2012 MLB Predictions 04/05/2012
 AL East TAMPA BAY, Toronto, New York, Boston, Baltimore AL Central DETROIT, Cleveland, Chicago, Minnesota, Kansas City AL West LOS ANGELES, Texas, Seattle, Oakland AL Wildcard #1 TEXAS AL Wildcard #2 TORONTO AL Champion LOS ANGELES AL MVP ALBERT PUJOLS AL Cy Young DAVID PRICE AL Rookie of the Year MATT MOORE AL Manager of the Year JOHN FARRELL AL Batting Champion JOE MAUER AL Home Run King JOSE BAUTISTA AL ERA BRANDON MCCARTHY AL Wins JUSTIN VERLANDER AL Saves SERGIO SANTOS World Series Champion LOS ANGELES ANGELS NL Saves HEATH BELL NL Wins ADAM WAINWRIGHT NL ERA STEPHEN STRASBURG NL Home Run King GIANCARLO STANTON NL Batting Champion PABLO SANDOVAL NL Manager of the Year OZZIE GUILLEN NL Rookie of the Year TREVOR BAUER NL Cy Young ZACK GREINKE NL MVP JUSTIN UPTON NL Champion CINCINNATI NL Wildcard #2 WASHINGTON NL Wildcard #1 MILWAUKEE NL West SAN FRANCISCO, Arizona, San Diego, Los Angeles, Colorado NL Central CINCINNATI, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Houston NL East MIAMI, Washington, Philadelphia, Atlanta, New York # of Twins wins 75  1 Comment #PST2011 recap 03/07/2012
The 2011 Preposterous Statement Tourney (http://www.kfan.com/pages/commonbracket/index2011.html) came to a close today, with Rashad McCants completing the impossible dream. McCants' 17th-seeded statement from the Gorg Region -- that made the tournament only by winning a say-in game -- beat out Adrian Peterson and his #1 statement from the Hartman Region, 52 to 48%, in an instant classic. Rashad McCants: playing in the D-League, after initially saying he was better than 70% of the NBA, "I was being modest saying 70 percent. My honest opinion is 95 percent. I don't even think there are top-tier All-Stars who are better than me, and they know who they are." Adrian Peterson: referring to how NFL Owners treat the players, "It's modern-day slavery, you know?" Four of my nominations made the Big Dance last year (http://kruschkeleaks.weebly.com/1/post/2011/02/pst-2010.html and http://kruschkeleaks.weebly.com/1/post/2011/03/pst-2010-it-was-a-nice-run.html), and three this year: HARTMAN REGION - #13 SEED Charley "Shooter" Walters: "Speaking of Rochester, shortstop Trevor Plouffe's slugging percentage through six games is .826. Babe Ruth's slugging percentage was .690." HARTMAN REGION - #12 SEED Tim Brewster: "I'm a coach by nature, that's who I am, and I'm a darn good one." GORG REGION - #9 SEED Mark Teixeira: Before spring training, "We're the underdogs this year. I love it. No-one is picking us right now." My Shooter statement lost out in the 1st Round, 51 to 49%, to Joe Schmit's "Justin Morneau returning to a spring training game must have felt like Game 7 of the World Series." Coach Brew made a strong run to the Silly Sixteen, pasting a weak utterance from the FAN's Joe Nelson 67 to 33% before dismantling Schmit's aforementioned statement, 62 to 38%. However, AP's eventual runner-up comment on slavery was too much, handily defeating Brew 64 to 36%. Teixeira started off with a convincing 61-39% win over Kevin Gorg's "The Minnesota Wild have plenty of top-end talent" statement, but ran into the buzzsaw that was the eventual champion McCants in the 2nd round, going down decisively, 78 to 22%. The tourney ended, as has become the tradition, with "One Preposterous Statement," a song I penned a few years ago (in case you haven't heard) to the tune of "One Shining Moment" that some other rube recorded and submitted. You can read more about it at the first KruschkeLeaks link I posted above. For the sake of posterity, here's the rest of my nominations that didn't make this year's tourney: 2011 PST nominee: Ron Gardenhire, speaking on Joe Mauer's power February 14, 2011 Ron Gardenhire, on Joe Mauer's power numbers being down last year: "If Joe Mauer wants to hit for power, he will hit for power." 2011 PST nominee: Jimmy Fallon on Joe Mauer February 17, 2011 From Shooter: Twins catcher Joe Mauer, appearing on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" on Tuesday, won a video game batting contest against Fallon with a home run. Fallon referred to Mauer, the all-star from St. Paul, as the "Anti-LeBron James" because he could have signed for "millions of dollars more" by opting for free agency rather than remaining in Minnesota. 2011 PST nominee: the Twins won't trade Drew Butera March 11, 2011 Twins catcher Drew Butera was the Astros' first choice to replace the injured Jason Castro, according to Peter Gammons of MLB Network (on Twitter). However, the Twins won't trade Butera, according to Gammons. 2011 PST nominee: Steve Sax says Kirk Gibson could be worth "15 wins" for the Diamondbacks March 22, 2011 "You take somebody like Kirk Gibson and he might be a 15-game difference," Sax said. "And I say that because this guy is pretty dynamic. You're talking about one hell of a tenacious guy who knows how to win." 2011 PST nominee: Dave St. Peter - "Opening Day ... a state-wide holiday" March 23, 2011 As heard on the Sports Huddle with Sid and Dave on March 20: Sid Hartman asked, "You got any big events coming up during the season?" St. Peter answered, "Opening Day's gonna be huge; I think that's really developed into a state-wide holiday ..." PST 2011 nominee: Jim Pohlad compares Target Field to Disneyland April 10, 2011 Pohlad, who can see Target Field from his Minneapolis office and regularly walks to the ballpark from there, loves the current ballpark. "To me, it's just unbelievable," he said. "It's like being at Disneyland for me as an adult." 2011 PST nominee: Minnesota Twins, for "Vote now for your favorite Target Field Spruce Tree Video" April 29, 2011 Vote for your favorite Spruce Tree Giveaway submission today! Vote now » 2011 PST nominee: al-Qadia rube "... trillions of Osamas will be born" May 6, 2011 "America is celebrating Osama bin Laden's killing, but it will be a temporary celebration," said Abdullah Sittar Chishti, a member of the Jamiat Ulema Islam party who attended the rally in Khuchlak. "After the martyrdom of Osama, billions, trillions of Osamas will be born." PST 2011 nominee: Phil Mackey, on Kelly Shoppach framiing pitches October 5, 2011 Talking about potential Twins free-agent signee, catcher Kelly Shoppach: Shoppach also holds his own when it comes to framing pitches. PST 2011 nominee: Phil Mackey, on Nick Punto being respectable offensively October 5, 2011 On the possibility of bringing back Nick Punto as a free agent next year: He (Punto) also draws enough walks (10.2% career, 15.3% this year) to be respectable offensively. "180" movie 12/14/2011
