Riverbrian

"Get your **** together, Drew. You're embarrassing me." Just yesterday... I had a 30 minute conversation with someone. 20 minutes of the conversation was about how responsible his daughter was. For 20 minutes of that conversation. I heard about his 18 year old daughter. She's been on her first job for almost a year now. Apparently, he was talking with her boss and the boss was impressed with her. Always on time and a hard worker and now she is getting so many hours that it could cause a problem with her study time in college. The guy was beeming. Saying things like "I don't know where she gets that work ethic from... Must be her mom". "When she puts her mind on somethng... She gets it done. 20 minutes and I heard about every responsible thing she had done in the past two years. The other ten minutes... I was telling him about how proud I am of my sons and I could have gone on longer if given the chance. There are 750 MLB jobs total. For comparison... there are 3,500 Brain Surgeons in the USA.

You can view the page at: http://twinsdaily.com/entry.php?1834-Small-Potatoes My First Blog.. Be Kind... I had no idea how to post it and no idea how to post it in the forum. I also have no idea about punctuation, verbs, nouns or anything like that.

The Godfather II is one of the greatest movies of all time. The dialogue in the movie is top notch and worthy of the first class plot line. One scene (of many) that struck me in the movie was the meeting between Michael and Hyman Roth at his Florida home. In the discussion between the two heavyweights. Michael discussed the fate of Pentangeli saying that "Pentangeli is a dead man". For someone as powerful as Michael to make such a strong statement about the life of a human being was a heavy moment, but, it was the response of Roth that really set the correct tone of the nature of the business they are in. Roth replied "He's Small Potatoes", as he took a bite of his tuna fish sandwich. It was a great line but it was made perfect by Roths casualness and ease of the thought of Pentangeli's death, so casual was the moment that it didn't even interrupt his meal. The bite of Tuna fish made the line stand out and it left the perfect impression with the movie watcher, you understood, the cold blooded nature of business. My first blog isn't a movie revue. It's a blog to point out that September callups are here and the Twins roster is about to be filled with some new players with a future (hopefully) and other's who are small potatoes. Each of these players is an individual human story. They have dreams and I would imagine, in every case, that dream is to be a major league ball player. They spend years working on their craft in the minors. Bus rides, call ups and send downs, per diem, cramped living quarters and a salary that won't secure a future for their family by itself, as a matter of fact, a salary that makes you poorer than a large majority of the working poor. Just getting to the major leagues for a handful of at-bats has to be the most exciting time in their young (or not so young) life. Not only for them but for family and friends cheering for them at home. They come from different backgrounds of economic status. Some of them will come from an upbringing that is way beyond our comprehension. An upbringing where food isn't just a trip to the refrigerator away, shoes are not taken for granted, getting a decent education is near impossible, and they are surrounded by people living in the same conditions, conditions augmented by guns and drugs. It's easy for us as fans to throw these players away. They are after all small potatoes. We have all read the comments about baseball players, comments that can be thoughtless and quite mean spirited. I personally think, the reason for the tone of some of these comments is that we are emotionally invested in the team itself and not so much the individuals. It's so easy for us to write off a player and take a bite of our sandwich without any thought of the humanity. The individual dream that is being played out before your eyes is easily lost on us because we are not looking for it. With the 2012 season, for the most part, in the books. The Twins will not be playing in the post season. All we have left is the individual story, I think its a good idea to try and walk a mile in their shoes while watching the fleeting moments of major league opportunity. Get behind each of these players and remember that they are human and they have individual stories and dreams. If you try to look at it from their point of view. Each baseball moment will be bigger for you and you will find a different level of happiness if they happen to go yard, bloop a single or hang a zero and walk off the mound. The Tuna will at least taste better.

