Riverbrian

I'm not sure how you can be confident they don't want him back. The Twins don't offer an extension could mean lots of things that are miles from "they don't want him back".

Agreed Most dogs don't have the ability to clean carpets. Dozier in the 2nd half is very impressive but also like being impressed by how amazing your dog is because it can almost clean all the dog whiz out of the carpet and forgiving that it was the dog who whizzed on the carpet.

I love the guy... He's one of us. When he gets on a hot streak it is a thing of beauty. But Yeah... Everyone knows he's a slow starter. We have the information by now... yet seemingly no way for the organization to prepare for it?

Perfect!!!

Then I retract my complete contempt and replace it with a disapproving head shake because you surely know how every Sano thread is derailed by such things.

I'm trying to restore my faith in humanity and sentences like this... just plain make it harder for me to do so. This is a Cheap Shot

I'd do something that very few would agree with but... I'm trading: Dozier and Lynn plus an appropriate prospect to the Brewers for Keon Broxton. Escobar, Morrison and Duke plus an appropriate prospect to the A's for a young infielder. (Mateo?) The A's may be crazy enough to do it. And of course the Brewers and A's will make these deals because if they don't... I have nothing hypothetical to offer. These players would fit into my plans to build depth and safety nets in 2019 and hopefully avoid repeating what happened in 2018. Honest to God competition for playing time in 2019 or bust.

I've been clumsily trying to zero in on this point for awhile now. I don't care about Niko Goodrum. Organizations have to make decisions on players and live with them... It doesn't matter to me. However... at some point, you have to take a look at it the whole thing and start to question a few things. 1. The term dumpster diving has been thrown around a lot here. We make frequent waiver claim pickups. Why can't we find a Brad Hand or a Max Muncy. My suspicion is that they are not given the opportunity. 2. While not caring about Niko Goodrum and able to move on from Niko Goodrum without blame... Any argument that the Twins couldn't afford the opportunity to give him more than 17 AB's is false.The Dodgers were able to identify, Max Muncy, Chris Taylor, Kike Hernandez and Justin Turner despite having a better roster on paper and more money to throw at established guys. My suspicion is that the Dodgers give them opportunity to prove themselves and become valuable to the team. 3. Trevor Plouffe had an everyday job... everybody is shoved aside so Trevor Plouffe can play everyday. The presence of Trevor Plouffe prevented them from moving Sano out of RF, The presence of Trevor Plouffe prevented Kennys Vargas from continuing a hot run and all of this happened during a year when the Twins ended up with the 1st pick overall. Trevor Plouffe went from everyday for us to quickly NOT WANTED by anyone in MLB. My suspicion is that the Twins over reward marginal veterans at the expense of anybody with something to prove. If I'm Jake Cave, Max Muncy or Chris Taylor... The Twins are the last organization that I would want to sign with or be with. The reason: You will get no opportunity to prove yourself while the organization tolerates sub-par play from the pre-season hand picked choices. I am 99% convinced that Max Muncy would not have gotten a chance to become the Max Muncy of today if he would have signed with the Twins. We are too busy turning to Belisle and Plouffe and whatever half assed vet we can roster. It's a down year... TRY SOMETHING ELSE. Morrison has had more than enough chances. The Twins have not been overwhelmed with extraordinary performances over the past decade. We should have found some diamond's in the rough by now. We should have identified some Palka's or Goodrums along the way. Robbie Grossman is the best we have done? We haven't created depth because we have been our own speed bumps by not allowing opportunity and we are doing it for no reason at all.

They do have to be strategic and the strategy clearly isn’t working. This is an organization that will play Plouffe everyday before The rest of the league identifies him as AAAA and not play guys like Palka before they make impacts on other squads. Something is wrong. The decisions are hard but come on. The Twins need to do a better job of finding and developing depth.

I don't think the high draft pick is the ultimate goal. Right now with the Astros, Cubs, Phillies, Braves as examples... It's hard to argue against the strategy.

It never pays to be brief. My argument doesn't equate to never trading for an impact player. My argument is specific to Realmuto. Although, I would execute your trade idea with no concerns whatsoever. I also believe Spycake is right and I don't think your trade idea would get the job done. I also believe that if Spycake is right... you will be creating additional holes for 2019 to the lengthy list of holes that already needs to be filled for 2019. Personally, at this time, I don't have Sano and Buxton as hole fillers that we can be confident in.

