TheLeviathan

No, that's Clinton's fault. She had bad messaging and wasn't authentic. What liberals have done in the aftermath is completely miss the lessons to be learned. Now every lefty wants to pull the party to the left to solve her failure. Here's a few examples (and you've heard versions of this in this thread. Often attacking anyone who isn't as far left as they are): "Clinton lost because Bernie supporters didn't vote for her!" Um....no. Even if tens of thousands of Bernie voters stayed home, they likely did that in Oregon, California, and New York and their votes are meaningless anyway. Look at the data in the relevant states. This was not one of the factors that caused the loss. "Clinton's policies weren't boldly left enough!" Policies are irrelevant. They shouldn't be, but they are. The goblin in office didnt' have a single coherent policy. Neither did Obama either, for that matter. "I'll be damned if we capitulate to white hicks!" Well, ok, but that's largely why you lost. She lost three key midwestern states and got her ass handed to her by the rural and black vote. Not leftists sitting out. That's just a fact, sorry it's inconvenient for anyone's personal politics...but do you want to win or do you want people to agree with you? If you're a doctor treating this problem, you look at the actual facts. Not what you want them to be. You don't take the medicine you want, you take the one you need. Hillary lost because of arrogance and indifference to poor and rural whites and less appeal to black voters. She lost because she was inauthentic and couldn't message to people outside the 40% of people who vote Democrat. Not because socialists weren't appeased.

Absolutely - they can walk away if they aren't enticed. What I think the Twins have going for them is that several of the teams that are shopping (Phillies, Brewers, D-backs, Rockies, A's) all match up well with the Twins. Gibson is a big part of that and he isn't part of the long-term plan here, so even more reason to explore.

I'm not sure I'd give Diggs 16M

That is the irony and something we've talked about a lot: people being conned into voting against their own interests.

It might be 85% of the equation for most candidates. The other 15% is that the candidate can be authentically tied to the message.

Yup, during the great recession farming was pretty good. (It tends to be inverse - when the economy is going well in general, farming struggles and vice versa) Corn prices were great. Farmers had finally hit a point where they could make money. The problem is that it immediately caused land rental prices, equipment, seed, and other costs of production to rise. Those costs have stayed high despite crop and livestock prices falling back to previous levels. So...yeah, these trade wars are going to literally bankrupt families. And, subsequently, hurt the small towns that rely heavily on the farm economy. It's going to become a crisis really, really fast. It's an opportunity for the Democrats they simply cannot pass up. And people are in genuine need of help.

Significantly more valuable in fact. I made the same observation this morning. You don't have to deal Gibson, but it would be a terrible move not to shop him actively.

Dozier's inconsistency is an issue though. For the first half of the season we were sticking a sub-700 OPS player in key places in the lineup hoping for the corner to turn. Now, you could argue the manager should've been hitting him 8th until his binge, but we also know Brian Dozier gets easily poutyif he doesn't hit where he wants to hit. And there is always a high chance that "corner to turn" is never going to come. I'd still rather have Dozier because of the upside, but his consistency issues have always really bugged me. I don't have a problem with a guy having slumps and streaks, that's natural. But this half-season feast or famine stuff just isn't the kind of play I'd like to invest in long-term.

I guess that's one reason for people to vaguely talk about the All-Star game.

That was a good post, I guess I just feel being competitive means you respond to a loss by trying to win the next battle rather than retaliating. The other sports actively teach that mentality in fact. Baseball praises the opposite. We can, and should, expect more. After all, in other nations bat flipping is an art form. It is a deeply appreciated part of the entertainment. So....it’s not impossible to be both fun and passionate and highly competitive.

I couldn’t help but really empathize with the restaurant owner. Too many like him are being swallowed alive by today’s politics.

Have you missed the home-plate, team mobs where guys are tossing stuff all over the place, dancing up and down, pumping their fists, and screaming with excitement? Most of those occasions decide nothing more than draft position. Bautista won a playoff game with a dramatic home-run. At the very least we should consider these roughly equivalent. Why one is ok and the other isn't is inexplicable to me. Hell, Dozier did as much scoring on a balk the other day. IMO, the problem is in people trying to determine what is authentic celebration. It's impossible and rife with error. Just let people be happy and if you don't like what they did? Get them out the next time. Get a hit off them the next time.

