Bark's Lounge

Agreed. Jay now should be able to move through the system pretty quickly and give us a quality arm in the BP... unless he gets the Nick Burdi sydrome. NO!!!!!!

To be honest, who cares about Jay, hopefully he will be a shut down reliever. He was selected under Ryan's watch - a watch that didn't seem very useful anymore. Let's see if the new guys can do better. Really, what else is there to say?

Addressing some of the posts in this thread. Everyone is different. Some people thrive in having one sole focus, some thrive under a more chaotic, multi-tasking strength. I think it is important for an organization to understand the mental mechanics of their players and put them in a position to succeed. Sometimes needs will arise that put you between a rock and a hard place. That is what probably separates the good organizations from the rest... the ability to know when to pull a trigger and when not to pull one. I am not stating that this is the case with the Twins or Trevor May, but you have to take it into consideration. We are not robots, we are all uniquely different as humans and just because one guy can do something diverse, does not mean the next guy can.

May deserved better than this. He was a good soldier in 2015. I hope that wasn't the start of the domino's starting to fall. I wonder if this might be the end of him as a starter? I hope your recovery exceeds the highest level of expectation. Opinions are mixed, but I was on the side of believing he could cut as quality starter with an ability to miss some bats.

I can't fault a guy like Kepler to seek out advice or tutelage from a guy like Barry Bonds. Baggage and controversy put aside, Bond's was by far the best hitter I have every seen play the game. The fear of Bonds coming to the plate changed games in ways I never thought were imaginable. Saying that, Barry Bonds is BARRY BONDS, and Max Kepler is well, um, Max Kepler. That's not a shot at Kepler, he is a very talented man, but Bonds did things that many super talented ball players couldn't do. If it works for Kepler great, if not, keep an open mind kid.

I don't have a crystal ball. In turn, I cannot predict Gordon's future. He has hit decent and has had mixed results as a SS - people in the know think he can stick and I will buy into that. Dude just turned 21. At his age a lot of things change within a person physically and mentally. He certainly has talent. Let him prove it or lose it over the next 2-4 more years. He is not that close to MLB time realistically, he has a hell of a lot of time to develop and grow. Let it ride, if it does not work out, he certainly wouldn't be the first high draft pick to flame out.

Vargas got the shaft in 2015, he was starting to find his legs, and he was sent down in May. He ended up not doing to well in the minors that year. Maybe he was up and down last year, but he had an ops in the .830's. He strikes out some, but the dude can take a BB. He does not seem lost. Instead of signing a guy from a thread I read today... a 1B/DH type, I would much rather roll with Vargas. The worst that can happen is that he sucks day in and day out, that rings the same of a lot of players we have who are projected to start in our line-up. You then make changes. Vargas is 26, that is young. Not every baseball player is a Ken Griffey Jr. or a Bryce Harper 19 year old easily making it to the bigs. Some guys need some time to figure it out. Vargas is an asset and not a lost cause. Let's ride that horse... except for his defense. He is a DH. I think he has the ability to be a 30HR and .800+OPS hitter. Very acceptable for a DH and fill in 1B.

Because you are old and your fine motor skills have deteriorated and although it is doubtful a human type species could procreate with a Pterodactyl, you might know different since you were alive when they existed.

That has to be a signing from the Twins Daily Site.

Your good.

Holy ****! I cannot believe the Pats won this one. Wow!

Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen?

NE will win and the score will be somewhere in the 24-17 area. NE's defense will do enough and Brady will do enough to get the job done.

I think Twins fans have a right to be pissed off about this offseason. I just so happen not to be one of them. I really didn't see what could have been done. Maybe Castro's signing will help and have some kind of effect on the pitching staff with his + grades in framing. I think the Twins will be in the mix for Boone or Breslow in the coming days/weeks. I have a sturdy belief in our OF - Rosario, Buxton, Kepler. Young guys that have not been tamed. The infield could be a disaster, but it could be okay. Sano and Polanco come with great defensive questions, but the Twins need to find out if they can cut the mustard. Dozier at 2B will be good - I expect 25-30HR's from him, I am not confident that last year was a normal for him. Hopefully his Avg. will stay the same as it did last year and he can take BB's like he did two years ago - that would be great. Mauer is an eyesore. That is not meant as a negative, but he is a shell of his former self. Park and Vargas should get some time. Between Mauer, Vargas and Park, they should be able to figure out the DH spot. The starting pitching is scary, but could do better than expected. Santana is okay, Berrios has a great amount of talent, Gibson is a crapshoot, Santiago?, I like May coming back into the fold, etc., etc. When Ryan took the reigns 2.0. He didn't go into rebuild mode. It seemed like he tried to retool - it did not work, hence he was relieved of his duties, too many years later. We have a lot of talent, but we are in rebuild mold. The pitching is not good, it takes some years to get that right. The non-trade of Dozier is okay by me. I don't think they were presented with the right package and Dozier's probably the only reason for fans to tune in and watch a game. That's my take.

