Brock Beauchamp

And we’re back! After a second half of the season that was markedly less painful than the first, the Twins Daily Community Awards have returned to commemorate the best posts, blog entries, and posters of the second half of this eminently forgettable baseball season! What are the Twins Daily Community Awards, you ask? For a long time, we wanted to recognize the best contributors to our awesome community and earlier this summer, we handed out the first prizes to our top community members. We offer two prizes for the Top Post (the comment that receives the most user reactions) and Top Blog Entry (the blog entry that receives the most user comments) but we also try to recognize others who contribute to the Twins Daily experience through popular content or prolific status in the forums and blogs, perhaps doubly so given how easy it was to give up on this team in June, much less continue giving it your attention through the end of September. Without further ado, let’s get to the winners… Top Post of the Second Half of the 2021 Season goes to… Honorable Mention: @wsnydes and the article In Defense of the Twins Front Office for his comment with 28 reactions from other users. During a season when the front office (deservedly) took a lot of heat from fans over their offseason choices leading up to the 2021 season, wsnydes took a more tempered approach in suggesting that they’ve had quite a bit of success in the past and how they deal with adversity for the first time since taking the reins will be quite telling. Does the front office deserve this kind of leeway? Who knows? Stay tuned! The Top Post and Prize Winner: @jmlease1 and the topic Three Things to Like (and Hate) about the Nelson Cruz Trade for his comment with 31 reactions from other users. jmlease1 had good things to say about the Nelson Cruz trade and the upside of trading an expiring contract and receiving pitching to fill an immediate need in return… which feels even more prescient now after witnessing Joe Ryan’s glorious mane baffle hitters through his first handful of Major League starts. While this front office has certainly made some questionable moves over the years, early returns on the Cruz trade look outstanding. In recognition of jmlease1’s popular post, they shall receive the most incredible prize to memorialize the 2021 Minnesota Twins’ season, particularly the outstanding bullpen that sunk the season before it even began; an item perfect for any mantle or centerpiece in the home to spur conversation… a commemorative display featuring the amazing 1984 season of Twins reliever and overall menace to baseball fans across all of Minnesota, Ron Davis. You can witness the awesome interactivity of this display in the video below... Ron Davis Prize.mp4 Blog Entry of the Second Half of the 2021 Season goes to… Honorable Mention: @LA VIkes Fan and the entry Nick Gordon Sent to AAA - Is He a Long Term Player? with 34 user comments. Nick Gordon was something of a catalyst for Twins fans this season, with fans taking (sometimes over-the-top) opinions about a player who profiles as a tenth or eleventh man on the roster. Either way, LA Vikes Fan used a tried-and-true method to easily create a popular blog entry: pose a question and ask for opinions. Like our blog entry winner from the first half of the season about the history of Twins left fielders, this rewarded the entry with over 30 comments as it seemed like everyone had a pretty strong opinion about Gordon during the second half of this season. Probably because there wasn’t much else worth talking about. The Top Blog Entry and Prize Winner: @bean5302 and the entry No, Top FA Starters Are Not Risky with 46 user comments. The moment I saw this entry, I suspected it would end up walking away with the most popular blog entry award. Nothing fires up a fan base - particularly we Twins fans - more than a conversation about spending on top-shelf free agent pitching. In this entry, bean5302 makes a convincing point that it’s better to pay big for a single player than to dispense those same dollars over multiple players. Congratulations, bean5302! For this effort, we’ve found the perfect gift for a nascent Twins blogger… a Twins-branded keyboard! It’s WIRELESS, even! Did I mention it’s a hot dog? It’s definitely a hot dog. Because offering a prize that isn’t just plain weird in one way or another isn’t really our style here at Twins Daily. Why is this keyboard a hot dog? God only knows because I can’t imagine why anyone in their right mind would buy this ridiculous thing and not something cool like a photo of Target Field or Byron Buxton… or frankly, I could make a convincing argument that a keyboard with TC Bear on it makes more sense than this thing. BUT IT’S WHAT YOU GET, BEAN. Either way, we all look forward to the brilliant blog posts you type on this weirdly branded-but-in-the-most-esoteric-way-possible input device! Most Read Blog Entry of the Second Half of the 2021 Season… @mike8791 and the entry The Dust Has Settled - What's Next, Part 2 with the visually pleasing number of 1,111 readers. Sorry, mike8791, no prizes are awarded for this honor except a good ol’ slap on the back from the Twins Daily community but we like to also point out those who create popular content through sheer reader numbers. And you topped the list in this regard with a post-deadline entry examining where the Twins are heading next: a rebuild or retool? Most Popular Topic of the Second Half of the 2021 Season… @Danchat and the topic 40 Man Roster Management For 2022 saw over 1,700 readers click in and check out their topic. Ah, a classic way to climb the Twins Daily leaderboard is to go the nuts-and-bolts route. In this post, Danchat examines the 40-man roster and various options available to the Twins going forward. Well done, chap! Prolific Posters of the Second Half of the 2021 Season… We like to give a hat tip to the posters who contribute the most to Twins Daily over the course of a season and year. For the second half of the season, we saw stalwart posters @Mike Sixel accumulated 2,087 reputation points and @ashbury, ever the bridesmaid but never the bride, once again takes second place with 1,130 reputation points. And that’s all, folks… Once again, a big thank-you goes out to the entire Twins Daily community and the wonderful content you bring to the site. All of you, whether you comment once or 800 times, fill the second half of Twins Daily with the best Twins content found anywhere on the internet. That’s all the back-slapping I have in me today so see you all again next spring, Collective Bargaining Agreement and greedy MLB ownership willing… View full article

