Riverbrian

Our Twins are against the wind in many ways and they’ve decided to try running and now crawling against it. Build a team with Sano, Park, Dozier and Plouffe and listen to the manager talk about creating runs with base path traffic and aggressiveness and you are… against the wind. Fill your 40 man with youth and refuse to play it and you are… against the wind. Trying to pull everything while pitchers give you less and less to pull is another example of… against the wind. The strength of each team in the American League is a hard enough wind to face. This isn’t the light zephyr of the National League. The lyrics are being re-written… not the Bob Seger Song… but… the one that now goes… “We’re going to WIND Twins”. The Twins will have to try and do something with the next line of the song while they are at it. Here comes some hot air. Here are some things to think about: 1. The Trade Winds – The Portuguese, I believe, were the first to discover and take advantage of the trade winds of the Atlantic. They learned that it was easiest to head toward Brazil to get to South Africa because it allowed them to keep the wind in their sails instead of traveling against the wind taking a direct route. Come July the Twins will be attempting to take advantage of trade winds and we get to watch Terry Ryan and his skillful handling of his row boat. 2. The Windy City – Yeah I know… we are playing Kansas City tonight but I hate the White Sox so much that I think about them twice a day. Besides… the Windy City moniker fits my narrative. Chicago wasn’t called the Windy City because Chicago is windy. It was called the Windy City because of the hot air being blown by politicians in the 19th Century and then the World Fair came to Chicago in 1893 and the hype reached epic proportions and it cemented the Windy City nickname forever. Nothing to do with actual wind… it had everything to do with the new stuff being displayed in Chicago at the Fair… Cream of Wheat, Juicy Fruit Gum and Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer were introduced to the public for the first time along with items of less importance, the dishwasher and fluorescent light bulbs. The Chicago Fair was also where the world’s first Ferris Wheel was built by Ferris Bueller and his friends Cameron and Sloane while skipping school. The Wheel was an instant hit and Chicago has gone around and around and around without getting anywhere ever since. 3. Kansas City – OK… Enough about Chicago… What about Kansas City? Now that is a place that gets some wind. Kansas City is where warm gulf air collides with cold dry TwinsNorth air and this produces cyclonic cells so strong that lions become cowardly, tinmen become heartless and scarecrows become brainless. If you’ve ever wondered where “We’re not in Kansas anymore” comes from… it is because of these storms. The People of Kansas have been physically blown out of the state eastward until they piled up on the Missouri side. Those who we’re strong enough to withstand the winds and stay rooted have learned to carry on like a wayward son but they realize that they are only dust in the wind regardless. 4. Paragliding – One day a guy was flying a kite and thought to himself… “I’d sure like to be up there”. So he went to his garage… made a bigger kite and attached a lawn chair to it and then he asked his real strong friend to run really fast while towing the unit behind and when the air hit… it became airborne. Eventually… the thing would nosedive into the ground like every kite I’ve ever flown does. While lying in the hospital recovering from his injuries… he had the time to come up with a couple of different ideas. He could jump off a high bridge or a cliff with his device or have it towed behind something motorized. This inventor was the same guy who invented super glue for the single purpose of epoxying his hat to a steel beam so he could hang from it miles above ground. 5. Blowing in from Left: True Story… I think I’ve told this story before but it’s one of my favorites, so forgive me, if you’ve read it before. It must have been around 1994… I don’t exactly remember but there was a High School or Legion Baseball Tournament in East Grand Forks and I was watching my nephew play for Thief River Falls in a game against Fergus Falls. I remember it was an incredibly windy day blowing in from LF and I was sitting with my sister on the top row of one of those 4 row aluminum portable bleachers along the RF line. The concession stand and bathrooms were behind the RF Fence so this meant that a steady stream of people would end up walking behind us throughout the game. A strong gust of wind came through and it blew my hat off my head. It flew directly behind and I immediately jumped off the side of the bleacher to retrieve my hat when I saw it roll toward a guy walking past. The guy picked up the hat and opted to try and Frisbee toss the hat back to me and another gust of wind came and it flew even further away. The guy was nice enough to run after it, grab the hat and walk it back to me this time. I laughed and said “You’ll never make it to the major leagues with an arm like that” the guy smiled and continued on his way. OK… not that funny so far… right? Well… I had no idea who the guy was… I only said “You’ll never make it to the major leagues with an arm like that because it was a baseball game and because I was trying to be funny after the hat incident because that’s who I am. It wasn’t until he walked back from the concession stand that I really got a look at the guy and realized that I just said that… by total amazing coincidence… to Dave Goltz. Dave had a son who played for Fergus Falls and was there watching. The odds of me saying that exact line… to an actual major league pitcher while not knowing he was a major league pitcher when I said it… in of all places… East Grand Forks… has to be astronomical. True Story. ____________________ Lineups: ROYALS Alcides Escobar(R ) SS Whit Merrifield(R ) 3B Lorenzo Cain(R ) CF Eric Hosmer(L) 1B Kendrys Morales(S) DH Salvador Perez(R ) C Paulo Orlando(R ) RF Omar Infante(R ) 2B Jarrod Dyson(L) LF Ian Kennedy(R ) P TWINS Eduardo Nunez(R ) 2B Joe Mauer(L) 1B Miguel Sano(R ) RF Trevor Plouffe(R ) 3B Byung-ho Park(R ) DH Robbie Grossman(S) LF Eduardo Escobar(S) SS Kurt Suzuki(R ) C Danny Santana(S) CF Ricky Nolasco(R ) P Game-time forecast, according to Weather Underground: With thunderstorms moving in, and an 86% chance of them by game time, and not really tapering off until after midnight ... will we have a game? It's yet to be seen. Forecasts are meant to be wrong and what looks to be brewing may blow another way. Temp will be around 75 deg F, and the winds will be around 12mph coming in from the SSW. Click here to view the article

