The Rake Magazine

Those of you who claim to have known the Twins would be playing for first place on the next-to-last night in July, please stop lying.

Other commitments prevented me from going down to the Dome for Slowey's shutout on Monday and the marvelous manufacture of five runs in the fifth en route to a 6-5 win on Tuesday. But tonight was the Twins' opportunity to move ahead of the Pale Hose, and for veteran hurler Livan Hernandez to quiet the horde hollaring for him to be replaced in the rotation by Francisco Liriano. I've got some sentiment on behalf of Hernandez. First of all, through the first six weeks of the season, he went 6-1 with a 3.90 ERA, enabling pitching coach Rick Anderson to sort through his youngsters with a little more patience knowing that he had a veteran stopper on the mound to prevent things from going too far off track. That by itself made Hernandez a better investment than Sidney Ponson and Russ Ortiz combined the previous season. Second, although Hernandez has been increasingly hit harder, he's been eating a lot of innings--he's got 143 and 2/3, with Nick Blackburn's 127 next-most and the rest of the starters not yet at 100. That means if the Twins stay in the pennant race and need to tax their young arms, they may be able to do so (with the possible exception of Blackburn) without worrying about blowing them out. Glen Perkins has never pitched more than 132 innings in a season at any level and Blackburn's career high is 160. Baker has gone 190 and between Rochester and Minnesota last year, Slowey reached 200. With 55 games left to play for the five-man rotation and hopes that they'd average at least six innings per start, that's an extra 66 innings apiece (if they each start 11 times). Baker and Slowey can handle it, Perkins, maybe. But without Livan's 144 (minus 1/3), a bunch of pitchers in their mid-20s get pushed, and the odds of arm injuries rise.

Hernandez gets by on guile, not a bad role model for a bunch of hurlers without mediocre stuff (with the exception of Perkins). I know I enjoyed watching him befuddle the young Diamondbacks when I went to the Dome late last month. Plus, on a more personal level, as a blogger on the back side of middle age, I've got some empathy for an aging guy trying to wheedle his way along in a young man's game. And a part of me resents picking up my latest Sports Illustrated and reading:

Whether because of an egregious error in evaluating Livan Hernandez or decisions of a financial nature, the Twins have continued to start Hernandez (a 5.31 ERA and fewer than a strikeout every two innings, despite his 10-7 record through Sunday) even as Liriano (10 straight victories) destroys Triple A hitters in the International League. According to Baseball Prospectus's projections, replacing Hernandez with Liriano would save the Twins 15 to 20 runs down the stretch, making them two games better in a division race that may well be decided by less than that.

Well then, there you go: Put a bullet into Livan and ship him off to the glue factory and you might win a pennant. Because the bean counters figure 15 to 20 runs, which by their pythagoreardon berenguergringo formula comes out to two games.

Yeah, I personally resent it, but I also get the Baseball Prospectus yearbook every spring and have come to admire their scholarship, not least because they are often accurate. I was hoping to catch them badly underestimating one of the Twins pitchers who have come through for the club this season, but their thumbnail sketches of Slowey, Baker, Perkins and Blackburn are all pretty solid.

More to the point, Hernandez got shellacked tonight: 5 runs, 9 hits and 2 walks in 4 innings' work. The Dome has been his saving grace (he was 8-1 at home before tonight) and he's generally been able to battle back from a wretched inning to put together a little mow-through-the-order rhythm. But not tonight. Carlos Quentin crushed a pitch for a line drive homer to left center in the first inning, then cleared the bases with a three-run double (again to left center) in the 4th, prompting manager Ron Gardenhire to say "he was missing [with his pitches] but mostly to one guy."

Except that seven of the other eight guys in the White Sox lineup also got hits off Livan in those 4 innings, and none of them were cheap. He pitched out of a couple of jams to hold it to just 5 runs, and his ERA--at 3.90 in May, remember--is now 5.48, and his 6-1 record has slipped to 10-8. Despite the fact that I think Liriano remains an extreme injury risk (unless they have done wonders with his mechanics down on the farm) and should be traded now, while his perceived value is still pretty high, it is hard not to endorse the notion that he should be brought up and thrown into the rotation if he's not going to be dealt, and that Hernandez should slide into the roles of long relief and informal pitching coach.

Most of the time after a game, I listen to what Gardy has to say and then split. But tonight, I thought it would be instructive to get Hernandez's reaction to getting shelled at a particularly delicate moment regarding his near-future role on the squad. I waited patiently while the cluster of beat writers asked him all sorts of questions, all the while ignoring the elephant in the room. They asked him about Quentin. They noted that he seemed to get upset with some of the ump's calls and wanted to know if that were true. They asked if the size of the crowd--over 42,000, the largest non-opening day crowd since the final day of the 2006 season--affected his performance. Hernandez was unyielding, saying he made a couple of bad pitches to Quentin, that he doesn't get nervous, that he wasn't frustrated, etc.

