h2oface

I think I heard Gibson say "Bite Me" all the way out here in LA.

That's what you get out of my comment? Oh, let's see. Why do people switch jobs? They get fired. Disagreements with the people who don't play, but run the team and are newly hired. The Manager is no longer with the team..... a good chance to rejoin a managerial team that has has success in the past...... for change sake.... because they wanted to do something different....... because the Cubs' job is available........... give me a break. I said wait and see. If they aren't fine, tell me why they aren't. Why are they available. Why will players be available as free agents? Lots of reasons. And many will still be quite fine in an evolving game. Why are Managers fired that win 90+ games a year? Because they are not the power. And the power gets to do what they want, until an owner fires them.

Even with the fuzzy math, this is so true..... Of course, in 2006, the Cardinals (who were on the bottom end of the previous worst world series champions) became the "worst champion" ever, coming into the playoffs as the National League Central Champ at 83-78 (didn't even have to play 162 games and qualified) and took home the gold. Our Gardenhire led Twins were 96-66, won the Central on a furious September and a Tiger collapse down the stretch, but were swept by Oakland 3-0, even with the MVP, Cy Young, and Battling Title winners.

So the GG brain trust is 1-3 when it comes to the Twins, with what should be a sure thing, a blatant snub, and a total overrating of a second baseman. Such a misguided award, but it keeps getting notoriety. This award has been a joke for decades. Someone needs to create a new award to take over and make it right.

Watching all the fine pitching coaches become available, and then not be signed by the Twins..... but Alston is.... well........ all one can do is "wait and see". Some were interviewed, but either passed on the Falvey pitch, or just had a better option. I can't really like it, because how do you like someone you have never heard of and don't know? I guess one can pretend, and convince themselves.... but all I can do is wait and see. That's all we all can do now.

Maybe not, if the guy is a clone of Andrew Miller.

Do The Twins Need A Proven Closer? Yes. Absolutely. And two setup men that are lights out. Not soft tossing arms. Not Tonkin and Pressly, Not Kintzler and Belisle. We have to do better to be a team that will win come October. If you just want to get to play in October, they will do, probably. If you want to win in October, not a chance.

I guess Twins' fans have come to accept regular season wins as good enough. Not the Red Sox and Nationals. I tend to think like their front offices. Sometimes, the manager has a good team, and gets in the way of it doing better because he has people playing out of position all the time, and not for injury's sake. Sometimes he just gets in the way of letting players be themselves. I am glad Gardenhire is taking his way to the Tigers. My bet is he makes 2 years at the most.

How impressive would it have been for the FO to have dropped De Leon, and trade for Bellinger, 1 for 1, instead as a secondary add on? It would have made them look like geniuses.

Houston did their best Twins' impersonation in game 4 of the ALCS. Just like the Twins ---- leading into the late innings against the damn yankees.... and the bullpen handing them the game.

Dodgers. Other than NYC for 2 years, it is the only city I have lived in that had a team. I have always detested the Yankees, mostly because of George Steinbrenner. (And then the acceptance and spending on roiders). That and the too many gloating fans that I have known. They might have the most fans, and win a poll of Americas favorite team, but they would also win a poll of Americas least favorite team. When I moved here about 6 years ago, I loved to listen to Vin Scully... "That ball was hit on a line that you could hang two weeks of clothes on...." , it was like therapy. I like the ball park tons more than the plastic look and feel of Angel Stadium. The incessant volume and noise of promotions annoys me at both, the Angel Stadium is still louder and more crap and worse than Dodger Stadium. They are robbing us of the sounds of the ballpark with all the BS they bombard us with, these days. As the Twins sucked , and the Dodgers got richer and better, it was nice to have better baseball to root for. It is mostly great to see the Twins play out here every year, even if they get swept.... kinda. Plus, I need a national league team. Because of different places I have lived, I also like the Nationals.

Whoops. Nope..... Maurer is...... Brandon Maurer. No back editing allowed. The good humored "gotcha", gotcha! ;-)

The playoffs sure do expose the umpiring inadequacies! This whole trained acceptance of the close call bothers me the most. The perfect pitch that is called a ball. The perfect take that is called a strike. Those are the ones that bother me the most. Those are the ones that cheat the players so unfairly. The ones that are so obviously called wrong, they just show how ridiculous it is to let humans take their best guess on each pitch. But the close ones....... the trained eye of a batter or the exquisite command of the pitcher... what makes the player standout...... is robbed by letting the umpire take his best guess. The umpires work hard to be accurate to the best of their ability..... they have a pure intention (right? never pompous and tainted by personalities), but they are still taking a guess. A trained, educated guess, but still a guess. We all see it (if the networks and MLB have the guts to show us) in real time as it happens. Touch pads are here to stay in swimming. Line review is here to stay in tennis. MLB needs to quit dragging its feet. And, if I may tangent a bit.... just a little bit...... How about that dead ball call missed in Game 5 of Cubs/Nationals in last night's game 5 of the NLDS. And the umpires just missed it. Didn't know the rule to enforce? Didin't see the bat hit Wieters? 2 runs for the Cubs. I don't have a horse in this race, but I so hate to see the game cheated. If Karma is watching.... the Cubs will be taken out by the Dodgers, as the Cubs were gifted wrongly this tainted victory. When will MLB get rid of "not reviewable" designations. If it needs reviewed, and we have the way to do it, DO IT. Get it right. And the balls and strikes? YES! Use the tech to stop the humans from guessing, and to often, guessing wrongly. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/possible-blown-call-highlights-fifth-inning-meltdown-by-nationals-in-game-5-vs-cubs/

