zenser

Chapman to NYY for 4 minor leaguers. Judge, Sanchez, and Bird not included. http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/12/yankees-aroldis-chapman-trade-reds.html

My favorite autograph story comes from my dad. When he was little, my grandparents took him to Milwaukee to see the Braves play. That was back before the Twins came to Minnesota. He was a young boy with a handful of baseball cards (Aaron, Spahn, Matthews among others) waiting outside the clubhouse to get autographs. They waited awhile before someone came out. The first person to come out was Bob Uecker. Uecker was a rookie at the time. He was signing all sorts of items but when he came to my dad, my dad was a little embarrassed. Dad didn't have a Uecker card. Uecker took his collection of cards and went back into the clubhouse. After a while, he came back out. Uecker had everyone sign my dads cards and if he didn't have their cards, they signed a Milwaukee Braves letterhead. So, my dad was able to get his Aaron, Spahn, Matthew cards signed and a nice letterhead full of autographs. My wife and I were able to go to the first home opener at Target Field. We went to gate 6 for the opening and Tony Oliva was supposed to open the gate. We were the first people in line. The gates were supposed to open at noon but Tony and which ever member of the Twins staff opened the gate early so my wife and I got in then. They then learned that we shouldn't have been let in so we had to stand by Tony O and wait for the official opening of the gates. The rest of my family was watching on TV and it showed us standing and talking to Tony O. I caught a lot of grief for that because i was holding my wifes pink bag. Once we were let in, we went down to the field. Gardy tossed a couple of balls our way and my wife caught both of them.

I wonder if that net above the dugout would be removed during batting practice. That would hinder the autograph seekers. That last paragraph is hilarious. Maybe they should put signs up in bars that alcoholic beverages are present or a sign in McDonald's saying that the food is unhealthy. I am sorry but I guess I still believe in personal responsibility. If you go to a game and purposely sit that close, you assume the risk. If you need to be reminded of that, maybe you shouldn't sit there.

Serious question and I will probably get ridiculed for it but why all the love for Benson? I don't get it. IMO, he has done nothing to deserve a spot of the 40 man let alone a spot on the opening day 25. Is it because he would just be a 4th OF and hardly play?

Are you sure he has a draft pick tied to him? Wasn't he traded midseason? I thought QOs couldn't be used on midseason acquisions. I could be wrong though.

Do you think his age was a factor in that though? Isn't he in his mid 30s in age?

I wouldn't be surprised if the Brewers do stash him for a year. I believe they did that in 2014 with a guy from Taiwan that they took in the rule 5 draft. It is different that they have to stash two guys this year though.

I was a fan of both Mack and Harper. Very solid players and fun to watch as a kid. I also really liked Greg Gagne.

Maybe this is similar to the whole "we don't need to trade Plouffe because we are going to play Sano in the OF" smokescreen. One can only hope......

I can't believe they sprung for a motel. I would have thought they would have some contact down there that would let them sleep on their couch.

Can we sign Duensing just to include him in the trade?

If he comes at a reasonable price and for 1 year, he is worth a flier. I would expect him to not be pitching in the 9th inning and hoping he wouldn't be pitching in the 8th so, yeah why not take a flier on him. If he turns out to be better than last year, you could possibly use him in some high leverage situations. If not and some of the younger guys are knocking on the door, trade/release him. Rodney > Stauffer

I would look at Holland and maybe Henderson Alverez. I am thinking Alverez is out until May though.

Trumbo to Baltimore for Steve Clevenger

Personally, I like Hicks as a player and hope the best for him. I hope he continues on because it looked like, at seasons end, he was the player we had hoped for. I have read in other threads that we should have held on to Hicks until Buxton was ready and Hicks became the 4th outfielder. To me, that logic doesn't make sense. What value/return would a player have if he was the 4th OF? I think the time was right and I think this trade will work out for both sides.

Just my two cents, but I am in the boat that they don't have to trade anyone at the moment. I am excited at the fact that we are starting to have a roster of talent that we were hoping for 3-4 years ago. There have been names dropped as far as tradable assets from Dozier, Plouffe, Hicks...all which could net us something of value. Granted some of our pieces will return better value than others if we decide to go down that route. I haven't been a fan of Weiters but I am starting to warm up to the idea of it even giving up the pick. The Twins will still have a second, a comp pick at 74 for not signing Kyle Cody, and a pick in the competitive balance round B. I know those are great picks but it would help if we were to go down the route of signing a FA tied to a qualifying offer.

More of a draft question, but don't the Twins get a pick for not signing the guy from Kentucky? Did they get a competative balance pick again this next draft as well?

Royals in 7.

The pitcher shall stand facing the batter, his pivot foot in con- tact with the pitcher’s plate and the other foot free. From this position any natural movement associated with his delivery of the ball to the batter commits him to the pitch without interruption or alteration. Would you consider Nomo's delivery in violation of this rule? Would his pause when he held the ball over his head or his pause when his left leg was elevated be considered an interruption?

If you could go acquire one pitcher not currently within the organization would you attempt to acquire that would make the team better not only next year, but the following few years regardless of what resources it would take to acquire that pitcher? If someone called you and asked for one of Buxton/Sano/Berrios in a straight up trade, who would you expect to get in return? In regards to the draft, how much does MLB readiness play into the decision of the pick?

In your eyes, what area(s) of the team need improvements and what can/will be done do address these areas?

Should we be calling David Forst instead of Billy Beane?

I agree. I don't know if my bat flip would have been as good as his, but I am probably sure I would have done the same thing. Big time jack in a big time situation, I would have done the same thing.

I am not a huge fan or Cueto but that was impressive last night. What was really impressive was the 7th or 8th inning where he got 3 routine ground balls and only threw a dozen pitches or so.

It will be interesting to see if the Rangers will hit Bautista on May 2nd when they play again.