Riverbrian

In Spring Training Ryan LaMarre was 19-40 for a .475 batting average With the Twins he was 11-34 for a .324 batting average In AAA with Rochester he was 13-35 for a .371 batting average Added all together: 43-109 for a .394 batting average. I think this is worthy of applause.

What else needs to be added?

You and TK hit the nail on the head and along comes Andrew Miller a couple of decades later just to show how slow change is gonna be. When Tom talks about the agents not allowing it... he is also talking about the other side as well... he's talking about the arbitrators, he's talking about the GM's, he's talking about Dellin Betances in 2017. Your post is spot on. Tom could also be talking about the fans as well and the social media mobs who claim that Cash should be fired for trying something different. Change comes in very slow increments. As for the length of the game. I think MLB is making a mistake. They have an issue but reducing game time from 3:10 to 2:40 isn't going to fix it. It's not the length of the game... it's the pace of the game... it's the entertainment of the game. They need to think about presentation instead... however that's also going to be a long road of change as long as Brian Dozier has an issue with Chance Sisco and Ian Kinsler has a problem with Celebration. I thought your post was excellent.

Wow I wonder why tonight. The bullpen is somewhat fresh. May is still 7 days away It'll be interesting to see what the next move is. Best of luck to Phil Hughes. Tough blow with the shoulder. Shoulder injuries are tough to overcome.

1. Cozart 2. Trout 3. Upton 4. Pujols 5. Simmons 6. Kinsler All right handed. Ryan Yarborough the scheduled starter in the rotation is left handed. By starting Romo... He faces all the tough right handers in the 1st inning... maybe the 2nd as well. Yarborough simply starts the 2nd or 3rd instead of the 1st. It's brilliant out of the box thinking and I'm hoping Molitor was paying attention.

Could be but I don't think the Manager should worry about that. He's got a ball game to win. I think the move was excellent out of the box thinking. Start with a right handed bullpen guy against a tough all righty lineup. Then have your starter start in the 2nd or 3rd and this gives him a decent chance of going 6 innings without facing Trout 3 times when the research is showing the sharp decline the third time around. And... it doesn't have to mean an increase in game times because all he did was change the order with the same amount of pitchers. Sunday became a bullpen game because Andriese only lasted two innings for whatever reason but Saturday was similar to regular usage in a different order. Kevin Cash just moved up on my list of managers I'd consider for the Twins. As for the length of games... The MLB front office can conduct that research and interpret in wrong.

Happiness may not be the right word in that context... I'm just not going to fixate on him. The pen is coming around... the guys we need to hold and preserve are showing ability. Hughes will be used in non leverage situations so there is no reason to fixate on him. If Molitor starts using him with the bases loaded and 1 out with a 1 run lead in the 7th. I'll probably start fixating on Molitor.

And I think he can do it!!!

And I think he can do it!!!

I just watched the replay on the Kepler play at the plate. He may have been out but I have no idea how they reverse that. That was flipping close.

You gotta believe Doc... You gotta believe... He can lower that ERA and it starts tomorrow.

I made it home in time to watch that play. If he would have been out... I would've said it was a bonehead move. He wasn't out... so I'm saying it was genius base running and I'll high five him.

15 pages to catch up on. I stopped at page two and decided to work backwards instead.

Close enough!!!

That still counts. He can put the tools of ignorance on so it's the Gardy 3 Catcher Special.

