Riverbrian

My Apologies... You are Right... I shouldn't have read the thread. I don't have the strength to add the perception of Bad TV Coverage to the list. On the subject directly. It's a broadcast team and the format of the broadcast is set by Fox from a national template. Rob doesn't have much of a chance to be anything other than what he is. I'd just as soon have one of the Fox Sports Girls dressed in a bikini doing the interviews but they are reserved for saying a segue line to and from commercials and not dressed in Bikini while doing so. As for the Texting... Rob is being instructed to text by his bosses because Social Media is the now and the future. If He's going to be instructed to text it doesn't make any sense to text that Jason Marquis sucks because he has gotten to know Jason and getting to know Jason is part of his job. He also won't be asked to text by The Twins and Fox Corporate if he loses his job because he has failed to build relationships because his text's and tweets are too nasty. Is that a more appropiate response for the context of this thread?

I'm a Revere Fan and I await his re-arrival. If you are rebuilding... You rebuild with young players who bust ass.

Span is pretty damn good for a leadoff hitter. Everyone is looking for an upgrade. If the Nats are in the race and the Braves and Phillies and Marlins and Mets are nipping at their heels. They upgrade. They Go for it because those kids in the minor league's are crapshoots and won't help them win RIGHT NOW. It gets more intense if the Phillies are also looking for a leadoff guy as well and sniffing around. The desire to win RIGHT NOW when you are in the hunt is actually how we picked up Matt Capps for Wilson Ramos. It's also why Matt Capps can be a decent trading chip for the Twins in July. If the Nats think that Bernadina is just as good. True, they will not be interested. However, They don't because Bernadina would have been slotted into the CF job over Ankiel coming out of spring and they will get really nervous if they have to stand pat and the Phillies upgrade and pick up Span. If Bernadina was the guy(in their opinion)... Ian Desmond wouldn't be hitting leadoff this year.

This Statement will drive some folks on this site nuts but here goes anyway. I wouldn't have traded Gomez for Hardy in the 1st place. Gomez wasn't ready for the majors! Gomez has extreme talent! He just didn't have the head yet. After the Santana trade, he was forced into the lineup before he was ready. He sprung past Span on the depth chart and I assume it was because someone felt that someone had to show up and be a major league representative for what we got in return. Hardy was always an injury risk. That being said... After the 1st bad trade was made acquiring Hardy... Trading Hardy for nothing to the Orioles was the next bad trade and much worse then the first. The Bill Smith Era was directionally lost and a series of over-reactions. Was this because Gardy had more or less influence over the roster after Ryan left? Or did he have the same? I don't know. I assume that Gardy has some influence.

I'm not anti-Gardenhire and I don't understand the extreme disdain for him. I don't blame him for playoff failures. Only a handful of teams have reached the playoffs and the number is less in the AL Central because the Twins have taken the Central Title so many times while he has been employed. I don't blame Gardenhire for playing in the AL Central and refuse to use that against him. There is very little reason to focus on the day by day game management when assessing Ron Gardenhire as a Manager? All Manager's have Hitting Charts, All Managers have stop watches, pitch counts and very similiar gut feelings. Some managers can get more out of their players but it's still the players who have to get more out of themselves. It's a game of inches and momentum. In the end, the manager can only lead the horses to water. This part of the discussion is really kind of silly. What needs to be discussed is this... Gardy's role in picking the horses that he leads to the water!!! Gardy's role with what is going on is in the area of player evaluation!!! Here are the questions that need to be answered. Does Gardenhire have a vote in the process? Did Garza(for example) get traded because Gardy advocated his departure for more offense? Did Gardy personally advocate keeping other pitchers in the organization over Garza? Did Gardy feel the need for more offense and communicate this strongly to the Bill Smith who acted on his behalf? Did Gardy advocate the acquiring of more offense? Was Gardy against the trading of Garza? Did Bill Smith feel the team had enough pitching against Gardy's opinion? (I'm only using Garza for example... The current problems are deeper then Garza). The current situation is upon us because of multiple people and the bottom line is that the Owners are at the top of the food chain. The Owners hire the people who hire the people. If your organization is in tough shape... The Owners are responsible. Gardy was part of the process that delivered some fantastic AL Central play for a nice period of time. He is currently part of the process that is delivering some of the worst Major League Baseball. The organization is in a hole... How did it get there? Gardy I assume was part of the process and still is. How did the process change when Ryan stepped down and Bill Smith took over. Did the evaluation balance get out of whack when Ryan left. Maybe Ryan and Gardy were good balance for each other. Maybe Ryan knew when to listen to Gardy and when to trust his own judgement. Maybe Smith wasn't the type to accept Gardy's opinion's or Maybe Smith didn't trust his judgement and started relying on Gardy's judgement more then Ryan did. A lot of Maybe's and I have no way of knowing. However, the assessment process works, it was doing fine and then it went to hell. Gardy is part of that process I assume... Good and Bad. Something Changed and now the organization needs desperate change. Gardy has to go and I think he should get more then a hallmark card when he does. He deserves our respect for his role in bringing us the many AL Central Titles. If Gardy hasn't been heard for the past decade. He get's no blame at all but then he's to blame for not being forceful enough. I'm pro-Gardenhire but the times they are a changin. Gameday Management is the goofiest argument for being Anti-Gardenhire.

