Friday, November 21, 2008

My friends called today/down from L.A./they were shooting pool all night/Sleeping half the day

Close to home
I don’t really understand it but….Rule 5 Draft
Minnesota Twins adding eight men to the 40-man roster:
Brian Duensing, Anthony Swarzak, Drew Butera, Wilson Ramos, Luke Hughes, Trevor Plouffe, Deibinson Romero, and Steve Tolleson

Around the League
Mike Mussina officially announces his retirement (until something better comes along) – that last part is what I was thinking in my head.

Control of Yankees shifts to son Hal, George Steinbrenner remains chairman


Non-baseball but no less important

A BIG SHOUT-OUT to EV!
E.V. humored me today and now I need to publicly thank him!

So, thank you EV for:
* The heads-up on pre-sale Motley Crue tickets
* All the 90210 gossip
* Listening to David Cook’s song “Bar-ba-sol”

The Crue is my crew

Now, what the hell does one wear to a Motley Crue concert? I will have to find some big hoop earrings, a can of Aquanet, and stonewashed denim.

I scored tickets to go see Motley Crue at the Xcel Energy Center (with Hinder) on February 18, 2009. So far, 2009 is going to be a kick ass concert year (January – AC/DC, February – Motley Crue, March – Katy Perry.)

Chinese Democracy
I am very interested in checking out Guns N’ Roses “new” album, Chinese Democracy, but Axel Rose’s hair freaks me the fuck out.

New Release Tuesday, er Friday
I fail! I can’t believe I totally spaced on this. I guess my only excuse is I was fangirling over the new David Cook CD.

11/18/08Beyonce – I am…Sasha Fierce (interesting, very interesting)
David Cook – David Cook (one guess on how I feel about this one)
Billy Ray Cyrus – Back to Tennessee (aka: not going to be in my collection)
Dido – Safe Trip Home
Sammy Hagar – Cosmic Universal Fashion
Il Divo – The Promise (who the heck are these guys?)
Mudvayne – The New Game (their band name makes me mental)
Nickelback – Dark Horse (not a Nickelback fan but the one song I hear all the time is good)

Overheard (via email)
An email exchange between my co-worker Mike (a self-proclaimed Archie’s Angel) and me
Me: Guess which David is on the front of CNN Entertainment? David fucking Cook.
Mike: Whatever! What I do find noteworthy is that he is a native of Missouri…another red state like Utah. He has more in common with Archie than I originally thought.
Me: Don’t try to cover up my victory with your smarty-pants political mumbo-jumbo. My David beat your David in more than the Idol Battle…so there!
Mike: That’s what she said.
Me: NO! That’s my response! Don’t say that. Shit. Now I have to write my Overheard with you saying it. Thanks a lot.
MOD
Motley Crue – Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)

1 comment:

Curveball said...

Rule 5 draft.

Well, player's like a chance to make the majors. If a player makes the 40-man roster, chances are good they will make the majors. They can stay on the 40-man roster for up to 4 years before having to pass thru waivers (going up and down between the majors and minors). Once you end your 4th year on the 40-man (Phil Humber and Boof Bonser are both examples), you can't be sent back to the minors without being offered to any other team...who must keep you on their 40-man roster or offer you to anotehr team. J.D. Durbin was let go one spring, and before the summer was out he went thru three other teams that claimed him and kept him on their roster for a microsecond -- he's now a free agent this winter.

The Rule 5 is not to be confused with the 6-year free agent minor league system (a player becomes a free-agent after six playing season in a team's minor league...they can choose to stay or move on -- Garrett Jones is a recent example). A Rule 5 is anoyone not protected -- teams can keep 40 players, they would love to keep 50, 60, 70.....but can't). If a player who has played 3 years (college rafted) or 4 seasons (high school drafted) they can be claimed by another team BUT they have to stay on the major league roster ALL season or be offered back for half-the-price. The Twins have two famous cases...Shane Mack...and Johan Santana. If they keep them on the major elague roster for a year, they can send them back to the minors after that for up to four seasons...unless a deal was arranged to "trade" for the player...which often happens. There's also a minor league portion of the draft, but any player chosen has to play at the same level they played at the previous year or higher in the minor leagues. Past Rule 5s of the Twins have been Alejandro Machado, who was injured all of 2007, went unclaimed the winter of 2008 and still in the Twins system. Ryan Rowland-Smith, who made the Mariners this season, was a possibility to stay with the Twins in 2006. Would have been a nice keeper. Jason Pridie, who the Twins traded for with Tampa, was a Rule 5 in 2005. Some say grabbing a young guy and making him the 25th palyers stifles their progress (true, true), sometimes you egt a gem. Often it is just an exchange of possible major league guys. When you consider that 3-5 guys get a shot at the majors each season as rookies, and probably 1 have a chance of staying more than 2 years....well, it's msotly a "Hot Stove" topic. But the Twins new roster choices all have a chance to make the majors. Duensing as a starter (behind Humber), at least two of the many infielders (the young Trevor Plouffe was once the shortstop of the future...Luke Hughes had a great 2008 but was thru the Rule 5 the previous year...Wilson Ramos is a future back-up catcher...Drew Butera is an emergency catcher.)

The joy of this minor league GRAB is that you can often pick up another team's highly praised prospect for just $50,000 or so. Which makes you question the millions teams spend on drafting players who never make the big leagues when you can maybe find an equal gem once they get a chance to play, especially in a corwded farm system. The Twins big fear for this Rule 5 is that a few years back they had a heavy pitching draft (Kyle Waldroff and Jay Rainville, to name two...who are still promising but bypassed by many younger pitchers). The Twins have roughly 175 guys in the minors leagues. 25-40 disappear between now and the early days of the season. The Twins maybe add in 20-30 more with the draft for the short-season leagues (Elizabethton and Gulf Coast League Twins), and you always have a dozen or so on injury rehab.