The Godfather II is one of the greatest movies of all time. The dialogue in the movie is top notch and worthy of the first class plot line. One scene (of many) that struck me in the movie was the meeting between Michael and Hyman Roth at his Florida home. In the discussion between the two heavyweights. Michael discussed the fate of Pentangeli saying that "Pentangeli is a dead man". For someone as powerful as Michael to make such a strong statement about the life of a human being was a heavy moment, but, it was the response of Roth that really set the correct tone of the nature of the business they are in. Roth replied "He's Small Potatoes", as he took a bite of his tuna fish sandwich. It was a great line but it was made perfect by Roths casualness and ease of the thought of Pentangeli's death, so casual was the moment that it didn't even interrupt his meal. The bite of Tuna fish made the line stand out and it left the perfect impression with the movie watcher, you understood, the cold blooded nature of business. My first blog isn't a movie revue. It's a blog to point out that September callups are here and the Twins roster is about to be filled with some new players with a future (hopefully) and other's who are small potatoes. Each of these players is an individual human story. They have dreams and I would imagine, in every case, that dream is to be a major league ball player. They spend years working on their craft in the minors. Bus rides, call ups and send downs, per diem, cramped living quarters and a salary that won't secure a future for their family by itself, as a matter of fact, a salary that makes you poorer than a large majority of the working poor. Just getting to the major leagues for a handful of at-bats has to be the most exciting time in their young (or not so young) life. Not only for them but for family and friends cheering for them at home. They come from different backgrounds of economic status. Some of them will come from an upbringing that is way beyond our comprehension. An upbringing where food isn't just a trip to the refrigerator away, shoes are not taken for granted, getting a decent education is near impossible, and they are surrounded by people living in the same conditions, conditions augmented by guns and drugs. It's easy for us as fans to throw these players away. They are after all small potatoes. We have all read the comments about baseball players, comments that can be thoughtless and quite mean spirited. I personally think, the reason for the tone of some of these comments is that we are emotionally invested in the team itself and not so much the individuals. It's so easy for us to write off a player and take a bite of our sandwich without any thought of the humanity. The individual dream that is being played out before your eyes is easily lost on us because we are not looking for it. With the 2012 season, for the most part, in the books. The Twins will not be playing in the post season. All we have left is the individual story, I think its a good idea to try and walk a mile in their shoes while watching the fleeting moments of major league opportunity. Get behind each of these players and remember that they are human and they have individual stories and dreams. If you try to look at it from their point of view. Each baseball moment will be bigger for you and you will find a different level of happiness if they happen to go yard, bloop a single or hang a zero and walk off the mound. The Tuna will at least taste better.

The Godfather II is one of the greatest movies of all time. The diologue in the movie is top notch and worthy of the first class plot line. One scene (of many) that struck me in the movie was the meeting between Michael and Hyman Roth at his Florida home. In the discussion between the two heavyweights. Michael discussed the fate of Pentangeli saying that "Pentangeli is a dead man". For someone as powerful as Michael to make such a strong statement about the life of a human being was a heavy moment, but, it was the response of Roth that really set the correct tone of the nature of the business they are in. Roth replied "He's Small Potatoes", as he took a bite of his tunafish sandwich. It was a great line but it was made perfect by Roths casualness and ease of the thought of Pentangeli's death, so casual was the moment that it didn't even interrupt his meal. The bite of Tunafish made the line stand out and it left the perfect impression with the movie watcher, you understood, the cold blooded nature of business. My first blog isn't a movie revue. It's a blog to point that September callups are here and the Twins roster is about to be filled with some new players with a future (hopefully) and other's who are small potatoes. Each of these players is an individual human story. They have dreams and I would imagine, in every case, that dream is to be a major league ball player. They spend years working on their craft in the minors. Bus rides, call ups and send downs, per diem, cramped living quarters and a salary that won't secure a future for their family by itself, as a matter of fact, a salary that makes you poorer than a large majority of the working poor. Just getting to the major leagues for a handful of at-bats has to be the most exciting time in their young (or not so young) life. Not only for them but for family and friends cheering for them at home. They come from different backgrounds of economic status. Some of them will come from an upbringing that is way beyond our comprehension. An upbringing where food isn't just a trip to the refrigerator away, shoes are not taken for granted, getting a decent education is near impossible, and they are surrounded by people living in the same conditions, conditions augmented by guns and drugs. It's easy for us as fans to throw these players away. They are after all small potatoes. We have all read the comments about baseball players. They can get quite mean spirited and I think the reason for that is that we are emotionally invested in the team itself and not so much the individuals. It's so easy for us to write off a player and take a bite of our sandwich without any thought of the humanity. The individual dream that is being played out before your eyes. With the 2012 season, for the most part, in the books. The Twins will not be playing in the post season. All we have left is the individual story, I think its a good idea to try and walk a mile in their shoes while watching the fleeting moments of major league opportunity. Get behind each of these players and remember that they are human and they have individual stories and dreams. If you try to look at it from their point of view. Each baseball moment will be bigger for you and you will find a different level of happiness if they happen to go yard, bloop a single or hang a zero and walk off the mound. The Tuna will at least taste better.

