Keith Law, Redmond, Redactions, Etc.

Happy Saturday everyone. I haven't put up a weekend post in a while, but I figured I'd touch on a few topics while they're still fresh.

Yesterday, I posted about a message that I sent to ESPN columnist Keith Law regarding what I viewed as an unfair bias against the Twins that was almost constantly present in his writing. Law actually wrote me back, and we went on to have a steady back-and-forth via e-mail on the topic, but he asked that our correspondence remain confidential and off the record, and so I will respect his wishes by not discussing it much here.

Suffice to say that Law steadfastly denies any bias against the Twins, and as evidence he made note of some instances in which he has endorsed and promoted the team's players and prospects. We continued to disagree on his assessment of Ron Gardenhire as a perhaps bottom five manager in the league and of the Twins organization as an overly aggressive promoter of prospects (Joe Mauer remains a terrible, terrible evidentiary example).

All in all though, I came away impressed by the amount of effort and thought he put into defending against my charge. Also, I feel obligated to point out a few errors in yesterday's post. I picked up the question from "Clint (Grand Island NY)" and its subsequent answer from Keith from another fan complaining about Law's Twins bias, and it appears that that particular question was fabricated (oh, Mack). Also, the question regarding Gardenhire's manager of the year candidacy was drawn from a previous Q & A session and not the one I linked. Sorry for misleading, folks.

To put the subject to rest, I'll buy Law's argument that he doesn't have a specific bias against the Twins, but I maintain that his assessments of the team seem to be overly negative for the most part and some of his viewpoints are pretty questionable -- most notably the ones I mentioned above.

On another note, Joe Christensen wrote this week that it is "all but assured" that the Twins will pick up the $950K 2009 option on Mike Redmond's contract. This makes sense, of course. Redmond has been a steady backup for this club and is a perfect complement to Mauer. The question is what the team will do following next year. Entering the 2010 season, Redmond will be on the verge of turning 39 and probably ready to retire. The Twins lack major-league prospects in the high minors at the catcher position. It will be interesting to see how far along Wilson Ramos (an excellent catching prospect who spent the year in Ft. Myers) can come next season. If Law's assessment of the organization's handling of minor-leaguers is accurate, perhaps we can expect to see Ramos in a Twins uniform by the All-Star break.

Christensen also noted yesterday that the Twins "have identified White Sox shortstop Orlando Cabrera as someone they might pursue on the free agent market this offseason." This is a bad idea for a number of reasons, but I just don't have the energy to delve into it today. Maybe Monday...

Nick Nelson vs. Keith Law

Those who follow Keith Law, an employee of Scouts Inc. and contributor to ESPN.com, are probably well-aware by this point that the columnist holds a bizarre grudge against the Twins organization. Why? Hard to say. But there's too much evidence supporting this idea to believe otherwise.

If you don't believe me, check out his answers to some Twins-related questions from a chat that took place on ESPN.com yesterday...

Jon (Mass): Hi Keith, What do you think of the idea of Joe Mauer for MVP... he was great at the plate this year, played a much more physically demanding position than Pedroia, and handled a very young pitching staff well.

Keith Law: I wouldn't have any real criticism of any of the following players if they won the AL MVP: Mauer, Pedroia, Sizemore, Youkilis, Lee. It's a pretty open race. Bad choices would include Morneau or K-Rod.

Ben (Charlotte): What is the ETA for Ben Revere?

Keith Law: 2011, although the Twins promote very (too?) aggressively and a good 2009 between high-A and AA could put him in the majors sooner. I hope that they see Carlos Gomez' struggles and decide to be more conservative with Revere, who, like Gomez, doesn't draw a ton of walks and hasn't shown power yet.

Clint (Grand Island NE): With one year of additional experience under there belts, where do you see the Twins finishing next year? AL pennant?

Keith Law: I see them finishing somewhere between 5th and last place in there division next year. Look for regression across the board from everyone except Mauer. If I were the Twins I would be inquiring about Crede ASAP

Allan (TX): Woah, From what I have read...people say the Twins promote a little slow...Besides Gomez, give an example. Not sure where you came up with that one. Ha, I act like you will respond!

Keith Law: Joe Mauer had less than a half-season in AA when he was called up. Zing!

Mary (Okoboji, IA): Ron Gardenhire for Manager of the year? If he doesnt win, he definitely should get top 3, right?

Keith Law: If luck was a coachable trait then he would run away with it. Unfortunately for Ron, luck is not coachable. Any manager who benches there 3rd best hitter (Cuddyer) during the most important week of the season deserves to be run out of town. Win? No. Top 3? No. Top 25? Maybe.

This guy cannot answer any question related to the Minnesota Twins without including some vieled (or not-so-vieled) insult toward the organization, many of which are ridiculous and totally baseless. This is unfortunate, because Law is a pretty intelligent baseball mind. But his opinions when it comes to the Twins are not even worth taking seriously.


Normally I wouldn't care much what some talking head at ESPN.com thinks, but reading his chat yesterday got to be too much for me. So I sent him an e-mail, which reads as follows:


"Mr. Law,


My name is Nick Nelson and I blog about the Twins. As I and many others have noticed over the course of the year (and years past), you seem to harbor some sort of grudge against the Twins franchise. We get it, they were lucky to score as often as they did this year due to a high batting average with runners in scoring position. But why do you feel the need to insult the organization just about every time you answer a question relating to them?


Your chat today was just too much to take. It's fine to claim that the team's offensive production this year was buoyed by unsustainably high numbers with RISP, but some of your criticisms are totally baseless and come off as sheer contempt for the ballclub. Ron Gardenhire is a bad manager because he benched the team's "3rd best hitter" in Michael Cuddyer? Do you have any clue what you're talking about? Cuddyer isn't the team's third-best hitter when he's healthy (Jason Kubel is), and he is certainly not anywhere close to being the third-best hitter when he's hampered by a foot injury and hasn't played regularly in months, as was the case during the timespan you referred to. Then you insinuate that the team promotes prospects too aggressively (an absurd notion) and use as evidence the rare instance in which they promoted can't-miss prospect Joe Mauer straight to the majors from Triple-A. Yeah, that didn't work out for them at all, did it?


I don't know where this disdain for the Twins organization comes from, but how about you show some professionalism rather than turning every one of your chats into a hatchet job against the team? It's impossible to take your analysis seriously when you show such an obvious bias against a particular club. That's unfortunate, because I do appreciate the way you judge players and break down the game. You're writing for one of the most trusted and respected sports media outlets in the world. Act like it."


We'll see if he responds. Somehow I doubt he will. And really, I don't care.