Twins trade for Delmon Young

Reportedly the Twins have traded Matt Garza, Jason Bartlett, and Edurado Morlan to the Tampa Bay Rays for Delmon Young, Brendan Harris, and Jason Pridie. The trade is a bold move for the Twins.

Delmon Young is a future superstar. One of the finest young players in the game, Young’s excellent right-handed bat is just what the Twins need hitting in-between Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Though Young is an excellent right fielder, he can also play center field. With former center fielder Torii Hunter gone via free agency, and Michael Cuddyer established in right field, Young is needed in center more. He could also play left field or dh.

Getting a young potential superstar like Young does not come cheap. Garza is an excellent, young arm with a 95 mph fastball. Garza was viewed as Johan Santana’s replacement as the Twins’ #1 starter. Still, the Twins have lots of young pitchers and few young position players. Young is more valuable to them as an every day contributor than Garza is as an every five day contributor.

Young, of course, has a downside. He has had a problem with a sharp temper. In the minors Young was suspended for throwing a bat at an umpire, and he had a blowup last year with Ray’s manager Joe Maddon. However, Garza is not exactly a calm guy either. Many times when he pitched his emotions got the best of him ruining what could have been some good outings.

Bartlett and Harris are about even as shortstops. Both players did not make names for themselves till they got to their late 20’s. Bartlett is the better fielder while Harris is the better hitter. Harris can also play 2nd and some 3rd.

Morlan is a young, hard throwing reliever who played last year in Class A. Pridie is a young outfielder with some potential, and he is a center fielder.

Most trades occur because of needs. The Twins need hitting and position players, and have lots of good young pitchers. The Rays have lots of good, young position players, but need pitching and defense at shortstop.

Young gives the Twins future superstar hitter. Pridie adds depth to a Twins’ minor league system short on good position players. With Garza the Rays now have three great young starting pitchers in Scott Kazmir, James Shields, and Garza. A fourth young pitching star in David Price is on the way. With Bartlett to improve their defensive, the Rays could be on their way to a rare thing for them - contention in the AL East.

The Twins are thinking about contending too. Young is a good pickup. I hate to loose Garza, but I think Santana is about to be traded some top flight young pitching. If the Twins trade Joe Nathan too, they might get even more top young pitchers.

We need hitting and hitting is Young’s thing. Welcome Delmon Young – only a couple more years on the turf then its outdoors to play baseball, but bring your coat it gets cold in April, May and October up in Minnesota.

Goodbye Torii Hunter

Torii Hunter gave the Minnesota Twins everything he had for nine years. A 2 time All-Star, 7 time Gold Glove winner, Hunter helped the Twins to four division titles.

Last night Torii Hunter agreed to a 5 year $90 million contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. With the Angels Hunter joins a championship contending team with a fine owner, and manager.

Torii Hunter leaves me with positive memories. He helped restore the Twins to winning ways and for that he deserves props. He got a chance to get big money, and play for a championship contender, and he took it. That is his right.

The Twins could never match $18 million a year he got from the Angels. The Twins could never give a 5 year to the 32 year old Hunter. As hard as it is to lose Hunter, the Twins, given the situation the found themselves in, did the right thing by letting him go.

The Twins have much work to do this off-season, especially with Johan Santana who I expect is unsignable and will need to be traded. However, I remind myself that Justin Mourneau is the most valuable Twin. More than Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, and Torii Hunter, Mourneau is the key to the Twins winning or losing. Mourneau’s tailspin at the end of the 07 season was the main reason the Twins lost. Morneau’s MVP effort in the second part of the 06 was the main reason the Twins won.

The Twins must build around Morneau. All moves should be gear to that idea. Still it is sad to see Torii Hunter leave. Good luck Torii. May the Angels and you win your division and lose to the Twins in the playoffs.

Random Thought - Bryan Trottier

I was just getting back into hockey, and was collecting hockey cards extensively for the first time in 1979-80. That year’s Bryan Trottier card caught my eye. It not only looks good, but the red 1st Team All-Star banner under his picture it said he was someone to reckon with. That card sparked my interest in Bryan, and he soon became my favorite hockey player.

I started watching for his name in the box scores in newspaper. I hunted down articles on him in magazines that I found in the public library. And I was fired up when I my first chance I to see him on tv. It was a Saturday night in 1980 on a local board cast of the North Stars playing the Islanders in New York.

