Riverbrian

Thank God... I was about to start typing Neil Young Lyrics. We gotta get a couple here.

I'm not that excited about him now... It was a nice leadoff double... He can do that every once in awhile.

Yeah... Let's see how excited you are about Florimon in July.

c'mon that ain't fair... It's not like it was his first hit of the year.

Every Dog has his day.

Florimon with a leadoff double...

Is this the Game Thread? I get confused sometimes... I might have went into the West Brom discussion thread by mistake.

Hold those Rochester take out menus... Pedro may not need them

I might be missing something... Rodents driving a Kia Soul... Is that supposed to make me want one?

Great play by Plouffe but his feet didn't move. It'd be easier if his feet were more inclined.

Let's see how inning two goes for Pedro.

Sometimes I wonder if Dunn would have the same K percentage if he hit Blindfolded.

I feel bad for Pedro... It's looking like he needs to consider Restaurants choices in Rochester, Scranton, Syracuse, Buffalo and others.

I'm sorry to hear that... Hope all is well.

I'm very excited but I try to temper that excitement because these guys still have to grab the opportunity by the horns when the opportunity comes. That ain't ever a sure thang.

1. I do remember those years and 2012 especially IMO... Starting Pitching was why we are drafting 4th overall this year... You know me... I'm Mr. Half Full. I was disappointed by the lack of a larger name FA SP signing but I talked myself into feeling better by thinking that quantity over quality can still work and it still can... But... It can only work if TR and Gardy are willing to make hard decisions. IE... Starting pitcher struggling replaced by the next option. We have 3 that are struggling out of the current 5. We've moved past Hendriks but that was easy because he has options and isn't MLB established. These kind of calls get much harder with established pitchers like Pelfrey and Worley. We have every reason to expect average pitching with the number of options we have. But we can't be average if we stay with below average and don't give the ball to someone else and expect him to be at least average. 2. Yeah... I'm pulling for Pedro while still waiting for Deduno and Gibson. It's a conflicted feeling in the pit of my stomach.

I'm glad to hear TR and Gardy say this about Worley. I had great seats behind home plate for Worley's start on Saturday. I was watching him as close as I could. He was completely unremarkable. His Two-seamer was coming in 88-89MPH and it was up and flat and he wasn't going to a breaking ball or anything off speed very often in the first couple of innings. He was a little more effective when he started mixing things up and he was spotting his two seamer down and getting a little drop on it but all in all... Keeping it down seemed to be a chore. Its a complicated thing. How long do you let the starters work through things on a major league mound? I don't know the answer and I hope that Gardy, Andy and TR have a good idea on what to do. We cant keep trotting out pitchers who are plus 5 ERA's... If I had to make the decision. Hernandez is first on the list. I would give him tonight and tonight only to earn another start. If he gets roughed up tonight... Call the traveling secretary the very second Gardy takes the ball from his hand and send him on his way to Rochester. We are all dying to see Gibson but you replace Pedro with the guy who is looking like he can get outs at MLB level right now. If that's Gibson... OK... But this isn't the time to bring up the future to gain experience. Bring up the guy who will be best at getting guys out. Worley and Pelfrey... I have no idea how much rope to give them. If they don't show something soon... Maybe Gibson or Deduno will just end up showing something instead and force the decision.

I thnk Morneau is doing fine. Personally... I'm concerned by the occasional shifts that teams have been deploying on him. The Morneau of old used to go the other way with ease... At least my memory of the Morneau of old was a guy who went the other way. I assume that teams deploying a shift suggests data that he ain't going the other way lately. This may be something Morneau needs to find again. Hes looking decent and I think he will be healthy and decent all year. I think the Twins will make an attempt to sign him. I don't think the trade market will be rich enough to tickle the trade urge and the front office will be loyal to the player and vice versa. Just guesses from me... No more no less.

Me 2... But I Just walked in the house from last nights game. Didnt know I was going... my older son and I had time to get there and we looked at each other and said lets go... Bought tickets from a scalper right behind home pkate... enjoyed it immensely... My game went a little better. Little tired from the road and it was a real sick radio listen today. Must be the pink bats.