Not to be a Negative Nelly, but I don't see how those remaining FA's really help this club. As it stands, it will take something extraordinary for the pitching staff to be any good. There will be some bright spots, but mediocrity will be the majority. I am cool with rolling out what we have as position players. There is definitely talent in that group of players. Rosario, Buxton, Kepler, Sano, Polanco (defense in question), Dozier. I hope the org gives a fair opportunity to Vargas, Park, etc. to take AB's away from Mauer. I expected the off season we have had. I am hoping that the new FO can have a quick and effective result on the development of our current players and the guys down below. I did not expect the Twins to spend their asses off out of this, because the money the Pohlads and Ryan gave out the last handful of years have been ineffective. Effective development is the key for me as a fan.

You roll forward with Dozier being a benefit to the team. You sell high on Dozier or you close your business. DeLeon is not enough. It is insulting, screw that. Maybe Dozier hits 27 HR's next year with a .245 BA and 68BB. That is worth a lot more to me than an unproven commodity like DeLeon. The Twins tried to sell high, but there was not much demand. If you sell low, I cannot see how you improve this club.Maybe there will be an opportunity next summer, maybe not. Dozier is a fine baseball player, but he is undefined in his ceiling and every other org knows that. Keep him and maybe he becomes a Twins legend and is part of a WS victory! or maybe he tanks. Who knows. Never sell low.

Looking at this situation, not taking law into consideration. If I was in my late teens, early twenties, as a man, I would never get myself into a group sex situation. Nothing good is going to come from it and at that age it will only be a disaster... hell, it is probably a disaster for most adults 30+ who partake in Swinger lifestyles or other kind of affairs. Maybe legally, a couple of the players did not break any laws, but I guarantee that the other ones did, and the ones who did not fundamentally break the laws are morally guilty. It's a shame, jock *******s making a stand to protect their comrades who were definitely acting in ways that were against the law and of the worst judgement of all time. This is coming from a guy with regrets, who had a lot of fun in that time of my life. I never let alcohol or narcotics get the best of me in those situations and I treated women with the greatest respect. Self control is a problem, and if you can't exercise that ability, you deserve the worst. This is coming from a person who is irreligious, who is not influenced by boring theocracies or worthless superstitions.

This has been a tough year. Me an some of my colleagues have deemed 2016 the "Year of Death". Besides David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and a lot of other celebrities or artists who have died this year, many more have been lost. One of my best friends died in June after a battle with cancer. He was a 40 years old. I was aware of his dire circumstances at the end, but it kills a part of you, and a piece of my spirit and essence has mutated forever. I lost my brother in 2003, he made a bad judgement and fell from a cliff. It haunts and destabilizes me to this day. It is heavy stuff and I wish Yorman's family the best.

I think people need to brace themselves for an Ortiz MVP. I'll steal a line from that ****head running for POTUS - "It's Rigged!"

Baseball writers have adapted some, but I do not think metrics are fully embraced as of now. It will happen though.

Yeah, we will see. I am curious.

We'll have to agree to disagree. He is top ten in my world.

I am curious to see where David Ortiz ends up in the voting. In strictly a baseball common sense approach he should not win it, he is a one dimensional player, but I do not know who the voters are and it is not impossible to envision some kind of swell in nostalgia and admiration that leads to the ultimate personal baseball player prize. He should definitely be in the conversation, he is definitely top ten, the OP seemingly does not agree, but the guy had a blockbuster season. Not too shabby for a 40 year old.

If things go wrong on 11-8-16 in the U.S., There is a chance we can start the planning in Canada in person. You might have to try to procure some of us a day pass from our refugee camp.

Die! Die! Die! My Darling!