bird

That's a fair question, and maybe there's a good answer. You and I don't know enough to be overly critical that he's still in Chattanooga. His stats look good, but he hasn't been all that dominant, so maybe they think he's got a bit more refining to do. We can decide to believe he's ready and the Twins are in error in not calling him up right now, but we're possibly missing something. Sure wish our beat writers asked the same question.

The plan was for Burdi to not hit the DL-twice already. The plan was for Reed to show some semblance of the Reed they saw in the Arizona Fall League. The plan was for Chargois to return from a prolonged injury hiatus and show he's ready for the big time early in 2016. The plan was for maybe one or two other guys to emerge who fit in the "Plan B" category- guys like Tonkin and Melotakis, Rogers, Graham. This reality, for me, doesn't excuse Ryan from what I believe was a poor decision to pass on bringing one more RP with better credentials then Abad and Kintzler. While the off-season RP decision a poor one, I think some of the characterizations of the RP decisions are way way over the top. Very few things are going right at the moment, which turns a poor or questionable move into part of a highly visible total system failure. Which top RP prospect should have been called up? I guess one could argue both sides of a decision about Chargois, and you can be sure the Twins field staff did exactly that, but who else?

And besides Rosario, Buxton, and Kepler needing more time than we'd like, there are others, most notably Murphy, whose issues are at AND behind the plate. And Vargas may not be cooked yet, who knows? I get the sentiment of hating the thought of Centeno and Maestro, but the problem needs to be addressed. Given the failure on Ryan's part to be decidedly more proactive during the off-season, especially regarding his poor decision to not bring in at least one more very solid BP arm, we have a hopefully temporary need to go with uninspiring alternatives like these two guys. My question is, what's the better near-term alternative to Maestro and Centeno? And don't say firing the FO. Can't fill a roster spot with a pink slip.

Cheating is cheating, and it's wrong 100% of the time.

The Dutch. I hate the Dutch.

That would be a MURDER of crows. Look it up.

I'm delusional, so I'm hoping Ryan was in Rochester to watch Pawtucket's catcher, Blake Swihart. Boston might get nervous about its rotation and maybe Ryan can dangle Ervin the Cheater and all the rest of the rotation out there. Boston can afford big contracts, and they have a stocked minor league system. At any rate, if I'm the GM, I'm sticking with the five for a few more starts, hoping they are all improving their trade value, and I've got a price in mind for every one of them, because none of them are even remotely close to being indispensable.

Pawtucket's lineup is impressive too.

In skydiving, absolutely.

Getting any 2 of us to agree on any 7 points isn't feasible. Is it OK if I agree with, say, 3 of them?

I get so confused. Who are all these "young guys" of whom you speak? They didn't have any decent young guys to call up during 2015, except Pressly, who got hurt. And Tonkin, who pitched like dog poop in a majority of his appearances. And JR Graham, who they trusted too much in the opinion of most people on this site. And O'Rourke, who isn't that decent and isn't that young, and who any fool knows can't be trusted against a right-handed hitter getting a MLB W-2. In 2016, who exactly isn't being trusted enough? Pressly? May? Tonkin was the final roster decision. Yes, maybe Allen and Molitor could have found him an appearance or two even though most of the games were close, but they had better options and were desperately trying to put a W on the board. Rogers is a very poor example. He was right where he should have been in the pecking order while he was here, and they didn't find low-leverage opportunities to play him in this short period of time. I'd contend that the Twins are no different than most teams when it comes to how they try to gradually expose pitchers to the stresses of MLB relief appearances. And let's remember, we're not dealing with elite talent when we talk about trusting Tonkin, Pressly, Rogers, O'Rourke...

I'm not sure which "young guys" you think should have been paraded up to the big club in 2015 and "trusted" instead of "buried". O'Rourke, with his 6.41 ERA, was entrusted with more innings than he probably should have been last year, mainly because all he had to do was out-pitch the likes of Thielbar, Stauffer, Achter, and Cotts, who were all trusted for fewer innings than O'Rourke. And Tonkin wasn't trusted much in 2015 because he couldn't be counted on to deliver consistent results. Let's hope 2016 is his year. He'll be trusted plenty if he produces consistently. Just ask Ryan Pressly.

