Western SD Fan

Good Grief! At least make the Dodger pitcher prove he can throw it over the plate first.

There was a short discussion last night during the broadcast about allowing the check swing to be added the plays that can be challenged. Plouffe correctly stated that they would need to fix the rule before they could allow it as a challengeable play. If you read the rule on a check swing, it's so vague that it is something only a politician would appreciate. I don't see them allowing the check swing next year as the manager ejection meter would go down and that is entertainment according to Manfred.

The Jamie Moyer Effect to the extreme. But Rich Hill still has 4 years to go so I can rename this The Rich Hill Effect.

I was able to attend the first two games this weekend at Coors Field to finally watch the Twins. On that note, I think the Twins should start sending me a royalty check to stay away from their games as every game I have gone to in the past few years, the Twins have lost. If I was a very casual fan that didn't know anything about how the season has gone this year, I would have expected the roles to be reversed. The Rockies to be a bubble playoff team and the Twins to be the bottom-feeder. I know this because my friend, who is this type of casual fan, asked me on the way home what happened to the Twins this weekend as when she looked on paper on the matchup, she expected an easy Twins victory. The Rockies seemed to play faster, take the extra bases, take advantage of pitches in the zone to drive the ball and punish pitchers, and take advantage of errors or sloppy play. The Twins looked like the same old Twins I've been watching all season. Starting pitchers give up a few early runs and the offense never catches up. The worst pitching in MLB collected TWO quality starts (Freeland, 6IP, 1ER; Senzatela, 7IP, 3ER) against us. I do need to listen to the Royce Lewis interview over the weekend as I think it opens some eyes. You almost have to wonder if there is too much information given to these guys and/or too much tinkering with some of these player's mechanics. Many of them are just looking lost at the plate, missing pitches in the zone, or hitting with weak contact. There were some great defensive plays by the Rockies, but that accounted for 3-4 AB's in the entire series, certainly not enough to affect the rest of the team or the series. Finally, you could hear the great contingent of Twins fans that made the trip out to Denver, hoping to prove that there are still fans out here on the fringe High Plains of the Dakotas, Wyoming and Montana. The series averaged an attendance of 35,895 per ESPN.com's recaps and the Rockies faithful still loudly cheered on their team, even though they are having the year they're having. It seemed embarrassing as a Twins fan watching the home games on TV the difference in atmosphere between Colorado and Minnesota, and I'm not talking about the less air in elevation or the distinct smells in downtown Denver. You can blame the Pohlads, the dragging on of the sale of the team, the lack of moves by the FO creating a lackluster fan base. I would argue that Dick Monfort (owners of the Rockies) is a worse owner than the Pohlads. Coors Field is still a beautiful ballpark, a seeming dedicated fan base even in the face of consistent losing seasons, bad front offices, and poor development of players. Now, there are more reports staring to coalesce that an ownership group is gelling and could actually finish a sale of the Twins sometime in the offseason. I hope all those fans that claim they won't attend a game until ownership changes put their money where their mouth is and support the Twins when a new ownership is announced.

It should be this quiet. Just think when we first heard of Sternberg in serious talks to sell the Rays? It was a month ago and now there's a signed agreement with an expected closing date in September. It doesn't surprise me that the Ishbia bid really screwed us in terms of the other potential buyers laying low and watching it play out, as has been previously reported.

Harry Ford in the Mariners system would be another catcher I would be interested in trading for. I don't see him getting significant playing time behind Cal Raleigh.

My dream of a new ownership would be similar to the St. Louis Cardinals. They spend smartly, not afraid to spend when it looks like they have a serious run and consistently put up a winner. Their worst contract, Arenado, is still a decent player. Arenado would be the third best batter on the Twins by WAR. Even in a year where their FO tempered expectations they are still putting out a quality on-field product. Any new ownership will likely not be a big market spender, nor do I think many of us expect them to be. Some of the biggest spenders are being a little more cost-conscious as to not run afoul of the most punitive of MLB's luxury tax penalties: See Boston Red Sox.

