JB_Iowa

They SHOULD be trying to win in 2014 (or at least to be at .500 or a little above and that's often enough to win the Central). They'll have plenty of money available for some short to mid-range contracts (1-5 years) before they get hit with (hopefully) compensating and locking up some of the super prospects coming through the system.

Seems like Radke's kids were pretty young when he retired (obviously that wouldn't preclude coaching at high school/college level but makes it hard at the pro level). I agree about Perkins -- seems like a student of the game but I could also see that turning into a TV/radio job instead of coaching. And coaching looks like Butera's best bet.

Congrats, guys. Well done. That is an incredible number of views in a month -- hard to really wrap my mind around it!

I have very mixed feelings about this. I understand that he is the best trading chip but I don't know what would be realistic to expect in return. Perkins is my favorite Minnesotan on the team for several reasons: his perseverance (rocky relationship indeed), the grit he exhibits on the field and his fan-friendly nature off the field. Who can dislike a guy who tweets about grilling slabs of meat and has a wife who is an inspiration to young women? A good closer is a luxury on a mediocre team but if you think the Twins have an opportunity to be a better quality of mediocre next year, he is probably a luxury they should retain -- especially because it seems to me that he exhibits leadership qualities.

And Bremer would love it if it was in New York.

Winston Smith, it would be fabulous if they offered a feed of the game that didn't have any broadcast announcers. Just air what is said over the PA system and let viewers hear the ambient sounds of the game. They ought to do that for a game or two each year. (Although I'd like it more often).

I think that is exactly what Parker was saying Len Kasper does in his example somewhere up above. Kasper is not spewing statistics. He is taking statistical information and applying it to the situation and making it possible for the average viewer to understand -- not to feel overwhelmed by numbers and stats but to add a richness to the viewer's understanding of the GAME.

I am in the camp that believes that Bremer and FSN in general underestimate the intelligence of the average fan. (And, while I believe that most of the people here are far above-average in terms of their devotion to the Twins and to baseball in general, I do know people who watch Twins broadcasts on a casual basis). My most serious complaint is that Bremer generally does not appreciate that sometimes SILENCE truly is golden. Corey Provus acknowledged the importance of silence with regard to radio in the recent TD interview and to me, silence is even MORE important on television which is, after all, a VISUAL medium. There are so many times that Bremer and Blyleven talk over the action and simply muddle it (and Blylevens' replacements are even worse). I paint FSN in general with the same brush. The broadcast of the CR Kernals game the other day was an absolute travesty and the Twins honchos should be embarrassed about the way that broadcast went. They made the "talking heads" much more important than EITHER the game or the prospects. Again, TV is a visual medium -- we wanted to be able to SEE these prospects play not to see a small square that gave as much (and sometimes more by the way they cut back to the studio) prominence to the yammering trio (composed differently at various times of the game). They could easily have reduced the size of the screen for the commentators and let us SEE the real game and more importantly, see how each of these prospects handled himself. I have had the complaint about the Twins TV coverage or many years but it is even more serious when the team in not playing well. When times are good, they very well may get people who just drop by for games on occasion. But when, like now, times are reasonably bad, the people who watch games are usually going to be fairly die-hard fans who know something about the team. The broadcasters simply do not need to keep repeating the same information over and over. While I would like to hear some statistical analysis by the broadcasters, I'm afraid it would lead to even less silence than currently. There are a lot of places I can go for statistical analysis where I can read it and really absorb it in a way that I couldn't do just hearing it. I'd like Bremer to stick to some clean play-by-play and for the color man (whoever he is) to add just that, color -- information that gives texture to the game. That could (and should) include some simple statistical analysis. I'd really like the broadcasts to get back to being about baseball rather than simply being about entertainment. To me, the GAME continues to be the most important thing, not the personalities talking about it.

After repeated groans to Brock about this, I've switched to Chrome when I want to read TD (and made TD my home page on Chrome). Much better experience. But I actually had the "paragraph problem" on the old site when using IE8. Funniest thing to me about IE10 is the way it screws up so many of the articles that you click into from msn.com. Wouldn't you think MS would at least try to get things right on a site they provide?

Great read. Thanks so much for taking the time to transcribe the conversation and for posting it.

Enjoyed reading this. And a reminder of just how young some of these players are is always a good thing.

The problem is that it is REALLY annoying. I, for one, and I think most viewers would like to be able to see what it happening. They have made the focus of the telecast the talking heads INSTEAD of the game. It is actually a travesty for any of us who really wanted to see these guys play. It helps when I mute the sound because at least I can concentrate on the picture instead of all the distracting yammering but the Twins should be ashamed of themselves for coming up with this mess. I appreciate being able to see some of the plays but that is part of the problem, we are only seeing some of the plays. So, yes, I am going to complain.

