AW, didn’t the Indians decide Peralta couldn’t play a competent enough SS any more and move him to 3B? I have no idea what his metrics are, but I guess I don’t think about him being an above average fielder. I guess that could leave him in the “not awful” category, though. Then again… in comparison to everyone else in that infield this year, he may look like a superstar.

I definitely agree on the bunting. I’m looking for a significant amount of bunting from Revere, Casilla, Span, and even Nishioka if he sees action. And not just when they’re playing the Tigers.

First, there are owners of low-revenue teams. They tell their GMs, “You aren’t going to have the money to compete on an even playing field so you need to be damn good at your job or damn lucky (and probably both) to win.” Think: A’s, Rays, Royals, Pirates, etc.

At the other end of the spectrum are the owners that say, “Even if you screw up or get unlucky (or both), it’s OK… I’m going to just throw more money out there. In fact, every once in a while, I’m going to step in and MAKE you do something totally stupid.” The Yankees used to have this category pretty much to themselves, but we’re seeing owners like those of the Angels, Rangers and Tigers show similar tendencies, lately. That hasn’t necessarily worked well for the Yankees all the time and I’m not so sure it will work for the others over the long run either.

Everyone else essentially has an owner that says, “We have enough revenue that we can give you enough money to compete IF you at least do a good job and the team avoids catastrophically bad luck. If you need a little more money at times to put the team over the top, you’ll get it. But don’t screw up and then come ask us to bail you out. Instead, we’ll find someone else to run the place.” The Twins are definitely in this group. Interestingly, I’d probably put other pretty successful organizations like the Phillies and Red Sox in this category, too. It’s not an unreasonable model.

I’ll just add that if Miguel Cabrera is manning third, with Delmon Young in left field, it’s going to be good for our righty pull hitters, and those of our lefties (#7) that enjoy going the opposite way.

My gut reaction is this: The Tigers are better today than they were two days ago; and the Tigers are locked into a lengthy contract with a player who, although extremely healthy for the first part of his career, will undoubtedly age. And my guess is that his body will not age gracefully.

In the short run, I can’t help but admire Mike Illitch’s desire to see his team win a WS championship before he dies.

I’d like to see Twins ownership replace their cash-register hearts with ones that have a little more desire to win it all in the post-season.

Surely there must be a reasonable compromise somewhere between the Illitch-type owners and the Pohlads.