Can never be 100% sure if you are responding correctly to any one's point. But... My response was based on the assumption that he meant... Washington just called up a 19 year old Soto so the Twins could do the same. If I was correct in that assumption... my point was the situations are different. The Nationals calling up Soto so the Twins should do the same isn't a similar comparison. Necessity is the mother of invention. Eaton and Kendrick are done for the year, they ain't coming back creating a massive hole in LF. They can call up Soto and see if he can fill that hole or they can spend the rest of the year treading water with Cave type fill in's. They opted to see if Soto can keep doing it and if he can't they buy some time and probably try to swing a trade down the road to fill the hole. The Nationals probably did not want to start a 19 year old's service clock this soon but he became the most sensible option. The Twins are different... they are expecting Sano back which will move Escobar to SS and eventually Polonco will come back to provide even more depth. To call up Gordon they will have to put him on the 40 man roster and it is quite possible that they will send him back down to the minors not long after they do so he can play every day. Once he is placed on the 40 man roster. It starts his service clock. Soto was placed on the 40 man roster because he had a chance of staying on the roster all year. Providing he doesn't crash and burn. I get the sense that you and others are saying... call up Gordon and Wade and just cut Adrianaza and Grossman(or Cave). I understand why everyone feels that way but my guess is going to be that the Twins front office thinks higher of both Grossman and Adrianaza than you and the others are saying. I've been making this point all along. The Twins had the opportunity to make a trade to upgrade Adrianaza and an opportunity to sign or trade an upgrade over Grossman and they elected not to. They broke camp with Adrianaza and Grossman and this tells me that they felt they could get the job done. This was their dice roll. As for Gordon... my guess is that we won't see him this year unless we have a couple of season ending injuries clearing the path like the Nationals experienced... or a Dozier we ain't making the playoffs trade at the deadline.

I spend high draft picks on both Buxton and Sano in my fantasy draft so my expectations were also high and the pay back thus far disapointing. I think the light switch gets turned on very brightly for both once they grasp that strike zone. If they keep swinging at the stuff out of the zone... it'll take awhile and we don't have that kind of time.

I'll never pretend or participate in a clubhouse leader discussion because I don't know. It seems that asking Buxton to be a clubhouse leader is a ways off since he seems to be seeking advice right now. However... IMO... The front office has designated Buxton as a necessary production leader. When they didn't sign a right handed bat and chose LaMarre. They put all the Eggs in Dozier, Sano and Buxton basket. Molitor has been trying to balance Lefties and Righties all year long. If Dozier is struggling, Sano is hurt and Buxton is hurt and struggling. Then the Right Side is completely drained and the club is going to have a hard time stringing hits together because Molitor has them spaced out evenly. By not signing that Right Handed hitter... the front office is forcing Buxton, Sano and Dozier to be production leaders and that ain't happening. Buxton is critical to getting this team where it wants to go. It isn't about Rah-Rah in the clubhouse. It's simply production during the games.

Not disagreeing but the it should be pointed out that the Nationals have a lot of injuries and a couple of recent long term injuries to the OF with Eaton and Kendrick both being placed on the 60 Day DL. As a result Soto is probably up to stay. If those injuries don't occur, Soto could hit .500 in AA and still not get a roster spot.

It wasn't designed to be a bullpen game. It's an interesting idea. Instead of the starter... starting the first inning. He comes in after the heart of the order bats. Yarborough pitched 6 plus innings after Romo started the first. By Romo going through the top of the order in the 1st. The starter doesn't have to face the Trout 3 times.

It took a long time before people would allow themselves to be vaccinated. To those opposed, it just seemed like a needle in the arm for the hell of it.

