Riverbrian

Personally, I like the signing of Doumit. I'm happy he is on the squad. We need some bats and Doumit has one. It's not Braun-esque but it's an improvement over Butera. However, I've said this before and some disagree with me and some don't but those debates make this board fun. While Doumit is a decent hitter and has proved to be such over his career. His offense historically has not been enough to overcome his defense. I was much more comfortable with Doumit at DH. I expect him to be an offensive improvement over quite a few of our options. I'm comfortable with him getting the occasional start in RF for rest and matchup purposes but I am not comfortable with him getting the lion's share of starts in RF. As the days roll by... We will learn more and more about what we have in Parmelee, Plouffe, Revere, Hughes, Burroughs and other unproven players like MAUER... "Dry Sense of Humor Disclaimer" The Mauer part was a joke... to some anyway.

It could be. Therefore I won't feel bad about Ozzies suspension for admiring his old catcher Ramon Castro.

It's a dry sense of humor and I get stared at a lot because of it. I apologize.

I'm buying my tickets for the World Series right now! As long as we don't face Baltimore any more.

I actually had to read the thread a couple of times to get the connection between Baker and Matt Rizotti and the Mayo Clinic and Steam Grates. When you read it the second time... It becomes much clearer. If you think about what Labombo is saying... its quite simple... Think of it this way. Willy Mo Pena signed with a Japanese team this winter. He was walking through the woods to get there and he ran across the pope and you know what the pope does in the woods. Therefore Rizzoti likes Gorillas as long as they are not rogue and the Mayo Clinic has a steam grate which is the source of all information contained in the head of George Will. Vodkadave sleeps on this Steam grate blocking anything from flowing in and out. Which makes George Will dizzy but it also contains the Gorillas and Rizzoti is much happier. Therefore Scott Baker could have been traded to the D-Backs and the Twins would have gotten Trevor Bauer and Willy Mo Pena in return. But now Pena is in Japan and its the fault of the medical staff because all the pope wanted was some privacy. Its really elementary.

To replace Baker... The best choice is Matt Moore. Moore would probably be a tough get. Hendricks is the answer. The kid just got his chance to make a MLB statement. I hope he runs with it.

No way I know enough to criticize the medical staff. I will criticize whoever is collecting the Twins player voodoo dolls and the manufacturer of the push pins.

I'm not giving up on Velencia either. I just want 15 thousand alarm clocks strapped to his head that go off at the same time.

I see what your saying... It is professionalism... But it is the essence of Heart. The Guy who is completely engaged in the winning of a ball game by whatever method it takes. Playing hard doesn't mean Pete Rose head first slides and running over the catcher everytime. Thats the obvious stuff that everyone can see and yeah that is a part of it and some players don't give that much. Heart is being engaged in the ball game. The only other possible definition of "baseball heart" is clutch. Key Moment... Player X laces one into left field and plates the go ahead run in the 9th. The Announcer will sometimes say "Player X has done it again... He has the Heart of the Champion". There is some truth to that but games are often won or lost in the 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th inning because Player Y is having a go through the motions moment and doesn't make a major league play that ends up costing the team 3 runs because he lacks the heart to be a team leader. When that happens it takes a boatload of heart from everyone else to over come it. Typcially Player Y in that situation can cause Player Z to then lose heart and you can repeat the process. Player Z can be a pitcher who grooves a pitch in frustration or he can be a hitter who instead of advancing the runner tries to tie it up with one swing and strikes out. This stuff means wins and losses and as the losses pile up it gets worse and worse. Understand that every player will say they are trying to win. Every player will say they care. They work in the batting cages and film rooms but that stuff can become routine and lost on them as well. They don't always understand the little things and the importance of them in totality but a good manager is most likely preaching them over and over and the good manager will get tuned out on occasion because of the repitition of the message. Players need to take this stuff to heart... so to speak. Baseball employees (no matter the money they make) are no different then the co-workers who work next to you at your job. You have guys and gals with Heart in your office that go above and beyond and can be counted on daily to get the real work done and you have guys and gals who don't you don't approach for projects because it will be half assed because they have the mindset of just getting through the day. Those people who just get through the day... Come home and complain to their wife how hard they worked and how tough it is and they want raises because they are billing $80,000 this month and the same the previous 12 months. Yeah the $80,000 looks good... They can come back tomorrow and do it again but how much of that fell into their lap by having consistent clients (playing time) and did they cultivate anything new by just going through the daily motion of it all. Baseball is no different except for the larger stage and passionate fans like us who post about them.

