Otto von Ballpark

As MLB has stretched the average game time to 3 hours, and the Twins charge an average ticket price of $32, I don't think it's the fans "making an event out of it." An event makes more money than a simple game, but unfortunately that event is also often less kid-friendly than just a game.

Great, you responded to a request absolutely no one made. We don't want a place for our kids to play the whole game, we want a modest brief activity to break up an often 4-hour commitment to see a MLB game live. And if you can't see the game from the kid's area, nobody is forcing you to use it, but personally I wouldn't mind missing an inning or two if it helps me keep the kid happy for the duration of the game. (For a lot of parents I've seen, their strategy of bringing kids often includes "arrive late" and "leave early" neither of which I generally like.) Also, you bring up the cost of tickets -- for the price we pay (8th highest average ticket price in MLB, according to Team Marketing Report), we wouldn't accept Metrodome-like restrooms, concessions, etc. Why are we just supposed to be content with Metrodome-era "walking the concourse" as the primary way to give kids a break while at the game? Heck, for the earlier mention of the Metrodome -- in its later years, the Metrodome plaza often had a number of booths/games for adults and kids. Wasn't much help during the game, but it was some kind of effort in that regard, the likes of which I don't think I've ever really seen at the new stadium, even on the plaza (part of me suspecting that the Twins did this to capture revenue that they didn't control inside the old stadium?). Target Field is pretty much just positioning itself as the biggest bar in the warehouse district, with priority #1 on getting fans into the stadium and its watering holes quickly, which I am sure is quite profitable but it shouldn't be surprising when that strategy turns off a segment of fans. In fact, given the de-emphasis on the plaza since moving from the Dome, and the focus of ballpark renovations the past few years, it almost seems like they are deliberately trying not to encourage bringing kids to the game -- parents bringing kids don't drink as much (even if sometimes it feels like we need to drink more ).

To be fair, Torii's approach amounted to practically the same thing by the end of the season (which frankly would have made it kind of annoying if he hadn't retired this offseason).

How old are you kid(s)? How often do you take them to games? Where do you sit? Do you stay the whole game? What activities do the kids do? I can't imagine being a Twins fan, a parent of young children, and NOT being concerned with the lack of things for kids to do at Target Field. I bring some toys and books for the kid (3 year old), we make our concessions trip "special" (fries and ketchup are a treat), I try to run into TC Bear -- and still the kid gets bored and starts asking when we are going home no later than the middle innings (or earlier if we have to get to the park early for the kids promotional giveaway). I'd love some advice if other parents have it. The one thing that seems to help is making it a play date with other kids, and they can trade toys and entertain each other for a good chunk of time. But that obviously involves another family and isn't necessarily so easily or cheaply arranged. My kids love going to the playground and the neighborhood festival at the park -- would be great if Target Field offered even a little bit of that appeal to rope them in (or more importantly, rope me in to take them there).

Agreed. KC also had a free baseball museum in the stadium, which probably seems unnecessary to most local fans but was great fun for this out-of-towner (especially since the game was Royals-Tigers and a laugher).

Judging by how many bars the Twins feel are necessary to bring in fans today, maybe the Metrodome experience didn't interest our peers in baseball as much as it did us? Also, games in the Metrodome were significantly shorter and quieter. And tickets cheaper, and seats often easier to get and closer to the field (talking to the pitchers in the bullpen, and getting there early for general admission seats right behind the left field wall/plexiglass). I agree that the "capture the next generation of fan" argument is a bit of an over-reach. I'd just settle for trying to capture this generation of parents. Taking my kids anywhere is a bit of a chore, but it feels like an extreme one at Target Field. Unless it's a play date with other kids, I pretty much won't go now, which is a shame because there's plenty of games I'd like to attend but decline to do so.

I used to think that, but you know what? Not everybody at the game needs to see the game all the time. These games *average* 3 hours from the first pitch. Considering you probably can't arrive at the first pitch, you're frequently looking at a 4 hour ballpark commitment if you want to stay for the whole game (and I think leaving early is a bigger sin than taking an inning or two off to do something else). Having a playground or mini game to break up the proceedings can be vital, especially for younger kids or kids you weren't planning to bring but have to (maybe as part of a larger family outing).

One benefit of a late World Series: Halloween candy will be a readily available snack.

Maybe he was referring to Chicago?

I could go either way, but I would love a 7 game series! Seems like they could be evenly matched enough to do it.

I expect you, "D. Hocking", may suffer a broken hand during the World Series winning celebration and may be unable to post at that time anyway.

