Riverbrian

I've read that teams can pull players back. I just don't understand the process. I can't seem to put two and two together on it. It's easy to understand the salary dump part of the trade. I can even see what the Dodgers are doing. It's the whole clearing waivers part that has me confused. I don't understand how DeJesus, Sands and Rubby got through waivers. OK... Rubby didn't... The Jays put a claim in... So they pull him back and he becomes a player to be named later. I get that... My question is how can any young player on a 40 man roster get through. If I was the Twins... Why wouldn't you put a claim on DeJesus or at least someone like him. If players are being exposed to the degree that they are. We need Middle Infield help. Why Wouldn't the Orioles for example put a claim on Sands. He'd be a decent prospect to have stashed away in AAA or off the bench. It wasn't long ago that they had Lew Ford in the OF. I don't think these players are entirely dead weight. They are posting some decent numbers and there are clubs with glaring holes that they would slide nicely into. To simplify my question!!! How or Why do the young cheaper players get through the waiver process at all? Seems to me the Twins could have put a claim in for DeJesus and at least seen if the Dodgers would have taken prospect OF'er #5 , 6, 7 or 8 for him. We could use some MI choices to shore things up. DeJesus Jr. seems to have fairly decent numbers. Worth a look?

I don't understand how the Waiver Trade process works. In a large deal like this with a boat load of players changing hands. Don't they all have to go through waivers. I can understand how A Gon, Beckett and Crawford can make it through to LA because of salary but... How do the Young Talented Cheap Dodgers get through without a claim. Been following baseball for a long time and I don't understand trading in August.

He played well... I'm not sure how many more chances he will get but I'm sure Gardy got a positive look at him as a ballplayer. He played well enough to stick. There was just no way he was gonna no matter what he did. I feel bad for him. He's gonna end up a two cup of coffee guy.

Who knows for sure but I'd have to say... Intentional... 3 0 base open Mauer at the plate. Frustrated pitcher over botched run down... Plus a Veteren pitcher who has his mechanics down and an old school attitude. I think Mauer got plunked on purpose and Washington probably didn't like it.

A bunch of you guys are pretty well versed in the ways of the baseball farm... Heres my question? Is there any kind of rule that prevents an organization from stacking another level? For example if Rochester is clearly out of playoff contention and New Britain is clearly in playoff contention or vice versa. Can the Twins organization move a player down to New Britain for the expressed purpose of helping them on the playoffs... If it clearly upgrades the club. Can you do this... Could the Twins move Vazquez down and improve the Rock Cats starting pitching for the playoffs and or stretch run. Even if Vasquez should actually move up.

Are you aware of the ridiculousness of the blackout restrictions in Iowa? The Twins, Brewers, Royals, Cardinals, Cubs, and White Sox, Iowa is "home territory" to them all. What a fantastic way to build support for your game. The MLB's blackout policy is an archaic disaster. Furthermore, the Twins were broadcasted on WHO radio across the entire state and beyond in the 60s and 70s I believe (my father tells me), surely someone on here knows exactly (I looked this up to no avail). This was before the Cubs moved their AAA team to Des Moines. In short, Iowa used to be much more Twins territory... there is not even a station in Des Moines (nor 80% of the state) with the Twins games now. It's quite a loss of ground leading to the current cluster "mess" If only the Twins would have moved to Des Moines in 1981. Snepp... FUBAR is the acronym that describes it. The map needs to be fixed... And it most likely won't because the owners won't be able to stay out of each others way. Money is involved. There are a few states FUBAR like Iowa is... Yet Iowa is especially FUBAR because 6 teams all claiming it is just plain over the top. First off the Cubs and White Sox don't need Iowa... Chicago, Indiana and the Rest of Illinois is big enough. The Brewers and Royals are non factors... The state should be divided up between the Cardinals and Twins... Easy enough... And if the owners can't get out of each others way here... Let Iowa be the beneficiary and remove the blackout... Let the state actually get the baseball that the clubs are fighting over. And while they're at it... boot the Cubs AAA out of Iowa as well. Let them have Indianapolis... Move Pittsburgh AAA to Rochester and let the Twins have Iowa... Everyone will have a shorter trip to their AAA affiliates that way.

It was a Good read Thrylos.. Thanks for pulling it together.

Matt Holliday comes to mind right away. I also think you will find quite a few examples. The outta nowhere stories are all over baseball.

I can't look at the list and be optimistic about the immediate future. Pitching and Depth of Pitching and Position Depth are serious problems. We don't need 5 arms to put a rotation together... We need 8 starting pitchers at least because some of the 5 are going to fail and some are going to get hurt. Gathering arms isn't an easy thing. I can't see anyway out of this without a nice trade and at least one decent FA Signing and maybe a Rule 5 gem. If ever there was a rotation that can hold a rule 5 player for a year and ride it out. This would be the one.