Here was a guy who everybody knows is going to get yanked from the rotation sooner rather than later unless things change, soon and dramatically, in his favor. He just crapped out and reporters were asking if it was because of the size of the crowd! So I stepped in it. "You've heard all the talk about Liriano I'm sure. Did that have any effect on you mentally as you pitched tonight?" I asked. He looked daggers into my eyes, his mouth somewhere between a sneer and a smirk, said something to the effect of, "Okay, that's enough," and turned his back on the throng. Interview over.

Now Hernandez doesn't know me from Adam, so I get his pique at some new guy jumping his case. The question would have been better coming from someone else (and perhaps then would have been more elegantly worded). But the question had to come from somebody. And by turning his back on us, Hernandez answered it.

People who call Ron Artest crazy aren't exactly lacking for anecdotal evidence. My favorite Artest moment was less than three weeks into the 2004-05 season, when he told his team that he wanted to take some time off to promote his new music record. Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Of course less than a week after that, he went up into the stands and started wailing on a guy who he (mistakenly) thought threw ice at him (it was another guy, of course), precipitating the largest, ugliest, fans-players brawl in NBA history. The domestic abuse and animal neglect charges, and the destroying of a television camera, etc, etc, are also on the books. But I give him a pass for getting into a confrontation with Pat Riley, one of the few times when I understood exactly what he was thinking.

When he wants to be and the planets are alligned, Artest is also an incredible basketball player, especially on defense, where his stuck-on-overrevved motor can change the dynamic of a game. He epitomizes the phrase, "high risk, high reward." And now that the Houston Rockets have acquired him, I can't imagine a better place for him. Houston is the armpit of America--hot, humid, oily, and unattractive, a huge city that alternately feel like a ceaseless warehouse district and a suburb on steroids. It's a place without much of an identity--compare it to Dallas, Austin, San Antonio--but craving a winner. Having come from the political cowtown of Sacramento, Artest will enjoy the upgrade in visibility and scale. More than that, he'll love the chance to play for a winner (and the Rockets will win if Artest doesn't flip out), and for coach Rick Adelman. According to a story today by the Houston Chronicle's fine beat writer, Jonathan Feigen, Artest florished in the 40 games he played under Adelman after being traded from Indiana to Sacramento, where Adelman coached before Houston. Artest was named to the All NBA first defensive team, and offered to donate his salary to the Kings if they kept Adelman (they didn't). The fact that Ron Artest is happy with his coach is a great first building block, if such a thing is possible in the ever-changing world Artest inhabits. One of the reasons the Kings were willing to let him go for an apparent song--Feigen is reporting the compensation is Bobby Jackson, promising rookie forward Donte Green, next year's top draft pick and another player yet to be named--is because he had begun berating himself for not opting out of his $7.4 million contract in Sacramento. Kings management wisely gauged that as rumblings from potentially damaging volcano, and peddled him forthwith.

People have already started to wonder if Artest and shutdown forward Shane Battier are redundant talents. But if you like defense, that is akin to somebody wondering if an art collector's Monet is now redundant because the collector just purchased a Renoir. No, while Battier and Artest are similar, and have overlapping strengths, the defense they can play together will only seem redundant to the opponents they are smothering.

Of greater concern is how well Artest will mix with center Yao Ming. The men are polar opposites in terms of temperament. Yao is deferential, overrated on defense, and slow. Artest is egotistical and ball-hungry, overrated on offense and very quick. If they are both Rockets, I think they will move in different orbits. As a longtime Yao hater, I see all the ways Yao's game could get under Artest's skin, even as Yao is being accorded his usual global veneration, upping the resentment ante. And we won't even go into all the ways Artest could be the problem.

I am falling prey to the trite temptation to make trades for other ballclubs. I believe it is a trade that would make both participants at least co-favorites to win their respective conferences. It won't happen for a boatload of reasons I won't go into now (like the commercial power of Yao's nationality), but it would be of enormous benefit to both teams: Send Yao, the expiring contract of Steve Francis, and a sign-and-trade deal with Dikembe Mutombo to make the sides match, all to Philadelphia in exchange for center Samuel Dalembert and a sign-and-trade contract for Andre Iguodala.

Philly would have Yao to pair with Elton Brand on the front line, with Mutombo as a backup and Andre Miller still running the point, with emerging scorers like Thaddeus Young in the mix. That is a team that could make some serious noise in the East. Meanwhile, Houston would have a front line of Dalembert, Artest and Battier, with Luis Scola and Carl Landry if you needed to get bigger at the 4, and a backcourt of Iguodala and T-Mac swinging with Rafer Alston at the point. And that is a team that would sit beside the Hornets and the Lakers as monster conference contenders.

Even if they stand pat, Houston is suddenly very much in the championship conversation. No team in basketball has quality muckers the likes of Artest, Battier, Scola, Landry and Chuck Hayes--that's sweat equity by the gallon, and doesn't even include your two superstars. And looking at San Antonio and Dallas right now, they'll own Texas.

