Joey Self

Saved me some typing, because I was coming to make this very point. Buxton on the field and not on the bench during the defensive half of the inning is key to a whole lot of things. Well, OK, two things--it opens up the DH spot for someone that would otherwise be out of the lineup, and it gets MAT out of the everyday lineup. JcS

Surely there are some stats to back that up; I don't trust the "eye test" on things that can be measured.

Ahhh, I see that now. Thanks.

I put the numbers in for ease of reference. 1. You put your finger on why I didn't dislike the Mahle trade at the time--which is the only fair way to judge it. When overstocked in one position, deal with a team that needs help there. 2. I didn't like it at the time, but I saw more in Cano than you did, I think. 3. I hated the Arraez trade, and still do. 4. That means that the team is playing guys that no one else wanted. The other 29 teams aren't run by dummies. 5. But if what they were offered--if anything--in return for the players they were willing to move was insufficient, then the management did what it should do: Nothing. Making a move just to make one (unless it was getting rid of Gallo!!) is not the answer. JcS

You can only trade with teams when you're offering something they want, and you are willing to give up what they want. Imagine my surprise that the Twins couldn't move Gallo or Kepler or Pagan (who has been better lately, I know) or (insert name of player you'd have liked to see gone) for (insert name of player you wanted to be on the roster). I didn't like the Lopez deal last year, and I'm not saying that because of how it turned out--he had one hot half a season, and the price was too high for the gamble. That Baltimore was willing to give him up for prospects told me they thought it was a fluke. Mahle was a better trade, and it just didn't work--them things happen. But the front office should take the tacit advice from 29 GMs--Gallo and Kepler aren't good enough to help their team, and shouldn't be playing on yours. JcS (who assumes those two were offered with no takers)

I don't think Gordon can be optioned to St. Paul. Not sure where I read that, but it was in connection with Lewis and Polanco coming back, IIRC

Don't you need a sucker...I mean, an interested team in order to do that?

Yeah, if only they had kept the one they had last year...☹️

If only this team had someone on it that could hit for average and get on base well above the MLB average. Oh, never mind, they'd just trade him... JcS

I just avoided hearing the score and watched it on the MLB package this morning. I watch a lot of Twins games that way--catch them the next morning without knowing what happened. JcS

I don't know why I thought this--probably read it on the Internet somewhere, which means it must be true--but I was under the impression that Buxton at DH was an April thing. I thought at least part of the money he was getting was for his glovework as well as his hitting. JcS

I am watching the Marlins and the Reds as I type this. You know what may have helped the offense? NOT TRADING ARRAEZ. JcS (who is STILL sore about that) (That part in caps was supposed to be in HUGE letters. Pretend it is)

If they make this move, won't the As be the most moved MLB team? Philadelphia to Kansas City to Oakland to Las Vegas would be four locations in about 70 years, at least in the last 120 years?

Oh, yeah, I agree it was smoked and that Eddy was lucky to get a glove on it. I wasn't faulting him for not catching it, but rather just observing that if the ball stuck in his glove, Pagan is out of the inning after the double (assuming, of course, that everything fell the same way). Sometimes, it really is the little things...

I am FAR from a Pagan apologist, but that third inning turned when Julian couldn't hold the line drive from Verdugo. Devers doubled him in, and Turner popped out for what would have been the third out. Yes, all earned runs, yes, you gotta pitch around such, but it was THAT close to being a good inning for him. JcS