Riverbrian

It was Tampa over the weekend and it's Miami tonight as the state of Minnesota gets visited by the state of Florida. This is unique because typically it is Minnesotans who snowbird their way to Florida for warmer climes. Floridians don’t come to Minnesota unless they are kidnapped, bound, gagged and stuffed into a trunk of a car traveling to Minnesota. The kidnapped, bound, gagged and stuffed into a trunk of a car part is a regular occurrence in Florida but the car actually traveling to Minnesota is something that just doesn’t usually happen. The 2016 Minnesota Twins are lot like Florida… surrounded by alligators with sharp teeth and strong jaws that clamp on and do that spin thing that they do. Let’s watch them spin 'round and 'round while thinking about some Things to Think About: It was Tampa over the weekend and it's Miami tonight as the state of Minnesota gets visited by the state of Florida. This is unique because typically it is Minnesotans who snowbird their way to Florida for warmer climes. Floridians don’t come to Minnesota unless they are kidnapped, bound, gagged and stuffed into a trunk of a car traveling to Minnesota. The kidnapped, bound, gagged and stuffed into a trunk of a car part is a regular occurrence in Florida but the car actually traveling to Minnesota is something that just doesn’t usually happen. The 2016 Minnesota Twins are lot like Florida… surrounded by alligators with sharp teeth and strong jaws that clamp on and do that spin thing that they do. Let’s watch them spin 'round and 'round while thinking about some Things to Think About: 1. Old People – Florida has a lot of old people living in the state. Low taxes, warm weather, effective marketing, available real estate and a herd mentality has brought senior citizens down to Florida from all over the place to retire. Yes… Old People have a herd mentality that bands them together. They are genetically programmed to cluster together due to an unstoppable primal force of nature. When they are under attack from predators… they defend themselves like sardines… forming a tight ball while the dolphins and seagulls swoop in and promise them lower prescription drug prices and Medicare. They get picked off one by one on the edges but the core in the middle of the ball remain strong. After they are done feeding… the predators go back to Washington. 2. The Fountain of Youth – Ponce De Leon landed on the shores nearby St. Augustine in 1513. He mistakenly thought he had landed on an island but was corrected when more land was found to the North by a guy named George who was just wandering around drunk on rum. This new island that wasn’t really an island that was discovered by Ponce and Captain Jon Baker was named “Florida” which means “Mother of J.J. Evans.” The locals would tell them stories of nearby waters so restorative that those who drank or bathed in the waters were forever young. The Fountain of Youth does exist… Don Johnson is the only one who knows the location and he isn’t telling anyone. 3. Warm Water – Because of the Gulf Stream and other factors… water temperatures around Florida are typically around 10 thousand degrees and this provides the perfect environment for the growth of Hurricanes and Manatees. In Minnesota… the temperature of the water in our 10 thousand lakes is typically around 45 Below and this provides the perfect environment for the growth of hot dish and fur. 4. Oranges – Florida is famous for production of the orange because the state gets plenty of sunshine and plenty of rainfall. Farmers were spoiled because this allowed them to grow all kinds of things unhindered by agriculturally destructive elements such as the cold and those Zamboni’s that routinely drive over crops in Canada. With all the sun and rain… farmers were able to grow unique things like palm trees and olives which led to Florida becoming the top producer of dish soap. One day an inventive farmer mixed together red and yellow and the rest is history… the orange was created. 5. Introducing the Ocean – Many years ago… I planned a Riverbrian family road trip down to Disney World in Orlando. My sons were young then… perhaps 10 and 6... and they had never seen the ocean before. So I put that on the itinerary because I wanted to give them these types of experiences to broaden their young horizons. They didn’t know that they hadn’t been to the ocean before because we had been to Lake of the Woods and that was big enough, so I told them it was the ocean and they believed me. As we rolled out of Orlando and headed east… I was so excited for them. I could see them playing in the surf… laughing and smiling… trying to jump into the waves and drinking salt water… it was going to be awesome. We pulled into the parking lot and got out of the car and that’s when my wife started to smear about 20 tubes of sunscreen on them. As you know this process takes about 3 days to complete and while the boys were standing there getting gooped up by Mom, my youngest was attacked by ants. Tons of them… crawling up and down his legs and biting him repeatedly and he was in extreme pain. Once you realize what is going on… you do what any parent would do… both my wife and I immediately started beating on his legs excessively in an effort to get the ants off of him. Let’s just say… if you are observing this from a distance… you probably won’t see the ants. ____________________ Lineups: MARLINS Ichiro Suzuki (L) LF Martin Prado[R] 3B Christian Yelich (L) DH Giancarlo Stanton [R] RF Marcell Ozuna [R] CF J.T. Realmuto [R] C Chris Johnson [R] 1B Derek Dietrich (L) 2B Adeiny Hechavarria [R] SS Adam Conley (L) P TWINS Eduardo Nunez [R] SS Robbie Grossman (S) LF Joe Mauer (L) 1B Trevor Plouffe [R] 3B Brian Dozier [R] 2B Byung-ho Park [R] DH Max Kepler (L) RF Kurt Suzuki [R] C Byron Buxton [R] CF Pat Dean (L) P Game-time forecast: Overcast, but only a 1% chance of rain; winds at 4mph from the NW. Go Twins! View full article

