Pet Peeves

[stringer bell]

Maybe I'm cranky because I have to be to work early this morning, maybe it's because the coffee isn't the right temperature, maybe it's because it's late October and we know what kind of weather is coming in the next couple months, but I'm tired of a few things posted here on Twins Daily.

 

1)  Spell the names right!  If you don't like Milone, don't like Milone, not Millone or Malone or whatever.  Same for Herrmann,  Pressly, Schafer or Parmelee.  It is May, not Mays and Meyer not Myer, Meyers or Myers. 

 

2)  Every roster vacancy can't and won't be solved by bringing back an ex-Twin.  Further, their successes at different locations might be a matter of timing, luck or circumstance.  Also, there needs to be a statute of limitations on ex-Twins.  Goodness, it's been well over a decade since they let Papi go.  I don't want to go back to Graig Nettles about regrets for letting good players go.

 

3) I'll probably and perhaps rightly get ripped for this, but let's see what guys who had injuries can do when they are healthy.  Three pitchers come to mind--Pelfrey, Nolasco, and Milone.  All three pitched poorly, all three later revealed they were pitching with injuries and all three are question marks.  I am in favor of all three getting their chance to show what they can do when healthy in the spring and perhaps beyond.

 

4) The narrative of "four straight ninety-loss seasons" is well established.  While we all want better, it isn't that front office (including the GM) is sitting on its hands.  By my count, there are seven players remaining from the 2011 team and four of them (Plouffe, Parmelee, Oliveros, and Swarzak) were bit players in '11.  Mauer (as a catcher), Duensing (mostly rotation), and Perkins (set-up guy) were with the team in different roles than they are now.  Just because they have turned over the roster doesn't eliminate the FO from criticism, but there has been change.  So far, it hasn't worked out on the W-L ledger.

 

Rant concluded.  Have a wonderful day!

[Boom Boom]

On the spelling thing, it can be hard to tell when someone is deliberately getting it wrong or just unfamiliar with the player. Let's be honest, they've been through a lot of bit players recently and there hasn't been a whole lot of reason for the casual fan to "Get to Know 'Em."

[sorney]

Spelling - yeah it bugs me, but I can't get too worked up about it, because twitter/fb/etc have encouraged crappy spelling.

 

Ex-Twins - I don't think they let any of these former player go due to money...mainly, due to performance.  If those players performance improved, perhaps examining the coaching/philosophy is warranted, but just bringing the player back isn't going to solve anything

 

Pitchers - Mostly agree on Nolasco and Milone.  Big Pelf, he has never really been *good*.  So I can understand the angst in trying to get rid of him.

 

90 loss seasons - Yup, totally agree.  You can argue they've done a crappy job flipping the roster (and perhaps relying on a crappy strategy), but you can't argue they just keep bringing the same guys back

[Otto von Ballpark]

3) I'll probably and perhaps rightly get ripped for this, but let's see what guys who had injuries can do when they are healthy.  Three pitchers come to mind--Pelfrey, Nolasco, and Milone.  All three pitched poorly, all three later revealed they were pitching with injuries and all three are question marks.  I am in favor of all three getting their chance to show what they can do when healthy in the spring and perhaps beyond.

My mother always taught me to be very suspicious of athletes publicly announcing an injury only AFTER an extended stretch of poor performance (see Colabello today), especially if there were issues with the athlete's performance even before the claimed injury.

 

That's not to say we should cut the 3 pitchers in question or anything extreme -- even if their poor showings weren't due to injury, they might be candidates for rebound.  I wouldn't reserve more than one rotation spot for the three of them combined, though.

[Mike Sixel]

I don't care about the spelling. It is the point that matters. I hate the straw man arguments used over and over. Hate. Them.

[old nurse]

People labeling arguements strawmen when they themselves post conjecture is my pet peeve.

[GCTF]

Great post, Strinnger Belle!

[Craig Arko]

Seeing the same false or made-up premises used to create equally false or made-up arguments, repeatedly over a great many threads. Usually put forth by the same people every time.

 

Writing it a hundred times on the blackboard doesn't make it true. Ask Harry Potter.