We are well into the month of May and it doesn’t seem like we’ve had much AL Central action. It’s about time that we get some. Starting tonight, the Tigers come to town for a 3-game series at Target Field. Since it’s the Tigers… that means that ‘you know who’ is coming to town… the guy whose last name starts with a “G”. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that he was one of us. He was a part of us for such a long time that his face is still probably burned into your memory. Speaking for myself, and I assume others, I wish him nothing but the best. It is indeed a homecoming for Niko Goodrum. Here are some things to think about: Image courtesy of © Rick Osentoski-USA TODAY Sports We are well into the month of May and it doesn’t seem like we’ve had much AL Central action. It’s about time that we get some. Starting tonight, the Tigers come to town for a 3-game series at Target Field. Since it’s the Tigers… that means that ‘you know who’ is coming to town… the guy whose last name starts with a “G”. Love him or hate him, you can’t deny that he was one of us. He was a part of us for such a long time that his face is still probably burned into your memory. Speaking for myself, and I assume others, I wish him nothing but the best. It is indeed a homecoming for Niko Goodrum. Here are some things to think about: 1. Top (Non Trump) News Story of the Day: Harry and Meghan got married on Saturday in front of Elton John and a few others. Even if it was an American gal, for the life of me I don’t understand why we care at all on this side of the pond. But obviously we do care because 29.2 million viewers in the U.S. tuned in to watch the wedding. It was broadcast on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, E, TLC, Univision, BBC America and even HBO. So, with so many channels broadcasting the same thing, who won? NBC did with 6.4 million viewers. Although, I will say that I won because I woke up, turned on the TV, scrolled the channels, saw what was happening, quickly turned the television off and went out and mowed my lawn instead. My wife heard the lawn mower and ran out to tell me that the neighbors were going to complain about mowing at 6AM. Sure enough, my neighbor did come out in pajamas to complain. He said that he was trying to watch the wedding and the lawn mower was making it hard to hear. 2. Our Twins: I think it’s safe to say that the Twins have not been playing inspiring baseball. However… the Twins are still only 2 games behind the Indians for 1st place. So, imagine what happens when they become inspired. It’s important for them to know that it is going to be OK… if Plan A fails… there are 25 other letters. 3. The Tigers: Ron Gardenhire currently has 1,088 victories as a major league manager which ranks 54th on the all-time list. That means only 53 managers since the dawn of time have won more games. Ron is even better on the all-time lost list ranking 46th with 1,064 losses. Connie Mack is the greatest manager of all time with 3,948 losses. BTW… with John Hicks on the Tigers roster, they of course… have 3 catchers. 4. Today’s Joe M Conversation: Maddon: All right, guys, gather ‘round and tell me what you hear. Maddon’s Iphone: Laurel Mauer: Cool… this is that internet thing. Maddon’s Iphone: Laurel Morgan: I heard Laurel Montana: What? Are you crazy? It said Yanni. Maddon: Morgan, sit down… relax. Maddon’s Iphone: Laurel McCarthy: Yanni Mauer: Definetly Yanni Maddon: Joe… Joe… relax now. Deep breaths now, Morgan… I hear Laurel, too... it’s okay. Morgan: You should… the man said Laurel… I don’t know what you two are up to… the man said Laurel. I’ll beat you both to a pulp if you don’t knock it off with that Yanni crap. Mauer: Play it again. Maddon’s Iphone: Laurel Morgan: See… Laurel Montana: Once again… Yanni Morgan: I don’t know why I hang around with the bunch of you. I don’t like you, Montana. Maddon: Just another thing to divide us all. McCarthy: We need to take off the ‘United’ and just call it 'The States' pretty soon. 5. New Doctor: I’m looking for a new doctor. At my appointment a couple of weeks ago, she grabbed my tie, checked her watch, declared me dead, and then left the room. ____________________ Lineups: TIGERS Leonys Martin(L) CF Nick Castellanos(R ) RF Victor Martinez(S) DH John Hicks(R ) 1B Niko Goodrum(S) 3B James McCann(R ) C JaCoby Jones(R ) LF Jose Iglesias(R ) SS Dixon Machado(R ) 2B Blaine Hardy(L) P TWINS Brian Dozier(R ) 2B Max Kepler(L) RF Eduardo Escobar(S) 3B Eddie Rosario(L) LF Mitch Garver(R ) C Logan Morrison(L) 1B Robbie Grossman(S) DH Ehire Adrianza(S) SS Byron Buxton(R ) CF Jose Berrios(R ) P Gametime forecast: low 60's, cloudy with a chance of rain, winds at 6mph from the ESE. View full article

It started rough but has been improving in my opinion. I have a reasonable amount of faith in all of the current members. This faith will probably be rollercoasteresque but my current thermometer reading is alright.

I just did an internet search to find out what punctuation meant. Turns out it as something to do with being on-time.