Riverbrian

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.

I know we are just 3 days in. Your roster has gone from 10 to 18 pre-arb players. With 4 position players traded and Buxton on the IL... you have added 5 pre-arb players to the position side. Your roster now contains 11 players with less than 3 years experience out of 13. That's 11 out of 13. Here's why I bring this up. You have 13 roster spots for DEVELOPMENT. If you are not utilizing all 13 spots for DEVELOPMENT. You are in the way and you need to get out of the way. If you are only utilizing 11 out of 13 roster spots. You are choosing to ignore two roster spots and not allow those two roster spots to be a part of the solution. You need to find out who will help you in 2026. That's your job now. If you have players on the 26 man roster that you don't believe in. They need to get off the roster and their spots need to be given to someone you will allow to compete for playing time. If there isn't anyone? If the organization can't cobble together 13 players with potential upside that could benefit from MLB exposure. After 8 years of DEVELOPMENT... After an influx of young players from a pretty busy trade deadline. If after all that... you can't find 13 players with upside... Your boss needs to go along with you. You don't need to hold players for pinch hitting, pinch running or any kind of pinching. You need to see who wants a job in 2026. You need to utilize all 13 roster spots. I bring this up because there are two players that you haven't touched yet and there is reason to assume that you ain't that confident in them. Now forgive me... because it's only 3 days since the trade deadline. I realize it is too soon to be this preemptively direct. Your job is to develop. Don't even think about wasting roster spots... AFTER ALL OF THIS... After all of this selling. If you fail to develop... AFTER All of this... after all of this selling... the future result of this deadline will be compromised... the road back will last as long as the development problem exists. If you think you know who will be successful and who won't be successful... AFTER ALL OF THIS... after all of this selling! I need to point out that your assessments of talent prior TO ALL OF THIS... LED TO ALL OF THIS. Knock it off... get the hell out of the way. Let the players tell you who will be helping us out next year and beyond. Sincerely, Riverbrian

First Left handed starter since the trade deadline. The Twins went from 4 pure left handed hitters to 7. Rocco can't hide 7 left handers so yesterdays starting lineup contained 4 right handed hitters and 4 left handed hitters and 1 switch hitter. Here are the tally's. Right handed hitters 3 for 18 - 2 singles 1 double 0 walks 7 K's. Left handed hitters: 5 for 13 - 4 singles 1 triple 3 walks 3 K's. Brooks Lee switch hitter: 0 for 4 - 0 -3 against LHP with two K's. Simple 0-1 vs RHP. Final totals Right handed Hitters - 3-21 with 9 K's Left handed hitters - 5-14 with 3 K's It's one game... it means nothing. Just pointing it out because it needs to be pointed out. We faced one of the 25% and survived without a lineup stacked to the right handed hitting rafters.

If it's Rocco's Fault... Ultimately... that means its Falvey's fault. It's the people who hire the people. If Rocco isn't handling the team the way the front office designed it. He isn't going to be extended. The roster was not as talented as they thought.

Decimation of bullpen. I assume you meant to type bullpen. It happens to me. There was a time I was trying to text my wife to tell her that "chipmunks climbed her bird feeder pole". And for some reason... I typed "airplane flew into the garage". It happens. Fat fingers I guess. I couldn't figure out why she came rushing home after the text.

Actions always speak louder than words.

You are making me chuckle a bit when I'm trying to drink coffee. Your anger over it all is probably a little over the top if it is spilling onto Corey Provus. Did you really expect Corey Provus to counterpoint Falvey (His Boss) into the ground in front of everyone? It doesn't work that way. Propagandists? Of course they are. We all are.

I don't necessarily agree that this helped the sale of the team but you raise a real good point in one simple question. Many are angry and accusing Falvey of doing this in a money grab at owneships behest to help facilitate a deal that you are all praying will happen. Well... What do you want Twins faithful? A sale of the team... You want the Pohlads out but then accuse them of doing something (granted a loud gesture) in order to make the sale more possible. How many ways do you want it. The bitching if off the charts. Many people typed Sell Sell Sell. Well they sold... many asked for it. I'd say the majority on this website were asking for it. Is the anger now because they sold sold sold sold sold which is 5 solds when you asked for only 3 sells. Was anyone expecting them to do exactly what you requested when you requested it?

Big Change from the last series but our Minnesota Twins have jumped dramatically to 17 Pre-Arb Players. Players with less than 3 years experience to be exact. Royce Lewis is under 3 years service but not pre-arb but I'm going to continue to count him because it takes less research. I'm not sure how this massive jump happened. Maybe someone could shed some light on it. Cleveland for comparison sake as of today have 20 Pre-Arb players on their current roster. The Twins took the all at once approach. Cleveland has built and maintained their approach. The Twins as of today are 51-58 while Cleveland is 55-54.