Riverbrian

Yeah it does but at the same time doesn't explain the unwavering reward of playing time.

I'm not the traditional closer role guy so I don't spend a lot of time worrying about who is in the 9th. If I had to choose, I like low WHIP guys in the 9th and Hildenberger used to be that prior to this deep funk he is in so I'm not completely in opposition to this being his role... I'm just more in opposition of the static role itself. Because sometimes you have a 3 run lead in the 9th where it makes sense to give Brandon Workman the ball and sometimes you have a 1 run lead in the 7th where it makes sense to give Craig Kimbrel the ball. Just pitching Kimbrel in the 9th exclusively if it's a 3 run lead or a 1 run lead is just another form of auto-pilot managing that I am a little sick of at the moment. I understand that as long as players are compensated for saves, the players will demand the role and this puts me firmly against the wind but I'm pointing this out to say that I don't care if Hildy is our closer. So with that said and knowing that Molitor doesn't share my thoughts on the subject and knowing that he is going to require a 9th inning guy. The selection of Hildenberger is interesting. Hildy is in a deep funk and Molitor went there anyway. Not surprising... Molitor is pretty consistent, he has his chosen guys and he is going with those guys come hell or high water.

I don't remember his contributions from the last Mets World championship. I remember Bill Buckner helping a little.

Logan going on the DL for some reason makes me think of the scene in Moneyball where Brad Pitt trades Carlos Pena to Detroit so Philip Seymour Hoffman wouldn't play him anymore. I am happy, We got a guy who will produce more than what Logan Morrison produced for 6 million less and someone who has a chance of being on the 2019 roster. Will Tyler Austin produce enough? I don't know but lets find out.

I agree Major League Players have no reason to care about Minor League Acquisitions. Unless they are about to take their job. Jhoan Duran means nothing to him, he has no reason to check the Cedar Rapids box scores. Escobar on the other hand had a locker near by and picked up a few of his grounders over the years.

Tyler Austin MLB Career Strikeout percentage is 39.6% His Season Strikeout percentage is 40.1% His strikeout percentage from last night's game was 40.0% Instead of 2 out of 5... If he could make that 1 out of 4.

Tyler's debut: He got one pitch to hit and boy did he hit it. However... He got one pitch to hit and he swung at the other ones. Dear Tyler, Work on that.

MONDAY Wife: How was work today Honey? Husband: I had a blast. Josh was digging through his desk and found some bottle rockets from like 3 years ago. We went out back and shot them off at lunch. They were so old and unpredictable. Some of them didn't explode and some of them went off immediately after lighting it. I hit a squirrel with one of them. Wife: You did that at work? Husband: Yes... Umm... At lunch. Wife: What were you thinking... Did your boss know? Husband: We told him about it... he was wondering why we were laughing. Wife: Oh that's great. How Stupid can you be? Husband: He didn't care... We are OK... Everyone is OK... Besides the squirrel... he kinda limped off. Wife: You gotta quit being so stupid. Be a professional... Care what people think of you!!! God you are an idiot. TUESDAY Wife: How was work today Honey? Husband: We wrapped up the Brunswick Bowling Ball Account... High Five!!!. I'm getting a nice commission check on that one... Looks like we can afford that trip to Jamaica. Wife: That's fantastic. Husband: Yeah... I worked for a month on that account. I must have had about 15 lunches and meetings with Andrea just to get that one closed. Wife: Who's Andrea? Husband: She the director of Wife: What does she look like? Husband: She's umm... I don't know... She's Wife: Yeah I bet she is. WEDNESDAY Wife: Hi Honey... How was work today. Husband: Fine Wife: Are you reading from a piece of paper. Husband: Yeah... I got this from the new PR guy that I hired to help me with the answers to your questions. Wife: What? Husband: Yeah... I used the money from the commission check and hired a PR guy. You are always getting mad at me. Wife: That money was for Jamaica! Husband: Hold on... He gave me an answer for that one. Hold on... I might have left it in the car. I'll be right back.

