1st semester report card

[greebs]

we've reached the halfway point so thought it would be fun to give mid year grades for the team. Here's mine:

A: Morneau, Delmon, Pavano (a few tough outings but all in all much better than expected), Rauch (same as Pavano)

B: Punto (his ability to play multiple positions well has been welcome along with his batting avg. being north of .250; however still not a regular starter when all are healthy), Mauer, Span (borderline C due to poor road performances), Hudson, Bullpen (surprisingly one of the best in AL but still have had their share of mediocrity), Liriano, Thome

C: Kubel, Baker, Slowey, Coaching staff

D: Cuddyer, Blackburn

F: nobody

I: Hardy (due to limited play) Valencia (due to limited play; Gardy please play this guy or send him back to the minors because he isn't going to get any better riding the pine) almost put Thome here too because of how little they've used him

Overall grade for entire team I give them a B. Definitely performing under expectations but still in 1st place, albeit it's looking like the AL central champ will again contend to have the worst record among the division winners and the east is still by far the strongest division.

I'll give the new stadium a B. It's beautiful but sure don't care what the result for tickets has been. went to game last tuesday and paid $50 for $24 face value tickets after the game had already begun. Also don't care for how the stadium obviously was not designed with our $24 million dollar man in mind.

[PierBridge]

Good summation overall Greebs!

I disagree with some of it though as is to be expected...

I certainly wouldn't give Rausch an A. Frankly I think he's been pretty brutal and we are very lucky to have the number of saves versus blown saves. Actually it's more of a miracle/luck thing.

So I'd give him a B which isn't much different than an A I guess.

He still scares me and will more than likely kill us down the stretch and into the play-offs if we make it...IMO!

I'll give you credit for actually giving Punto a B. Even with the slight cheap-shot at the end of summation you get big props for manning up a bit unlike others around here.

Punto gets nothing short of A+ and is worth twice what they are paying him...PERIOD!

The Coaching staff get's A- and we'll just leave it at that.

And giving the stadium a B is absurd to say the least.

Other minor quips are Valencia is learning a TON playing and seeing how things work in the Big Leagues...he's NO Gomez and being up from the minors is not hurting him a bit and IMO is helping him immensely.

Great Post Greebs and an A+ for you!!

[keyks42]

I would have to agree on most of what you Greeb.

Rauch B- Pier I agree with you, he scares me to death. They really need to upgrade this postion and no one on the roster would be any better.

Mauer C Him hitting 300 with only 3 homers isn't good enough with what there paying him. The other teams shift has cause him plenty of problems, all the double plays. I haven't seen the adjustments from him to the shift.

Cuddeyer B Doing pretty good for what Gardy makes him do.

Overall team C maybe even a D. Being a few games over 500 at this point isn't good enough with the offseason moves they made. This team looks no different then the last few years. They beat up on the bad teams and have problems with the good teams. Tampa Bay this weekend a perfect example and Tampa came into town struggling. I'm still very optimistic they can turn it around and start playing better

[SledNeck]

cuddy

F minus

[soldoncass]

A-Morneau,

B- Young, Hudson ,Mauer,

C- Cuddy, Span, Kubel, Punto, Hardy, Thome

Pitching side:

A- Povano, Duensing

B- Liriano, Gurrerer, Rauch

C- Slowey, Baker, Blackburn,

Team overall and coaches:

C- fundamentals,

D- getting bunts& hit-and-runs down, creating havoc on bases, situational hitting

F--"Negative nellie" posters,

Hard to be TOO negative with where the team is in the standings

[PierBridge]

I'm changing my Twins coaching staff from an A- to A plus after thinking about it.

With all the new players and players changing positions plus the New stadium issues along with losing the most important part of your defense "middle" for a long period of time with Hudson and Hardy out. Gardy has done not only an outstanding job but probably his best work as manager.

Speaking of negative nellies comment. I sure miss Gary "mr positive" and crew around here.

[genegodawa]

Soldon, I like the F for "negative nellie's".

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Can't contribute too much re: Twins individually...I just keep hopin' they stay ahead of the WSox.

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For Twin mgmt and all other teams paying outrageous contracts to some of these guyz (no matter how good or consistent they are - we all know it's a team game - none of the big contracts are truly fair to their teammates) I wouldn't even give them a grade.....but if the owners allow it, it is their dime.

Maybe I'm just upset 'cause Cubs are paying bigtime for mediocrity (Fukudome, Ramirez, Zambrano, Soriano, Lee.....).

so, in respect of telling it like it is, I give my Cubs an F.

It's easy to be negative when there is so much proof in the pudding.

[Windy City Walleye Hunter]

Geno,

I think you better look up the definition of "mediocrity". With the bloated salaries the Cubbies have and the results they will get for those extremely long bloated salaries I think they are well below the Mendoza line on mediocrity! LOL

Who loves ya, Geno!

[FutbolGuru]

I'll give a B+ to the team in general. Before the season began I expected them to score plenty of runs and pitch averagely... they are doing just that.

[CodyDawg]

Why the low grades for Thome? Man, I would give him a solid A. He has done exactly what they brought him in to do. Share the DH role and pinch hit. He has what, 10 bombs?

Matt Gurrier....a D. Way overrated. Has been getting shelled. Someone is gonna get hurt with all the laser shots he is giving up. Span? C+. How many boneheaded baserunning moves can one guy make? Morny? A+. Just solid. Jesse Crain....B. The guy is starting to give me confidence. From where he was, he has improved a ton. OHud? B. would be higher but for the injury. Pretty solid all the way around. Kubel? B. coming on of late. Cuddy? C. Nice that he is multidimensional, but he hasnt been good at the plate. Punto is multidimensional too ya know.

[Coach1310]

A- Delmon, Morneau, Pavano, Punto, Thome

B- The Bullpen as a whole, Span, Kubel

C- Mauer, Cuddy, Hudson, Liriano

D- Baker, Slowey, Blackburn, Hardy

F- Twins Front Office

I'm sure I'm leaving something out but, the A guys are the only reason we are where we are. The Bullpen has been solid, but have had to do too much work already because our starters are atrocious. Span and Kubel have been what they are. The C guys have been disappointing and I put Hudson there because if he coughs wrong I worry he will be out a month. The rotation has been brutal and I would rather have Punto or a minor leaguer as our SS. Hardy is a .200 hitter who seems to have lost it. Maybe we brought him in to please Mauer... well he got his $$$, now its time to move on. The front office gets an F for failing to take a CHANCE... if you trade for Lee and give up some future all stars, so be it. I'm not sure we have enough to get it done even if we got Lee, but the continual talk about how the Twins are different now and will bump up the payroll now with the new stadium??? I would guess we will be cutting payroll the next couple of years.... it isn't about passion, it is about the bottom line.

[blue_healer_guy]

seriously, punto an A, is this a driving test?

[keyks42]

Team grade starting to slip to a D.