jokin

Cronyism is the downfall of many once-proud organizations, this org is still rife with drinking-buddies and untouchables (Bill Smith must be some kind of marketing genius or savant-level bean counter to have been retained after arguably has to be one of the worst GM tenures in MLB history).

That's about right... Gardy has done a terrific job managing the Twins since he started in 2002. He's the same person and the same manager that won an AL Manager of the Year award and finished second five times. But if it's going to be guys like Correia in his rotation or guys like we saw last year, there's not a thing he can do. No manager alive, even Larussa or Maddon could have won with the Twins issues (injury and talent) the last two seasons. It's the way baseball works, and it may be a change for change sake is good, but it won't be because Gardy suddenly became a bad manager. Absolutely correct. The hyper fan tends to micro-manage every move made and then views in light of their micro-management, which always shades the view towards the negative. When you look at his body of work he is one of the best managers in the game and is highly respected among baseball fans and personnel in other markets. He has not been provided talent the last couple of years and no one could manage that junk. BTW, same thing happens here, many want Ron Washington gone. The problem with this analysis about "Good Guy" Gardy forget or neglect to mention that his fingerprints are on many of the disatrous personnel moves that were made which have led to this decline- Lohse, Garza, Hardy, lovin' himself a bevy of pitch-to-contact rag arms and below-replacement level infielders that resembled himself.....the list could go on.

I like this Nick Nelson alot. He's a lot better than the other one who recently bestowed Sainthood on the Twins' GM. Nick has never been afraid to take issue with the front office. He, like me, prefers to wait until they actually do something before complaining about theoreticals. And this was a bad move. Unfortunate, given that Ryan had just made one good move and one stellar move in the previous two weeks. It's good to praise them when they do things right. It's also good to understand who and what you're dealing with before you look foolish for writing something so quickly, easily, obviously and predictably proven utterly wrong.

This is not a penurious team any longer. They promised things would change with Target Field and they can pay to play if they chose to do so.

I like this Nick Nelson alot. He's a lot better than the other one who recently bestowed Sainthood on the Twins' GM.

As long as you're reaching for your own popsicle for gratification there, you should probably link to your "100%" guarantee that they would sign nobody for more than one year. Right? I think you would be thrown out of court by any random judge for using an invalid defense of the indefensible.

I remember. I know you and I were prime targets for the slings and arrows from the apologists. It looks like my prediction of $85M might have been a bit of an overshoot. One could say that one apparent intent from these maneuvers at payroll paring is that TR is setting Gardy up for his early dismissal papers.

Time for a cleansing breath. A few of the Twins apologists are all pink and puffy-cheeked and are undoubtedly still holding out their predictably unnatural hope, but I think Worley and Correia are it. Maybe there's a Joel Zumaya clone available? On the bright side, both will be good candidates for eminent flippability back to the NL come July, so that Hermsen, Wimmers and the 2012 Cast from the "Fame" remake can close out the season in the starting rotation with Diamond (Gibson will likely be shut down or severely limited by the end of August).