This is a powerful ("shocking, award-winning") documentary; I'd recommend it to anyone. 33 minutes, but goes quickly. Riveting and thought-provoking. My Reaction to the Class C Proposal‏ 12/13/2011
 (As posted to: http://www.minnesotabaseball.org/News/242) My thoughts on adding 16 more teams to the Class C State Tournament based purely on fan attendance strongly concur with St. Joseph's Brent Schloe and Stewartville-Racine's Andy Johnson (as posted to "Bill's Blog" on the MBA website: http://www.minnesotabaseball.org/BillsBlog). Two disclaimers, though, before proceeding: I am speaking only for myself – not on behalf of the Belle Plaine Tigers or its baseball board, of which I've been a member for 20 and 13 years, respectively. Also, I have a great appreciation for the time and commitment State Board members put forth in maintaining and ensuring the prosperity of our game. Whether I agree or disagree with them on certain issues, I will always respect that. That said, I think the recently passed changes are misguided and a complete sell-out of the integrity of the amateur game. While I also adamantly disagree about draftees– I think teams should win or lose with their own players, just as they did all season long – at least those results are determined on the field. But now, under the new rules, one-third of the teams in the 'C' tournament will be there not based on merit, but on fan attendance?? I am stunned and disheartened that the issue was even brought up, much less unanimously passed. Doing so will open up a circus-like can of worms that I predict few will feel good about being associated with. I don't know what kind of financial shape the MBA is in, but to me it could never, ever be bad enough to come to the point where the integrity of the tournament is compromised. I have been fortunate to be a part of 10 state tournament teams in my 20 years in uniform, and each time, it meant something to us. It was a big deal, because it's not easy. To me, seasons in amateur ball are defined by whether or not you make the state tournament.  The BP Tigers celebrate clinching a state tournament berth with a 3-0 win over the Chanhassen Redbirds on Aug. 7, 2011. I would much rather write a check to play each year – or go door-to-door selling raffle tickets or frozen pizzas or Girl Scout cookies, for that matter – than to further alter the purity of the championship chase. State tournament appearances matter because they are earned, not handed to you. I think some people are too caught up in looking in the back of the State Tournament program, seeing the attendance figures of past eras, and coming to the conclusion that we must be doing something wrong. My opinion is that the golden era of town-team baseball – from a fan-attendance perspective, anyway – is long gone, and we need to accept that reality. Mr. Schloe nailed this issue, but to repeat: people's lives are busier than ever. And their kids' lives are busier than ever, at an earlier age – especially through year-round, never-ending travelling teams and weekend tournaments that pull families in all directions. People aren't "looking for something to do" anymore; they're trying to figure out how they can squeeze one more thing into an already overloaded schedule. We have a great game. The level and depth of talent is impressive, the number of teams across the state remains robust, and the tradition of the tournament provides thrills like clockwork. What's changed is the number of fans. It's not anybody's fault –it's just the way it is. It shouldn't surprise anyone that support for the change comes from the teams in the regions that stand to benefit from it; teams will almost always look out for their best interests, but that doesn't mean it's what's best for the game as a whole. That's why we need the caretakers of the game – the state board – to protect the interests of the greater good. (For the record, Belle Plaine is a member of Region 6C, which stands to be "rewarded" with an extra state tournament entrant.) I don't have a problem with expanding the tournament field if need be, and I think the desire to increase state tournament attendance is a noble one. But this is entirely the wrong way to go about it. I implore the state board to reconsider. Is anybody unaware of the wildly unpopular BCS playoff system in college football? Then why, I ask, would we want our own version of it in town-team baseball? Sincerely, Brett Kruschke    THIS IS THE STORY I've been waiting to write for a long time. It was probably just a few months after the scandal when I first began telling myself, "Someday, maybe 5 or 10 years down the line, I'm going to write my version of the story for the (Belle Plaine) Herald." Well, here we are 20 years later, and KruschkeLeaks is going to have to suffice. I wasn't home the afternoon the Star Tribune called for my thoughts on this story back in mid-May 1991 and I was kind of disappointed because selfishly, it would have been great to get a quote or two in the paper and maybe I also could have helped them avoid these errors: > We were suspended for the last three games of the season, plus playoffs (or more dramatically, for the rest and best parts of our careers); > Our coach's name was Jay Soule, not Jim; > We were busted after playing one softball game, not multiple games; > I believe we were 1-7 or 1-8 at the time of the suspension (probably more accurately called expulsion), not 1-11.  