Riverbrian

I'm cheap... you are a drunken sailor. I'm taking the savings on the catcher scarcity over pay and adding it to the pile necessary to bring in a big scary hitter that doesn't have to wear a face mask.

Agreed The new regime obviously was implementing a new philosophy with the Castro signing and that had my full blessing because the presence of Suzuki suggested that the old regime did not have a similar philosophy. Now that Castro is in place and the new regime is in place. My hope is that the new philosophy is now implemented from the top on down. Going forward... my hope is that our catchers arrive from Rochester and have graduated from the Falvine School with at least a 3.8 Grade Point Average.

Personally, I would never overpay for catching. I'm hoping that Jason Castro is the last Free Agent Catcher signed and that is nothing against Jason Castro. I believe Catching should developed by the organization from the ground up and whatever they hit.. .they hit. Once they arrive at the big league level. They should be on field managers and extensions of the pitching staff/team pitching philosophy. If the Pitching Coach, Bullpen Coach and Manager is having a meeting talking about pitching. The Catchers should be in the room and part of the discussion. I think if a pitching staff is struggling as a whole. Accountability is not only on the pitchers and pitching coach but the catchers as well. Whatever they hit is a bonus.

This winter has been a little different than past winters. A typical winter would have the occasional 30 below days and the occasional 30 above days. Neither of those extremes happened this year. Instead, it was a constant below average all winter long, never extremely cold or unseasonably warm, just a constant below average and this seems to have carried on into April. This is the backdrop for Opening Day in Minnesota. You can go build a snowman outside and then go watch the SanoMan at Target Field.1. Top Non-Trump News Story (Or Stories): Youngstown, Ohio is having a problem with zombie raccoons. Authorities have received over a dozen calls in recent weeks about odd raccoon behavior inside the city limits. The raccoons have been seen approaching people, standing up on hind legs, showing their teeth and then falling over unconscious. These raccoons are quickly rounded up by authorities and then euthanized. Meanwhile, Carrot Top is allowed to continue doing whatever it is that he does without intervention. 2. Our Twins: I don’t know how the Orioles and Pirates are going to rank at the end of the year or even how they rank right now, but after five games against the Orioles and Pirates on the road, I’m satisfied with the 3-2 record as the Twins return to Minnesota for the home opener. We haven’t seen anything concerning at all: the hitting has been good, the starting pitching has been good, the bullpen has been good. Welcome home, Twins! Don’t do what I do when I get home… you need to keep the momentum. What do I do when I get home? I’ll leave that up to all of your imaginations. 3. The Mariners: Both the Twins and Mariners have identical 3-2 records just 5 games into the season. The Twins are tied with the White Sox for the AL Central lead. The Mariners are already 15 games behind the Houston Astros. 4. Today’s Joe M Conversation: Morgan: I can’t believe how cold it is here! It’s April… it isn’t supposed to be this cold! McCarthy: I don’t feel a thing… 100 degrees… 10 below. It’s all the same to me. Mauer: Yeah, you never see a ghost wearing a coat. McCarthy: That’s true… Besides… coats would make us less stealth-like. Montana: I’m warm guys… I’m not wearing a coat, either. Morgan: How can that be? Maddon: Thermoreceptors Mauer: What? Maddon: Thermoreceptors Morgan: (Stares at Maddon for a while) (Turns to look at Montana) How can that be? How are you warm? 5. Job Negotiation: I just went through a brutal job negotiation, it was worth it because you have to make your deal going in. The final negotiation sticking point was an office with a window. I’m happy to say that we were able to reach a compromise. I get the office with the window but I’m not allowed to look outside. ____________________ Lineups: MARINERS Dee Gordon(L) CF Jean Segura(R ) SS Robinson Cano(L) 2B Mitch Haniger(R ) RF Kyle Seager(L) 3B Daniel Vogelbach(L) DH Ryon Healy(R ) 1B Ichiro Suzuki(L) LF David Freitas(R ) C James Paxton (L) P TWINS Brian Dozier(R ) 2B Joe Mauer(L) 1B Miguel Sano(R ) 3B Robbie Grossman(S) DH Byron Buxton(R ) CF Max Kepler(L) RF Ryan LaMarre(R ) LF Ehire Adrianza(S) SS Mitch Garver(R ) C Kyle Gibson (R ) P Game-time forecast: Do I really need to go there? Okay, I will. Cloudy, 37-38 deg F, 10% chance of precipitation, winds at 7mph from the WSW. And I think this will be the best of the weather for all the games, unless any are post-poned. Click here to view the article

Thank You. This is an important post.

