Riverbrian

Great Story

Interesting read... Thanks for posting. There is nuance in everyone. Terry Ryan may not be a robot but he does speak awfully monotone.

Knocked her flat... She didn't have a chance. Bowled her little body right over... Right to the ground. The coffee ended up staining the wall. She also cleans the building at night for a little extra on her paycheck... so I'm sure she will clean it right up. I learned a few lessons... 1. Don't read what you printed off on your way back from the copier 2. No matter who was at fault in the collision. Your Co-workers will assume that it wasn't the fault of the 60 year old female lying on the ground. 3 Women at that age make a funny sound. It isn't the "Ooof" type sound that you would imagine.

I read the entire quote from Terry Ryan. I honestly see absolutely nothing wrong with it. Seemed pretty straightforward to me. However, I also didn't see our 60 year old business manager carrying coffee back to her office when I collided with her this morning. We all see different things I guess.

Yeah... That sounds like something you need to be treated for after a trip to New Guinea.

Mr. Hocking... Mr. Intangible... As Long as Jacque Jones isn't around to step on any fingers or toes. It may work out.

"The Time of Regular Punto" It was also a great description of my bachelor days.

The Ol' what came first... The Chicken or the Egg. I can't argue with that. It's a good point. Although... I'll probably remain an Egg guy. You are obviously a chicken.

Good point but did we have a better alternative during that time of regular Punto? And I'd like to point out that the Twins had winning seasons during the time of regular Punto. Bad stats aside... He must have provided something that helped us win games. Does he provide an intangible that is hard to quantify? Are we missing that intangible right now? I'd like to copyright the phrase "The Time of Regular Punto" I came up with it... It's mine. Maybe T-Shirts could be made?

Cousin Babe?

I was just trying to come up with a scenerio where A.J. Yells at a big blue statue. It isn't as easy as it seems.

1. Tanaka signs elsewhere. No one will know if the Twins placed a bid or for how much. Someone will conclude that Tanaka signing elsewhere was due to Twins Front Office apathy or frugality. 2. Welcome Back A.J. Pierzynski. Pinto makes the club out of ST... Mauer plays 1B Fulltime. Doumit is dangled until someone agrees to take him. He will DH or RF the majority of his playing time. 3. No doubt... It will be a pitcher. 4. Sano will appear when Plouffe gets hurt of is benched for the final time. Terry Ryan will be hoping that Plouffe stays healthy until Super Two Day. Whenever that is. 5. Duensing stays. The Twins will loyally pay it and Duensing will be just fine. Now the Ad Ons: 6. Pierzynski, Pinto, Plouffe, Parmelee and Presley will have great 2014 Seasons. Pelfrey resigns and has a great 2014... So do Perkins and Pressly... Unfortunately... Anyone whose last name doesn't start with a P... Does not have a good year. 7. A.J. Pierzynski will admonish Michael Tonkin for spelling Golf Gulf. 8. Sometime during 2014... Chris Colabello will be called out for stepping out of the batters box and stepping on third base while swinging. 9. Encouraged by the rapid Growth of Kohl Stewart... The Twins draft another College QB with the 5th pick overall. Unfortunately Teddy Bridgewater signs with the Jaguars instead. 10. The Twins Caravan will make its final voyage after driving into Lake Bemidji after knocking over Paul Bunyan in a bad case of distracted driving... Babe the Blue Ox is unharmed but is admonished by A.J. Pierzynski for not protecting Paul and just standing there like some big dumb Ox.

I love the description "Top Step of the Dugout" It's perfect.

