Riverbrian

Great article. Just think... Jake led the outfielders in AB's during a pennant chase. Jake was our go to guy during a pennant chase. We needed Jake to bring us home during a pennant chase. Just think about that for a while because I'm sure very few would have predicted this in March. I was searching for a way to express the incongruity of needing Jake Cave to lead us during a pennant chase in September. I couldn't figure out how to make this peculiar point without denigrating Jake because that wouldn't be fair to him. The approach you took of praising Jake while pointing directly at the elephant in the room was very well done and fair. First Class

Obviously a Dry sense of humor on display.

I did and if he is on the roster next year... I will ask for it again and the numbers the OF produced in September is why I was asking. I'd rather know before the trade deadline if he can help us after the deadline. ?

It wasn't that long ago. We should all still remember what happened. Let's look at what our OF provided for us during a pennant chase. Sorted by AB's in September 95 AB's -- Jake Cave OPS .628 77 AB's -- Gilberto Celestino September OPS .570 43 AB's -- Matt Wallner OPS .798 37 AB's -- Kyle Garlick OPS .270 20 AB's -- Max Kepler OPS .300 272 How About August if we can remember that far back. ? 81 AB's -- Nick Gordon OPS .891 81 AB's -- Max Kepler OPS .505 60 AB's -- GIlberto Celestino .606 53 AB's -- Jake Cave OPS .699 49 AB's -- Byron Buxton OPS .750 The OF killed us. It should be fresh in our memories. If you want to keep a specialist on your roster. You run the risk of needing that specialist in September and I remember it like it was just a month ago.

Whatever data is making the front office believe in him has been trumped by his actual performance which makes most of us not believe. If they are bringing Pagan back... they better right. Those roster spots are gold and should be treated as such. You can't hide anyone in the bullpen in consideration of how many innings the starters are throwing. If they think they can fix him... he better get fixed. I need them completely bullpen serious.

According to the bullpen usage chart. Rocco should have lots of fresh arms ready to go today. ?

You are the Top Twins Fan? Surely whoever was in 2nd place will rise past you now.

I appreciate ya... I find analogism's much more interesting compared to the sterile rehashing... so you get an A+ from me. Using yours Yes... your seat would be feeling the heat given the "great amount of leeway in how I stock my store, as I know my neighborhood and my customer base". However, let's add a dimension. Holiday corporate has employed a team of one-hundred plus analysts that have been tracking the inventory, cost, pricing, daily sales, dead inventory write-offs at your store, along with similar data from all the Holiday Stations stores and whatever data they can get their hands on from Kwik-Trip, Casey's, Stop-N-Go and Superamerica. You get daily emails with your store data and how you rank amongst your peers. You have an hour long weekly conference call every Wednesday at 2PM with your bosses, vice-president of analytics, chief human resources and marketing officers. You discuss your successes and challenges on the ground, best practice discoveries are shared, long term goals and progress are discussed, atta-boys and recommendations are given. You are completely in the the loop, as a matter of fact, the car-wash that you recommended for your store will start construction in March. The data says that you average 50 cartons of milk and 15 bags of Oreo Cookies sold each day. However, they share data with you that the Kwik-Trip on the other side of interstate is selling 50 cartons of milk and 30 bags of Oreo Cookies a day because the product placement makes you walk past the cookies on the way to the milk. The recommendation is therefore 50 cartons of milk and 30 bags of Oreo cookies and a new placement for the Oreos. So... you purchase 50 cartons of milk and 30 bags of Oreo cookies daily and you rearrange the aisles. When you only sell 10 bags of cookies a day. Is it your rear in the hot seat? Holiday corporate has identified an opportunity in Oreo cookies and has implemented a company wide strategy to increase cookie sales, you understand the plan, you follow the company strategy so your rear is perfectly comfortable. Here is how you lose your job. You throw the emails away, you tell the people on the conference call to stick it because you know your neighborhood and you follow the folks on Twinsdaily who insist that Pop Tarts are better. So you only purchase 2 bags of Oreo cookies and you place them next to the air fresheners and WD-40. If your supervisors have analysts, marketing, the entire organization heading north and you insist on walking south... you will not last long. ? There is no way that Rocco is fighting the cookie strategy. When he starts fighting it... we will find out with the announcement of his termination, along with the obligatory thanks for his years of service.

Many many years ago. I landed my first Classic Rock programming job and we had an event that first week that a lot of our listeners would attend. I was going to talk with all of them and gather their opinions in an effort to build the perfect radio station because I was young, inexperienced with reality and I was going to create the greatest radio station ever on my way to being the best radio programmer ever. I talked to a listener and he told me that we played way too much Pink Floyd. I listened to him, I took him seriously and I respectfully talked about the popularity of Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall, Album Sales, I talked about the test scores of Wish You Were Here. I gave him actual rotation data on the approximate intervals of how often Pink Floyd is actually played. I compared Pink Floyd air play to the Stones, Zeppelin and other artists. I told him exactly how many Pink Floyd songs that we consistently play and how many we would consider playing. I took him seriously and I answered honestly, I spent a lot of time explaining Pink Floyd and the role it played in the format and the radio station. It didn't matter... he replied to everything with something along the lines of "If I wanted to hear Pink Floyd, I'd listen to the Soft Rock Station". I thanked him and worked my way through the room to gather more opinions from others in my quest to be the greatest ever. The next person that I talked with told me that "WE DIDN"T PLAY ENOUGH PINK FLOYD". Rocco has no chance of avoiding pitchforks. No matter what he does... they are coming from one direction or the other.

Seemingly is an important word that you use. Speaking for myself. I have often questioned decisions made. By choice, I am not going to pour that gasoline over this burning website.

Can he do himself a favor and not favor players who shouldn't be favored?

We were supposed to have a massive log jam in the outfield this year. Finished the year. Didn't finish the season with a log jam. I am personally hoping for an actual massive log jam. ?

How Can Rocco Baldelli Regain Twins Fans Favor? He can't regain favor with the segment of fans who think he needs to regain favor with the fans.

You and I are too old to learn things. ?

Interesting If the public didn't read Dear Abby... Dear Abby would have ceased to exist. Yet... if the general public read Dear Abby... the need for Carlos Correa to provide perfection wouldn't exist because they would be true, necessary and kind. Turns out a general public who is completely unable to parse their words is critical of an individual who was unable to parse their words. Every single time this happens... I find myself further and further from being informed. But who needs actual information when we can get a bite sized cliché that says nothing instead of actual information. Who knows... maybe these bite sized empty calories, are indeed the perfect way to determine who stays in the cool kids club. Maybe buzzwords are all we need to determine who to vote for or against. I agree with you. He should have stuck to the script because of our behavior and only because of our behavior. Here's what I'd love to see but won't. I'd like to see him (all athletes being interviewed) reach down and grab a book that is clearly titled "Standard Safe Sports Cliches" so all can see that he is reading from a book titled "Standard Safe Sports Cliches". Maybe page through it a little bit for effect... then directly read a standard safe sports cliché from that book. Then close the book and walk away.

LOL... Nah... It was more of an Al Pacino from Scarface "I always tell the truth, Even when I lie" voice in my head.

This is why PR is necessary in the first place. In the age of social media. The expectation that anyone is able to parse their words perfectly (at a moments notice) to avoid pissing people off keeps public relations professionals necessary to provide the pre-packaged watered down statements that ultimately keep us in the dark and say absolutely nothing at best and lie to us at worst. Here is what he should have said out the PR Handbook to avoid the criticism. Q: What would it take for you to stay with the Minnesota Twins? A: I have really enjoyed my time in Minnesota, My Teammates, the coaching staff, the fans, everyone. My family and I have have felt welcome and comfortable here since the day I arrived. I will be having discussions with my agent about my future and God willing things will work out. And the cliche answers make us all feel better until he officially opts out and eventually signs with Philadelphia. We squeeze these people until the smart thing for them to do is to just shut up and then we hammer them for shutting up. The guy answered the question honestly. Do we really have to have a problem when he compares a potentially high dollar deal to a high dollar product? We deserve the darkness we live in. We act horribly whenever someone turns the light on. .

When he signed the contract... his opting out was a foregone conclusion. Nothing surprising here. Yet... a reporter (who should have already known the answer to the question he was asking) stuck a microphone in his face and asked him what the Twins could do to keep him. Carlos answered the question honestly with a very apt analogy of how free agency works. The responses in this thread are once again another example of honesty being punished by us. If you ever find yourself wondering why you are being lied to, please understand that you are the reason. Please understand that if you keep punching the truth when it shows up... it will stop showing up for the beating and it has. Please understand that the manipulation of skilled public relations professionals, battle hardened political operatives and the researched marketing of Madison avenue is what we consistently ask for instead of the truth. If you can't handle the truth... you are just asking to be handled.