Lots of talk about trades that need to be made. I don't like being this harsh but I honestly don't trust the room of people in charge of making these trades. When this many mistakes have been made... the lack of confidence that follows is only natural. I still like Terry Ryan. I think he's a stand up guy from what I can tell. He has my respect but not my confidence. I think more damage can still be done and I'm more comfortable with them being hands off until a new leader can be handed the keys. I think it's real simple. Play all the players and let the players help determine the course. If Molitor doesn't trust Arcia to give him playing time... I will answer that with... I don't trust Molitor to determine if he should trust Arcia because I assume that Molitor was in the decision making room. Why should I simply trust any of them going forward? And what happens going forward is crucial starting yesterday.

Here's another smaller thing to ponder: Omar Infante is owed 16 million on his current contract. He is currently hitting .239 with no dingers and his butt has been placed on the bench. Higher expectations and a willingness to eat some cash could be considered differences.

I love this quote from Dayton Moore "It's not as simple as saying, 'This is what's going to happen in Year 1 and Year 2.' That's bull. If you make enough good decisions, three-year plans turn into two-year plans and five-year plans turn into three-year plans. If you make bad decisions, 10-year plans turn into no plan."

True but that's also not that simple. Cain wasn't Cain yet. He was a light hitting defensive guy at the time of the trade and they also had Francour and Lough manning RF so OF wasn't exactly blocking Myers. Also... Let me amend my earlier question and phrase it better... like I intended. Would you want Terry Ryan? Trading Buxton, Meyer and Gonsalves for what he felt was a Shields type starter.

The Royals... like the Twins tried to build without spending gobs of cash. Dayton Moore managed to keep his job after years of struggling like Terry Ryan. After that... I don't see many things that are comparable. I remember reading reports that Dayton was out of lengthy rope when he abruptly changed course and put it all on red with the Myers, Odorizzi and Montgomery deal for Shields. Let's not forget about Montgomery he was pretty nice prospect as well. Dayton had to produce a winner or he was gone and I assume this caused him to part with lots of prospects for someone to sit on top of the rotation... actually to fill out his terrible rotation. The Fans hated the move and they probably hated Dayton Moore and the trade probably required a stronger adjective than hate toward Dayton Moore. If the Royals didn't win after the deal... Not only would he be fired but restaurants would refuse service when he tried to order some burnt ends. "Give up Wil Myers did ya... Get out of here". It was desperation that caused him to finally risk it all and when he did... he completely broke away from any Terry Ryan model. He may have declared that he was following the Twins model but it didn't bring him home. As for Wade Davis... In my opinion... he got really lucky but hey... that happens sometimes and he does get credit for that luck because he has a history of turning failed starters into bullpen assets. Hochevar and Duffy for example. Wade Davis was really young (23 and 24 years old) but very average his first two years as a starter for the Rays. In his third year with the Rays at age 25... He was moved to the bullpen... He didn't get a single start that year. No Saves and only 6 holds so lower leverage stuff but his K/9 jumped from 5.14 as starter to 11.13 in the Rays pen. Dayton Moore... I'm just guessing... probably agrees to Wade Davis because Tampa had no idea what they had (neither did Moore I'm guessing) and KC was desperate for starting pitching and his job is on the line. Jeremy Guthrie and Bruce Chen were all they had!!! So Dayton acquires Ervin Santana in an earlier deal and later pulls the trigger on the Shields/Davis Trade to complete the rotation. Dayton's plan went wrong because Davis started 24 games and produced a 5.32 ERA and he was Phil Hughes'd into the bullpen and then the magic happened. Think about this: If this is truly trading places... Terry Ryan just might be in that same desperate to keep your job situation that caused Dayton to trade Wil Myers and Jake Odorizzi and Mike Montgomery. Buxton... Meyer and Gonsalves for who? That would be a comparable trade to what Moore did with his back against the wall. Does anyone want Terry Ryan to make that trade for a Shields type starter?