And what's that other one with a name like Grandma's car? DeSoto or something? Brock should use that.

She golfs? Nice. Although golf is simply birdwatching ruined.

Ten bucks says Punto brings back Ronald Gardenhire as his first base coach.

Brock, I think you should set up a betting pool for TD members that calls for winners and losers along these lines: Base the thing on some metric that can't be disputed like that WAR thingy. Use a reasonable time period, like maybe May 7th or 8th. Then, collect a dollar from all those who trashed the trade and called for Ryan's immediate ouster. Collect twenty dollars from the six people who lauded the trade. You know, to even the pot just a little. And collect two dollars from yourself, and everyone else who went "meh" or refused to render an opinion based on some goofy notion that they don't know what they're talking about. Distribute that cash immediately so the opinionated members aren't exposed to such a large bet. This might keep the interest up as we go through the next 1-9 stretch.

Promote him to Target Field right this second!

Let's review the actual history of how much influence Bill Smith, an admitted "administrator", had on a single scout being hired, or a minor league coordinator, or manager. And please don't try to convince me that Smith had a ton of input on who ultimately made the cut after spring training. Mike, it's not just about accountability, it's about proper and fair attribution. There are lots of examples of Boards of Directors cleaning house, only to discover that Management wasn't really the big problem. CEO's get canned all the time by boards, and sometimes it's fair and justified, and other times it's unfair and wrong-headed. But I have no problem if the board of the Twins cans Dave St. Peter. Seriously, I don't push back at fair-minded and well-considered arguments for a GM regime change. I see clear strengths and weaknesses. I'm simply more tolerant than most because I think it's a really hard job with a boatload of uncontrollable variables in play at all times. The discussion devolved from what might have been a more interesting one about what roster construction decisions might've been made, or could be made, but once again, we get caught in the same old trap. I can't wait for tomorrow, because the "Ryan must go" discussion gets more scintillating every day. I assign 100% attribution to Ryan for the construction of the roster. IMO, while it's currently rather flawed, it's not the complete disaster some people are making it out to be, nor is the 0-9 start a 100% reflection on roster construction. I attribute the poor start most heavily on the players, and secondarily on the manager, although not knowing what's really happening inside the clubhouse dampens my criticism of Paulie.

Trades come down to the GM, period. Relying on a scouting report and an opinion and then negotiating a deal is very far removed from the whole draft process. Go ahead and play the "buck stops here" card when it comes to the draft, but let's not exaggerate the importance of the GM's opinion when it comes to the draft or downplay the GM's role when it comes to trades.

Thanks for saying this, because these guys are sick and tired of me saying that the GM, be it Smith or Ryan, has almost nothing to do with the actual draft decisions. Arguing about which GM's tenure produced better results is a big cluster*&*k of irrelevance. And fellas, please please please don't go down the "but Smith signed Sano road". Giving Smith more than a sliver of credit for what happened with Sano is perpetuating a false story. And I'm not sure if Billy Smith even knows who Jorge Polanco is. So please, friends, let's stop talking about Smith vs. Ryan in this regard until one of you can prove to us that Smith in particular was ever in a room with a bunch of scouts when any discussion was EVER had about whether it makes more sense to draft Buxton instead of Glausman. BTW, after the Twins selected Tyler Jay with the 6th overall pick, Ryan said he never saw Jay pitch in person. Not once. He said he trusted his people to make the call. So, if you want to discredit or credit a GM for draft and development results, and compare the success of one team versus another, you need to talk about a collection of about five dozen people, and you need to compare the results against other teams in an even-handed way.

I'm very interested in hearing about which of these players you believe the FO is receiving an undeserved free pass. I so often find myself wondering why the discussion isn't more often skewed toward the performance of the players instead of the FO? Or even the hitting coach or manager? Not picking on you, but while we're at it, we might address an earlier post about excuses related to Ryan's bad decisions that used Sano, Buxton, and others as the apparent examples. Ryan Ryan Ryan Ryan Ryan.....

But only with a googler.

Skip the Brown Creeper and see if she can maybe help you find a pair of Great Tits. They're known to occasionally escape from captivity. Look it up.

If she's going out with me, it's a paid gig, pushing my wheelchair and dabbing my chin. I'm almost YOUR age, Chief.

So, you watched her make out with someone?