Mr. Brooks

His results in a sample size of 3 innings?

The father should face criminal charges, IMO.

Or maybe they are more rare than we'd figure. I remember last year Mauer got a walk off hit, and he'd gone 10 full years since his previous one.

Correct. The average time/pitch in that AB was almost 40 seconds. I'm amazed that people find that acceptable- and probably the majority do! I'm not suggesting they sprint back to the mound and speed pitch, but sometimes these guys take way too long. Unnecessarily long, IMO.

Yes, if that's why they are carrying him, then indeed it's ridiculous. I don't personally believe that is why they are carrying him. He's 27 years old. My guess is they think he can contribute now, and there is a disconnect between how they feel about him, and how Molitor feels about him.

If I want history, I'll go to a museum.

One, the people charging for milb tickets aren't the same one paying milb salaries. At least not for affiliated teams, which I assume is what we are discussing. Two, if they could charge more for tickets without losing attendance, and they decided not to, then they are awful at business, and are doomed regardless.

Yeah he's not out of the woods yet. These things are no joke. Like Carole said, the fact he's even alive right now is incredible. Even 10 more minutes without trained professionals that knew what it was would have likely been fatal. Best of luck to him and his family. He's going to have a long fight ahead of him to a full recovery.

The only way that Porterhouse steak is five minutes away from being cooked perfectly, is if it's still attached to the cow. But I do get your point.

I don't think it's ridiculous at all to feel this isn't a playoff team. I certainly think they have a fair shot at being in the mix, but I don't think the opinion that they aren't quite there yet would be ridiculous.

WARNING: Long rant ahead. Except maybe it's a case of be careful what you wish for, for me, after hearing Leipold's press conference. I wanted Fletcher gone because I wanted someone to finally start the complete year down that i feel is necessary. Not necessary to get 100 points in the regular season and then go one and done, mind you. But necessary to actually have a team that can win Cups. This team is stuck "in between". Not enough difference makers to win in the playoffs, but not bad enough to get high draft picks-which, outside of a lucky fluke here and there, is where you find difference makers. I actually wanted it blown up after last year, and not surprisingly, nobody in this forum agreed. This is a roster full of guys that wilt in the postseason, when the intensity, the physicality, and the mental toughness are ratcheted way up. Hockey is too physical and violent to be played balls to the wall for 82 games straight in the regular season. The Wild can win in that watered down environment of the regular season. We have guys like Zucker, Coyle, Nino, even Staal, that just disappear when the intensity goes up to 11 in the postseason. That's not bad luck, puck luck, bad refs, injuries, it's the personality of the team. Now, someone will surely point out that the Penguins and Blackhawks have won multiple cups with teams that leaned more finesse. That is true, but my comeback would be that those teams had/ have enough talent overcome any shortcomings they may have. We don't have anyone near the level of Crosby/Malkin or Toews/Kane. And the only way you get guys like that is tearing the whole thing down and getting high draft picks. I've heard the injury excuses. I have two thoughts on that. First, is that every team deals with injuries. Just look at the injuries Boston dealt with throughout the season. They had more injuries, and better players injured than the Wild did. Second, if this was a team that had a history of deep playoff runs, I'd be much more inclined to give them a pass this year. But they don't. They have a history of disappearing in the postseason, even when healthy. So while, of course the injuries hurt their chances, I think the result would have been the same regardless. Leipold just sounds delusional and in total denial with his comments. It's not even that he thinks this team is a tweak or two from a Cup run. Oh, I think he's completely wrong, but that's not what bothers me. I'm smart enough to know what i don't know. I'm not an NHL talent evaluator. I could be 100% wrong, and I know that. Leipold apparently thinks he is an NHL talent evaluator. He isn't smart enough to know that he doesn't know. What bothers me is that he's explicitly saying that he isn't going to hire the best person for the job. He's not even accepting applications from anyone that doesn't agree with his completely uneducated (like mine) opinion of where the talent on the team stands. That's stupid, and irrational, and impatient, and wrong, IMO. But, he owns the team. It belongs to him. It doesn't belong to the fans no matter how many cheesy commercials they run claiming that it does. So he can make any stupid, irrational, impatient, wrong decision he wants to. He earned that right when he ponied up the money for the team. But, unless he changes his mind, and decides to hire the best possible candidate for the job, regardless of where that candidate views the position of the roster, he won't get another dime from me. If the best candidate agrees with Leipold, and thinks my opinion is backwards, I'm good with that. Just as long as he's really the best candidate, and not just the best candidate from the "yes man" pile. Of course, it won't matter one bit to him. The couple grand per year that I drop on tickets and concessions and merchandise isn't even pocket change for him. I get that completely, but it's a lot of money to me, and I'll find a more rewarding place to spend it. Sorry for such a crazy long rant everyone, but the comments from him just really rubbed me the wrong way.

