ThePuck

I'll take a Kurodo all day long...

Serious question (cause I can't remember and I can't look it up right now). After our rotation was really bad in 2011, who did we go out and get to fix it? I remember Marquis, but who else? Starting to wonder if this story shouldn't have mentioned third straight offseason instead of second straight offseason.

Ah yes, I remember the recent glory days, you know 2002-2010, where quality free agents flocked to the Twins willing to take less money to play for a perennial division winner, and we signed them like mad. Those were the days. :-)

You meant minor league pitcher of the year, right?

That's right...thanks for the reminder.

Cool! That's nice they got those. Can't disagree with any of the choices. I think it's funny the Twins give an award for 'media good guy'.

There seems to be a lot of confusion over which post you are saying this about...even though you quoted it :-)

Exactly...and I had already addressed the supposed context change myself earlier when I wrote: 'This isn't the only quote out there where he said Pelfrey and Correia were bright spots and then deflected how bad the rotation was. What he said in that quote minimizes how bad the rotation was when it starts off the way it did. If he was just praising Pelfrey and Correia (like he did before) and taking blame for the rest of rotation as a whole, it would have been said differently. Something like, 'Pelfrey and Correia worked out well (which is not true, BTW, at least in regards to Pelfrey), and then he would have gone on to say the rest of the rotation didn't turn out making our rotation bad and in need of work. But that's not how it went down, he starts by saying the 'This year we thought we did a little better with the rotation with Correia and Pelfrey...' BTW, does he believe if he says Pelfrey did well enough this offseason, people will start to believe it?' The context doesn't change the fact that he's trying to minimize how bad the rotation was by starting his sentence the way he did and then pointing out some supposed bright spots (Correia and Pelfrey). My comments would have been the same with the whole thing in there....but the part I omitted doesn't change the main point of what he was saying anyway. If one is adamant that it does, they had the link I provided and they could discuss that instead of deflecting. And, again, he's deflected this year's rotation issues in at least one other interview even when directly asked about the poor rotation by pointing to Pelfrey and Correia as his bright spots, then shifting the discussion to the poor offense. That interview was posted and discussed in TD already.

A big issue I have is that even on 0-2, and 1-2 counts (pitcher's counts), opposing batters still know a hittable pitch will almost assuredly be coming anyway. Drives me nuts when I see that.

Also like to point out what any of us would do is irrelevant, it's what other GMs would have done to improve the rotation (in the last two offseasons, BTW, not just one)...and since our rotation was easily the worst of any in baseball... Finally, what's done is done...he did what he did. This isn't about jumping his case, again, for what he did (or didn't do). My point is now he shouldn't try to sugarcoat how the rotation turned out or try and make it seem it wasn't as bad as it was. BTW, the hemming and hawing wasn't about the fact that the pitching needs fixing, it's about HOW he's going to go about it and the whole 'FA isn't the answer, but we'll look, maybe, not throwing money around, but we'll be in the mix, kind of stuff that is hemming and hawing...

So it's probably a good thing I provided the whole link so people could read the whole thing. You and couple others are acting as if I was hiding it. With the people in here, does it seem feasible I would assume people wouldn't click on the link I myself provided? I pointed out things that were in it I found interesting....which I am certainly entitled to do. This isn't the only quote out there where he said Pelfrey and Correia were bright spots and then deflected how bad the rotation was. What he said in that quote minimizes how bad the rotation was when it starts off the way it did. If he was just praising Pelfrey and Correia (like he did before) and taking blame for the rest of rotation as a whole, it would have been said differently. Something like, 'Pelfrey and Correia worked out well (which is not true, BTW, at least in regards to Pelfrey), and then he would have gone on to say the rest of the rotation didn't turn out making our rotation bad and in need of work. But that's not how it went down, he starts by saying the 'This year we thought we did a little better with the rotation with Correia and Pelfrey' BTW, does he believe if he says Pelfrey did well enough this offseason, people will start to believe it?

Yes...yes I did...and posted a link of Stephen Colbert's whole hilarious thing about it where he slams the news station for reporting the fake names even though the list had to go through a bunch of people. Darn it. Timmy had two jobs! Get coffee, and confirm the names of pilots in airline disasters!

I only gave what I had readily available...if others have more they should definitely share

Not sure it was 45%, but if it was it was because payroll was lower than it needed to be...anyway. Okay...how about in the unbelievably hypothetical world where Kershaw was suddenly available? He's going to cost some coin. Don't sign him if we have the money available? I understand he's a pitcher and you said position player, but that would take about make close to half of payroll for two guys.

