LaBombo

Provus shared with us that Nolasco's runners in scoring position batting average against of .381 is "worrisome". Yes, in much the same way that the Titanic was done in by "basement moisture issues"

Don't forget the grapes... http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_D0mAvl3tsdM/TTpfRLWY8zI/AAAAAAAAAh4/PcZdXlALWQ8/s400/grapes4.jpg

Trout is a great Buxton comparable http://joehumphrey.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/icons/formetopoopon.jpg

Your body language gave it away. http://media.nola.com/crime_impact/photo/amish-sam-mullet-srjpg-899de0384c606f11.jpg

By organizational doghouse, I mean demotion/DFA, the far end of the bench where the guys who seldom play usually sit, and being moved to a non-MLB team in another organization, possibly in Asia. As for why it would happen, we already know that the Twins sometimes need about as much reason to doghouse a player as cats need to suddenly dash into another room. Danny's banishment could be due to a cold stretch and/or just plain bad luck at the plate, a costly defensive error in one of the few close Twins games, smelly socks, sideburns too long, or not honoring the samurai baserunner's Bushido code, Whatever. But the real reason will be that right now I think that the Twins loathe inconsistency and unpredictability even more than losing, and along with his talent, Dantana has bushels of both those traits.

What happens when Dantana comes back? Speed on the basepaths, follies in the field, and funkiness at the plate. He seems vaguely destined to be a utility player, but at this point about the only certainty is that by season's end the Twins will have handled him in a way that they will be almost no closer to either knowing that's the case or rounding him into the more complete defender he'll need to be to succeed in that role. My guess is that he'll languish on the bench, be miscast as a starter when another cog fails, and then be sent to the organizational doghouse when that doesn't work out.

Chargois is just one more example of the biggest problem that I have with the 2016 Twins. It's not that they're still on pace to fall short of 50 wins, although that facet of the team is unbelievabley disappointing after five difficult seasons of 'rebuilding'. It's not that the highly touted prospects we've anxiously awaited have by and large failed to produce at the major league level, although that has certainly become an alarming pattern dating back to the debut of Aaron Hicks. It's not even that regardless of talent level, the team just seems to lack a sense of competitiveness and an urgency to turn things around. Those are all problems that make the 2016 Twins hard to love, but here's the real problem for me: Try as I might, I can't understand what the general manager and his staff are doing. Any baseball front office or field manager is going to make some moves that, taken individually, are unpopular or hard to understand. That's just a given, and the nature of the business. But right now this Twins organization appears to be conducting business with all the foresight, planning, and strategy of a squirrel in highway traffic. Who goes, who stays, who sits, who plays; it all has the look and feel of a series of reflexive, almost involuntary pain response to the damage that's being done to the franchise when seven out of every ten visits to the ballpark result not only in mere losses but in mounting evidence of total collapse as a franchise. You're not just losing games, Minnesota Twins. You're not just damaging your brand. You seem to be writing a cautionary tale about mismanagement that will be analyzed and lamented for years to come, and we seem to be getting no closer to the end of this story.

You called it, Dr. j. This move should make St. Peter happy. Dave, I mean. But probably not the actual Saint named Peter. An extra 15 minutes of last call in the 6th innings of home game blowouts once or twice a week has gotta mean a couple thousand extra beers, as well as other, less lucrative concessions, right? So... well done, front office! We look forward to seeing the Neil Ramirez bonus beer money take the field next year in the form of a top-flight free agent!

