Riverbrian

At 28 hours and one minute. She finally pulls into the parking space, walks into Target only to find that they don't sell Alcohol on Sundays. And she needs it bad... just to put up with everything.

I wonder if it would help or hurt negotiations if he publicly said: There's no ****ing way I'm returning to Minnesota. The People smell like lutefisk, they think putting the cheese inside a burger is genius. If they combine the beef with tator tots and cream of mushroom soup, they pretend it's not a casserole... it magically becomes hot dish. They take 30 minutes to say goodbye to someone even if they are just running to the Hy-Vee, they drill holes in the ice to catch fish small enough to fit through the hole, and let me just say that anyone who has to scrape ice off a car window in order to see where you are going is an idiot. I wonder how that would fly?

I've heard people say that Joe Ryan is gone now because he is so out of his mind angry that Rocco pulled him after two innings. The winter of 2028 is gonna suck.

Whatever deal Sonny gets next year and whatever team he signs with... One thing is for sure. Sonny has earned whatever he gets and he has especially earned the right to choose. He was fantastic last year and he has also been really good over his career with 3.47 ERA over 1,571 innings. Wherever he lands... I'll be happy for him. I'd love to see Sonny back in a Minnesota uniform but will hold no ill will if he goes elsewhere. As for the narrative that Sonny and Rocco were at odds over his short starts in 2022. Let's go back to July 2, 2018. On that day... The Twins front office sent Byron Buxton down to the minor leagues for the rest of the season leaving Byron 12 days short of service time and delaying his free agency eligibility by a full year. Many in the Twinsdaily crowd were angry claiming that Byron was screwed by the Twins and that Byron was sure to be gone when the opportunity to leave presented itself. On November 28, 2021... Byron Buxton signed 7 year extension to remain in Minnesota. Just another attempt to climb into the heads of others without a decent sized earhole to make it through.

The Astros won 3 more games in a 162 game season. We were not hopelessly destroyed by the Astros in the playoffs. The Blue Jays were not hopelessly destroyed by us. Are the Dodgers or Braves one of the the big boys? Yes we are golfing now... but I'm not sure people realize just how close we were until strike three was called against Kepler to end it. And I'm not sure people realize just how close we were back in July when people were declaring this team not worthy of an addition at the trade deadline.

I don't care much for the prediction game myself. Although... For the past 10 years... Every single year I have correctly filled out my College Men's Basketball bracket and have nailed every winner from the beginning of the tournament to the end. I simply do not make mistakes. We are all capable of such things. Just do like I do... wait until the games are completed before filling the brackets in.

The offense was a huge problem in June. It got better It didn't get better enough Some of that improvement was through subtraction. You can address needs simultaneously but offense would have to be #1 if I were to rank needs according to my opinion. Bringing that K rate down is a good place to start.

Assuming the list on Fangraphs Roster Resource is correct: Who do the Twins absolutely need to protect from the following list of rule 5 eligible players. Camargo Williams Severino - 28th ranked prospect Bechtold Martin - 6th ranked Keirsay Helman Prato Luna Peguero - 31st ranked prospect Laweryson - 32nd ranked prospect Schulfer Scherff McMahon Taylor Banuelos Isola Schmidt Sabato Soularie Gray Fajardo Holland Garry Jr Mooney Floyd - 36th ranked prospect Bentley Grace Phillips Miguel Rodriquez Cavaco Salas - 9th ranked prospect Emmanuel Rodriquez - 4th ranked prospect Urbina Morales Hidalgo Stankiewicz Swain Yanez Olivar - 25th Ranked Prospect Cespedes Martinez Aria Perez Castro Pena Medina

I've heard that the other 29 teams are not going to participate in free agency this off-season. 😄 The Twins should be able to sign whoever they want.

Thanks for bringing this up. It's a huge point. Framing skills would no longer be necessary. Maybe catchers that can actually hit becomes more important in the search for a backstop.