Suk-min Yoon Minor League Statistics & History - Baseball-Reference.com The right-handed Yoon pitched in 30 games for Kia in 2013, tossing over 87 innings. He posted a 4.00 ERA and 1.36 WHIP while striking out 76 batters. BTW, something not mentioned yet...his agent is Scott Boras.

I want to take this post out for dinner and get it all liquored up

and so you're saying those teams won the W Series and made the playoffs because of Punto? Punto is what put them over the edge? P.S. Punto pulled a classic Punto last night...HILARIOUS!

I provided the link, I wasn't hiding the whole quote. He first said he thought they did better with the rotation. Doesn't matter what he said after that if he thinks the rotation was better. That was the point. As far as your second part, he did come out last year and say something like, ' I will do everything possible to significantly improve the starting rotation for next year. ' Do you think him saying the above caused agents to automatically raise what they're going to ask from him when he called? And, if so, are you blaming him for that statement? What he forgot to add to that promise was, 'and by everything possible I mean, as long as none of the pitchers cost more 6M or more a year or need contracts longer than 2 years, I'll do everything possible.' He's the Meatloaf of GMs. 'I would do anything for pitching...but I won't do that!' :-) So this year, it's hemming and hawing...I wonder how that will go over when he speaks to the season ticket holders and the potential season ticket holders?

I took it all out..I most certainly do not endorse racism, absolutely the opposite in reality, but Stephen Colbert slamming that news station for posting those names was hilarious (because of all the levels those names had to get to before even getting on the news prompter for the anchor to read) and every once in awhile, it's nice to not take everything so serious and laugh... But, again, took it all out. I stand by my first post though...just the kind of pitchers we'll go after :-)

Mike Ilitch of the Clan Ilitch? :-)

Well, no posting fee required (so cheaper). Lost velocity. Has had injuries he's recovering from. Seems to meet all the requirements for a Twins signing. :-)

Article over at the Twins portion of MLB. On the Twins main news page, before clicking on the article itself, it says' 'Rotation at forefront of Ryan's plans' Couple of my favorite parts: -"This year we thought we did a little better with the rotation with Correia and Pelfrey'. Yes, if better means the worst rotation in baseball in every significant category when we weren't quite the worst in every significant category last year, then yes...it was better. -"We'll address that free-agent list, but it's not a good way to build," Ryan said. "It's a good way to supplement a roster. We're certainly going to look. There's going to be a lot of competition for quality starting, and we'll be in the mix. We certainly need to address the pitching staff."' That's some good hemming and hawing... Minnesota Twins seek starting rotation help for second straight offseason | twinsbaseball.com: News

Because he very often said practically the same thing Gardy said on many occasion. For example, mid 2011, when we had lost yet another series, he shrugged it off, said it was early, we just have to focus on the next series, blah blah...Gardy had said almost the same thing like 15 minutes earlier. And this happened often. Maybe it's just a matter of getting the same PR guy talking into their ear, but he most often spoke manager lingo. He never seemed ticked off about losing, frustrated, whatever...just, meh, golly gee we'll get em next time. His charisma stemmed from the fact he was the team spokesman. I'm not sure being the team spokesman makes one a leader, but if so...that's the kind of leader he was...at least on the surface. Thing is, we actually don't know what kind of leader any of these guys are. We only see dugout stuff and soundbites. People like Torii, they don't strike me as leaders...at least not in the actions people often point to when they say, 'that's a leader'

Exactly...that was my whole point...the percentage of payroll for their highest paid player is irrelevant compared to percentage of payroll for our highest paid player. Those teams are on a different spending level, so why even mention them in the first place to make your point? How about instead of looking at the top paid player percentage of payroll, look at top 3 players and the total percentage of payroll? Cause our top paid guy makes 23, then our next guy makes 7 then our next guy makes around 5. That could be like 33% of what payroll should be. On a side note, I wonder how incoming revenue (affecting available payroll) would be affected if Mauer hadn't signed here? I wonder how much of his salary is paid by the fact he's on the team...in tickets sales (and corresponding parking, concessions), merchandise, etc? BTW, I'm not in the sign Cano lane...I'm way away from that lane.

Cuddyer always struck me as more of Gardy's parrot than anything else. Good ballplayer, never met a microphone he didn't like, political-correct speaking player for the most part, great community guy...and Gardy's parrot.