Wolves Sign Telfair and Gomes

Both of these deals are far better news than the earlier locking up of Craig Smith for two years. Although the Wolves now have 15 guys under contract for the coming year, Telfair is the only one who could accurately be described as a point guard. Randy Foye is a "combo" guard, more Brandon Roy than Jose Calderon. Nobody will ever accuse Bassy of being able to play any other position.

The local hype machine tried to portray Al Jefferson as the most pleasant surprise of the package wrought in the KG deal, but Big Al was a distant third on that count behind Telfair and Gomes, in that order. Jefferson put up monster numbers during the second half of his final year in Boston and showed every sign of being the low-post load that appeared wearing #25 last year. His inconsistent and underdeveloped defense was likewise no surprise. Bassy, on the other hand, was almost universally considered an immature bust, his premature career beset by clanking jumpers, lousy on-court decision-making, and a weapons incident that fed the stereotype of a NYC prep star fallen prey to too much playground ball veneration.

From his first day in Minnesota, Telfair was anything but that guy, proving himself to be nearly as modest off the court as he was industrious, and increasingly sage, on the hardwood. He still couldn't swish a jumper if his reputation depended upon it (and leave-'em-alone defenses indicated that it did), but his ability to step up and give his teammates a taste of what the various sets in Wittman's half court system looked like with a true point on the perimeter proved to be invaluable in the development of Jefferson, McCants and the rest of the team's scorers.

The Telfair signing feels like a rare bit of good news for those hoping Rashad McCants doesn't get lost in the personnel shuffle. Bassy and Shaddy always felt like a complementary backcourt duo, and sure enough, Telfair's plus/minus numbers with McCants are easily better than with anyone else on the perimeter. The Wolves averaged 93 points per 48 with Telfair last season, but that number jumped to 100 pp48 when McCants was riding shotgunner on the wing, without inflating the 103 pp48 the Wolves ceded on D in Telfair's minutes. One hopes that Foye is paired in the starting lineup with Mike Miller and that Telfair and Shaddy come in together.

Ryan Gomes was a bit of a surprise only in that you hear about guys doing the "little things," but it is very tough to appreciate until it's laid out on a daily basis. Gomes was an inconsistent shooter early last year, especially from long range, and he suffered the embarrassment of being the woefully undersized power forward beside Jefferson's undersized center, but naturally registered no complaint. I've extolled his virtues in other fairly recent threads and think whatever Glen Taylor and co. forked over to get him was well spent, so long as it was below the MLE. Gomes provides flexibility, continuity, an easy-going balm in the locker room during a long season. He's bright and well-spoken with the media and fans, enhancing the image of the star-crossed franchise. And I suspect that he will be thrust in different roles and also see his minutes fluctuate quite a bit--being able to accept that uncertainty without getting sour or mopey is a huge benefit to a ballclub still rapidly and comprehensively building on the fly, without anyone being really certain how things are going to shake out. Put it this way, if Craig Smith is worth $4.8 million over the next two years (more than had been previously reported) than Gomes is worth double that, and is probably receiving less. In contrast with Smith, Bassy's near-identitical $4.8 m over two years, with a $2.7 m option on a third, is more of a bargain.

As mentioned earlier, Minnesota now has 15 players signed, with Kevin McHale expressing the opinion that Chris Richard will also join the fold. Presumably this means goodbye to Kirk Snyder, who showed promise last season and should find a spot at the end of a good team's roster (I'd say the Celts, who remain a little thin and wouldn't hurt their defensive identity with Snyder on board). I'd say there is also a pretty good chance we won't see Calvin Booth ever suit up.

My starting five on July 26 looks like a front line of Collins-Jefferson-Gomes, with Miller and Foye in the backcourt. Kevin Love and Corey Brewer would be my first off the bench, with Collins and either Gomes or Miller sitting, depending on the matchups. Then McCants and Telfair would be in the second wave, with Smith coming in for Jefferson along with Collins to beef up the front line. At crunchtime, I'd seriously consider Foye, McCants and Miller spreading the floor and giving Jefferson room to operate, with Collins, Love, Brewer or Gomes being among the choices for the fifth guy, again depending on the matchup. I'll try and remember to look back on this in mid-winter and read how silly (or less likely, prescient) that sounds.

Last but not least on the Wolves for now, while Vegas Summer League doesn't often mean anything, Brewer's inconsistency there is a slight cause for concern. It is amazing to me how much personality plays a role in how a player is regarded, more so sometimes than actual performance. You rarely, if ever, hear McCants mentioned by the front office, while the gushing for all the things Brewer supposedly brings to the table remains unabated. But all the talk in the world doesn't obscure that this is a crucial year for Brewer, who needs to demonstrate that he can parlay great defense against large swingmen like Paul Pierce into a reliable asset--a consistent, kamikaze pace-setter--*and* not be a Telfair-like nonfactor when scoring. If Bowen and Raja Bell truly are the templates, he's got to learn to stick an open jumper, and have a little nastiness besides. And please, no more Dennis Rodman comparisons. They are somewhat similar in the way they move their feet and try to make a catalytic effect without the ball, but Rodman also happened to be one of the top two or three rebounders in the game during his heyday.

