ashbury

My strong impression from watching the news as the Griffith family tried to sell the team is that Carl Pohlad had very little use for baseball itself. Sid Hartman used to joke about it being Carl's wife who had any interest. The Mark Cuban analogy doesn't even begin to hold. So, why *did* Carl buy the team? If my memories are correct, it was out of a sense of civic duty. He didn't want to see his Twin Cities becomes the "cold Omaha" that was predicted if MLB was lost to the region. In that view, the Pohlads already performed their act of charity simply by buying a team that no one else wanted and which would have become the Denver Rockies or the Tampa Bay Rays several seasons sooner than played out.

I can't believe that the Twins have as detailed a plan for '17 as you provide options for. They can play a little what-if, but more than that would be like deciding now to put on the snowshoes in 4 weeks because the 4-week forecast calls for a late-spring snow. Which option is more likely? Who knows, and does it matter? Either could happen.

Blake: he hit a double in the ninth. Why do you think he wasn't exerting full effort?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3728[/ATTACH] There is already a lengthy thread in the forum, about the Twins' abortive offer to let fans watch home-team batting practice for $15; I did not get too worked up about the topic at first but I contributed and the obsessive reader may see a theme or two repeated here. Well written essays, pro and con, are also found at http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/44474154/ and http://www.brandonwarne.com/2013/04/11/charging-to-watch-bp-my-take/ among others. To me, the problem is shocking tone-deafness on the part of the team, to the romance of their sport. Sports are often equated to entertainments like movies, and no one expects to come in early to a movie and see filmed rehearsals of the actors struggling through their lines. (Instead you are subjected to ads and bogus quizzes on screen.) They got rid of the cartoon before or after the feature film, long ago. And no one likes the prices of concessions any better there than at the ballpark, but like at the ballpark, some people pay and some people gripe and some people do both. But sports, and baseball in particular, aren't necessarily like other entertainments in all ways. BP (in double particular) is a mixture of tradition and romance. What do you actually learn from watching BP? Not much, and in fact the prime age for watching might be pre-teen on up through college or so - exactly when you would like to make sure you've hooked your future customers. And even at those ages, probably the second time they go early for BP they'll end up engaging in horseplay in between dives for home run balls, or wander around looking for something to eat. It's not the activity itself, it's the atmosphere. You're watching what goes on before the curtain really goes up. It's reported that the teams in Washington and Cleveland open their gates 2.5 hours before first pitch. I would be curious to see how the Twins might respond to this. "Oh, well, Washington and Cleveland, sure, they can do this, because..." what? Ushers and security staff cost less there? Fans there are much better behaved and won't spray graffiti on the walls like unsupervised Twins fans would? No one in Washington or Cleveland actually takes them up on their bluff of an offer and the ballpark is essentially empty until 15 minutes before game time? Charging $15, or even more (Braves and Astros are among those offering VIP packages down on the field), positively kills that "behind the scenes" atmosphere. A VIP package may substitute a *different* atmosphere, an entitled feeling from having it made, well enough that you (or Dad) can plunk down the money (for you), but the romantic one is lost. The $15 makes you *part* of the scene, you're no longer behind it. And for what? 60 tickets times $15 means the Twins likely are being honest about only recouping the extra cost of having some fans come through the gate early, or as some people irrelevantly point out, what Joe Mauer is paid to tie his shoelaces before a game, unless he pays someone to do that for him. But is that the smartest way to manage this $1000 per game? No one's asking to be let in free; they already have a ticket (perhaps at a cut rate from StubHub, and maybe that's sticking in the team's craw?). Could the Twins not gain that much in goodwill by having a policy that the first 60 fans in line with tickets can just come in at X o'clock? Or make it a lottery, or something; never mind, I need a real PR expert to figure out how to not disappoint the family driving from Ft. Dodge or Fargo with that plan. Or, open just one gate that allows access to the outfield seats, come-one-come-all, open up a concession stand selling burgers and overpriced soda, and recoup the lost $1000 from the 500 hardy fans who like to be there early. It's not like there's a risk of the high-priced ticket holders using this as a ruse to stay in the cheap seats when the game starts. And we're not talking about letting hobos in without a ticket. Behavior problems can be dealt with as strictly, or maybe even more so, as/than at the game itself; getting kicked out during BP and not seeing the game at all would be something a rowdy teen would remember and avoid happening again, but this seems really overthinking it except that you do have to have security on hand. With regard to the argument that it's just offering something (for a price) currently unavailable (at any price), thus increasing freedom or something or other, the problem is that BP means more to people than just a commodity like a toaster. That's the "romantic" part I was getting at. BP's something that has been taken away over a long period of time, quietly and somewhat ad-hoc. I remember being very shocked the first time I went to a game at the Dome and had to wait and wait for the gates to open and by then BP was just ending, maybe just a few of the road team's scrubinis. So apparently I had been accustomed to seeing BP at Fenway, Baltimore, and wherever else I had seen major league ballgames by that time (as a kid I lived in barren Indianapolis so I didn't have MLB to go by). Later, I remember driving through Waterloo Iowa, pulling up to the ballpark on a whim and learning that the game would start 2.5 hours later but "come on in, go back and by a ticket when the office opens later". I know that low-A is not the majors, but what I would *like* to feel is "come on in, you're welcome to wander around," and currently the attitude is "gates don't open for a while," and now this new wrinkle is "oh, well, sure, you'd be welcome if you fork over an additional $15". I'm more on the rational/analytic end of the spectrum than most. If this stream of memories of Waterloo Iowa is what comes to mind from news of this $15 idea, it speaks to how BP is more of a deeply emotional issue than a matter of monetizing a commodity. Our society tried to reject "monetization equals freedom" in the sixties (remember the backlash against "status symbols"?) but in the long run the monetizers have won out; there's a stock market segment in the hard news on even a nominally leftist media outlet like NPR nowadays, for goodness sake. The aim to bring a business mentality to every aspect of life would be shocking even to the Mad Men of the 50s-60s. And this trial balloon by the Twins touches some of us in this way. There is a borrowed word, lagniappe, that roughly means a Freebie, as from a merchant. If MLB teams want to stress how much they run their businesses *as* businesses, they should remember that this word exists, and that not every business decision has to be made by the people wearing the green eyeshades. They have plenty of extra-cost options already to which their solution is "well, then don't buy it". Maybe it's *smart* business, here, to give away something that is widely perceived to be of value but which they can apparently envision making only $1000 a game from anyway. Their tone-deafness on the romance of the game risks making people think of Monty Burns shuddering at the thought of ever giving anything away.

