Champuckett

Nice to see some post-podcast conversation be discussed here after the explosive (by Minnesota Nice standards) conversation we heard. I try to listen to just about every episode as they have a talent for getting into the gritty details on an emotional and frustrating level of how I feel as a fan regarding this franchise. John clearly took the unpopular opinion as the rest of Twins fandom has been lighting torches and getting the pitchforks out in response to TR's job the last 5 seasons. I will give him credit for sticking to his guns on this. However, the writing was on the wall and has been for the last several years. There was no indication that moves TR was making were going to make this a better team. He had a lot of chances to get this thing right, way too many chances, and got what he deserved for failing to do his job and failing to adapt to a rapidly changing and increasingly analytics heavy baseball world.

Ortiz 2.0? 1. Shows deep ball potential and a solid power bat in the middle of the lineup at an early age. Check 2. Injury prone while young / lack of offseason conditioning. Check. 3. Taught by the Twins trainers to shoot the ball to the opposite field, but instead opts to continue hitting for power. Check. 4. Potential problem with Twins training staff and coaches. Mentions in the media of a lack of discipline or focus from said staff and coaches. Check. 5. Let go by the Twins due to "roster issues", not enough room on the team for him and replacements inbound. Check. 6. 3 time World Series Champion and MVP.. potential Hall of Famer. Unknown.

When was the last time the Twins did a mid-season trade of a hot commodity? Frank Viola? I don't think it's likely that this happens, as intelligent as it would be to execute. TR doesn't like "giving away" players that are playing well. Suzuki of 2014 comes to mind. He just doesn't like doing it, when all indications point to a player having a career year and being at peak value.

Maybe I missed it in this thread, but I'm surprised no one has mentioned the disagreement and fallout that occurred with Ortiz and the coaching staff prior to his departure. http://nesn.com/2016/03/david-ortiz-twins-treated-me-bad-before-i-left-signed-with-red-sox/ Ortiz was being taught to go the other way by the coaches in order to make him a more dynamic hitter. He of course had power, but the coaches at the time wanted to see him hit for average instead, which was the mantra during this time. He was hitting for power, but he wasn't hitting for as high of average, using the dome turf, as the team liked, and between that and subsequent injuries lost a lot of play time and was eventually ousted in favor of LeCroy as is well known here by now. In articles that have been published regarding Ortiz and the Twins since he left the organization, he commented on this saying he didn't understand the approach and to this day, still doesn't. I would say since he successfully changed his approach and is now a likely HoFer, his actions and performance on the field proved his notions correct.

This. TR only reluctantly took the job after Bill Smith had "overspent" and created a poor team in 2011. It seemed when TR retired originally, he was done being a GM and was fine doing a reduced size roll for the organization. It was only when Pohlad called on him to step in that he re-emerged as the GM. I think it's possible that he doesn't enjoy doing this job anymore and it shows. He retired for a reason originally, but he was semi-forced into this position. He didn't seem happy at all about having to fire Gardy. I've never seen someone so down about firing what was an incredible obvious thing to do, a 90+ loss 4 time repeater manager. He doesn't seem happy about having to make big changes, acquire new people in trades, or demote, promote, send players to different teams, etc. He just doesn't like doing any of it and it never has seemed since he has come back that he has enthusiasm about doing this. Maybe he is just a gruff guy that hates change or maybe it's the health problems he has been dealing with. Either way, he does have the job right now and the firing of Gardy, reluctant as it may have been, is what he may also come to the conclusion of doing, for himself. It might be the best thing not just for us and the franchise, but for him as a person. He never wanted this and I hope the Pohlads can respect that. The pressure and reliance on him from them may be what is keeping him there.

This is a tough era to be a Twins fan. The comments by the owner do a great job of exemplifying this. He does nothing but instill feelings of doom and dread for our future. It may have been better for him to stay in the shadows and collect his money.

It's alright, still going strong for 161-1.

Dozier is the closest thing we have had to a Gladden type of support player on the team in decades. Pierzynski behaved the way he did due to self-interest and personal gain. He had a lot of passion, but it was misdirected and did not necessarily help the team as a whole. I think just by having Dozier around, it makes the rest of the team want to be better and play better and that is what makes him similar to Gladden. He may not rag on people's bloated egos to get them into shape the way Gladden did, but I think his passion for the game and his never quit attitude inspires the rest of the guys, especially now that we have a younger club. To think we at one time had guys like Gladden, Puckett, and Gaetti playing at the same time, 3 guys that always poured everything they had into their game.. Maybe it's a generational thing but it doesn't seem like we see many players like that anymore.

Yeah, what I mostly was referring to was the medium average, high home run totals type player. McGwire also had a lifetime BA of .263 and he never won the MVP award because of this, although he came close multiple times. Killebrew is another hard hitter that is like this and he did manage to win the MVP award despite his .276 BA, but it's rare these days for someone to win with an under .300 BA. I have no doubt Sano should end up in similar company as long as his health holds up.

Unless Sano improves his batting average by 30-40 points, I don't see this happening. He's more of a McGwire type, boatload of home runs, mediocre average. Still, it's a mini-show within a show every time he steps into the batters box.

