FB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[DuffMan]

I will be headed to Northfield on Saturday and I'd like to guage interest from the posters in the cities.  I may be able to get a very nice 14 passenger limo bus for the game.  Private message me if you are interested in meeting in a central location to roll down. 

oAs.

So when will you be on the Bachelorette?

[Just Bill]

I thought you MIAC folks would enjoy this headline from the UW-Stevens Point student newspaper.  Forgive them for they know not of what they speak.

[sju56321]

+K to all the usuals in advance of the big game. Hope you all have an enjoyable day in Northfield. I hope the video will provide some solace for not making the game, but, TDT, I will be at the playoff game if SJU wins tomorrow, provided it isn't on the west coast. Maybe even in Illinois if Redlands makes the field.

[DuffMan]

I thought you MIAC folks would enjoy this headline from the UW-Stevens Point student newspaper.  Forgive them for they know not of what they speak.

Ollies sounds good to me

[CCKnight]

Go KNIGHTS!!!!!
Looking forward to the game tomorrow.  Safe travels to all those making the trip, even if it's in a limo bus.

[sjusection105]

Freebird-
Please change your avatar.  I'm sure the rest of the board's regulars can come up with some good suggestions for something else you can put up instead.  Seriously, I cringe every time you start in with your inane drivel.  Don't give the false impression you ever had anything to do with BU football.
I repeat, please change your avatar. 

Well said Carl, I'm sure you speak for a good share of the former BC/BU players & staff. As one famous Twin Cities radio host once said when speaking about unreasonable Vikings fans- "please get off our side" 

[CCKnight]

I thought you MIAC folks would enjoy this headline from the UW-Stevens Point student newspaper.  Forgive them for they know not of what they speak.

Ollies sounds good to me

The price to be paid for having such a silly team name in the first place.  Oles, Ollies, what's the difference   

[stanbob]

I thought you MIAC folks would enjoy this headline from the UW-Stevens Point student newspaper.  Forgive them for they know not of what they speak.

Ollies sounds good to me

The price to be paid for having such a silly team name in the first place.  Oles, Ollies, what's the difference   

In this case, nothing.   

[Rugman]

Whatever happened to OleFan?

[dbhammel]

not football but a few questions for the baseball experts/geniuses on here, whether  they are real gurus (TC), borderline (Fins) or self-annointed (TDT):

You're much too kind. What follows is a bunch of rambling...

1) Should the Twins persue Blake? I mean, the dude has been solid for a few years but he is
35. Wouldnt signing him potentially be a "redo" of the Batista/Lamb/etc moves that screw up the team year after year?

The Twins should want absolutely nothing to do with Casey Blake.  Here are the pertinent stats from 2008:

Blake, 34 years old, $6.1MM salary, .274/.345/.463, 110 OPS+

Buscher, 27 years old, <$500,000, .294/.340/.390, 100 OPS+
Harris, 27 years old, $431,000, .265/.327/.394, 97 OPS+

Blake played a little above his career line of .264/.334/.447/105 OPS+.  Harris and Buscher played at essentially their established level.  Blake will, most likely, outproduce Buscher/Harris offensively in 2009.

While none them are great (or even good defenders) Harris at least can fake 2B and SS in addition to 3B. Blake has no positional flexibility--his next best position is DH.  That right there closes a lot of the gap between their offensive output.  Also, the Twins' potential platoon is right at about their peak age.  Blake is right at the age where non-elite hitters start to fade rapidly.  In fact, take a look at this mystery player:

2007, 31 years old, $2.7MM, .289/.366/.453, 112 OPS+

Doesn't that looks pretty darn similar to what Blake did last year, only a younger, cheaper player?  Yeah, that's Mike Lamb.  He followed it with:

2008, 32 years old, $3.5MM, .235/.276/.322, 66 OPS+

I still stand by the signing of Mike Lamb prior to 2008.  With what was known about him coming into the season, he was essentially signing 2009 Casey Blake for half of the salary.  That risk obviously didn't work out AND the Twins had a passable platoon situation present itself at 3B as the year went on.  At this point, to sign Casey Blake for multiple years at more money than they signed Lamb for would just prove that the Twins are unwilling to learn from their mistakes.

And to sign him for $10MM, even for one year, like dbhammel suggests?  Ugh.  Light the money on fire at 34 Kirby Puckett place and keep some homeless people warm for 15 minutes.  It would win about as many baseball games.

Good stuff on Blake.  I wold agree he isnt a huge upgrade from Buscher or possible Lamb for the money he'd demand.  I do think thought that the perceived upgrade to a veteran with a bit more power would be attractive, just not at $10M.  Obviously the Twins need to upgrade the left side of the infield, I like Punto as a agreat utility player and I think Buscher could be a decent 3B for years.  That being said Id really like to see them go after a SS/3B with more power to balance the lakc of power and surplus of OBP/Speed in their lineup.  I suppose Hardy could do that or Greene to a lesser extent.  It remains to be seen if Escobar is going to the Padres, who knows what'll happen on the Peavy front, but for what he would cost in prospect/MLB-ready SP Im not sure he is the type of player we need right now.  If I could dream Id love to see Furcal/Beltre, but that isnt going to happen.

Always open to chat baseball...

[57Johnnie]

Whatever happened to OleFan?

Ollie Fan  

[dbhammel]

Beltre and Furcal are way too $$$, damn, 3B market sucks.

As a red sox fan It makes me thinks that it would be possible to see the sox send lowell to the twins for some prospects, and of course they would have to eat osme of his salary.  Assuming of course they can sign texeira and move youk to 3b to make room for tex.  Im not too familiar with the twins farm system, would they have good enough prospects at positions boston needs (C,P of any kind)?

[TC]

Whatever happened to OleFan?

St. Olaf  3-4 0.429 133 189  5-4 0.556 173 203 5-4 Won 2

[DustySJU]

Dividers no longer..... today we hand the Quill and ink to CCKnight @ www.JohnnieFootball.com!

Developing....

[CCKnight]

Whatever happened to OleFan?

St. Olaf  3-4 0.429 133 189  5-4 0.556 173 203 5-4 Won 2

Two of those three conference wins were huge for the Knights (GAC & UST) and were a big reason the Knights are playing for the conference championship tomorrow.  So for the first and possibly last time I'd like to thank the Ollies  for being a good neighbor and helping the Knights out.