The Godfather II is one of the greatest movies of all time. The diologue in the movie is top notch and worthy of the first class plot line. One scene (of many) that struck me in the movie was the meeting between Michael and Hyman Roth at his Florida home. In the discussion between the two heavyweights. Michael discussed the fate of Pentangeli saying that "Pentangeli is a dead man". For someone as powerful as Michael to make such a strong statement about the life of a human being was a heavy moment, but, it was the response of Roth that really set the correct tone of the nature of the business they are in. Roth replied "He's Small Potatoes", as he took a bite of his tunafish sandwich. It was a great line but it was made perfect by Roths casualness and ease of the thought of Pentangeli's death, so casual was the moment that it didn't even interrupt his meal. The bite of Tunafish made the line stand out and it left the perfect impression with the movie watcher, you understood, the cold blooded nature of business. My first blog isn't a movie revue. It's a blog to point that September callups are here and the Twins roster is about to be filled with some new players with a future (hopefully) and other's who are small potatoes. Each of these players is an individual human story. They have dreams and I would imagine, in every case, that dream is to be a major league ball player. They spend years working on their craft in the minors. Bus rides, call ups and send downs, per diem, cramped living quarters and a salary that won't secure a future for their family by itself, as a matter of fact, a salary that makes you poorer than a large majority of the working poor. Just getting to the major leagues for a handful of at-bats has to be the most exciting time in their young (or not so young) life. Not only for them but for family and friends cheering for them at home. They come from different backgrounds of economic status. Some of them will come from an upbringing that is way beyond our comprehension. An upbringing where food isn't just a trip to the refrigerator away, shoes are not taken for granted, getting a decent education is near impossible, and they are surrounded by people living in the same conditions, conditions augmented by guns and drugs. It's easy for us as fans to throw these players away. They are after all small potatoes. We have all read the comments about baseball players. They can get quite mean spirited and I think the reason for that is that we are emotionally invested in the team itself and not so much the individuals. It's so easy for us to write off a player and take a bite of our sandwich without any thought of the humanity. The individual dream that is being played out before your eyes. With the 2012 season, for the most part, in the books. The Twins will not be playing in the post season. All we have left is the individual story, I think its a good idea to try and walk a mile in their shoes while watching the fleeting moments of major league opportunity. Get behind each of these players and remember that they are human and they have individual stories and dreams. If you try to look at it from their point of view. Each baseball moment will be bigger for you and you will find a different level of happiness if they happen to go yard, bloop a single or hang a zero and walk off the mound. The Tuna will at least taste better.

Let's take the Rangers SS Jurickson Profar for example... Let's say you could buy him from the Rangers in a trade... Profar for Cash... I realize that this would never happen... But what's your guess... How much cash would you be willing to send to the Rangers for Profar straight up? Or better yet... How much cash would it take for the Rangers to give you Profar in return? $100 Million... Is that too High? 50 Million... Is that too High or Too Low? How Bout from the Pitching Side... What about Dylan Bundy of the Orioles?

The Team is doing well... Continuing to win without the Superstar Joey Votto. The Lineup seems pretty solid and ready to continue into the future. Base thief extroadianaire Billy Hamilton a year or two away. The Bullpen is in good shape led by Chapman. Can they win it this year? Do they have enough Starting pitching? Will they continue to be a force in the N.L Central in 2013 and beyond?

Meanwhile... I keep waiting for any of the 30 teams to call me and all I hear is crickets. I win my fantasy leagues almost every year. It's almost like the Astro's are looking at people that are connected in some way be it a blog or analyst, ex-major league player or someone with front office experience. I'm trying not to be frustrated or discouraged. I'll keep waiting for the call.

Willingham wouldn't have gotten the playing time. Or if he did... Crisp,.. Reddick... Smith and Gomes would have gotten less... The Success of the A's isn't that surprising. Beane is absolutely fearless as a GM. Take Pitcher A and watch him reach maturation and trade him for upside Pitchers B and C. Watch them reach maturation and trade them for Pitchers D and E and F. They got some Power... Some Speed... And Young Arms that will be better next year if they stay healthy.