Cubs and Brewers Fight For A Pennant

For the first time in my life, I went to Summerfest, Milwaukee's huge, 10-day music gathering out on the shore at the end of June through the 4th of July. It was a glorious time, as I saw at least a dozen bands in three days/nights that I would have ventured out to see headlining all by their lonesome, climaxing in a stupdenous show by The Roots, who are really featuring a tuba player now, and a guitarist who totally tears it up. It is a long way from when the dual rappers, ?uestlove (the second greatest rock timekeeper in history behind Charlie Watts) and the beatboxer, Raheim, ran the show. Jesse Helms had died just earlier that day, and ?uest gave him his due, noting that he'd vehemently opposed almost every bit of civil rights legislation ever enacted in this country, and finishing off the aside by saying "good riddance" and "rest in peace" in the same sentence. A half-hour later the band was pinwheeling their way through a massive, psychedelic rendition of Dylan's "Masters of War," which segued into Hendrix's "Machine Gun." Maybe my best 4th of July ever.

But I digress. What was particularly noticeable at Summerfest, from a sports standpoint, was the somewhat edgy and yet good-natured bristling that continually took place between fans of the Cubs and Brewers. In late March, I took the great 95-year old blues pianist Pinetop Perkins down from a gig a few miles north of Milwaukee to catch a plane in Chicago (I was writing a Pinetop profile for No Depression magazine) and it struck me how incredibly close these two cities are from each other. As an east coast resident, it reminded me of Baltimore and Washington, or, to a slightly lesser extent, the Boston/NY/Philly triplets. Officially I guess it is 90 miles, but it is a straight shot down the highway and if you press the metal you can go round-trip and spend an entire day at whichever one you are visiting. Vikings fans love to claim this huge rivalry with the Packers, for instance, but anyone who has ever lived near Green Bay tells me that the Bears are the rivalry that matters.

Anyway, when a Milwaukee DJ introduced the Chicago band Alkaline Trio and half-kiddingly tried to whip up a little Cubs-Brewers frisson, the hefty response he received was eye-opening. From that point on, I began to notice the plethora of both Cubs and Brewers clothing worn by the festival patrons. It was really pretty extraordinary. (And this prompts another digression about sports and Summerfair. The Milwaukee Bucks had a booth at the fest and Yi jerseys were going for $5! Of course Yi is now a New Jersey Net, but that fact makes the dirt-cheap Yi merchandise *more* desireable--I almost bought one, and why not; it costs labout the same as a slice of pizza or a brat. On the other hand, I am not aware of exactly how bad Yi underperformed for the Bucks last year, and whether he contributed to the mightly sense of ennui that wafted off that ballclub whenever I saw them play. I know the Wolves have deeply discounted Ricky Davis merchandise on the gift-shop side of their website, and I would buy a RD jersey for a plugged nickel to give to my worst enemy. The karmic juju would be too dangerous. Okay, back to the Cubs-Brewers.) The drunken yahoos that are the real unofficial logo for any of these big music confabs also enjoyed egging on their rivals, be they Cubs or Brewers fans, whenever there was a moment of quasi-silence in the prevailing din and crush of bodies.

Then, a few days after I came home, the Brewers acquired ace and reigning Cy Young Award winner CC Sabathia from Cleveland. A day later, the Cubs responded by filching Rich Harden from the A's. Harden is more injury-prone and less experienced in knowing how to pitch than is Sabathia, but the price the Cubs paid--no prime prospects or on-field starters--was far less than what the Brewers gave up, and the rest of the Cubs rotation is stronger than Milwaukee's sans CC.

For some reason I'm giddy over this. The Brewers started becoming one of my favorite teams when they brought up Rickie Weeks and Prince Fielder two or three years ago, and then Corey Hart and Ryan Braun. Once they had finally rid themselves of that gasbag Bud Selig and the rest of his dunderheaded family, they drafted and traded smartly and then, after bagging a new stadium, waited for the kids to come through. And now they have. Ben Sheets has stayed healthy enough to start this year's All Star game for the National League, and with Sabathia gives the Brewers a dual-ace top side to their rotation, one of the key ingredients for going far in the playoffs.