Parmelee was a 1st round pick with projected power. As he came through the system his stats were disapointing and didn't match the projections. Recently he has started to turn it on. The stats mean very little... the scouting reports mean very little. It's up to the kid and the situations that he is put into and how he does in those situations. I've seen too many players out perform their minor league stats in the majors and too many players under perform their minor league stats in the majors. I've seen bad hitters all of a sudden become good ones and good hitters become bad ones. With Parmelee it is way too soon to tell... I'm pulling for him. Based on last September... He showed that he can handle the low pitch and drive it a long way. Can he handle the high pitch after pitchers stop throwing him the low stuff. I'm looking forward to finding out.

All stats have value but they ALL lose their value when they are used exclusively. For example... Same player... Different WAR every year sometimes very large swings. As long as you have that kind of margin of error. You better understand the margin of error. I don't and I'm very sure that very few on this board understand it either and yet they post all kinds of stats and quote them like pros. There is so much more to this game.

"Please shake well before using". Those words should be hung in Gardy's office, in large letters on the dugout, printed on the backs of the jerseys and at eye level at the urinals. Well shake "after" in that location. Shake before everywhere else.

Unconventional for sure. But hey... The teams is 0-4 and about to face Weaver. It's a fresh idea.

You might be onto something because I know that I haven't.

Jeez thanks a lot... I'm Laughing so hard at that comment that my wife punched me. It didn't help that she just took her clothes off getting ready for bed at the exact same time as me reading it.

Coming off the year he had. Signing the contract was a no brainer. I also was heartened that the Twins reached into the wallet and paid. That was a huge moment in Twins history because I still remember Calvin Griffith. This aint your Daddy's Twins anymore. It completely sucks that Mauer has become this injury thing but the swing is still sweet. I also get the impression that some posters over value the long ball. For those who over value the power part. Mauer can get it back, it's a slight swing adjustment. Will he... That's a good question. If Mauer is hitting over .300 at the trade deadline and looking healthy and if the Twins decided to start the rebuild and put Joe on the block looking for prospects. Both the Yankees and Red Sox would pick up the phone and take a large portion of the contract And send a decent player or two over. (the twins probably won't do this). If he gets Hurt again. He will play be in a Twins uniform for the duration of said contract.

Velencia is proudly on my bench. I may not allow him on the bench. May force him to sit in corner in the clubhouse with no pre game or post game food to snack on. May make him sort socks or something. Even if Velencia has a couple of dingers off weaver. Message must be sent. Velencia you do not have a major league job sewn up yet. OK the lineup against Weaver Span CF (bunt single to start the game) Mauer C (funny how a lot of us think Mauer should be in the two hole) Willingham RF (just to break up the lefties) Morneau 1B (he's gotta play 1B sometime again... Nows as a good time as any) Doumit DH (that's right... Both catchers in the lineup and one at DH...can u sleep tonight) Plouffe 3B (2 for 5 against weaver... 400 average baby) Hughes 2B (1 for 2 against weaver.. 500 average baby) Revere LF (here comes the speed... We may have to bunt and steal and little ball it) Casilla SS (More speed... Weaver will need his slide step and Ianetta will be tested)

Here's a solution... Talk the Pirates into moving their AAA team to Rochester. It's closer then Indianapolis and maybe that will help them expand into Western New York. Talk the Cubs into moving their AAA team to Indianapolis. Indiana like Iowa is designated Cubs territory. Then move the AAA Twins to Des Moines. The only problem with that scenerio is getting everyone to say... OK... This Riverbrian knows what he's talking about... That never happens. ;-)

I am too offended by the Brewers muscling into Twins Territory... It's probably pay back for our little push into Wisconsin. I don't have any info to direct you to on the total population of the total population areas. However, some night... When you have nothing to do... You can do it by state and get a pretty idea... North Dakota plus South Dakota Plus Minnesota Equals... This whole thing is why the Giants were not allowing Oakland to move to San Jose... This was the reason that the Orioles were against the Expo's moving to Washington. For anything like that to happen... Someone has to be compensated for the lost revenue. MLB had to basically tell the Orioles owner... Tough *&*&... Here's some money now shut up... Something like that will happen with the Giants as well. This whole thing is why I doubt expansion will most likely not happen. The Owner will not be able to get out of each other's way. When it comes to Des Moines... I'm not saying having a AAA club in Iowa would help turn Iowa into Twins Territory but it certainly wouldn't hurt if Sano had to spend a year in Des Moines playing AAA and Iowa Sano and Rosario and Hicks fans can get to know him and follow him forward. It would certainly help bring down travel costs a little but that isn't a huge factor. The Key is to own the Television in Iowa. That way the next generation of Iowa baseball Fans are exposed to the Twins and the Twins only. Small chance of that happening sadly. Iowa is carved up between the Cubs, White Sox, Royals, Twins, Brewers and Cards. If it did. The Twins market size and Television revenue would almost double. It's also why I doubted Carl Pohlad when he threatened to move the team to North Carolina before moving on to the contraction threat.

That's Ok Storm we are probably talking in a couple different directions overall. This whole left turn in the thread came from an earlier post by "powrwrap" where he stated that you should just follow the Neilsen DMA rankings to determine who is large market and small market and I just went on to explain that it wasn't completely the case. Which led to your post and then my post. There are many factors that determine a clubs cashflow and to a point it doesn't matter but in the end... In my opinion... Small Market teams can never truly catch up. We have a new stadium... That gives us a nice revenue stream and it helped even the playing field a bit. Soon... Everyone will have one... Corporate Boxes... Amusement Parks... Upscale and Lowscale dining... Hotels attached... Parking revenue... The possibilities are endless... Some are happening and some will be happening in the future... If something brings in money to an organization... Everyone will want it and copy it. When everyone gets their parks and maxes out the money streams... The money revenue difference in teams will be back to... Market Size... How much money you get in your TV contract which will be based on the population of your TV market. Right now we get 29 million and the Angels get 160 Million. That's a large difference. My point is that the Twins are still a small market team. No matter how much they spend or how much revenue the stadium brings in.

It's caring about the next pitch after a double play was botched. It's not throwing the ball over the middle of the plate because the ump didn't give you the corner. Watch the game long enough and you can see it and it doesn't show up in stats to be easily measured. Baseball is a slow game. Yogi Berra said it perfectly... "Baseball is 90 percent mental... The other half is physical".

Here's an example. Not being ready for every pitch. Players can lose focus in long innings. It's pitch after pitch of standing there waiting for the ball to come your way. (this is another reason for the pitch to contact phiolosophy). After awhile you get off your toes and lose that every pitch focus. Once that happens the ball comes screaming at you and you have to compose quickly. Example of that... Danny Velencia Saturday 4th inning. It can also be as simple as moving your feet slightly to get centered on the ball instead of being content for a backhand reach. It can be the diving catch... The running into walls. The discipline of not swinging at the first pitch slider out of the zone. The taking pride in grounding out to 2B with a runner on second and no outs instead of swinging for the fences. These are all examples of mental focus. Its many things. The bottom line is... When a team starts losing... The fundamentals erode. The discipline to perform the little things erode. When players start to feel entitled... Like they have a job locked up... These things can erode. Your team leaders have to lead. If they don't... you need new leaders. If players play like these things matter it can rub off on the next player. If you have players that are immune to infectious play(Delmon Young) get rid of them. In the end... This is how teams get on a roll and get off of a role. It transfers from the plate to the field to the mound to the stands to the clubhouse guy who will wash and dry the jerseys with more energy. It also transfers to the manager who are also human and after awhile of uninspired play. The manager will stop worrying about if Velencia O-layed a ball at 3b because the backup cant hit and he will probably O-lay it as well. It's a lot of things and I'm not seeing a lot of fire with this club since PUNTO left. Since PUNTO left... I crack me up!

