Random items and stuff

By Michael Haas
Note: All of these items are taken from Alright Hamilton's new sister site, MNbaseballforum. Consider this an advertisement for the forum, of sorts.

- The Twins are apparently close to offering Casey Blake a contract. Experts agree that he'll expect a two, probably three year deal at around $7 mil per year. He hit .274 with 21 bombs last year, but he's 35 years old. Or we could deal some young arms for someone like Garrett Atkins, who's 29 years old and obviously doesn't hit as well away from Coors field. The Buscher/Tolbert platoon wouldn't put up terrible numbers either. There's no easy answer here folks, but one thing is for sure - the Twins have a bunch of money to throw around (relatively).

- The When Will Dougie Come Back? questioning has begun. When he left in 2004, Mientkiewicz stated that he'd like to play for the Twins again, perhaps finishing out his career. He's a free agent now, but the Pirates are hoping to re-sign him. Maybe next year.

- Pedroia won the MVP. Morneau finished 2nd, Mauer 4th. So what? I think it's a testament to the class of Twins fans that we are not clamoring for either of our two guys to have won. Or perhaps it's a testament to how crappily Morneau played in September.

On the other side of the coin, some Rays fans are apparently up in arms about the Manager of the Year vote. How could they be mad about a Manager of the Year vote? Besides that, their guy Joe Maddon won. But they're upset because it wasn't unanimous. So they hunted down the only writer who didn't vote for Maddon. The guy had to defend himself, and actually came away looking like a child molester. Here's what he said:

"The voting is done in the final week of the season, so I did not have the playoffs to consider," Pluto said. "If they did the voting after, certainly Joe would have got it. I had great respect for both men, and gave the edge to Gardenhire for keeping his team in contention after losing Santana, etc. I had no idea how anyone else was voting. I certainly didn't set out to stiff Joe by being the lone voice not to have him No. 1."

- It sounds like we're finally going to get the ball rolling on our faux dating site, mnvikingsingles.com. If you have any pictures of disgusting Viking fans, or ideas for profiles, let us know. Also, take a picture a photo of you inside your local dive bar wearing Purple attire, submit it, and you could be featured on the premier website for purple love!

The greatest music video ever.



And finally, NERDS!



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