No idea. I hope they spend for one of the big 4-5 but I’m quite skeptical of that happening.

I also see Simmons as a decent bounce back candidate but still want him nowhere near the 2022 Twins roster.

Not only did the Jays only miss by one game, they faced a ton of adversity playing away from Toronto *and* they were wildly unlucky with their run sequencing. They should have cruised to a postseason appearance, frankly.

Here is the format and rules: Here is where you can request a topic: If you check out the forum itself, there are already future topics with one participant, just waiting for an opponent to throw their hat in the ring.

It's a really great idea, thanks for suggesting it to me!

Several months ago, user @mikelink45 contacted me via private message and asked "why don't we have a debate forum on Twins Daily?" I didn't have a good answer to that question, as the idea of such a thing had never crossed my mind. Roll forward to today and we're excited to announce the Head 2 Head Debate Forum! The premise is simple: two Twins Daily users - names obscured to prevent bias in voting - square off on a single topic over the course of a week and the Twins Daily community votes on the winner afterward. There will be rules limiting the frequency of posts and the number of rebuttals in an attempt to streamline this process into an easily-digestible debate for reading and voting. We will only host one debate at a time and the frequency of the debates entirely depends on user interest in both participation and voting. We have a few topics already lined up with interested users but our community will be the ones deciding most of the topics and participants once everyone familiarizes themselves with the operation of the forum. Note: to keep everyone on topic and focused, there are a few differences between this forum and most other forums on Twins Daily: users cannot create topics in this forum, nor can they respond to posts until the debate is complete, at which point the debate thread becomes a free-for-all for everyone to participate in the topic. If you're interested in the rules, topics, or participating, please jump over to the H2H forum right now and check out the initial series of posts explaining the rules, how to suggest a topic, and how to participate!

An interesting question but boy he hasn't shown much to warrant a promotion.

Ugh, Carnivale. I adored that show and HBO pulled the plug on it so quickly. I'm still bummed about it. Mare of Easttown is definitely depressing.

My opinion on Donaldson hasn’t changed since June. Quietly shop him and if a team is willing to take 50% or more of his contract, move him and let Arraez/Miranda play third. Then use the money for pitching or extending players. If a deal of that kind can be reached - and I think the chances of finding a team willing to take on that kind of money is relatively small, particularly in the off-season - great. If not (the far more likely outcome imo), keep Josh as a clubhouse presence and hope he plays well and possibly opens a trade possibility later.

