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Knuckleballs - JC

A blog by Jim Crikket in Twins Daily

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Entries in this blog

Will Past Be Prologue? Part 2 – Lessons to be Learned

Yesterday, I asked readers to endure a recitation of my childhood memories as I looked back at the most exciting Twins season in my memory, 1967. It was Rod Carew’s Rookie of the Year season and, while the Twins ultimately lost out to the Red Sox for the AL pennant, it was followed shortly by a couple of very successful seasons in 1969 and 1970 when Carew helped lead the Twins to the first two AL West Division championships.   (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com. Part 1 o

Will Past Be Prologue? Part 1 - Rod Carew and the Best Season Ever

Rod Carew spent 12 seasons in a Minnesota Twins uniform. He was the American League Rookie of the Year in 1967 and was lured away by the sunshine to southern California to play for the Angels following the 1978 season. At least the Twins managed to get some talent in return for Carew (Ken Landreaux, Dave Engle, Paul Hartzell, Brad Havens), rather than lose him to free agency when Carew essentially forced Twins owner Calvin Griffith in to a trade.   (This article was originally posted at Knuckleb

JC's Top 15 Twins Prospects

Over the past couple of months, a number of smart, informed people who spend a lot of time analyzing young baseball players have been publishing their lists of top Twins prospects. Since I’m not nearly as smart or informed about these players as others are, I’ve held off on publishing my own rankings.   (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.)   But I’m going to put my rankings out there today, for two reasons. First, I’ve now had time to read and consider the opinions

Who (If Anyone) Is Cooperstown Bound in 2013?

It took me longer than usual to really study the BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot this year. I don’t know why. However, there remains a pretty interesting storyline this year with so many of the most high-profile steroid era superstars in their first year on the ballot.   It’s not like we’ve had no discussion of the HoF at all though, as the Pleiss boys covered the topic in one of their “Talk to Contact” podcasts earlier this month.   (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com

Why Do We Care About the Twins?

I’ve been pretty critical of the Twins front office lately. I’m not alone in that, of course. Quite a number of fans, including many who are far more informed and better able to communicate than I, feel that the Twins have simply not done enough to improve the team this offseason.   (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.) Over this Christmas holiday week, I couldn’t help but reflect on matters so much more important than baseball. Will the ideologues in Washington rea

Spending the Twins' Money... or Not

Terry Ryan has been a busy boy. We may or may not be impressed by what he's been doing, but nobody can say he took an early holiday break from the office.   (This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com) The Twins went in to the offseason needing starting pitching. Ryan told anyone who asked that he understood it was his job to improve the rotation. He also has, at various times, mentioned also wanting to add some bullpen pieces and someone to push Trevor Plouffe at third base.   h

Hey Twins Fans, Meet Vanimal!

Now that we’ve had a day to absorb the news of the Twins trading Ben Revere to Philadelphia, it’s time for us to get to know our newest member of the Twins MLB family, Vance Worley… aka “Vanimal.” http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/vance_the_vanimal_worley_by_timokreations-d478foc1-295x300.jpg (Image: timokreations)  

Winter Meetings: Time For Terry Ryan to Step Up.

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   Baseball’s Winter Meetings get in to gear down at the Gaylord Opryland hotel in Nashville on Monday and that’s got me a bit nervous. The Twins, at least at the Major League level, are in a sorry state, having come off a 96-loss season which followed a 99-loss season. It just doesn’t get much worse than this, folks.   http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/OprylandIce.jpg   A year ago, just ahead of the Winte

Are We Seeing Bizarro Terry Ryan?

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   It’s been difficult for me this offseason to, on the one hand, listen to and read Terry Ryan’s comments about what his plans are for addressing the Twins’ obvious needs, while bearing in mind the Twins’ historical approach to offseason roster building. In fact, it brings to mind the “Bizarro World” introduced by DC Comics back in my younger (much younger) days.     http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Bizarro1.j

Years Don't Matter... Much

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   I’ve never been in favor of giving long-term contracts to pitchers. I thought the Mets would regret giving Johan Santana five years at the salary levels they paid him. I have never advocated that the Twins should get involved in a bidding war for a Cliff Lee or a Roy Halladay or any other pitcher that was obviously going to get 5+ years at a bazillion dollars per year from one of the mega-market teams.   It just doesn’t make sen

Money Matters

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   I’m constantly struck by how so many otherwise intelligent people suddenly sound like idiots when discussing issues related to money. A number of these people are certainly not idiots… they’re accomplished business owners and/or people who have achieved considerable success at running businesses. So if they aren’t as stupid as the words they’re saying makes them sound, one can only assume that they think the people hearing/readi

Twins Should Follow Blue Jays Bold Lead

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com. I’ve been feeling under the weather the past couple of weeks and that tends to make me grumpy. I’m feeling much better, but apparently the grumpiness is not wearing off quickly. The Toronto-Miami trade announced Tuesday didn’t help my mood much, either.   http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/grumpydog.bmp Grumpy blogger   We really should have seen this coming. It’s not like Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria has never c

Twins Announce New Coaches: Cuellar, Bruno and Steinbach

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   The Twins announced Monday that they’ve filled their three open Major League coaching positions. As had been speculated, two of those coaches are Bobby Cuellar (bullpen coach) and Tom Brunansky (hitting coach). But the third addition qualifies as a mild surprise, as Terry Steinbach will be stepping in as the Twins bench coach (and catching instructor).   While many Twins fans had wanted Minnesota native Paul Molitor to fill one of the

Enjoy the World Series With the… Kernels?