The vote is a twit vote. Why do it here on TD if we can't participate without becoming a twit?

Correct. He took over in 2013. My bad. He still didn't win MOY.

He "knows somebody". Good for him. He must have keen baseball sense. But you don't get to do something like this at 27 unless you have been connected, and used the connections well and didn't disappoint. This is a bold move. I like it.

Yeah..... but..... Farrell drove them from a 90 win season and just missing the playoffs by a game (2011) .... to a last place 69 win season (-21 wins, 2012), to a 97 win tied for best in MLB season and World Series championship (+28 wins, 2013)! That should have made him manager of the year, right? (nope... Francona). That makes 83 (missed playoffs by 3 games) - 59 (worst in MLB by 9 games) - 85 (Wild Card game loss) ........look a little underwhelming.

Looks like Boston doesn't have the same perspective on management. Farrell gone after American League East titles the last two years and World Series championship in 2013. Maybe if Molitor takes them to the division title........... This is a real catch-22 now. If the Twins continue to improve, and with the core and better pitching, there is a high probability of that, with or without Molitor - are you stuck with him until he retires? Or do you make a bold move to make the team even better in the relatively short window (2-3 years if you are lucky) that is upon us? We all want the Twins to succeed. Nobody really roots against the Manager. What if the team only improves to 86 wins (the last two year pace of +1 game a year, 83 to 85 wins), or to 90 wins (the last 3 year pace of +5 games a year, 70 to 85 wins)? Is 90 wins, and a Wild Card game exit satisfying? How about 90 wins and a Wild Card game win, and a ALDS exit? What are the expectations now?

Even Mike Pelfrey is on the top 300. Yikes.

3 years is a long time. I hope the boys learn to bunt better.

And there you have it. I hope the boys learn to bunt better.

Time. Right, initially I quoted and posted, and agreed with Thyros' take. I still do. And IF it is a one year offer...... like a qualifying offer..... it save's face, and now it is up to Molitor to accept or reject (or to counter and negotiate), and in his hands... his ball park. When there was no word of it on Friday press day, as suggested when those who like to be first (and maybe correct, maybe not) had reported, and quite a bit of time has now passed, it is getting to be quite interesting, eh? It is kind of like buying a house. The offer has been made. If one does anything other than completely accept the offer, and makes one slight change, they have rejected the offer and made the seller an offer, and there is still no contract. And so forth. Perhaps he is contemplating retirement, which was also part of the 4 point Thyros take. Perhaps he is negotiating and there is some countering going on, and he wants more time or money. So we should know this week, one would think. Sooner than never.

The batter has one mission after the ball is hit. ONE. And that is to touch first base. Hopefully before the ball gets there. But everyone that has played the game knows, that you are taught from the first practice in little league, to always run it out. EVEN IF IT LOOKS LIKE YOU WILL SURELY BE OUT! There is no excuse for what Granite did by not touching the base as he ran by it. It was too close of a play not to. It wasn't even a sure out. It was a relatively close play. And how it played out is further evidence of how close a play it was. You can never assume the ball with be caught. It is never a fair assumption that the ball will be caught. NEVER. Not in baseball. You run it out. You touch the base. ALWAYS. This is not an "aw shucks" moment.

This is the second incredibly not smart play from Granite, and both with a very important game on the line. The first was in Los Angeles, when he threw it to first base, where there was no one there, (and the play, if any, was to home to get a tagging runner, and where Mauer correctly was as the cut off man) and consequently gave up a couple of runs and was responsible for a Dodger come from behind win. Smart is not a word I would use to describe Granite. I think he said something like that would never happen again.... and then it did..... again. He didn't miss the base... he chose not to step on the base. Incredulous. You have one mission running down the first base line, because anything can happen........ and that is to STEP ON THE BASE!!!!

I think you know what I was getting at comparing the Twins progression to the Astros...... but if not, I can't help you. We can go ahead and include 2015 and say +15 games in 3 years. Fine. I think much more was expected. I know I did. I know I certainly didn't expect a 103 loss season in 2016. We will continue to disagree on our opinion about keeping Molitor, and we with both live with the eventual result, whatever it is.