Agreed with the people saying Mauer should not be in the 3 spot anymore. His numbers clearly don't support it and his power has never supported it, short of the 2009 season. I have been lobbying for him to be in the 2nd spot or anywhere higher than 5 since 2010. Molitor did do this a few games this season, placing him in the 2nd spot I believe, and Mauer was doing better at that point if I recall correctly. It's obvious Mauer's time as an elite 3 spot hitter is finished, has been for years, it's just a matter of the coaching staff accepting this and the front office allowing it based on the 23 million dollar paycheck that they have to keep issuing him. They don't want their massive investment to be batting anywhere but the 3 spot, that's what they signed him for, but after 5 non-power, non-elite seasons since 2009, I hope the pressure is there enough to make this move. Other than that, I don't have a problem with Escobar being in the lineup or with Vargas being sent down. Both have their reasons and they make sense to an extent, but the op is absolutely dead on with the whole Mauer debacle. Something needs to change here. With that said, the team is winning, you can't debate this. We may go on a 15 game losing streak starting tomorrow or next week, but thus far, we are playing good to great baseball despite all statistics and predictions stating otherwise. Tinkering too much is like fixing something that isn't broken. Why do it? What benefit can we have, be even farther up in first place? I'm happy we are where we are right now, exceeded all expectations 100x for the year so far. Put Hunter in the 3 spot and move Mauer somewhere else and call it a day.

Thanks for posting this article. I would just like to add, he also caught a pop up behind the plate for the final out in game 6 of 1987 to send the series to game 7. I guess I have a soft spot for Laudner. He was the first professional baseball player (or sports athlete for that matter) I ever met in person at the age of 5, right after the Twins had won the World Series in 1987. I went to see him at a local shopping mall in the winter of '87, getting a signed ball, autographed picture, and a photo with him. In addition, I got to sit down with him for a few minutes and just talk baseball. He wanted to know if I liked playing baseball and I told him I loved playing it, and wanted to be just like him one day. It was so weird, with a professional ball player, asking me, a tiny kid, questions about baseball. I never have had any kind of a bonding experience with a professional sports player since even remotely close to that, and I have met plenty of them. After meeting many other Twins players and other professional athletes in the years following, I can't say anyone ever left such an impression on me of kindness, attentiveness, and just being down to earth. Tim Laudner will always be one of my favorites because of that.

Wow, lot of dislike for Mussina. When I remember him, I think of him leading a struggling 90's Orioles club, not a 2000's Yankees club. He never was flashy and never got much publicity for his pitiching abilities, but he was extremely consistent during most of his career. I think he does deserve to get into the Hall eventually one day, ala a Bert Blyleven type journey. But yes, he is not a first tier HoF pitcher like the recent Maddux, Martinez, or Johnson. The majority of his career was played in Baltimore, for mostly mediocre to bad teams. Besides the standout 1997 season for the Orioles they never had any great seasons during the 90's. Mussina managed to get at least 18 wins 4 times during that span. A top 5 Cy Young candidate 6 times, 4 of those again, with the struggling Orioles. He finished his career sort of early and only acquired 270 wins. That hurts him a lot. I wouldn't be surprised if he never gets in, but in years where dominant potential HoF pitchers are lacking, he may pick up some steam.

We started this offseason with an unexpected move of firing Ron Gardenhire. How many here or elsewhere predicted that? If you don't think we are capable of pulling something unexpected and unTwins like, then I guess we already forgot what happened only a month ago with Gardy. With that said.. Terry Ryan has repeatedly stated that he does not want someone only from the inside of the club, or the outside, or any side.. he wants the best man for the job of manager for the Minnesota Twins. Up until Thursday, the best man available for the job was debatable and there have been numerous threads here and on other sites discussing just which manager it would be. Who is it going to be? Molitor, Steinbauch, Mientkiewicz, Martinez, Lovullo? Hysteria. On Friday, Maddon opts out from Rays. Mass Hysteria. There is no longer a debate about who is the best manager that is available. We know it, Terry Ryan knows it, the baseball world knows it. It's obvious, and if Terry Ryan keeps to his word, he will make a sizable offer to Maddon assuming we get an interview with him. Maddon is the best man for the job. Whether or not Maddon wants to come to Minnesota is the only thing I'm concerned about Everyone apparently knows exactly how much he wants to come here and everyone says he wants to coach in a big market and he loves Chicago or LA. Many clubs that people were already predicting he would be interested in (Dodgers) already declined to have Maddon stating they are sticking with their current manager. That's what fans and reporters have been saying.. alright, but it's not what Joe Maddon has been saying. We haven't even heard from the guy on the subject. Let's wait and find out if we interview him for the job how excited he is. We'll know at that point where he stands and if we have a chance at hiring the best manager in baseball.

I will echo the original poster's thoughts, and I like the idea of Doug if we have to choose from within the organization, which we likely will. This is based on nothing except he is young and I enjoyed watching him play, especially during 2001. However, my hunch is Steinbauch is going to be the guy they pick. For whatever reason, Molitor has not been on the "inside" with the front office for as long as I can recall. It seems he is slightly ignored or passed over when opportunities arise. Maybe he wasn't interested in really getting involved after Gardenhire got hired in 2002. I think the best thing for this franchise would be to look outwards for once. Martinez doesn't sound like a bad idea. It would be amazing to get Joe Maddon, but since that isn't possible, I guess this is the next best thing? Not sure on Chip Hale, but it seems that is basically looking inwards again, as he played a bunch of years for us. We need to get over this. Crazy idea here, but what about Mariano Rivera for bullpen coach, or pitching coach if you want to gamble. I haven't heard anyone talking about this possibility with him, so I'm assuming he is available. Zero idea if he is interested in ever coaching. He would meet some needs, including this Hispanic connection the Twins are looking for.