[gil4]

 

1)  Spell the names right!  If you don't like Milone, don't like Milone, not Millone or Malone or whatever.  Same for Herrmann,  Pressly, Schafer or Parmelee.  It is May, not Mays and Meyer not Myer, Meyers or Myers.

 

Today I learned that there are two r's in Chris Herrmann's last name.  I remember being proud of myself for remembering the second n, but now I see it wasted.  I'm blaming his father (or grandfather or great-grandfather) - I was spelling it right, darn it.  (I may or may not have misspelled Parmelee's name for a while, too.)

 

 

Also, there needs to be a statute of limitations on ex-Twins.

 

I hope I'm still allowed to be mad about the JJ Hardy trade, because I'm not ready to let it go yet.  (Jim #^&$!@ Hoey. )

[Seth Stohs]

The Spelling thing does bug me, and Stringer Bell mentioned the prominent ones. People have names. they deserve the respect to spell them correctly.  I was going to write up a list similar to this, so I'm glad someone else did.

 

With #2, you say that we don't need every ex-Twin to come back, but the opposite is always true. The "Bringing back the band" thing annoys me too. For instance, Kubel was well worth the risk, an injury-filled year after a big season on a minor league contract. Ditto Matt Guerrier. I liked the Jason Bartlett signing as a minor league deal where maybe he could shake off some rust in Rochester and see where it goes. The only bad thing was that he made the opening day roster rather than being given a chance to get playing time. 

 

The term "Pitch to Contact" as it is defined by so many is a pet peeve.

 

The term "scholarship" is an annoying one. 

 

Bringing up the old trades from 3, 5, 10, 15 years ago bugs me. Can't do anything about it now.

[Mike Sixel]

Going into threads you think are stupid topics, and posting how stupid the topic is. If you don't want to discuss that topic, stay out and let people who do want to discuss it do so.

[Mike Sixel]

Attacking the person making a post, rather than the post.

 

This is the biggest issue on this site, imo. Some people seem to get away with it a lot, imo. 

[James]

The spelling thing gets to me.  When I see someone spelling a player's name incorrectly, it pretty much makes me tune that poster out.  They could have made a really good point about the topic that would have lead to a great discussion, but I usually stop reading as soon as I see someone post something about "Meyers".  

[Mike Sixel]

Re: spelling......

 

Brock told me more and more of this site is posting on phones.....phones are tricky for spelling for a lot of reasons. 

 

What is it about spelling* that decreases the validity of the points being made? I'm asking not to rip anyone, but out of curiosity. 

 

* a word or two, not dozens of words

[Seth Stohs]

The spelling thing gets to me.  When I see someone spelling a player's name incorrectly, it pretty much makes me tune that poster out.  They could have made a really good point about the topic that would have lead to a great discussion, but I usually stop reading as soon as I see someone post something about "Meyers".  

 

I hate to be like that too, but I certainly am. If someone writes "Trevor Mays" or "Alex Myers," odds are that post lost some credibility in my mind.. even if the post is great!

[Seth Stohs]

Re: spelling......

 

Brock told me more and more of this site is posting on phones.....phones are tricky for spelling for a lot of reasons. 

 

What is it about spelling* that decreases the validity of the points being made? I'm asking not to rip anyone, but out of curiosity. 

 

* a word or two, not dozens of words

 

I'm not saying it's right or fair, but it does alter my thinking as soon as I see someone write "Parmalee." I'm not proud of this, but it does. 

[Mike Sixel]

I am not proud of then vs than, and your, you're and others like that.....those bug me, but I am teaching myself to be more tolerant.

[jharaldson]

Regarding spelling, there are 40 guys on the roster plus at least another 20+ that we are following that are not on the 40 man.  Add the front office and field staff (20-30) and a number of ex-Twins we are looking at an extremely large amount of names to always spell correctly.  If all names in a post are wrong I might think badly but I personally forgive understandable misspellings.  Especially with phones auto-correcting things.

 

On a personal note, my last name is Haraldson.  I have gone my whole life with everyone misspelling it because the normal person would put an "O" in Harold.  I decided a long time ago that I could either go through life pissy and annoyed every time someone screwed it up or I could just roll with it and help the person out who is having the problem.  I decided to do the later.

