Riverbrian

I remember that... it was rough on the people of Alexandria. They had to drive all the way to Sauk Centre to check out a book and all they had was Sinclair Lewis and no books explaining why they use the British spelling of "Centre".

I understand what you are saying when you say "can only have so many high performing players on your roster". History says that you are correct. I am saying that those limitations you mention are at least partially self imposed when you say "get used to Margot and Vazquez" and I will throw in Farmer. You don't like the odds of churn from the bottom... I don't either when I have to get used to struggling vets because they can't be replaced. So... how about churn from the trade deadline then. I'm not going to make any outlandish claims that I know that Keirsay Jr is ticketed for 100 Plus OPS Plus. But I will claim that Margot is 78 OPS+. He's the next man up when injury happens. I wouldn't lock that in because injuries happen. The Yankees can lock in on Torres and Verdugo... that's their choice. They can send down Ben Rice if Rizzo comes back... that's their self imposing decision.

I have no real complaint with the hitting... other than my complaints with the back end of the roster and I'd like to see the back end improved. Last year I complained about the strikeouts. It was just too much and would have liked to seen a decent hitter that puts the ball in play more. I'm much happier with this offense even if the OPS is about the same. This year... I'd like to see Margot replaced with someone who could push the next tier down. We don't know who will be healthy come playoff time. I never look at 9 players and say we are set. If someone is replacable on the roster... I'm ok with replacing them. Keep culling from the bottom until the bottom is raised.

I was talking to a friend this morning about the Twins. He was griping about the team like he usually does and I defended the Twins like I usually do. I read that line and told him that the Twins have won 9 of their last 10 series. Now I have to call him back and correct myself. Which he is going to cause him to think his griping is correct and worse yet. Next time I'm riding in a car with him... I'm going to tell him about the deer that is crossing the road and he isn't going to trust what I'm saying and he's going to strike the deer and I will end up with an antler lodged in my face. 😉

The head to head matchups with Cleveland and Kansas City will obviously be critical but if Cleveland run away with the AL Central crown the wild card spot is still in play for the Twins and that makes every game against every team critical. Starting pitching health is going to be the most important factor. Come playoff time... a manager can manage with a two or three starters. However, getting to the playoffs, making the playoffs is much harder with holes in the rotation. I expect injuries to come because it's pitching and injuries always come. The injuries to come will test our depth beyond Lopez, Ryan, Ober, Woods-Richardson, Paddack and Festa. What can Dobnak or Zebby or Varland do when they are called upon. They will be called upon. As far as the offense is concerned... as much as I complain about the strict platooning being done and as much as I question the necessity for Margot and Farmer types on the roster to maintain the platooning they are fully committed to. From a team results standpoint... I don't have a leg to stand on. That doesn't mean that I will stop complaining about our strict commitment to the platoon system we use but I do recognize that the Twins have gone from setting a strikeout record in 2023 to ranked 9th best in the K department. I also recognize that the Twins offense is: Runs: 9th BA: 9th HR: 9th OBP: 7th SLG: 5th OPS: 6th That's pretty good With concerns about starting pitching depth and regression... along with an offense that is clicking pretty good... I know this is going to sound odd but I'm going to stick with what I said this off-season. The Pitching isn't going to be as good as last year. Fedde of Flaherty isn't going to change that. We need more offense to cover for the pitching that won't be as good. The Rangers showed everybody last year that your offense can make up for pitching deficiency. Starting pitching is expensive to acquire. Zebby and Festa are going to be needed today and into the future. I like the current team offensive stats but I also recognize that in 2023 we ranked pretty good as well. Runs: 10th BA: 21st HR: 3rd OBP: 12 SLG: 7th OPS: 7th Pretty comparable to last year with a big improvement in K's and batting average at a little bit of expense to homers... just to end up with nearly identical OPS and runs scored. IMO... the offense was still SHORT in the playoffs. In the end... Starting pitching will determine if we make the playoffs... Hitting will determine if we win some games in the playoffs. One last thing... Bullpen. It's ok... but we really need a left handed arm. IMO... The most unsteady members of our bullpen are the left handers. As it stands today: Orioles: 5 left handed hitters (Cowser, Henderson, O'Hearn, Mullins and Holliday) Yankees; 6 left handed hitters (Verdugo, Soto, Wells, Chisholm, Rice and Grisham) Red Sox: 6 left handed hitters (Duran, Yoshida, Devers, Abreu, Smith and Hamilton) or switch hitters Guardians: 4 Left handed hitters (Kwan, Gimenez and the Naylors) Royals: 5 left handed hitters (Pasquatch, Melendez, Massey, Isbel and Frazier) KC Left handers don't scare me that much. Astros: 2 left handed hitters (Alverez and Singleton) Tucker will be back just the combination of Tucker and Yordan requires someone who can get them out. Mariners: Not worth mentioning... They are terrible in the left handed batters box. Only Luke Raley can utter a little boo to scare anyone just a little. Bottom Line on the bullpen. We can't spend all of this time worrying about our left handed hitters and not worry about our left handed pitchers. If the splits are severe enough that we must pinch hit Wallner early so he doesn't have to face them in the 5th inning... Shouldn't we have some left handed arms of our own so we can attack the guys listed above come playoff time.