I had the field condition in mind, which I would think would be kind of a bummer to come home to. Also, I don't know how completely a home team clears out its locker room when going on a road trip, but knowing another team will be moving in as you vacate seems like a downer too. I'm not saying they shouldn't be professional about it; just that it must seem like a weight was lifted for the guys who were returning to the team this season.

I'd trade my soul for a wish Pennies and dimes for a hit I wasn't looking for this... But now one's on base First baseman holding Relief ace, bunt is showing Hot night, wind out-blowing Where you think you're going, baby? Hey I just met you, and this is crazy, But here's a fastball, so slug it maybe. It's hard to swing, at Uncle Charley, But it's a fastball, slug it maybe. With apologies.

With the exception of the debatable (and debated) choice of Robertson to pitch to Davis, Gardy's had the bench to make moves that put players in a position to succeed, and the moves have worked often enough. Now either the underperformers you named will step up to match the record being achieved, or the record itself is going to drop. Right now I'm not inclined to bet against the former, even if I wasn't forecasting great things before the season started. It's fun being a front-runner sometimes.

The Wings are no longer sharing their ballpark with Scranton. I think that had to be kind of a negative last year.

Hooray!

You left out fire and brimstone coming down from the skies, rivers and seas boiling, forty years of darkness, earthquakes, volcanoes, the dead rising from the grave, human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together, and finally, mass hysteria.

Doumit was DH'ing and Escobar seems to be the emergency third catcher. I wonder if this factored into not removing Escobar. This is hardly better than carrying a third catcher.

It should be a national law that all local baseball diamonds be located on main highways and other arterial streets. I've done the same as you, stopping to take in an inning or two when I spotted a game in progress and didn't have to be someplace urgently. It's cool.

I think you failed to take into account that Prince Fielder is not a fast baserunner.

> You had to figure he wanted no part of striking out four times in his debut. He probably wanted no part of striking out three times, either, but Mr. Verlander had different ideas.

I put the uncensored list on the web at http://www.skypoint.com/members/ashbury/anagrams

