Riverbrian

On this squad... Real good.

Nice Revere type hit... Now go... Take second

Been looking good. He back doors the spinner on lefties well.

Absolutely... Its not a 3 inning judgement from me... Its a more of the same crap from me... I guess I was just expecting the trip to AAA to be a wake up call. Hitting is tough... The pitchers are working to get you out. Ill give him a pass for that... His next at bat could be better... But not moving your feet on D... That's on you... You'd think he'd want to come back and show Gardy something. First play back and a run scored. It's one thing to say you want it and I'm sure he does. Well his first impression on the return is laying back on a ball. Bad mistake.

That at bat was bad... Chasing the same outside slider he did before but the at bat is one thing. Not charging that groundball cost us a run. Masterson is dealing... That run could be Important. If he wants to stay... You'd figure he'd go get the ball. Im gonna try and give him a break and say it was nerves... However... He's been playing back on balls and reaching for a couple of years now. Im disappointed.

Still chasing... I don't mean to be down on the guy but he's still doing the same things.

I'm jealous right now. What I want to see... Is a Mike Trout type guy come up from the farm. A Trout... A Strasburg... a Harper... A Middlebrooks... a Rizzo. Just one... Sometime soon. Its hard to wait... Just one. Someone come up and blow the doors off.

First defensive play back from the minors and he waits for the ball to come to him with one out and a runner on third. If he charges... Shoo could have been out at the plate. Im pulling for the kid but I'm sorry... I don't think he's pulling for himself. You'd think his trip to AAA would be a wake up call. I was hoping at least. If I was Deduno... I'd be pissed. I'm not Deduno and I'm kinda pissed.

That play right there is my biggest problem with Velencia. Runner on third... Charge the ball. He doesn't move his feet. Same Danny... He didn't learn down in AAA. That's one run that he could have at least challenged.

I hope Danny puts it together. Just needs to be a gamer and he can turn it around.

My Fault... I know what I'm trying to say but struggling to condense it. I was watching Outfront on CNN... Went to Bed... Instead of thinking about Erin Burnett like every Red Blooded Male should be doing. I picked up my Ipad and started reading Twins Daily and my thoughts turned to the Twins Pitching Situation. I thought... If the Trade Deadline doesn't net some decent pitching. We may be looking at Free Agent money being spent to address Pitching. Then my thoughts turned to the Marlins this year and then I thought that Free Agency or just plain spending in general doesn't always work. The Cubs, Astro's, Met's and Mariners came to my mind. All Clubs that spent themselves into holes. Then I started thinking that it could be dangerous... Kind of a repeating cycle... If you rely on Big names and big contracts to fill out your roster or are trading young prospects for big names. You have to keep going back to that well. It seemed clear that the Farm System is really the only way to get your organization healthy... Then I thought... We Jumped from 24th to 11th in payroll in 2010 and to 9th in 2011. We had a nice 2010... Injuries killed us in 2011 and... I then started thinking... Was this a shift in previous philosophy... Spending money was never really an option in the Metrodome... Is it possible that this change in philosophy... If it was one... Can be compared to the other 4 clubs. Is there a lesson learned here. After that thought... I started this thread and explained my thinking poorly. I should have been thinking about Erin Burnett. My Fault.

Something tells me Angels... Too bad that something is always questionable.

The Mariners payroll jumped from 18th in 1999 and increased to one of only 7 teams over 100 million in 2007. The Bavasi period of Mariners history was aggressive in my opinion. Bringing in Beltre, Sexson, Washburn, Ibanez, Silva and Matt Lawton among others. I think it was a shift in their approach. It doesn't compare to the Yankees free Spending but I think the shift was significant and I think they are still trying to dig their way out of it. This was off the top of my head... In Hind sight... The Astros may be a poor example. The moves they made did produce a pennant in the 2005. I was just remembering a period of bringing in some bigger names. Pettite, Clemens, Tejada, Carlos Lee. Scratch the Astro's. 100 Million is a tough bench mark. Not many teams were over 100 million prior to 2008 and I think the lower payroll teams were lower overall. Anyway, It was a poorly worded Thread starter by me. I was thinking about these teams and I was wondering if a parallel could be drawn with the Twins jump in payroll with the opening of Target Field. Granted... If you spend money and make good decisions... it works out great but... If you don't... Did it put the Mariners, Cubs and Mets in a hole? Does anyone feel the Twins changed their approach with the opening of Target Field? If So... Did it put us in a hole?

The Cubs, Mets, Mariners, Astros are 4 teams off the top of my head that went out and agressively spent money on their club and failed. Maybe the Marlins will join this list after their splurge this past off season. All 4 teams have gone through a lengthy cleanup and with the possible exception of the Mets... They are still cleaning up. Do the Twins belong on this list. Payroll shot up with the opening of Target field. The team got away from using the farm and spent for quicker answers. It did seem to be a change in philosophy. Did the Twins take their eye off the minor league ball and look for that quick fix? The Twins seem to be looking at possibly spending some cash just to get some pitching for 2013. Does this become a repeating cycle?

Something is up. Especially for a team that... at least on paper... Doesn't appear to be that far off. No need for a fire sale. Good young pitching and exceptional pitching prospects behind that. The farm system is in good shape so you don't have a desperation restocking on your things to do list. The only real hole appears to be 3B... Join the club with that. A bunch of teams have holes at 3B. You list good reasons but it doesn't add up. I think we have a player out of favor. I won't be drafting him in fantasy baseball next year just in case.

In regards to Justin Upton... Isn't the elephant in the room that he could be available at all. He is real young... Power Speed... All 5 tools... Under control for a nice chunk of time and under 10 million a year. One of the top talents in baseball. Why is he being shopped??? Teams don't shop players like this. Unless there is something really wrong with him. Attitude... He runs a dog fighting ring or somethng. To me it's a red flag so big that bulls are snorting and getting ready to charge for 10 square miles.