I can't speak for Vodkadave and I'm sure that Vodkadave will speak for himself... But Of Course he isn't saying that. Speaking for myself... It's important to point out that Punto is still here and in a major league uniform. Guys like Punto are supposed to be pushed out by now... It's been 4 years of prospects piling into the majors since Punto has left the Twins. It isn't just Gardenhire that was keeping Punto on the roster because of some sort of unique to Gardy Punto love. He is still here and getting a major league paycheck. Tony LaRussa, Bobby Valentine, Don Mattingly also see the value of Nick Punto because he is still here. Apart from the half a year spent in Boston... The teams that Nick Punto is playing on have been winners. Punto ain't hurting them... He may actually be helping. Punto clearly brings something of value because he is still here and it ain't his stats. What is it? I don't know... But I wonder if the discussion in this thread has something to do with it. As for Joe... I don't care if he is a leader or not... Let Joe be Joe... But if nobody in the locker room steps up to fill that void. Then you have a problem in my mind. I have no idea what it's like in the Twins clubhouse and I won't pretend. I'll just say that watching them is like watching a bunch of librarians. I'm not a "Act like you've been there before" guy. I like watching Sam Deduno fist pump after someone makes a play or he gets a key out. Why do I have to wait for the playoffs to watch players pump their fists in happiness over an out in the 6th inning. I loved watching Torii flip over the wall in Boston the other night. I loved watching Torii plow full speed into catchers. I loved the Dan Gladded hard nose style. I loved watching the Juan Berenguer celebration even if he scared the hell out of me each time he took the mound. I loved watching Nick Punto dive head first into first. It's stupid and I'd tell him he could get hurt if he kept doing it but I love it the message it sends to the rest of the squad and would never dream of stopping it. Deduno pitches like it's game 7 of the World Series when the team is 15 games back in June. I don't see that type of urgency from anyone else on the roster. Who tells Plouffe that he should have got to that ball? Who tells Mauer that he could have tripled on that Double? Someone like A.J. would surely say something even it pissed them off and maybe it needs to be said. Maybe it is said... I don't know... Maybe Doumit or Willingham is that guy... I don't know... but I keep seeing the same stuff over and over again. I started this thread not to bash Mauer or support Punto... I'm simply saying... Is it possible that we have a leadership void in the Twins clubhouse. I don't know and the responses have been interesting thus far.

Cano will get paid by someone. The TV money may drive prices up a tish. I would not rule out the Dodgers... Especially if they don't win the WS. The Yankees will be competitive with any offer made by other teams... No matter how they are acting now. The Twins have no chance. Even if they did have a chance. It would drain the money Pohlad kinda promised we would spend. I assume that money ain't endless and we need pitching.

I've been thinking about something Lavelle E. Neal said on KFAN a week or four ago. He said something along the lines of the Twins Clubhouse being Library like. He may have said something about the Twins clubhouse being a reflection of Mauers personality. I think he did... Maybe I just took it there on my own. He also said something along the lines of it it being very noticeable when you walk into the clubhouse of other teams and see and feel this energy that is absent with the Twins. So I'm thinking about it... Now I'm thinking about Dan Gladden... Torii Hunter... A.J... These guys had grit and an extroverted style and we used to win when they played for us. This leads to more questions that I don't know the answer to. Does it matter? Can you quietly produce a winning team? Is Joe Mauer the unquestioned leader? If he is... Should he be?

Probably a little of both... No doubt tho... The Cards have got it going on.

No doubt... But the bullpen didn't hold the lead and it put Prince on the stage with a tie game. What would have happened in extra innings. No way of knowing. Detroit wasn't given a chance to survive the bullpen failing because of Prince.

Its a theory... Maybe they do... Maybe they don't... Personally I don't agree but We've seen our fair share of Puntos, Tolberts and Butera's over the years.

I don't know if I can add anything to this discussion. I agree with Chief... Thanks Brandon for the topic and I look forward to your other points. When it comes to defense... I've always been a defense guy so I'm always going to be biased in that direction. I've tried to swim in the different defensive metric waters out there and come away as not impressed with them. I believe they are half baked... So to me... It comes down to this. I don't think you can really quantify defense when taking it as a whole across a season or career. To me... It's individual moments inside a game. Many games go by with routine play after routine play and defense good or bad just doesn't matter but every once in awhile a moment of defensive definition happens and when it does it influences ERA and it influences Wins and Losses when it happens. I guess I've seen it too many times. Just like Bartman in Chicago... A potential out was not an out and the floodgates opened. No error was given on the play but if a catch was made at that time the result may have been different. You can go through a season and determine that Ben Revere made 15 catches(for example) that he shouldn't have made. When you calculate how many catches he made it isn't going to look like a big whoop. But in that individual game... One of those 15 catches may have prevented a double and that double may have been followed by 2 Singles and a home run that didn't happen because the catch allowed the team to go sit in the dug out instead. One catch can keep 5 runs off the board. Those 5 runs will lower ERA. Defense is always going to be huge in my mind. One ball that gets through the hole on Trevor Plouffe that Brett Lawrie would have had will not show up as an error and it sometimes happens when Pitchers NEED IT. With the Bases loaded and One Out. Follow that missed double play ball with a home run and ERA's will climb and pretty soon we hate our pitchers. Look at the Tigers Ninth Inning Last night. Who knows what the outcome would have been but... I have no problem saying that we won't know what the outcome would have been because Prince Fielder cost them the game right there in the ninth. Iglasias probably should have hung on to that ball but Fielder should have knocked it down. Fielder also should have made that catch by the stands. The Fans were causing a problem but it went off his glove first... That was on Prince. Prince is amazing and his bat has won some games for Detroit but his defense was an issue in the loss last night. For that Game... His defense mattered.