Sabathia has been phenomenal. A huge kid--large-boned, physically gifted and fat all at the same time--he's thrown three complete games in his four starts thus far for Milwaukee, with the Brewers winning all four while CC has yielded just 5 runs and struck out 31 (walking just 8) in 33 innings. Meanwhile, Harden likewise has been as good as advertised. He's fanned 30 batters in just 17 and 1/3 innings in his three starts, while surrendering a measly 8 hits and two runs over that span. The problem, however, is the 17 and 1/3 in three outings. As a power-oriented strikeout pitcher, Harden throws a lot of pitches, and as a chronically injured young hurler, the Cubs have been wise to limit his pitch counts. Unfortunately that makes him much less valuable than Sabathia--a complete game helps your entire pitching staff by resting your bullpen and thus not taxing your other starters should they need to be lifted. Today, for example, Harden gave up only two hits and one run while striking out ten (his fourth straight game in double digit K's), but the Cubs lost to Florida, 3-2 in extra innings. As gaudy as Harden's numbers were today, and as much fun as it is to watch him pitch, Chicago's bullpen still labored seven innings on a day when he was given the ball. By contrast, Sabathia has been relieved for a grand *total* of three innings in his four starts.

As even casual baseball fans know, the Cubs haven't won a championship in exactly 100 years, replacing the Red Sox as the quintessential underdog baseball franchise. I don't have much sympathy for their drought--Wrigley Field is a huge cash cow which the Cubs' various ownership groups have dutifully and increasingly milked in the past couple of decades. But with the feisty Carlos Zambrano (who got into fisticuffs with his catcher last year) as the rubber-armed ace, and Harden mixing in with former reliever Ryan Dempster and the sharp but risky fly-ball oriented lefty Ted Lilly in the middle of the rotation, rounded out by above-average journeyman Jason Marquis (and with 16-game winner Rich Hill still battling baffling control problems in the minors), the Cubs have a marvelous cadre of starters.

But the Brewers appear likely to give them a legitimate run for their money. Sheets and Sabathia make them dangerous in any short series (although Sabathia was terrible in his last post season appearances), and the rest of the rotation, while not on a par with the Cubs, isn't too shabby, with Dave Bush and the young lefty Manny Parra. (If only another talented youngster, Yovani Gallardo, hadn't gone down with a knee injury in May.)

The point is, neither the Cubs nor the Brewers (who last went to the World Series in 1982 and have never won it all, although the Milwaukee Braves turned the trick a mere 51 years ago behind Warren Spahn) are dynastic franchises. Both have occasionally spent (and overspent) to try and win, but are a long way from the Yankees and Red Sox. Both have long-suffering fan bases and a wonderful collection of players on their respective rosters. I think they are the two best teams in the National League and wouldn't be surprised to see them in the NL Championship series in October. Just thinking about Zambrano versus Sabathia and Harden versus Sheets, with hitters like Fielder and Braun for Milwaukee and Derek Lee and Aramis Ramirez for the Cubs working for runs...It's enough to make a hoops freak patient before the opening tap of the 2008-09 NBA season in November.

_{Jeff Roberson/AP}

Of the boatload of people who deserve kudos for the Twins' surprising season, which incredibly has them in the thick of a pennant race just six weeks before Labor Day, pitching coach Rick Anderson belongs near the top of the list. Having traded away their Cy Young Award-winner (Johan Santana) and top young prospect (Matt Garza) and watched their innings-eating middle-rotation guy (Carlos Silva) signed away in free agency, the Twins' starting rotation for 2008 amounted to a a well-past-his-prime veteran, Livan Hernandez, and a collection of unproven kids as the club took the field on Opening Day in early April.

Nearly four months later, Hernandez is in danger of being the first hurler in 29 years to surrender 300 hits in a season, yet the Twins have soldiered forward through the dogged improvement of four pitchers between the ages of 24 and 26, none of the highly regarded prospects deemed to have the stuff of an ace. But under Anderson's steady tutelage and encouragement, each has made a quantum leap forward.

As a pretty staunch baseball fan, I realized with some embarrassment that I couldn't really differentiate between the quartet--lefthander Glen Perkins, and righties Kevin Slowey, Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn--and figured others might also benefit from a more detailed thumbnail sketch about their pitching make-up, specifically their strengths and characteristics and what challenges they most needed to surmount to continue their improvement. So, on Saturday before the middle game of the Twins' three-game series with Texas, I asked Anderson to do just that. Here's his take on the four cherubic horsemen.

Kevin Slowey

Command guy. He throws anywhere from 87 to 91. He works with control and command and he's got to live on the corners and keep the ball down. He's also got all four pitches, but his main strength is his command and location. His one thing is sometimes he'll get a little bit up and get a little frisky and get under the ball and try to overthrow a little bit. If he starts getting up around 91, 92, he's overthrowing and has got to back down a bit, keep his arm slot up and work the corners and keep the ball down and stay under control.

Glen Perkins

Stuff. He's probably got some of the best stuff of anyone on our team. The ball runs everywhere, moves everywhere, and he's got a good feel for what he is doing; he's confident and he attacks the hitters. He is not afraid to pitch inside, which is another good thing you like to see in a pitcher. His big thing--and I'm probably saying this about all the kids--is staying under control, not trying to do too much, let the ball work for you. But his ball goes everywhere and he's very deceptive and the biggest thing with him is he's fearless.