I would get to see plenty of Bryan the next year when the North Stars took on the Islanders in the Stanly Cup Finals. The Islanders won, but I was not mad at Trottier, because had become my favorite player of all-time, and he still in today.


The 1997 Hall of Famer was a member of four straight Stanley Cup Champion New York Islander teams. Bryan could not only score (he had six 100 point seasons), but he was a top notched defensive forward who was not afraid to hit someone. Bryan won the Hart Trophy as league MVP in 1978-79. He was named to four NHL All-Star teams, and won the Conn Smythe Trophy as MVP of the Stanley Cup Playoffs in 1979-80. Bryan ended up with six Stanley Cup Championships.

I had sent a hockey card to Bryan earlier this year to sign, but never got anything back from him. I had seen on the Web that other people were getting things back from him, so I gave it another try. Not having any 1979-80 Trottier cards to spare, I use my computer to create a Trottier hockey card. It worked out well, and I was very pleased to receive my card back signed and even personalized from Bryan. Thank you Bryan, you are now not only my favorite hockey player of all-time, your name is on my favorite autographed hockey card of all-time.

Alan Jackson - "Small Town Southern Man"

It is always good news when new Alan Jackson music arrives. “Small Town Southern Man” is the lead single from Alan’s new album due in February 2008. It is a touching song about Alan’s father journey through life. It is Alan at his traditional country music best and the song has some tempo to it which I like. I hope it will go to number one, and help Alan sell a lot of albums.

It is interesting to note - in light of my recent posts - that I found this song on Alan’s MySpace page before I heard it on radio or his Web site. This is yet another sign of the growing use of social media in the marketing of country music.

I should also note that Alan’s MySpace page is where I got the banner featured in this post. Thanks to Alan and his fan club for making it available for his fans to use.

Star De Azlan – Using Social Media to Help Become a Country Music Star

I stated in my last post that I am doing a paper on “The Effect of MySpace and YouTube on the Marketing of Country Music”. Social media such as MySpace and YouTube offer us a chance to create a connection with others. Having connectivity with another person is a way to develop a positive relationship with that person, and quite often can lead to benefits (tangible and intangible) for both people.

Star De Azlan is a young woman from Martinsville, Texas who I discovered recently. Ms De Azlan is a new country music artist who has just released her first country single. On her MySpace page I found her amazing new song “She’s Pretty”. It is real country from a real country artist.

There is more to Ms De Azlan’s MySpace page than just her song. She has a short bio and, perhaps more importantly, a short video about herself. In the past, country radio was a new country artist’s major access to the majority of country fans. If radio program directors did not like you, your music, or feared you or your music could be cause division among their listeners, you had no chance at a successful country music career.

Ms De Azlan is now preparing to see if country radio will accept her. Unfortunately she has things working against her. She is a woman, and female artists have a tougher time getting played more than the male artists favored by country radio’s predominately female audience.

Female traditional country singers like Ms De Azlan have tougher time getting airplay than more country pop sounding females. Ashton Shepherd and Miranda Lambert are examples this. Ms De Azlan though has one other thing against her that Ashton and Miranda do not.

I have intentionally identified Ms De Azlan by her last name in this posting. De Azlan is not exactly Brooks, McEntire, Jackson, Williams, or Judd. Ms De Azlan is of Hispanic decent. Few Hispanic artists have ever been successful in country music. In fact, minorities of any kind have had difficulty in country music. Few have even bothered to try.

Star De Azlan is going to try, and in the old days I would rate her chances as not very good. Radio programmers would see her last name and think “what is she doing trying to get on my station.”

Today though, social media like MySpace and YouTube give Star a chance to get pass these uninformed stereotypes. People who visit MySpace pages are always interested in listening to and viewing things. Star has her song playing when you arrive at her page. You quickly hear her country sound, and you understand this is real country music.

More importantly there is a video on the page you can play that introduces Star De Azlan to the fans of country music. In the video you hear Star talk about her music, and where she is from. You hear her tell you in unaccented English that she loves country music greats like George Strait. You heard she got her start in Cheatham Street Warehouse bar where a young George Strait got his start.

Suddenly the connectivity between Star and the user starts to build. Star loves George Strait. Almost all country fans love George Strait. The visitor’s now starts to think, Star loves George Strait well so do I. A connection is made. As we watch the video we learn that Star’s life is like many country fans’ lives. She is one of them. More connections are made.

