Riverbrian

Projections are for the front office exclusively for determining the rosters. These guys have to make their guesses based upon the best information they can gather and this means projections. There is value in that but projections are often not what actually happens. So... the front office has to prepare for that frequent possibility. Businesses need an exit strategy, high wire acts need a safety net and squirrels store nuts for winter. For the managers... The lineup card... How does he project future poor play? He doesn't. He navigates by the actual conditions he is in the middle of... Not Projected Conditions. The consequences of staying with a missed projection hurts more than the consequences of playing a player who is playing better. If you are worried that Dozier gets benched in April and therefore we miss the torrid hot streak of August because we gave the job to a player who cooled off in June. That isn't what I'm saying. Compete for the playing time... in real time. If you don't have the competition to compete with a .198 hitter... The front office blew it.

My scariest point that I'm trying to make is the death cycle you end up in. It is really easy to minimize these diamonds in the rough because they've been written off and nobody expects anything out of them. I've posted this before but once again... Here is the death cycle. If Logan Morrison doesn't lose playing time for playing poorly. The Team suffers the consequences of the poor play in full. If Logan Morrison doesn't lose playing time... not only does the team suffer the consequences in full but it loses the chance to find a diamond in the rough because Morrison not losing playing time won't allow it. Because you didn't find a diamond... you are forced to go back to the jeweler and try again by purchasing another Logan Morrison so you repeat it the following year. This is the perfect formula for never developing necessary depth to compete in a world of frequent injuries and bad years.

I agree. The off-season signing of Muncy would have been crickets. His eventual call up would have greeted with tomatoes from the balcony. I don't know the dynamic of that room. It's been reported that it is a collective effort and I'm sure that you know that even in collective efforts that there people who guide the agenda more so than others. I'm trying to be fair with the front office on this issue for the moment but I am looking at Molitor since he is the one constant from the 2016 collapse to the 2018 struggles. We took the same go down with the ship approach in 2016 that we are doing in 2018. Different front office, same manager. None of this is fair to anyone without knowing exactly what is happening in that room but from my chair... Different front office... same manager... same approach... same result. Unfair maybe... but I'm currently under the impression that if Molitor was manager of the Dodgers... He would play Utley over Muncy.

You nailed it and you can speak for me anytime.

Of course it's silly. I have 19,000 posts that should have prepared you for that possibility. When you say that Darius "doesn't get radio or television coverage or a fan base" and use that to argue my point... I stopped reading the rest. because... that was my point. You've managed to take my point and turn it around and use it against me like it wasn't my point. Media Coverage, Social Media Reaction and a fan base that needs to be retained are Game Changers that will always separate what they do from CPA's and Teachers. It is Apples to Trout.

My question would be specifically. If Garver isn't good enough defensively to be the every day catcher in the event of a Castro injury. Didn't anybody in the room knows this before he was placed on the 25 man roster?

I threw together the list in about an hour. I opened up each roster, scrolled it and said "there's one" and put it on list. I'm sure I've missed some. It's a list of cheap acquisitions, meaning they were waived, rule 5'd or were considered trade throw in's and ended up at least contributing fairly significantly during (at least) a season afterwards. About the only guy I spent time debating (with myself) if he belongs on the list was Kluber. Decided to keep him on the list because he was part of an Indians salary dump (3 team trade) and he wasn't a highly ranked Padres prospect so he came some what cheaply. If I included Dozier (8th round pick) the list would have grown considerably because now you start adding the Mookie Betts and Cody Bellinger types. I could have added Pressly but I don't think he's earned the right to join the above list yet. Escobar could certainly be considered for the list but he was what we got back for Francisco Liriano and considering what Liriano did after the trade in Pittsburgh for a few seasons... I'm not sure Escobar was a cheap acquisition no matter how much I enjoy his presence on my favorite team. Regardless... I am starting to believe that this is a major reason why we are struggling to compete.