Great post Toby!!! Last year and this year may seem like the nightmare scenerio. Let's be clear... The Nightmare scenerio is hanging on to the very few pieces of valued tradeable talent and surrounding them by rentals and lolli gaggers. This type of thinking will delay the return to respectability. Try to imagine the Pirates for the past decade. Get Young Quick. Don't trade prospects... Acquire them... We may have OF depth in the LOW Minors right now but we won't have actual OF depth until it performs at the MLB Level. Let's lose for a couple of years and make sure the scouts are focused and the direction of the draft is clearly defined and followed.

Do you think a week in AAA will do the trick?

When it comes to the Twins: 1. Outside of Willingham... The Twins lack Power. 2. Despite having some speed with a couple of players they fail to utilize it. 3. Over Half of the starting lineup are not hitting line drives consistently enough. 4. The lineup typically fails to advance runners at the appropiate times. 5. The Defense rarely gets dirty and is generally uninspiring. 6. The Defense makes high school like bonehead defensive efforts at time. 7. The Starting Pitching is getting knocked around like nothing we've seen in decades. 8. The Starting Pitching doesn't strike out hitters which has horrible synergy with the uninspired defense. 9. Capps has only had one season as a decent closer. 10. The Bullpen has been overworked 11. The Bullpen lacks any arm with a MLB track record of success. 12. AAA and AA lack top notch talent to move up 13. Drew Butera 14. Single A talent has a ways to go before it gets here. 15. There is absolutely no depth to provide decent replacement for injury or depth 16. The Front Office can't seem to make up it's mind what direction they are going for the past 5 years. 17. An Impression weather accurate or not is that the team seems to lack a true leader or inspiration. 18. The team is exceptional at collecting a wide variety of injuries. 19. The Broadcast team talent, honesty and and has impartial question marks. I worry about points 1 thru 18 a whole lot more then Point #19.

Stats can tell some real good stories in Baseball... They are important... However... You can boil it down real simple with this... On Offense don't make outs... Reach base. On Defense... don't give up extra outs... The game boils down real simple that way... They've been saying it since the beginning of time... "Walks will kill ya"... Still true today...

I believe Burroughs is in Rochester thinking. VELENCIA!!! I just got away from him and now he's following me. I went from the majors to AAA backup in a month.

Speaking of typos... . Reading the title of this thread had inexplicably led me on this path following this really bright star in the sky. I wa carrying Myrrh with me. Found this cheaply constructed building out back and inside was Joe Mauer.

I gotta agree with Ashbury John. I don't call him "in his prime" anymore and the guy does strike out a lot but so does Adam Dunn. This guy is a long ball hitter and been a consistent power hitter in the minors for awhile. Send Parmelee down and give Eldred a try. See what happens. You can always cut him if it doesn't work out. I'd like to see him get a good MLB run to prove himslef or the opposite of prove himself.

You obviously didn't see that strap hanging loose from Butera's leg pad. Why Gardy allows that, I'll never know.

Seth correct me if I'm wrong... Last year our Twins had an amazing injury stretch and we had a large number of Red Wings on the MLB roster. At the time of the massive call ups... Rochester was having a pretty bad year. However, after losing a large portion of their lineup to the Twins.... Didn't Rochester then get hot and start winning ball games.

Go with the squirrel poop kool aid. Raccoons have a real wild diet, they will dig through garbage and eat almost anything.

I think the Twins need a change and I think that Gardenhire deserves our recognition for a job well done at the same time. Thats kind of oxymoronic I realize but I'm consistently random that way. We dont need to be genuinely hypocritical... We need someone with a tradition of innovation. Include me out if Gardenhire is your least favorite. I can accept rejection as I sit in my long shorts eating some jumbo shrimp contemplating Military Intelligence.