Scott Baker

You know Scotty came up and down about three or four times over the past few years and in the middle of last year he kind of felt it and figured it out, that you've got to throw downhill and locate your pitches, that it is all about command and moving the ball in and out and trying to throw hard. And that's what he's learned and he's got command and heck, every time out now he gives us a good effort. He's controlling his pitches, he uses all four like the rest of them, but his key is keeping the ball down and being deceptive; and he is deceptive.

Nick Blackburn

He's come out of nowhere. Last year we didn't even know who Blackburn was until he started doing well in Triple A. He's continued to progress. He come up last year in September and tried to throw it by everybody and got hammered around pretty good. That was his biggest challenge, coming up here and learning that it is not how hard you throw, it is locating your pitches. It is being under control, like I said about the rest, and letting your pitches work for you. It is changing speeds and it is all about keeping the hitters off balance for him and not just trying to throw it past the hitters. He's got a good fastball, but his whole thing is just changing speeds and keeping the hitters off balance.

As a bonus, I'll throw in the fifth member of the starter kiddie corps, Boof Bonser, who has been banished to the bullpen.

The biggest thing with Boof is getting things under control. He's got a good arm, he throws in the low-90s, a great curveball and he's got all four pitches because he also throws a slider and a change-up. It is just a matter of--when he started he was just overthrowing everything and getting the ball up and so we've put him out in the bullpen and just told him to focus on two pitches, fastball and curveball and master those two and then we can add the other things as we go. He's done a good job out of the bullpen and been a little more consistent.

Timberwolves Resign Craig Smith

This thoroughly minor signing justifiably barely caused a flutter league-wide in the NBA, but smart Wolves fans have a right to wonder why it happened. The Rhino is an undersized power forward on a ballclub that just drafted an undersized center and traded for a journeyman legit center to pair alongside their star power forward who frequently was forced to play out of position in the pivot last season. So, are we going to see Smith and Jefferson form a disastrous frontcourt again this season, or has the Rhino been signed to a 2-year deal to be 10-minute backup at the 4? The money is reportedly right, less than $4 million over two years, which inevitably leads to speculation that Smith is a placeholder as the Wolves continue preparing themselves to be a major player in the 2010 free agent market.

Forgetting for a moment that big time free agents almost never come to this frozen tundra, the more immediate concern is, what happened to Ryan Gomes being this team's top priority among its own free agents this summer? The trade for 6-8 Mike Miller and last year's drafting of 6-9 Corey Brewer coupled with the signing of the 6-7 Smith doesn't leave a lot of options for the 6-7 Gomes, who swings between the power and small forward positions. All Gomes did last season was do whatever was asked of him without complaint, while posting the second-best season, behind Jefferson, of anyone on the roster. He merits a $4-5 million payday and is exactly the kind of player who won't embarrass a team that signs him for 3-4 years.

The devil's advocacy position is that neither Smith nor Gomes fits into the Wolves' long range plans; that unlike Gomes, who will draw more interest, Smith is a cheap placeholder and that a team counting on a nucleus of Jefferson/Love/Foye/Brewer, and perhaps Miller and McCants, doesn't have need for shorty 4's or even swing 3-4's. I understand this, although it makes laughable Kevin McHale's frequent argument that people get too hung up on position at the expense of skill set and savvy. Ryan Gomes is a basketball player, the embodiment of that dictum; he makes others around him better in myriad little ways. Craig Smith is a specialist--an occasional nightmare matchup for teams in the low block--in a specialty that is neither particularly unique nor frequently required, meaning there is high supply and low demand.

The probable good news is that Gomes may be eligible for the Kevin Garnett supersized bonus package: You get shunned in Minnesota only to land in Boston, where your services are recognized, properly invoked and handsomely rewarded in terms of both wins and dollars. There may be someone else on the market the Celts perceive as a Posey replacement, but I don't know who. Gomes is not the defender Posey is, nor as money-certain in the clutch from long-range, but he's younger, would be slightly cheaper, and is a fan favorite in Boston from his two years there.

Brand Goes to Philly; Camby Lands With the Clips

Let's start with my minority opinion that Marcus Camby is a more valuable basketball player than Elton Brand. The market has obviously said otherwise--Brand signed a 5-year, $80 million deal with the Sixers, spurning a Clipper franchise that would have topped those numbers, while Camby is getting a mere $20 million over the next two years and was just given away for a second-round draft choice by the Nuggets. But that's because even NBA general managers apparently undervalue defense in this league. Marcus Camby was named the league's best defender two years ago. He is just a whisker behind Tyson Chandler as the best defensive center in basketball. And Nuggets gave him away because they didn't want to pay the luxury tax!!

How fucking stupid can the Denver management be? I get it that the Nuggets laid a giant egg last season and don't want to lose a ton of money on a team that isn't going anywhere. But to scapegoat Camby for this is asinine. What, you say Camby isn't scapegoated, he's just the one guy on the roster whose salary could be unloaded? Well then why is coach George Karl still around--wasn't he the guy who couldn't get this squad full of superstar contracts to play a lick of defense (aside from Camby, who led the NBA with 3.61 blocks per game to go with his 13 rebounds and 3.3 assists)? And why did Denver management explain they were dumping Camby to clear cap space to eventually sign free agents like chucklehead JR Smith, he of the $50 hops and 10-cent brain?