So unless the GM of the Twins robs the opposition blind on every trade and then steals his lunch money, he's doing a bad job? I'd hate to watch sports with that attitude. How do you not hate every single inning of the game with expectations that completely unreasonable? And why watch at all? Masochism? And the Phillies didn't give up a young starter with upside. They gave up a slightly battered young starter that projects as a #3, tops. Is that what you wanted? A mediocre pitcher with little or no upside? I have tried to discuss with you my opinion, and reasons for it, and have no problem with your disagreement. I even said I am happy for you. I also think Worley has great future, and was quite impressed with his rookie partial year in 2011. From the get go, I told you I am not out to change your mind. I don't feel that the Phillies were robbed, but you can if you like. That will not lead me to get into labeling you and disparaging you personally for your opinion. G'day. Stated with grace and respectful aplomb. Well done. In the context of this site, one must occasionally refer to the TD credo at the upper left corner of this page: Independent. In-depth. Irreverent. Individuals. Sabrematricians are very, very sure of themselves and it makes for good business in raising your hits to your webblog. To paraphrase Bierce, what's the point of writing if you can't make someone mad? The problem I have is with the guys like Keith Law who think they have broken the code to the secret of baseball success and then only come up with results like this: $1 Bet Yield for MLB Pundits (2009-2011 Preseason Predictions) [TABLE] Pundit 2009 2010 [TD=width: 200]2011 [/TD] [TD=width: 400]Cumulative [/TD] [TD=width: 350]2012 WS Pick [/TD] Jim Caple (ESPN) $.056 $4.43 $0.15 $1.71 LA Angels Jayson Stark (ESPN) $2.01 $0.45 $0.76 $1.07 Detroit Peter Pascarelli (ESPN) $1.89 $0.55 $0.61 $1.02 Detroit Pedro Gomez (ESPN) $1.35 $1.34 $0.15 $0.95 LA Angels Buster Olney (ESPN) $2.01 $0.45 $0.27 $.091 Tampa Bay Joe Lemire (SI) $1.62 $0.45 $0.42 $0.83 Texas [/TD] Ted Keith (SI) $1.22 $0.82 $0.42 $0.82 Yankees Favorites $1.65 $0.17 $0.40 $0.74 Philadelphia Ben Reiter (SI) $0.82 $0.78 $0.51 $0.70 Texas Albert Chen (SI) $0.00 $1.39 $0.58 $0.66 Texas Eric Karabell (ESPN) $1.51 $0.17 $0.15 $0.61 Philadelphia Tom Verducci (ESPN) $1.04 $0.45 $0.15 $0.55 LA Angels Keith Law (ESPN) $0.27 $0.78 $0.42 $0.49 Texas Orel Hershiser (ESPN) $0.82 $0.17 $0.42 $0.47 Tampa Bay Jerry Crasnick (ESPN) $0.82 $0.17 $0.15 $0.38 Texas Pundit Average [TD]$0.82 [/TABLE]

On this we have found common ground, bw. I vastly prefer a Honeycrisp (or a Sweetango!) to a Granny Smith any day. Unfortunately, I get the distinct impression that Ryan will end up with the shriveled Granny at the bottom of the barrel.

Sorry ot break your bubble (since you seem to enjoy the negative spin you put on everthing), but when Ryan said he couldn't give his money away he was referring specifically to offers that were made to FA's who wanted to wait for the market to shake out. eg the log-jam begins at the top of the market. Generally, no one who is not the top tier FA wants to sign until those above (eg Greinke) him have signed and set the market. They believe that accepting an offer now would be too early in the process and that they would likely leave money on the table. And the fact that one guy (Blanton) has signed does not change the fact that this is the general strategy of agents and players alike. Scratch McCarthy off the list (who BTW, signed below perceived market value). I'm available for "FA SP scratch" updates.

Can you imagine a future rotation that had both Brett Myers and Alex Meyer? I admit to already mistakenly adding or subtracting the "s" where appropriate. Gardy will be sure mangle their names and give the media the wrong information on which pitcher is actually pitching, in what role, and when. How does he decide on their nicknames? Oh, the potential enigmas!

Knowing you as the wordsmith that you are, I know you meant that it "eludes" you, (unless you meant somehow, the deal was in some reference to you;)). When in doubt, I always follow Jerry Maguire's lead and follow the money, I'm sure the answer to Ryan's thinking lies somewhere in that equation (right or wrong? IDK, it is a headscratcher, for sure).

Wait, what? You're not turning in your binoculars and pith helmet yet, are you?

Birdwatcher's "cheap-cheap" sliding scale of expectations Gunnarthor's followup quote: "Yeah, I think he gets at least 5 years and over 15m per. His agent called a 4/48 offer insulting. Still, I'd be willing to offer him 5/70 and hope that's enough. Also like to see Marcum come here." Gunnarthor said it best, I believe this was the scenario you were suggesting was what Ryan was seeking, and you would hold him to this. This is the scenario that would have me doing handstands and cartwheels and singing TR praises. This aint gonna happen. This wasn't gonna happen once Span was moved. This is why you are now apparently in agreement with Ryan, ie calling a .500 record, "contending".