I think Plouffe should be sent to Beloit. Because Plouffe and Beloit are both sounds made when you drop a quarter in the toilet. PLOUFFE BELOIT i typed that joke before and it got nowhere... It's a good joke and some one will acknowledge it this time.

Alex Trebek was also Canadien I believe.

I'm not a Gardy hater. I thank him for the Central Titles. He's a Twin and always will be. However, Gardy won't survive the year (or at least off season) and I have gut feeling that TR will be against a manager change and will leave on good terms as a secondary result of Gardy. Thrylos you get can get ready to celebrate. I won't be celebrating cuz I'm not anti. The franchise has fallen and it will take change to resurrect it.

AAA teams can average 5,000 to 10,000 attendance a game. Plus the beer and pretzels and hot dogs. Corporate sponsorships is also a nice source of AAA income. I don't believe Fargo and Sioux Falls can reach that attendance number. Any owner willing to put a AAA team in one of those cities would be immediately looking for a larger population base to draw from and bigger markets with more larger corporations. From the Twins perspective... Rochester and Las Vegas... It doesn't matter other than the Twins may have a decent relationship with Red Wings owners. They wont care cuz The Twins pay the Rochester salaries and they will pay the same at Vegas. Ticket revenue, concessions and corporate sponsorship money goes to the AAA owner. Des Moines is the AAA market the Twins should align with if the door ever opened. Until the Cubs depart. LV would be just fine.

I'm not aware of any stat but yeah it makes a big difference in my opinion. Calling a game is an art form. You have to know how to set up batters and exploit Weakness. Catcher should prep for each hitter, and those who take that seriously will be a huge influence on a pitchers numbers.

Yeah that's bugging me big time. As for Dozier arriving... Jamey Carroll is 53 years old. He should regularly fill in at 2B, SS and 3B. Dozier and Casilla should play.

I apologize... My Bad... I joined the thread late and didn't look backwards. Kinda Like when I was younger... I started listening to Boston and Foreigner. It took me awhile to realize that there was Led Zeppelin and Neil Young before them. Cdog... You are Zeppelin in that analogy.

Im right with ya. Cuddyer was a class act and a true team player. What position do you want me to play tonight Gardy. He took his abuse early and overcame it and led by example. He was a major reason for our AL central titles. I hope he hits 40 dingers in the Denver air. I'm glad he got his payday.

I would have given Hughes and Burroughs some more at bats before cutting them loose. The Guys starting everyday were not getting it done. Maybe they will later... Maybe they won't... Maybe Hughes and Burroughs were going to get it going with a few swings... Maybe later... Maybe they won't. The one thing for sure is that we have a large contigent of starters who did not hit in April. Baseball is a streaky game... That guy who's hot may be sitting on your bench while you are playing the slumping guy hoping he breaks out of it. It's not like they were being blocked from playing time by Josh Hamilton. I'm not insane... OK maybe a little. But, I'm not insane... OK well I am... But regardless of my sanity. We came into spring training with a roster and the hope of having some depth on this team. By God... We would not have to endure starting Drew Butera and the Rochester replacements this year because TR did an OK job of providing a little depth to this outfit. The lack of depth last year was excruciatingly painful to endure. I had no unreasonable expectations for Burroughs or Hughes other than they would be options. They didn't even make it to April and now we have (Plouffe or Parmelee), Komatsu and Butera. Not to mention Morneau out a week. How stuck do you want to be? Doesn't it beg the question... What direction did TR and Gardy and whoever else was in the meeting come up with going into and coming out of spring training? Did they really mis-assess the situation that badly? They couldn't even make it out of April before tossing the bench overboard without playing them! When it's the starters who were not getting the job done! OUR DEPTH IS GONE. No matter how questionable the depth was to begin with... and it was questionable... I'm not making them out to more then they are... But It's totally gone now. AND this team needs depth. It's not that good overall... We didn't have to just hand the job to Mr. So-So everyday when we had another Mr. So-So who could give it a whirl. We had the ability to move some players around. Try some different combinations. Look for a spark... There was multi positional options to this squad. It's Gone now. We have no choice but to wait for Carroll and Velencia to heat up and until then... The same lineup will be trudged out every day. I know Dozier will be up soon and the 13th pitcher will be dropped eventually. I assume that Doumit has a streak in him somewhere down the line. Velencia isn't performing... How do you fix that problem... Kill his backups. I shake my head over this... I guess I just see things differently. I'm still with my team... I can deal with a bad squad. I'm frustrated over the lack of direction and the quick panic change. P.S. thrylos98... I know that batting average isn't the ultimate stat. Regardless of the stat I used. Those guys listed are not hitting near enough to be able to walk past the lineup card without checking for their names.