Our trusty snitch at the FO, TC Bear, is at it again! Only one part was forgotten in this article, the FO, Rocco, and fans will vigorously defend ANYONE who has even a tangential connection to Minnesota. Did your family take a vacation to Minnesota sometime in your lifetime? The team will never abandon you dear player.

I can see a couple of opportunities arise for Raya before Ober and Matthews return from the IL. I don't believe that Ober has even started a rehab assignment and I'm guessing Matthews will have at least one more rehab start before being recalled. I also believe that Raya will replace Adams as the "bulk starter" in case they get an offer to trade Paddack before the deadline.

Since my MSN homepage promotes Puckett's Pond instead of Twins Daily (boo!), I get to see their headlines. Their headlines actually mirror what I was going to say on this thread. The Twins have potentially drafted their replacement for Correa. The timing may be right as there are at least three more years left on Correa's contract and Houston is probably the only true SS in the system that has the defensive chops to match Correa at the moment. Time will tell as he goes through the minors, but first glance seems encouraging.

The first half has been fun with all of you. The team pushes on my alcohol content at times! I will see you in Colorado! Finally get to see the Twins play this year.

I've been wondering that ever since they brought him back up the first time off the IL for the Baltimore series in early May.

Still has Coulombe and potentially Sands if you believe that he can come back after 19 pitches yesterday. I'm warming up Festa or Paddack if it goes any farther than that.

Paddack is the one with the expiring contract. You may have missed the part where I said that if you trust that potential rotation without Paddack, then you try to trade him before the deadline.

Rocco was updated. Zebby was taken out after 4 innings and his replacement promptly coughed up a run.

Zebby just takes Adams spot when he's ready. The tougher question is what to do with Ober when he comes back. If it's before the trade deadline, you may try to move Paddack if you trust a group of Ryan, SWR, Matthews, Ober, and Festa to get you to when Lopez comes back.

Zebby update from across the river. 4 IP, 1H, 0BB, 9K, 56 pitches

Makes it easier since he is still active.

I believe I heard they were having the ABS for the All-Star Game. We need to bring back Angel Hernandez to be behind the plate this All-Star game. I would love to see if there can be some kind of record set for the number of missed calls overturned by ABS.

Again, I would say that is why you have a coach. In that case, it's his pitching coach reminding him where the pitcher is in the batting order, what his numbers are that third time through the order, and who is actually coming up to help Rocco make that decision.

I'll be the Rocco defender in this situation. Given the overall situation, big lead and Buxton has had a great day at the plate, Rocco was probably looking more at trying to save his legs a little by taking him out early. Rocco has done it with both Buxton and Correa throughout the season. Rocco even said in the interview that it's his coaches that bring up those things, such as a cycle watch, hitting streaks, on base streaks, etc. He did say that once they brought it to his attention, he wasn't taking him out. I bet that if you asked all of the MLB managers about whether they keep track of these things, most of them would say no.

I don't mind the Vazquez play of the hit and run. It turned into a sacrifice to get the runner to second. Two chances to get Bader in.

Joey Gallo 2.0: The slower version that can't play 1B

You're right that we would need a shortstop. If you're trading Joe Ryan, I'm also guessing you're trading everyone under the sun not nailed down for the next one to two years and preparing for a 70-80 win season the next two years rather than retooling. If that's the case, I'll bring up Will Holland or Eeles and see what I have while have Lee covering SS in the interim. You're also right that Correa's contract may not be the albatross that I'm making it out to be. Quite a few people called Mauer's contract an albatross, and I believe it was proven in the long run that Mauer definitely earned his contract. I do have a real concern that Correa will never be healthy enough to be the player we signed up for. Through half of the year, Correa is -0.2 WAR per baseball-reference. I still think this entire discussion needs to take place in the offseason and not before the deadline.