Otto von Ballpark

True, that is the shortest path to perhaps getting this monkey of our back.

The Cuzzi call was terrible, but no, it was not responsible for even one loss. Consider that Nathan had already blown a 2-run 9th inning lead that game, Mauer's phantom double was only leading off the inning, it was replaced by a Mauer single, and we still managed to squander a bases loaded, nobody out opportunity that inning. Oh, and Teixeira homered to lead off the bottom of that inning, so even if Mauer had scored to give us a 1 run lead, it wouldn't have lasted very long.

What's really upsetting is that Falvey and Levine completely ignored the recommendations of their consultants: They didn't do it on a Friday, they didn't simply move Mientkiewicz down to the rookie leagues, and they didn't just "fix the glitch" to stop his paychecks. For that matter, if they had only met with Doug in person, they surely would have seen he is a straight shooter with upper management written all over him!

Based on recent Twins history, this offer is not valid vs NY, or in the postseason.

I've called it the curse of Mike Trombley, because this was Gardy's first game in NY as manager: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYA/NYA200205170.shtml But actually we had been swept in the Dome by the Yankees a week prior to that. Maybe it's the curse of Chuck Knoblauch? The fulcrum isn't on the trade, but rather on him leaving NY. He was still on the Yankees the last time we beat them in a season series (2001).

Actually 2-12 vs New York in the playoffs (four ALDS losses). The last 9 losses in a row.

They're almost old enough to drive. In 5-6 years they will be old enough to legally drink!

Or, maybe Steil should have told Mientkiewicz it was Goin's decision.

Did he say "significantly more impressive"? He said "probably" Brewers, and that was only if they both make the playoffs, which might take 87-88 wins from the Brewers. I read the AL/NL issue as primarily that Arizona and Colorado are running away with the wild cards, not strength of league/schedule.

2002 and 2003 happened! 2004 would have been nice to have rookie Mauer -- I'm not sure his batting stats would have remained so high if he played the whole year, but he probably could have cracked our top 5 in bWAR. Henry Blanco contributed RBI in games 2 and 4 that postseason too, so it wasn't all bad! 2006 we missed Liriano, but we laid an egg in games 1 and 2 behind solid starting pitching anyway, not sure it would have mattered. 2009 and 2010, we missed Morneau. Interestingly he was a much better hitter in 2010 than he was in 2009, although we may have missed him less in 2010 -- we just moved Cuddy to 1B, put Thome at DH, and had Kubel-Young in the outfield corners. 2009 was trickier, as Young wasn't very good and it put guys like Harris and Morales at DH. Ideally, with Morneau in September, we could have had Baker start game 1 instead of game 163 too. I know it's fun to play the "what if" game, but I don't think injuries were much responsible for the Twins recent postseason record. It's just too overwhelmingly bad. And I'm not sure losing Sano for this postseason would matter much either -- since April, he was running a 109 wRC+, which isn't much higher than his replacements season marks (Grossman 104, Vargas 98, Escobar 93).

And those flags fly forever!

No. As others have mentioned, there was no such timeline. They have continually hoped to have him back within 10 days or so. Here's an article from the day he went on the DL (August 21): http://m.mlb.com/news/article/249677618/twins-miguel-sano-placed-on-10-day-dl/

No thanks! Not in a pennant race, unless someone gets hurt. Tonkin has had enough chances, and he was effectively "cut loose" a few months ago when he was put on waivers (and went unclaimed). There's virtually nothing he could do in the next 2 weeks to convince me he's worth effectively guaranteeing a 25-man spot for next spring, 6 months in advance. We can make him a minor league offer just like anyone else, in case he really enjoys the Rochester area.

Agreed. As much fun as 2015 and the return to relevance was, Molitor leading a Gardy-esque performance against the Yankees left me with a bit of a sour taste in my mouth and some extra pessimism about the future.

Should we have added a reliever on July 31st? Washington was able to get a guy that day for a lower-level prospect, and he's been pretty effective since.

