JB_Iowa

Didn't we have pitchers with a higher BA than Drew Butera?

I don't want to further take this thread off into another realm because I hope that people will respond to some of the posts, questions and discussions earlier in the thread. The only thing I wanted to say in response to your point is that it isn't just the Twins. Public funding of sports stadiums is a nationwide issue.

I don't want to be snarky but what do the winters have to do with it? How many players actually spend their offseason in the city where they play? I get that there are challenges in bringing players to Minnesota. But are the Twins Cities that much more unattractive, for example, than Detroit? $$$$$ speaks.

As a girl growing up in the country in the 60’s, we did not have the same opportunities to play organized sports that boys had (or that girls would have even a decade later). No little league or summer rec softball. But we did learn how to play softball in school and the neighborhood boys let us play baseball with them (even though the girls got to play, we seldom had enough for two full teams). That was the beginning. But I fell in love with major league baseball and the Twins during 1965. My grandfather had recently retired “to town” after several heart attacks. Even though there were 20 grandchildren, I spent more time with him than others because I was “old enough” (10) and went to school in his town. Occasionally a game would be televised and we would sometimes listen to games on the radio. And often we would go over the box scores and standings in the newspaper. The Twins were still relatively new in the upper Midwest and the excitement about them grew over that summer (nothing like winning to build a fanbase!). And then came the 1965 World Series. I watched several games with grandpa (loved those afternoon games). He had coached American Legion ball when my dad and uncles were teens and was great at explaining the game to me. He also helped me understand that it was a game and to move past the crushing disappointment of that game 7 loss. It was the start of my love for the Twins. That love would ebb and flow over the years depending (mostly) on the “busy – ness” of my life but although I had brief “flirtations” with being a fan of another team, I have remained a faithful Twins fan for nearly 50 years.

I didn't again want to quote your whole response..... but I get very confused by the Forbes numbers. Why in the world do a third of these teams show an operating loss? Should we look at operating income compared to current value OR compared to investment???? Because many/most of these owners have benefited substantially from appreciation of their investment. Should we be looking at operating income as a % of revenue where the Astros show a whopping 55.9 million on revenues of 186 million (30%)? No wonder they were (slightly mistakenly) called the most profitable team in baseball. On amounts of operating income, I also wonder if something is omitted. I look, for example, at the difference between the Twins and the Rays. $40 million. As I recall, that is approximately the amount of the Twins' local TV deal (about $39 million annually if I remember correctly). Yet, when I looked at the Rays' TV schedule it is almost non-existent so their TV deal shouldn't be much. Minnesota's attendance was 967,000 more than Tampa's in 2013 (http://www.baseball-reference.com/leagues/MLB/2013-misc.shtml) One would think that there would be more of a difference between the Twins and the Rays except, of course, for revenue sharing. I find all of these numbers to be quite confusing. And I admit that I hated accounting (probably due more to the fact that I took it at 8 a.m. than the subject matter itself) -- so I am just not sure what to make of the numbers.

I think Paul Pleiss is right ... both Kubel and Willingham have fairly long leashes. But since I think 2014 is also a lost season, I hope that the Twins try to make it worthwhile by making sure that Hicks, Arcia, Pinto (and Parmelee if they don't get rid of him) get at least 500 PA's so we can fairly judge them for next year.

Well written, Doc Bauer. I may not agree with all you've said but I do appreciate the sentiment. I think we just need the season to start. We have too much bickering and frustration over hypothetical results right now. At least once the season starts we can argue over reality.

In baseball, you don't seem to have to do so. The Houston Astros had Operating Income (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of 55.9 million dollars on revenues of 186 million. While their revenues were the 4th lowest, their Operating Income was the 2nd highest. Not a bad gig if you can get it. Per the Forbes figures which are probably the best available to the general public. http://www.forbes.com/mlb-valuations/list/#page:1_sort:0_direction:asc_search:

But not in the sense of individual moves. I do think that there may be more pressure on management to win this year. And a better understanding that baseball, not just the "Target Field experience" matters. But that still really leaves us enduring and hoping. And when I see the Forbes numbers about last year's profit, I wonder how much is really pressure to win and how much is just a mirage especially when we've seen past numbers on Houston's profitablity.

I place myself in the first group, mostly for the sake of my sanity This is really the point. None of us has much (if any) influence on what the Twins do. The most we can do is endure and hope.

Re: (3) This was actually one of the arguments I made at some point for keeping Perkins. If by some chance a group of young players can scrape together a lead, it's nice to have a closer who can save it for them. Re: (4) Yesteday's and today's games are proof of this. Barely 2 1/2 hours (if that).

This is one of the less outrageous statements by Bremer today. The thread in the other forum about mlb.com writers should be tripled for team broadcasters.

Twins defense doing a comedy routine .... for Pirates Fans.

Here's the link: http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2014/03/26/twinsights-scott-diamond-placed-on-waivers/

Oh, Plouffie, ugh.

Diamond Placed on Waivers http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2014/03/26/twinsights-scott-diamond-placed-on-waivers/ Not surprising.

But hey, Arcia has 16.6% of them.

Okay, that's weird. If it is the only thing, it changes to Caps and small letters but in a sentence will stay all caps. Rambling, sorry.

Is there some mechanism that stops you from shouting on the forums? I typed ARCIA (all caps) and it came out Arcia. Hmmm... learn something new everyday.

Arcia!!!

Should I feel insulted that Hy-Vee (a grocery store chain) has Royals, Cardinals and Cubs peanuts in their ads? (But no Twins, White Sox or Brewers -- all of which are also Iowa "markets" under the BB blackout rules)???? They're cut bags, I might have actually bought a Twins one or two for opening day.

I wondered the same thing about Pelfrey's 4 yesterday. Correia seems more stretched out.

Going a lot better today for Nolasco than his last outing. Hope it means that whatever he was working on last time came together.

Pitching Match-ups: LaVelle E. Neal III ‏@LaVelleNeal 2h Looks like the pitching matchups for next week will be: Mon: Nolasco v Sale; Wed: Correia v Felipe Paulino; Thurs: Hughes v Quintana LaVelle E. Neal III ‏@LaVelleNeal 2h Those matchups are barring last minute developments Just to add pitching to the discussion, too.

1st inning turned out better than it started.