Watching Mare of Easttown. Holy **** Kate Winslet is amazing in it.

Hah, two Gleeman references in the same article, Stu.

One of the most consistent postseason teams over the past three seasons also has the lowest payroll in baseball. Just admit there isn't one or two ways to win and we can move on, man.

Yeah, it's "on the chart". Semien hit 33 homers in the last full season anyone played as a shortstop and literally broke the record for homers by a second basemen in 2021. Stop trying to twist something to fit your point and examine the actual facts. Marcus Semien is a better baseball player than Andrelton Simmons by every ****ing measure except the one you want to use because you so badly want to prove a point. Just stop it already.

Actually in 2019 the Nationals had the seventh highest payroll by SporTrac. The thing is that you're letting the tail wag the dog, which is a classic sports trope. Every season in literally every sport, people praise the champion and then many try to emulate that formula. Except there's a new champion every year and their formula is different every year. For example, the Jays went big this season and will likely be worse next season. They did all the things right, still lost, and now will lose Ray and Semien. Baseball is painfully random and there are dozens of ways to win. The Giants are currently winning with a collection of old men on crutches. Good for them. There are so many ways to win, try to enjoy the ride.

STOP USING BATTING AVERAGE AS THE END-ALL OF OFFENSIVE PERFORMANCE MY GOD MAN YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THAT IF YOU'RE GOING TO ARGUE AT LEAST ARGUE HONESTLY The all caps there are only half-joking with my frustration. You're very intentionally using batting average as the only stat that matters out of convenience. Even if you're an "old school" baseball fan, I doubt you believed Killebrew was bad at hitting. So stop arguing dishonestly and do it right now.

The only way to coordinate this kind of thing is to tank for multiple years, as the Cubs and Astros did. Except the Cubs and Astros won only two of the past five World Series. There are other ways to compete without tanking, coordinating prospect rise, and then making the stars align for a couple of years by spending. In fact, the Astros don't even fit that model anymore. As the Cubs are once again tanking, Houston is still going strong and waiting for the ALCS to start after they've bled off very good players to free agency for the past several years. There are dozens of ways to win in baseball. Let's not tunnel vision into believing there are just one or two.

One aspect that isn't great about this strategy - and I'm not necessarily arguing against it, just pointing it out - is that it locks the team into the same payroll and likely decline phase for multiple players at once. If you sign a pitcher and a shortstop for a combined $45m per for five years each, that likely leads to some real payroll ugliness in years four and five as your home-grown talent demands their own raises. But is there an alternative to doing this? I don't know. Maybe a high-priced signing, a big trade, and then 1-3 year filler pieces counteract that possibility a bit.

Me and this thread:

From a performance standpoint (and the price he *should* demand), Story might be my favorite target but for the reasons you listed, someone will likely drive his price beyond where it should land.

Yes, because he's going to sign for a single year and definitely won't sign a 4-5 year deal that pushes him past 35. Don't be pedantic.

I'm open to the idea the Twins should spend big on a shortstop instead of multiple pitchers but the one that scares me away is Semien. I was a big proponent of signing him last offseason but he's pushing well past 30 years old at this point, played second almost exclusively last season, and his price will likely be obnoxiously high after his 2021 season, which I do not expect him to repeat.

It’s interesting to see the personal narratives fly in this thread, like so many others of this kind over the years. I’m not saying people shouldn’t be critical of the front office - they earned it after this season - but the certainty stated in this thread over an injured minor leaguer just makes me roll my eyes. And I know some of the same characters were saying the same things about Joe Benson, Oswaldo Arcia, and Nick Burdi. Some temperance is needed here. I may not like the decision but I have a narrow view of the situation. We should all acknowledge some ignorance.

And that's why I do not watch modern shows one episode at a time. As shows drifted away from being episodic, the likelihood of a clunker rose dramatically. I watch no fewer than two episodes at a time, three or more if it's a short sitcom like Ted Lasso. I've found it reduces the chance of leaving disappointed.