Sometimes he stares too long before he moves. Like Delmon Young.

Most doctors that I've spoken with are generally in agreement that holding your breath is a bad idea. The only time I'd recommend holding your breath is while free diving or entering a porta-potty at WE Fest.

It fits 1. Your Tender Age obviously. 2. On Twinsdaily you consistently display the ability to plow straight forward for long distances. 3. You can also go sideways hard in the blink of an eye.

If this was chess... you are seeing the whole board.

Logic perfectly applied. If this was Chess... You are seeing the whole board.

Well... Good News on the Horizon I assume. Falvey has publicly stated that money wasn't the issue this trade deadline. Well... if money isn't an issue... we should be good to go this off-season. I fully expect ownership to be fully supportive when we splash some cash to pick up Mark Canha to replace Margot and Wilmer Flores to replace Farmer.

The Astros shouldn't have used "Password" as their password.

I find myself pretty impressed by BTV. It my be imperfect but I've never found anything less imperfect. 60% of the time... it works every time.

I have no problem believing that anyone is willing to do dumb, irrational things and you know that I agree with you about MLB baseball taking short term dollars to put off the solving a longer term problem. Blackouts by 28 baseball teams in the state of Iowa since the Herbert Hoover administration is all you need to know about that. I agree that a degree of better is also a possible consideration. Let's just use the all things being equal and assume... OK... let's not trade in our division. In the case of a tiebreaker... Let's screw the Twins. I could buy that. What I can't believe is an organization, dumb, irrational or not: Saying in a room full of people who are judging you like co-workers judge you. Saying... Man... I really like this Keaschall guy but we can't take him if it helps the Twins. Let's take somebody we don't like as much. It's just more important that we screw the Twins. We can try to get better later.

Here's another thing that bugs me about this whole thing. Why would anyone in the Twins organization... Whoever this source is. Why would anyone in the Twins organization tell some social media guy that the Twins were willing to move Keaschall? Why would anyone in the Twins organization actually let his mother read this sentiment publicly. Why would anyone express that Jenkins, Lee and Emma are untouchable but Keaschall... Touch him all you want. On top of that... Why would anyone in the White Sox organization tell some social media guy that they wouldn't take a better offer from the Twins? Why would they express to some social media guy that they had had no interest in Keaschall? If Keaschall hits the majors and wins rookie of the year with a 4 digit OPS. The White Sox are going to look bad for having no interest and the Twins are going to hear from Keaschall's mother because she has no confidence in an organization that was willing to trade the next Nolan Arenado. If any of this true. The Twins organization and the White Sox should be hunting down this source with a pink slip in the other hand. Now what I can believe is this: Some Social Media person took something from someone, somewhere and another social media person took it from there to another level and then the readers, viewers, consumers took it another level beyond that. And pretty soon we are storming the Capitol.

I've never met Greenberg or Getz nor watched them work. Both of them are fairly new at their jobs. But... I think they should be allowed some time to build what they are building so I really don't have a judgement on them. When I do have a judgement... it won't be worth much when I spend my time on the couch watching Twins games on Cable. I'm simply not ready to believe that new at their jobs or not that they would turn down a better offer from the Twins. Do I believe what they asked of the Twins was high... Absolutely. But I don't believe it's a division thing. I'd tend to believe that the ask would be high from all general managers. I believe it is possible that there is a significant drop off between the value of Jenkins, Lee or Emma and the value of Keaschall. I believe it is possible that the difference in valuation between Emma and Keaschall is large enough that a Liranzo could slide in between. Therefore Detroit never has to move off the original ask of Jenkins, Lee or Emma. But If I'm the Tigers... Why wouldn't I ask for the Moon incase a team becomes desperate enough to give you the moon. If the White Sox want to send Fedde, Kopech and Pham and get back Vargas and a couple of decently regarded Low A prospects in return. That's there choice. If the White Sox turned down more from the Twins for Fedde alone. Getz won't be in the job long.

I believe he was. My post was in agreement with Chief. It is directed at Dan Hayes and others who think that professional GM's are going to refuse a better deal from a team in their division.

Let's forget names because their evaluations are subjective from organization to organization. Let's just use Good Ole Fashioned numbers. Let's say the Dodgers are willing to offer a value of 80 to acquire Flaherty. And the Twins are willing to offer a value of 85 to acquire Flaherty and because it's the Twins... They are asking for 90. Are you saying that the Tigers will trade to the Dodgers in that scenario? Take the lesser package in other words. Or Is it possible that the ask was too high because once the Twins refuse that 90... They don't have an 85 to offer... Maybe it falls down to a 75. And therefore possible that the Dodgers had a better collection of players they were willing to part with than the Twins did after they refused the high ask of Jenkins. I have no idea but I think it's entirely possible that if the Twins and Tigers did indeed talk about Flaherty. Once the Twins ruled out Jenkins, Lee and Emma for the rental of Flaherty. Is it possible that the Tigers liked Liranzo better than Festa or Keaschall for example. Personally... I'm inclined to believe that the Tigers liked the Dodgers offer the best out of all the offers that were left standing on the table as the trade deadline drew to a close.