I missed Buxton's AB but very impressed with that catch. But I wish tehy would just let us see the game and play these interviews, etc. afterward or during commercial breaks.

Could they just not engineer it so that the talking heads were just a little square in the corner and the game was more like 3/4 of the screen? Just bizarre the way they are doing this. And way too annoying on all the yammering.

I'm beginning to think that what they need most is a new producer (and a new attitude). I know the team isn't very good but I would still like the broadcast to be more about baseball than entertainment. Because, for me, baseball IS entertainment. Who comes up with these things like the poll on players with a presidential last name? I guess they think they are being clever and relating it to the game site but to me it was just stupid. My preference in the next color guy is someone other than Smalley, Coomer and Laudner (I don't think TK is even interested except for a few games a year). I'd really like someone who doesn't fall into cliches (a tall order, I know) and who knows that silence is sometimes golden (and who can convince Bremer of that). I haven't seen anyone yet that I'd want as Bert's permanent replacement.

Has anybody looked at a spray chart of his hits (or can you tell me where to look)? While I remember a HR to right, it seems to me most of his HRs have just made it over the left field fence. Has he been focusing on driving the ball to left to try to take advantage of TF? I am relieved to see his GDP rate down significantly (yes, I know part of this has to do with location in the batting order but there were a lot of times last year when I wanted to scream). Based upon the looking/swinging % above, it appears as though Mauer is taken a somewhat more aggressive approach at the plate. One thing that caught my eye is that he is currently at a 2.05 TB per game rate. His rate was 2.22 TB/game in his MVP year but otherwise it is generally around 1.7. At least for now, that more aggressive approach appears to be paying off in terms of his contribution to the team (perhaps at the expense of his personal statistics). And, despite the fact that I'm not a big Joe Mauer fan, I have total faith that he will continue to make adjustments to try to take advantage of his renewed health and of Target Field. I would also guess that if he takes a look back after the season and is unhappy with results, he'll make other adjustments.

It's good to see the upward movement. At this point, the best thing we can hope for as Twins fans is that the prospects make steady progress and are eventually able to translate their minor league success to the major league team. I continue to believe that a managerial change would be beneficial before the prospects hit the majors.

In the long run, it really doesn't matter. 25 years from now, most fans will not care about who the better prospect was in 2013 (okay, many fans don't really care now). Fans will care about when the player came up to the majors and about the length and success of his major league career. Yes, I know that y'all need something to discuss and argue about but despite all the attention, they are all still kids (okay, REALLY young men). A lot can happen between now and their arrival in mlb. And, A LOT more can and must happen before they have a successful career. I guess it is a way for you to fill column inches but meaningless in the real scheme of things -- KC has had a lot of "prospects" -- it is how those prospects mature AND what the team does with them, that matters.

I don't have any predictions on what will happen but I have a lot more patience for 23-year-old Aaron Hicks than I do for players who are 3, 4 or more years older than him. The key thing for me is whether we can see progress. Not necessarily day-to-day but overall progress from month-to-month. So far, he is doing that. I'm just hoping we don't see any big regressions.

One of those interesting side stories that make baseball fun. Thanks for the link.

Well, GOOD GRIEF..... I had (fortunately) missed the uproar over his first comments. NOW we are apparently taking "political correctness" to sabermetricians? What a bunch of BS. When I read the transcript of Wedge's Monday comments, what I took from it was that Ackley had lost his aggressiveness at the plate. Well guess what? It seems to me that getting too wrapped up in stats could, in fact, do that to you. Apparently it was a slow sports news day -- I've lost all respect for Neyer, Heyman and the others who could get so twisted over pretty innocuous comments.

Thanks for the great read. I wish that I would remember to listen to the games more than turn on the TV because I also enjoy listening to Provus. I am especially appreciative of what he says in the following quote and wish that the TV broadcasters would heed it even more than the radio guys: I think that it goes back to the way I was brought up in baseball broadcasting where dead air isn’t the worst thing in the world. In baseball it is good to let game breathe; Let people hear the sounds, let people hear the emotions of the crowd, the vendors hawking programs and hot dogs, hearing the PA guy, hearing the crack of the bat. I would rather do that then get into stat after stat after stat. Stat after stat would be one thing from the TV crew; unfortunately most of what they say is just drivel.

Am I the only one who wonders if the only thing ManRam injected was info into Gomez' brain??? I know I'm a cynic but it's hard for me to ignore Braun's presence on the Brewers and Gomez getting advice from Ramirez.

Amen

I don't think that the Twins have THAT MUCH quality pitching in the minors that acquiring a decent FA starter would block them down the road. That assumes that virtually everyone will pan out.