Minnesotahorn

Well thanks. If "obstinately obtuse" is too confrontational for this forum I may not be long for it. No big deal. It's your (collective) playground and I just happened upon it. Every place has their preferred culture and I may just not fit with it. C'est la vie. Now let's address the meat of the matter. I was obviously hasty in my declaration that the Twins were "by far the youngest". I failed to research this point and it won't be the last time. But they ARE a young club. Their average age as a roster is skewed older by some bullpen arms nearly as old as I am (I'm looking at Belisle and Breslow particularly)but the core group making up our every day players is extremely young and to pretend otherwise is disingenuous. And my larger point was that THAT core group of young players is performing better than expected (by nearly everyone) in the majors. If they were still all down in the farm system it'd be rated much higher (as it was a couple years ago). But I much prefer them up the majors producing wins there. Hence my bewilderment over the consternation of a depleted farm system and the dour prognostications about our scouting staff's capabilities. They've produced an exciting core group of players that's performing well in the majors. The consequences of that are that it's time to restock the minors. I'm cool with that and I hope we're able to do so in a way that produces another group like the current one in five to six years.

Well yeah. Because they ARE in the majors. Hand-wringing over a depleted farm system when your big league club is by far the youngest in the majors seems obstinately obtuse to me. When that same big league club sits atop the division standings with 20% of the season in the books, denigrating the scouts who provided that talent seems silly as well. I don't have any doubt the scouting staff is imperfect and that there are legitimate gripes with particular decisions. But I can't help but marvel at this entire line of kvetching.

Our long national nightmare is over.

How did I not know there was a ball player named Lucius Fox? And why is he wasting his time in the minors when he should be running Wayne Enterprises?

David Robinson was made a Civil Engineering Corps officer (the guys who lead the SeaBees and don't serve on ships) to alleviate the height concern.

Thread winner. Some thoughts as both a service member and a collegiate sports fan: There's a little bit of tone-deafness here that we ought to address. The idea that we don't want applicants to our service academies that might want to pursue pro sports careers if that opportunity is available to them. That's silliness. The OVERWHELMING majority of military members enlist to better their lives/careers. The idea of service is one component in choosing to join but there are many and the opportunity to pursue a career one has dreamed about (because even among those who choose to serve a full military career is not usually their goal) is usually a primary factor. The military makes a bargain with its applicants. General Mattis has altered that bargain for a few and I'm cool with that but let's not act like everyone who hitches up must do so for purely patriotic or altruistic reasons. It'd get real lonely on board my ship. That's why the military offers sign-on bonuses or special compensation for all types of fields. Frankly I like the idea of the service academies having somewhat relevant sports teams. It's a decent recruiting tool and can sometimes help bring a spotlight to the actual men and women out sacrificing to do the nation's work (not just the future junior officers on the field and in the stands who have yet to do anything). If the price of that is the occasional JO who defers their active duty commitment I'm fine with that. If we decide it's not worth that bargain there's the potential to hurt service academies athletic recruitment and hence lesson that spotlight a tad but at this point I think it's marginal and just isn't that big a deal either way.

Gol-ly I miss Herb Carneal. Touch 'em all sir. Frankly I really enjoy the team of Bremer and Blyleven. Bert's amiable irreverence is a shtick that can easily be grating but from him feels genuine. I hope they keep this team for years to come.