I agree... I've also got concerns about the "Long Game". Draft and development is the heart and soul of every major league club and we simply haven't produced any superstars. If you want a superstar, they are really expensive to trade for and really expensive to sign as free agents so if you want them... you got to produce them. Where is our version of Jose Ramirez or Nolan Arenado? I realize that you don't always hit with 1st rounders in the sport of baseball and I realize that the first round is not the end of the story because superstars can come from any round. I'm not asking for the impossible and asking for 100% success. But... when you look at who we did draft during the era of players playing today, it doesn't look good at all. Garza, Sanchez, Parmelee, Revere, Hicks, Gutierrez, Hunt, Gibson, Bashore, Wimmers, Michael, Harrison, Boyd, Buxton, Berrios, Bard, Stewart, Gordon and Jay is what 2010 to 2015 has brought us. Berrios and Gibson are the only players we have gotten decent performance out of and Gibson took a long time to get the decent added to his performance. We didn't wait for Garza or Hicks because we traded them and got nothing in return unless we have Delmon Young Fans in the building. I'm going to pin this on the previous regime and not hang the current regime for this but yeah... our long game has been lacking for awhile. Now for the short game... I believe any time you label guys on the roster as "23-25", you are asking for what you get. I don't have the numbers but I bet if you add up the games lost to injury and the games of sub-par performance from players 1-20 and it will reveal that those "23-25" guys end up being extremely important every single year. I'm not saying we could have prevented everything that capsized on us this year because we had a lot of it but I am saying that we did not try to stop the massive capsizing... beyond umm... hoping that we eventually stop capsizing. Couple the short game issues with the long game issues and we got deep rooted depth issues that will never be solved. I'm hoping Falvey and Lavine are working on the long game and learning from this year that the short game also needs to be fixed immediately and won't be unless they stop looking at them as "23-25" especially when 5-9 is playing like "27-31".

I've been singing this song. I'm guessing it is something systemic but I have no idea but I've seen enough to be suspicious and concerned. We have been making waiver claims, Drafting Rule 5 guys, acquiring throw-ins on trades, signing AAAA guys for organizational filler for awhile now. We've selected players in the late rounds that were never supposed to make it like everyone else, it's not like we haven't been to each of those markets to do some shopping. Where are the Twins versions of: JD Martinez Sandy Leon Jesus Aguilar Keon Broxton Corey Knebel Jeremy Jeffress Hernan Perez Jonathan Villar Corey Kluber Andrew Miller Brad Hand Mike Clevinger Edwin Encarnacion Charlie Morton Brad Peacock Chris Devenski Will Harris Collin McHugh Max Muncy Justin Turner Chris Taylor Enrique Hernandez Rich Hill Scooter Gennett Eugenio Suarez Justin Smoak Yangervis Solarte J.A. Happ Jose Martinez Bud Norris Jose Bautista Odubel Herrera Justin Bour David Peralta Wade LeBlanc Darren O' Day Kirby Yates All of these players were cheap acquisitions at one time. Are we bad at identifying these cheap success stories, bad at fixing the flaws or bad at giving them opportunity. The Brewers, Dodgers, Indians and Astros seem to be pretty good at it. We got Brandon Kintzler and ? I'd like to ask the front office something about this.

When you screw up my tax return. I may make you squirm and your boss might make you squirm if I go over your head and everybody in the Twins organization will be held accountable in that sense, just like you are because they all report to someone. The Major Difference is this: You don't have a reporter taking the information of your screw up, asking you tough questions and passing along that information to millions. Imagine you got a reporter asking you: What happened on Riverbrian's Tax Return? With the same transparency that you demand from the Twins brass you explain it for the reporter. "In 2017, "Riverbrian made $1,000,000. During the course of the year, he spent a little over $100,000 on nude photographs of Chief that were legitimate business purposes and should have been a standard deduction according to section Q5 Page 147 of the U.S. Tax code. I mistakenly changed the $100,000 to $100,000,000 and this triggered an IRS audit and during the audit, it was discovered that Riverbrian has been investing in chemical weapons that will target old people and dogs. The reporter than reports the information you have given and you can imagine what happens next. I don't think Chief or I are going to very happy with you for starters and all those potential future clients who have read this report are going to think twice before they pick up the phone with your kind of public transparency. Potential Client: Hey Darius, I'm looking for a CPA Darius: Perfect... however, you should know that if anything goes wrong, your personal information will be shared with everybody in the entire world. Potential Client: No Problem... Where do I sign?

Just to stick it to the man.

There are guarantees on Gibson duplicating, staying healthy or anything of the sort but regardless that doesn’t mean we should assume he won’t. I’m just a firm believer in letting a guy continue doing well. Trade the Free Agent club for what you can acquire and keeping building the roster in the off season. I ain’t in the mood to start over.

