Riverbrian

They all sell hope. Even the Dodgers are selling hope. Nobody wants to be hopeless.

You and I have been through this before. Myself... I'll grade the trades later. When the actual term papers are finished. That's when you get the red marker out and put down a C- on it. This patient assessment approach has improved my March Madness bracket accuracy to perfection. I never get a game wrong when I fill out my brackets. It's easy to do... just stay patient and wait until the game is over before declaring a winner. It's nice because I don't have to get into silly arguments with anyone who thinks passionately that Louisville is going to wipe the floor with Wyoming.

What was around him? Good Gravy!!! Does anyone think resupplying Ty France, Manual Margot the latest lead vocalists of the revolving door of low rent one year contract rebound candidates band is producing gold records. It has been the performance of the supporting cast around him that led to this. Thank You to Byron Buxton for announcing publicly that you found a home in Minnesota and plan on retiring here. You've become one of my favorite Twins players of all time just for that public statement. I look forward to your eventual statue on the plaza. Thank You for your commitment to helping your new surrounding cast get your team and my team to better place sooner rather than later. Ladies and Gentlemen... it was shocking... it's not the end of the world. It could be the beginning.

What I suggest is an option because the bullpen is really questionable right now and it just might require some creativity to get through it. I'll be surprised if the Twins actually do it like that but I can't see why it can't be figured out this way. You are correct... The more innings you throw... typically the more valuable you are. And the more money you make when Arbitration starts. That's why it would be hard for a rebuilding GM to pass up these deals. Duran - Abel, Jax - Bradley, Varland - Rojas. If the other team is willing to give up legitimate starting talent with the potential of 150 innings a year over guys that throw 60 innings a year. It would be hard to turn down. These trades work out real nice for the Twins if one thing happens. That they are able to develop the players acquired. If Abel, Bradley and Rojas are develop into above average at the very least. We potentially won't have to worry about starting pitching for awhile. Meanwhile... The Bullpen... They will start over and have to rebuild that thing. Using Creativity or duct tape.

My assumption is that they liked the return.

Nope... Been there done that. I'd rather listen to Ferry Across the Mersey while driving through Chicago. The Ferry has a novelty to it that last about 10 minutes. You park your car on the boat and you go up and sit next to other folks in the where folks sit area. You can go up top and take in the lake as you watch the shore fade in the distance but once you are in middle of Lake Michigan. Up top doesn't have a lot of appeal anymore because all you see is a bunch of water and you just go back down to the where folks sit area and wait for the shores of Wisconsin. It's about 250 bucks for just you and a car. Bring family members and it costs about 7 million dollars. (Won't be listening to Gerry and the Pacemakers on my trip... not in my Spotify account).

Starter or Bullpen are just designations. What matters is the amount of innings that they throw. They are all on inning counts. Lopez, Ryan and Ober probably have higher innings (or pitch) counts but the rest are pretty young arms who will be on stricter inning counts. Therefore Matthews, Festa, SWR, Abel, maybe even Bradley would probably routinely pulled after 3, 4 or 5 innings. The Twins could therefore have multiple starters (Just a designation) on the staff on stricter inning counts. Doesn't matter if they start or relieve what matters is getting the innings in. If Matthews is going to go 4 innings, Abel can follow with 4 innings and you can get through the game that way. The starters don't have to be converted.

Been on a few of these. I haven't figured out the meaning of life yet but it's probably in a song lyric from the tunes I'll be listening to. Who knows... it might be Mungo Jerry who figured it out back in 1970.

I sure hope to. Lots of music cranked to keep me going. I'll probably have enough to time in the car to go far enough down my spotify collection to include Mungo Jerry. I leave tomorrow at noon. Council Bluffs IA Wichita Kansas City St. Louis Owensboro Cincinnati New York City The Easternmost point of the Lower 48 in Maine Waterbury Vermont (Ben and Jerry's) Lake Placid Rochester NY Woodstock Asbury Park Cape May Washington DC Amish Country PA (For the Buffets) Gettysburg Philadelphia Hershey Happy Valley Punxatawney (Gonna Meet that Stupid Meteoroligist) Pittsburgh Grand Rapids Michigan Milwaukee Wrigley Field Maple Grove MN and back home. That'll do it