lol... I'm not sure if you are serious with this post or not. This topic is a little off the topic and should probably have it's own thread but regardless... Some things to consider on the off topic. Understanding Market sizes and demographics is what I kinda do for a living. You are correct that there are certain baseball markets that are penned in geographically and the Twins can roam free to the North and West for many miles. You do realize that the states you list as having multiple teams also have the 4 highest state popluations. 37 Million in CA... 24 Million in TX. NY and FL are 19 million. That's why those states have multiple teams. Detroit does get a piece of Toledo a fairly nice sized city but there is a bunch of population in the state of Michigan. Grand Rapids, Lansing, Kalamazoo, Saginaw. They don't need to branch out into Ohio to provide Television viewership. In the Twins case... However, the population totals and hence the value of your TV contract in our additional markets are small #250+ Ranked TV markets like St. Cloud and Fargo and Grand Forks and unranked small communities. They do not add up to what other baseball teams get from markets like San Antonio, Austin, New Orleans, Memphis, Charlotte, Portland, Sacremento, Colorado Springs, Indianapolis, Columbus, Grand Rapids, Buffalo, Orlando, Tucson, Omaha, and Hartford and all of the Fosston sized town's that are also in the area of those bonus areas. Here's a Wikipedia Map of the blackout areas. It shows how the entire country is carved up for Television Rights and gives you a pretty good idea how the Twins are cornered into primarily low population areas. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MLB_Blackout_Areas.png The Twins don't even get Rapid City and Duluth to themselves because they have to share them with the Rockies and Brewers. Getting a change to this map would be near impossible because the owners will never let a population base go to another club because that effects the amount of money they get in their television negotiations. Television revenue is only part of the revenue stream for Baseball teams. Target field has been great for the Twins and it does provide additional revenue that can be added to the Television Money and Attendence Figures and everything else. As JB_Iowa pointed out. 29 Million in TV Revenue for the Twins compared to 80 Million for the Rangers is a 51 Million dollar desparity. The stadium is great for revenue but it doesn't remove our small market status. The only thing that will change that is a major population boom in Bemidji. One thing that would help is if the Twins could get Iowa to themselves. It would be nice to have our AAA team in Des Moines instead of the Cubs to help build that fan base and the games on daily but the Cubs are probably going nowhere and the teams will not willingly walk away from a larger market. Can the Twins spend more... Probably but for Owners to do that. There has to be some bang for the buck. The Twins lost 99 games last year. If a strong core of players dot the roster and the team is a few pieces away... The Checkbook will come out again. At least I hope so.

I will come back from time to time and read it

Not Entirely True... Most markets get additional large media markets that inflate the equation. For example... Seattle isn't just Seattle... It's also Portland and all of Washington State and Oregon State and the Majority of the Northwest including Idaho and the Potato's that call that state home. Atlanta isn't just Atlanta... It's the South. Charlotte NC, All of South Carolina, Alabama with Birmingham and Montgomery and Mobile. Mississippi is also Braves Country plus Nashville. Dallas and Houston fight over markets like San Antonio and Austin. Boston isn't just Boston, It's Maine, NH, VT, RI and Some of CT. Michigan gets Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and all of well populated Michigan. Colorado gets a large portion of the Rockies into South Dakota and Down to New Mexico. The Cardinals have Memphis and Little Rock The Twins... They get Duluth and Fosston. That's why the Twins are Small Market and the new stadium will not change that. They can talk about expansion all they want. The Truth is that the owners will not be able to get out of each other's way to let that happen. If you want to expand in Portland... The Seattle Owners will be very concerned about losing the Portland Market and be against it. Expand to Orlando... Tampa Bay and Miami will put up a stink. Expand to New Jersey or the Bronx...The Yankees and Mets will fight you tooth and nail. You can't look at the media market ranking and say done deal. The Truth is... The Definition of a small market is a smaller metro and lack of metro surrounding it. If you a big city in the middle of pasture. You are a small market team. The Twins are that exactly.