Alas... I'm spitting into the wind. Too many years of this narrative being built for real life examples to change a mindset hardened by years and years of narrative. Dan Hayes is applying more cement.

If this was indeed the stance of the White Sox and the Tigers. Good for us. Because it would mean that the AL Central has two General Managers in our division that are willing to take a lesser deal in order to remain a child instead of an adult professional trying to get the best deal for their organization. I love it when the opposition self imposes handicaps upon themselves for no reason. Obviously... this is a Twins - White Sox issue. They are probably pissed about Escobar turning into something so they said never again and all new GM's with no such baggage sign a pledge when they take the job so they have such Twins bug a boo baggage. There is also a rule in place that all GM's must stand on one foot and hop up and down in perfect 4/4 time while typing. Little rules in place to make the job just a little harder to do. The White Sox clearly hate the Twins but they are OK with the Royals. Chris Getz himself was traded from the White Sox to the Royals so Paul DeJong following in his footsteps is hunky dory. As long as its not the Twins. The baseball narrative is covered under piles of this type of garbage that purpurates the story of inept GM's.

Baseball is full of lore like that. July 29th, DeJong went from the White Sox to the Royals in a deal... Frankie Montas went from Cincinnati to Milwaukee with Weimer to Cincy. On July 27th... Jesse Winker went to the Mets from the Nats... Danny Jansen was traded from the Jays to the Red Sox. On July 26th... the Rays traded Eflin to the Orioles. Michael A. Taylor played for the Twins just last season. Sawyer Gibson Long is on the 40 man roster of the Detroit Tigers. We put people in the broadcast booth who perpetuate such lore. Rays made a big deal today... Randy Arozarena was traded to the Mariners for a couple of prospects He would have looked good in pinstripes. That wasn't going to happen. I'm sure the Rays had no interest in trading with a division rival so off to the Mariners he goes. Bye Bye Randy Arozarena... no longer a member of the American League East. There's a fly ball... left field... It's going to be an easy catch for ALEX VERDUGO. Randy Arozarena to the Yankees would just haunt the Rays over and over again. The Rays probably didn't even pick up the phone if Cashman was calling. Two outs now for the Phillies... JT REALMUTO coming to the plate to try and get something started.

I'm 76 miles from the border. I don't sleep well at night.

I have often said... Buyers Buy and Seller Sell and anything else is just standing still. Sure looks like we stood still and we did so for the 2nd year in a row. So yeah... I'm disappointed. With that said... I will manage my disappointment because I have no idea what trade conversations took place. I have no idea what the ask on individual players were and I can only imagine what teams wanted from other teams in trades isn't going to just match up with Twins prospects who are ranked similarly. For example: Arozarena to me appears to have gone fairly cheap but what do I know about what the Rays scouts think is cheap. They took a Single A pitcher and Single A OF... So could we have offered Soto and Winokur who seem to be similiar value. But what I don't know is... Did Tampa like those players over the players they got from Seattle? I don't know... Maybe they were asking for Jenkins from the Twins? Now how do we feel? Kikuchi... was a rental. I don't really care for Kikuchi because the guy has been real bad lately and never really been spectacular in my opinion. The Astros gave up a lot... their top minor league arm along with a current young MLB player in Loperfido that I'd love to have in the Twins system. Plus another top 30 prospect in Wagner. FOR A RENTAL. I can type Buyers Buy all I want but if the Twins would have gave up Festa, Julien plus Severino to get Kikuchi... I'd be pissed. Anyway... Buyers Buy... Seller sell... anything else is standing still. This is the 2nd year in a row... I'm disappointed but lack the information to be pissed about it.

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It's real simple to me. I always knew that cutting the cord was an option but I never really considered it because cable was satisfying my entertainment needs for the moment. That is no longer the case. My cable provider has shown my vulnerability. I consider the past three months as being taken hostage. I don't consider it as bad as being held hostage by Iran or Canada... but being taken hostage none the less because my choice was taken from me, my normal summer of following MY TWINS was ruined as far as I'm concerned. I will call Midco to find out what my upcharge will be. I will ask what else I get by moving up a tier. I will probably pay it but my research into how I can CUT THE CORD and get WHAT I WANT so I'm not dependent upon people who so easily take what I want away will continue. I will wait for the Twins and Major League Baseball to decide on a plan moving forward. I will look at the cost, and add that to my considerations of escaping from the Cable TV. I'm happy it's back... My level of pissed is still pretty high.