This is how it ends. 11 teams will end their season this way. 29 teams will have to wait until next year. It's not going to damper my overall feeling. Every season... I ask for baseball to mean something in September. I got that. Every Season... I hope for a good result in September in those meaningful games in order to qualify for the playoffs. I got that. I have been asking for many years for depth and competition for playing time... 26 players who can play who can play at all times on the roster. I came pretty dang close to getting that. The team certainly had sufficient depth. I have been asking for many years for a superstar to rise from our farm. Royce Lewis gave me that, Superstar is lofty for Julien but he's a major league hitter in my opinion. I have been asking for many years for capable young pitchers to fill the rotation and bullpen so we don't have to fill the slots with Bundy types. I got that. I've had my criticisms over the course of the season and those criticisms remain but I fully support this front office.

I wasn't sure about the move, the plan but... regardless of my opinion. Houston only produced 3 runs. If given the option of choosing 3 runs for Houston before the game. I would have taken it. The bullpen game worked in my opinion.

Varland

An unexpected injury should be expected. We've all been here before. You never know what you need until you need it. Depth is important... it's nice to have a Solano and a Buxton lying around to fill in.

I'm just hoping to fix baseball. I have no hope fixing the human condition. 😉

200 Wins between the Orioles and Rays taken down 32-12 total runs. 200 Wins taken down by a team that lost the west title by finishing the season with three losses to the Mariners. 200 Wins taken down by a team with Jacob DeGrom, Max Scherzer and Jonathan Gray on the Disabled list.

You are right... I didn't recall the 2nd pitch of Dozier's AB... because it didn't hurt me. I'm sure I loved it at the time after being concerned with the first pitch being called a strike when it was high out of the strike zone. You are right... Fans will always tend to be happy when a call goes your way and upset when it goes the other way. You and I have been watching all sports for a long time now and singing the same song. However, pitch number two to Dozier made the count 1-1. It didn't end the AB. Which is what should have happened to Didi. You are right... we can do this all day. And that's the point. It takes a lot of moments to do this all day and that's the problem. Some missed calls have very little influence on the outcome and some do massive damage and that's why I bring up Didi... A crooked number is massive damage. Yes... I understand that Ervin just has to overcome these things but it's still better to get the call right. I am not skilled enough to assess the current technology. Very few things in life work perfectly right out of the box. Most things that are implemented will require adjustment shortly. Sometimes the lane assist radar in your car has to be adjusted because it pulls you to the left when you are plenty distance off the white line. That doesn't mean the idea of lane assist should be dismissed. You fix it. Improve it... make it better... In the meantime... there are less people drifting out of their lane heading toward an 80 year old guy with slow reflexes. 😎

I got a thumbs down for this. From RpR who tends to do that. It happened. I remember it clearly. For the record... I think umps do an exceptional job but the job is impossible to perfect. For those who are against automation... that's fine if you like your baseball that way. However... I really see no difference between the random missed ump call and purposely leaving big rocks on the field for the crazy hop that will randomly happen.

October 4th, 2017 Yankee Stadium. The Twins jumped out to 3-0 lead in the 1st inning behind Dozier and Rosario home runs. Ervin Santana takes the mound. He is struggling a bit. He walks Brett Gardner and gives up a single to Judge before getting Sanchez to pop out for the first out of the inning. With one out, runners on 1st and 3rd. Didi Gregorius steps to the plate. Foul, Ball, Ball, Foul for a 2-2 count. Pitch number 5 was a strike. The ump calls it a ball for a full count. Pitch 6... 3 run home run. Tie game. When he should have struck out for out number two. That missed call was huge. If that missed call can be prevented... it needs to be prevented. No it didn't decide the game. There were 8 innings left to play... but it was a 3 run blown call. I have been an advocate for automation ever since. If you'd like to walk down memory lane. Here ya go. https://www.espn.com/mlb/playbyplay/_/gameId/371003110