Based upon these guidelines. I'm not interested in trading him(I am)... I'd like to extend him(maybe but not now)... Based on those Guidlines... I'm obviously convinced (I'm hopeful yet... I don't know) that All-Star Justin Morneau is back and mashing the ball or without question going to be mashing the ball. I would offer him 11 million for 2014. Team Option for 2015. Without the guidelines... I'm thinking about his trade value throughout his current contract. If I sense an uptick in trade value at any point of discussions with other teams... From the off-season through April, May, June of 2013... I make the deal. I move him in July for the best offer. Whatever that is. If Justin Has a healthy and productive 2013. With his contract coming off the books and the Twins having paid a majority of it. He could be a decent rental for a team at the trade deadline next year. I'm moving him in July for the best offer. Pitching in return... I look to the sky and ask for.

Actually I think he is just making his point. Seems Kosher to me... Although I can't be sure. His vocabulary is bigger than mine. He might be ripping me or someone else a new one... or agreeing. I'm just not sure. I wish I would have taken my English classes more seriously in school.

LOL... Top Gun... It says that you are from Roseau... Seth Stohs is from Warroad. Roseau and Warroad are rivals as big as anywhere in the state of Minnesota. Don't take this personally but based on post quality... Warroad wins!!!

If you get Metrics... Put it on your sleeve... It's a Badge. No reason to be insulted. I know what the stats mean... I'm a stat head. My only concern with some use of metrics is the gospel like use of them by some. A good stat head should be able to recognize the fluctuations and realize that the stats don't provide an answer for the fluctuations and therefore can only be used as information of what has happened and not what will be with complete certainty. The stat heads that should be insulted are the ones who take the numbers and say case closed!!! If that's not you... Don't be insulted. There are baseball people who don't get metrics at all. That's a hole in their game.

Good for Matt... Each player is a story. He would've came up with the roster expansion but an extra day in the sun is deserved. He played well and it's everything he's been working for. Hes happy and he has family somewhere that is high fiving or something.

If you know what PERA is ... OPS+... DIPS... You are a stat head... My question is why anyone would be insulted by stat head.

First, let's get something clear about stolen bases - they're overrated. The primary commodity in offensive baseball is the out. You get 3 of them per inning and just like it makes little sense to bunt early in a game and trade one of those three outs out to advance a single runner one base, it's usually not a good idea to send a risk a 25 to 40% chance of being thrown out in exchange for one out. So while it's easy to beat up on Mauer, let's keep in mind that as bad as the numbers are, we're still only talking about a handful of additional runners that he should have thrown out over the course of a season. That being said, I haven't really thought of Mauer as a "good" defensive catcher since at least mid-2010. There were times from 2006 to 2010 I felt he was an above average catcher. I think what's particularly alarming for a guy like Mauer, however, is that you look at 6'5" guy who is GIANT for a catcher, and you assume that his problems would be with blocking balls, moving around, etc. You wouldn't expect a former HS quarterback of that size to have trouble throwing out runners, but it's clear that he does. And when you factor in the part time playing time, and recognize that it's September and Mauer's defense has resulted in only THREE caught runners all year, I think we can put to bed the argument that Mauer's offense has "added value" because of his defense. That's why they have stopwatches... No one wants to give up that out. They go when the stopwatch says go. All teams are a running on the same people. Guys Like Ben Revere can beat the stop watch... Everyone else waits for the stopwatch light to turn green. From a defense side of things.... The Pitcher and Catcher have to beat the stopwatch. If you do that... Very few will go. Make no mistake... High stolen bases is on the defense. A more telling stat is not the percentage of throw outs... It would be the amount of attempts.

Baseball is a game of inches. Stolen bases are razor thin from many different factors and they all add up. The Runner's Jump... The Runner's speed... The Attention paid to the runner by the pitcher. The Quickness of the delivery to the plate. The Catcher's Footwork and the Catcher's accuracy. The SS or 2B catch and tag. I look at the footwork shown in the video example's and you do see a slight delay in Joe's movement from crouch to throwing position. The Footwork is consistent and correct. It's a slower start and it could be the body that causes the slow start but I contend it's probably the mind. Complacency is the #1 enemy of the ball player. Pitch after Pitch... Inning after Inning... Game After Game... Year after Year. It's a slow game... Mental focus comes and goes. If the case... It's disapointing that it happens at the catcher position. Of all positions... The Catcher and Pitcher are the most involved and should be easily more engaged. I wish I could have seen his release point on example #1. From the defensive side... If you want to catch a thief... It's starts with the pitcher perfecting his pickup move to hold runners close... make them second guess... and a quick delivery to the plate once committed. The outcome of the majority of stolen bases are decided right there. It's a game of inches and each inch matters. Tack on a slow reacting catcher and you got a problem. The runners are getting faster... It's a game of inches. It makes baseball beautiful.