I'm not asking the impossible here. You are making it seem impossible by implying that I'm saying a manager should know when a hot streak begins or starts and manage accordingly. That isn't what I'm saying but apparently the impression I am leaving behind because it is what I'm always defending and I'm not saying it. Do we really have to wait until July before a manager realizes that Logan Morrison is not performing? Do we have to wait until June to determine that Sano shouldn't be in RF. (I was supportive of the move until I saw the results of the move). When you say mediocre what is your definition of mediocre? Is Eduardo Escobar Mediocre? Is there anything in past stats that indicate he was going to do what he has been doing this year. Is he still mediocre? Should he be moved back to a bench role when Sano comes back. Polanco is already back so I guess Escobar will no longer have a starting position because a manager shouldn't make adjustments based on how players are actually performing because it's impossible to predict when the mediocre comes back? I'm not asking the Manager to be clairvoyant and predict streak starts and stops... I'm asking the manager to STOP trying to be clairvoyant and let the players make the determinations for him. In the past 30 days: Robbie Grossman is hitting .324/.380/.500 Logan Morrison is hitting ..190/.238./.431 When Logan comes back does Grossman get bumped? I'm not asking this question after a 4 for 4 day by Grossman. I'm asking it after 30 days of data. Actually in Morrison's case... we can look at the entire first half for data. Past history from Molitor suggests Morrison will move back into his regular role when he returns. Who gets bumped? Grossman or Cave? Is there room for all to get AB's or is that some kind of unwritten rule that can't be broken? With Magill... I don't care about Magill anymore. I was taking a cheap shot at the Auto Pilot nature of Molitor with my post. I understand that he has been placed in some sort of 1980's traditional long man role. I'm personally not a fan of 1980's baseball ideology but the bottom line is that Magill isn't getting used and if he isn't getting used... we should let Magill go and get Molitor somebody he will use. If that's Belisle... I disagree with the choice but Molitor will use Belisle and therefore... what the hell.

Acquiring Realmuto would be a cannonball through the farm system. Which is fine as long as the Twins are prepared to fill holes with AAAA guys and they never have a significant injury.

I believe the rule was designed to stop catchers from blocking the plate and forcing the collision. I believe catchers can stand where the ball is arriving. I am also no expert on the rule either.

I'm going to add Magill to my list of poorly timed asset usage. I'm keeping the list on my fridge. Eventually... I'm going to need a longer fridge.

Ugly game or not... I absolutely enjoyed it. As for the bench clearing stuff... It doesn't matter to me who started it or what started it. I like it when the Twins show a little attitude.

Ump: We got a challenge on that play at home. New York Guy: Yep, I've reviewed the tape. Frame 278 taken from Camera A which is the overhead camera clearly shows that the runner crossed the plate before the tag. Camera B shows that his foot touched the plate and was safe on the play. You can take your headset off and make the safe call. Ump: Wait... Hold On... They are not challenging the out call. They would like to challenge if the catcher was illegally blocking the plate. New York Guy: Seriously... Just tell him that he should challenge the out call instead. I don't want to review it again... He was safe. This game is already behind schedule and I got an immigration appointment in Miami tomorrow. Ump: Hey Paul... Are you sure you want to challenge the blocking of the plate? Paul: Yeah... His foot was in the way. Ump: He wants to challenge the catcher blocking the plate. New York Guy: OK then... the rule states that the catcher can't block the plate unless he has possession of the ball. Video review clearly shows the ball entering his glove for possession of the ball and not leaving his glove which further indicates possession of the ball. Call Stands. Ump: Out Paul: What you mean out. He was clearly safe. Ump: Yes he was safe but the call is out. Paul: Ok.

Yep... It's a 25 man Roster. I'm getting tired of Molitor treating roster spots like the NHL treats those accountants who serve as Emergency Goalies.

I'm actually disappointed because I thought that Molitor broke his mold and did a little out of the box fancy managin'.

I appreciate that Kelly and I share your disgust over expressed hatred toward our guys although I'm not sure that hatred is the right word. Mauer and Dozier pair together quite well in my opinion because they balance each other out. It seems that those who criticize Mauer tend to criticize him because he isn't your typical power producing 1B prototype. Having Dozier on the roster negates that potential deficit because Dozier has more power than the typical 2B prototype. Some seem to be critical toward Mauer because he spends time on the DL every year and Molitor gives him scheduled time off in order to keep him as fresh as possible. Dozier is the opposite of that. Some seem to be critical toward Mauer because he never swing at the first strike and Dozier jumps all over that thing. Some seem to be critical toward Dozier because of his streakyness while Mauer tends to be more consistent. Dozier is dead pull and Joe is incredibly not. 2019 is gonna be interesting if we have new people playing 1B and 2B after all of these years. I'll miss them both.

