Fred

Please, please, please be right!

The silver lining here is that they know who will be batting 9th.

I said, as the season started, that I wanted Larnach gone, but I wanted a final look at Wallner. I've seen enough. It's nice of Larnach to show other clubs that he can handle a platoon job against righties. They might just get more for him than I expected. I still don't want him blocking promotions from AAA, however. Remember the trio, Kirilloff, Larnach, and Wallner? It looked good at the time; what a disappointment!

And yet, I can recall many cases where a fielding liability with a big bat has been stashed at 1st to keep them in the lineup

I'm glad you mentioned Fedko. He's second on the Saints on HRs and OPS. And I have seen them move Rodriguez to RF to put Fedko in Center. He's 26, so it's time for them to see what he has

I would be shocked if no one had ever tried Wallner at 1st base. He's just too big and too defensively challenged in the outfield for that thought to have never occurred to anyone when he was in school or the minor leagues.

All by itself the Varland trade could, at least, be explained. Rojas and Roden both look like they could contribute in the future. But, they had just gutted their bullpen. Varland was the sole remaining reliable guy out there. Right now, I'm not sure how big a lead needs to be, to be safe. It will straighten itself out in 2 or 3 years, but Buxton isn't getting younger, and the next wave will be asking for more money about that time.

"Serious HIT potential even if he has only limited power" makes him what? Mauer-lite?

He looks like he could be a 1st baseman. It would be hard for me to believe that nobody has tried it already. If so, it must have looked pretty bad

I want Larnach gone. He is in the way of 2 or 3 guys with much higher ceilings. I haven't reached that point with Wallner, but I'm getting close.

Unfortunately, so far, Lee has not shown us anything like "a plus hitter". He's got a long way to go before they can justify playing him for his bat. I haven't given up on him yet, but it seems to me that he only has this year to show that he can be more than an acceptable utility guy. I think he can play better defense at 2nd than Keaschall, but so can Clemens. For now, I want Culpepper to take a shot at SS with Lee at 2nd (I think we've seen the best from Clemens and, while he did have one good month, is that enough?) At least Lee is a switch hitter.

$2.00 scratch off

Tom Pohlad is in a tough spot. He's scrambling to find ways to increase attendance and fan interest. "Hey, Ryan is pitching. Let's go to the game" is one way to hold on to what little attendance they're getting now. I can see the argument for trading him for a good return, but the philosophy of trading players because their value is high and might drop is a good way to remain at a AAA level. That will certainly not do much for fan interest in the present and will decrease the value of the ballclub. I'm all for the Pohlads selling. Keep that value as high as possible in the short term.

Honestly curious. Is there a downside to "internal brace" surgery? Why don't they do that the first time surgery is needed?

It's not quite deja vu, but it feels like it.