Brock Beauchamp

We all know you have TR on speed dial and intricate knowledge of the inner workings of the front office. Nobody here has any idea what Ryan is thinking or what he's going to do with the medical staff. It doesn't make sense to fire people with less than two months left in the season. After all, you still need doctors to treat players if the season is happening.

So now we're mocking guys for having phobias? Really?

Lineups TBA.

In no way is either Hendriks or Diamond a #1 pitcher. I was merely using those numbers as placeholders, not the intended position of each player in the rotation.

I somewhat disagree. It's going to be a real challenge to fill four rotation spots in one offseason. Say you have Diamond and Hendriks filling the first two spots. You add a decent FA for the third spot, maybe even the fourth spot if you get a guy in a trade. That still leaves one spot open to fill. Given the "prospects" on the team after Hendriks, I'd just as soon see Deduno get a shot as anyone else on the roster.

Is there a good reason to add Hicks to the 40 man before November? I can't think of one.

We're trying to crack down on "this thread is worthless" or "dumb post" comments in the forum. They really contribute nothing to the conversation (and while I understand that you feel this entire thread contributes nothing, that's really aside the point). So, please, if you don't like a thread, just stay out of it or challenge the idea on its merits (or, IMO, the lack thereof in this case). We're not going to be all fire and brimstone about this issue, it's just something we feel is unnecessary on Twins Daily.

I don't really see the point of a six man rotation when they can start limiting Diamond's innings through September. The guy has nothing left to prove in a lost season. Let him slide out of the rotation gracefully and prepare for 2013.

That's your first post? Buh-bye.

The Twins need four starters for next season. They're not going to field four guys from the free agent crop and the minors. That will leave at least one (possibly two) spots open for scrubs to start 2013. With that said, why not Deduno? I don't think he will cut it long-term but at this point, he's worth a shot.

Why would the Mets do this? Worst case scenario with Santana (outside of injury) is that they convert him to the pen, where he could be a useful player. He's still striking out guys. On the other hand, Blackburn and Nishi have almost a zero percent chance of being effective anywhere on a ML roster.

Albert Pujols walks around 90% more often with RISP than he does with the bases empty. Joey Votto walks nearly 50% more often with RISP than he does with the bases empty. Joe Mauer walks around 55% more often with RISP than he does with the bases empty. Prince Fielder walks around 70% more often with RISP than he does with the bases empty. Did it occur to anyone that people who are good at taking walks tend to walk more with RISP? This "phenomena" is certainly not unique to one Mr. Joseph Mauer. Pitchers don't like giving up game-winning or go-ahead hits to the best hitters in any given lineup.

PLEASE EDIT YOUR OWN EMBEDDED QUOTES. IF YOU DO NOT, WE WILL BE FORCED TO REMOVE THE PLUG-IN AND RETURN TO THE OLD SYSTEM OF ONE QUOTE PER POST. It only takes a few seconds to edit down your quotes, guys. Please do so in the future.

You're paying the guy. Why not keep him around in case he rebounds? Now that he's off the 40 man roster, it doesn't matter one lick whether he's playing for you, playing for the Padres, or sitting at home. He's not blocking anyone in the system. At that point, you may as well keep the guy around "just in case".

The entire league walks about 25% more often with RISP. Bad pitchers put runners in scoring position often. Bad pitchers usually walk guys more often, too. Players tend to have more success against bad pitchers. Too many assumptions are being made in this thread. Does Mauer walk a little more often than most with RISP? Yeah. He's also near the top of the league in pitches per AB, too. Guys who take a lot of pitches tend to get walked, especially against bad pitchers who walk a lot of guys (ie. put runners in scoring position in the first place).

Lineups TBA.

That doesn't make a lick of sense. His batting average with RISP is .351. His slugging percentage with RISP is .474. Without even factoring in his walks with RISP, that's an OPS of .825. So he gets a hit 35% of the time runners are in scoring position and is slugging close ~.475 when runners are in scoring position. What more is the guy supposed to do to get these almighty RBIs? Run to the mound and beat up the pitcher while the top of the lineup circles the bags? I'm not familiar with every rule in the MLB handbook but I'm pretty sure those runs wouldn't count even if Joe tried it. If a guy is OPSing at .938 with RISP, it's not his fault that the RBIs aren't coming. You're letting the tail wag the dog in your analysis. You can't praise a guy for hitting well with RISP and then blame him for his RBI count. It's nonsensical.