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   Yes, you read that right.   If you live in Eastern Iowa or have been thinking about making a trip to Cedar Rapids to check out the home of the Cedar Rapids Kernels, the Twins’ new Class A Midwest League affiliate, the Kernels are inviting you to watch a World Series game with them.   http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/KernelsParty.jpg   Thursday, October 25, is the date and we’re all invited to Perfect Game Fi

Thinking the Unthinkable: Trade Joe Mauer?

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   This is what happens when the offseason rolls around and I really have no rooting interest among the four remaining MLB teams in the respective League Championship Series. I write 2000 words about something that will never, ever happen. At least that’s what happened to me Sunday.   But it’s not my fault. I’m blaming my fellow Knuckleballs blogger, Eric, and this Sunday morning Tweet: @ERolfPleiss Nick Cafardo of the Boston Globe says

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

This article originally was posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   I didn’t rush right out to post reactions to the Twins’ coaching changes as the information came out on Thursday, which is probably a good thing.   StarTribune beat reporter LaVelle E. Neal III was obviously wired in to the situation at Target Field and started the ball rolling by announcing that bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek had been advised his contract was not being renewed. My immediate reaction, via Twitter, was something t

More Thoughts on the Twins/Kernels Affiliation

The Cedar Rapids Kernels held a press conference Wednesday to introduce their new Major League affiliate, the Minnesota Twins. It was actually more of a public introduction to which the press was invited, but that was certainly the right approach by the Kernels. Affiliation changes are big deals in the local communities and when your organization hasn’t had a change in 20 years, it’s an even bigger deal.   http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/KernelsTwins-300x168.jpg

Twins to Announce Affiliation With Cedar Rapids on Wednesday

After weeks of speculation, a press conference has been scheduled for 1:30 Wednesday to announce that the Cedar Rapids Kernels will become the new Class A affiliate of the Minnesota Twins for the next four years. Twins officials toured the Kernels facilities Monday afternoon and met with the CR Board of Directors later that day.   The Twins, who have been sending their Class A prospects to Beloit for the past eight years, had been rumored to be favoring a move to Cedar Rapids for several we

St. Peter's Comments re: Possible Twins Affiliate in St. Paul

Charley Walters of the Pioneer Press posted a column (click here) with a number of quotes from Twins president Dave St. Peter concerning the possibility of the Twins locating a minor league affiliate in St. Paul, now that the city has funding assured to move forward with building their new stadium. The stadium is being built to Class A standards (which basically deal with things like clubhouse and training facilities and a certain minimum seating capacity).   St. Peter's quotes and summary:   1

Will Strasburg Become a Noun and a Verb?

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   I’m kind of tired of reading and hearing about Stephen Strasburg and the decision by the Washington Nationals to shut him down for the season. That being the case, I’m not sure why I’m choosing now to actually write about him. But I am.   I suppose the reason is that I’ve been trying to put myself in the shoes of those directly and indirectly involved with the decision to put an end to the hard-throwing phenom’s season because he

New Wild Card Format – Is It Working?

This article was originally published on Monday, Sept. 10, at Knuckleballsblog.com. It was with much fanfare that Major League Baseball announced a new, slightly expanded, postseason format as a part of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. It was reportedly solely due to the will of Commissioner Bud Selig that a way was found to implement the new format for the current season, rather than waiting one more year, when the leagues would be balanced and the spacing of postseason games could more

Snappers Playoff Win – Photos

This article was originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com.   If Wednesday night’s Beloit Snappers/Clinton LumberKings game does indeed mark the final time I see a baseball game in person this year, it was a heckuva game to end the season on!   I don’t want to bury the lead, so let’s start by saying the Snappers came out on top in game one of their 3-game playoff series with Clinton, by a score of 8-6. But the score doesn’t begin to tell the story.   Clinton scored twice in the bottom of the fir

Twins 2013 Class A Affiliation Gets Muddied

Originally posted at Knuckleballsblog.com. These days, it’s not often that I go more than a couple of days without getting asked whether I think the Twins will be the Major League affiliate of my home town Cedar Rapids Kernels in 2013. When I’m not answering that question, I’m the one asking it of pretty much anyone I can think of who might have some insight.   http://knuckleballsblog.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/KernelsLogo.jpg   At the beginning of August, I was telling people I thought

A Long Weekend With the Snappers & Kernels

Originally published at www.knuckleballsblog.com.   It seemed to me like the first game of this Snappers/Kernels series on Saturday night was a long one… and it was. The game took three hours and twenty minutes to play and since the Snappers pretty much dominated the entire game, on their way to a 13-2 rout of their hosts, there really wasn’t enough excitement to make the game feel like it was moving along.   Fortunately, I was in the “all you can eat and drink” picnic area, so I managed to stay

Butterflies With Hiccups

“Like butterflies with hiccups” is our tagline at Knuckleballs and today it’s a pretty appropriate heading for the following post.   I seem to find myself in a “very little to say about several unrelated things” situation a lot lately. Maybe I’ll make this a quasi-regular thing here. Or maybe this will be a one-time thing. Anyway, there are a few things I’ve read here and there that I feel inclined to comment about. Most are baseball related, but not all.   The Twins http://knuckleballsblog.com/

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