Proof of me listening to Coach Soule! (Legion ball) I remember the first baseball meeting of the season in the spring of 1989 - my sophomore year - and our introduction to the new head coach, Jay Soule. All of us were on board from the beginning: he had a presence, we ate his stories up, and he was just a cool guy. He had pedigree as a great player at Gustavus (just ask him), and that carried some clout as well. We liked him and he liked us. The next story in my mind's timeline is several of us ballplayers having breakfast with the coach out at the new Hardee's (where I was the first customer ever, thank you very much) one morning in Belle Plaine, and I remember us kiddingly making a reference to playing softball, and Coach giving us the "you guys know what I think about that" smirk. It was something we joked about, openly. He knew we liked to play, and we knew he didn't want us to. But that was as far as that conversation ever went. Another example of this understanding between us is a video I did for Doug Anderson's "Video Productions" class (greatest class ever) called "Kruschke Knows" based on the popular "Bo Knows" commercials of the time. Just like Bo Jackson, the video shows clips of me excelling at a wide variety of sports and people from those sports confirming, "Kruschke knows (name a sport)!" For baseball, I had Coach Soule say, "Kruschke knows baseball!" and then soon after, he cuts in to say, "Kruschke BETTER NOT know softball!" It was good stuff; I can borrow you the video sometime if you like. For the previous couple summers, a bunch of us baseball-loving classmates also played a few softball tournaments together when our baseball schedules allowed; we loved it, because it was just another way to play ball and hang out together. Since t-ball we played every summer league the town ever offered - from Little League to Babe Ruth to Legion, and soon after our fateful spring of '91, town team baseball (of which I am the last of the Mohicans still donning a uniform among my classmates, although it should be noted that the majority of my uniform donning has taken place on the side of the chalk lines nearest the dugout). But softball was just another thing to do together; it was sports and it was fun. I don't recall if 1991 was the first year we played on an organized team in the Belle Plaine men's slow pitch softball league or not, but I do recall us having some slight apprehension about playing before saying, "Let's just play." We had the uniforms, we were in the league; we were going to play. We knew the coach didn't want us to, but we didn't understand or agree with the logic as to why we couldn't or shouldn't; it was just a harmless softball game to us. It's not going to screw up our swings... (we were already 1-8; how much worse could they get?!) I don't think we were too concerned that it would be reported, or if it was, that we would be in any real trouble. Put it this way: I think it's pretty safe to say that if we really thought we would have been kicked off the team - or even suspended at all - for playing softball, we wouldn't have.  Standing: Jeff Gansen, Brad Muehlenhardt, Zip Zellmann, Jason Noll, Trace Selly, Shannon Keohane. Seated: Terry Kahle, Jason Piche, Brett Kruschke, Chad Behnke. It's probably time for introductions to the seven suspended seniors our coach later dubbed, "The Magnificent Seven." Six of the seven are pictured above; missing is my cousin, Pete Kruschke. The others doubling up on baseball and softball were Jeff Gansen, Brad Muehlenhardt, Jason Noll, Trace Selly, Terry Kahle, and myself. I'm guessing we played our softball game on a Thursday night, because I believe it was a Friday morning when we showed up for school and were told to wait on the bench in the lobby as Athletic Director Donna Brinton-Hawkins needed to speak with us. We started to do a few "uh-ohs" and half-nervous giggles amongst ourselves, but had no idea what was in store. Coach Soule was gone that morning but had heard we played a softball game the night before, and Brinton-Hawkins said we were to turn in our uniforms by the end of the day. Talk about floored! We had been with the "program" since 7th grade baseball, and here with a few weeks left in our senior year, our final season, it was over just like that?! Wow. Needless to say, we weren't happy and news of the decision spread through the school like wildfire. Pretty soon everybody had an opinion one way or another, most seemingly against us.  Check out those Mizuno Techfires - hard not to get a hit The next thing I remember is either that same evening or soon thereafter, all of us players and our parents met up at the ballpark and discussed the situation, deciding if we wanted to go ahead and fight it. We knew we could be in for some crap, but decided to do so because we felt we were being wronged. In our view, we understood that we went against the coach's wishes and deserved some form of punishment, but we thought the sentence handed out was far too severe, considering: > It was an unwritten rule, not a written rule, and we were never told we would be kicked off the team if we played; > If we'd have been caught drinking alcohol, it would have been a 2-game suspension according to the rules of the Minnesota State High School League, and playing a softball game sure seemed like a lesser offense to us; > Playing softball was not against the rules of the Minnesota State High School League. I could get into the argument about whether or not the mechanics of hitting and throwing a softball screws you up for baseball (I think it's preposterous), and how we strangely had the blessing of the coach to play softball in the summer, but those were our key points. So we appealed to the school board on the evening of Monday, May 13, and were reinstated by a 3-0 vote with two members abstaining and one member absent. The heart of the 1-8 Tigers was back, baby!!! Coach Soule was not at this meeting