stringer bell

Good first for Pino.

I pretty much agree drjim. However, I don't think it's possible to get proper return for all the relief pitchers you suggest to be jettisoned. Perhaps that will have to wait until the off-season. Correia, Willingham and Suzuki can and should go. While you list only two outfielders, Parm has played more games in the OF than first base and Nuñez has played there quite a bit, as has Herrmann. That is plenty of OFs, all but Arcia are reserves on anything but a team limping to the finish line. BTW, I would hope that Hicks would compete in the playoffs in Rochester before he is recalled and then only if he thrives. I am hoping Buxton moves to NB within a week and that Rosario is also moved up, but he does have to hit in the meantime. Gee, I forgot about Santana in the OF, as well. There are plenty of outfielders, just not enough good ones.

I thought it was time for Gardy to ride into the sunset last year. I accepted the team's decision reluctantly mostly because they changed the subject and signed some free agents. Gardenhire is a good baseball man, but the pattern has been set--similar rosters with similar swoons and no way to break out of it with the current front office and field staff.

Brock, I tried to comment on the "Welcome to the new Twins Daily" article last night and couldn't. Now that I am able to comment I do have several questions: First, I went to the blog section and received an error message that I don't have permission to view the blogs. I blog occasionally and I am an active poster, so sure I want permission, please inform me how that is done. Secondly, I couldn't "like" posts last night. I tested by liking a post this morning and it worked, but I don't know if I have a limited number of "likes" per day. Third, I noticed that many people have changed their "Member Title" and tried to do so, but I couldn't edit that page. Finally, when I log on to Twins Daily through my favorite places, it goes to Articles and issues an error message of "We can't find that!", which is solved by going to Forums, but it is another small annoyance. You can send me a PM if you please or just respond. The new improved site is very attractive and I'm sure it took too many hours to count. Your work is much appreciated. Thank you for all you do!

I predicted that tonight would be the Twins virtual low ebb and the product on the field looks helpless right now against a lower tier opponent at home. I understand that all things go in cycles--the starting pitching has been horrid for a full turn, but they've been better than that. The team will hit better, especially with runners in scoring position, and they will make more plays in the field. That doesn't change that this is a bad club and they are right now light years away from contention. There is no reason to keep veterans that won't be around as soon as next year. Trade or release all of the guys on the last year of their contract--Willingham, Burton, Suzuki, Correia--and play the guys with upside. We've seen Darnell, Johnson, and Pino make a few starts. They may or may not be able to fill out a rotation, but the arms that compete with the good arms in the American League are in the minors. Meyer and May certainly need to get a half dozen or more starts each. I would also tell Gardy that he was out at the end of the year and if he wanted a job in the organization, he could resign now or wait and be fired at the end of the season. Personally, I would like to see the Pohlads hire someone from outside the organization to be a new GM, but I would settle for hiring an outsider as Ryan's successor-in-waiting. In my estimation, there isn't a lot of dead wood amongst the position players, except for the expiring contracts. There are way too many soft tossers and aging hurlers on the staff and that has to change. I actually think there has been a change in the minors, but it hasn't been reflected yet on the Twins.

OK, I tried to comment on the "Welcome to the new Twins Daily" article and I can't do that either. Oh well, I'm sure things will work out eventually. As was mentioned earlier, anything to distract us from the action at Target Field.

I guess I'm responding to JB Iowa, but I' not sure. I was able to post on my Kindle and like posts, as well. However on both my "home" PC and my Kindle, I can't access the blog page and I just wrote one yesterday. Is there something I need to do, or is this another problem to be ironed out? Well, I tried to like a comment and I got the "too many positives" error message as well. It looks like I didn't respond to JB's post as well.

I was going to comment on Howard's column. I think it is time to decide if Gardy is part of the future. I don't think so.

Nice facelift TD. I can't think of a game where the Twins would be a bigger underdog at home. But you never know in baseball. I predict that today will be the low ebb for the Twins this year.

IIRC, Kirby never was convicted of a crime. I believe there was a lawsuit and a lot of unflattering things were brought out. On the larger issue of lives deteriorating as Knoblauch's has and it seemed Kirby's did as well, sometimes people can handle those tough breaks in life, and some people fall apart. Having a good support system helps and certainly Knoblauch lost his first and best supporter and Kirby may have as well.