[TheLeviathan]

I've read a lot of well-spelled nonsense in my time.  I prefer to see the forest rather than obsessing over trees.

[James]

I've read a lot of well-spelled nonsense in my time.

Oh, me too.  I probably posted some well spelled nonsense myself.  

 

Most spelling stuff doesn't get to me.  And I know there is posting from phones so there some auto-correct stuff issues.  I usually gloss over those.  And I really don't care if some player's names get misspelled.  It's bound to happen.  Parmelee and Herrmann... I get it, not necessarily common names to spell.  

 

I guess it's when I see things like "Mays" and "Meyers" that is more the pet peeve of mine.  I guess it is because I have heard people add the "s" when I talk to them.  I love to talk baseball, and I talk baseball with anyone who is willing.  So to hear someone say "Alex Meyers" when talking about the Twins is pretty gut wrenching for some reason.  I guess that's what I think of when I see it written down.

[Mike Sixel]

I admit to being confused about May and Meyer......that shouldn't be that hard really.

[GCTF]

I'd like to live in a world where spelling Chris Herrmann's name correctly or otherwise isn't an issue because, you know, he wouldn't be on the team.

[gil4]

 

On a personal note, my last name is Haraldson.  I have gone my whole life with everyone misspelling it because the normal person would put an "O" in Harold.  I decided a long time ago that I could either go through life pissy and annoyed every time someone screwed it up or I could just roll with it and help the person out who is having the problem.  I decided to do the later.

 

Latter    

 

I'm with you on that.  My first name is spelled right about half the time (multiple versions).  My middle name is Harl, which people always want to change to Carl or Harold or something else that's normal (no Harald yet, though.)  My last name ends in ad, which is frequently changed to ead.  

 

I hope my spelling trespasses are forgiven as freely as I have forgiven (which has been completely and without reservation.)  I also wish I could say the same about my forgiveness in all other areas of my life, but some still give me trouble (such as the the JJ Hardy trade (Jim #^&$!@ Hoey))  

[Craig Arko]

The average IQ of the entire Internet would increase 50-75 points if people would just stop to proofread before clicking post (or tweet, or send).

 

Not just spelling and grammar, but content and meaning.

[stringer bell]

I tried to post from my Kindle at a Twins game and had autocorrect and other issues. The worst though, was that I couldn't see the screen because of the sunlight. I was posting away thinking I was on the game thread, when it turned out I was on the "Hicks quits switch-hitting" thread.

 

As for the spelling, we are on a Twins site. We can find the roster with a click or two. I think that if someone isn't sure how to spell a player's name they could check it. Most of us would be challenged to spell Mientkiewicz or Yastrzemski, but players on the team we follow. I think that is doable.

[nicksaviking]

 

1)  Spell the names right!  If you don't like Milone, don't like Milone, not Millone or Malone or whatever.  Same for Herrmann,  Pressly, Schafer or Parmelee.  It is May, not Mays and Meyer not Myer, Meyers

II agree. But can we get a pass if the team hires Dug Minkavich as manager?

[JB_Iowa]

Sometimes misspellings are just typos -- even with diligent proofreading,

 

The quality of comments is generally significantly higher than on many other sites,  A little kindness and understanding toward your fellow posters would not go amiss. 

[Linus]

II agree. But can we get a pass if the team hires Dug Minkavich as manager?

AS LONG AS WE DON'T SAY DOUGIE BASEBALL!!!!!!!

 

I guess that is one of my pet peeves......

[Squirrel]

I am not proud of then vs than, and your, you're and others like that.....those bug me, but I am teaching myself to be more tolerant.

This. Tolerance. I am most bugged by the lack of it. And that is in and of itself an oxymoron. I am intolerant of intolerance. I don't care how 'right' you might be, allowing someone to disagree without endless counter debates leading to eventual personal attacks and/or innuendo, is not the end of the world. Let it go and agree to disagree.

 

Spelling? The most intolerant I am of that is when it is my own error, not someone else's. Yeah, whatever, maybe some could be better proofreaders of their own spelling and grammar mishaps, but if the point is made, the point is made.

[Mike Sixel]

I also am not tolerant of intolerance, and it does seem paradoxical, Much like my feelings toward "ists"....