These connections allow Star’s brown face and Hispanic sounding name fade to the background, and her music comes forward. She is, after all, no different than any other country artist or fan. Once the connection is established, it spreads. The visitor to her page tells someone else that they have to check Star’s music out. That person is impressed, and spreads the word as well. Like a spider web, news of Star De Azlan will spread out amongst country fans.

It is those fans who will call country radio stations and request her music be played. Those calls will trigger program directors to play her music, regardless of their original thoughts of her. Once on the radio, Star’s career will grow, and stardom could be achieved.

Nothing is guaranteed of course. Still, those who can harness the power of social medium can boost their changes of success. Taylor Swift was once viewed a tall, skinny, 17 year old girl who had a song name after a country music superstar (Tim McGraw). Today, Taylor is a young country music star with over a million albums sold. Taylor used MySpace to build a connection to fans who then acted on her behalf to get country radio to play her music, and help become a country music star.

Star De Azlan must do the same. I hope she is successful. We need more traditional female country artists. However, it will be a tough fight. She will need to use all the resources at her disposable to establish a connection to country music fans. With her MySpace page she is off to a strong start.


P.S. – In case you are wondering, Star and her efforts will be featured in my actual paper.

MySpace and YouTube Help Market Country Artists

I am doing a research paper titled “The Effect of MySpace and YouTube on the Marketing of Country Music”. Though country radio is still the number one force in marketing country artists, new media such has MySpace and YouTube are making it possible for country artists to be noticed, and have commercial success with limited radio exposure. One example of this is Miranda Lambert.

Miranda has released 6 songs to country radio, and has no top ten hits. Still her debut album Kerosene sold around 900,000 units, and her new album Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is selling well.

Miranda has found an audience not only with the help of country radio, and touring, but with the help of her active MySpace page and YouTube. These new mediums allow talented artists like Miranda to expose their music to people who perhaps do not listen to the radio, or want to listen to artist’s music when they, the listener, want to listen to it, not when some radio station wants to play it.

This is one advantage to using MySpace and YouTube. There are more, but you will have to read my paper, or attend my presentation to learn about them. However, here is a YouTube video posted by nwmac of Miranda singing one of my favorites “Dry Town” at her fan club party earlier this year.

Carrie Underwood - Carnival Ride

The new album by Carrie Underwood called Carnival Ride will hit stores next Tuesday. I have listened to a preview of the album on cmt.com, and it is good. What struck me most though was how country sounding the album was.

“Flat on the Floor” and “Let’s Get Out of This Town” were songs that caught my ear not just for the fact that they were good, but that they were country sounding. With all of Carrie’s crossover success with her debut album Some Hearts, Carrie could have followed Shania Twain and Faith Hill’s example, and gone more pop like in her music instead she went more country. That can only be good news for country music.

Country Music needs Carrie Underwood. Along with Miranda Lambert and Ashton Shepherd, Carrie is going to be the leader of a new era for women of country music. Country needs strong, young, female artists for it to thrive, and it looks like Carrie Underwood as decide she wants to be one of them.

A Biography of Alan Jackson

Alan Jackson is the foundation of Country Music. Since his 1989 debut, Alan has produced one of the finest bodies of Country Music. His well crafted, commercially successfully, traditional, Country singles have been a beacon of excellence in unsettled musical times.

Born in Newnan, Ga. on Oct. 17, 1958 Alan spent much of his early adult life selling cars, driving forklifts, and hoping for a career in music. The career started when Alan’s wife, Denise, who was a flight attendant, happened upon Glen Campbell in an airport. She approached Campbell and told him about her husband and his dream. Campbell invited them to come to Nashville, and eventually gave Alan a job writing songs for his publishing company. Alan, first though, had to take another job working in the mailroom of The Nashville Network.

Alan was delivered from the mailroom by Tim DuBois. Arista Records had vast success in the pop music world under its legendary founder Clive Davis. Davis’ instincts had told him the late eighties were the time to establish a presence in Nashville. Davis retained Tim DuBois to head Arista’s Nashville division. DuBois, a former producer and songwriter, was impressed with Alan’s singing and songwriting, and moved to sign him to a recording contract.