I'm just glad to hear Carson is back. The guy played well up here... I felt bad for him when he got sent down.

Absolutely Fantastic... Above and Beyond effort. Now when I'm bored... I can click on the flags. I thank you for your boredom. Twins Daily powers that be... Can you Take that Map and give it a spot somewhere accessable so it doesn't fade away as time goes on? Pirate put a lot of work into it and would hate to see it get buried.

People need to relax about corner OF defense in general. While it's certainly better to have good defensive outfielders everywhere, the cost of a poor corner OF is small enough not to worry much about. Boston won two world series with Manny Ramirez in LF. The Twins won 90+ games with Delmon Young in LF. Teams have stashed poor outfielders in left or right for 150 years. It ain't that big a deal. A poor SS costs you. Often. A poor corner OFer doesn't get to a couple balls a month, tops. Big friggin deal. Parmelee in right probably isn't ideal (though most of us have seen him there much), but it's not worth fretting about unless/until 1b is open. It doesn't matter this year. Just get the kid some playing time. If he hasn't played much OF in AAA. Get him some work up here. As long as Morneau, Mauer, Doumit are on the team. He will need his OF glove. As for corner defense in General... Depends on your context... If you can just simply out bash your lack of OF range. You can play Adam Dunn in CF and Adam Dunn like fielders in Left and Right. You might get away with it. I believe you can absorp one range challenged OF'er... You put two out there... You will get nailed by the big inning when it doesn't have to happen... A couple balls a month Chief??? My math is different and each occurrence is extra bases. Pitcher ERA's will rise and stat guys will be calling for the heads of pitchers on Twins Daily because the numbers just don't look that Good. OF range is big. It isn't just the balls caught. It's the ball cut off. Its a pitcher fist pump when he needs it... It's momentum.... It shouldn't be downplayed and it happens more often than you are quoting.

DeJesus Jr. cleared. At least I think he did. OK... Why this Mauer trip thru the waivers?

I'll assume the Gray, Blackburn and Nishi jerseys were dispatched to a bottomless pit somewhere. I heard it was the bottom of the Shackleton Crater on the Moon. It is a place in permanent darkness so no person could ever see them from orbit. Any person wanting to retrieve one of these treasures would face the vacuum of space as well as temperatures of -300 Fahrenheit. On top of that the radiation environment is so severe it is highly doubtful any human could survive long enough to retrieve those abominations! I've been to the Shackleton Crater. Took the family on a nice road trip. Monday we drove to Kansas City... Love Arthur Bryants Barbeque. Tuesday thru the Ozarks to Fayettlevile... The Hillbilles are authentic in NW Arkansas. Wednesday up to Yellowknife NWT... Was disappointed to find cutlery the regular color. Thursday we drove to Buffalo... The family wanted authentic wings for supper. Friday was the Shackleton Crater... Ron Davis Jerseys was what they had. We didnt buy any jerseys but we did pick up one of those space vacuums with HEPA filtration and an ergonomic handle. It was a little chilly but we brought jackets... Got back to North Dakota on Saturday and it was colder.

By clearing waivers Mauer could be traded to any team in baseball at any time. If a team claims him on the first time a player is sent through waivers you either work out a trade with the team that claimed him, let the team that claim him have the player for no compensation, or the team that put him on waivers can pull him back. Ok... So I've understood it all along... Now can someone tell me... why the ridiculous excersize of running Joe through waivers if he is going to go unclaimed. What is accomplished by that? Certainly any trade value he has could be discussed in July or January for that matter. No need for the gauging of the market in my opinion. At least there shouldn't be. And how can the young Dodgers clear waivers and make it to the Red Sox. Cheap... And teams have holes in the OF and IF. Why wouldn't the Twins claim DeJesus Jr. Is it a gentlemen thing... Call the teams in front and ask nicely to let the players through. Your definition is exactly what I've understood... I'm gonna need the parables on the gamesmanship of it.

Mauer cleared waivers... I am completely lost... Can someone explain this August Waiver thing to me? I do not understand the point of running him through waivers at all. I don't understand how Ivan Dejesus Jr. Or Jerry Sands can clear waivers with little money attached to them. I don't understand August at all. It's not for lack of trying and I swear to god.. I'm not as dumb as I seem. Can someone explain the August waiver process and I believe you will need to use small words and parables.