Aichiman

He's got to go. Baldelli's got to go. He's no leader. Even in the game he got tossed in was pathetic. Did you see his body language. After every protestation our manager made he took a step backwards and the umpire stepped forward to fill the void. It's embarrassing.

It gave me a good laugh. That's valuable.

I'm finished with this team. I've followed them loyally since 1982, when I moved to Minneapolis. And I left Minneapolis 23 years ago, but I still followed the Twins. But I'm done; it's over. This team will do nothing until ownership changes. And I'm not willing to wait. I'm going back to my roots. "Let's Go Mets!" will be my new/old mantra. I'll use Trevor May to ease the transition. I could say best of luck; but it'd be an empty gesture. Instead, I invite you to follow my lead and dump this sorry franchise.

Here's a quote from Rocco: "This is not OK. We all have to know that, acknowledge that, own it and do what we need to do going forward to make sure that this doesn’t persist, because it was hard. I mean, that was a hard game to get through." Well that ought to do the trick. Thank God we didn't hire a crass guy like LaRussa, At least in our dugout, everyone feels comfortable!

The problem with the Twins starts and ends at the top, with the owners. Imho, they don’t know what they’re doing. Their thinking seems so simplistic, so black and white: new is good; old is bad. They follow the latest trends and dump everything from the past, even ideas and techniques that have proven, over time, to work. Take our manager, for example. Endorsed (blessed) by Korn Ferry, he embodies all the attributes of the new modern manager as dreamed up by the new modern progressive thinkers. But this ideal, completely ignores the real human element and group dynamics of an all-male professional baseball team. Academically and politically, Rocco checks all the boxes. He loves the new technology, and like a Wall Street quant with his advanced algorithms, he puts unquestioning faith into the numbers it produces. He boasts about how much he cares and empathizes with his players. Catering to all their needs, he treads ever so carefully to protect them from injury and make them “feel comfortable.” And he takes great pride in his even temperament. I don’t know if he’s ever been thrown out of a game. Maybe once; but I’ve never seen him blow up. Unlike the old-school managers, like Earl Weaver, Sparky Anderson, and the current skipper of the Cleveland Indians, Terry Francona, who rarely minced words—or tantrums—our guy never gives a straight answer to anything. So as not to offend, he chooses his words with excruciating carefulness, and he hedges and dodges like a politician. And don’t even get me started on his predilection for raising the pitch of his voice at the end of sentences, making every statement sound like a question, as if he’s unsure about what he had just said. To me, Rocco is the poster boy of the modern detoxified American male. He’s better suited to run the human resources department at a NPO than to manage a group of professional male athletes. Perhaps he's good for an occasional moral victory, but a real championship? Fuhgeddaboudit. Now, I don’t mean to be pounding solely on poor Rocco because in all honesty, it’s not his fault; it’s the owner’s fault for hiring him. And it’s the owner’s fault for hiring Korn Ferry to conduct the managerial search in the first place. And it’s the owner’s fault for giving the go ahead to erase their own history by throwing Calvin under the bus to support (or appease) the BLM. It follows the same pattern: “out with the old, and in with the new” with little indication of thoughtful deliberation or any kind of nod to nuance, ambiguity, or uncertainty. Outside the occasional Central Division Championship, I don’t think this team has a chance to win anything of consequence as long the current owners remain the current owners.

Please Twins, don't give him a post-MVP-season Joe Mauer type contract. The money Buxton is going to command is too much and the injury risk is too great. Either let it ride out for this year and next, or trade him next year and get something in return. We've got Celestino primed and ready to take over full-time in two years. He probably won't be as good as Buck; but the bucks saved will certainly work to make the team better.

The intangibles: the heart, the soul, the smile, the heft, the Turtle! He's our mascot.

I couldn't have said it better. Our manager is not a leader. He's got no fire.

The White Sox are going to win the Central, and it won't even be close. The reason? The manager!

I'm worried about the offense too. I'm also worried about our manager. He has no fire.

How can we bring Garlick North with us?

I just read that the powers that be have decided to delay the start of AAA baseball for one month. Instead of starting in early April, they're going to start in early May. I'm wondering how this will affect AK.

It's 100%, on the manager. Unless Baldelli is fired, I want nothing to do with the Twins. At least I remember '87 and '91. They can't take that away from me!

It's 100%, on the manager. Unless the manager is fired, I want nothing to do with the Twins. At least I remember '87 and '91. They can't take that away from me!

Except for the manager, I agree with most of your opinions. 4 out of 5 ain't bad!

Don't count your innings before they're played!

I like this article. It's not idiocy. I've been thinking the same thing (Maybe we're both idiots?) Of course you can't base this decision on two or three weeks of low productivity. Hitters go into slumps all the time. But the guy is 40 years old. And we do have a log jam of outfields coming up. If Cruz commands a big salary--and I think he will--we definitely should consider not signing him!

Next week the White Sox play four games at Cleveland and three games at home with the Cubs. We're only two back. With the Tigers and Reds coming to town, we can win this thing.

We are now two games behind Chicago. Next week they have to go to Cleveland and play four games. Then they come home and play three against the cubs. With two against Detroit and three against the Red, all at home, our Twins could very well win the division. And even if we don't we got the consolation of being one up on the Yanks (as I type) for home field advantage. The sun is shining today!

I hope they keep Tortuga around. A lot of writers are saying that Buxton is the spark, but I think the turtle is igniting this team as well.

The turtle is raking!

How about the turtle? He's crushing the ball. He could do an adequate job at 2nd base.

"A few aces up their sleeve." This one put a smile on my face.

Why did our manager put Rogers in to pitch the 9th with a four run lead? We've got a double header tomorrow.