Brock Beauchamp

The more I learn about Paul Ryan, the more I really, really dislike the guy. Anyone who is a militant Christian and references Ayn Rand (a devout Atheist) on economic policy isn't going to score many points with me. It's taking the worst of both worlds. On the other hand, I also think Joe Biden is an oaf. The vice-presidency doesn't matter much. Romney's speech was decent on the surface but lacked... everything, really. I know the RNC isn't the place to lay out policy but I would have liked to hear more than pure rhetoric. I really hate his "Defend America" stance... Who are we defending it from? Why should we continue to funnel money into defense and propping up other governments when our own is doing so badly? We need to see funding slashed across the board and defense shouldn't be exempt from the slash and burn. We need to stop spending more money than we generate and it's going to require a change in taxation, policy, and spending to get there. I don't see Romney doing that but I don't necessarily see Obama doing it, either... But I think that Obama will at least take a shot at it, particularly with a Republican-controlled Congress. At the end of the day, I see Romney as an empty suit who will say whatever it takes to get elected. If only the GOP had pushed harder to nominate Jon Huntsman. No way in hell should Paul Ryan get the "party intellectual" moniker when the party is so callously ignoring Huntsman, who is far smarter and mentally balanced than anyone else I see in the GOP. Much like Obama, the guy exudes level-headedness in a party that is quickly running off the rails. As for the DNC, I don't know what to expect. I'm sure Biden will say something stupid, Democrats will groan and then laugh, Republicans will feign outrage, and then Obama will take the stage and give his typically vague speech. I want to like Obama but honestly, he's just been more of the same. The only reason I will *probably* vote for him is because he's the less dangerous of the two candidates (I have massive issues with Romney being in bed with the banking and finance industries, who deserve NONE of our trust at this point).

Nice work but I don't see how Parmelee can be left off the list over guys who have virtually no professional experience. The guy posted a 1.102 OPS in AAA as a 24 year old. Sure, he's a first baseman but those numbers are still god-like. I don't think he's top five but leaving him off the top ten seems like you're factoring in too much "look at the potential!" instead of "holy crap, this dude is raking".

You're supposing they're perfect and don't make any mistakes. I knew more than they did about Jeff Gray, that's apparent. Slama will likely never amount to anything, but there's a problem with the process here. Dangit, I was supposed to have put in a :-) thing in my first post so you didn't view my post as a personal attack. Hope you didn't. Permaban coming in three... two... one...

If he mashes again, I don't see another alternative to trading both Span and Morneau before the deadline next July (at least one of which should be traded this offseason). With Mauer, Morneau, Doumit, Parmelee, Willingham, Revere (who is coming back down to earth), Hicks, and Arcia competing for spots in 2013, guys are going to have to be traded to clear space.

I have speculated that the Span situation was a front office decision. If you're planning to trade a guy in the offseason, avoiding the DL in favor of sitting him for 8-10 days looks better on paper. After he came back and was injured again (or still had the same injury), they couldn't avoid the DL any longer. Again, this is all just speculation but if you can avoid using the DL to shelve a player you want to trade in ~3 months, it makes sense to just bench him for a week and see what happens.

Opinion is one thing, claiming agents say things is another. Yeah... You can't claim that people have said and done all these things and then say "I don't feel like looking it up" when someone asks for quotations. But yes, "opinions" are often more interesting than "truth"... Just ask Fox News. Taking that position also makes it impossible for me to take you seriously because, for all I know, you're just making crap up and/or distorting reality to fit your talking points (again, like Fox News).

My comments weren't necessarily aimed at you. Thanks for compiling those quotes, they definitely add to the conversation. I believe that there is something wrong with the Twins organization in regards to training and/or medical issues (or maybe even the front office itself). There are too many back-and-forths with players saying they expect a return on this date, miss it, and then end up hitting the DL with or without surgery. It's terribly inconsistent. Even JR has stated that it's something he planned to fix when he returned to the GM spot so you know it's something the organization is worried about. On the other hand, which injuries were borne out of negligence? Which were a simple misdiagnosis that any physician could have made? Which were the "at fault" injuries and which were nothing more than a dose of bad luck and/or player misinformation? Again, we don't know. If the front office does nothing over the next six months, I'll be disappointed in the lack of action (it's also possible they plan to change their internal procedures and we'll never know about it) but I'm also not going to go shooting my mouth off, pretending that I know about things that are far beyond my scope of knowledge.