"Two Weeks"... That's funny. Sounds like she has chosen the venue.

I got a Graduation dinner to attend tonight and I'm not sure how long that will last. I'll probably miss the beginning of the game. For the Game Threaders I just want to say... The Romantics once wrote... "What I like About You... You Really know how to Dance" I'm sure that dancing ability will cure all the evils that crop up and the basis of a long term relationship has been formed. It was Billy Squier who said "Lonely is the Night... When you Find yourself alone" I have nothing to add to that line.

So your saying... If you had a Time Machine... Your usage of it would be based upon financial gain. I think we know how you roll now;)

I agree with every word. There is a reason that you are on my smart guy list.

I'm fine with your thinking in basic form. I would like to say that the team is doing well. Will they continue to be doing well as the season progresses. I don't know... All any of us can do is assume. So I do reject that premise. I can't speak for TR and I won't try... I can only speak for myself and these are my suspicions. I think Terry Ryan has a little penny pinching bone in his body. I don't know for sure but I assume this because I watched Bill Smith spend a little and Terry Ryan not be as financially aggressive. That's the basis of my personal feeling and its a weak basis and I admit that. I do believe Pohlad will spend but I have no idea... No way of knowing but I believe them when they say money isn't an issue. I'm guessing the issue is philosophical(TR) not financial. Now as for the philosophy. Is it right or wrong? I personally think TR had done a great job and I think he can do it again. I trust TR over Smith by miles. That's my personal opinion. I also believe that TR is the top of the food chain. He trusts the people he hires and he filters a lot of opinion and the endorsement from others in the organization led to our Free Agent execution in the off season. I don't believe that its TR sitting with a spreadsheet and a closed office door making decisions like we make our fantasy squad. They are not wrong yet!!! I'll wait and see. As a General Manager you are responsible for a lot. You can be a General Manager like the Blue Jays guy and aggressively attack a problem with expense or you can be more prudent like TR seems to be. Neither method is guaranteed to work or fail. But a million dollars is still a million dollars. It shouldn't be taken lightly, These are guesses of mine. Now if I was in charge starting October 2012. I wouldn't have spent a dime on Middle Infield and I wouldn't have traded for it. I don't believe there was a single middle infield FA that was significantly better than what we have right now. I realize that we have major question marks but none of the Free Agents were non question marks. Maybe a little bit better but just a little and maybe... We had a spare million or 20 to throw around but why throw millions at something unless you are damn sure. There were not any decent middle infield options. I also would not have traded for any middle infielders for two reasons. A. Limited trading resources should have been applied to pitching in my opinion. B. The price for middle infield was expensive. According to rumors: The Rangers would not part with Andrus or Profar for Justin Upton. Grigarious cost the D-Backs a huge haul. That's real expensive and pursuit of it would hampered our ability to land Meyer, May, and Worley. Now Pitching... That is a different story... I was gulping pretty hard going into the off season. 2012 was about as bad as it can get. Something had to be done... I love the trades he made and I would have tried to do something similar. I probably would have thrown a lot of cash at Jackson or Sanchez or Marcum out of panic and I would of thrown that money knowing that I felt that none of those guys were worth the money it would have taken. It's quite possible that making a panic decision like that... Would have been wrong. I would have also gone after a few lower dollar guys... Pelfrey would have been high on my list... Iwakuma would have been high on my list. Correia would not have been on my list. But... In the end... What do I know... I watch a lot of baseball and I liked these guys because I watched them and I liked what I saw. I don't have a stop watch... radar... medical reports or plane tickets to his next start. I'm not trying to be a professional. In the end... I've watched a lot of baseball over the decades. The correlation between money and winning is probably there but it isn't large enough to be the answer because the loaded teams fail frequently and the low money teams do well frequently. I've come to the conclusion that Pitching is the best barometer to winning and it takes more than one big guy. It takes a rotation and replacements for the rotation. I also believe the guy hitting .220 can win you a game almost as often as they guy hitting .260. It's all about little moments inside each game. Not a collection of numbers and dollar signs.

I think he is improving... It's the same thing you said... His start was very very bad... He's below Average now... That's improvement. His swings look better... His contact is getting harder.