Riverbrian

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.

I'd value Berrios over Archer so yeah but I'm not sure about "significantly". In my opinion... There seems to be "lessening" of the willingness to pay the prices these days and therefore will limit how much you can get, which will limit you short of "significant". In my opinion... As long as the Phillies, Braves, Astros, Cubs can turn things around as quickly they have... teams are going to hang on to those prospects.

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.

I'm not sure but I'd guess Berrios would be our top value trade chip at the moment.

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

Can't see backwards into April, May, June, or July or 2016 either.

#keepdevelopingtheshorttimers

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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 can't... I promised. So here's my unflattering comment. Paul Molitor hasn't given up on 2018. But he has given up on 2019. That's gonna leave a mark

OMG Paul Molitor. Matchups... Matchups... You are giving me match ups on August 10th. What are you matching up for? The Twins are out of it... The Tigers are out of it. There is no playoff sanctity or integrity to protect. The Mariners and A's don't care who wins this game. The option on Logan Morrison's contract will not be picked up. Logan Morrison is hitting .188 with an OPS of .651. I get that Logan Morrison has a lofty .661 split vs. Right-Handers so you get that sharp spike upwards but that just might be negated by Zimmermann having been better against left-handers this year plus Logan's career .167 BA against Zimmermann. So if you are giving us matchups... You just out-foxed yourself. Match Ups? Match Ups?

If I was Joe Mauer... I'm taking a picture of my 10-5 rights and texting it to Falvey and Lavine. There is absolutely no way that I'm going to let 2 months with the Chicago Cubs show up on the back of my baseball card. It is extremely rare... it is also extremely commendable that the home town kid played his entire career for the home town team and if I was Joe... That's how my career is going to end and I would not give that up for anything. I understand everybody who feels that we need something else in 2019. But... Let's get real here... Joe Mauer is ONE OF US. Whatever he decides to do... he has my respect, my admiration and he gets a statue some place outside of Target Field and nobody else will get to wear #7.

I promise to everyone. If Tyler Austin isn't starting tonight... I'm going to type something unflattering about my favorite team.

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.

It doesn't reduce their value.

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

Do we have anybody else named Tyler?

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.