While I don't advocate a direct grilling of the Front Office. I'm certainly in favor of going full guns on the ownership.

That explains why Mike Wallace isn't all over this Belisle thing with his camera crew.

Tell your friend that the content they choose will ultimately determine ratings and therefore revenue. If 60 Minutes would rather do in depth reports on Seaweed Farming, Alma the Child Mozart Prodigy, A convicted felon who became a law professor, Truckers smuggling human cargo across the border in reefer units that they forget to turn on and the role of congress in the Opioid Crisis, that is their decision. If they would rather cover stuff like that instead of covering the Matt Belisle Crisis in depth so we can find out what happened. Tell your friend that I can't forecast them lasting another 50 years.

I'm no different than you in this regard. I also want to know why. I would actually Jeff Goldblum myself into a fly just to be on the wall when they are discussing things. But... I also understand that being a fly on the wall is the only way I'm going to get the type of transparency needed to get the full picture.

If you feel you have a chance in 2019. You don't trade Gibson. You try to acquire more guys like Gibson or better. If you don't feel you have a chance in 2019... Then trade him but you end up jumping from window to window until you find the window that opens just right. I think the Twins have a chance in 2019.

Maybe but necessity is the mother of invention. How many years have we watched the Twins stick to the traditional convention of a 5 man starting rotation and populate that rotation with names like Logan Darnell just to keep that 5 man rotation turning. It probably never occurred to Terry Ryan to try something like this because everybody just trotted out a 5 man rotation because that's what everybody does. The Rays tried something else. God bless them.

I love the analogy! I'll still buy the on sale Mustard because the top of the mustard bottle plugs up often and there are days when you can't get the mustard out. I also know my neighbor may trade me ketchup and relish for Mustard. What I won't do is continue putting it on my hot dog when it comes out of the bottle with mold spores.

Tampa did this as well. Starting with an opener to get past the tough outs and following with someone who goes multiple innings. Many ways to skin this cat.

Nothing makes sense yet. The concept while working in Tampa in a small sample size is still a baby. However as soon as you say "only makes sense if". You have immediately limited the possibilities. I doubt the Rays who are implementing it as we speak are as confident in their assessments as you just were. Weather this is sustainable over a 162 game schedule is a big question in need of an answer.

NEW YORK -- General manager Brian Cashman decided the New York Yankees should part ways with Joe Girardi because he felt that the manager's "connectivity" with the clubhouse was not good enough. "That's the primary position," Cashman said. the overriding reason that Cashman soured on Girardi was the "connectivity and communication" issue with players, which was a concern to the GM as the Yankees move into their next phase of their youth movement led by Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez and the rest of the Baby Bombers. Girardi acknowledged that he probably didn't give the media everything they wanted. "The thing about my personality is that I'm very protective of the players," he said. "And you have to be these days with social media."

Have you got any recent examples of Brian Cashman or Dave Dombrowski speaking freely to the East Coast Media? I looked and I can't find any. Or are you talking about columnists making Cashman a chew toy?

I was listening to Vince Gennero on MLB Radio interview a Tampa Rays blogger and he was saying that ever since the Rays introduced it. The results were undeniably and immediately successful. Small sample size... I Agree But... I'm happy the Twins are going to do their own research instead of letting the Rays and everybody else be two steps ahead in case it continues working. It makes perfect sense on paper. It's just a new way of doing things in a sport that needs new ways of doing things.

What we need is the Twins Baseball Mike Wallace equivalent. Good honest investigative reporting. Tonight on 60 minutes (Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick) The Minnesota Twins recently signed 38 year old relief pitcher Matt Belisle to a major league contract... just one day after being released by their division rival the Cleveland Indians. Despite having one of the lowest operating budgets in the world they were able to Guarentee 600 thousand dollars to a relief pitcher that will be used a couple of times a week for approximately 3 months. We spoke with the President of Baseball Operations about the reason why. (Cut to Video: Derek Falvey looking up to sky with tears streaming down his face) We thought we got rid of him in October. You know... you come into this job with a plan and never in your wildest dreams can imagine the volume of things that you don't see coming. We thought we got rid of him in October! (Bangs Fist on Table). I'm Mike Wallace I'm Morley Safer I'm Anderson Cooper I'm Ed Bradley These Stories and More tonight on 60 Minutes (Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick)