Riverbrian

Yep. The odds of crooked numbers increase dramatically with each extra out provided to the opposing team.

While I remain OK with the Paddack/Rogers deal. I continue to wait for the front office to get bullpen serious. In order to be bullpen serious, they need to replace the members of the bullpen that are not trusted. Either Duffey is hurt or Rocco doesn't trust Duffey right now. I don't blame the team for not trusting Duffey, However... if there isn't trust and he remains in the bullpen. They are not bullpen serious. Duffey was fresh and Rocco went back to a 2nd inning of Pagan instead. Not replacing arms that you don't trust leads to moments of no other options like last night. The bullpen is used too much these days to hide liabilities. It is entirely possible to build a bullpen with stuff up and down the line. Not only possible but necessary. We are not bullpen serious yet.

I Did... Here's how the conversation went: Riverbrian: Dick? Jim? Can you both hear me? Dick: Loud and Clear Jim: Yep Riverbrian: I'm always amazed when I'm able to merge calls on my cell phone. Jim: Back in my day, the phones were on the wall and you had to answer the phone to find out who was calling. Riverbrian: The reason I called... I was hoping to talk about the importance of establishing a rhythm. Color analysts talk about this rhythm and the importance of it. I was hoping to dive into it a little bit with both of you. Dick: I suppose it's like any job when you do it day after day. You establish a rhythm with the repetition, it doesn't matter the job you do, it isn't just baseball players, it's the same for doctors, lawyers, even announcers like Jim and myself. I've been doing this a long time. You learn things as you go. Riverbrian: Such as? Jim: Like the sound a ball makes when it comes off the bat. Dick: Yes Exactly Jim: There were times when I wouldn't even turn around on the mound because I knew from the sound. In the booth, you can close your eyes and recognize that sound. You know what happened and this comes with doing a job day in and day out. Dick: Yes Exactly... That sound,.. As an announcer you pick up on it with experience. You know it when you hear it,... it... becomes a cue that it's time to put some excitement in your delivery... it's time to inflect. That sound... that pure sound of a routine flyball. Riverbrian: Let's talk about the baseball player specifically and the importance of establishing that rhythm. Jim: Baseball is all about timing. You need to be able refine that timing. Establishing a rhythm is important. Riverbrian: What about platoon hitters? Can they establish this rhythm? Pinch hitters? Can they establish this rhythm? Jim: Obviously it is much harder for the platoon hitter but they have breaking pitches breaking into them instead of away. So it's easier. Riverbrian: What about slumps. Why do slumps still happen once that rhythm is established. Dick: They are not robots Riverbrian! Sometimes... doing the same thing every day can lead to a certain... Jim: Complacency Dick: Yeah... Complacency. Riverbrian: So the rhythm is both good and bad. Jim: Well yeah. Like everything in life. Riverbrian: I really appreciate you both taking the time to talk about this. I hear it mentioned so often... this importance of establishing a rhythm. Dick: Baseball games are three hour broadcasts. Have you ever tried to fill three hours? Jim: You pull a lot of things out of your... you know what... about the old days. Riverbrian: Congrats on the Hall of Fame Jim... I'll be watching the induction of Tony and yourself with Twins Pride.

"Sometimes consistency consists of bad habits". - Riverbrian

I'm aware of how the conversation started and I'm actually on your side with one exception. ? I'm simply cautioning against mid-summer odds as a basis for trade deadline decisions. I don't ever want my front office looking at a contending team and thinking they know better because that is the type of thinking that will get you terminated. The front office needs to be thinking. "There go the people. I must follow them, for I am their leader". . I don't agree with Whitey at all (not even close) that we should just spend our prospect capital to acquire whatever we need because the prospects rarely pan out anyway. That type of thinking will just put your team in a death cycle of a recurring state of starting over. The farm has to produce or the Twins have no chance at sustained competitiveness. We've been there before and for quite some time... I don't want ever want to go back there again. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Front offices have to walk this line between the short term and long term constantly. With all of that nuance to consider. Contenders buy at the deadline. Rental relievers that can help a contending team won't cost us Martin and Lewis. Josh Bell or Trey Mancini won't cost us Martin and Lewis. Buyers Buy and Sellers Sell. Doing neither is just standing still. I'm just letting you know... that I'll put down $100 bucks. ? I have. My wife would rather I'd spend less time doing this exercise and more time fixing the screen door. ?

