must be leaving for the day. Alright, with that in mind, the joke goes like this:
Big Tuna: OK, see you guys on Monday.
Audience: Oh, you're not here tomorrow?
Big Tuna: No, I'm here tomorrow, but I'll see you on Monday too.
Audience: (laughing so hard that milk comes out of everybody's nose at once)
Like all of them, this is a joke that I and everybody else in the office has heard many times. So, yesterday, three of us were standing around talking when the Big Tuna comes by on his way out the door. After chatting with us for a few minutes, he attempts to initiate this joke with the "OK, see you guys on Monday" line. The thing is, all of us have heard it so many times (and don't want to hear it again) that none of us provide the "audience participation" part. So, what ends up happening is there is about 15 seconds of awkward silence as the Big Tuna waits for someone to take the bait. But nobody does. So, he's forced to just walk away, without completing his joke.
The funny part is that you can just tell that he is furious that nobody took the bait. He needs to be the funny guy, so if nobody bites or nobody laughs at his stupid jokes, he gets super offended. Its awesome. He acts like a 4 year old. We're so cruel. Although, sometimes, to "save face", even if nobody takes the bait and does the "audience participation" part, he still tells the punchline, which is equally funny, because the joke is incomplete and doesn't really make any sense without the "audience participation" part. And then there are the times where he explains to you that you're supposed to say "Oh, you're not going to be here tomorrow", like we don't realize it after hearing the same joke a thousand times. Good times.
Ok, this post ended up a bit longer than I expected. But I will leave you with another classic Big Tuna joke that I just thought of. This one comes up on a day where you didn't shave and have some stubble.
Big Tuna: Did you hear that the strike is over?
Audience: What strike is that?
Big Tuna: The Gillette strike. You'll be able to shave now.
Absolute hilarity.
In my introduction to the Big Tuna, I mentioned that he likes to re-tell the same, not funny jokes all the time. He thinks that he's a real comedian, but really, all he ever gets is pity laughs. In any case, one of the most annoying things about a lot of his jokes is that they rely on "audience participation". The "rock" joke I mentioned last time is a great example. The joke is initiated by him asking you a question or making a comment in your direction (e.g. "So how big was the rock?"). At this point, the "audience" is required to respond in an appropriate way in order for the joke to be completed (e.g. "What rock?"). Finally, after the response from the "audience", he hits you with the punchline (e.g. "The rock you used to iron that shirt"). A pretty high percentage of the Big Tuna's jokes follow this pattern.
True to form, the Big Tuna dropped another one of his favorite jokes of this type on us yesterday. This particular joke needs to be put into context for you. In order to tell the joke in the office, it must be told on a weekday, other than Friday. Thursday being the ideal day. The person telling the joke or the person listening to the joke must be leaving for the day. Alright, with that in mind, the joke goes like this:
Big Tuna: OK, see you guys on Monday.
Audience: Oh, you're not here tomorrow?
Big Tuna: No, I'm here tomorrow, but I'll see you on Monday too.
Audience: (laughing so hard that milk comes out of everybody's nose at once)
Like all of them, this is a joke that I and everybody else in the office has heard many times. So, yesterday, three of us were standing around talking when the Big Tuna comes by on his way out the door. After chatting with us for a few minutes, he attempts to initiate this joke with the "OK, see you guys on Monday" line. The thing is, all of us have heard it so many times (and don't want to hear it again) that none of us provide the "audience participation" part. So, what ends up happening is there is about 15 seconds of awkward silence as the Big Tuna waits for someone to take the bait. But nobody does. So, he's forced to just walk away, without completing his joke.
The funny part is that you can just tell that he is furious that nobody took the bait. He needs to be the funny guy, so if nobody bites or nobody laughs at his stupid jokes, he gets super offended. Its awesome. He acts like a 4 year old. We're so cruel. Although, sometimes, to "save face", even if nobody takes the bait and does the "audience participation" part, he still tells the punchline, which is equally funny, because the joke is incomplete and doesn't really make any sense without the "audience participation" part. And then there are the times where he explains to you that you're supposed to say "Oh, you're not going to be here tomorrow", like we don't realize it after hearing the same joke a thousand times. Good times.
Ok, this post ended up a bit longer than I expected. But I will leave you with another classic Big Tuna joke that I just thought of. This one comes up on a day where you didn't shave and have some stubble.
Big Tuna: Did you hear that the strike is over?
Audience: What strike is that?
Big Tuna: The Gillette strike. You'll be able to shave now.
Absolute hilarity.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
I have more than one reader?
It has been brought to my attention that people other than my fiance read this blog on occasion. That's weird. It has also been brought to my attention that not all of said readers are familiar with much of the baseball statistic lingo I use. Therefore, in an effort to appease the audience, I have added a legend on the right side, which contains a list of the baseball statistics that I commonly use and a brief definition for each entry. I will try to keep that up-to-date as I reference other stats. Leave me a comment if I use something that I don't add to the legend that you would like clarified.
I have also decided to add a disclaimer on the right side as well. Basically, I don't want people to get the idea that I'm try to "prove" my claims using stats. If I were attempting that, I would be blasted by people who are a lot more knowledgable about statistics than I am, as my use of statistics wouldn't really not be adequate. Essentially, I am "cherry-picking" stats that support my claims, but really, most of what I write is based solely on observation and my opinion. I just felt like I needed that to be there.
Finally, in a further effort to please my audience, feel free to put comments in the comments section of any post with suggestions or requests for post topics. I will do my best to oblige such requests. I aim to please! You are all a valued part of this blog and I appreciate your patronage!
I have also decided to add a disclaimer on the right side as well. Basically, I don't want people to get the idea that I'm try to "prove" my claims using stats. If I were attempting that, I would be blasted by people who are a lot more knowledgable about statistics than I am, as my use of statistics wouldn't really not be adequate. Essentially, I am "cherry-picking" stats that support my claims, but really, most of what I write is based solely on observation and my opinion. I just felt like I needed that to be there.
Finally, in a further effort to please my audience, feel free to put comments in the comments section of any post with suggestions or requests for post topics. I will do my best to oblige such requests. I aim to please! You are all a valued part of this blog and I appreciate your patronage!
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