Celebrity Weddings!

I saw him on Sunday. He was standing in and taking some pitches (no swing, but I think that was the point of the exercise) from Odorizzi. Seems like he's in good spirits. He had a serious injury and he's ramping up slowly because these games don't count. Seems pretty normal to me. It's the first time I've been over to the practice fields in Ft.Myers. It's fun as hell. Though there's a ridiculously fun shortstop that I absolutely can't identify and it's driving me nuts. Just incredibly smooth and has a weird high pitched voice.

Looks like the MLBPA is on the case, and big *yes* to your post.

That makes sense, but it's kind of hard to square with the specific players named. Odorizzi and Gibson are pretty good. And I don't think the more general possibility of a team giving us good players we do need in exchange for the vanishingly few 25-man roster'd players we don't need really requires a four point argument.

Maybe they can and maybe can't, but since this question is going to be unknowable any time it's asked, I'm curious how you'll identify the hypothetical future Twins team that provides a clear "yes" to this question. They've got the best run differential in the AL by a not-that-small amount. They've got a generous division lead that should allow them to rest key players so they're not cooked in October. And they've got good assets in the system to acquire extra help if they need it. I understand the importance of picking your moment when your team isn't willing to spend limitlessly, but I also sort of think that if we can't look at this team and say "they should go for it" then we should probably concede we'll never be able to look at a team in (nearly) July and say that.

Right. So you must be thinking about the part of the conversation where Robbie Grossman said, "Blessedly, I've been such a valuable player throughout my career - never in the position of scrapping for a roster spot - that managers have uncritically agreed with my view of spring readiness and just stopped putting me in the lineup after ten at bats." Because that's the only way I can imagine you're still comfortable making this uncharitable connection between an in-game interview and his work ethic. But the good news is that the conversation you seem to have heard never happened, and since 2012, Grossman has logged 18, 22, 50, 53, 39, 42, and now 14 (that's four more than ten, if you're scoring at home) at bats in Spring Training games. The silly thing about all this is that I don't carry any water for Grossman the player. He's an okay bench piece, but doesn't do enough good things well to ever have the liberty of going into spring without working his ass off to win a roster spot. But I think pretending we know the slightest thing about his work ethic from this interview is contemptible. Like, it's for villains. Just don't do it.

I heard the same exchange and this interpretation is ... incredibly hostile. Grossman was asked how many at bats he thinks he needs to feel prepared and back into an in-season rhythm. In his answer he: a)acknowledged that his view was pretty eccentric among players b)didn't, to my hearing, say anything about not wanting more at bats or being unwilling to work through more at bats c)indicate in any way that this answer could be applied to the numerous other things that players work in in spring training, like general conditioning, game-situation preparation, or defense It was entirely clear that he was offering his view on how long it took his eyes and hands to feel ready to go at the plate. And he answered honestly. Rolling this into some insight on his work ethic requires stripping the conversation from its original context *and* adopting the saltiest possible interpretation.

The continued rotation of the earth means I've forgotten a lot of the details of the original article, except that it was really bad. But maybe somebody can refresh my memory - his hard-earned access, the real work he does as an old-timey newspaper man, did that include actually asking Sano for any insight on this issue? And, relatedly, how many beat writers and columnists have bothered to learn Spanish?

That's a pretty reasonable explanation. And good on your guys who are smart enough to just ignore him.

I've got exactly the same medical credentials as Souhan, so I'll say it: yes, that's correct. edited to add: I don't think people go hard enough on Souhan. We've got a pretty substantial community of people here that sit around and jibber jabber about baseball for free, and I'm totally confident that most of us have actually watched more innings of Twins baseball than him. Calcaterra's piece on this was a nice run-down of Souhan's recent-est sins in terms of lazy, hot take nonsense that shows zero empathy for the genuine pain that these people put themselves through for our amusement. Since his body doesn't seem to produce shame naturally, I hope he retires soon so we don't have to waste our time summoning it on his behalf.

He seems like a thoughtful kid. Though he's going to have to learn to be a little bit less diplomatic, calling Target Field "one of" the best stadiums he's seen.

I wonder if, when Lewis Thorpe dreamed about a professional baseball career, he imagined himself saying things like "the Fire Frogs were a very aggressive team."

I don't have the interest or ability to try and guess how this is all going to turn out for young Mr. Enlow, but throwing that curveball to high school hitters seems absolutely meanspirited. Good for him.

Hawkins was candid and thoughtful in the one game that I heard from him. I kind of expected a bit more get-off-my-lawn out of him, but it wasn't there at all. It was a perfect mix of the insideriness of a two decade veteran and the curiosity of somebody who may be interested in growing with the game. I think he's fine already and has more upside than the rest of that group by a long ways. Smalley is pretty good. Hunter is fun, but risks going full Bert and coasting on (substantial) personality. Morris remains terrible. He's uninterested in keeping up with the game and the only time his analysis departs from old man grouchiness is when he's saying something so obvious that silence would have been enough. So, LaTroy now. Definitely LaTroy in the future.

Yeah. That was a weird omission. Kent was a 7 win player that year. edited to add: Oh, 2003 maybe? Kent was departed, but Ray Durham stepped in and did a nice job.

Guy targeted intentionally with 90mph fastball: That's bad Guy not exposed to cockeyed retributive violence: the thing you think is bad is actually good