(The rest of the article can be found by following the link below. Back in the day, I had to prove I could use HTML to build a basic Web site. I dedicated the site to some of my favorite country music artists. One of the articles I wrote up was this one.)

http://www.angelfire.com/country/countrystateofmind/alan.html

Copywrited © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

The Class of 89 - Country Music's Renaissance

Their arrival signaled a new era in Country Music. An era filled with platinum selling records, standing room only concerts, and new found respect for a music form perpetually looked down upon. They were called the Class of 89, a group of young, dynamic, singer-songwriters who emerged together over the course of the year 1989. They were diverse in style, sound, and background. Some of them exploded onto the scene, others would build up slowly, emerging with greater success in the years to follow. What they shared was a love of Country Music and a legacy of changing the Country Music landscape.

Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Travis Tritt, and Mary Chapin Carpenter are names recognizable to even the most peripheral country music fan. In January of 1988 it was a different story. Country Music was going through dramatic change. The new traditionalist movement lead by Randy Travis had taken Country back to its roots and made commercial inroads with record buyers. Travis entered 1988 on top of the Country charts with his hugely successful “Always & Forever” album, which would go multi-platinum within a year of its release, a nearly unheard of feat in Country Music.

Randy Travis’ success proved Country was ripe for a commercial boom, and every label in Nashville wanted to be part of it. With many aging stars fading, Nashville record labels were looking for young talent to supplement the new traditionalist artists. What the labels found was more than a supplement, it turned out to be new foundation for Country Music. Every member of the Class of 89 would come from a different record label. In fact one, Alan Jackson, would come from a label, Arista Nashville; that did not even exist in Nashville in 1988.

(The rest of the article can be found by following the link below. Back in the day, I had to prove I could use HTML to build a basic Web site. I dedicated the site to some of my favorite country music artists. One of the articles I wrote for the site was this.)

http://www.angelfire.com/country/countrystateofmind/class89.html

Copywrited © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

1979 & 1987 Twins

I attended my first Twins game in 1979. I watched as the Twins won their first World Series in 1987. I decided to commemorate these events by collecting autograph baseball cards from the living members of both teams. Some autographs were obtained in person others though the mail.

I have had better success with the 87 Twins. The 87 Twins I have gotten to date include:

Frank Viola - got in person, does not sign through the mail
Gary Gaetti
Greg Gagne
Kent Hrbek
Tom Brunansky
Bert Blyleven – charges for autographs, but I got him at Twinsfest for charity donation
Jeff Reardon
Dan Gladden
Juan Berenguer – included a signed card of his own along with mine
Randy Bush
Roy Smalley – also a member of the 79 Twins
Gene Larkin
Mark Davidson
Sal Butera
Don Baylor – got in person, does not sign through the mail
Les Straker – got during the 20th anniversary celebration of the 87 team, lives in Venezuela
Mike Smithson
Tim Laudner
George Frazier
Keith Artherton
Tom Kelly
Andy MacPhail – the team’s general manager
Carl Pohlad – the team’s owner
Ralph Houk – a senior advisor to Tom Kelly and also manager of the 61 Yankees

I have not gotten:

Steve Lombardozzi
Al Newman
Dan Schatzeder – He is known for taking months to sign or not signing at all.

Decease members of the team include:

Kirby Puckett
Joe Niekro

The 79 Twins are proving harder to get. The 79 Twins I have gotten to date include:

Ron Jackson
Bob Randall
Roy Smalley – was also a member of the 87 Twins
John Castino
Mike Cubbage
Glen Borgmann
Glen Adams
Dave Goltz
Roger Erickson
Pete Redfern
Gary Serum
Willie Norwood

I sent requests to these individuals, but have not heard back. Some of the requests have been out for months.

Rob Wilfong
Butch Wynegar
Ken Landreaux
Paul Hartzell – just got this back, and I had the wrong address
Geoff Zahn
Darrell Jackson

I will be getting around to these individuals:

Bombo Rivera
Hosken Powell
Danny Goodwin
Dave Edwards
Jose Morales
Mike Bacsik – It was his son that gave up home run 756 to Barry Bonds
Jerry Koosman

Deceased members of the team include:

Calvin Griffith – the team’s owner
Gene Mauch - the team’s manager

Mike Marshall refused to allow a baseball card of him be made that year. I also hear he does not sign autographs.

It has been an enjoyable experience collecting these autographs. Former Twins players seem to be quite nice about signing autographs both in person and through the mail. It is also nice to get something other than bills in the mail.