nowheresville

Lewis's injury looked like the kind of utmost caution you take with a $7 million investment. Seems like he slightly tweeked something running down the line, but nothing at all serious. He stayed in the dugout the whole game and seemed perfectly fine walking back to the clubhouse after the game. I strongly suspect that if this was a major league game with playoff implications, instead of an irrelevant end of the year Low-A game, he would have kept playing. Similarly, while I wouldn't be surprised if he played today, I also wouldn't be shocked at all if he sits for one more day, and returns to the lineup on Wednesday.

TR was right behind the plate, a few rows in front of the press box. He's here again today, same spot.

One of the points I was trying to make is that if you think being a specific team's affiliate is needed for a team to be successful, then the team has no chance of being successful. While every minor league team has it's hardcore "Twins Daily" type fans, who will travel specifically to see the teams minor league players, the vast, vast majority of people who go to minor league games are just looking for a night out with the family or friends. Most of them couldn't tell you if they are watching AAA or Rookie ball, who the team is affiliated with, or even if the players are professionals or amateurs. That's why teams like the Saints do just fine without being connected to a major league team, and it's why the idea that the Twins could bring one of their minor league teams to Minnesota, and they would be successful because of their Twins affiliation just doesn't work.

That was one of the strangest plays I've seen in a long time. I thought it was also quite amusing that after arguing with the umpire, Tommy stopped, while still in fair territory, and had a relatively long conversation with the Snappers 3rd baseman slightly delaying the game. One other interesting note, Terry Ryan was among those in the crowd last night in Beloit.

Not only has Beloit outlasted two Madison teams, but a few different Rockford teams - which is even closer and couldn't make things work even with a new ballpark. The big difference is that Beloit is community owned - much like Burlington, which I'd argue is even a worse park and has more difficulty keeping teams - so all they need to do is keep turning a small profit and that's enough to keep the team in town / doesn't provide much reason for them to sell the team. Of course, the end of the current MILB agreement in 2020, may take the matter out of their hands. BTW, I'm not sure that Pohlman Field has "never come close" to meeting milb standards, as much as it is a reflection of how much milb standards have changed since the early 80s. For a reminder, you just have to look at ballparks in the Northwoods League, several of which were Midwest League parks back in the 80s and 90s (including Warner Park in Madison) for a reminder that parks like Pohlman Field were pretty common 25 years ago.

Lansing, State College, Syracuse, Eugene, Lexington, Knoxville... those are just a handful of college towns off the top of my head that currently have successful minor league teams. The thing working against most "college towns" is that you loose a significant portion of your population during the peak of the baseball season - the fact that Madison is thriving in the NWL when they play all of their games during the summer break (and failed twice at the Midwest League when 2 months of the games are during the school year) is a reminder that there is still a population of more than 500,000 people in Dane County who aren't students, and that it's certainly a big enough area that it doesn't need to rely on college students to fill the seats..

Bringing a minor league team, especially a AAA team, to Minnesota is one of those great white whales that people love to talk about, but just is never going to happen. St. Paul's new stadium isn't up to AAA standards, and realistically, the PCL is the only league that St. Paul would fit into. There are no AA or High-A leagues even close, so those are out. Even for the Midwest League, St. Paul would be a significant outlier for the league, with the closest other parks still being a 4 hour drive away, and the farthest Eastern Division teams being more than 800 miles away. Rochester MN as a AAA city is a complete joke. They are among the bottom of the pack for attendance in the Northwoods League. They can't even draw 1,000 people, in a league where they have the advantage of only playing in the prime months of June, July, and August. Thinking that they are going to build, and then fill a stadium with 10,000 people, especially when you've got April and May games to consider is beyond unrealistic. You have to remember that "real minor league" baseball isn't a factor for the vast majority of the people who come to minor league games. That issue of early season games isn't insignificant either. The fact that the Northwoods League doesn't play in cold weather months has been a huge help for a lot of cities that used to have Midwest League teams. It's also a benefit for American Association teams like the Saints/Sioux Falls/Fargo who don't start playing until Mid-May. Case in point, if there is a midwest city that could really be primed for AAA baseball, it would be Madison. It's got a big enough population, its NWL attendance is double the next closest team, you've even got the element that the Brewers AAA affiliate in Colorado Springs is considered the least desirable location in all of AAA and is the team most likely to move. However, there is no talk at all of doing it, because, one the Mallards have a great thing going as it is, with no reason to shake it up, and two, Madison has had "real" minor league baseball before, in the form of not one, but two, Midwest League teams, and both of them failed miserably. There isn't even talk of moving the Mallards back into the Midwest League, which would be a perfect geographic fit, because their fans don't care, they just want to sit outside, drink beer, and maybe watch a little baseball too. That is the reality of what minor league baseball is about, in the case of dollars and sense.

