TheLeviathan

Defense needs to start playing to it's pedigree. To many easy runs and yardage gains being allowed by the best in the NFL. Offense looked good on the second drive. Nice to see Treadwell flash.

Agreed, I think if they get that a 7 win season is a given. And it's gravy from that point.

Defense played like a bunch of bad asses. Winfield Jr. is a legit NFL prospect and one helluva player - not just the playmaking ability, but quietly stellar in his role too. It's hard not to look at this schedule and the awful play of Indiana, Illinois, NW, and Nebraska and see an 8 or 9 win team.

Time for Big Rich in the middle to collapse some pockets. I don't necessarily want him hurt, but I do want the Packers to pay for this kind of arrogance. (That and their terrible roster construction based on "get lucky with a QB every couple decades)

That's really awesome to hear. Given the dearth of viable two-way catchers around the league, his bat doesn't have to be amazing as long as his defense holds up to your observations. And I'd say, at this point, his bat would play very well for this level of defense. Let's hope this is a player. Going into the offseason with Garver/Astudillo/Castro is something I'm comfortable with at this point.

I agree, it's important to be ready. But we also know pitchers start losing velocity and a number of other physical side effects as they age. I don't think it's mutually exclusive to worry about both. Get them up ready....and as aggressively as possible.

That only helps my point!

I have (I think understandably) tuned out the Twins. Anyone have a quick and dirty take on his defense so far?

In terms of talent, it might be true that those players are better. In terms of production since the deadline it's really not. (Quick comparison here only) Austin - .783 OPS, Forsythe - .679 OPS/ Dozier - .631 and Escobar .738. There is very little difference there. And what difference there is favors the Twins. May and Drake 3.99 and 3.83 in FIP replaced Pressley and Rodney (1.49 and 4.19) Clearly Pressley is a good player, but even that from a bullpen is not a hugely different outcome. Lynn has been lights out for the Yankees....but tell me one person that saw that coming. I doubt even the Yankees expected what they got from him. Of course, there can be an emotional impact from selling at the deadline, I wouldn't disagree with that. But in terms of the talent being shuffled on the 25/40 man roster as a result of the moves made at the deadline, it's hard to see how the overall talent level and production were radically changed. Even for 2019, only Pressley and Rodney were even counted officially as part of that group. The rest of the players dealt were all on expiring contracts. I just don't see how anyone can make a cogent argument that dealing expiring deals cripples the 2019 40 man (as suggested earlier) or how the overall talent of the team was radically changed. This wasn't a terribly talented team all year due to a confluence of issues that the FO does share blame for. So it really feels like unfair criticism to hammer the FO for selling on a talented playoff team and then hammer them a month later for having the organization in shambles for dealing a handful of meaningful players. (Most of whom are older and/or on expiring deals)

An awesome article on Sheldon Richardson's dominant debut.

We seem to be talking about two different things. You are talking about the way the team is playing but I'm talking about the talent on the roster. What do you think of the talent on the roster today? What do you think of the talent on the roster July 25th?

Did they have the talent of a playoff contender as of late July? I'm asking you directly because I would assume a rational person who wants the team to invest for the playoffs would consider the team "good". If, for some inexplicable reason, you don't think they were a good team....well then you have another issue of consistency. Or at least of good decision making.

At their current pace Cleveland looks to be about a 90-92 win team. The same Twins team many here think is a 40 man dumpster fire would've had to go 43-13 to surmount that lead. Practically speaking, yes, that's insurmountable.

Are you saying losing Rodney, Pressley, and Escobar is enough to turn the 40 man from a playoff contender to a tire fire? If not, then....yes....you are being inconsistent. If you're saying, yes - those three players are that much of a difference, well then we can talk about that. Because I think that position is demonstrably misguided. Reality is that this is basically the same group, just swap out Lynn, Pressley, Rodney, Escobar, and Dozier for Austin, Forsythe, Drake, and DeJong. I don't see that as a terribly meaningful swap. Certainly not the difference between being awful and being a contender. If you're going to bash the FO for not being wise enough to see the WS contender they had in July and then turn around a month and a half later and claim the 40 man roster is a Titanic....you're going to have to do better than "But what about Rodney!" Your views don't mesh. The only thing consistent is that you want to bash the FO, but your justifications for doing so are basically contradictions.