Exactly

Bird, You know that I respect you. I think you are very intelligent and you have earned that respect. I also respect Tom, and a large percentage of posters here for the same reasons. But... How perfect do you want your ball players to be? We Most of us want them to be elite baseball players competing against the best baseball players in the world and if they are not we call for their dismissal. But even that isn't good enough. On top of that, they need to be accomplished at interviews, they can't make a mistake answering with no preparation for the upcoming question because the guy with the microphone, just thought to ask it. Nuance will never be possible, when the demand is to be concise and that means words must be chosen carefully, and I mean carefully without hesitation once the interviewer stops asking the question. They are asked their opinions on big picture subjects even though they are not invited into the big picture room, and in a lot of cases they are asked to be flawless in what is a 2nd language, while the majority of them are under the age of 30 and less worldly-wise than you and I. We Most of us demand that they are fierce competitors on the field but immediately composed afterwards. Ervin can't express disappointment, when he probably wants to win worse than Chief wants him to win. And, If you stuck a microphone in Chief's face, I wonder if he would consult his PR handbook first. They can't tweet when they are 15 years old, without some hypocrite dragging it out to set the masses off. They need to give back to the community by starting charities. They have to shake hands and kiss all the babies. We Most of us have all worked with people (perhaps a majority of the people we work with) who don't care about the big picture while they are complaining because someone next to them got a new stapler. That's the real world and I like to imagine that baseball players are also human just like the stapler complainers. All I can do is ask the question. How perfect do you want them to be? And how perfect would you be under the same circumstances. I would fail miserably and I'm a great guy!

I have thought about it quite a bit. I make no such assumptions. I'll be careful next time to type "Others and I" instead of "We" for perfect clarity. Some people just want to watch the world burn. http://twinsdaily.com/topic/30721-does-the-front-office-owe-us-an-explanation/

You are right... He should have stuck to the script. Last night... He didn't and look at what happened. This is why Falvey and Lavine can't be transparent like we want them to be? This is why Santana can't be transparent like we want him to be? This is why the Ball Boy signs a confidentially agreement at the age of 15. Just put down your indignation and think about it. Then take your responsibility as part of the mentality that has created the repeated safe soundbites from every major league player that has led to the same repeated safe questions from the reporters who report. It's pretty sterile and it's been pretty sterile for a while. Last night, we get one mud print on the nice clean floor and you are pissed. Please Tom... Think about it.

It's time to start weening the playing time from the players who won't be back next year but I suppose they do have to showcase a little bit for possible August deals. Santana: Since he is coming off injury. I think it makes sense to let him make a couple of more starts for the scouts of other clubs to form opinion. Forsythe: I suppose he could get traded for something this month but how necessary is an audition? wouldn't the book on this guy be already written. How much damage can you actually do to his trade value by asking him to share playing time with Adrianaza or ROSARIO on a team that is not in contention. Hard to find that 2B hole with the contenders so he probably won't bring high value no matter how hot he gets in an everyday role. BTW... if he is doing some auditioning for trade value (I don't think he is), Play him at 3B on occasion. Open the market up past the limited 2B suitors. If Molitor is playing Forsythe simply because he thinks he is better than Adrianaza. He may be right but... well... it's gonna be hard to explain to forward thinking GM's in job interviews down the road. Morrison: Will the Twins pick up his option? If Yes: I don't know how to respond to that. Then whatever. If No: Move on. Turn it over to Tyler Austin right now. Mauer: Will not play for another club. He might be back next year. Let him play... let him rest.

True but that makes it hard for me to twist my narrative directly toward Molitor. You gotta work with me here.

Sadly... This can't be simply dismissed.

There is plenty of blame to go around. The Players did not do their job. They need to look in the mirror. The Manager allowed the players who didn't do their job to keep doing their job. He needs to look in the mirror. The Front Office did not prepare for the possibility that the players would not do their job. They need to look in the mirror. 1 Twins Way should really have one big GIANT MIRROR that stretches across the entire facility.

He was asked this question "The Trade of Fernando. How tough is that for... you as a friend and how tough is that as a team"? That question was an abrupt segue from the game. He answered the question. If you ever wonder why we need PR departments, or why players should stay off social media. Please consider your reaction to his answer and how counter productive it is to getting actual inside information. He left the public relations handbook for a brief moment and you were right there to quickly slap him for it. Sorry for slapping you back.