Yes, the front office made several blunders... And most of them weren't on JR's watch. Ramos/Capps, the Johan trade (admittedly, Smith was put into a difficult position there), Hardy/Hoey, Nishioka, etc... Smith did a great job with international signings, a pretty good job with the draft, and a completely abominable job with the Major League roster. The only move he made that was considered a good one by analysts was the Hardy for Gomez trade, which he later reversed with the ridiculous Hardy for Hoey trade. You don't think the Twins have a solid core of young-ish players? What do you think Scott Diamond, Joe Mauer, Denard Span, Ben Revere, and Glen Perkins are? They certainly need more pitching but their hitting core is pretty good. Willingham is the only guy who is old enough to show a significant decline at this point.

Again, the game didn't pan out. Mauer put the bat in the hands of the Twins' most prolific hitter this season instead of possibly rolling over on a pitch and ending the game by swinging at a pitch he didn't like. I don't have a problem with that... And I don't see why anyone else would, either. The Chapman AB is an example of him seeing a pitch he liked and going with it. Given Mauer's history, I trust him to make the right decision... He won't do it "right" every time but he'll do it right more often than almost anyone else in baseball.

These quotes tell me everything I need to know about your viewpoint. Even if these are throwaway lines to everyone else, they speak volumes about your disdain for basic personal responsibility which is the bedrock of a functional capitalistic society. You are correct if you assume that I don't care about the people that won't care for themselves, I do care very deeply about those that can't. The elderly fall into the can't work category, by the way, just to cut off that talking point. They have worked, paid into the plan and earned the benefits. You seem to want to take care of people cradle to the grave, because it makes you feel better. Won't work, eventually the workers will stop working. I do have a plan for the lazy, it's called the Freedom to Fail Plan (trademark) I personally have known scores of people who don't want to work, who would love to sit home and be taken care of and under your philosophy I guess they won't have to. The problem is that these people have made a basic choice, that government dependency doesn't pay well enough to support the quality of life that they want for themselves and their families. They also enjoy the freedom to succeed that my Freedom to Fail Plan offers. These statements reflect your basic misunderstanding of human nature. People will rise to the level of what is expected of them. If you create a culture that says it's OK to be dependent on the government, that is what you will get. The left mostly (the right has played along) has worked very hard to remove negative stigma from failure in order to create a dependent class. The government depends on dependency, dependency minimizes accountability. Republicans and Democrats are both guilty. Paul Ryan deserves some legitimate criticism here but at least he is raising the issues to be discussed. The disastrous culture of the ruling class congress can't be changed overnight. If you can't make the distinction between can't and won't, nothing anyone here says can help you. Feel free to wallow in your liberal academia vacuum. While I agree with your points on the surface, the practicality of "Freedom To Fail" has some pretty awful side effects, the largest being "what do you do with these peoples' children?" Do you doom their children to failure as well? Unless you actually remove the children from their parents' care, you're essentially writing them off. There goes another generation. Rinse, repeat, you have a permanent underclass in 30 years. This conversation should be far more nuanced than "let the bastards die in the streets". That won't get us anywhere as a nation... Not anywhere we want to go, anyway.

Since the All-Star break, the Twins have been 7th in OPS and 24th in ERA. If anything, they're playing better than they were earlier, the breaks just aren't going their way. I'm looking forward to seeing some young guys in September. That's about all we have to look forward to at this point. Finishing last in the AL or third-to-last in the AL isn't going to matter much, as the NL has several completely awful teams that are probably going to snatch up the top three picks no matter what the Twins do from here on out. Damn the NL and their suckiness.

50 Shades of Jeff Gray.

Because the Twins are stubborn, not liking to give up on too many guys and still have to pay them? I don't know. There can be no other explanation. Just lousy. I'm fine with having a Gray or Blackburn on the roster. At the back of the pen, it's inevitable. But this team shouldn't have two of those guys. No team should have two of those guys.

He has come to the plate less than 25 times since his DL stint. I'd give it another week or five before worrying about it.

I really, really dislike Jeff Gray. Why is he even here? No fanbase should be forced to watch both Gray and Blackburn pitch.