JB_Iowa

Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 5m Phil Hughes in a crouch behind home plate after taking Dunn shot off his lower right leg.

Nothing like switching to the game .... to the find the Twins trailing.

Watching Antiques Roadshow before I flip on the game.

That was kind of my basis for my strange comment above. First we have him not attending the opening of TF because it was right after he was sentenced in the assault against his first wife. Now we have this charge. And women, get a clue, if they assault the first wife, they are probably going to assault future girlfriends, wives. Stay the heck away.

I get that. I'm saying that the union is going to claim it has the right to enforce the provisions because IT is a party to the CBA and has suffered an injury because of the Astros actions. As I said, it will take some creative lawyering and I don't think it will be successful but I'm betting that the union is an independent party to the grievance.

I don't know about the standing issue. If you interpret it that only the players have standing and that the union does not have independent standing to enforce the terms of the draft and slotting system then you have a system in the Collective Bargaining Agreement without an internal means of enforcement (i.e. there could never be a grievance). I have to think that the union is somehow filing the grievance not just on behalf of these (non-) players but also on its own behalf. Will take some creative bootstrapping and may well not be successful but I'm betting that the union is claiming injury on its own behalf.

HGH??? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/sports/baseball/11clemens.html?_r=0

http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2014/07/mlbpa-files-grievance-against-astros-relating-to-unsigned-draft-picks.html

Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 24m Can confirm union filed grievance against #Astros, as 1st reported by Murray Chass. Argues team tried to manipulate signings of Aiken, etc.

Gossip Central: Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 2m Terry Ryan is having a talk with Josh Willingham now during BP. Didn't last long. Serious looks.

http://www.twinsdaily.com/showthread.php/12758-Chuck-Knoblauch

There's something peculiarly right about this ... even though he was very, very wrong.

The Twins had 4,327,869 reasons to get him dumped. Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 2m Enjoyed covering Kendrys Morales personally. Good dude. But to dump all $4.3278 million that remained after what he showed? Magic trick.

Isn't it for another "outfielder" so they can move Parms to 1B until Mauer is back.

Your last sentence is an overstatement of the case I (and I think others) were making. It's not that they don't bring any new ideas and its not that they are bad hires. But we tend to perceive people we've known for sometime differently than we perceive people who are new in our workplace or circle of friends. Even if the long-time acquaintance and the new person say exactly the same thing, we often "hear" them differently. Sometimes that long-known voice can be an advantage (e.g. in the Jack Goin case, I think there may be a real advantage to the fact that he grew the stats analysis department because the change is introduced gradually) but sometimes it means that we simply tune it out. And sometimes when we've worked in an organization or in a certain way for a long time, we just keep doing the same thing (or making the same mistake) because we don't see it differently. And then along comes a fresh eye who questions what we were doing and the light bulb goes on. The Twins just haven't invited those new eyes into the baseball ops department in any higher level position. It is very stagnant. (Even Jack Goin has been with the organization for 14 years).

twinsfan34, I agree with much of what you say -- I'm just not sure if they actually crossed any legal lines. The Astros' behavior is also a good one for an ethics course. I've been thinking a little about this in relation to the "trade Perkins" thread and the arguments there about the ethics of trading Perkins shortly after his extension. The Astros seem to be one of the teams most wedded to analytics with little regard for ethical concerns. As though they are constantly pushing the envelope.

Yeah, I think this could be a case study for a negotiations class for years to come. It's going to be really interesting to see how it all shakes out. And from a human standpoint, sometime I'd love to learn the Astros motivation for going down to the 40% and then at the last minute upping to $5 million. I see the $5 million offer as a publicity stunt to try to appease their fans more than as a way to try to salvage the deal. I just think that $3.2 million (40% of slot) was such an insult to the other party they had to have known that it would pretty much cut off negotiations.

There's nothing wrong with having some veterans around. Bringing in Morales? Made sense although he isn't performing as well as I'd hoped. Bringing in Nolasco made sense -- having a veteran inning eater who understood how to pitch and could provide some leadership to the younger pitchers on the staff. (Again, this hasn't worked out as I would have hoped). And there was nothing intrinsically wrong with offering minor league deals to Bartlett, Kubel and Guerrier. It was the seeming favoritism that allowed them spots on the major league roster -- and for far too long that was the problem.

For anyone still interested in this debacle, there's a really good analysis here: http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=24223#commentMessage

Thank you, Nick. .... but infused no fresh blood from outside the organization. In general, I don't think that being loyal to your people and promoting from within are bad things, but there have got to be limits and exceptions. The Twins have been stuck in a losing rut for almost half a decade now, yet they haven't brought one prominent outside voice into the mix during that entire span. I'm of the opinion that "fresh blood" should be infused during good times and bad times to prevent complacency. That allows for stability while also providing challenges to group think and the possibility of some eye-opening new ideas. Seeing new and different faces also has a psychological impact. We all get into a position where we can predict what long-time colleagues will do or say (heck, we can all pretty much predict what a lot of posters here will say -- I'm sure most of you could have predicted I'd post something along these lines). Sometimes we need new and different faces (and ideas) just to get our attention and because we "hear" new voices differently. The baseball operations side of the Twins has gone far beyond stable to moribund and it is pretty hard to come back from the brink of death without a complete transfusion. I'm afraid that's where they are now ... at a point where a complete overhaul may be necessary. That might not have been required if they had been willing to blend in new talent earlier. I'm not sure how long you can keep selling "wait 'til next year" .... when it doesn't seem like next year provides much improvement. We can all be excited about the prospects in the Twins system. But Jim Pohlad is right, they are still just prospects. We've yet to see whether they can have any great impact on the major league club.

Rhett Bollinger ‏@RhettBollinger 5m Matt Guerrier designated for assignment. Ryan Pressly to be recalled Bye Matt, we loved you the first time around. Welcome back Ryan Pressly. (Looking for a lot more moves over the next few weeks).

Since Chief isn't here, WINNAH!!!!

I'm a little confused by this driving thing. I thought you had to fly somewhere. Then you were in Rochester and talking about driving to Eau Claire .... so I'm confused about flying, rental cars and driving. But I don't envy you that drive into the sunset.

Nice that RB gets to see a home run! Yeah, Arcia!

But you fall with him anyway, right?