Then that very same rhythm is also important for every player on the roster. Allowing 9 players to walk past the lineup card because they know where they are hitting and where they are playing only works if: All 9 players don't fail AND all 9 players stay healthy all year... WHICH NEVER HAPPENS. Over the 162 game schedule... Things change in a New York Minute. Someone is going to emergency... someone is going to jail. Someone is going to get hurt... someone is going to suck... Every year has taught us this over and over again but we can't seem to see it as we listen to Dazzle say consistency helps them get into a rhythm. We bless 9 with the consistency rhythm. Screw the other 4 players on the roster. They were pre-determined to be not as good as Max Kepler. When injuries occur and they will... we will simply put those 4 unchosen ones in ice cold and then complain about them if they don't immediately get the job done. For them... consistency smishtency. We don't need to prep them for anything. Lots of people like to refer to Celestino as pretty good for a 4th OF. If the consistency rhythm is good for Kepler. Then the lack of consistency rhythm must be bad for Celestino. Who is out performing who? How will we ever know if Celestino is playing better than Kepler. If Celestino has to watch from the bench so Kepler can keep that vital consistency rhythm? Opening Day Lineup: DH - Sanchez C- Jeffers 1B- Sano 2B- Polanco 3B - Urshela SS- Correa LF - Kirilloff CF - Buxton RF - Kepler Did the team get it right while selecting who gets blessed with the consistency rhythm. Arraez didn't start opening day. Yeah we opened against a left hander but not starting against the random left hander has to mess with that consistency rhythm. What about Garlick on the short side... Garlick... the masher of left handers. How do you get the consistency rhythm when you only get to face the left handers who hit the stage randomly. Could you imagine how good the masher of left handers could be if he was allowed to get into that important consistency rhythm. In theory... wouldn't the consistency rhythm just completely blow any notion of platooning out of the water?

"I know the pieces fit"... "Cuz I watched them fall away". Maynard James Keenen continues on to say/sing "I've done the math enough to know the dangers of our second guessing". Tool's Schism is about repairing a fractured relationship but there are times when I could swear that the song is about a major league baseball team. ? I know the pieces fit

+4000 -- Braves had the same odds in 2021 on July 13 that the Twins have in 2022 on June 20. This was from an article last year on July 13, 2021 ? Atlanta Braves: +1000 to +4000 An already disappointing first half for the Braves got much worse over the weekend when star outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr. tore his ACL. It’s an injury that will sideline him for the rest of the season. At 44-45, the Braves are only four games behind the Mets (and a half-game back of the Phillies) in the NL East, but it’s hard to envision the Braves going on any sort of run without their best player in the lineup on a nightly basis.

In my opinion. Jeffers is alright in comparison to the output of his catching peers. However... based on his performance. The Twins need to simultaneously play him to see if he can get better while continuing to look for someone better in case he doesn't. At this point... there is no reason for the Twins front office to look at the catcher position and declare things good because they have Jeffers.

I have a friend who drives a 1977 Pontiac Trans Am. He's been driving it for decades. One day, he needed a little extra space to pick up some stuff that wouldn't fit in his car so I loaned him my 2022 Kia to take out of town and fetch the stuff. When he brought my SUV back, he complained incessantly about the lane assist and adaptive cruise control.

Thanks Thad If there is anything I can do for you. Don't hesitate to give me a call. Sincerely, Riverbrian

I'll give this a like because I like humor. But... that year 2020. ?

