TheMix

I live in Woodbury... It's a jacuz, not a hot tub.

I was there for the hot dog night. It was a perfect storm for something like that to happen. I was even in the sections that were doing it (though I thought it was pretty ridiculous). Not only was it Dollar a Dog Night, it was also student night. Tickets were like $3-5...so, throw in a plentiful bounty of ammo, the fact that Knoblauch made a not so liked exit to the much hated Yankees, and a ton of blitzed college students....and you have Tom Kelly jogging to the outfield to give everybody the calm down single. I really hated that move by Knoblauch at the time, but even I was fully disgraced by what was happening around me.

Apparently neither do you, or you wouldn't have posted that.....it makes no sense, in multiple ways

This team has lost almost 200 games the last 2 seasons. There shouldn't be a massive anything even if Ryan were to trade the entire roster. This roster needs to be completely rebuilt. There isn't one guy on the major league roster right now any other team would choose to build around as a core guy. They have a few nice pieces like Revere, Perkins, Plouffe, Willingham, and maybe Burton & Parmalee but no guys you are definitely building a nucleus around. Those guys are still a few years away. I would trade Mauer, Morneau, and Willingham and just get as much young talent as you can. It would allow you to play Plouffe, Parmalee, Florimon, and even Mastroiani everyday and see what you had. They could also end this dumb act that they are honestly pursuing free agent pitching. They aren't looking at anything but roster filler. You want to take anything to the bank bet your friends that Jason Marquis will have a better year than any of the dregs Ryan is going to sign to fill the rotation. Its easy money. Woah woah woah woah......seriously? I can understand wanting to play Ploufe and Parmalee, but Florimon and Mastoiani?! You've gone out of your gourd man. You want to blow the whole team up? Fine. Don't trade the one centerpiece of the team that's under contract through the years in which we'd see the new centerpieces of the team come up though, and leave us with Mastroiani and Florimon. We KNOW what we have with those two, and it aint good.

Mazatlan....a vacation and extra playing time. Nice!

How? You're already following the team.... You aren't making any sense. Let's say Gausman makes it to the majors. He's not Verlander, he's not a threat to throw a no-hitter every time out. And he's not a major-league ready starter right now. So what you wanted was a guy that helps one out of every five days that won't make the team all that much more exciting, that you says will make the team worth following, when you're obviously already following them, even after a 99 loss season, that looks to be about the same this season.....when we might have just the same options of drafting (if not better) the next draft. Again, your argument makes absolutely zero sense.

You seriously completely disregarded my whole point.....and just made the point for me in the same post. So if we get a close to major league ready (#2) pitcher at #2, what exactly does it do for us when most of our talent is in the low minors? Nothing. A #2 pitcher doesn't suddenly drag us out of the cellar. Simple. Done. End of argument. I understand your point, but the logic is completely faulty.

I disagree vehemently with that last assessment. You take the best player available generally, and especially in this case, with a guy that has that steep an upside. We do need pitching, but no one pitcher, be it Appel, Gausman, etc. is A) going to help right away be a lock to help your team or C) help a team that was one loss away from a 100 loss season so drastically that he completely alters your look in the division....hell, even Strasburg couldn't do that, and he was the pitching pick of my generation. That's just terribly shortsighted....especially in a draft that was light on talent to begin with. From everything I've read, Appel/Gausman probably wouldn't have gone top 5 last year....and projected as #2 starters. We got a projected #2 starter with the 32nd pick with a little more risk involved. This team wasn't going to be solved with one college pitching prospect (that also are never locks) so why be angry when they took the guy that had perhaps the highest upside in the draft? 38 SB in 39 tries, throws 97 off the mound, batted .500, and will hopefully develop power. How is that not just as good as a player that plays 1 of 5 games and can't propel a team single-handedly to the division title either? We got pitching today, and we'll get more tomorrow, and we'll almost assuredly get just as good, if not better pitching next year when we'll still be up near the top, and with a better draft class (according to Kevin Goldstein). "The Twins Way" has come up against some rather hard knocks lately due to bad luck....you wanted them to draft pitching, well they did with Gibson and Wimmers (both looked to be solid locks for #2's or at worst #3 just like Appel and Gausman), and both of them went down (unfortunately). That's not "the Twins Way"'s fault. That's bad luck. This was a not so great draft class with a guy like Appel that looked to be not so signable (especially now), knowing full well that no one pitcher is going to save this team (not now, not in the next year or two) and they took a guy that has ridiculously high upside. That's not poor management, that's discerning and very intelligent management.

As much as I love Harper's talent, and think he's gotten better as a person, he's kind of played like a little bit of a douche. I'm COMPLETELY surprised he didn't get plunked after that nice little helmet shrugging run on his first hit. I thought to myself "great hustle, but what the hell do you think you're doing?" His teammates have said that he's gotten better in the clubhouse, and I believe it, but he's not really proving it on the field. There are baseball players I hate but also love (Mariano Rivera, Verlander, etc.), but then there's players I love to hate because they just have a sense of arrogance about them. And some people like that, but I don't. It permeates more into football than in baseball, but I'd rather it stay that way. I'd hope that Harper grows not just as a baseball player but also as a person.

Not only did he not say that...you're apparently forgetting that he said "But there’s nothing to take away from his no-hitter."

Gotcha. My apologies for the confusion.

I haven't been to a game down here yet (only been here 2 months), but I would assume they're tolerant. There's a quasi-Minnesota-nice vibe down here, which means they're nice about almost everything, except gay people and not going to church I think almost every fans are tolerant. I've been to Fenway, and they gave me some crap for about 5 innings, then realized I could take it and invited me out for beers down in South-E. And I didn't even get murdered, so I think that's an accomplishment. When I do go to a game down here (which I think will be in August) I will most proudly don my Twins apparel, just as I have in the other visitors' stadiums I've been to. Btw, anyone that hasn't been to PNC Park, go....now.

I don't specifically remember anyone here saying that (certainly not large swathes). People liked him mostly because he was a valuable kind of utility player. I don't remember people clamoring for him to take Carrol's or Valencia's spot. I just think people thought he was a valuable guy to have on the roster in case a guy like Plouffe was unavailable.

I still think they were wrong, but those a valid points for sure.

I don't know that I'd qualify Inge as a "superior" option. Hughes did badly in a small sample size, but let's be honest, they don't have any hope of contending this season. With Inge there's no intrinsic value. He may be a tiny bit better defensively in that he may not commit as many errors as Hughes, but Hughes has much higher upside in that he's not 35, can hit with decent pop now and again, and is a perfectly serviceable righty off the bench in the future if your team actually does contend in a year or two. Inge almost certainly won't be there when they do contend, but if he were, I'd be shaking my head and sighing if I were an Oakland fan seeing his name on the line-up card, or coming off the bench in a high leverage situation. At least with Hughes there'd be the idea of something good happening.