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Double down on the safety squeeze Ron?

Yeah that throw by Fuld last week was awesome.

Are they just trying to makea point to schafer? Two bunt attempts ina row?

Schafer seems to be a pretty terrible bunter. Is Plouffe hurt?

This is an important question. And a major aspect is what will happen vs what could/should happen. Given the way this organization operates, we all expect that if a change is made it will be somebody internal. If we do go outside, I'd suggest an extensive quantitative search of the minors and majors. Our stats/analysis team could build a database of mlb/milb teams with their expected production and compare that to their actual performance for each year over the past 6-7 years. Anybody stand out that consistently outperforms expectations? Let's bring them in for an interview. Beyond that, how about poaching somebody from the staff of the Rays, Cardinals, A's, Pirates, Giants, or Braves. Those clubs are perennial contenders (in recent years anyhow) and don't have excessive budgets to work with. We can compare these guys versus internal options. I'm not sure, maybe Molitor is the right guy for the job, or maybe Doug M or Glynn. I think that's the most responsible manner to perform a search, assuming they make a change. Whether it will be this approach or just picking names off a wall (like the scene in Moneyball) is an interesting question.

Great recap. Thanks Eric!!

I really enjoyed the Winter Meltdown event and am looking forward to the pub crawl. I'd probably try to make more online hangout sessions but having two young kids makes carving out evening time while being at home essentially impossible. Overall, if there were more events I would try to make them, but I understand its tough cause most of us have day jobs and busy schedules. Another option might be to encourage (allow?) users to set up (unofficial) mini-events of their own… like “heading to a Twins game on 8/20, drinks before at Masons, notify by 8/13 and we’ll get a block of tickets” or “Twins watching party at BW3 in Burnsville on 8/20… post if you’re interested, first round is on TD! ” I think a fantasy league next year might be fun, probably have to run it through Yahoo or something but still, could be fun. I have an idea for an Armchair GM type of game too, but don’t have the programming skills or time to commit to it. I think that could be really fun though, since the majority of the forum posts probably have to do with roster construction. Thinking bigger, maybe this could be developed into a platform with other possibilities beyond TD. How about a more identifiable logo to use as a signaling device? Put put them on hats (with your nickname?), or shirts, or stickers, or other stuff so people who frequent the site can identify other Twins nerds. Might need to expand the store but it’s an idea. One of my favorite shirts is from a BYTO post that compared Nick Punto to a washed shirt. It was so brilliant, I had to get it, just wish I could remember who wrote it. How about a good old fashioned membership drive? Not like the kind NPR has, but something to recruit new users/readers. Encourage users to invite friends (facebook makes that easy). The Gameday publication could do that, though that is a huge undertaking in itself. Would the Twins let you hang posters at Target Field (for a price?). I’m sure we could crowdsource some clever designs. A map of TD users? Depends on people’s level of comfort with privacy, but it could make ride shares to events/games easier. If you can’t tell I’m throwing spaghetti at the wall here. But maybe something will stick. That’s all I can think of for now. Overall the site is awesome.

He didn't execute the bunt when we needed him to but I thought his swings looked pretty good last night, plus he can flat out fly. Wow. But yeah, if Santana is playing CF, where does he play? Anyway, I think he can be a pretty good 4th/5th OF and pinch runner. Way better than Mastroianni, maybe as good as Fuld, we'll see.

Well, for starters, Bert ain't around much these days. But yeah, they would be a huge upgrade over Dick n' Bert in my opinion, though I grant you "insufferable" is a highly subjective term. I'm just saying something that is more fun and more casual.

Haha, depends upon his VAR (viewers above replacement).

Typed out about 300 words on the subject. Post didn't go through. Awesome. Sigh. Long story short, I avoid watching because Bremer and Co are boring/insufferable. Let the KFAN morning crew announce games, then I'll tune in more. I want to watch a game with a buddy who has a big personality, not a humorless father figure that continually points out the obvious, complains about how the game has changed, and either says stuff that doesn't make sense or says stuff that is just plain wrong. That approach may work for a 7 year old or a 67 year old grandmother, but I lose interest pretty quick and often start doing something else while glancing back at the muted game. I don't need to be told each pitch was ball or strike, I'm watching it. Tell me a story, tell me a joke/anecdote, make me laugh, make me cry, make me think (a little, only sometimes, remember, this is my relaxation time). Give me the choice of who I get to listen to, the option of getting a different experience. This is not a one-size fits all economy. Andy W 34 year old, former MLB Extra Innings subscriber.

It's hard to overstate how much that Delmon-Garza trade hurt us. I ran the numbers and MIN received a total of 0.4 WAR from four players while Tampa Bay has received 19.9 WAR to date (and the salary differences were basically negligible). Minnesota has zero players from the trade still on the 40-man roster (though Lester Oliveros is still at Rochester). Tampa Bay has three players still on the 40-man roster from their trading of Garza and Bartlett, including stud pitcher Chris Archer. Ouch.

Derek Jeter

Creative route there by Arcia.

Mauer probably has 3 career hits on 0-0 count too.

That was Fryer

Man his stuff moves a lot. Nice play sammie

Anybody know if Deduno is double jointed in his right hand knuckles, I remember Pedro saying that was why his fb moved so much.

Poignant McDonalds commercial

Just think how much Mauer would be struggling if he didn't have fresh legs.

So, when Dozier does come back, can we please just do a platoon with Plouffe/Escobar at 3B? Assuming no else goes down and we need another backup CF. That's gotta happen, right?

Here's a fun exercise, take the days lineup and rearrange it without biases, basically put a few table setters at the top and then rank the next best 7 starting with number three. 1. Santana SS 1. Santana 2. Fuld CF 2. Escobar 3. Mauer 1B 3. Willingham 4. Willingham LF 4. Morales 5. Morales DH 5. Arica 6. Arcia RF 6. Mauer 7. Plouffe 3B 7. Plouffe 8. Fryer C 8. Fryer 9. Escobar 2B 9. Fuld

Escobar is our best hitter right now. His BABIP is probably higher this year because he is hitting lots of line drives. That can always change, but we should hand him SS until his average drops below .260. He's had some miscues defensively, but he'll get steadier with time.

I don't think they should handle this stuff through the media, but OTOH if you're hitting below .200 and aren't putting in significantly more prep/practice time you deserve what you get. Basically, this is on Hicks regardless of what Gardy/Antony should have or shouldn't have said. Its not rocket science, assess what pitchers in general are doing to you and what that day's pitcher likes to do. Assess where the defense is playing you. Then work on that in the cage and BP. Then transfer that knowledge to the game. That's the hard part, but at least you'll be prepared to succeed, regardless of the outcome. The approaches seem to be much better this year overall, though it still bugs me to see Joe taking BP fastballs right down the middle on 0-0 with guys on base. This team has been very selective, laying off of a lot of good breaking pitches. Hicks isn't squaring anything up right now though, he totally lucked out with that jamshot yesterday for the game winner. He's got to look for a pitch in a zone instead of trying to cover the whole plate w/ less than 2 strikes, shoot, if you're going to be as selective you might as well guess.

I think now would be a great time to see if the Mariners want to sell low on Brad Miller... he booted a ball that cost them the game last week and was replaced a few games later by Nick Franklin. I'm kind of indifferent to Florimon vs Nunez, I think Escobar should have been given a shot over both though. Why don't we think he can be the everyday answer? Just because he was tabbed to be the UT guy in the offseason? So what. Colabello was supposed to go to Korea in exchange for three buckets of kimchee. Plans change.