Wow, lots of controversy in Twins Territory today – although not nearly as much on Twitter as you would think. It appears that those who are more of my mind about the Delmon trade are in greater numbers in that particular venue than those who are of JC’s mind. Frankly, I think that we could have gotten a towel and a bar of soap for Delmon and the Twins would have come out ahead. I know he has devoted followers but I was done with waiting for his potential to show up as existing talent instead of potential. Yes, I know he was younger than he looks.. I kept hoping that with the weight up & down and the occasional sign of effort in the outfield that he was really trying to improve his baseball skill. But somehow he never did. Batting practice bombs do not win baseball games and I wish the Twins had moved him on to another environment where he could succeed while he still had some actual trade value.
For the record – this was not a situation where the Twins approached an intra-division team and said, ‘let’s deal.’ The Twins apparently decided they were done as well and put him on waivers. The Tigers grabbed him and the Twins had to either get the deal done or let it all go for nothing. Don’t be confused folks, the Twins didn’t really have a lot of options here. Delmon had no value to speak of so I think we did ok. It will be interesting to face him as the #3 hitter tonight though and the whole thing with him riding the team bus over to Comerica and then saying goodbye to everyone was a bit… odd… awkward.. hope it went ok for him. And don’t get me wrong – I wish him the best of luck and really do think he needs an entirely new situation for him to have any chance at being successful. I’m absolutely certain it was never going to happen here. Good Luck Delmon! (just not tonight! 😉 )
| Minnesota |
@ |
Detroit |
| Span, CF | Jackson, A, CF | |
| Plouffe, 2B | Raburn, 2B | |
| Mauer, C | Young, D, LF | |
| Morneau, 1B | Cabrera, Mi, 1B | |
| Kubel, RF | Martinez, V, DH | |
| Thome, DH | Peralta, Jh, SS | |
| Valencia, 3B | Ordonez, RF | |
| Revere, LF | Avila, C | |
| Nishioka, SS | Betemit, 3B | |
| Liriano, P | Porcello, P |
[EDIT] The Twins have a lineup change. Denard Span scratched – didn’t feel right during BP. Revere in CF Plouffe in LF. Uh-oh…
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 11 | 1 |
| Detroit | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 11 | 2 |
Lots of cool stuff happened during the game tonight, not the least of which was Delmon Young going yard off of Frankie in his first AB as a Tiger and Ben Revere ALMOST hitting an inside-the-park-homerun that ended with a collision at the plate.
But let’s be honest… nothing else measures up to Jim Thome mashing career taters #599 AND #600 against the Tigers.
Congratulations to our BOD, Jimmer! (aka Mr Incredible). – JC