Had Camby been kept on the squad this year, his ten mil would have been half of what Allen Iverson will make, more than four million less than both Melo and K-Mart will draw, and about $320,000 more than Nene will "earn." If I was a Nugs fan, I would be screaming bloody murder. You lose Camby but you keep Karl and the rest of the malingerers who sleepwalked through the season at the defensive end of the court? You're seriously thinking that JR Smith is the key to your future? You have a $10 million trade exception for a year (about the only worthwhile thing received in the deal) but have the increasingly suspect Melo as your cornerstone, Iverson coming off the books at the end of the season, and the often-injured Nene and scrub Stephen Hunter as your centers alongside the often-injured K-Mart on the front line.

If Karl is still around by New Year's Day 2009, I'll be amazed.

But back to Camby versus Brand. I've long admired Brand's work ethic and the way his integrity saw the Clips through some very lean years, which makes his apparent bait-and-switch with his former ballclub all the more ironic after the team, at his urging, had gone out and signed Baron Davis. Folks who favor Brand over Camby can point to him being a rare 20/10 career man after nine seasons in the league, and five years younger than Camby to boot.

I think Camby, despite their huge age difference, will be more valuable than Brand in two years' time. Because of Camby's early history with injuries, he actually has fewer total NBA minutes than Brand--23,500 for EB; 21,301 for Camby. And Camby is getting better with age, setting career-highs in blocks, rebounds, and assists last season. Over the past three years he's never grabbed fewer than 11.7 rebounds per game nor blocked fewer than 3.3 shots per game. By contrast, if we eliminate last year for Brand, who ruptured his achilles tendon and sat out all but 8 games, over his three previous (healthy) seasons, he grabbed 10 rebounds per game once (and then exactly 10.0), never blocked more than 2.5 shots per game, and registered fewer steals and assists than Camby. The only place Brand has it all over Camby is on offense. Brand's 20.3 career average is nearly double Camby's 10.7, and his shooting percentage is 50.5 versus Camby's 46.7.

But what's harder to find, points in the paint or interior D? What's a harder position to fill, center or power forward? And who has the better shot at being injury-free the next few years, the 6-7, 254 bull coming off a significant achilles injury who specializes in low-block offense or the 6-11, 235 shot-swatter who gets his few points mostly on mid-range jumpers? Camby is a young 34; Brand an old 29. The Clippers made out like bandits on this exchange, paying $6 million less and with less long-term obligation, for a better player.

Yes, Camby is more redundant on a team that already has a legit center in Chris Kamen. Teams would be smart to try to run on a Clips team that sports a front line of Kamen/Camby/Thornton with the defensively challenged Baron Davis at the point and perhaps rookie Eric Gordon on the wing. But here's a trade proposal I think would be great for both clubs: Camby and Cuttino Mobley to the Miami Heat for Shawn Marion. The Matrix would be a perfect fit between Kamen and Thorton, provide Davis and Gordon (and Thorton) with a dyamite running mate, and be the jack of defenders he was in Phoenix. Granted, Marion's weird unhappiness with the perfect situation he was given in Phoenix, and at an inflated salary, is troubling in terms of him being a veteran leader in LA, and a contract agreement (or a sign and trade after an extension by Miami) would have to be worked out. But with Davis/Marion/Kamen as your nucleus and Eric Gordon and perhaps Deandre Jordan in your future, the Clips could make some noise in the tough Western Conference.

Meanwhile, Miami would have Camby to go with Wade and Beasley, a perfect complement. Those who think the Heat are (or should) be building slow and sure have a lot more confidence in Wade's ability to absorb punishment without future injury than I do. No, Miami should be in a win-soon mode, and putting a leviathan like Camby in the pivot and Wade and Beasley (and Mobley, don't forget) on the wings is a nice little recipe for success. Just a thought.

Posey Makes the Hornets Favorites in the West

The best way to describe James Posey to fans in New Orleans is that he's the anti-Bonzi Wells; a guy whose game is always better than his stats, and whose results are almost always better than the process you see before your eyes. Posey isn't pretty--well, unless he's making like the heir to Robert Horry on those big-time treys--but the kind of defense and rugged physicality he brings to the court isn't meant to be pretty. He fits in so smoothly with Tyson Chandler and David West that it is tempting to think about bringing Peja Stojakovic off the bench as a 6th man of the year candidate. The ideal signing, and, if not for "Camby for a second round draft pick," the coup of the off-season acquisitions.

_{Garrett W. Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images}

The best way to sucker me into watching something like the Wolves-Mavs Summer League tilt in Vegas last night is to give me another deadline upon which to procrastinate. That was the situation, and thus here are my thumbnail takes on a meaningless game that may still have a tea leaf or two worth parsing over.