Gardenhire won't be going to San Diego. The Padres are going with Andy Green, Arizona's 3rd base coach.

Torii was a fun player to watch, but can we please shut down any hint of retiring his number. Admittedly, I'm biased towards only retiring the numbers of the best of the best, and think the Twins have already gone overboard with retiring numbers, but Hunter really shouldn't even be in that discussion. The comparison to Blyleven isn't valid, as 28 was only retired because Bert made the HoF, and we can all agree that Torii will never be anything more than a spectator in Cooperstown. If Torii had spent his entire career in Minnesota, and was part of a World Championship team or two, I could see retiring his number, in the same way that Hrbek's number was retired, but a very good player who spent half his career elsewhere shouldn't be considered one of the best of the best in franchise history. If you're going to retire 48, then you have to look at retiring #4 (Allison), #2 (Versalles), #16 (Viola), #22 (Radke), and #33 (Morneau) who all had just as important of contributions to Twins History. Torii should be remembered for his place with the team, but the place to do it is with the Twins Hall of Fame, where I have no doubt he'll be a first ballot addition.

I was just looking at the tie-breaker situations and discovered quite the potential oddity. If there is a 3-way tie for the 2nd Wild Card, Houston would have to play 5 games in 5 different cities in 5 days to advance! The Astros are in Arizona on Sunday, would fly to Minnesota for Monday, Head back to Houston to play the Angels on Tuesday, Go to New York for the Wild Card game on Wednesday, and then be in Kansas City or Toronto for the start of the ALDS on Thursday! That would have to be the most brutal travel schedule in the history of MLB.

Congrats to the Lookouts: Southern League Champions! Kernels need another comeback, as they are down by 1 in the bottom of the 8th (for the 3rd straight day).

I'm a big fan of the 1 game wild card, for all the reasons others have mentioned. It rewards division winners, and a winner take all game is always going to have extra excitement. That's a whole lot more "fair" and adds more meaning to the regular system than giving a wild card team equal footing as a division winner. If you don't want to being eliminated from the post season after 1 game, then win your division. To me, the biggest problem with the post season right now is there are just too many off days. Teams never play more than 2 days in a row, From the start of the 5 game Division Series to the start of the LCS, a team gets a bare minimum of 3 days off. That's what really creates a completely different dynamic than a 162 game season. I'd start by dumping the second travel day of the DS and LCS. Even if the series goes the full 5/7 games, and you have a rain-out, there is still a travel day built in before the next round that can be used. It only eliminates two days off, but it's an easy place to start in a system where the fixed date World Series isn't going to change.

The Kernels will be playing West Michigan in the MWL finals, after the Whitecaps beat the Lansing Lugnuts tonight. This actually sets up a rematch of sorts of the 2007 MWL final, when the Whitecaps beat the Beloit Snappers in 5 games. This is the first time since that series that either the Twins or the Tigers affiliates have reached the finals. In the 2007 Finals, West Michigan won the first 2 games at home. The Snappers, lead by Joe Benson and Chris Parmalee, fought back to tie up the series, winning games 3 and 4 in Beloit, before falling in game five. The pitcher on the mound, getting the series clinching outs at the end of the game for the Whitecaps was Casey Fien.

They are doing it a bit more. In addition to the Brewers series, the Twins are also doing 2 Home/2 Away with the Braves next year, although it's not back to back like the Brewers. I believe they did the same thing against Pittsburgh this year. The problem with the home/home is that it is always done midweek, which is lousy for those of us to like to visit new cities for a roadtrip. This past year was the most disappointing for that, as St. Louis, Cincy, and Pittsburgh are 3 of my favorite parks, and easy roadtrip cities, but all of the games were midweek. I am glad to see Atlanta as a roadtrip, but I wish it wasn't midweek, and so late in August. Seems like the perfect opportunity to also make a stop in Chattanooga, and also revisit E-Town. Washington is another trip I would have love to have done in summer, but being it's set for mid-April, that will be a no-go for me.

I'd love to see Gardy end up in Milwaukee, if only for the humor value. Seeing Gardy paired back up with Gomez, Lohse, and Garza, along with watching him having to deal with National League rules would be comedy gold.