Everybody is entitled to feel the way they feel but I really have a hard time understanding this sentiment. To each their own I guess. I would absolutely trade him for the best return before the deadline because of his pending free agent status but to express such disdain for him is beyond me. I have my list of concerns about Brian (everybody on the Twins roster for that matter) but after nearly a decade in the Twins organization, he's been a big part of my Twins experience and the thought of Brian Dozier playing elsewhere gives me a little bit of sadness. I think he plays too much... I've often stated that he could play less while he is one of those lengthy funks but on the other side of that is the fact that he shows up everyday to play. I assume he has played through some injuries to show up every day and play because nobody gets through unscathed. The Twins had a very disappointing start in 2016 and a disappointing start this year and when you look at those disappointing starts... Brian Dozier has been very disappointing at the same time. It is easy to blame Brian Dozier during those stretches and I do sometimes but on the other side of that coin is the consideration that maybe this shows the importance of Brian Dozier because team success seems to follow the same path as Brian Dozier success. Then there is the important consideration of who will replace him in 2019? I haven't got an easy answer to that question and that takes the whole situation from not just sadness over the departure of one of my players to sadness plus concern because we don't know who comes next.

If you are going to have a hitter pitch. You can't be bringing it at 86.2. The hitters can time that. Bring in Grossman and let him do that 60 MPH thing he does. MLB Guys pop that stuff up.

I'd love to have Realmuto but I can't rationalize the price that needs to be paid to acquire him. You could acquire a lot more bat at other positions for the same price. More bat that doesn't come with the standard required catcher rest and typical catcher dings that seem to send catchers to the DL more often than other positions. I have no idea (how could I) but I think it's a fair assumption that it would take more to acquire Realmuto than it would for Eugenio Suarez. If that's the case you might as well go get Suarez instead because he will produce more at the plate and play more often. Maybe the Pirates will give up Marte for the price you would pay for Realmuto. Many seem to be willing to declare Sano as the starting 3B in 2019 and therefore don't see a need for Suarez. Many are ready to declare Buxton as the everyday guy in CF come 2019 and therefore don't see the need for a Marte. I will never understand that logic when you look at the Sano and Buxton puddles lying in the middle of the 2018 street. How can any GM or fan for that matter look at Sano and Buxton and say to themselves... We are covered at 3B and CF? Why wouldn't you pickup a Marte to join Rosario, Kepler and Buxton if you could? Let Buxton earn his playing time. If he can't beat those 3 for playing time than he isn't what we need him to be in 2019. If all 4 kick ass... Great problem to have. Why wouldn't you pickup a Suarez to play 3B if you could? Let Sano earn playing time by... you know... performing. Sano could start on the opening day roster as a 1B/3B/DH. If Sano is earning everyday playing time... he could play some 1B or DH. If Mauer comes back... Sano could slow Mauer's playing time by... out performing him or DH if Mauer is performing... again... good problem to have. If Mauer doesn't come back... pick up Matt Adams for 1B to compete with Sano and Suarez. Play Adams in the OF on occasion if you like the matchups or all 3 are hot and you want to DH someone else. We were 5 hitters short this year from a decent starting 9 players. I don't understand how anyone van put together a potential 2019 lineup with Sano, Buxton and Kepler etched in stone and feel comfortable that we have 3 positions covered adequately for 162 games next year. I'm saying this and I believe in all 3 of those guys. So that leads to the question? But... who will play Catcher... We will have Castro and we will have whoever they sign in Free Agency. If you are giving up Lewis or Romero plus Nick Gordon plus that Brudar kid plus Kiriloff or whatever you are willing to pay for Realmuto... Spend it on someone who will dent the scoreboard more often... GO BIG and don't let the presence of Sano or Buxton stop you. About the only way I'd be comfortable trading for Realmuto was if the Twins could get Starlin Castro as a throw in or even lower the prospect price for taking on that contract. I doubt that would work but at least that way you improve a couple of areas instead of a cannonball through the farm system for a Catcher improvement alone.

In reality, I have the same view of catchers that you do, I'm just not as hard on Garver as others. In the end, I do agree with you. Others are much more to blame than Wilson. As a matter of fact, I often agree with you. You should probably be concerned about that.

I agree unless the context of the team is desperate need for offense. If offense is killing the club, pitchers asking for a preferred catcher could be counter productive to addressing the weak points and the primary reason why a manager is necessary. Managers need to make the decisions that are important to the club and not to the pitchers personal preferences. Brian Dozier shouldn't get to pick where he hits in the order either.