Yes I had to tear down a wall to get out and it's interesting to watch your wife change from uneven coverage concern to anger over the massive hole. The Twins are currently in the taking off your shoes and removing the shoe laces to try and hook the chandelier so they can Tarzan swing out of this painting themselves into a corner phase.

I believe the technical term is: Painted into a corner. The front office really has no place to go but young and they are trying so hard not to.

The Cubs play them. Neither Soler or Baez are considered to be starters and both have struggled and not reached the lofty expectations put on them by others who speculate about such things. Yet Maddon still manages to give them playing time. Everyone watched the Cubs acquire Heyward, Zobrist while resigning Fowler and everyone thought... obviously they have to trade Baez and Soler... only 8 can play every day... no starting spot for them... they must go. Nope... Interesting approach they took instead. They kept them and they actually play them more often then the random getaway day line-up that other managers employ for an example of creativity.

I've been trying to think of a way out of this and the only solution I can think of is: The youngsters performing. With that 40 Man in it's current state... The youth has to advance or spoil and a manager who is willing to cast aside youth to scrape out a win in the teams current predicament sure seems problematic to me. I don't ever want to condemn a manager for not thinking like me but... It just seems obvious to me and hopefully everyone that the youth on the 40 man are reaching a put up or shut up crisis and not ready to put up problem that may only be worse in 2017.

Awesome

This looks really familiar.

Thank You... You deserve a badge or something. I'm willing to bet if you kept going this information that you provided would start to replicate ten fold. As a long time fantasy baseball player... I've waited for many of these prospects for excruciating periods of time. There is a yearning for Berrios but an obliviousness to what is happening with Glasnow, Taillon, Snell and others of similar situation. The Twins are in the unique position of having rushed prospects and have them over fill the 40 man at the same time. We got a lot of them and they are mostly not fully cooked... so something will have to give.

I can't argue with a lot of what you post here... it is very sensible. However... A lot of different and contrary opinions are expressed here and it's important to note that some didn't complain about Hunter being signed last year and some didn't ask for a rushing of the kids. There were plenty of expressions on all sides of the discussion. It's impossible to express Twins Daily as a United Voice.

I can't explain it. Sign... Trade for... Build one out of used car parts but the team needed a vet CF and two top shelf bullpen arms. Would it have fixed things? most likely not cuz this is real bad... But... Mastro probably wouldn't be on the roster in May following a year of playoff contention and If the Bullpen wasn't coughing everything up when leads are gained... who knows... maybe 15 wins and from there who knows. 1. The young Twins were playing meaningful baseball in September 2. They spend the off season getting even younger instead of acquiring vets. 3. The 40 man is over run with youth 4. The Manager won't play youth 5. Mastro and Grossman are added to the roster in a panic.

This sounds so harsh and my instinct is to defend Terry Ryan from it... but... there is really no other conclusion to be drawn.

or 98

It's good but I still got to go with Bert's "I'd thought there'd be more".

Ten? It was a blur... wasn't it?

You are being a little rough on them... They can now be projected to win between 40 and 41.

That does look awesome. You made some great choices putting that together. Looks so good I'd be careful cooking food in it. And I was right... you are missing the one third measuring cup.

That has a nice even look to it... Despite the 20 extra losses that prevent it from actually being even.

They gotta wait for someone to get cut from another team first.

I'm gonna have to check the rule book but I'm pretty sure you can... as long as the other team agrees to the trade.

http://www.you-can-be-funny.com/images/Mississippiliteracy.jpg

http://assets.morefailat11.com/hashed_silo_content/silo_content/24122/resized/laugh.jpg

99.9% means you've just got one of the measuring cups... out of that set of them... left to get?

I had to follow that along a couple of times. Youngest OK Sister... OK... Daughter... OK Youngest Sister Daughter... Younger Sister Daughter. His Niece... I figured it out... Uncle Pinch... Got it.