If I was Trevor... I would be begging Molitor for the chance to play other positions. Begging and bringing gifts to bribe. His market is limited as a 3B only. If he shows he can play OF along with 3B and 1B. He just increased his value and his odds of having a longer career.

I didn't make that determination. Terry Ryan did... Terry Ryan decided against a youth movement. The Twins should have torn it down and gone youth movement... 5 years ago. They didn't and now we have Nolasco and Hughes. I would have simply worked under the assumption that something clicked a little last year so... let's see what we can do to help them in 2016 and I think most GM's would have done the same. Getting younger wouldn't have helped that. 2016 is a disaster... I'm all for going young now. In the off-season... I was not.

The awesome thing about going the wrong direction is the ability to stop and turn around and go the right direction. This appears to be the part that the Twins are struggling with. I have fully supported Sano in RF but after watching the result... I recommend turning around. I agree with your comment on versatility. You have to be at least competent. The part where we may disagree is that I believe that there are a lot of MLB players who are shackled at one position when they could be playing more and should be playing more positions. For the teams benefit and theirs. Sano may not be one of those players and in my mind his move to RF has now become just another reference point for the multitude of missed assessments made because they are still trying to make it work. I supported the move and I'm saying... OK... start turning back around now. They are still trying to make it work.

Coming off of last year (lucky or not)... I would have been keeping Vet players and looking for some more. Now that 2016 has happened... I'm keeping youth.

Plouffe didn't force them into a box with Sano. The Twins determined that Sano could play RF. This may end up being one of many wrong determinations made by the front office.

I won't defend the Twins Front Office evaluations of the players... they can't be defended but if you believe that Sano can play RF and I think the Twins did. The Twins are a better team with Sano and Plouffe in the lineup. Did it turn out that way... No it didn't... But if you believe that Sano can play RF giving Plouffe away would be incredibly questionable. Turns out... Sano may not be able to play RF everyday and this makes Sano as the everyday RF questionable. Full Disclosure: I have been a consistent supporter of Sano in RF since the experiment was announced. I still don't mind the occasional start in RF for him now and in the future but based on his play... everyday in RF does not seem like good future planning going forward to me. I think the Twins have to be coming to that same conclusion and this means at some point... they will slam Sano back into 3B and that moment will come when Plouffe is no longer with the Twins. It's got to happen so the Twins should get out front and start giving Sano occasional starts at 3B when he gets off the DL. Instead of just slamming him back because they need a 3B after Plouffe is gone. The rest of 2016 should be used to prep for these type scenarios.. in my opinion.

Kab is talking about this past off season. From the outside it doesn't look like there was a decent trade market for 3B yet everyone seems to be worked up because he wasn't traded or basically given away. I have no idea if the Twins tried to deal Plouffe or not but if you look at how cheaply Frazier and Lawrie came to the White Sox. How cheaply Escobar was sent to the Angels and how Alverez and Freese were not being signed until really really late in the off season and it looks pretty obvious that the Twins would have given Plouffe away and if that's the case... He has more value simply playing for the Twins instead. That's the part that Kab is talking about and I agree with him on this. Now that the Royals and Mets have some injury issues to address at 3B and maybe some other teams are not happy with their 3B production... maybe the market will loosen up and this may justify the trading of Trevor. I have no idea how the market will ebb or flow... just speculation from the outside on my part.

I don't know... A hundred sounds like a lot... Schulz would have needed time to produce that many.

I wish I knew how to put your "Arghhhh" in a cartoon bubble http://i.stack.imgur.com/QSFeU.png

LOL In the context of our discussion. I'm the guy in the suit... You are the Furry thing.

It's not the quantity It's the quality.

Turning Japanese Movements 1 through 12 in G Major.

Post of the Night

It ain't the kind of place that I would raise my kids. It's actually cold as hell.

I just got back

OK but it's going to be hard to fit on the those little title strips in the jukebox. http://www.cdadapter.com/images/wrfplay.jpg

How would you know? Do ya track that type of stuff for a living or something? I've never typed anything inaccurate!!! The sentence directly above is actually inaccurate!!!