either, but once he caught wind of the board's decision, the power play was on: soon we were hearing that he would resign - and so would a bunch of other teachers and coaches (personally I'd have loved to see that bluff called) - if the suspensions were not upheld. So showing no backbone and succumbing to political pressure, the school board disregarded their 3-0 ruling from Monday night and declared there would be a "once-and-for-all" hearing on Wednesday night, to be held in the elementary school gym - primarily to accomodate an expected large crowd of townspeople, who had become enraptured with the whole ordeal. Jump back a day or two into the halls of Belle Plaine High School - I was sitting in my mom's 3rd hour class and could hear a commotion across the hall. One of our softball players, Chad Behnke - whose dad also sponsored our team, the Behnke Machine "Screw Crew" - was defending our side of the story against a teacher and several classmates. Maybe not a great decision, but I decided to join the fray. Arguing from the hallway, all I remember is walking away saying, "You don't know what the hell you're talking about!" (note: this blog is rated PG-13) and being very steamed, but I heard from more than one student that as I walked away, the teacher said, "I should rip his head off and throw it in a wastepaper basket!" (You couldn't make that quote up, could you?!) Each side would be given a few opportunities to speak their case at the big elementary school meeting, but the truth is we had about as good a chance to get reinstated to the team as Delta House did at their hearing in "Animal House."  "You're OUT! Finished at BPHS, expelled! I want you off this campus at nine o'clock Monday morning, and I've contacted your local draft boards and told them that you were all, ALL eligible for military service!" After a lot of back-and-forth in what was really quite a spectacle, the board voted 4-2 to rescind their decision to reinstate us from two nights earlier. (I guess there's not a lot of consolation in the fact that if you combined the two school board votes, we still would have won by a 5-4 count!) But not before I, somehow selected as one of our side's speakers, got up and nervously flubbed around before saying, "Yeah... well one of the teachers said they wanted to rip my head off and throw it in a wastepaper basket!" So much for the last-ditch emotional appeal. I also remember one of our moms telling the audience, "But these are good kids!" We got a lot of mileage joking about that one for months to come, at least. We did have the school board chairman, Erv Malin, on our side, and that was a good feeling. As he stated in the Star Trib column, "The penalty was excessive," it was not "well communicated," and "They were being punished for something positive." Couldn't have said it better myself, Erv.  1991 District Champs The story could neatly end there, but there's some other things I just have to include. I'm not saying this entitled us to a "free pass," but none of us had ever been in much trouble of any kind throughout our high school years and 6 of the 7 of us that got booted were also on the 23-4 basketball team that winter that: > Posted the best record in Belle Plaine boys basketball history, at 23-4; > Won the first conference title in BP history, with a 13-1 record; > Went further than any boys basketball team in BP history (lost by 2 points, in overtime, in the Region championship for a chance to go to State. We took it in stride, saying to each other in the post-game locker room, "Well, time to get out the sticks!" meaning it was now baseball season). And just a couple short months later, here we sat as the pariahs of Tigertown. Again, I'm not saying we deserved any special treatment, it's just that I find that background dynamic fascinating. Maybe we were just lucky that they let us graduate... Every year the Belle Plaine Herald recaps their "Top Ten Stories of the Year," and we were ranked somewhere in the middle - it was a huuuuge deal in town. More than anything, what I learned through this situation is that people tend to side with the powers-that-be, no matter what the truth may be or what common sense might say. I guess that was a valuable life lesson, anyway. But from teachers and coaches to fellow students and townspeople, I remain to this day shocked at how many thought we got exactly what we had coming to us. If you think I'm kidding, check out the treatment we got from the yearbook staff:   Nothing like a spiteful yearbook staff to salt the wounds! There is no record of our names or pictures of us on the baseball page in the 1991 yearbook - just like Clem Haskins' 1997 Final Four team! I went out for baseball at Southwest State University that fall, and was redshirted. Since the B-squad replacements didn't win another game the rest of the year, I was able to put in the SSU baseball program, "Brett won all of his team's games his senior year at Belle Plaine HS." (I didn't mention the fact it was only one.) Word is that one of the fathers of a current B-Squader at the time told Coach Soule about our playing softball, with the thought that it would get his son brought up to the varsity. I don't know if that's true, but it is a pretty interesting detail. And I have no problem with any of the B-Squaders, for the record; many of them were, or still are, friends. I guess it's worth noting that years later, we did get an apology from Coach Soule for the whole mess. And while I will never agree with the opinion that anything more than two games was proper justice for playing a softball game, I harbor no ill will towards Jay and we get along just fine when we bump into each other at local high school sporting events. Heck - we're facebook friends! (And yes, I did trade a message with him that I'd be writing this story.) I guess the only regret I probably have is that we didn't put a float together for the 1991 Bar B-Q Days parade:  Twins thoughts 05/16/2011