Here is as good a place as any. Welcome to the forum!

I don't think anyone here is saying the medical staff is without fault and some of those comments are certainly damning. But that information is still incomplete, especially if you're trying to make a case to fire the "Twins medical staff". Who were these doctors? Were they the same person? Were they even part of the Twins' medical staff? How many different people came to this same conclusion about that particular injury? Is "rest and rehab" a part of the training staff's job or does the medical staff make that call? Are those two groups the same thing? We know so little about both the medical profession and this portion of the Twins organization that we're still firing shots in the dark.

Twins: TBA White Sox: Alejandro De Aza CF Kevin Youkilis 3B Adam Dunn DH Paul Konerko 1B Alex Rios RF A.J. Pierzynski C Dayan Viciedo LF Alexei Ramirez SS Gordon Beckham 2B (Hector Santiago P)

At least with the Johan trade, you can fall back on the stats. I didn't like the players sent from the Mets in trade for Santana. I could back up my belief with graphs, charts, historical comparisons, etc. of each player. I could build a case, based on evidence, that it was not a good idea. I could compare that to the expected performance of Santana in 2008 and the comp picks the team would receive in return. I've watched baseball my entire life. I've spent the better part of my adult life pouring over the finer points of the game. I'm no baseball expert but I know something about the game. On the other hand, I've only seen a half dozen episodes of House and I didn't even like the show much. I'm not a doctor. In all likelihood, nobody here is a doctor or even involved enough in the medical profession to do anything except speculate wildly over half-truths and diagnoses not seen by anyone outside of the medical staff and the organization. Hell, we don't even know if anybody has been fired for these perceived issues with the medical staff. We know virtually nothing. In short, there are a hell of a lot of people going off half-cocked about a situation they don't even understand. They don't have the slightest clue how the medical profession works, how the system operates, and whether the Twins are doing anything right or wrong. They see a bunch of injured players and start to lay blame. Are they wrong? I don't know. That's not my point... The point is that they don't know, either. And in life, I've generally found that it's best to shut up when you don't know something. As fans, we get frustrated. That's expected. We want to see changes when things go badly. That's expected. But there's a big difference between stating "the Twins medical staff is incompetent and needs to be fired, along with the front office" and "damn, I wish this team didn't spend so much time on the DL... what is the problem here?". One is raising an issue and trying to determine if the organization is at fault while the other comes off as heavy-handed and supremely arrogant considering the complexity and nuances of the human body and sports injuries. After all, people spend eight ****ing years getting a degree just to be allowed to diagnose a person. Why don't some of the people in this thread stop to consider that they look like fools when they don their Internet White Coat & Clipboard and pretend that they have the slightest friggin' clue what they're talking about?

The Royals have sent a half dozen of their prospects to have TJS in the past year. I don't believe the medical staff is doing a good job. That's not my point nor do I believe it to be Nick's point. It's easy to sit on your couch and "diagnose" maladies, especially when using the rearview mirror. It's even easier when you don't have the slightest clue what you're talking about (is anyone here qualified enough to make even the smallest statement about the medical treatment of athletes?). No one is arguing that the medical staff is doing a good job. From the outside, it looks pretty bad to a layman. But remember that last word, layman. People need to stop pretending that they have the slightest clue what is going on behind closed doors and they need to stop pretending that they have the medical knowledge to properly understand if someone is doing a bad job in the first place. I want to see the medical situation "fixed" as much as anyone but I'm also smart (and honest) enough to know that I don't have the slightest friggin' clue what I'm talking about.

Lineup TBA.

lineups tba.

Stolen bases' value are based entirely on their success rate. On the other hand, there are also things that cannot be statistically recorded. A fastball thrown in a breaking ball count because the pitcher is afraid of the steal. Broken rhythm from too many pick-off attempts at first during an at-bat. The break-up of a double play ball because the runner is now on second base. A lot goes into a good running game and a lot of it is hard to track statistically.