With Pelfrey starting on Saturday, the decision shouldn't be that hard. Do Kane Co. Saturday, then the Cell on Sunday. That's pretty much my plan, although I might do KC Friday Night instead of Saturday.

You and the Kernels must think alike, because they announced about the same time you asked. Jake Mauer will manage in CR again this year. Tommy is also back as hitting coach, and Henry Bonilla taking over as the new pitching coach. http://www.milb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20141219&content_id=104499436&fext=.jsp&vkey=news_t492&sid=t492

I'm sorry, I don't know how anyone could call the signing of Santana a "shifting mindset." This is the exact same move that the Twins management has been passing off for years now. The Twins need a top of the rotation arm, but they don't even consider that. Instead, they again go for the bargain bin, grabbing up yet another #3 arm, and expect the fans to celebrate that they've opened up the wallet because they've spent a whopping $55 Million bucks. BTW, While this will be the newest "biggest FA deal in Twins history," does anyone have any list of what each team's biggest FA deal is, because I've got to think that's still at or near the very bottom of all of MLB. It is important for the Twins to start spending money to get some talent back on the roster, but this is another move that seems much less about winning, than another smokescreen for a team that is struggling to keep fan interest and seems to have lost all interest in, or maybe just doesn't have the ability to, putting a winning team on the field.

He missed the bonus by 0.15%. Either you let him throw out of the bullpen, or you just pay him the money. The Twins are already known as a notoriously cheap organization, between that and the just dismal team they've fielded for 4 straight years, they are going to struggle as it is to get any Free Agents to agree to come here. A half million is a very small price to pay to make yourself a more attractive destination, and at the very least, make it a little easier to get Hughes to stick around again when his contract is up. Of course, that makes the assumption that the Twins have any desire to spend any money or even make an effort to improve the teams performance...

As a Beloit season ticket holder, i know exactly how you feel. It's got to be even worse, knowing the Twins are switching leagues, where at least I still get to see the team in town a few times a year and can head out to Iowa a few times a summer. After seeing the loyalty of the Twins, who frankly waited longer than they should have for a new stadium to pan out here, Beloit is now literally the last team standing. The only affiliation decision left, in any level of MiLB, is if Kane County will pick Oakland or Arizona, with Beloit getting the leftovers. I'm also curious about the future of NB's franchise. I don't really think Colorado is "happy" to be with the Rock Cats, rather they're just making the most of a bad situation. They got kicked out of Tulsa, and from what I could tell they were really hoping to get into Chattanooga, but the Lookouts picked the Twins. I suspect that the Rockies will try to get back into the Texas league in 2 years. Of course, the stadium situation will play a big role in how things play out too. If a new Hartford stadium is actually running in 2017, it will likely be much easier for them to lure an eastern team to Connecticut, but if the team is still in Limbo, they could be stuck with the leftovers again. I've only been out to New Britain once, but I enjoyed the trip. The stadium wasn't anything special, but it was still a nice place to catch a game, and I thought the staff did an excellent job. I hope they get things figured out relatively quickly up there.

I'm not a big fan of the Lookout's logo, then again, I didn't much like the new "Elvis" Rockcats logo either. However, I can't imagine that that Chattanooga will be able to match the old New Britain hat that imitated the old Twins "M" logo that I was a big fan of. http://rockcats.milbstore.com/store/Vendor123/300/NewBritainRoadSide_300.jpg

The Rock Cats are now an Rockies affiliate. New Britain announced a 2 year deal with Colorado on their website. Looks like Arizona is stuck in Mobile again.

You and a lot of people, I suspect, which I why I don't think it will ever happen. The Twins/Lookouts new deal should be official in about an hour. A News Conference is scheduled for 1:30 Central in Chattanooga.

Tulsa is off the table. As expected, The Dodgers will reportedly sign deals with both the Drillers and OKC Redhawks today. Hopefully the Twins are close to a deal with the Lookouts....

"Can easily be met" is a bit of a stretch though. You're talking about making significant improvements, including adding about 3,000 seats, to a brand new stadium. Getting someone to pony up the millions of dollars you would be talking about just doesn't seem likely, and if it was even on the radar at all, you'd think they would have simply built it to AAA standards in the first place. And that doesn't even mention the other potential problems of AAA, including getting the Twins to agree to have a AAA team just 10 miles away from Target Field... which I don't see the Pohlad's doing.