 Delmon Young stands and points at the ball, while Denard Span has to race over from centerfield to throw it in. Unbelievable. I'm writing this post first and foremost to say that I was at the Twins game yesterday, and got to see Delmon Young make (or not make) the WORST play of his career that I've seen. I'm not talking about the fact that he missed a ball against the wall that could have been caught; it's the fact that he just STOOD THERE and POINTED AT THE BALL while Span had to come racing over from centerfield to get it. It had to be 3 or 4x as far for Span as it would have been for Delmon, at least. I mean it was NOT THAT FAR from Delmon at all, and he just stood there. Did anybody else see it? Listened to a Bill Smith interview with Chad Hartman the other day and Chad asked him why Mauer couldn't DH until he was ready to catch. Who knows what's going on, but seems reasonable to me. That pretty much encapsultates the people's problem with Mauer: either he's a puss, or he's not a puss and we don't understand why. But don't blame the people when the only explanation that's been given is a seemingly weak one.  Chairman Mau(er) On the bright side, things have been SO bad that the savagery on the local radio stations has been top notch. Barreiro had a good one with "Crouching Mauer, Hidden Dragon" about the fact that Mauer isn't even crouching yet. My article today for South of Canada (http://www.south-of-canada.com/south-of-canada/2011/05/twins.html) said the Twins were having a little (or a lot of) humble pie; that could really be good for them if they take a long, hard look at what has got them here. But my fear is they won't - that they'll write it all off to injuries and bad luck. Yes everything has went as absolutely bad as possible, but some questionable decisions and lack of quality backups has contributed greatly to our current standing as well.  Jose Bautista, the modern-day Barry Bonds I was also at the Twins game Friday night so got to see Bautista hit four home runs this weekend. He's amazing, take nothing away from him, but do you think it's just a fluke that he's hit 12 HR's in 15 games against the Twins? The team of challenging hitters and pitching to contact could at least walk him like they're walking everybody else this year. That might be /the/ most inexplicable stat of them all this year, how many walks Twins pitching is giving up. Some other Bautista numbers: he is the fourth leading HR hitter in Target Field history, with 7. That includes Twins. Mauer has one career homer at Target Field, Morneau four. Dating back to September 2009, Jose Bautista has 78 homers in 209 games. I'll finish with some recent tweets that I've enjoyed: @aarongleeman Jon Rauch converted 21-of-25 saves for Twins. Since replacing him Matt Capps has now converted 21-of-25 saves. "Proven closer." Heh. 3:55 PM May 11thvia web @OverTheBaggy Friday's home game is Noose Night at Target Field. First 10,000 fans get the same replica rope the #Twins bullpen used to hang themselves. 3:57 PM May 11thvia web @aarongleeman Twins trying to avoid this company. RT @LaVelleNeal: '08 Seattle was first team to lose triple digits (101) and spend triple digits ($117M). 4:03 PM May 11thvia web @aarongleeman Drew Butera has made 59 outs in 68 plate appearances. Friday, May 13, 2011 8:06:53 PMvia web @aarongleeman Carl Pavano has faced a total of 80 batters in his last three starts. He has one strikeout. Friday, May 13, 2011 8:48:02 PMvia web @DarrenWolfson 6th time this year the #Twins have had 4 or fewer hits in a game. They'll need to go 74-52 the rest of the way to win 86. Time to sell? Friday, May 13, 2011 10:33:07 PMvia web @aarongleeman As a team the Twins are hitting .228/.294/.321. Nick Punto is a career .247/.323/.324 hitter. Saturday, May 14, 2011 9:42:35 AMvia web My iPod's Top 10 Most Played Songs 05/05/2011
This list "is what it is" - the top ten most played songs on my iPod (affectionately known as kruPod). It's not my top ten songs of all time - although several of them may be. It's not the best videos... it's not the ten best of all-time or my ten favorite songs on my iPod - but it IS the ten most played. One thing all these songs have in common is they have all been downloaded from iTunes - since they default into a neat little list that way and I am apparently too lazy to create my own playlists so far. Oh well. While a lot of the almost 7,000 songs on my iPod could stand to be deleted (I'm workin' on it), the vast majority of my favorite songs are on there and a true "top 10" list of my favorites would look fairly different. Maybe I'll do that post someday down the road (oh goodie, I know you can't wait). Note: they are listed in order from #1 to #10, so Harvey Danger's "Flagpole Sitta" is my #1 and Wayne Newton's "Danke Schoen" (from my #7 movie of all-time, Ferris Bueller's Day Off) is #10. Cleveland here to stay 05/02/2011
 "Who are these effin' guys?!" It's too late now, but I'm gonna post anyway. Timing isn't everything in blogging, but it is pretty darn important - especially in the sports world. Well, for about the last 10 days I've had in mind to post something about "Cleveland here to stay, KC going away" and of course over that time the Indians have just kept winning, and winning, and winning - to the point that it's not even much of a statement anymore. And yes - o ye rare and faithful reader of KruschkeLeaks - you will recognize the immediate irony in that declaration when you recall that on April 6th, I picked the Indians for 5th place in the AL Central and a measly 68 wins. Hmm. That said, we have found out a LOT about the Indians in the first month of the season: namely that every possible question mark about them has turned up roses. Asdrubal Cabrera? Flashing his promising '09 form, with extra power to boot. Travis Hafner? Written off for dead for years now, thumping once again. Grady Sizemore? He didn't go 'til the 8th round of our fantasy draft, and I wanted nothing to do with him bc of the dreaded microfracture knee surgery. Naturally, he has returned to looking like the Grady of old (minus the stolen bases).  