Unless he is traded (I can't see enough value coming back to justify a trade). Kepler will be back in 2023. The contract basically guarantees it. I'm ok with this. I'm also ok with seeing if the new rules banning the shift helps him. However... Let's be clear... When the 2023 season starts, Kepler needs to be placed down on the depth chart and he needs to work his way back to more playing time... by actually playing better. The front office bet on Kepler in 2021 and lost. They bet on Kepler in 2022 and lost. It would be irresponsible to bet on Kepler in 2023. Make Max Kepler make the bet on himself instead. If should not look like this: LF: Player CF: Player RF: Kepler OF: Player OF: Player It should look like this: LF: Player CF: Player RF: Player OF: Player OF: Kepler I don't care how much he will be making this year.

I know this is sports with a spot light and not real life. Although, I must admit I wonder what the world would be like, if all the fans who so easily call for the heads of the leadership of every team in every sport, everywhere.... I wonder what would happen if they actually did what they constantly suggest to our sports leaders to the people that surround them. Divorced the first wife because someone else made an unbelievable meat loaf and didn't take 2 hours getting ready. But that 2nd wife didn't last because she wanted him to correct some behaviors so onto wife #3 who talks too much when she has a beer. Not speaking with the 3 kids anymore, He traded the oldest for a kid down the street that he liked a little better. Placed the 2nd kid in a foster home after getting a D in Algebra. The Youngest... just sent him away because all he does is look at his Iphone all day. I'm grateful that there is so much perfection around them so these sports fans are able to keep these impulses at bay. ?

How you feel inside is what matters.

We actually don't disagree... My own simplified baseball philosophy is to simply go with the guys who are performing better, I don't care about experience or the size of the contract. I worry about the bottom a lot more than I do the top. I don't look for Stars to carry us... I worry about the bottom of the pile pulling us under. I also believe that teams should be constantly searching for guys who are performing better and I think that teams should be constantly pulling from the bottom like you weed a garden until there is no more bottom. I think you spend March to July finding out what you need at the trade deadline by giving opportunity to many just to give you an idea what you should do at the deadline and once September hits... you know who your guys are and you let them roll into the playoffs. I just don't believe that the front office would have made the switch if given the choice because Archer would have to be DFA'd to accommodate Winder while on the other hand... Winder can be stashed. In the end... that option was eliminated due to the volume of injuries anyway. I would have... I don't think the front office would have. As far as the pipeline... those guys when called on did decently this year... it wasn't a failure... it just wasn't healthy. Next year we might find another batch of different non-healthy pipeliners but we have more capable young arms now and more on the way and we are closer to not needing Bundy or Archer types to muddle through the rotation in the future. When that day comes... You and I will both be happier. ?

Bundy and Archer led us in starts, but the "pipeline" kept us afloat? Huh?? Yes... that sentence ties together nicely. 30 starts were made by the combination of Smeltzer, Ober and Winder. ERA's of 3.71, 3.71 and 4.20 respectively. Those numbers are not fall of the cliff stats that says Failure. All three of those pitchers out performed Bundy and Archer yet when you do the autopsy... Our worst performing starters made the most starts. If I'm going to point a finger... that's where I am pointing. We traded for a starter and 2 relievers at the deadline because the pipeline worked? Huh?? I'm not sure what you are throwing back at me here. Are you trying to say that if the pipeline worked there would be no need to acquire pitching at the deadline?

I'll have to trust your math on that. ?

I don't believe that Winder or others from the pipeline would have taken innings from Bundy or Archer if all were healthy to make the choice a consideration. Unless Winder was absolutely lights out amazing or Bundy/Archer were (opposite of lights out) terrible. That would be the distinction. Winder had options and can be saved for a rainy day. So, if things ever got crowded... Winder would yield even if performing better. As long as Bundy and Archer were healthy... they were on the rubber every fifth day. There is no doubt in my mind that the pipeline would need to be utilized at some point in the season and when they were... they were more effective than Bundy and Archer... but alas... not as healthy.