And it was you I was trying to beat. 😉

I ain't going nowhere. I've been through ups and downs in my life and I can go through ups and downs with my baseball team. I'll be in Wichita on Saturday to watch our AA dudes. I'll be in New York to watch them on Tuesday and Wednesday during my two week road trip (I will have seen all 30 stadiums when complete). I'll make my trips to Target Field and CHS. I'll continue to watch probably 150 out of 162 games on Television or my phone just like every year since 1919. I'll pay the 100 bucks so I can watch on my phone when needed. And I will continue to constructively criticize when I feel appropriate (which is a lot) but I ain't going nowhere and I don't need reasons to keep watching. I'll keep watching.

Who knows Emotions come and go. The trade deadline was a cannonball through the locker room. There are bound to be emotions that go with that and probably strong emotions and probably not positive. If baseball players are human beings... if they are just like human beings that we work with, that we all know in our lives. Regular folks that we all know can get angry, disappointed, react emotionally, say or do something they probably shouldn't, make a request on a Monday and be OK by Friday for another year once they calm down. The main difference is that Bob or Susie in the accounting department can put in two weeks or quit on the spot based on an emotional reaction. Which is never wise but happens. Baseball players can't do that unless they are willing to chuck or damage their career, reputation, all of it. Whatever bugs them... they got put that aside and get back to business throwing the baseball. Did Jax request a trade? Maybe... but it doesn't matter. He doesn't have leverage that doesn't damage his baseball reputation at least. He can't refuse to show up to work without the fans throwing tomatoes at him, without waning interest from other teams. The Twins didn't have to trade him but when you consider that everybody of value in the bullpen was dealt . Why would we assume that Jax would have been spared if it wasn't for this trade request. We got a once highly ranked 24 year old starting pitcher back in return. Jax wasn't given away, the Rays paid a high price for him so did the Jays, So did the Phillies. I think the most plausible explanation is the market was paying high prices and the Twins were selling so they did. Jax not happy? Maybe but I'd assume that there are probably quite a few Twins remaining that are not happy. That's temporary and it's dangerous to assume it's permanent. I remember a few years back when Twinsdaily was overwhelming concerned, upset that Buxton was counting the days to his exit because of service time manipulation when he remained in AAA instead of getting called back up. The majority were saying Buxton's gone because he was so horribly mistreated. Based on his signing a team friendly contract and recent statements of wanting to be a Twin for life. The majority of Twinsdaily may have been wrong on that. If Buxton wasn't happy at the time... he got over it. Perhaps, we are over reacting emotionally to the potential of Jax over reacting emotionally. Just like we over reacted emotionally to the potential of Buxton over reacting emotionally.

Part of the issue has been dealt with. Keaschall up - Keirsay down. We can watch the utilization of Julien now.

I'm equally bothered by that. Perhaps more so, than the point I'm making about wasting spots. Actually... in my mind... it all ties together. One could be causing the other and vice versa. I don't know the answer but I've been thinking out loud for a few years now. Is it a system development problem that is causing distrust in the product being produced or is it simple distrust not willing to take chances that is causing the development problem. Either way... we just sold a bunch of players and C, 1B, SS and CF don't have easily identifiable possibilities and we have 3 roster spots being wasted.

Yep... And the position pays a premium. We have been paying a decent defensive catcher who can't hit 10 million for 3 years. We can't develop a decent defensive catcher who can't hit for the major league minimum and spend the 10 million elsewhere?

What happens if (Insert Name Here) goes down with a back injury or something? Is (Insert Name Here) all of a sudden the every day guy at SS? Is (Insert Name Here) the every day guy in CF? Is (Insert name here) the guy at 1B or Catcher?