We have no idea what the Twins thought of Wacha so it's tough to hang the Twins for the Cards drafting this guy. Byron Buxton was our first round pick for that year. I don't believe that Wacha was going over Buxton. As for the Cards developing Wacha. If they did... It happened quickly. What I saw in Spring Training was soon after being drafted and all reports are that he hit the ground running in 2012. He moved up the Farm Ladder in quick time after being drafted. I think we are looking at a case of some teams missing on him for some reason so he fell to the Cards. The Twins with the 2nd pick overall and Byron Buxton drafted... were not one of those teams that missed... In my opinion.

(Intercom) Secretary: Ron Gardenhire Line 4 (Terry Ryan picks up phone) Ryan: Hello Ron... How are things in Little Canada. Gardy: I'm actually in Canada this week. Ryan: Why Canada? Gardy: No reason at all... I took a wrong turn and crashed through a checkpoint... There will probably be something in the paper about it. Don't believe what you read tomorrow... It was accidental. Anyway... The reason I'm calling... I've been working on some research. Interesting stuff... Its early in my analysis but... It turns out that pitchers who can strike batters out is a good thing. A.J Burnett, Ubaldo and Tim Lincecum are 3 guys who can do that sort of thing. We could get them for about 15 million... 3 to 4 years... 45 to 60 million. Ryan: That is solid research you are doing and my guys like all 3 of them. We've been kicking around 20 million a year to bring them in if that's what it takes. Hold on... (Pause) (Back on intercom) Ryan: If Ron is on line 4... Who is on line 1,2 and 3? Secretary: your wife is on line 1... Seth Stohs is on line 2... Jim Pohlad is on line 3. Ryan: They've been on hold all this time? Secretary: Well... Yeah... You can only take one phone call at a time. (Back on Phone) Ryan: Ron... I'm gonna put you on hold. (punches another line) Ryan: Seth.. I apologize for keeping you on hold (dial tone) (back on intercom) Call Seth Stohs back... Sincerely apologize and send him Cubans for the inconvenience. (Punches another line) Ryan: Hey Jim... Sorry to keep you waiting... It's busy here. Jim: Sounds like it... I was just calling for an update on your plans going forward. Ryan: Going good... We have zeroed in on Burnett, Jimenez and Lincecum... We figure they will cost about 20 Million each. Jim: That's 60 Million... Umm... Nope I don't think so... Well I was just checking in... Keep up the good work and Keep me posted as you go along. (punches another line) Ryan: Sorry bout that Ron Gardy: It's Ok... Your busy... So what did you think about my idea? Strikeout Pitchers for 2014 (Intercom) Secretary: Seth Stohs Line 2 Ryan: Ron I gotta go... Strikeout pitchers... Nope I don't believe in them. (punches another line) Ryan: Seth how you doing? Are you coming out to the cabin next week. Standing invitation as always.

The Twins never call me... I've been waiting and beginning to think it won't happen.

Great defense behind great pitching would be demoralizing to the offense facing it. It would be like boarding a Cruise Ship that you knew was going to sink. Nervously... You board the ship and the ship doesn't sink but you drown in the pool.

Good D is huge... Games are often decided by the big inning. Just like the bunt can prevent your team from producing a big inning. Bad Defense... A bad play or a Bartman can extend an inning and help the other team produce a big inning. Good defense... A play made... Stops the big inning. D is huge in my opinion.