ashbury

Welcome to the NBA, I guess. Maybe this is no worse than in past seasons. But with scouting seemingly better than ever (none of the top 10 picks in the 2012 MLB draft seems to be struggling seriously in 2013, except #10 apparently is injured), maybe this is the way it's going to be from here on. I hate it, but the NBA's pingpong ball system hasn't cured anything and I don't have a better competitive-balance solution to offer.

Put me down firmly on the side of trying to double my small-stakes alongside of Chief's larger stack of chips. If I were doing Gardy's year-end performance review I'd be hard pressed to come up with many positives for the accomplishments column.

I dunno. A's go on the road for their next game. Kind of being a spoilsport to deny their fans the chance to enjoy. Witness the tomfoolery when the Dodgers clinched on the road and the hosts got pissy about letting them celebrate on the field.

No. My lingering optimism was killed earlier today by my rationality after reading your post.

Left unexplained even in the longer quote, and I wish the interviewer Paul Allen had followed up to ask for clarification, was the disarmingly fuzzy term "free agent". Terry Ryan probably would say he went out and got two free agent starting pitchers in Correia and Pelfrey. Is that what he means when he said "And there will be people out there, we'll be aggressively pursuing"? Because to me that level of acquisition wouldn't be very acceptable toward improving the 40-man roster. I expected more last off-season.

Then enjoy today's game. Tomorrow they play the Tigers, who will not take it so easy on them.

To paraphrase Clark Griffith: Fans like high draft picks. And we have assembled a team to please our fans. OK, need to get out for some fresh air. Be back in 90 minutes or so, probably in time for the 7th inning to resume our banter here.

BTW, I Am Not Sold On Josh RoenickeTM, either. Or most of the bullpen for that matter. I think it's a collection of pitchers that mostly is an asset to a bad team trying to make it through a season and not collect 120 losses, but would be exposed if they ever made it to the post-season.

We need Terry Ryan to sign about 3 or 4 good free agent starting pitchers this off-season. Chances are there are several pretty darn good pitchers out there to make offers to. Anyone else as optimistic as I am?

Backpedal all you want, that isn't what you said: This is, as I've been saying for awhile, a matter of principle for Ryan. Never about timing. Now, when faced with the actual full quote, which is all *about* timing, what is left looks like error on somebody's part. Ryan mis-spoke, Ryan is lying, you didn't have all the facts - take your pick. The other message is (and now I'm donning my Moderator's hat), why not dial down the rhetoric in the first place, when it's based on an isolated quote that happened to coincide with your larger view of things? This is what we keep asking in the Comments policy; don't insist that "anyone rational" agree with your view. Glunn already asked posters to not be inflammatory earlier in this thread. This is not Rube ChatTM.

Of course. He's been very consistent. To take the single sentence Miller chose, and decide that this has somehow ripped the lid off of Terry Ryan's master plan to keep the Twins at the bottom of the standings, or whatever is meant by "damning" and "kill any lingering optimism by anyone rational", is just not supported by the interview. I don't think that was even what Miller was suggesting. And to insist that Ryan is waiting for a mythical "magical moment" is plain insulting, when he lays out clearly what he is waiting for. There's no purpose to calling him a liar.

I instinctively distrust quotes in a vacuum. I want to know the question that was asked, I want to know what words sandwiched the quote in question. I googled the quoted line mentioned in Phil Miller's column (linked above), and I didn't find what I wanted - just lots of Twitter references getting passed back and forth. So I looked around for the interview, and found an audio feed. I am very bad at transcribing, so I burned up probably an hour to finally come up with the following. Starting at 36:25 on: 9/19 HR3 - Limegrover/Terry Ryan Paul Allen: Terry, pitching and free agency, to get serious here, uh, it's my belief you will have requisite money to spend on a free agent pitcher if indeed you identify one, but there will be a lot of competition for these pitchers. Is that accurate? Terry Ryan: Yes, there's no doubt, and if we're gonna do anything here and succeed in the near AND long term, Paul, it's probably not gonna be via free agency, it's gonna be drafting, and international acquisitions, and trades and so forth. Very rarely do you end up succeeding BECAUSE of free agency. Now, when you get to a point when you're very competitive, and you're looking World Series area, then you go out and you might end up doing something of that nature. But most clubs, and we're one of them, you're not gonna probably get it done via the free agent route. You certainly can complement your roster. ... Allen: Yep. Ryan: ... And there will be people out there, we'll be aggressively pursuing. There's no doubt, we need to go that path on occasion. But for long term success, we're gonna have to have the Sanos, and the Rosarios, and the Alex Meyers, and Trevor Mays, and those types of guys come through, and then all of a sudden you've got an opportunity to add a free agent then you go do it. My take: Miller in his column characterized the discussion as a quick fix for 2014. I agree it weighs against Nick's article in this thread. To extrapolate beyond that and say Ryan won't ever acquire talent via free agency, in my view, is contradicted by Ryan's words.

Psst. The mike's still on. Oh, never mind, nobody's listening. Echo, echo, echo, echo, echo. Hey, that sounds weird, weird, weird.

And that's a big WHIFFFFF! Next game I'll give this hunk a tryout:

Ninth Inning Caption Contest! I'll go first (or second, if that was Winnie's entry): Andy: Keeping me as coach next year? Gardy: <lengthy pause> Uh, sure. As long as I am manager, you've got a job.

Twins have announced they are cancelling the rest of the season.

For the benefit of CTTF I am trying out this rookie Rally Avatar, in a very low-leverage situation.

I made cupcakes. Come on over.

Twins' new mascot:

Pedro: "Hey, Liam. It can happen to anyone. Right?"

Timberwolves. They never played in Washington though, went straight to the Globetrotter circuit.

Liam: "Hey guys, look at me! I'm Pedro! No wait, I'm not! I'm getting major league hitters out (except for the doubles). Jerk."

Depends. Was the deceased old enough not to be mistaken for the Twins veteran deadwood? Did the deceased lead a fuller life than most of the young Twins talent has shown capable of so far?

Pedro: "Hey guys, look at me! I'm Liam. Dur, dur, I give up a hit. Dur, dur, I give up another hit. Just like Liam. Dur dur, now a run's in. Dur, dur, now a walk. Hey guys! Why aren'tcha laffin? OK, I'll get the last out. Buncha wet blankets."

While it's true that the grocery stores here have slot machines just after the checkout lines, occasionally we grab some vittles too, as long as we are there.