There is also this clause: preparatory to coming to a set position, the pitcher shall have one hand on his side; from this position he shall go to his set position. Since Estrada is not doing that, maybe he's not considered to be in the set position? In which case, perhaps this is just doing a long/weird wind-up with no one base, which isn't against the rules.

Probably just confusion. Greinke indeed dropped his agent in 2011 and made comments about representing himself, but hired Casey Close in April 2012: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2012/04/casey-close-to-represent-zack-greinke.html

From the official rule comments: Rule 8.01(a) Comment: In the Windup Position, a pitcher... may not go into a set or stretch position, if he does it is a balk. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/official_info/official_rules/pitcher_8.jsp Calling for a "balk" rather than an "illegal pitch" (which is used elsewhere in the rule) suggests that this simple move isn't really a violation without runners on base.

Back to the subject of this thread, I am glad we waited until now to outright Thompson, him sitting at home on the 40-man roster was of great help during our September push for the postseason...

Shields wasn't a 3 or 4. Ventura didn't pitch like one last year either. Both of those guys had a better ERA+ than any Twins starter since Baker's partial season in 2011, or before that, Johan. And Cueto, despite his mixed results for KC, definitely wasn't acquired to be a 3 or 4 either.

Kepler was actually first protected two winters ago, after the 2013 season. He had a .736 OPS in 61 games in A ball that year, in his first pro games above rookie ball. He had yet to appear in high-A at that point (although he did play in the AFL that year, .618 OPS).

I like Berrios, but comparisons of minor league numbers rarely indicate a "damn good chance" of anything. Too many guys succeed in the minors but struggle in the majors, or post pedestrian numbers in the minors but eventually prove capable of making the adjustments necessary to succeed in MLB.

Concussions moved him off catching too, huh? I think the Twins already have their good OBP, left-handed batting former catcher near the top of the lineup...

I think it was caught on TV too, but I heard their argument came slightly earlier, in the third inning? Related to an Ethier at-bat that inning? I don't think anyone has much mentioned the foul sac fly at all, I guess it would have been a bit unusual in the 4th inning, but I would have let it go. EDIT: Yeah, the dugout confrontation was in the third inning: http://nypost.com/2015/10/15/mattingly-ethier-stage-screaming-match-in-dodgers-dugout/

Not often, but it does happen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4QlrAmA8fg The parameters make it a rare opportunity. A runner on third with less than two outs is common enough, but there is often very little foul territory deep down the line in MLB parks, so it's only an issue when there is a fly hit into that narrow space, high enough to be reachable by the fielder. And of course the game state has to make that run more important than the out -- that's probably where Ethier and the Dodgers disagreed with me, as it was the 4th inning, but it was setting up to be a very low scoring game. Greinke is fully capable of stranding that runner at third, especially with an 0-2 count on the batter and a potential DP situation too.

Yeah, I left "OF" off of his positional description for a reason! I think he's actually an acceptable 1B.

Yes, the runner is free to tag and advance on any ball in play, whether fair or foul. In my opinion, Ethier absolutely should have let the ball drop foul. With Greinke on the mound, there was also 1 out and a runner on 1st too (meaning a DP was still in order), and the batter would have had an 0-2 count after that foul. The ball was deep enough that there was no chance to throw out the runner at the plate, and while Ethier probably didn't know it was going to be foul as he was chasing it, he clearly should have realized by the time he made the catch as he was very near the wall (and it was his home ballpark too). http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/94951848/v523351583/nymlad-gm5-darnaud-lifts-sacrifice-fly-to-tie-game/ Murphy gets all the attention that inning for his "steal" of third base, but that was a sub-optimal decision by Ethier too.

I'd love to see Colabello get paid, but that would be a terrible business decision for Toronto. You don't give a guaranteed multi-year deal to a guy with a .411 BABIP who is still a year away from arbitration (not to mention, a 32 year old 1B/DH too). Hopefully the Jays renew his deal above the minimum, maybe $600k or $700k, but any more than that doesn't make sense financially under the current MLB system. (It is a shame that Colabello is stuck under that system after his long and unusual path to the bigs, though.)

Wow. I knew Valencia had turned into a useful low-walk platoon role player the past few years, but he was the starting 3B for Oakland down the stretch and hit great for them. .284/.356/.530 with 11 HR over 2 months, for a 140 OPS+. Plus his time in Toronto, he had a 134 OPS+ in 378 PA this year, easily besting even his Twins rookie year for offensive performance.