If you are down by 7 runs in the 9th inning... You don't need a home run... you need 6 base runners before you need that home run. If the Twins were stupid enough to give them a base runner via bunt by shifting. The Twins got what they deserved.

The Twins should have thought of this before. You can definitely see the value of having a starting staff with a 0.00 ERA. We have spent too much time worrying about Buxton and Sano and the offensive future. Just get a starting staff that doesn’t give up a run and you are good to go. This is sustainable… This is not a small sample size folks, there are only 159 games to go.1. Top Non-Trump News Story (Or Stories): Tonight the College Basketball Championship game will be played in San Antonio. It’s Michigan vs. Villanova for all of the Marbles. I’m getting kind of nervous for the religious future of the state of Michigan. It was Michigan that beat whoever that Catholic School was with a 98 year old nun as a head coach. If Michigan were to win the title… they will have to beat another Catholic School in Villanova. In Hockey… Michigan is matched up against Catholic School Notre Dame in the frozen four. I do not want to speculate what happens if the Wolverines run the table… but I assume… it will be divinely taken out on the Lions as usual. 2. Our Twins: Since the first 3 starters in the rotation did not give up a run, I’d imagine that raises the expectation bar on Lance Lynn just a little bit. 21 Innings of shut-out ball is impressive enough but it’s more impressive when you consider that only 5 hits were allowed over those 21 innings and 19 batters were given a Scarlet K. No pressure Lance… none at all. 3. The Pirates: There isn’t a good feeling in Pittsburgh since they did a little dismantling over the off-season. There is still plenty of talent in the Pirates system but it just isn’t going to feel like it when you trade Cole and McCutchen. The Pirates are going to have a hard time expressing; that they know what they are doing, to the Pirate Fan. The slogan they are using: The Pirates… We Can Come Close Again. 4. Today’s Joe M Conversation: Maddon: Hey Joe… Did you have a great Easter with the Family? Mauer: We were in Baltimore so… not really. Morgan: You guys won… Big Win over the Orioles… Good start to the season. Mauer: Oh the team is fine… Joe asked about Easter with my family… that didn’t go so well. Montana: What Happened? Mauer: The Girls ended up crying… it was a mess. McCarthy: Why? Mauer: I don’t know… I woke up real early. I looked around for a great place to hide the Easter Egg Baskets. They woke up later and they were real excited… I’d tell them if they were getting warmer or colder and they were laughing… about an hour later they were in tears and my wife yells at me… Dang it Joe, Enough!!! Get in the car and take them to their baskets. 5. Easter Sunday: I woke up yesterday morning, was relaxing a little, when my wife walked in and said, do you remember what day it is? To be very clear, I would have had the answer immediately, if she wasn’t the one who asked the question. Whenever your wife asks if I remember what day it is. There is a natural defense mechanism that triggers and makes you think, Birthday? Anniversary? Valentine’s Day? You got to quickly cover the ones that will get you in trouble out of self-preservation and that will blow Easter out of your mind for a while. After an uncomfortable pause… I managed to blurt out “April Fools” which was the first thing that came to mind under pressure (her arms were crossed and she was looking at me). It was technically correct, but not what she was getting at. It ended up working because I was able to make the long pause seem like the obligatory “April Fools” joke. She has no idea that I was honestly struggling to come up with Easter and it’s been almost 28 years and my wife still isn’t completely aware of just how stupid I am. Click here to view the article