True, but this success would suggest that it can be legislated and need not be self-policed.

I think this was a really fascinating read.

You're right, but these issues seem to be norms that can be different. Football and basketball have a lot more direct, physical confrontation built into the game, but they are able to walk away from a guy dancing in the endzone of flexing his way into the crowd after a dunk. Why can't baseball players? Why can dudes literally break legs celebrating meaningless July games because the home run came in the bottom half of a home game and no one bats an eye....but Jose Bautista is the world's worst human being for hitting a MASSIVE home run....in a close game...in a raucous stadium.....in the playoffs!!!! I....just.....I just don't get it.

I think there is an answer to that question, but it's one we've had extensive, heated debates about. I think jumping up and down like a clown in a meaningless June game should be a bigger deal. But that's accepted practice. Then again, I've determined that not a damn bit of this makes any sense and trying to wrap my head around the logic just makes me want to throw baseballs at people.

Many of the problems facing minorities are now afflictions that your average rural white person can at least relate to. That's why I keep saying - emphasize health care, wage growth, and the trade war that is punishing them. That's how the blue wave happens. Appealing to butt-hurt Bernie voters on the far left? Losing strategy. Guaranteed. Also, just to add to your post - liberals keep wanting to talk about their policy being "left enough". What policy did Trump run on? Not a one that I can recall. He ran on messaging. Not policy. Who the hell cares if the next Democrat is campaigning on European healthcare or Obamacare? That's not the point. Run on making the system better and emphasizing how Trump has done nothing. You don't have to have detailed policy, you just have to message the hell out of that. For the life of me, I can't understand how smart liberals can't get that through their heads. They slap fight about "not being liberal enough" on policies when policies mean diddly squat to voters. Messaging. Broad messaging. Win some damn elections.

Bautista flipped his bat after hitting an epic post-season home-run. If you can't be jacked up and show your passion then....why would it ever be ok? I've seen guys be more absurd hitting a walk-off homerun in April. It's a freaking bat flip. Keep em coming Jose. If Texas doesn't like it...don't groove him a pitch to crush.

Football and basketball - sports where physical engagement between players is far more common during the actual gameplay - manage this kind of emotion with relatively little retaliation and fighting. This kind of anti-celebration retaliation is almost exclusively a baseball phenomenon. I think it will eventually leave the game and the game will be better for it. If you don't like a bat flip...be a professional. Strike him out the next time. Throwing at his ribs is the unprofessional form of answer. But we're going down a much traveled road here. You are welcome to like this in the sport, but I think the game will be better off when it moves away from this childish behavior. Good for Mark Canha to flip his bat and publicly mock anyone off who isn't adult enough to deal with it.

Perhaps, if they acted like professionals in doing so, I would accept that mentality. But they don't, so I don't.

You're not alone by any means. But I think your viewpoint does hold the game's appeal back. Kids love that kind of stuff. Many of us who aren't kids also enjoy more fun and passion being evident in the game.

They are too infrequent. In an NFL game there are celebrations constantly. Kids across the country "dab" because of an NFL player. NBA players celebrate and chest bump and get excited all the time. In baseball only walkoffs are allowed to be celebrated. To many of us, and especially kids, they do look like they have no fun playing baseball.

Is this true though? Just look at 2016 vs. 2012. Where Hillary lost wasn't in the counties of major cities - uber-liberal Dane County (Madison) was no drop-off from Obama. She did lose 40,000 in Milwaukee, (which does imply African American turnout is an accurate problem), but virtually every other county she lost was in rural Wisconsin. So it isn't uninspired liberals. I find that to be a false assessment people farther left use to try and pull the party left. The facts don't bear that out. I hope Dems don't miss out on the right lessons from 2016, because we need them to stop getting their asses kicked up and down the ballot. Build a wider coalition of voters and drum them up to get out and vote. It's not as much about the policy as it is about the messaging.

It says a lot when that's the best pop-up job you can do. Yeesh.

If he sustains it....so what? He's going to be 32 by the end of his team control. His trade value will never be higher and he won't be a Twin by November of 2019.