It's not a matter of just "bucking up" and getting through it. Phobias are real mental issues based on an irrational fear of something. Span has had countless MRIs in the past yet we've never heard of this happening so I'm not going to chalk this up to "not trying" or just "not wanting to do something". He apparently tried to calm himself down and it didn't work. I'm not going to fault the guy for that. As one of many who have a fear of flying--lets not mock phobias. I get on a plane every couple of years--thats all I can bear to do--always a non-stop flight (less takeoffs and landings) only to Europe, if I need to go somewhere in the states I drive. (And yes post-9/11 airport security makes it worse-I always look and am nervous to the screeners). If Span has gone thru multiple MRIs being claustrophobic, good for him, dont get on his case when he finally couldnt do it. I agree... People are People... I can't stand the sound of styrofoam being rubbed together. It literally brings me to my knees. Don't know if there is an official phobia for it but I have it. Sometimes I have to leave the room at X-mas time. If Span has an affliction of sorts. It's easy to think of him as a human being and respect that. My problem with flying is that I always end up sitting next to a guy who is 500 pounds and he spills over to my seat. It's uncanny how often that happens so I also prefer to drive.

Smith should definitely not take all the blame here. IMO, he did a decent job with drafting and an excellent job with the international market (outside of Nishi). Many of the failures we're seeing today were from the mid-2000s when JR was at the helm. There's no denying that or shifting around responsibility for those mistakes, but I think Smith sped things along a bit with his bungling of the Major League franchise at almost every opportunity. The question is "Has Ryan learned from his previous mistakes?" I certainly hope so and I think it's worth finding out if he did learn anything. Teams rarely pick up a new GM and start winning right off the bat. Ryan has the experience and ability to build a winning team, now it's just a matter of time to see if he can do it again. Thus far, I haven't been displeased with how things have played out in many respects but the real test will be this offseason when he has all the time he needs to put the franchise back on track. It takes a village... Something like that. You have Scouts, You have Directors of this and Directors of that. You have a Manager that has input... or at least... isn't a limp noodle... A Manager that has strong opinions on what he needs or wants and that I'm sure he expresses to the GM... At least you hope the manager is being heard cuz I'm not sure I'd want a passionless Yes Man for a manager... AND... You have owners on top of everything. Bottom Line... The Owner hires the people who hire the people. If you don't like your franchise and the situation it is in. The Buck stops at the owners desk. With that said... The only clue that you have is this. In an organization that doesn't fire people very often. In an organization that is claimed by some to be a good ol' boys situation. Bill Smith was fired!!! That clue seems to suggest that Bill Smith was responsible or was seen as responsible by the owners. Very few front office firings over the years and Bill Smith was tossed. Is Bill Smith solely responsible? I don't believe so because it takes a village. However, the GM is the filter of all those opinions including those from the owner. Things were not being filtered very well during the Bill Smith regime. I can't site anything specific other than Bill got fired and things haven't been working out the past few years. So I have no problem pinning a major portion of the responsibilty on Bill Smith. On a side note... I've been noticing a lot of Rob Antony in the press lately... It seems like an increase of Rob Antony to me. Could this be a signal that the Terry Ryan Interim GM tag is actually that? Is it wild to speculate that Rob is appearing more often in the press as a precursor to Terry Ryan stepping down?

He notes that they went over .500 in 2006 after dropping below in 1997. That's amazing to me... Mainly because I remember the 70's and early 80's.

Gardy's word is good enough for me... I always suspected that it was something like that or it would have been done already. All in All... It's too bad... I was really hoping for some Mastro at 2b... And Hoping for it to work out. I like him as a player and he's about to get overrun by Arcia, Hicks and the like. Easy answers are tough to find. I'll keep trying.

ding ding ding My point has little to do with negativity. It's about negativity and post content. Some people are negative and deliver their thoughts in a clear, well-articulated manner. We encourage those posters to keep doing what they do. To put it bluntly, this team sucks. Changes need to be made. We want posters to talk about what should be done in-depth, even (especially) if their views on the organization aren't pie-in-the-sky rosy. But if your schtick is to deliver a one-liner that could be cut and paste into 90% of your posts and nobody would notice the difference, that's not adding anything of substance to the board while it does irritate other posters who are attempting to have a rational discussion of the topic at hand. In short, those people are "net loss" posters. They add nothing while detracting significantly. Brock... Are you saying that discussion of Monkeys and their ability to run a MLB franchise isn't worth anyone's time. What if you had an infinite amount of monkeys and an infinite amount of typewriters and an infinite amount of time? Using that system... It's possible that we end up with Clayton Kershaw on our roster along with Sally Struthers.

