Unwinder

Obviously it's time for Polanco to get injured.

Scientists do not yet have instruments delicate enough to measure the shortness of the leash I'd want him on, but sure.

I believe this is a big part of it, it's numbers guys playing a numbers game. There are bad pitchers somewhere out there who the Twins can fix, and every time they grab a guy off waivers they're increasing their chances of landing on one. If they tool around with Burrows for a couple of weeks and it doesn't work out, Moran is still right where they left him. If they win the lottery and it turns out that all Burrows needed to break out was for someone to tell him to throw more sliders, they're in a stronger position than they were in before.

Sano needs to ask the opposition to take it easy on us more often.

Found myself in the footage of Kepler's homer. I'm wearing a "Twins #1 Fan" finger oven mitt because I thought it would be funny.

Imagining Miranda in the mix and doing the Vince McMahon escalating reactions meme.

My sister and her husband are more interested in attending live games than in following the Twins (especially this season). They've been going to Willmar Stingers games in the Northwoods league, and went with me to check out their first Saints game a few weeks ago (they claimed to be instantly addicted). My wife accompanies me to games and enjoys them, and knows a few players' names (she's an enthusiastic Tortuga booster) but does not think about baseball when not currently at a game. She's mostly familiar with the Saints roster, and is as excited to root for veterans like Kerrigan, Maggi and Broxton as she is the hot prospects. I would say that my sister and her husband are a pretty good example of people who would be deep into MLB baseball if it was easy to watch on TV. Might buy them an mlb.tv subscription if I draw one of their names at Christmas.

He's good enough to get away with it.

If you want it enough to pay for it, milb dot tv is not unreasonably priced.

The worst thing about this pandemic has been figuring out how to work with, support, and love people in my life who I think are harmfully, passionately wrong about a life-or-death matter that affects others as well as themselves. People who I otherwise want to keep close in my life. Fortunately, Andrelton Simmons is not my mother-in-law, and he hasn't done anything for me lately. I support rewarding Maggi with a few months of major league paychecks for his good work, I support giving Gordon another shot, and I support shuffling things around in any way that will bring Miranda up.

I also want to add that players with personality were really essential for hooking me in. While it's easy to sneer at following players for "stories" or "antics" when you're mostly concerned about winning, you've gotta have that stuff for newcomers who have no frame of reference for what a normal slugging percentage or ERA looks like. My first few games, I couldn't differentiate between all the tall, gaunt white guys, but the massive Miguel Sano, the temperamental Eddie Rosario, the mustachioed Randy Dobnak, and the incomparable La Tortuga were inherently interesting to me and I wanted to see what they'd do.

I went to a friends bachelor party somewhere around 2013, and one of the items on the agenda was a stop at a ballgame in the nosebleed section of Target Field. I was struck immediately when we entered the stadium by how awesome the game looked. As I recall, it was a very unremarkable game, with the Twins getting lazily steamrolled by the Tigers, but I was mesmerized by how monumental the game looked in flesh and blood in the environment of that excellent stadium. Until this point, baseball had been sort of nostalgic American background noise to me, but in person it seemed vital. In 2016, my sister, who is prone to suddenly picking up obsessions which turn out to be contagious, decided we were going to get into baseball, and challenged me to look up the Minnesota Twins roster and pick out a favorite player. I chose Miguel Sano, simply because his broad face and huge frame seemed interesting. She chose Byron Buxton because he reminded her a little bit of Will Smith. We had no idea that they had been huge, wildly-heralded prospects. This is a pretty stupid part of the story. We didn't even watch a single game that year, and I did not expect anything more to come of it than the brief Elvis kick she got me into the previous year. In 2017, my sister and I showed up at Target Field with her boyfriend (now husband) and my girlfriend (now wife) eager to cheer on Sano and Buxton. I don't remember anything that happened in that game, except that we had the time of our lives, Likewise, I went to a game in 2018 with a friend and had a blast, though I remember nothing beyond noticing that this Astudillo guy seemed like a real live wire. I remember him swinging and missing so hard he lost his batting helmet. 2019 happened, and I became deeply obsessed. I did not get a chance to watch very many games outside of seeing two at Target Field, but I followed recaps of every game, followed the stories of every player, celebrated Sano's monster season, willed Dobnak into a playoff start (sorry about that) and consoled myself with the all-time home run record. I followed everything with equal fervor last year. This year, I believe I'm making the transition from just loving the Twins to loving baseball as a whole. Since the Twins have not performed to expectations, I've started to take interest in minor league prospects, and have been to CHS field six times, mostly to cheer on Jose Miranda (whose AAA debut I was lucky enough to catch). Likewise, I've been able to take a rooting interest in a few other MLB teams as heroes Berrios and Cruz have gone to clubs that compensated us generously (plus I listened to that really good John Bois podcast about the Mariners, and now I'm fascinated with them too). I don't follow any sport other than baseball, here's why I think I took interest in it over other sports: -Going to live games is affordable, and with so many games per season, it's easy to fit into my schedule, and easy to go on a whim. -It's easier to tune in and tune out than something like Soccer or Hockey. Ironically, the pace of play issues that make baseball less exciting to watch also make it very suitable for ambient background entertainment. -With games played so frequently, and so many players in the farm system, there's something new to talk about every day.

I'm mostly with you here, I wasn't even watching baseball before it got the way it is now, and I like it just fine the way it is. Not opposed to seeing it tinkered with though.

Field of Dreams is good and all, but MLB really needs to do a game based on the scene from Twilight where the vampires play baseball.

I got this guy's autograph after a Saints game one time having no idea who he was, ha. There was just a line for autographs and I jumped in and had him sign my cap. Looked him up later and felt a bit silly for waiting in line for his autograph thinking he was a player. He seems to be a good guy though, so whatever.

Unwritten rule against having luscious curls

I would like to solve the problem of Jose Miranda still playing at AAA

I now look forward to the rookie pitcher days, what a weird season.

Yeah, that accomplishment is one of the main things that gave me that impression, ha.

Jax strikes me as extremely intelligent, methodical, and driven. I don't know if he can stick as a starter, but I expect him to make all the right choices to maximize his chances.

I was mad about the Twins wasting innings on Burrows last night, but after sleeping on it, I feel like the FO is doing exactly what I want them to do: throwing any pitcher they can get their hands on at the wall and seeing what sticks. It's frustrating not to see them calling up the prospects I want to see, but guys like Garcia and Burrows are limited-time offers, and theoretically, there are pitchers out there who our pitching staff can fix.

I'm completely fine with him going back to AAA, everyone has the capacity to learn and improve.

The Twins have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams in figuring out exactly what they have in Beau Burrows.

I am looking forward to thrilling, quality baseball that's a joy to watch... In St. Paul.