Mike Sixel

He's literally tweeting a picture of himself hitting another person with golf ball? And he's proud of that? I really, really, really, feel bad about some of hte RW people I know at this point, as they actually like the way he's behaving.

Hard to say. I saw the 2nd half last night, so between us we saw it! The first year of TNG was pretty bad....but they stuck with it.

100% different situations between the 5th/6th inning choices and the first inning choices, right?

Anyone that thinks Kaep is not one of the 60 best QBs on the planet probably isn't being honest with themselves in their assessment of him as a player only...... As for his stance, I always thought we were fighting FOR the right to free speech out there in the world. We should be celebrating him, whether we agree with him or not.

I was going to type something long....but this pretty much sums up my feelings.

It's almost like defense and position doesn't matter at all....

You sound bitter! It's going to be lovely here, even if you can't go in the ocean, which admittedly is a bummer.

Not a big deal, imo.

I'd fire Spielman by now. Waynes, the WR that never plays, ignoring the OL in teh draft over and over.

The fires are slowly being contained, but the wind shifted yesterday, and Portland smells like smoke again. Should shift again very soon, and rain!

why do you think that?

I can't see how they could sign both Gibson and Colon this off season. That would pretty much lock up the starters, and not be them adding a good FA.

Did anyone watch Orville last week?

Can't wait for them to be around the 20-25th best staff again next year!

even after being recorded saying he was going to kill him....I predict bad protests.

9:35Julio Pepper: Byron Buxton is running a 250 wRC+ on bunts. While there are diminishing returns to doing more of anything in baseball, it feels like Byron Buxton isn’t at that point. Should he be bunting a lot more? 9:35 Jeff Sullivan: His wRC+ on bunts last year was 78 9:36 Jeff Sullivan: He’s already third in baseball this year in bunt hits. I think he could probably stand to bunt a *little* more often but now that he can actually hit, it’s more something to keep in his back pocket 10:35 Otani Danza: Twins have six games against NYY(3) and CLE(3) but have 5 games against DET. Mariners have six against HOU and CLE and they’re 3.5 back. Mariner chances of hauling them back over under 10%? 10:35 Jeff Sullivan: Mariners need a miracle 10:36 O’s Nos : Realistically does anyone have a shot at the second AL wild card other than the Twins, Angels, and maybe the Mariners? 10:36 Jeff Sullivan: Not really. Twins’ recent strong play has mostly locked it up 11:01 Jay: Am I wrong to still not buy these performances from Buxton and Zunino? Both running high BABIPs, K% only slightly improved and Buxton’s BB% is actually down all while neither have seen a huge change in batted ball profile. 11:01 Jeff Sullivan: You’re not wrong to be wary. Zunino is kind of maxing out his power, and that’s a volatile skill. And with Buxton, I was encouraged by his improvement in contact rate, but lately that’s started to go away again 11:02 Jeff Sullivan: Maybe the more important takeaway is that neither player needs to be a good hitter to be valuable, because Zunino is a catcher, and Buxton is a tremendous baserunner who might be the best defensive center fielder on the planet http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jeff-sullivan-fangraphs-chat-91517/

An article on Polanco: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/jorge-polancos-three-step-process/

I'd actually say KLAW is both, if possible......

well, I'm talking about Wade as a player, not as a Twin.....but sure, being LH doesn't help much with being a Twin right now.

the question also could be, why not steal with Buck? And, once you get first and second, a sacrifice makes even more sense.....if you are playing for 1 or 2 runs there. I'm not going to kill a manager for sacrificing with bad hitters after inning 7. I'm going to question doing so with Rosario with Vargas on deck....after wondering why you don't try a steal.

agreed on that last part for sure. I have no issue with a guy that bunts well, and runs, trying to get a bunt hit. None.

If he's not good enough to be on a MLB roster at 29....why would you want him around next year (assuming we care about having a backup 1B/DH in AAA, for a team that is hopefully playoff worthy, which we should)? Terrible teams should take more chances on minor league guys that have been good/great, but not received a chance. If even 1 hits like lightning in a bottle, you can trade him. If they are bad, you can send them to the minors w/o problem/sunk costs.

My recollection is that the Twins do sacrifice early in games some, which is awful, but I don't know where to verify or vilify that on line....

And yet, Dee Gordon has a higher MLB OBP than he did in A+ or AA....which was my point. Just because he sees more strikes doesn't mean he doesn't get on base well, and that his OBP will drop from his minor league numbers (and I chose those, since the guy we are talking about isn't in AAA yet). I do agree, Wade is likely a 4th OFer though. Like, one that could be in the majors a long time.

Odds he's in the Twins' organization next year? I'd say about 60% or so. He'll be 29 at some point next year....If I'm one of the terrible teams, I try to sign him as a minor league FA, and put him in the majors to trade him to a contender at some point.