I last wrote a game thread opener on October 3rd, 2017. After the conclusion of that disappointing loss to the Yankees, I turned off my brain for the off-season. All this week, I’ve known that I will have to crank it up again but I’m having a little trouble getting it started up after the long layoff. I know that I’ll need to pump a little fuel into the carburetor so I’ve been pushing the primer button (my nose obviously), but now I’m concerned that I’ve flooded it because I have a cold. Slight change to the format this year. I have run out of Cities and Towns to say strange things about so that will be replaced by a new crutch called the Top Non-Trump News Story (Or Stories) from yesterday. I’ll continue with thoughts on the Twins and their opponents. The Joe M conversation will remain… I didn’t get enough complaints to stop doing it. And, as usual, a random thought #5. Anyway… I hope you are all primed for the start of a brand new season. It’s still March so we are starting a little early. Don’t push the big red primer button unless you are ready. Expectations are high… as of right now… it is still mathematically possible that the Twins go 162-0. 1. Top Non-Trump News Story (Or Stories) from Yesterday: Rosanne returned to broadcast television on ABC Tuesday Night with back to back episodes and the show was welcomed by 18 million viewers. NBC quickly noticed the ratings and has decided to cash in on the nostalgia wave by ordering 10 Episodes of H.R. Pufnstuf. It was reported that Russian Double Agent Sergei Skripal and his daughter may have been victims of door poisoning. Russia has come a long way since Rasputin; they have been practicing the poisoning of Doors technique since 1969. It wasn’t fatal back then but it did produce a severe lack in judgement which resulted in “The Soft Parade”. 2. Our Twins: The Twins are not overwhelmingly strong in any department but they are not overwhelmingly weak in any department, and for the first time… since… ever… the Twins have enough starting pitching depth where they don’t have to tolerate sub-par performances from anybody. They have a stable of arms in Rochester that can take over for injuries or struggles, this also applies to the bullpen. At the plate, I’ve seen lineup projections from experts with Buxton in the 8 spot in the order and this suggests a level of batting depth that we haven’t seen in sometime. Now those are what I call deep thoughts. 3. The Orioles: It’s kind of funny… not many people were giving the Orioles a shot during the off season. I was listening and the experts were talking about not knowing who the 3, 4 and 5 starters would be, the injury to closer Zach Britton, and the inevitable loss of important free agents after the conclusion of 2018. The experts were strongly suggesting an immediate rebuild was necessary. Then the Orioles sign Alex Cobb and now those same experts are saying the Orioles could earn a wild card spot. I’ve heard my wife talk to her sister on the phone about me and I seem to have that same type of range. 4. Today’s Joe M Conversation: Morgan: I think Opening Day should be a National Holiday. McCarthy: Yeah… nobody should have to work on such an important day. Mauer: I agree… then I wouldn’t have to play today. I’d get the day off. Maddon: Yeah… and I wouldn’t have to manage today. Montana: Guys… think about it… if you both take today off… what would be reason for the rest of us taking the day off? (Long Thoughtful Pause) Maddon: He’s right… we are going to have to work during a national holiday. Mauer: This really sucks. Why do we even have a players' union? Car Alarms: A car alarm was going off in the parking lot at work yesterday. I looked around the office and nobody got up to turn it off, nobody claimed responsibility and the alarm kept going off. It must have been 15 minutes before I decided the only thing to do was to go outside and help what turned out to be the world’s slowest car thief actually steal the car so he could drive off and take the sound with him. ____________________ Lineups: TWINS Brian Dozier (R ) 2B Joe Mauer (L) DH Miguel Sano (R ) 3B Eddie Rosario (L) LF Logan Morrison (L) 1B Eduardo Escobar (S) SS Max Kepler (L) RF Byron Buxton (R ) CF Jason Castro (L) C Jake Odorizzi (R ) P ORIOLES Chris Davis(L) 1B Manny Machado(R ) SS Jonathan Schoop(R ) 2B Adam Jones(R ) CF Trey Mancini(R ) LF Tim Beckham(R ) 3B Pedro Alvarez(L) DH Craig Gentry(R ) RF Caleb Joseph(R ) C Dylan Bundy (R ) P Weather: 65 deg F, mostly cloudy with a 15% chance of rain, winds at 7mph from the SE Win Twins! Play ball! Click here to view the article

As long as Tom knows where the semi-colon goes... I'm good with this. BTW... I have; no idea where; they go. I'm a big Tom fan. Great writer, classy respondent. Just plain solid all the way around.

I can’t argue this but I still hand them nothing!