I'd be surprised if they did. It would take a special kind of bad GM to do it. I think the Mariners are set up real well for the future... The Mariners are real close in my opinion to being a contender. You take King Felix and the three pitching prospects in the minors and that rotation could be scary in the near future. Now it's just a matter of building an offense to try and time with the arrival of the arms. I think that's why they traded for Montero. A Young upside bat that will be coming into his own when the pitching arrives. I think the Mariners will be a force in a couple of years and King Felix has to be part of that plan. If I was the Mariner GM... That pitching will stay in my pocket.

He runs faster than the Speed of Sound. The Ump yelled foul. He just out ran the sound of it.

From your lips to gods ears... I really hope you are right. I would love to see a monster come from the farm and just tear it up.

He's steady and he's great balance for this website.

If it brings quality arms into the organization in return... Yes... The Twins need pitching... All this shopping of players at the trade deadline is fun and to try and shop along with them is a great way to pass time. But... In the end... You can't lose focus on the primary reason for the shopping. Pitching... Pitching and more Pitching... If Willingham is the price to bring talented arms into the organization. Yes by all means. If it doesn't bring quality arms into the organization... No Way... I don't think he's a flash in the pan. He has legit power and we don't have a replacement for that. He's ours lets keep him. No reason to dump his salary.

1. Complete lack of Fundamentals is embellishing a bit. lol... Sub-standard... I'll go with that. They still make the right play more times than they don't. It has improved from last year and improved a lot. 2. The Team is put together by the GM. The GM is in the process of changing things or at least I hope he is. Gardy is working with what he is handed. Although, I will not discount that Gardy has some say or I can assume that his opinion on players is part of the process so not a complete free pass from me. 3. You can lead a horse to water. I think it's time for a change... at the end of the year but let's give the Gardy the respect he deserves and give him a closed door option of walking away. Also, when I talk about teams like the Mets and Orioles this year over achieving based on the roster. The 2010 Indians and D-Backs. The 2009 Padres. I also believe that the Twins have been an over achieving team for the past decade prior to the collapse... The Twins typically have not been a team that anyone would consider loaded and they have been a tough team to beat in years past. Gardy should get some credit for that if people want to blame him for what is happening now.

Gardy should not be fired!!! I thank him for his years of service... I believe he is one of the top managers in the game and he should be recognized as such. However, after the season concludes. I think Terry Ryan should suggest to Gardy that he step down and hopefully Gardy will go along with that idea. If not... Terry should pull the plug. I know that another thread was just introduced stating that Gardy won't quit until a world series is won but I think a change in Manager and coaching. Fresh voices is a good idea and it has nothing to do with Gardy's performance. I don't have any thoughts on who the replacement should be but it's time to roll the dice here. Gardy didn't have much of a chance with the starting pitching this year or last year but in the end it comes down to competing for every game. Every year there is a team that shows up and competes for a playoff spot that comes out of nowhere and has seemingly nothing to compete with on paper. Take the Mets this year for example. I don't think the Mets will make the playoffs but you can't deny that they gave it a pretty good run. The Mets have David Wright and ??? The Mets pitching staff has been pretty good but you can't say that you looked at that staff and said it was going to be good. The 2011 Indians and D-Backs were teams that came together with what were thought to be less talented rosters. The 2010 Padres were a no name group that came together. If you have the talent to make the major leagues... You have Talent... You can play this game. Now you have to strap it on and take pride in your jobs and go for it. I get the talent difference between Robinson Cano and Jamey Carroll. Yes... It helps to be loaded but you can compete with a team of major league talent. 162 games are a grind... You can't be perfect at all times but you gotta feel like you can win and that feeling has to come from somewhere. Gardenhire knows this but after 10 years of asking for something. It might be time for a new voice to start asking for it. In my opinion... The Team needs a ball buster. A manager who will have the players back and kick them in the ass at the same time. We need a manager who will kick dirt on home plate over bad calls and We need a team that's going to run over a catcher or two or Throw inside just because the hitter looked at them the wrong way. This type of play was absent in 2011 and coupled with the lack of execution in 2011 made watching unbearable. The execution has been better in 2012 and the hitting as been better. There has been lineup improvement but I still don't see the hard ass play necessary to steal a couple of close games from time to time and the execution still has improving to do. Bad pitching is one thing... But Bad Pitching gets worse with bad fundamentals behind them. I don't blame Gardy for this. I'm just saying that the players have settled or excepted some reality. Give me a dreamer. Someone stupid enough to think they can win. I think it's time for a change and I hope it isn't a firing but if it's a firing... It's a hard ass move that maybe sets the tone for the rest of the hard ass moves that are necessary.

I guess it depends on the Twins Projection of the Career and Value of Parmalee going forward. It sounds like you are in the camp of Parmalee as a backup like Plouffe was to begin this year. I haven't seen enough of Chris to decide what camp i'm in. I just always felt that it was Justin's job until his contract was up or until he was traded. The Parmalee out of options wrinkle got me thinking differently. If the Twins think they can contend in 2013. I can't imagine a scenerio where Parmalee starts over Morneau. Even if they don't think they can contend... You don't screw up any trade value by benching Morneau. But... if you are building for the future. Is Parmalee the long range guy at 1b? Interesting!!! If Parmalee is thought of as a bench guy in 2013 like Plouffe. The Twins might as well move Sano over to 1B during the off season. Personally, I know that I don't want Parmalee in the OF. I think one slow corner is fine. Both Corners on the slower side is a major concern in my book and Willingham will be patroling in the OF. Our pitching staff will need all the help they can get out there.