A monkey??? I admit it's possible that a Monkey could draft better... But Develop better??? A Monkey??? Now you are being silly!!! A monkey couldn't lead by example cuz of Monkey Physiology and you also have a vocal communication problem because of the high screeching sounds that most species make.

I think Parmelee is a real decent prospect. Those are real nice numbers in AAA. The Game is played the same in AAA. You have to get good wood on the ball and he's doing it. No Idea how I'd rank him in comparison to Hicks, Arcia, Sano, Rosario since projection is such a tricky thing and I simply haven't seen the others play but I will say that Parmelee seems to be ready to go MLB wise while the others may need some more seasoning. The Twins need more depth. I'd like to see him in a Twins uniform ASAP and when he puts the uniform on... Let him run around on the bases in it instead of just sitting in the dugout with the Twins logo across the jersey.

I just want to quote you... Just to see how many blue rectangles will pile up until it explodes. Ratio's original quoted post in the center is starting to look like... I don't know... Something long and skinny. How bout... Manute Bol... That'll work.

I get all of that. Deduno is playing with fire. No doubt about it. You play with fire... You will get burned. If I was the GM... I would certainly be looking real hard for a safer option. But... until he actually gets burned doesn't anyone want to pull for the guy. It can be called extroidanary luck or it can be called a sharp breaking pitch and nice moving fastball that he struggles to control but hitters struggle to get good wood on. Im not saying... Give him a Blackburn deal tomorrow. The odds are against him with the base traffic messes he creates but until he actually... Diamond... Maybe he's Good... Maybe he's not... Maybe he's somewhere in between. He's earned A job in 2013. I'm not going to cushion myself for a let down. If he falls... Someone will take his place. Baseball works that way. It wouldn't be the first time a player has come out of nowhere and it won't be the last. It also won't be the first time that a player flashed in the pan and it won't be the last. I choose to wait and see. I feel good about Diamond right now and I will let myself be blindsided. Deduno scares the **** out of me and I kinda like that as well. I think he has MLB stuff with High School control... Maybe this Houdini act of getting out of all these jams will be good experience for him.

This will do absolutely no good... But... I want to point out that Joe hits in the 3 hole because the manager writes his name in the 3 slot when he makes out the lineup card. His approach and results seem to suggest that the 2 hole is a better fit but I think it's important to point out that Joe doesn't make out the lineup. The manager does. Taking that out on Joe is a little unreasonable. Now if Joe was moved to the two... Revere would be moved to the 9. If Ben is hitting in the nine... Joe will still have the same two hitters in front of him... Just switched around and it will be just like he's hitting in the 3 hole again after the 1st inning. In the end... Mauer will bat when he bats. Sometimes In big moments and sometimes in routine moments. So I guess when you sort it all out. The prototypcial 3 hole hitter argument is a load of crap. When the game is tied or you are down with two outs in the 9th. Your job is NOT TO MAKE THE LAST OUT. Job done!!! Plus one for Joe. It was Willingham who made THE LAST OUT. Where's the article or thread asking why Willingham wasn't more patient instead of going up there hacking at two pitches before ending the Twins half of the inning. Couldn't Josh have changed his approach since a walk would have plated the go ahead run. A single would have been better obviously. My statement about Willingham was ridiculous but it fits this general theme of this thread.

With Diamond and Deduno... The odds are against them both a bit. I won't argue that... However... Doesn't anyone want to wait until they actually fail.

+1. "Gleam in the eye?" If this is the best list an organization can point to in a season with starting pitching this disastrous--an 18 yr old with a 2 month resume, a guy a yr removed from TJ, one semi-legit AAA guy who can't even seem to crack THIS major league rotation, a guy who "might be" a #5 someday, and a 28 yr old--you should be looking to poke yourself in the eye with a sharp stick, rather than pretending this represents some sort of near term or long term fix. Anyone else notice that Antony is becoming more quoted... Interviewed... Hadent noticed a lot of Antony material this year until recently. Maybe I missed some stuff.

I don't care if he is labeled as an ace or a 2,3,4,5 or AAAA. Barring injury he's the only Twin Starter that has a job (for sure) waiting for him in the 2013 rotation. So carry me away.

Anna No... Anna No... I don't want to stay... Make me Fries... (guitar solo)

And that's fine. I don't think anyone here was entirely happy with the result. All I'm arguing is that Joe Mauer became a .325 hitter with a .400 OBP by playing the game a certain way. I am entirely happy with the result. Not making an out is a great at bat. Any thoughts to the contrary is goofy. I should have been more clear: I was not happy with the result of the game. I was totally fine with Mauer's AB. I'm with ya.

A Dissident is here!!!