First of all... I think the Twins can Win the Central. I hand the Indians nothing. They are not as strong offensively as they were last year and the bullpen is noticeably weaker.I'm not sure about the starting pitching depth and if a couple of injuries or dead arms happen in the rotation they could be quite normal. However... in case the Twins are fighting for a Wild Card Spot. The only teams in the AL that I'm dismissing as competition are the Tigers, Royals and Rays. I think the West is going to be hard from top to bottom and the Astros are perfectly built... I see them winning the division but the other 4 will be beating each other up and that will lessen the chances of the Mariners, Angels, Rangers and A's. (The A's may surprise a few this year). That leaves the Twins (or Indians) competing with the (Yankees or Red Sox), Jays, Orioles and possibly the White Sox if the young talent gels quick for two Wild Card Spots. One will come out of the East and One will come out of the Central. My Crystal Ball has some dust over it... so I'm not sure if it works anymore. BTW... In the National league.. the only teams that I am dismissing are the Marlins and Reds and barely the Reds because I think they got some interesting offensive players. I think every other team is capable of putting something together to impress or surprise us. The Nats are the only team that I'm reasonably certain will be playoff bound. The Rest are going to have to fight it out.

That's Fair... but my point was all along that if Falvey, Lavine, Molitor and the others in the room felt that Adrianaza was just replacement level that could be replaced by a waiver wire scouring. They made a mistake. I'm trying to believe that they believe in Adrianaza so I don't end up questioning them in the end.

I think Escobar should get a bulk of playing time at SS and I'm comfortable with that but what happens if Sano gets a 30 game suspension. Now you have Escobar at 3B and Adrianaza at SS. I see the Twins needing Adrianaza fairly significantly.

Move on to who?

Maybe but the 25 man roster spot is extremely valuable in my opinion.

I agree not every team will have starting caliber backups... Actually not every team has starting caliber starters. But... if you fancy yourself a contending team... you better be staffed to the hilt or you'll be trying to win a race through the desert without enough water. When the starters go down... that is when opportunity happens for the backups or farm hands and they gotta have someone who can take advantage of that chance. If the Twins brass doesn't believe that Adrianaza can help the team for 162 games... they shouldn't be paying him 1 million dollars to keep him around. Players who have the talent to take advantage of that opportunity is exactly how Chris Taylor of the Dodgers was created. Logan Forsythe on April 19th, 2017 breaks a toe. Chris Taylor is called up from the minors to replace him. Chris Taylor becomes critical to the Dodgers Season the rest of the way. No Dodger fan is thinking... no worries... we got Chris Taylor when Logan goes down but he was the first phone call. When Forsythe comes back now the Dodgers really have options they trust and they barely miss a beat when they move Taylor over to 3B because Turner is out... to SS when Seager is out and move Taylor out to the OF... A position he hadn't been playing and he is able to sub in for a slumping Joc Pederson. I realize that Chris Taylor may be one in a million but the point is... other players get playing time when Polanco gets suspended. Opportunity is created... If the Twins have the right guys in that situation... Depth is improved because now Paul Molitor has even more options that he trusts. The team has to have someone who can step up and do the job or they are not contenders. If the Twins have to shoe horn a struggling Aaron Hicks into the lineup because they have nobody else... they are not contenders and they failed to provide a decent safety net. No contending team should give a player a million dollars to an Adrianaza type with the mindset that he will play once a week. If you pay him a million dollars to keep him around... you better believe in that guy for the long haul or else go find someone who you do believe in for that million dollars you are spending. Find that guy who could rise up if given the chance. I'm assuming because we are in contention and Adrianaza is still around... That the Twins believe in him. If they don't... we need a new front office. Now I can't wait to find out if they were right. It's judgement time.

Here's the thing... I'm not a starting 9 guy. Too many years of watching players hitting under .210 and yet finding themselves in the starting lineup the next day because the team didn't have anything better. I understand that budgets are necessary but I believe that a professional GM needs to be able to work within the constraints of that budget and prepare for the possibility of failure at any position. If it was easy... anybody can do it but to have one of the 30 jobs... you need to be able to do it. If the Twins don't have an adequate replacement for any player on this roster. When being a team in contention... not a tanking team but a team in contention... then yes... I do believe that they spent too much on starters and not enough on what will be needed replacements at some time.