While this isn't "My Dinner with Andre" or "Tuesdays with Morrie", I did have dinner with someone on a Tuesday. During Monday's game thread our very own "scene setter" and moderator Riverbrian noted that he was in Rochester. I work in that fair city and live just over 20 miles away. I contacted Brian when he asked about bakeries, and we agreed to meet for beers and dinner while watching the middle game of the Twins-Indians series. I really didn't know what to expect. I knew that RB was in town on business (too many people visit Rochester because they or their loved ones are sick) and I knew his approximate age. From his posts, I knew he had a wry sense of humor and quite a bit of knowledge about "our Twins". First, the surprises (to me). RB is a real baseball fan and really knows the game, but he manages to not be dragged down much when the team loses or makes inexplicable moves. The Alfred E. Neuman moniker is fitting, in that respect. Secondly, I found out why RB didn't participate much in WAR and defensive metric discussions--because he feels those stats in particular are flawed too much to tell us anything about the players in question (I agree!). We discussed several topics--careers, politics, religion, floods, families and on and on and I can say that I was never bored while discussing these matters. On some items I could have said the same words, on others it was nice to hear a different perspective. In general, it is nice at my age and this point in my life to meet someone new. Of course, since we are both members of TD, I knew we had a shared obsess.....er deep interest in the same thing--Twins baseball. In conversations with the few TD posters I have met and in meeting people at Spring Training or watching the Cedar Rapids Kernels, I have to say it has been fun and interesting without a single person being boorish or arrogant. Maybe baseball fans are the best people in the world.

While this isn't "My Dinner with Andre" or "Tuesdays with Morrie", I did have dinner with someone on a Tuesday. During Monday's game thread our very own "scene setter" and moderator Riverbrian noted that he was in Rochester. I work in that fair city and live just over 20 miles away. I contacted Brian when he asked about bakeries, and we agreed to meet for beers and dinner while watching the middle game of the Twins-Indians series. I really didn't know what to expect. I knew that RB was in town on business (too many people visit Rochester because they or their loved ones are sick) and I knew his approximate age. From his posts, I knew he had a sense of humor and quite a bit of knowledge about "our Twins". First, the surprises (to me). RB is a real baseball fan and really knows the game, but he manages to not be dragged down much when the team loses or makes inexplicable moves. The Alfred E. Neuman moniker is fitting, in that respect. Secondly, I found out why RB didn't participate much in WAR and defensive metric discussions--because he feels those stats in particular are flawed too much to tell us anything about the players in question (I agree!). We discussed several topics--careers, politics, religion, floods, families and on and on and I can say that I was never bored while discussing these matters. On some items I could have said the same words, on others it was nice to hear a different perspective. In general, it is nice at my age and this point in my life to meet someone new. I Of course, since we are both members of TD, I knew we had a shared obsess.....er deep interest in the same thing--Twins baseball. In conversations with the few TD posters I have met and in meeting people at Spring Training or watching the Cedar Rapids Kernels, I have to say it has been fun and interesting without a single person being boorish or arrogant. Maybe baseball fans are the best people in the world.

How was the drive home yesterday?

I think they believed that if everything went right, they could be as good a team as Seattle, Cleveland and KC (contending for a wild card), but since we've seen that everything hasn't gone right and the club will battle the Whities for 4th place. After the Rays dismantled the Twins, Ryan moved from undecided to seller and the team publicly acknowledged they weren't in contention.

After the weight loss, heck yes! Actually, it varies for everybody. I come from a tiny school and I had only kept track of one classmate. However, I had nothing against anyone so I went to all of the reunions. I drew the short straw at my 30th and proceeded to delay the reunion from 35 to 40 years. When we got together two years ago, all that were there had a nice time and some of us had a really good time. We voted to meet again in five years. The one person I barely talked to was my closest friend in high school and the only one I had stayed in contact with.

Hello? I guess everyone else has something better to do. I think I'll reorganize my sock drawer.

You came and you gave without taking....

I agree. I think Pressly was promoted with a chance to make good or be taken off the 40-man roster.

The Twins have a bunch of free-agents-to-be plus there will be a number of guys (Florimon for sure) who will be DFAed off the 40-man. There will be plenty of room for the guys you named. It's going to be the Keplers and Polancos of 2015 who will require thought as to whether they should be added.

Here's my "Big Picture" view: The Twins did the "why not us?" thing and went with limited veterans. While they haven't improved dramatically, there has been incremental improvement, enough to think that maybe, just maybe, they could fill an inside straight and contend this year. The sweep at the hands of the Rays ended all such thoughts. We have a thread saying that Ryan admits the team is in "sell mode". Bremer (no doubt swallowing tears) admitted that the Twins were not in contention last night. They DFAed the marginal Guerrier to give Pressly a chance to prove he is a major leaguer. They have a number of veteran arms in their bullpen and 3-5 position players who are over thirty and ending their contracts, plus Correia out of the rotation. Guerrier is the first move. More older players will be let go, one way or another, and the housecleaning I believed should have started a year ago will commence in earnest. Of course, the Twins might not make another move and I'll be completely wrong.

I agree with most thoughts about Guerrier. Best wishes to him. He had a far better career than many who had much more stuff. I'm a bit surprised that Pressly was recalled. He started out poorly for the Red Wings and Tonkin is thought be the better prospect. However, Pressly has pitched multiple innings frequently in Rochester and his performance has improved in the middle third of the season. I think that the Twins are trying to decide whether Pressly has a chance to help them down the road or not. If he doesn't impress, he could well be taken off the 40-man.

So, Bri, did you get to see Bauer go pole to pole?

Back to work. Hope the Twins rally for a half dozen, but I'll settle for getting the lead.

Nice framing Fryer.

Autocorrect might make for some interesting posts. As four me, I half no excursion.