ashbury

He could be above-average at AAA, where he should spend the season trying to re-invent himself. His present mix of stuff and command doesn't look like it plays in the majors, IMO.

Mrs Ash was also on record as favoring Molitor's firing.

You don't compile an OPS above .750 simply by hitting .300. Arraez hits a fair number of doubles, and his so-so speed (scouting ratings, SB) doesn't suggest he's turning a lot of scratch singles into doubles. He doesn't even turn 22 until next April, so don't be surprised if some man-muscles show up and he hits a few more out of the park. (2018 video I just looked at of him suggests he already weighs more than the 155 b-r.com lists him at.) That said, I agree with not basing a 2019 infield deployment on a mere prospect who got a first taste of AA. Polanco has been moved from 2B to SS in the recent past. He could be moved back there again, if 2B looked like the right place for him at the present and then conditions changed.

Managers are pretty replaceable. A few are downright terrible and cost their team wins, but most (of those who make it that far) are pretty much care-takers; precious few can be thought of as difference makers. And they have a short shelf-life, in terms of the players hearing the same message over and over for several seasons. Nothing wrong with trying someone with a little different personal style. Molitor wasn't finding answers. So moving on seems fine with me, and I generally was in the mood for change before the axe fell. Doesn't mean I have insight into the clubhouse to guess who should be tried next. I'd be inclined toward a tough-love disciplinarian, and I don't know which of the candidates are that, but where it comes to managers change-for-change's-sake is enough.

I imagine a player with an insufficient arm for a position might feel rushed at times.

Jimmy and the Slugs walk into a bar. "We don't get many slugs in here," the barkeeper observes, as he serves his new customers margaritas on the house. "And with all that salt you used to line the glasses, you won't get many more," Jimmy sadly responds. / wait - this is not a game thread?

An advertising takeoff on Bada Bing Bada Boom - i.e. quick clean and done.

Depends on what stats you look at. An amalgamation like WAR (either b-r.com or FanGraphs) for instance identifies him as no less than above-average ever since he made it to the majors to stay, and usually far above average. Today's analytics give him credit on both the offensive side of the ball and the defensive. Despite his late major-league start it's not crazy to think he could be on track to eke out a Hall Of Fame election by modern voters, if he keeps this up. The stats and the eye-test seem to concur in his case.

I'm pretty sure eyewitnesses had Daniela Sanó saying to hubby Miguel, "are you going to let a parking ticket police officer talk to you like that?" before he put his vehicle in reverse. / Do I have to put a smiley face here? OK, here it is:

I'm in favor of this. However, I don't expect there to be much or significant return. We could get good return for the guys we think are good, but those are the ones we should keep. The iffy guys, well, other teams have plenty of those too. A return along the lines of what we gave up to get Jake Cave will be good work by our FO if they can do it, for guys like Slegers. If not, we're better off extracting whatever value the Slegers's of our system can offer us.

Ew.

It's hard to know about these guys because we don't really hear that much about their day-to-day activities, and we have little way to evaluate them in light of what a manager must do. Rowson, for instance, is probably pretty buddy-buddy with his hitters, so it's nearly impossible to guess whether he'd have what it takes to crack the whip now and then in a role as manager. Perhaps either Shelton or Pickler has had the occasion to crack a whip, but we wouldn't have seen that, and it's always easier to operate as someone's #2 than to be the final authority. And of course managing isn't all whip-cracking; running a rotation and a bullpen involve listening and inferring, and playing-time decisions for position players can be subtle. All of this is nearly impossible to know until the guy is given the chance. It's like taking the training wheels off the bike - totally different experience. Running a AAA team could be harder in some ways than running the big club, since probably two thirds of the roster doesn't believe they belong there. OTOH many managerial decisions come down from on high. Skinner is experienced, but you can also call that being "a retread". He's kind of old by now, and after a certain point I figure that too many teams have considered him and passed, so I expect he gets passed over again. Too bad if circular logic gets in the way of a man's career aspirations, though. The ideal candidate is probably in his 40s. Both Pickler and Shelton qualify - Pickler is only 42 and maybe too green, Shelton is 48 and probably this is his chance, before he's viewed as "getting too old" as well. So Shelton stands out to me among these internal candidates, but it's based on shaky information.

In all fairness, Post is a male, so he's entitled to do that.

And yet somehow a member of the police winding up with a routine broken leg as an outcome of an apparent check on a missing license plate or driver's license made the news. Nothing to see here, folks. Curiosity about how one even backs into a police motorcycle sufficiently to apparently pin the rider hard is misplaced; all in a day's work for a traffic cop. Baghdad Bob seems to have found a new gig as police chief in the Caribbean.

Unless b-r.com is mistaken, McFarland earns under a million; he might in line for a raise via arbitration. Minor was a starting pitcher until 2017 and was signed by Texas as a starter again, so he doesn't seem like a strong comp. Did you have some other pitchers in mind instead?

The fork, it is ready to be stuck.

Those were simpler times.

I was assuming this:

If Pensacola is on their bucket list, I'd have no objection to signing them.

Get into first place Trade for Pressly ???? Profit!

If only there was a way for Twins Daily to set up some mechanism for keeping discussions of difficult topics on track and civil. Oh, wait... Moderator's Note: If you see a post that you feel violates TD posting standards, use the Report button. Otherwise, if you simply disagree with a fellow poster's opinion, and don't feel like rebutting it on its substance, move on after reading it. Don't try to police the site yourself. A diversity of opinion is encouraged here, and on a topic like this is to be completely expected. "Fighting" isn't allowed; so far I haven't really seen that in this thread.

This might be smart politics of them. Milk a few more election cycles with the message that the Court still isn't conservative enough to overturn abortion rights. That used to be a good rule of thumb, but both sides seem to know the trick by now.

Willians Astudillo for the touchdown!

Indeed. Further comments encouraged here, instead.

Especially painful after watching the way the Giants lost.