I think the 2015 team had some real heartbreak against the Yankees -- didn't make the playoffs, but we lost 5 in a row to them in a pennant race, including a 3 game sweep in NY in mid-August. We held a lead in the 5th inning or later of all 5 losses; and at least a tie in the 6th inning or later. In a season where we spent much of the last month about 1 game out of the wild card, those losses proved crucial. "Highlights" from each of those losses: - In Target Field in late July, Perkins blew a 9th inning save, capped off by a 3-run HR to JR Murphy - The next afternoon, Gibson gave up a run to tie in the 5th, then combined with O'Rourke to give up a 6-spot in the 6th - Moving to Yankee Stadium in mid-August, Gibson combined with Duensing to blow a 2-run lead in the 6th, but we held on tied until the 10th when Perkins lost it. With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the 10th, Eduardo Nunez fielded a tough grounder and threw to first base for a meaningless out while the game-ending run scored. - Next night, the Twins managed to take a 4-1 lead in the top of the 7th, which Molitor inexplicably trusted to O'Rourke (versus two RHB, no less) and Rule 5 mop-up man JR Graham in the bottom of the inning. They combined to give up 7 runs. - Then in the season series finale, Ervin pitched pretty well and we took a lead in the 6th inning again, but a pair of 2 run HR to Greg Bird sunk us, 4-3. In addition to Mauer, we still have Ervin, Dozier, Rosario, and Escobar from that team playing prominent roles. Duffey was on the team for the second of those series but didn't pitch. In our only win, our first game vs the Yankees that year, Sano hit a 2 run HR in the first inning and Phil Hughes pitched 7 shutout innings -- both are on the DL now. Trevor May was effective in both of his relief appearances vs the Yankees that year, but is also on the DL now. (O'Rourke, not so much. ) Buxton, Vargas, Tonkin, and Pressly mercifully missed the Yankees series that year, but received regular playing time at other points of the 2015 MLB season. Polanco and Kepler made token appearances at other points of 2015 too. And of course Molitor, Allen, Glynn, Vavra, Guardado, and Rudy Hernandez are still holdovers from the 2015 coaching staff. EDIT: And while he didn't make the 2009-2010 playoff rosters, Perkins gave up 6 runs in 2/3 of an inning to lose a regular season start against the Yankees in 2009, before his 2015 meltdowns. That's kind of a link to the past. Only 1 run in 10 innings from 2011-2014, though, admittedly not in any kind of pennant race.

Maybe they should have re-hired Goin, just to call Mientkiewicz.

By his own admission, Mientkiewicz was not surprised. He knew it was coming, the season was over, he didn't have a contract for 2018. He doesn't really get to plead surprise or shock in demanding an explanation. It is not like they gave him an offer one day and retracted it the next, or asked him to clean out his desk suddenly midseason. He knew why he was being let go, as much as most folks employed in baseball ever knows such a thing. By his own words, Mientkiewicz was not even asking for reasons, he was asking "who made the decision." That strikes me as an obvious aggressive stance, and not a person who is looking to passively agree to some constructive criticism before going quietly. I admit I have been in this situation, on both sides, in both work and personal relationships. It's not fun, and sometimes I felt like Doug and wanted to fight it and press to get the "real truth" told to my face by the highest authority possible, but after reflection I realized that was never a good idea. There was never going to be an approach or explanation that would have been satisfactory in that moment.

"Perceived to be" would have been the better phrasing. (He did narrowly lead our position players in bWAR in 1987.) Technically I suppose he led the combined 1987 and 1991 teams in total Twins bWAR too.

You just said Mientkiewicz has "a challenging personality when it comes to authority" but you somehow think his termination phone call would have been improved by his boss immediately giving him details behind the decision to not bring him back along with that news? Or if only a higher authority figure would have spoken to him instead? That would be like feeding the beast, rather than starving it. Might as well say a manager wouldn't have ranted and raved at an umpire if only the umpire would have explained his decision better. The conflict is deeper than that.

As for the timing, were they supposed to make him wait a month without a 2018 contract before telling him this? Something tells me Mientkiewicz would have been just as upset then -- "why didn't you tell me a month ago?" They didn't dismiss him before his season was over, and they didn't give him this news until the hurricane was over. Seems like the most professional timing possible.

You think? Mientkiewicz said to the press, "You think they will ever do something professional as an organization?" I get that he's frustrated, but that's not really an appropriate public response here, and gives us some insight into how he would have reacted if someone other than Steil would have made the call.

I fully understand that, I am just curious about what forms your opinion, in case it is something that might change my own.

How else can you read this passage? Nothing there about reasons, strictly about who's responsible.

Here are the AFL coaching assignments, dated July 26. Twins are only sending a trainer: http://www.mlb.com/documents/8/6/8/244568868/Assignments_4xivb6tk.pdf Don't know how these decisions are made, but it doesn't seem unreasonable to ask someone if they are interested in doing it, even if you don't necessarily want to renew their contract for 2018. It's a job opportunity, could have helped him land with a different org for 2018 too.