Biggest disappointment: The shot selection and accuracy of Corey Brewer.

They've got another ten pounds listed on his weight in the program over last year. And reports are that Brewer has stuck around and done everything the team has asked of him, which presumably means lots and lots of shooting practice. But in tonight's Summer League opener, with Brewer obviously slotted in as the go-to scorer in an effort to further prime the pump on his offense, the guy seems to have retained and perhaps even exacerbated his rookie flaws.

Under the best of circumstances, the spin move in heavy traffic is problematical, usually reliant on either luck or formidable strength and a charitable whistle. Brewer uses it too much because he has a faulty brake in transition. At least twice, and I'm pretty sure a third time, his path on dribble penetration was impeded and he spun into other defenders, with predictable results--turnover, airball, travel or charge. The defenders on these Summer League rosters are not exactly NBA caliber, and yet Brewer persisted in snuffing his own shot by playing in traffic.

He hit his first two shots of the game, and his first shot of the second half. Other than that, he was 2-15 FG. Some of them were wide open looks that shooters make; some of them were ridiculously forced shots of the sort flailing players chuck up to wheedle a trip to the free throw line, only on a couple of occasions was Brewer flailing because he wasn't strong or tall enough to create separation with a step-back move and felt compelled to try and heave it over his foe. At least one was a airball finger-roll that happened infrequently, but were still vividly memorable, last season.

To sum up, then: Brewer's shot selection was horrid, the result of taking a regular-season fifth option and making him your primary scorer. His accuracy on "good" shot attempts was still suspect. His body control remains gawky and strained; his strength sub-par, his mechanics all over the place.

The silver linings are that the Wolves were playing their first game together of 2008-09, whereas Dallas had already played twice previously. This is a huge edge in experience at this time of the year and with this level of skill set among the players. Also, there are no decent ball distributors to help Brewer get a good shot. He remains better running the floor than pulling up and shooting. His early success indicates to me that his mechanics are different in practice and warming up than they are when he's going full-tilt boogie on the floor; either that or he begins thinking too much when he clanks a couple.

In other words, it is very early and this is hardly the most significant barometer and sample size to judge a sophmore Brewer. But a lottery pick in his second year going 5-18 FG in a Summer League game? Bad sign.

Biggest satisfaction: Kevin Love's effort on defense.

You've probably read by now that Love picked up four fouls in the first seven minutes. But most of that was simply the shock of his first NBA splash in the pool, which creates a different intensity, even at this minor level, than practicing against your own teammates. But then he settled down and committed only two more in the next 23+ minutes. Rotations don't seem second-nature to him yet, and his hops are ordinary. But the willpower is glowing, causing him to rotate hard and decisively in the paint, especially in the second half when the Wolves beefed up their D. He also has the grit to camp out in the low block for offensive rebounds, but it remains to be seen if that is just the mediocre level of competition or whether he has the knack for getting position.

Love doesn't have the NBA three-point stroke, as his first two attempts were front iron. But reports of his outlet passing are true and are truly second nature. When Love grabs a rebound, his first inclination is to spin and deliver an over-the-head two-handed pass, something he can double-pump on if the outlet lanes are defended. His numbers last night--18 points, 13 rebounds--were workmanlike more than spectacular, which is probably preferable in a 19-year-old kid. Caution: there was no genuine big man on either team to put the fear into anybody, but Love was being guarded by a lithe pogo stick in James Singletary, who had a pretty decent season for the Clips the year after the last and had about as much NBA experience as anyone on the floor.

The downside: Love has at-best mediocre foot speed and needs to recognize and position himself to defend dribble drives more diligently. But the fundamentals seem sound (after one day versus inferior competition in mid-July).

Miscellaneous observations:

Pooh Jeter and Brian Ahearn are not the answer as back-up point guards. For that matter, not a single Wolves players registered an assist coming off the bench. Jeter was really the only "true" point on the roster. and he's undersized. Drew Neitzel was strictly a heat-check gunner, a poor man's Ricky Frahm.

The roster is mostly bereft of athletes and foot speed (maybe that "crazy athleticism" Carney supposedly brings to the party will reveal itself tonight after he sat out the opener). Nobody could effectively turn the corner against the Mavs' quicker lineups (starters and reserves), and none of the perimeter players besides Brewer could snap passes well enough to automatically avoid steals. The Wolves committed bushels of turnovers caused by a disparity in quickness.

Chris Richard likewise didn't set the world on fire in his team-high 31:37 of burn against competition he should be besting. The kid from Rochester via Oklahoma, Longar Longar, played merely 4 minutes+ by contrast and occasionally seemed lost, but did stick around long enough for a pretty blocked shot and seems unafraid to add a physical dimension. Raw, but perhaps worthy of D League seasoning?

Carney and former Gopher Vincent Greer were DNP; ditto Gerald Green. But aside from Brewer and Love, I don't see anybody on this roster getting within the top 12.

If you want to watch the Vegas games live on your computer, it is free with registration at NBA.com