I'm looking at the functionality of Mauer, Morrison and Austin on the same roster and assuming Mauer will be sent down.

Yeah... that's right... I keep forgetting that. I'm out of control tonight.

Does anybody still believe the Twins are not watching Romero service time? Regardless... I'll be watching Sunday... To Kohl Stewart... Congratulations... I'm pulling for you. I know you are excited... However... do your best and try to get some sleep.

Molitor will never let this happen. He doesn't trust Stewart yet. I'm just being goofy like I usually am, of course... But... in all seriousness... doesn't this kind of illustrate how absolutely misguidedly stubborn Molitor is. Hear me out... Think about this. Molitor will keep new players freshly arrived from Rochester on the bench because... whatever... they ain't vets or something. But the rotation... at a position that is by far more important than one individual offensive position among 8 others. Into the game they go. He'll throw the rookie starting pitcher but it'll take a gun with a threatening note to put anybody else at the DH position.

I agree with being surprised. The only assumption that I can make was they were not planning on trading Rodney or didn't get an offer they liked before the deadline. The other assumption is that they ran him through waivers like they do with most everyone. The A's put in a claim and they liked this kid they got back. They had to like the kid because they could have simply pulled Rodney back if they didn't. However... mainly my surprise is rooted in the fact that after he didn't go before the trade deadline... I assumed he would be in uniform for us on opening day 2019. Quantity over Quality... I'd be happy with either. We may have enough holes to fill that quantity may be the only possibility though. Between you and I and everybody else who reads this... I'm looking at baby steps... I'll just be happy if we are not forced to play players who are hitting less than .230 every single damn day. So bring me quantity, flexibility and honest to god competition for playing time and a manager who knows what to do with it.

We got 360 AB's out of Hardy because he was hurt and I'm not really using that to judge the trade although he had a little injury history in Milwaukee before we acquired him.Trading Hardy to Baltimore for what we got back was absolutely impossible to justify and I'm not really using that to judge the Gomez trade either. Hardy was a decent enough acquisition and the Twins clearly compounded the mistake by how they handled thing afterwards... but. Gomez had a couple of huge years with Milwaukee that Hardy didn't have. The Twins utilized Gomez for two years of sub-par play and cut the cord which allowed Milwaukee to get the best years of Gomez and that is the fuzzy end of the lollipop... this can't be denied unless you just focus on... "Yeah it made sense at the time". The Brewers eventually took those two huge years from Gomez and upgraded again by trading him to Houston for Josh Hader, Domingo Santana and Brett Phillips. Brett Phillips was just recently traded for Mike Moustakas. The problems we are currently having do not lie at the feet of the current regime... It's this type of crap that damages our ability to acquire front line talent. The Twins have been firmly rooted in mediocre for way too long and giving up on the extreme talent too soon is a part of the reason why. You can justify the Carlos Gomez Trade for JJ Hardy at the time when it happened... But right now in 2018... Step back and look at the aftermath. It's 2018... We still haven't figured out CF and we got nothing to show for trading a 5 tool player. The Brewers have Josh Hader, Domingo Santana and Mike Moustakas. Hicks... I hated the deal but there were many who could justify it because of the need at Catcehr... But right now It's 2018 and look at the aftermath... Hicks is killing it in New York... And we got Gabriel Moya to show for the deal... I really hope Moya works out because otherwise we just gave away another 5 tool player in CF and we still haven't figured out CF. Once again... the Twins absorbed the worst years of Hicks and dealt him so another team could enjoy the best years of Hicks and we got almost nothing in return. I'm sitting here wondering why we can't seem to develop a player capabale of bringing back Josh Hader and Domingo Santana in a trade and this type of stuff is a very plausible explanation. On Buxton... I don't believe I have ever advocated trading the guy because I'm absolutely 100% against trading him because of what happened with Gomez and Hicks. I am right now very consistent... Keep him... Fix Him and but don't turn to him with a guaranteed job in CF without a safety net. Make him earn the Job and if he doesn't... the club needs to open up, swallow and come to grips that they blew another Early 1st round draft pick.

I'm not sure what this looks like yet? But I am interested enough to keep watching.

I'm a little surprised. I thought they would pick up the option and Rodney would be back. We are going to need a big quantity of players next year.