Whammy

I can't directly comment on the ads on this site, since I have a subscription, but they seem to be a point of frustration. Part of me is like "Well yeah, if you don't want to pay for content/access you should expect some ads," but that's too flippant of an analysis. So, two thoughts: 1) I agree, on other websites, when I'm scrolling and ads and maximizing and minimizing and is messes with the scrolling or where you are at on the page, that's super annoying. I'm not paying, so I understand there will be ads, but it sucks when they really take away from the experience. So, improving that, seems like would be appreciated by the non-subscribers 2) Maybe the caretaker structure (pricing/features) needs some revamping. I was going to suggest a "Bronze" level support that only achieves removal of the ads. But then I was looking at the subscription levels and... Do Silver caretakers still have ads? It looks like that. I'll be honest, that feels kind of greedy. These people are doing what you want (spending money for better access) and it seems like for $60 a year, they shouldn't have ads.

I want them both up. As you note, the mechanics of option years has put us in the weird spot with Emma. Emma needs to come up because he needs MLB reps. He's ready... just not AS ready Jenkins, in my opinion. We aren't in a weird spot with Jenkins other than it being painfully obvious that he can probably add a spark to the major league team.

Generally I don't bag on people for their glass half empty opinions/attitudes. This isn't even really glass half empty. This is just the exhausting negative attitude around baseball happening next season. And like I said, I generally see people think this negatively and just treat it as "whatever. Their crappy expectations don't have to dictate me having positive ones" But this idea of not bringing him up so that he can play in the minors next year (and it's not just you. There are lot of people saying this) crosses the line into pissing me off. Because now, you're making decisions that are affecting this year's team and their ability to fight for a playoff spot, and adjusting them because of this negativity around next year. Your negative assumptions for next year are preventing positivity this year and that's no way to be.

I think sometimes the discussions around the "front page" articles get a little buried. I tend to spend most of my time in the "Minnesota Twins talk" forums. That's generally where the most discussion takes place, but it's obviously not exclusively there. It's just habit to go to the "Main" forum. When I wander over to the other forums often I'm greeted with a topic I wish I would have known about. I'd love a tweak so that "HOT" topics in the other forums get temporarily shown in the "Main" forum. And then back to my first thought about front page articles getting lost, same idea... I'd love it if on the first day an article is published it was shown a bit more prominently in all forums. Or at least have all new articles, regardless of topic, shown in the main forum.

I don't really care whether Jenkins gets called up tomorrow and then Rodriguez when rosters expand on 9/1 or visa versa, but both of those need to happen. Jenkins needs to happen because he's earned it and the team deserves to have the best lineup put on the field. Rodriguez hasn't earned it quite as much but he needs MLB reps before he's thrown into the fire next season. I'm not QUITE as concerned about getting Emma in the lineup EVERY day, but at the very least he needs to be in there against all righty SP. Jenkins needs to be in there almost every day, regardless of SP handedness.

One thing that laying it out that explicitly does is show how little money we are actually going to have tied up in the lineup next season (I'm going to use 1M for the pre-arb guys for easy math) Buxton - 15M Keaschall - 1M Jenkins - 1M Emma - 1M Lee - 1M Culpepper - 1M Clemens - 1M Royce - 4M Caratini - 7M Jackson - 2M 5th OF - 1M (Roden or Mendez, or Gonzalez) Super U - 1M (I'm assuming this is going to be Kreidler) 13th man - ?? So, can we afford a DH Masher? Yes. We have $36M committed to that half of our roster in 2027. But more to your point, do we want to spend on a DH? Does that hamstring us in other ways, in sort of the same way Outman being on the roster hamstrung us unnecessarily early this season? I'd so much rather use that "payroll room" to splurge on a Jeffers QO and hope he takes it (he probably wont).

I might argue that calling up Emmanuel Rodriguez is kind of more important for the Twins long term. But screw long term. Give me Jenkins!

I have a few different opinions related to the high level 2026 AAA prospects. 1) We hamstrung ourselves with some 2025 trade decisions as well as some offseason choices. We made the path to the majors more convoluted for these prospects than it should have been. This is a totally self inflicted wound 2) We've generally drug our feet with promotions. There were very logical points earlier this year where it would not have been surprising at all to have called up Culpepper, Emma, and to a lesser extent Jenkins (that's definitely the case with Jenkins now, but wasn't the case in May). We didn't make those call ups and then.... 3) The Twins and those prospects have gotten historically unlucky with the timing of some injuries. I don't however give the Twins a full pass here because if you're going to drag your feet with promotions, you're going to get the prospects pressing even harder to impress the MLB club. Were their injuries a result of pressing? Would those injuries have happened if they had gotten called up 1 day before they happened? Impossible to say. But I do think some extreme unluckiness has played a big part in where we are at right now.

Gus Chiggins with a single back up the middle

I assume he meant 2 @ 20 per year

I promise you that whatever cap system gets put in place, it will NOT force teams to rapidly shed salary. If the MLBPA does eventually, kicking and screaming, agree to a cap, they will insist on a multiple year grace period to get teams cap compliant.

That one time? In one of the three games he’s pitched for us?

Oh good… we’ve got Morneau on a 10 minute speculation binge with Mize’s injury

So wait... why didn't the White Sox trade for Dobnak and just line him up for two starts against the Twins? Did that make TOO much sense?

Dobnak?!?!!?!?! Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!