Hey, they're still in on the Kevin Correia sweepstatkes, so there's that.

And Span? That's just it, too many posters are pretending to themselves that this never happened.

Achieving .800+ is hardly the bar for stink or not-stink. Won't the big drop-off of OBP at the top of the order (ie Carroll/Dozier, playing 2B- batting 2nd in Gardy's feverish mind) tend to hurt the production numbers in the middle of the line-up somewhat?

Not surprisingly, you're a nest-half-full guy. What else would you expect Ryan to say in this situation? Read his actions, they speak far more clearly than his words. And of course, jokin, true to form, you are a half nest empty guy. Congratulations. Thanks for the advice, by the way, to rely on Ryan's actions and not his words. Perhaps you should take your own advice, jokin. Ryan's stiil going to take more action, but you judge him on his words and accuse him of various forms dishonesty, don't you? Isn't that hypocritical of you? Isn't that perhaps a form of dishonesty in and of itself? I realize he's your cocktail party buddy and all, but unlike you, I have no emotional stake on this subject. His actions, like anyone in his political position means you always must look at what they do and "interpret" everything they say- at the top of the list this would include collaborating and conspiring with Carl and Bud to contract the team (and come away with his own fat payday on the deal).

Dave has him alreay penciled for the BBHOF, others remain cautiously optimistic that everything finally clicked last year after all these years in the wilderness and that he's virtually on the cusp of a great Twins career that may net him membership in the Twins HOF some day. Having said that, it would be a stunning development if he left with the team in April. Erik Komatsu and Clete Thomas will probably be available again on the waiver wire.

Not surprisingly, you're a nest-half-full guy. What else would you expect Ryan to say in this situation? Read his actions, they speak far more clearly than his words.

And Oswaldo Arcia?

Are you mixing up the O's and Nats on purpose or accidentally? The Nats already have Mike Morse to play 1B and the O's have a good offense but pretty weak pitching so I don't understand why they would be trading a pitching prospect for a hitter. Regardless of any desperation meter a guy like Gausman won't be traded for Morneau. And not Willingham either. The Orioles have publicly stated they are in search of a 1B/DH power hitter. The Nats, in possibly losing LaRoche, lose a LH 1B power bat, Morse is RH and having a lefty power bat may or may not be a higher Nat priority. I agree a guy like Gausman wouldn't be traded straight-up for either of them, but a package that includes a top Twins prospect, who knows? The Orioles already have Dylan Bundy and if they think they are one or two pieces away from a shot at the pennant, who knows what they might offer?- they also have another raw, big hard-throwing SP and blocked 3B and 2B at the top of their MiL prospect list. Regarding Morse and the Nats, with their OF now full and Brian Goodwin knocking at the door, they might even be willing to swap him to the Twins in some kind of deal. Another RH power bat and ability to play 1B/OF/DH would fit nicely at Target and the Twins lineup, both contracts expire after 2013, but Morse only makes $6.75M (who might like MN and wish to re-sign). Longshot, but again, worth inquiring about, Eric Davis, Matt Purke, Ryan Mattheus are worth putting on the table- they've alredy thrown Drew Storen out there, they also have a couple of intriguing power hitting MiL 3B. And yes, what with the just-completed epic trade with my favorite NL team and its neighbor (my 2nd fav AL team, I'm from MD originally) just to the east, my conflation-radar goes off simultaneously for both when one is mentioned.

I think, if TR tries hard, he can just barely squeeze Burton's new number into the new payroll, what with Morneau and Willingham likely to be gone by the end of this year. Actually, I like the extension, it encourages other potential FAs to see the Twins as a place that will take a chance on a guy and reward him nicely based on his performance. Plus, for a guy like Burton, he now has a tradeable contract to a contender looking for value at deadline time. Win-Win. Good move on the part of Terry.

is that with Ponder at QB and Harvin on IR? If so, they're punting- on 3rd Down.