Carlos Santana's walk-off grand slam, 4/29 Carlos Santana? Putting all concerns about last year's horrific knee injury behind him (as the picture at left more than attests). Matt LaPorta? Showing power and finally starting to deliver on the promise that made him the key cog in the CC Sabathia trade with Milwaukee. And the one position where they're most milking a player - third baseman Jack Hanahan? Polished prospect Lonnie Chisenhall waits in the wings, and likely will finish off the latter half of the season for the Tribe. He could have an impact like Danny Valencia did for the Twins last year. Throw in their one rock in Shin Soo-Choo and our old guy O-Cab - all he does is win wherever he goes! - and this lineup easily looks like the division's best, right now. If the Indians falter I do think it will be their pitching that lets them down, despite their 3rd place standing (3.48 team ERA) in the A.L. so far. Masterson, Carmona, and Carlos Carrasco (currently injured) are a decent-enough top 3, although there's no true ace among them. Their #4 and #5 starters and likewise candidates are mostly a bunch of thumbers who scream regression. Chris Perez is a solid option at the end of games, but the front office may have to make a move or two as the summer progresses. As for the Royals, I have little doubt that they will return from whence they came - challenging for the cellar once again. KC has a lot of great young players on the way, true, but there will be a lot of turbulence as they integrate themselves to the big leagues over the next few years. Their climb probably won't begin until 2013 at the earliest. So why the heck didn't I at least pick Cleveland to beat out the Royals this year? Great question, and while not satisfying to me now, I do at least have somewhat of an answer for you. Over the last two years, I have felt a tad "sleeperish" about the Tribe, only to see them show absolutely nothing and underachieve. I finally figured "I'm the one missing something, screw 'em" and now of course, it looks like they're shooting the sequel to Major League. Go figure. The Mauer Mistake 04/22/2011
 I remember the day the Twins signed Joe Mauer to his 8-year, $184 million contract extension. It was Sunday, March 21, 2010. I was at Target Field earlier that day for a season-ticket holder open house – my first glimpse at the new ballpark that had long been a dream. I was awestruck… this place was perfect. I actually remember telling some friends afterwards, “I know I may be biased, but this really might be the best ballpark in baseball!” That’s what I felt. It was euphoric, yet sincere. On the drive home, the radio announced the news that all Twins fans had hopelessly been waiting for: the side-burned face of the franchise, our Joe, was going to be a Twin for life. Sure, the numbers were staggering (8 years and $184 million – the fourth-largest contract in baseball history?! The TWINS?!); but the primary feeling was one of relief, and that the Twins did what they “had to” do. Let Joe hit free agency and take our chances against the Red Sox and Yankees? Uh, no thank you – we’re waaay too insecure for that. A season of contract uncertainty would have robbed a lot of the momentum the Twins had going, and made for an uneasy summer when it should have been a time of celebration. Now the focus could shift to indoctrinating our beautiful new Target Field with another run at the A.L. Central flag and maybe more, as it should be. Everybody wins, right? End of story, Joe rides off on the white horse into the sunset while chugging a milk? I wish it was that simple, but there is one issue that I just can’t let go of, that I don’t feel has received near its proper due.  "Billy, you're gettin' that crazy look in your eye..." The Twins received immediate and countless praise for “stepping up” and getting the job done, and heaven knows they proudly accepted all the adulation cast their way. However, I kept waiting for one of the local columnists or radio personalities, anyone, to call a spade a spade and call the Twins out for putting themselves in such a corner: allowing a guy they knew they would sign at all costs to have a career (MVP!) year while being on the cusp of opening a brand new ballpark. If ever a player had leverage, this was it. The Twins had to be aware of the massive risk they were taking in waiting on addressing Mauer’s next contract, but the question is, why? Why would they wait? What possible benefit could be extracted? Honestly, I even wonder why they didn’t pursue him after the 2008 season, in the midst of his 4-year, $33 million dollar deal he signed in February 2007.  2009 A.L. MVP, Joe Mauer As you may recall, St. Paul’s finest elevated his game in 2009 and started driving the ball like we had long expected he could, yet had never previously seen: 28 homers – more than double his personal best of 13 – a career-high 96 RBI, and a league-leading (and of course career-best) .365 average. He got on-base at a .444 clip, and slugged .587 – both career-bests and American League highs. Add it all up, and he was almost unanimously named the A.L.’s Most Valuable Player. Many considered it the greatest season ever for a catcher. EVER. Can you say the Twins were simply the victim of bad luck, in the sense that Mauer went off to levels that even the most optimistic Twins fan (picture: Dark Star) couldn’t have envisioned? Yes; somewhat, I think. Still, in his age 26-season, was this more likely to happen than a regression or even stagnation from his established norms? I also think the answer is yes. The 2009 MVP award itself probably wasn’t the difference maker in the Twins having to break the bank, but his season-as-a-whole sure was. There’s no answer to this question, but what’s your best guess: did Mauer’s 2009 campaign cost the Twins an extra $20 million? $30 million? $50 million?? I lean more towards the latter, personally.  "They're selling? Then buy, buy, buy!" And again – what benefit waited for the Twins by waiting out Mauer? It’s common knowledge that every year closer to free agency, a player’s price tag goes up dramatically. The most valuable thing a front office can do to set themselves up for long-term success is to identify and project its best players as early as possible, and to lock them into team-friendly contracts at the most opportune time. It’s no different than buying a blue chip stock – sure, there’s risk; but you know you’re going to buy and therefore want to get in at the lowest price possible. The Cleveland Indians of the mid-90’s were a model franchise in doing this with players such as Kenny Lofton and Manny Ramirez, and they reaped the benefits for years. An extreme modern-day example is how the Tampa Bay Rays handled Evan Longoria. Just a few weeks into his big league career in 2008, the Rays signed Longoria to a six year, $17.5 million contract – a deal which could be worth up to $44.5 million over nine years. It’s currently considered the most team-friendly contact in baseball, by far. While Mauer is not a great comparison to Longoria dollars-wise because he already had five seasons under his belt before 2009, it does contrast how an aggressive approach can play out versus a passive one. Let’s keep it local and look at Justin Morneau: with an MVP already under his belt in 2006, the Twins signed him in January ’08 to a 6-year, $80 million deal ($13M/per). Over his three previous seasons, he averaged .279 – 29 – 107 – a vast edge on Mauer’s .318 – 10 – 71 average from his previous four years. This was the time to “pay that man his money,” as the line from Rounders goes. Sure, extra value is assigned to Mauer because of what he brings defensively as a catcher, but $10 million a year more for eight total years (two extra)? I don’t think so, homey. With Morneau’s average salary at $13M/year, you can’t tell me that if the Twins didn’t get proactive with Joe before the ’09 season, that even with his Golden Boy status he wouldn’t have taken an 8-year deal for something in the range of $17M/year ($136M total). Of course that’s just my best guess, but it would represent a $48M savings from the contract Joe ended up getting. The point is that even with what’s amazingly now the 9th-highest payroll in MLB, the Twins can’t afford to waste any money. Another 50 million bucks in their pocket could have gone a long way towards a better ballclub on the field this year, and for the next couple years. Even if they’d have wasted it, it’s another couple bullets in the holster that they currently don’t have. Maybe I’m still slightly bitter about how the Johan Santana situation played out (ok – I am bitter) – the Twins waited until Johan had one year to go on his contract, said they were “forced” to trade him because he became too expensive and shipped him to the Mets for a bucket of balls and a used pine tar rag. Johan only “became” too costly because the Twins allowed it to play out that way; if they’d have pursued their ace lefty a year or two earlier, we might be making way for a Johan statue on Target Plaza one of these years.  If you want to point to the fact that Johan has had injury issues since signing with the Mets and that the Twins were wise to ship him off, having locked him into a far team-friendlier contact a year or two earlier would have made Johan a much greater asset – whether the Twins wanted to keep him or trade him. My point with Mauer remains that the Twins knew – wistfully from the day they first drafted him in June 2001, and officially when the ballpark bill was passed in April 2006 – that they would do everything in their power to keep him a Minnesota Twin. Why they decided to let it play out as they did will continue to baffle this Twins fan, and now we can watch the big club pay for their mistake each year through 2018.  KC golf trip recap 04/11/2011
 L-R: Shane Hofmann, Mike DeGroot, Kurt Stangler, Kyle Smith, Terry Manning, Jeff Kierzek, Brett Kruschke, Ken Hamrick Thursday night, March 31st, got to Shane’s about 7pm to make the drive for KC. Kyle Smith (Shane’s wife’s cousin and a guy I’ve come to know) also met us there and we picked up Terry Manning in Des Moines. Organizer Team Stang and two of his cohorts – Mike and Jeff, guys Shane and I first met at a happy hour a few weeks earlier – rode in the StangWagon. (Gopher Bus was out of commission.) Another fella Shane and I first met when we were in New Orleans, Ken, was flying in to KC on Friday.  BK @ Tiffany Greens Friday morning we had a 10:33 am tee time at Tiffany Greens in Kansas City: www.tiffanygreensgolf.com I shot a 61 on the front – with a frickin’ FOURTEEN on #9 – and a 46 on the back for a 107. Manning shot a 113 (55, 58), the worst I’ve ever seen him shoot and maybe the first time I ever beat him. Not that we were competing against each other – we were paired all weekend and also part of the same gambling team for the weekend (yikes). Three important notes about the weekend of golf: we played the blue tees, or whatever was the 2nd furthest back on each course. I hardly feel like I played a par 3 all weekend; most of them were 180-200 yards. Just not good for my “game”, if that’s what you want to call it. We also played with no gimmes, which is something I pushed for. I’m sure that cost me 10 strokes too, overall. I am the master of missing the world’s shortest putts. But I think gimmes are a cop-out and unnecessary; people take waaaay too many gimmes they would otherwise miss. Plus my theory is, I didn’t hit it 500 yards to pick it up six inches from the hole. Final thing that really helped, we decided to play winter rules, which meant you could fluff (pick up and replace) your ball all weekend (except for sand). To me that is a huge advantage. A lot of times you get so many bad lies, buried balls, etc. I’m kind of a purist so I don’t think it’s real golf, but I didn’t fight this one too much. Oh, and one