As far as I can see, it looks like your only takeaway so far from the Chargois episode is that Twins fans suck. If there's more elsewhere or in the works, I apologize. But "turn on a guy"? Isn't that a bit extreme? Three posts in the thread pretty much just pointed out the painfully obvious, which was that Shaggie was very hittable and/or wild his first time out. Is that observation really in dispute? And one post generously noted that MLB debut jitters can be tough on pitchers, while another noted that since virtually everything else has gone wrong for the Twins, why not Chargois' first outing too? There's some negativity there, to be sure, but does that really constitute fandom turning on Chargois? And for that matter, wasn't a negative reaction at least somewhat justified by the Twins themselves when they demoted Shaggie the day after his debut in order to make room for a waiver wire reliever? If anything the Twins' reaction seems more negative than the fans'. You're a good writer and you have excellent insights into the Twins, Seth, but please try not to be too hard on grumpy Twins fans like me. We've waited through six years of mostly crappy baseball to watch a winner and unwrap the presents waiting for us under the Twins farm system tree. Now we're finding out in this season of historically bad Twins baseball that so far the long-awaited presents are mostly ugly, uncomfortable socks. So please bear with us, we're doing our best! Honest!

This is the kind of game that gets right in the face of the media talking hairdos that have made the mistake of opining that 'Things can't get any worse for the Twins'. If I'm on the silver lining search committee, my sole contribution from watching today's train wreck would be 'Gibson's arm didn't fall off and he went six after a bad 1st'. Oh, and Kepler had a hit and a walk.

"ShagWah did rotten Baby! Yeah!" http://content.internetvideoarchive.com/content/photos/203/008545_6.jpg At least he got that first punch in the mouth over with right away and in a meaningless game, instead of sitting for a week and then being asked to protect one of maybe two or three sixth inning leads the Twins will have the rest of the month.

Agree, and it was a coin flip. Chargie probably just had one of the ugliest meaningless outings of the year, but I went with the Jep's greater overall contribution to the futility of the season. Plus that's a pretty ugly picture of him.

Same here. If I were at the game I think I would have tried to get a "Maximus!!!" chant going... http://libriscrowe.com/Bailey/Max%20a%20tiger%20sunbeams.jpeg

The Good: http://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/brownsvilleherald.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/e/8c/e8c3c5bc-ad8e-11e3-8474-0017a43b2370/53267dd152820.image.jpg The Bad: http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/images/players/head_shot/608638.jpg The Ugly: http://www.twincities.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/jea-0028-twins-players2.jpg?w=800

Jepsen: "Now you've got the idea, kid. You're gonna fit right in". http://i.imgur.com/jgHAIWG.gif

No sense in worrying about the correct pronunciation unless the team doesn't follow the standard procedure of slapping a cutesie nickname on him that ends with the long E sound. Until they get it sorted out, I'm just going with "Chargie, the rookie with electric stuff!"

Whatever credit is due goes to the inspiration, your 2016 Minnesota Twins. Btw, Dick now thinks the game is getting out of hand(!). Rumor has it that as a junior Mondale staffer, he urged Walter to hold out for the recount results vs. Reagan in '84.

Damn right! http://countryfolks.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CN-RP-1-Woodbury-FFA-1-300x225.jpg Hang on, that's FFA. Never mind.

Classic Bremer, as game gets out of hand: "This is what's happened when the Twins have played these better teams". Colonel Jessup wants to know: "Is there any other kind?"

Arcia calling off Buxton is sort of like John Oates telling Darryl Hall "Pretty sure it's my turn to sing lead on this tour"

I volunteer to feebly pretend to try to break it up... "Oh dear. Stop Chief. You're going to kill him, especially if you keep at it for another 15 seconds, and get that thumb right on top of the artery."

You're used to the public Terry Ryan. In the office he wears a rug and fake 'stache, but word has it he looks more like Tim Conway's Mr. Tudball than he does like the late Jimmie Doohan. http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/images/reviews/81/1347048907_3.jpg

Three run homer. Huh. Oh, fine, whatever, Suzuki is awesome. Sign another extension already.

Good and bad. He looks healthy, which is good, but also looks eminently hittable, which is very typical for the Bad Gibbie outings. If he shakes off some rust and has a second half approximating last year, the Twins will have a solid #4 who will probably open the 2017 season as the #2. Given his pedigree that's not so great, but it's quite a bit better than nothing, which is what several #1 Twins picks have turned into over the past decade.