Bodie

I eat yogurt every morning and I'm still a broken down, fat bast... Oh, yoga. As long as as it is led by Kent Hrbek w/ a cig dangling from his lips and a beer (or2...) in his hand. (Actual 1987 WS post game 7 (WAY post game) memory)

Wasn't that against Santa Claus to boot!?!?

Just pertaining to Jeter (yeah a HOFer w/3000 hits and 58 [estimated] WS rings)... A very good case can be made that at NO TIME in his career was he the best shortstop in baseball. Kinda weird for a HOF position player. At retirement he was likely the 3rd best SS. On the Yankees.

Woke up early this morning to the Korea/Japan game (??? Korea vs. somebody, it was either very late, very early or both...) and who was batting but a "B H Park". Yep, our very own Byung-Ho. His stats from last season in one of the Asian leagues would never gotten him noticed by MLB scouts. How did his career go off track? It didn't- he is what he is, and whatever that may be, it isn't a quality (MLB) pro ball player.

10 HR, 27 BB & 28 Ks. (Northwoods League) An interesting prospect if only that he seems to understand that NOTHING good happens after that 3rd strike...

Most worrying position(s)? That is really a no-brainer IMHO. It is pitching and it's use and abuse by Rocco! No bullpen I can think of can take a full season of Baldelli's 4-plus innings of relief per game. Either the physical strain will fell several arms over the season, or overuse will expose why they are bullpen guys and not starters. And no, I don't think that can be fixed with quantity (the only real option for the Twins) or quality arms in reserve. Simply put, no team past or present could stand up to the new-wave style of Rocco (backed to the hilt by the front office) or anyone else asking what he does. And this doesn't add in the long-term damage done to the starters who never learn to pitch when in a spot of trouble...

I don't think I am off base in saying that no team in baseball has been more devastated by injuries than the Twins- and not just in the short-term. Buxton, Mauer, Morneau. Each of these had real Hall of Fame potential- and all showed that potential translated into actual production (Buxton producing the least but possibly the most potential). None came close to the career that "could have been". MVP seasons -but how many more were lost- for the Ole M&M boys, and we're still waiting for Buxton to play a 2nd full season (this is still only his 7th year, so...). Blame the trainers? Not even the biggest loudest members of the "Twins are sooooo cheap" club can argue (IMHO) that the Twins would continue to endanger the careers of their players over such a long period of time. Managers have run the gamut from relatively old-school Gardenhire to Rocco and his "nobody should be playing EVERY game this (or any) week" preventative style. Molitor, if not strictly splitting the difference, was at least somewhere in between. None of the changes improved the injury patterns, but somehow seemingly made things worse. I have one untried idea - hire Kent Hrbek as strength and conditioning coach and give THAT a go! Maximizing the medically accepted "healthy" angle isn't working, so let's go in the other way!!! Merrits and Miller's for all!!! (it can hardly be worse)