other rule thing – typically when I play, the one rule I don’t enforce for scorekeeping is if I lose a ball that I KNOW is in play, I don’t take a penalty, even though you’re supposed to. Technically you’re supposed to re-hit from your previous location apparently? But we all just took a penalty stroke whenever this happened (at least I did), and it happened a LOT. Huge pet peeve (#26, actually). The plan for Friday evening was to go to the Royals game, and I was excited to do so. Game #2 of the season, Friday night against the Angels, beautiful evening and you can’t beat fun at the old ballpark. Even with it being Fireworks Night, we didn’t figure we’d have too much trouble getting in, with 8 guys as it were. Well, shower up after golf at our awesome Aloft hotel and head downstairs to depart for the stadium, and it turns out two “cool guys” (I don’t need to get into who, but let’s just call them “We love baseball so much, we brought our baseball gloves on a golf trip just for the scant chance we might find 5 minutes to play catch” Guys – to protect their identity, let’s go with “Ace” and “Friendo”) decided we weren’t going anymore, and then the rest of the group caved like a bunch of cowards and I guess that was that. I was about as happy as Ron Burgundy when Veronica tells him he has bad hair. “WHAT DID YOU SAY?!?” So instead of going to Kaufmann we did something you’d never get to do otherwise – go to an ordinary sports bar and listen to Shane and Kurt have the worst Hall of Fame / steroids debate you’ve ever heard. I’m sorry, but it was. (And yes, I participated, too.) It seriously had to last an hour – but it felt like about a week. Oh – and then the perfect capper to that portion of the evening – Kila Ka’aihue hits a walk-off dong to give the Royals a thrilling 2-1 win. Nice…  Kila Monster walks-off  ..'Now I'm *glad* we didn't go to Hawaii.' So we’re getting ready to leave and somehow our group gets split up – I decide to follow Team Stang & Co., an instantly bad idea – while Shane, Manning and Kyle hung back for another drink. We were walking to some cool guy bar called Fuel, and we kept walking, and walking, and walking. Every now and then, Kurt would stop, look at his phone and say, “It’s just up here a ways.” I don’t know how long we walked, but it was waaaay too long. I’d say at LEAST an hour, very possibly closer to an hour and twenty minutes. At one point, Shane, Kyle and Manning drove by in a cab and heckled us. We probably looked like in the old cartoons where the person turns into “SUCKER." Trying my best not to, I was still carrying a simmering anger about the Royals game. We get to Fuel, there was a tremendously loud, 80’s cover band which was good, but communication was borderline impossible. As I stood there, I must have seen the Kila home run about 10 times over the course of the next couple hour or two, I’m not kidding. They’ve got on the Fox Sports Channel that just keeps replaying highlights and ESPN, etc. We had a 7:30 am tee time and were golfing 36 the next day, so about 11:30 I cabbed back with Jeff. I didn’t check the mileage but it was AMAZING how far we drove back over the distance we walked! Kind of funny, kind of not. I could write a separate story on our goofy cab driver –ex-Army guy who said he eats a steak every day cuz his grandma told him to, told us about his love life, and who did several u-turns and had no idea where he was going even though it wasn’t that complicated – but got back to the hotel about midnight and zonked out.  Terry tees off @ Deer Creek Saturday was just a beautiful day for golf, all the way through. We got lucky with this being our day for 36 holes. In the morning, we golfed at Deer Creek in Overland, KS: www.deercreekgc.com I shot a 55 and 49 for a 104. It was a great course. We went and had lunch at our next golf course, Falcon Ridge in Lenexa, KS, before teeing off at 2:30 pm. I shot a 50 and a 56 (with a 9 on each side), for a 106. www.falconridgegolf.com  'Guys pretending to be guys' @ Falcon Ridge We had a late dinner at the Hereford House, a steak house. (duh) We had our own little room (kind of by accident, I think), very Masters-like, it worked out great. We ended the night at our hotel bar lobby. It was Ken’s birthday Sunday so the goal was to stay up til midnight – it wasn’t pretty as Manning, Ken and I avoided a few nod-offs, cheersed at midnight, then reported to our rooms at precisely 12:01 am. Sunday morning we teed off at Ironhorse Golf Club in Leawood, KS: www.ironhorsegolf.com Unfortunately it was EXTREMELY windy and probably more tiring than 36 holes the day before; I shot a 54 and a 62 for a 116. But I loved this course… it was my favorite one on the weekend and I’d like to play it again (next year, perhaps) – my 2nd favorite course was Deer Creek but they were all nice.  Last hole @ Ironhorse - pretty 'guru' partners So after golf we all went out for lunch and figured out the teams and scores – I lost money but it was only a tenth of my unemployment check so no big deal. Consider it tithing for a bad golfer. It really was a good crew of guys that got along well, Kurt did a bang-up job organizing it like always, and there’s talk of going again next year. I’ve never done a golf trip like this before but I truly loved it – it’s a great feeling when you’re golfing to know “tomorrow I’m gonna be golfing, then the next day I’m gonna be golfing, then the next day I’m gonna be golfing…” and I got to break in my new clubs (Canterbury Park clearance sale! Leave me alone) and that was fun, too. So basically I got in as much golf in that weekend as I have averaged each year for about the last decade. That’s a good start to any golf season... PICS: http://share.shutterfly.com/share/received/welcome.sfly?fid=9fc70fed0ab5b039&sid=8BatWrlmzbMia |   Town Ball Tavern @ Target Field should have a pic of Belle Plaine's Tiger Park on display this year ArchivesDecember 2011 CategoriesAll |
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