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...