I think Ash's point is that, if they aren't already charging the maximum that the market will bear, then they aren't very good at business. Passing along cost increases really only work when you either have a monopoly, or are providing an essential service.

Thank you. Grossman is in his 3rd season with the Twins, and thus far has accumulated a whopping 0.6 total bWAR. He's not awful enough that I'm going to insist on replacing him. But he's certainly not valuable enough that they shouldn't be looking to upgrade if they can. He's ever so slightly above replacement level. He can take a walk, and don't get me wrong, that's a useful skill. But, it's the only thing he provides. I have zero problem with any argument for finding an upgrade over him.

Molitor has made it very clear he won't use a lefty as a LOOGY only. And if you could convince him that he should, you'd be much better off using Rogers (.556 OPS vs. LH) in that role, and cutting Duke (.704 OPS vs. LH). Also, Rogers has options remaining, so they aren't going to DFA him.

That's because Molitor has him facing far too many righties. He's indeed really good against lefties. vs. righties: .287/.350/.430 (.780) 18.6 k%, 7.4 bb% vs. lefties: .192/.262/.294 (.556) 27.7 k%, 6.9 bb%

While I didn't expect to be swept by the Ray's, I had this team pegged as a hair over .500 club. So, this is about where I expected them to be after 16 games.

Yeah, and it's too bad, because Rogers is really good against lefties. However, he's awful against righties, and yet Molitor just keeps putting him out there again, and again, and again against righties.

Texas 8th grade class: https://www.google.com/amp/www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-slavery-lesson-20180421-story.html%3foutputType=amp Wisconsin 4th grade class: https://www.google.com/amp/www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/midwest/ct-wisconsin-school-slavery-homework-20180111-story,amp.html

They may be awful (though statistically they are middle of the pack in AL), but they've managed 18 runs in 2 games against us.

Two different schools this week, one in Texas, one in Wisconsin - with the WI incident being 4th grade- asked students to list the good/positive parts of slavery.

The Yankees have high hopes this year. They aren't going into sell mode anytime soon.

I certainly won't pile on Sano, but Lindor is a shortstop. An .850 OPS at SS is a hall of famer. At a corner spot, it's a good hitter, one any team would take, but not historically noteworthy.

That wasn't the only option that I gave. The other option is, don't sign a LOOGY when you have a manager that you know isn't going to use him properly.

I'm in the minority, but i appreciate that Molitor is making lineup decisions based on the larger sample size. I simply don't believe you can predict when a hot or cold streak will start or end. To me, it should take more than a few dozen plate appearances earn or lose playing time.

AAA: .961 OPS AA: .830 OPS A: .829 OPS 3-4 years younger than average age at each level, from an elite defensive CF'er. To me that's destroying milb pitching. Not if he's a college drafted, lumbering first baseman, but from an elite defensive CF'er, yes. And I said the migraines are concerning. They are very concerning to me, actually. I said, aside from injuries I have zero concern he'll figure it out. With his baserunning and defense, he only needs to OPS in the high .700's to be a perennial all- star level player. Again, barring injuries, I have zero doubt he'll be able to clear that bar throughout his prime, and think there is a good chance he exceeds it significantly. But, these are all personal opinions. Nobody knows, only time will tell.