Do I believe that could happen? I Do Doesn't even have to be the player. I'm not sure where Jeff Gilooly is these days. How bout this one. You are the backup 1st baseman and the starting 1st baseman is hitting .400 with 50 Bombs and your team has just won the ALCS on the strength of his performance. You haven't played a bit but you saw him using steroids. You got photo's... documents... everything you need for a quick conviction. Do you report him with the world series on the line or stay silent? If you report him... how will the fans of that team react to the news? How will your teammates react to the news? how will the front office react to the news? What if the Fans, Team Mates and Front Office knew you were the whistle blower? My opinion... you will be the one crucified.

The Twins could have signed Eduardo Nunez for 5 Million and not spent 1 million on Adrianaza. The Twins could have traded for Jurickson Profar, Solarte or Chris Owings. Injuries are always possible... anything is always possible and not having a capable backup is a hole that needs to be filled because injuries happen and they happen a lot and nobody can predict them. I'm going to give the front office the benefit of the doubt and assume that he is capable because if he isn't... the front office failed.

If MLB Baseball would let me. I could fix it and fix it good. Real Simple: Take Steroids -- First offense results in a lifetime Ban plus an immediate voiding of the existing contract. Done If the penalties are not severe enough to transcend the benefit of taking the risk... Players will take the risk. For Polanco... The benefits are MILLIONS of dollars and people singing songs about your greatness. The penalty is an 80 game suspension without pay ($300K) and I assume a roster spot waiting for him when the suspension is lifted. He will still earn 300K and he will probably be brought back next year with a contract that pays more than what Doctors and Lawyers earn in a year. In the case of 23 year old John Doe with a .280 batting average with the Birmingham Barons. The Benefit is a place on the 40 man roster 600K in salary and a mid-season call up when the starting shortstop gets hurt. The Risk is only public shame and that will be forgotten about in about a week after he starts his new job selling cars for his hometown Chevy dealership. He doesn't risk anything else because he was going to be selling cars for his hometown Chevy dealership anyway because he isn't getting called up without the juice. He will make more money at the Chevy dealership when he is finally released from his minor league obligations for lack of production. We got a lot of metric minded people on TwinsDaily that can do the math and conclude that the penalty isn't strong enough to be an effective deterrent. We can all easily recognize that Baseball players are handsomely rewarded for super human results. We can all easily recognize that players are released and out of baseball while the social media mobs call them trash if they hit .200. The system forces are going to drive the bus in the direction it's going. We can all easily recognize that the College Basketball Coach gets rewarded with a longer and more lucrative contract when they win. We can all easily recognize that they eventually get fired after enduring damning editorials in the newspaper, embarrassing comments at the booster luncheons and the social media mobs calling them trash for losing. The system forces are going to drive the bus in the direction it's going. We can all easily recognize that the politician is going to take that sizable donation from the oil company spilling crude into Lake Minnetonka and they are going to introduce legislation that opens up Lake Calhoun for crude dumping. We can all easily recognize that the politician isn't going to have enough money to get elected when the oil company gives that sizable donation to his opponent after he refuses it. The system forces are going to drive the bus in the direction it's going. My favorite quote in the whole wide world is: Your systems are perfectly designed... to get you exactly where you are. So that brings us down to Morality. For a Million Dollars... I wonder what crappy thing I'd be capable of doing. I'm sure I could think of something.

If they liked him in a utility 200-ish role but not in a 600-ish PA Role. By my definition... that would be a recipe of bad planning with a heaping cup of lack of foresight and a couple of quarts of not noticing what has historically happened to nearly every single baseball player in history. If there is a player on the 25 man roster... they need to be someone who you trust to play a bunch of games without crippling your team because there is a strong likelihood that it will be necessary. If the Twins had any concerns about Adrianaza... They should have upgraded in the off-season. They didn't... so I'm going to assume he will be fine.

There was a reason that the Twins didn't feel the need to upgrade Adrianaza during the off season. I assume the reason they didn't upgrade was because there was something they liked about him. We should now get a chance to see if they were right and see what they liked. There are no guarantees with any of our players... it could be knucklehead stuff like a steroid suspension or a Bumgarner Motorcycle Accident... or just a simple injury. A team needs to be prepared for any eventuality. We just lost Polanco for 80 games... let's see how prepared our front office was. Adrianaza is the next man up.