Yeah... We certainly see it differently. My suggestion is to not think of it in terms of hard lines of either or. This guy plays every day or this guy is benched with nothing in between that's gonna make it hard to see. Nobody has to be benched. The problem is keeping someone on the roster that you think needs to be benched. Thinking that one day off a week is a problem or even 2 out of 6 days off is a problem... that's a problem. A day off here and a day off there from the entire roster can feed the entire roster. It can help provide answers to questions that will be front and center in just a couple of months when the business of staffing for 2026 is front and center. Service time? Sure that's an issue with certain players not on the 40 man. Rushing Jenkins may be a bit irresponsible if Jenkins could use more cooking. With players like Sabato? He's 26 and already passed through rule 5 untouched. Erod... He's on the 40 man... options are ticking, 2 months service time isn't much of a tick of the clock. But let me be clear... I don't want to get lost in the discussion of individual players because... I'm really more concerned with the collective and how we can be in this position where it can be justified that we just sold a big chunk of the 26 man roster and we have 3 roster spots being frozen. If you are not bothered by 3 guys taking up roster spots. You are placing a lot of faith in the Twins ability to identify and bring home the other 10. It's going to slow the rebuild.

It's mind boggling. It really is. To my knowledge... the Twins have drafted a lot of SS's in the draft over the years. Where are they? We are 8 9 years into the regime. We just opened up a bunch of space and (insert name here) is the choice and Rocco won't play him. How bad has our SS development become despite a lot of attention paid to it in multiple drafts? 1B? Where is our 1B? We just opened up a bunch of space... where is the future 1B? C? Where are they? No one that can challenge Vazquez for 3 years? CF? Where are they? Is Martin the fruits of our labors in CF or is he just flowing into the massive hole left by not... 2B, 3B, Left handed Corner outfield... Coming out of ears I guess and we acquired 3 more left handed outfielders in the deals we made and we have been busy strip mining those guys for parts for the past 100 years so the odds of them reaching full potential is compromised on arrival.

If they can miss assessment to the downside. Miranda? They can also miss assessment to the upside. Rooker? We are selling because of a whole bunch of missed assessments. Let the players decide through performance.

I don't want players who suck to get more playing time. I want players who suck to get less. If you look at it that way. My point is hopefully easier to understand. If they suck and can't help... I want them off the roster. If the manager isn't going to play them I want them off the roster. That's less playing time... a whole lot less. I want to find players who don't suck. I want to utilize all 26 roster spots for the quest. I want the players that Rocco doesn't want to play off the roster and out of the way so all roster spots are utilized to help us on the road back. And... And... I don't trust Rocco's assessment abilities. I don't trust mine... I don't trust anyone's assessment ability. The baseball highways are littered with failed assessments coming from all 30 corners of the MLB baseball globe. I didn't give them a 26 man roster spot. The front office did. That roster spot decision needs to be justified.

Chia pet is expressing the thought perfectly. I am purposely not mentioning names because I don't want anyone confused. I don't want anyone thinking I'm a huge supporter of any players. I don't want the point sullied and trapped helplessly by opinion of individual players. Y'all don't like certain players. That's Fine. Rocco doesn't like these players either. It would be helpful if you didn't let your low opinions cloud the real question. Why are they on the roster? I'm not here to defend them. I'm here to scream about the wasting of the roster spot. I'm here to say. Rocco... If you don't like them... GET THEM OFF THE ROSTER!!! If they can't be trusted to compete. If there is no value now or in the future. If Rocco thinks it will go horribly wrong and ruin everything if they play. GET THEM OFF THE ROSTER. I didn't like the wasting of roster spots when we were in so called contention. I especially hate it when we are in so called non-contention. Everyone can debate the merits of individual players and lose sight of it all in the process. Why would you waste a roster spot? Why would you purposely reduce 13 spots to 10? They are on the roster... Why are they on the roster? While some are apparently comfortable with D.O.A's on the roster. D,O,A's will slow the road back because you have reduced from 13 to 10 roster spots utilized and that is a much bigger odds shift than 50 to 100 AB's out of 6,000 in a LOST SEASON. (Insert player here) doesn't have to give us 6 years of .900 OPS to be worth it. One or two years of .650 to .700 can take away the necessity of paying 6 million to (Insert player here) for the same numbers.

Things have turned around. The Tigers started the year with 18 pre-arb players. With the additions of Morton, Paddack, Finnagan and Montero. The Tigers have gone Vet on the mound. This has lowered their current pre-arb numbers to 11. The Twins started the year with 8 pre-arb players. Today they have 17 players with less than 3 years experience. The Tigers are 66-48 on the year. The Twins are 52-60.

Either teach or believe in what has been taught. Not sure which is not happening.

Chia Pet summed my feelings on it.

Yes we can still hope for that.