[ATTACH=CONFIG]3641[/ATTACH] It's been a few years since I did this. You'll either love it or hate it. Here are some anagrams of the 25-man roster. I don't claim a lot of creativity, and I used a program to generate possibilities. I spared the mods some grief by leaving out the dirty ones. Some names are pretty barren (had to cheat and use Mauer's given name Joseph), while others give an embarrassment of riches and you might think up better ones. Or you might even spot some typos/errors, because I don't have an editor to check my work. Burton, Jared Jarred On Tub Be Rotund Jar Red Banjo Rut Correia, Kevin I Overrank Ice Arrive Nice, OK? Re: A Rink Voice De Vries, Cole Relieves Doc Ever I'd Close Lo, Deceivers! Duensing, Brian SABR Inning Due Unbending Airs A Burdening Sin Fien, Casey In Ye Faces Yes, Fiance If Eyes Can Hendriks, Liam Kindlier Hams Damn Irish Elk Had Milk Rinse Pelfrey, Mike Key P.M. Relief Keep My Rifle Me Fry Elk Pie Perkins, Glen Kneel, Spring Kennel Grips Kelp Ginners Pressly, Ryan Snarly Preys Spryly Earns Sly Spy Reran Robertson, Tyler Re: Yr Rotten Lobs Only Best Terror Torrent By Loser Roenicke, Josh Senior Jock, Eh? No, I Chose Jerk Hi, Joke Censor Worley, Vance Lawyer Coven Clever? No Way Rewoven Clay Ryan Doumit A Minor Duty Rainy To Mud Road Mutiny Joseph Mauer A Hose Jumper A Jeep's Humor Heroes Jam Up Carroll, Jamey Clearly Major Am Jolly Racer Larry, Calm Joe Dozier, Brian Bizarre Odin Bird Air Zone Barn Iodizer Escobar, Eduardo Absurd Rodeo Ace Due A Scoreboard Bread Cause Odor Florimon, Pedro Implode For Ron Redo Minor Flop Poor Field Norm Mastroianni, Darin Indiana Rainstorm Maintains In Ardor Nod, Sit In Marinara Morneau, Justin Unjar Mounties Injures Man Out A Moist June Run Parmelee, Chris He Riles Camper I Help Screamer Smile, Preacher! Plouffe, Trevor Pervert Of Foul Flop Tour Fever Prove Four Left Hicks, Aaron Oh, I Ransack Hi Narc, KAOS? A Shark Coin Ramirez, Wilkin Kremlin Air Wiz I Win Milk Razer Kiwi Raze Mr. Nil Willingham, Josh Jowl Lashing Him MN Jails High, Low Hill Jig Showman

It's hawt.

I'll try this as a blog entry instead of a forum post. The Tigers continue to shop Rick Porcello to no avail. MLB Trade Rumors states that the Padres turned down a chance to trade either Huston Street or Luke Gregerson to get him. Other deals have failed to materialize. I suppose the equivalent from the Twins standpoint would be Glen Perkins, factoring in the NL and the Padres home park. Would you make that deal, if the Tigers also saw it that way (and were willing to trade intra-division)? Porcello was a hotshot coming out of HS who had a very promising major league season as a 20 year old, but has failed to progress (or regressed, actually), sporting an ultra-Twins-like K/9 in the 5's the last two years which actually lifts his lifetime average a bit. Few walks but very hittable (Pitch To Contact?), with not overly many HR. He's in his arbitration years but can't be a free agent until 2016, according to baseball-reference.com. Based on his track record he'd not be much of an improvement over what the Twins rotation already consists of, but at age 24 there is still seems the chance of a breakout, in which case you have him for three years, at increasing cost of course. My own take is that I'd be on the fence and would want my scouts to have a consensus that Porcello can still improve before I'd go for such a trade. (Which is hardly different from any proposed trade, but even more so than usual.) It's tempting, but you'd want to have a clear idea what it is you think you can fix, which is always a risky proposition when other people have already tried.

I'll try this as a blog entry instead of a forum post. The Tigers continue to shop Rick Porcello to no avail. MLB Trade Rumors states that the Padres turned down a chance to trade either Huston Street or Luke Gregerson to get him. Other deals have failed to materialize. I suppose the equivalent from the Twins standpoint would be Glen Perkins, factoring in the NL and the Padres home park. Would you make that deal, if the Tigers also saw it that way (and were willing to trade intra-division)? Porcello was a hotshot coming out of HS who had a very promising major league season as a 20 year old, but has failed to progress (or regressed, actually), sporting an ultra-Twins-like K/9 in the 5's the last two years which actually lifts his lifetime average a bit. Few walks but very hittable (Pitch To Contact?), with not overly many HR. He's in his arbitration years but can't be a free agent until 2016, according to baseball-reference.com. Based on his track record he'd not be much of an improvement over what the Twins rotation already consists of, but at age 24 there is still seems the chance of a breakout, in which case you have him for three years, at increasing cost of course. My own take is that I'd be on the fence and would want my scouts to have a consensus that Porcello can still improve before I'd go for such a trade. (Which is hardly different from any proposed trade, but even more so than usual.) It's tempting, but you'd want to have a clear idea what it is you think you can fix, which is always a risky proposition when other people have already tried.

Huh? That's how I read every post in these forums. / Especially my own.

The Twins dislike knuckleballers too.

> it is tough to draw a lot of conclusions from such a small sample size Without going back to check the scorebook, I believe the Canadian team faced a lot of left handed pitching. In the two games I got to watch, he went after a lot of first pitches, and just generally seemed confident in his approach (as much as a spectator down the third-base line can tell). I'm ready to say he's back. Which, usually, is the kiss of death.

I think Eric Johnson was the guy that sold me the sno-cone at my last Twins game.