Comments on Alright Hamilton!: Twins Over Under

My heart is in it to win it.

Morneau: Over....

2008-09-05T00:24:00.000-05:00

My heart is in it to win it.

Morneau: Over. He wins at least three, including this year. Without Morneau on this team, we would be dangling around the Indians record. He has consistantly come through in the "clutch" as mentioned. He could snag the RBI title from Hamilton (He might have to for us to win this race). His glove is considered one of the best in the league, and I'm a homer.

Mauer: Under. He will win 2. He's 25, with about four years of "prime" left. He probably won't see .347 again, but I don't think he'll need to. If Pedroia stops being so hot, it could happen this year. If not, he'll take the title back before we leave the dome(next year). In any case, he will finish in the top five for the next four years, if healthy.

Cy Youngs: Hard to say, since we've seen what Lee has done, but I really think it's under. One of them might pull one off, but I don't think we have any repeaters.

Gold Gloves: Over. I believe that Span could win at least three by himself. I have not seen him make a poor play out there in quite some time. He gets everything hit his way. He has the plate presence and speed to stay in a competitive line-up(hopefully ours) for a while. He will make a name for himself showing up on ESPN's top ten plays once a week for the rest of this season, and will continue the trend into years to come. He also has a good arm.

Gardy: Over. As many seasons as he's alive for.

Ya knows: Under. It's more like 26 a min.

You can certainly play, David. Thanks for the inf...

2008-09-04T23:13:00.000-05:00

You can certainly play, David. Thanks for the info. Good stuff.

thats a pretty ballsy prediction to be made in the...

2008-09-04T19:16:00.000-05:00

thats a pretty ballsy prediction to be made in the middle of this blue jays series mike.

thanks for the info on the gold glove to mvp stuff...

2008-09-04T18:08:00.000-05:00

thanks for the info on the gold glove to mvp stuff, david.

i don't think morneau will win another MVP. I don't think Mauer will win another batting title. None of our pitchers will win a cy young. Pessimistic? Hardly. I agree with the Twins Rule logic. We'll win it this year. you heard it here first...

I can play:

Morneau MVP's: Over

I ac...

2008-09-04T14:35:00.000-05:00

I can play:

Morneau MVP's: Over

I actually think he'll win just two, but that's apparently not an option.

I wasn't sure what the connection was between MVPs and Gold Gloves, so I took a look: when the MVP is relatively open (that is, the same player isn't winning it every year or in alternating years), the MVP tends to also have a Gold Glove about every other year. The last time an AL Gold Glover won the MVP was Alex Rodriguez in 2003; before that Ichiro in 2001, Ivan Rodriguez in 1999, and Griffey Jr in 1997. In the NL, Jimmy Rollins last year was the first to win the MVP and a Gold Glove in the same season since 1997, when Larry Walker won both, but then you go back to a time when Barry Bonds was winning both the MVP and Gold Gloves and the pattern seems to return.

Mauer batting titles: Under

As long as Mauer remains a catcher, the pressure to keep him in the lineup in seasons where the team is doing well will hurt his hitting more than those of his competitors who aren't catchers, so I suspect that while he's a catcher, he'll come close but not close enough at least twice more (probably including this year). Mauer doesn't seem to want to move off catcher (and the Twins, who don't really have anybody in the organization who could replace him as an everyday catcher, probably won't press the issue), so by the time Mauer has to move off catcher, he'll likely be old enough so that other players with his skills will be in their prime and thus beating him for batting tltles as well.

Cy Youngs for current rotation: Under

Easy pick. Liriano is one more significant injury from having his career end right out from under him. Blackburn has been surprising, but I don't see any of the other four starters establishing himself the way Jake Peavy and Brandon Webb have in the NL as the top starters of thsir generation.

Gold Gloves for the outfield of Young, Gomez, Span, Cuddyer: Over

There are actually two ways to win a Gold Glove -- be about as good defensively but better offensively at your position, or be average or worse offensively but keep a big-league job on a competitive ballclub, which tells people that you must be 'hella' good with the leather to earn your paycheck. Consider the AL from 1985-1995 when all but one outfield Gold Glove were won by either Gary Pettis or Devon White, or the nine consecutive Gold Gloves won by Omar Visquel.

Gomez already, for better or worse, has a good defensive rep -- probably better than he deserves. Still, he could end up winning more Gold Gloves than the other three guys combined, simply because of the Pettis effect.

World Series Victories under Gardenhire: Under

Yes, Tom Kelly won two in five years, and yes, the current Twins look to be a young club that will hold its competitiveness for some time to come. Still, it's hard to bet on the Twins winning more than one World Series in the next decade when they haven't yet shown that they can consistently even get to the League Championship Series, much less win it.

Last two categories: No opinion

A damn good read. For me I would go with the follo...

2008-09-04T09:19:00.000-05:00

A damn good read. For me I would go with the following.

MVP: Morneau will get one more, not with the Twins.
Batting Titles: Mauer will get one more, with the Twins, at third base.
Pitching Staff: None will get any Cy Youngs.
Gold Gloves: This year? 0.
World Series Victories: Like a million.
Ya Knows: None, Mauer will stop talking.
Nicknames: Way over 80% many players have 3 or 4 nicknames.