LOL... I should go edit that. Fat Finger excuse. My Ring finger is the size of a basketball. I should probably get that looked at.

Who is the "B Team"?

2018 was the year that still frustrates me today. I hated that year so much that I still think about Logan Morrison a couple of times a day. ( 2022 (edit)) has been very enjoyable so far.

Dear Thad, I just picked up Alex Kirilloff in my fantasy baseball league. I'm willing to hold him for a little while but I'd thought I'd let you know that he will be taking up valuable roster space on my roster until you call him up. Sincerely, Riverbrian

If you consider that Celestino has out performed who I assume are the second outfielder and third outfielder this season. I wonder how long he will have to carry the often used tag of "fourth outfielder".

I wouldn't read too much into the acquisition of Sanchez. Derek Falvey has said that they made the Garver for Kiner-Filefa deal with the intention of keeping IKF. Therefore, they didn't know the Yankees would come knocking on IKF so they were planning on Jeffers and Rortvedt at catcher with IKF at SS. Sanchez wasn't a grand plan. The Yankees really wanted IKF and the Twins really wanted out of the Donaldson contract. It's most likely that the Yankees probably insisted the Sanchez money be included in the deal.

Didn't watch any of the game. It was way too late for these old bones. I'm going to assume my Twins lost last night based upon the responses to this article. ?

The Twins were 10-8 over the A's, Royals and Tigers stretch. The Twins were 5-4 over the Jays, Yankees and Rays stretch. Exact same winning percentage. The cushy competition that was labelled as critical so our Twins could get fat before the long horrible winter provided by the grim reapers of the east and the exact same winning percentage was the result. All while taking a roster held together with duct tape across the border and 4 of our starters on the disabled list. It didn't quite work out the way we planned and frankly it very rarely works out how we planned as the ping pong balls jump around the room year after year after year. Oh well... This will all be forgotten shortly and we will quickly be back to declaring easy competition the next time we face the Royals. It will be like this never happened. ?

I thought the TB starter was impressive. Jeffrey Springs was 30th round draft pick by the Rangers out of Appalachian State in 2015. He was never a top 30 prospect for any organization. He bounced from the bullpens of the Rangers to the Red Sox to the Rays. He started this season in the Rays bullpen and they converted him to starter in early May. They had injuries in the rotation and Josh Fleming was ineffective so the Rays tried something else. This was Jeffrey Springs 8th start of the year. After shutting out the Twins his ERA sits at 1.45. The Rays find guys like this because they are very good at providing opportunity and then getting out of the way of players who are getting the job done.

Naan?

I'm not sure how far I want to dig. I'm old and it's my bed time. It would have to start with a definition. What time frame do you use to determine the best starters? Over a career? over the current season? the past month? Without knowing the time frame to determine the best. Last year. I'd Take the Brewers with Burnes, Woodruff and Peralta over anyone and certainly over the Braves top 3 and I'd take the Dodgers top 3 over the Braves. Astros and Braves... I'd say it was even. If forced to choose... I'd take the Braves. On the American League side. Lynn, Rodon and Giolito were pretty good in 2021 so I'd take them over the Astros all day long. But... I would have renounced my choice after the Astros lit them up. I would have taken the Astros top 3 over the Red Sox though. Good Night... I gotta get some sleep. Twins Win... Twins Win... Twins Win It!!!!

No doubt. The numbers clearly support what you are saying. His hitting style seems to be tailored for line drives finding the green in front of the OF instead of over the OF. If he took a different approach... it's possible that some power would show itself. That ball was jacked a long ways. Going with what works... making a hitting choice possibly? Luis Arraez could be Peter Cetera. Peter had the power to rock out home runs like "25 or 6 to 4" but he chose hit after hit like "Glory of Love" and "Hard to say I'm Sorry" instead. I don't know... but I'd check the dugout for David Foster hanging around influencing him.

The Ball was hit. He ran it down and made a nice catch. Just like baseball is supposed to be played.