I think it has something to do with it. Last season, Pavano put the hurt on catchers because his delivery is so slow. Liriano was the only guy who threw hard on the 2012 squad and his out pitch was a slider. Butera also caught him most of the time (and even Sweet Drew's SB/CS ratio is down this season). But looking at those clips, it's not hard to see Mauer throwing flat-footed. It's probably a combination of things. Slow deliveries, slow pitches, bad pitch control (Deduno), and bad throwing form from Mauer.

He didn't turn into a fiscal conservative until Obama took office. That should tell you all you need to know about the man and his politics. It'd be nice if the country was given the option of voting for a real fiscal conservative, bonus points if the person doesn't come with crazy religious baggage. We haven't seen one of those in a long, long time. Eisenhower, maybe? But even Eisenhower's "fiscal conservatism" is in question.

Heh, thanks. I just try to call it like I see it and rarely agree with any party on more than a few topics (even the Libertarian Party, they just happen to be the closest thing to "my" party). I have very little respect for anyone who follows party lines because, in this day and age, it doesn't make any sense to do so and shows just how little independent thinking that person is putting into their political opinions.

Yep. As someone who lived in Utah for 4-5 years, I can tell you that there aren't many people in the Rockies. In the Wasatch/Rockies/Sierras, you basically have SLC, Denver (at the eastern edge), and that's it until you go south all the way to Phoenix...

It's baffling, for sure. What makes it even more baffling is that Span came back and played pretty well before "getting injured" again. What the hell. Can we just blame everybody for this one, including Span himself?

Correct. And 70-75% of the country is not GOP or conservative. Thus, those continually insisting that this is a GOP only issue AND claim to know that the true GOP intentions are nefarious -- those folks are either political hacks and/or insufferable drones. The Democrats don't want the bills to pass because it's bad for the party and good for the GOP. The Libertarians oppose it on principle. I won't speak for the rest because I don't pay much attention to them. Sadly enough, I'm pretty sure this bill is going to pass in MN. The only hope I have is that Federal Judges will continue to shoot them down, as what happened today with the Texas bill. On the other hand, I think MN has a damned good shot at stemming the flow of anti-marriage amendments that have been sweeping the country and I'll be damned proud of the state if we do it. I'm seeing more and more of those orange "Don't Restrict Marriage" signs plunked down in front lawns (including my own). But in the case of Voter ID laws, I think that's a losing battle in the polling booth. Sigh.

We have no issues with swear words on this site. If you want to use one that we "don't allow", it will simply appear starred out. That's why the word filters are there in the first place.

I still believe it to be a cockblock of the vote. Maybe I was wrong about his motivations but I really don't think I was... Anything more than a cursory glance at these voter ID laws should raise eyebrows over their true purpose.

It was comical to see him call out Obama for the closure of the Janesville, WI auto plant that closed during Bush's term. I mean, come on. edit: I found that, technically speaking, Ryan's statement is true... but it's disingenuous to the point of lying. In December of 2008, GM shut down SUV production in Janesville, costing the area over 2,000 jobs. Four months later in April of 2009, Isuzu shut down their part of the plant, which cost a whopping 57 jobs. But I believe both announcements preceded Obama's inauguration.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/120857/conservatives-single-largest-ideological-group.aspx This is from 2009, but shows that 2x identify as conservative than liberal. I still consider myself a quasi-conservative. That has absolutely nothing to do with my affiliation (or lack thereof) with the Republican Party. Again, I've been a registered Libertarian for 13 years... Most Libs refer to themselves as "conservative", but that doesn't mean they necessarily vote Republican. Did it ever occur to you that the reason Republicans aren't winning national elections is because of people like me? People who used to vote Republican consistently but became so disenfranchised with the party over the past decade that they can no longer tolerate their stance on issues such as gay rights (didn't matter when nobody was going to vote in same-sex marriage) or abortion (before they started trying to restrict womens' options)? Add in the GOP's staunch support of the Patriot Act (not that the Dems are much better), their fiscal irresponsibility, and their desire to continue ballooning the defense budget and I no longer have any reason to vote for the party as a whole. Those people may still call themselves "conservatives" but the GOP has spent so much time leaving an awful taste in our mouths that we can no longer consistently vote GOP in good conscience. It's no coincidence that the "Indepedent" moniker has been gaining traction in recent years while the GOP's numbers have declined. The Republican Party continues to slide further right and continues to disenchant people who don't share some of their more insane viewpoints.