Backs are against the wall for our Twins. It's got me a little feisty today. 😁

Every year without fail. We are surprised by playoff results and every year in July we act like we know what is going to happen in the upcoming playoffs despite being consistently surprised. We never learn despite baseball consistently trying to teach us year after year. We hopelessly believe that that the best team is going to win even though no consensus amongst the fan base on who is actually the best team. This 101 win team has no pitching and 84 win team has no experience, this 90 win team backed into the playoffs. There was really no point in anybody playing in the playoffs this year because the Braves were just going to steamroll through it. The team with the best record in the playoffs won 64% of their games. The team with the worst record in the playoffs won 51% of their games. Why would anyone be shocked that a 13% winning percentage over 162 games difference can be erased? Why would anyone be shocked if a .620 OPS hitter goes 4 for 10 and a .900 OPS hitter goes 1 for 12. It happens all the time. 30 foot singles along with 110 MPH Exit Velo balls caught by the shortstop are a part of this game. Umpires missing balls and strikes in key moments happen all the time. Those types of things tend to even out over 162 games but over 1 game at the right the moment... it just might not even out because there isn't enough time to even it out. Clayton Kershaw getting one out and giving up 6 runs is a part of this game. Left hander extraordinaire Framber Valdez getting thumped by players that many have stuck into a box labeled bench is a part of this game. Sonny Gray with a 2.79 ERA being out-dueled by Cristian Javier with a 4.56 ERA is a part of this game. It's happened before and it will happen again. Mitch Garver and Bryson Stott driving in 7 runs is a part of this game, Tommy Pham getting 7 hits is a part of this game. Christian Walker stealing two bases is a part of this game. Kirilloff going hitless is youth. Cedric Mullins going hitless is ??? Adam Kennedy of all people beat us silly in 2002, David Eckstein was the MAN for the Angels in 2006. Eddie Rosario went nuts in 2021, Scott Brosius in 1998. We remember that an injured Kirk Gibson hit that clutch home run in 1988 but we forget that Mickey Hatcher was huge as his replacement in that series. Edgar Renteria was a hero in 2010, Rick Dempsey in 1983 for the Orioles, Bucky Dent in 1978, Howie Kendrick in 2019, Pat Borders in 1992, Steve (who am I) Pearce was the World Series MVP in 2018. How about David Freese in 2011! We are surprised when things like this happen every single year in the playoffs and we quickly forget as we minimize contention the very next July. Make the playoffs... you can't do anything if you don't make the playoffs. If you make the playoffs don't take it for granted, don't minimize it. get behind it, feel it. Don't hand anyone a PAPER ADVANTAGE. Give 1,000 percent. Get that big hit when needed, get that big strikeout when needed, make that great catch when needed. The margins are incredibly thin. I guarantee this post will be forgotten about by the time players arrive in Ft. Myers if it isn't dismissed immediately. 😉

Extremely true statement.

I didn't take it literally. 😎 I took it as... he doesn't believe in Willi Castro. The post was a very nice backhanded compliment. I just struggle with declarative statements like that. Player X will never be something goes into the same bucket as Weak division so Team X will never win in the playoffs. Manager X is the worst manager in the history of the game type statements, player X got lucky and player Y will turn it around comments.

I appreciate the overall positive sentiment of your post. Even if it was backhanded. Never? You may be right... However... coaches will continue to work with players with the goal of improving players. If players are set in stone at age 26... there isn't much sense in employing coaches, analysts and the people who are in place to help players play better. They are just going to be who they are going to be.

People apparently need to put labels on things and stuff them into boxes. So let's pull out that youth box and start shoving players into it. Let's create this youth narrative and hand it to people... let them pass it around to others so all young players in the future come with this youth stigma. Over in Houston, Kyle Tucker and Michael Brantley haven't done that much. In Toronto... Brandon Belt didn't take his vet status to the bank and cash it in. . In Atlanta... Acuna and Ozuna are hitless. In Arizona... Youngsters Carroll, Moreno and Thomas have hit 6 dingers combined. In Dodgerland... Betts, Muncy, Kike, Heyward, Taylor and Freeman have managed to go 3 for 43 thus far. In Texas... Evan Carter is 6 for 14 and Josh Jung is 8 for 20 while the vet Semien hasn't done much.