So the Twins were good in July, trade three significant players (not all-star studs by any stretch, but good players) and became a tire fire? I don't understand that either. Your position is a near contradiction, but you refuse to take that issue head-on. You felt the team was a playoff team in July and now you think the organization is in shambles. That doesn't compute. At least not rationally. And if we're going to hvae threads evaluating the FO, I think being reasonable and consistent is important. You don't seem to be regarding the discrepancy in these two stances.

Elflein might be playing guard when he comes back according to the Strib. Anything to get Compton out of the lineup! The Packers have some good interior linemen.

The price tag for Karlsson seemed light. Would've loved to be in on that.

There was a segment on Outnumbered I saw yesterday that had all the Fox hosts decrying the President's comments. Some pretty far-right, never give an inch types that were very forward about their dislike for those comments. I'm not sure it's walking away from him either, I certainly don't see that in the way Republican candidates are running right now.

Seems odd to believe the team is bad in July but worthy of a playoff push.

No, your argument doesn't follow at all. We didn't sell players to restock the 40 man roster right now, so right there this entire post falls apart. We sold players and stocked up on talent that will hopefully be part of the future 40 man roster. So nothing backwards at all, the criticism of your positions still holds true. You can't argue how ready they were for a playoff run this year and simultaneously bemoan how awful our talent is. One of those two things is likely a silly notion. (Hint: it's the first one. Has been since July. Probably since May) So, yes, I will judge the returns on those trades in time. They were never designed to help September of 2018, they were designed to be a factor in September 2021. I liked the approach - high upside, lower minors guys for players that weren't going to do anything to change the trajectory of this year. They only have to hit on one or two of those acquisitions for it to be a massive success for that future 40 man roster. And that plays into what many of us are saying, the real measure of this FO's work will be seen in 2-3 years time. Just as it was for the Cubs, Astros, and others. We openly acknowledge the fact of today - this team isn't very talented. I give the FO an incomplete overall because so many of their moves have been to strengthen the overall talent in the organization, but I don't pretend the current 40 man is anything other than a disaster. We agree on that apparently. But we also openly acknowledge the moves made this year were for the long-term. There is no inconsistency. There is, however, inconsistency in your position. Unless you've changed your mind about how playoff ready this team was, your opinions do not mesh. Maybe, just maybe, the opinion that was misguided was the one people were trying to convince you for weeks: this isn't a very good baseball team. No reason to chase ghosts.

That might have been achieved trying to go for it this year. There is a bizarre disconnect that post was right to highlight: Some of the same posters who were loudly clamoring for the Twins to buy at the deadline are now loudly bemoaning the lack of quality players on the 40 man roster. That's a hard circle to square for both to be true. If indeed this roster is not talented enough right now such that the FO should be derided for their efforts, why would anyone in their right mind encourage them to buy? If this roster was a move or two from contention...why rag on them about the state of the team? Surely the difference between "Playoffs here we come!" and "We're god awful" isn't Escobar, Pressley, and Dozier right? Those two arguments aren't quite contradictory, but they're real close.

That's just it, I don't disagree with the idea that some identities are at a serious disadvantage in society. The problem comes not in the identity issues, it comes with turning it into politics. Politics are about building voting coalitions and identity politics necessarily fractures that. I wish the left would cool the outrage long enough to see that you need to take the identity out of the politics and concentrate on the root issues of unfairness - incarceration rates, educational equality, workplace harassment, etc. Many of those issues appeal across identities and help you create a voting coalition and still help the identity groups achieve more fairness. As currently practiced.....it's a losing strategy in large areas of the country.

Yup, loved the hell out of that. There were several lines in that I laughed out loud at. "Vote for us you pieces of ****" Yup. The philosopher is spot on about identity politics as well. "Bleeding woke" Love it. I'll be voting with the left from here on as far as I can see, but good lord I wish they'd all watch this and take some real lessons from it.

Awesome.

This is a really interesting question. All the trends in baseball are negative - the fan base is aging, ratings are down, attendance is down, etc. However, baseball might be in a really good spot as far as TV deals go. With CBS, NBC, Fox, and ESPN all vying for eyes on cable, baseball presents a really strong option to build a programming schedule around. I could see that competition for ratings driving them to get a really good deal for their national contract. One that probably exceeds what the sport deserves based on their trends. As for the money situation - it's hard for me to root for the players or the owners. They both are making insane profits at the expense of jacked up prices for fans. Whoever sticks up for the minor leaguers will get my support.