Vote for Chairman

In ESPN: The Magazine's baseball notebook section, Peter Gammons lists "the five biggest ifs this spring," and number one is Mr. Mauer.

"If Joe Mauer comes back to catch 140 games, he'll be the single most important addition to any team," says one AL GM. "He may be the best catcher in the game." The 21-year-old Mauer caught only 32 games for the Twins because of knee problems. There's been speculation he might not be able to catch again. "That's not what we, he or the doctors believe," says GM Terry Ryan. In his 107 ABs, Mauer had a .939 OPS and batted .308. Give Mauer and 1B Justin Morneau 1,200 plate appearances instead of 434, and the pitching-rich Twins may have the firepower to get to the Series.

(Thanks to the Commish for typing this out.)

Posted by Batgirl at February 18, 2005 08:07 PM
Comments

I'm not sure what Batgirl's policy is to posting links on here, but I like to dabble in graphics a bit and make "wallpapers" every once in a while.

I thought the enthusiasm of the top of our order (which PG keys in on) deserves a good rendering for the desktops of those who would like.

Feel free to use if you wish.

http://img148.exs.cx/img148/2498/top42sv.jpg

(If this sort of post is discouraged, I apologize profusely)

Posted by: Eric at February 18, 2005 09:21 PM

ERIC! THAT IS AMAZING! I LOVE IT!!! Thanks for the link!!


Oh, and I cast my vote for the Chairman, so all is good here.

Posted by: Stacy at February 18, 2005 09:48 PM

Eric that is AWESOME.

Posted by: Sam at February 18, 2005 10:25 PM

Eric, I've been looking for a high-res picture like that for the past couple weeks to highlight my anticipation for the upcoming season. Thanks!!! If you feel motivated to make more, I can guarantee they'll get used!

Posted by: sacky at February 19, 2005 08:46 AM

Eric - great work! I love it. You look at that and the mind starts to turn: "Sterwart on base about 40% of the time, then Ford's speed, then Joe batting about .325, then Morneau blasting about 40 homers . . . "

Is April 4th here yet?

Posted by: BadAndy48 at February 19, 2005 08:52 AM

Super work! I already have it set as my new wallpaper! Is there a certain site that has a gallery of good Twins pictures like these that you use? Or do you just stay on the lookout for pictures from many sources?

Posted by: kbrew at February 19, 2005 08:59 AM

The Twins are ranked 8th in Buster Olney's ESPN preseason rankings.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=olney_buster&id=1994416

8th? Seems a tad low to me.

Posted by: BadAndy48 at February 19, 2005 09:11 AM

As if B[l]uster Olney is some sort of expert.

Posted by: Stick and Ball Guy at February 19, 2005 11:20 AM

I don't know. When you look at who Buster has 1-7, the only club I *really* disagree with is the Cubs. And I don't know if Florida deserves #4.

But let's not forget that this team has seemed to thrive on being "dissed". They play best when they are the underdog. So I see #8 as a pretty good thing.

Posted by: double-a at February 19, 2005 11:33 AM

I have new Twins wallpaper. I love it! Thanx to Eric. More, more...........

Posted by: Brian in Alaska at February 19, 2005 02:54 PM

No problem, I appreciate the fact that anyone gets use out of them.

kbrew- I try to stay on the lookout, mainly the Strib site, for the pictures. Every once in a while the will pop up in other places. It's hard to find them sometimes.

Brian in Alaska- I have a Santana one around here somewhere, just give me a chance to find it.

BadAndy- I totally agree. It makes me daydream at times...

Posted by: Eric at February 19, 2005 06:22 PM

Thank you Eric, please oh please April 4 can not come fast enough. But these great photos help

Posted by: mas at February 19, 2005 10:05 PM