70charger

I more than strenuously disagree.

Holy ****.

Something something David Ortiz.

The answer can't be a glaring no if it's all speculative. You can't say "no" to something that isn't falsifiable. It's your opinion, and nothing more.

Is that Kiriloff's first hitless game?

That can't be right. ...right?

What are they? 20 games out of first place? I haven't checked and don't want it to darken my mood. In any case, there's no chance in hell that they decide to stand pat at the deadline because the second half might be less-than-tragic. Now, whether there's a market for all the players that we clearly want to offload, that's an entirely different question.

I did too. There are too many holes in the starting rotation to expect a winning record, but I think with the production we're seeing from guys like Sano and Kepler, plus the bullpen turnaround, plus the easing of Buxton's learning curve, the team won't be utterly terrible.

I'd start with a walk/run/bike around the trails of the Mississippi. Stop in on the northeast side at one of the restaurants with patio dining on St. Anthony Main. Walk across the Stone Arch bridge for the best view of the city, and to check out the lock and dam. The chain of lakes is similarly fun, and you can rent canoes on Lake Calhoun or go to the beach, which is an honest-to-God sandy lake beach right in the city. Lake Harriet just to the south has a bandshell with concerts that are free and fun. (Note that our alcohol laws are more restrictive, so just do what Americans do and disguise your drinks.) If you want to go even further afield, you can head out to Minnehaha Park and check out the waterfall and hike the trails along the river. There's a fun restaurant there too with great seafood that's flown in fresh, but still somehow not that expensive. It's called Sea Salt. Mall of America is sadly still the big tourist trap, but it's truly just a big mall. Kids may have fun with the Lego store and/or the mini theme park in the middle of the mall. There's no sales tax on clothes in Minnesota. The Guthrie Theater is a competent theater company in a architecturally stunning building. Even if you don't go to a show, make sure you check out that big blue building on the Mississippi. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Weissman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota can be fun too. A free and outdoor alternative is the sculpture garden in front of the basilica downtown. You can check out the spoon bridge and cherry sculpture, which is pretty iconic Minneapolis. The basilica itself is - probably surprisingly - the oldest in the country to be designated a basilica, and it's worth a look inside, although the British have more impressive homegrown examples. Still it's free and just across the street. The Walker Art Museum is down there too, but I tend to find their collections unimpressive. Modern art just doesn't get me. Walk down Nicollet Mall when you get a chance, and check out the downtown core. It's a pretty modern city, and there's not really an "old town" to speak of, but it can be fun and crowded in the summer. The North Loop neighborhood is where a lot is happening these days, centered on Washington Ave. N. and 1st St. N. There are very high quality restaurants there, some fun dive bars, and pretty much anything in between. The best restaurant may be Spoon and Stable, if you can get in. Freehouse is a good place too, and one of my favorites. For a no frills, super friendly dive bar, Cuzzy's is hard to beat. For that fancy cocktail after the game, Marvel Bar is awesome, if you can find its hidden door. The good news is that these are all super close to Target Field. 1st Ave. N (avenue, not street; the former are north-south, the latter east-west) is the party street. It can get a little sketchy late at night, in my opinion, but before the game it's great. If you're into clubbing for whatever reason, maybe because you hate yourself, that's probably the place to be too. As to your transport situation. If you'll be downtown, there's lots within walking distance, but you should also check out NiceRide shared bikes for quicker and further reach, and the light rail if you're going to Mall of America or Minnehaha Park and falls. If the weather turns bad, poking around the skyway system in downtown can be fun for a little while. Rental car will make things easier, but parking downtown isn't terribly easy. I'm sure I left some stuff out, and someone else will have to fill in the St. Paul side of things because I'm a Minneapolis partisan. But if you have any questions, ask away. I hope you really enjoy your time in Minnesota.

Kepler likes you as a friend.

This is a fun day so far! Can't wait to see the digest of moves once all this shakes out.

Well.... there's some bad there too, to be fair. Hope the call went okay.

There was a mix there. Focus on the positive! Kepler is killing it, tons of strikeouts from three young and cheap bullpen pitchers, Dozier has turned it around completely, Suzuki's option won't vest. There's some good here!

Yes you did. And I wasn't directing my initial post particularly at you. In any case, we aren't really disagreeing, so it's cool.

It's also possible that I'm not very articulate. I suppose I could try again. There are roughly four million things that have gone wrong this year, and bad luck is one of them. With this article, Seth has not - in my view - placed all the blame on bad luck, and merely listing the things that have gone wrong is not tantamount to saying that they've all gone wrong for the same reason. Acknowledgement of the bad things that have happened, or even of the role of bad luck within that set of bad things, is not the same as claiming that you know exactly why they've happened, and it doesn't let anyone off the hook. Interpreting this article as saying something like "it's all bad luck, so let's not blame the front office," is twisting words.

Read what I wrote again. I acknowledge bad luck. But your interpretation that "it's all bad luck" is badly twisting the facts and putting words into the author's mouth. Bad luck is one component. Don't zero in on it as though there's nothing else there.

How on earth are some people concluding that this is about "bad luck"? The word "luck" didn't even appear in the article. Just because things have gone worse than the baseline level of bad doesn't mean that Seth - or LITERALLY anybody else - is chalking it all up to bad luck. Was there bad luck involved? Yes. Does that justify a wholesale misinterpretation of what it means for things to have gone badly this year? No.

Accurate.

I agree with the move but I also agree with your post. A good business decision doesn't justify vitriol. Not that I've seen anything egregious on this thread, but it always bugs me when people refer to players as "garbage" or the like, which seems to be happening more recently. Just saying. You can agree or disagree with the front office's moves without being an *******.

You weren't kidding about the Popeye forearms...

Exactly this. Nice to see this move made.

I mean, I'm not holding my breath, but...

I agree with this. Why bother with the option year? It is his last one, after all.

Damn. I was hoping for good news about Gonsalves too. And the whole Chih-Wei Hu thing is really starting to sting. Anyway, congratulations to Chargois.

I've heard of it. I'm skeptical.