CRF

I like Polanco, but I agree he's a pretty good trade chip. Just my opinion...I think I'd explore moving him for pitching, and put Arraez at 2nd, Miranda at 1st, and keep Urshela to play at 3rd.

Somebody must have bribed the committee.

I don't particularly want either of those three guys. I'd love for CC to stay, as unlikely as that is. Let's wait and see how things play out a bit. There's a long winter in front of us.

Stashak...no. Let him go. Enlow...maybe. At least give him a look. If you gave Sands innings, you can give Enlow a look.

As Jean-Luc Picard would say..."Make it so!" Bartender...make mine a double!

Just about anything would be an upgrade over Garlick.

Decent stuff, decent velo...zero command. Barely serviceable in a mop up role. Anything else is a disaster. Much better options will be available. Find another sucker and ship him over to them.

Why? Organizational depth? Maybe we can't hit the guy, but someone has been. C'mon...we've got much better alternatives than Davis.

Talk is very cheap, and he's saying the right things at the moment, but I do think he'll opt out. That doesn't necessarily mean he's gone. I think he really does like it here, and it's very clear he's the leader on this team. All the younger guys look up to him and I believe the vets do too. Even guys like Buxton, Polanco, and Kepler. I think CC enjoys that leadership role. I'd love to have him as the SS for the next several years. He hasn't produced offensively as much as we'd hoped, but he doesn't have the team around him like he did in Houston either. That being said, he's far from an automatic out like a few of the guys we currently have in the lineup. Defensively, he's superb. Probably the best SS we've ever had here. I hope that he ends up staying.

I think some team will take a flyer out on him. I doubt he'll clear and stay with the organization.

Wow...another stellar performance by Pagan and Duffey. Megill was just as bad last night too. There might be some hope left for him, but not the other two. When will someone in the organization wake up and realize that Pagan and Duffey are just plain bad, and are only to be used in mop up situations. You can't throw Pagan out there with a tight one run lead and expect him to hold it. Pagan and Duffey have run out of chances, it's time to dump them.

It's been one game. I think we need to slow the roll a bit. Sure it looks like we made a couple decent additions to the pen, along with a good starter. I'd prefer to wait 2-3 weeks and see how things shake out, and also how Rocco is going to use them.

Castillo is gone. If the Twins want ANY of these pitchers, they're going to have to up the ante to get them. I wouldn't bet on them doing that.

Get both of them!

We'll know in the next week or so, how good a team the FO thinks we have. If they sit on their hands and do very little, or nothing, then it's sure possible that Cleve and/or Chi could lap us. I hope that doesn't happen. We all know what this team needs. If we can get a couple decent arms, that would make a world of difference. We certainly are in the conversation about winning the division. I don't think there's any doubt about that. We could sure use some help though. I want to see some action by the FO, not excuses. Let's say we do win the division. Depending on how it shakes out and who we'd play, we could advance. The Yanks and Stros will get the byes. but we'd more than likely get killed by either of them anyway.

No way.

No!

He's still young and a work in progress, but he's been very disappointing this season. He's nearly an automatic out at the plate, and his defense is average at best. I think everyone expected him to take a big step up this year, and it went the other way. If your catchers strongest attribute is his pitch framing, then you're in trouble. There are plenty of other catchers that can do that, and hit better too. It's real tough to carry a guy that hits around .175 as a regular player. I'd definitely like to see an upgrade behind the plate.

Absolutely brutal news. Unbelievable. To say it really sucks doesn't even come close. Everyone just feels so bad for the guy. We saw what he was capable of, and now another wasted year. No doubt he'll come back strong, but this is a real gut punch.

No Perez...and absolutely no Gibby!

I don't know if going IL is the answer or not. Maybe. I guess it depends how hurt he actually is, and I don't think we know. For sure I'd drop him down to the bottom of the order. He's not a lead off hitter anyway. Arraez has to stay as the lead off hitter, and Rocco has to leave him there. When Buxton regains his stroke, he should be the #2 or #3 hitter, not lead off.

I'd expect to see him here thru the rest of the season, but I have to believe he's gone after that. He seems to be really fighting himself too. He's completely lost his confidence. At one time, he was a relatively reliable middle relief guy, but he's always had trouble when put into higher level situations. He certainly isn't someone that could/can be trusted to close games. Yesterday was an absolutely a disaster, that almost resulted in blowing that 5 run lead. He's gotta go.

For me, I always liked him better than Kirilloff. I just think he's better overall. Hopefully, he continues to improve. I hope he evolves into a 30 HR, 100 RBI guy, and hits close to .300. I think he can do it.

Nice job by Smeltzer, only to have the Doof completely blow it. Can't believe Rocco didn't pull him before all that damage was done, and to not even have someone warming up was a total WTF moment. C'mon Rocco...what the hell are you thinking?

It doesn't matter what sport, or what team, there's always going to people who don't like the coach/manager...and there's always going to be people who do like the coach/manager. That's a given and it comes with the territory. Depending on the players and how a team is constructed, the same coach/manager could be a lights out genius for one team...or a crash and burn idiot with another. How many times have we all seen that? Surround the guy/gal with quality players, and they'll probably do very well. Surround them with stiffs, and they'll probably fail miserably. We seem to be in the middle there somewhere. We're not great, but we're not total crap either. Would it be nice to win some playoff games and go to another WS? Hell yeah it would. Is it going to happen anytime soon? More than likely, no. A lot of things would have to break our way for that to happen. I don't think Rocco is going to single handedly get us there either. I think Rocco is a work in progress. He's still learning how to do this job. He didn't go through the minors managing here and there, gaining experience. He's not "old school" by any means. He's not a whole lot older than a lot of active players. He's definitely "new school". Do I agree with some of the decisions he makes? Nope, not at all. I think he tends to lean too much on those nice little pieces of paper he has in front of him, instead of what I would call gut instinct, or even common sense. Maybe that's good, maybe not. I'm not smart enough to figure all of it out. I am willing to give him some time to see what happens, and what he develops into. He seems to have a pretty good relationship with his players/team, and that's a plus. You don't hear anyone on the team griping and second guessing him...that's our job. I'd see what happens this season and probably next too. Maybe the choice will be a lot clearer by then. Maybe Fal-Vine will decide that Rocco needs to go bye bye? Who knows? I don't know that there's better choices out there to bring in here anyway.