gunnarthor

I'm pretty sure everyone here thinks the Twins will lose in the WC round. But would I rather have Kintzler closing out games in the post season than have Tyler Watson in the system? Yes. Just because we got *something* for Kintzler doesn't mean it was a good trade for us. Watson has some upside - I don't hate it, he's a good sized pitcher with real upside - but I'd rather have the MLer. Some of it is hindsight but I'm also concerned about how the FO got to this decision.

I'm pretty sure trying to compare the Yankees situation to the Twins will never work. There are far too many problems with that.

See, it's ok for fans to support it. That's fine. But we're not supposed to be as smart as the FO. It wasn't that the Twins bats "came alive." It was that the young solid core got experience and started to show the high octane offense that many here thought they'd have before the season started. We lost a couple close games out of the break to the Dodgers and also faced the Yankees and Astros. It was supposed to be our hardest stretch of the schedule. We were still very much in it with winning records against most of the teams we'd need to beat and enough games against the Royals to make it up. And other teams had major pitching issues. It wasn't just us and the Orioles. Kyle GIbson could arguably be the Angels best starter this year. They certainly don't have anyone to hang with Berrios and Santana. KC had a near historic bad offense but we were supposed to sell because they won 8 straight against Chi and Det? And it's not like they traded Kintzler for a top 100 prospect. When we traded him, the Twins were just as in the hunt for the second wild card as anyone else.

My concern is that they didn't know how to calculate the odds.

That was so spot on I wish I could give you all the thumbs!

No, the conversation is about how racist our President is. http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/28/politics/donald-trump-nfl-owners-afraid-of-their-players-health-care/index.html

There was a conversation about bad cops? How'd that work out? What changes happened after Tamir Rice was murdered? Or Jamal Clark and Philando Castillo? Walter Scott? This isn't the Democrats fault because the Democrats have been bad on this issue, too.

I'll be honest, I don't think Rosario's bad defensively. He's made a few dumb plays out there (as has Kepler) but I don't see the negative value that the defensive stats are giving him. I'm not sure how he's managed a -50 UZR/150 in CF in just 50 innings. I think his value is diminished because Buxton is in center.

We have no idea how open Jim is to stretching the budget but quotes by Lavine and the fact that he hired Falvey are pretty strong indicators that our payroll will remain quite low.

My guess is that most people don't think about racial inequality at all. And when players silently protest it brings the issue to light which is the first step in addressing the problem. If people are agreeing with Donald Trump well, maybe they need to rethink their choices in life.

Not having Kintzler might very well be the reason we stop moving. And I don't care that it's never happened before. The two team wild card is just a few years old now so that long history of the game doesn't really factor in. Baltimore was flawed, Tampa was flawed, KC was flawed We had winning records against the teams we had to pass. I want a FO who is smarter and not basing decisions on runs scored in April. We traded those two guys (and the Kintzler trade is the worse one) for people who are more likely than not to never make the majors and, if they do, most likely as a relief arm. There is some ceiling there, of course, but it wasn't a huge return.

I think the jury is still out on them but they don't deserve too much credit of this team other than they let the young guys play and (perhaps) muzzled Molitor enough to make sure it happened. Good - 1) The Draft. Absolutely loved their draft and I really wanted a pitcher at 1/1. They got a lot of talent, used their bonus money well and brought in a swarm of young exciting players. I was ballistic after Lewis was picked but should have waited. They did good. Whether or not bringing Boras into our locker room is a long term issue is something to worry about down the road. 2) New coaches - not sure how much Rowson and Pickler are the FO's pick but I assume a lot. Both have been good. 3) Castro - he was the best catcher on the FA market (it was a bad market) and showed that they had a plan to improve defensively and they went to it. Good for them. Bad - 1) Trade deadline. I disagree that they didn't surrender. If they could have swung Santana, they would have. But the key problem is that these guys didn't understand how good their team was. Sure, things like fangraphs supported their moves b/c run differential but I want our FO to be smarter than fangraphs. The trade pissed off fans and players and didn't bring much back. And if Belisle blows a big save in the post-season we'll be hearing about it for a long time. 2) Dougie - there was a entire thread on this but basically my problem is that it showed the FO still does not understand the Twins fans or its history. Minor issue as long as we're winning but a stupid mistake that was insulting to many. 3) Garver - For some reason, they never got Garver up here to give him a legit shot as a back up. Perplexing because Giminez isn't exactly Bob Uecker. I think this offseason will be the big test to understand how good these guys can be. Generally, baseball is cyclical so the Twins should be good for a while. But whether they can keep a window of opportunity open for nearly a decade remains to be seen.

Really, you're offended when people don't stand? Have you ever gone to a sporting event and seen how many people in the stands don't stand or are looking at their phone or talking, etc. Do those people offend you? Or is it just the players? There was a minor kerfuffle on TD last year when some fan popped off against the Twins for not respecting the flag during God Bless America. And, as Mike rightly points out, the reason you protest is to bring light to a situation that others don't want to acknowledge. Our justice system values black lives less than it values white lives. That's wrong and society should realize that and strive to fix it.

I think I'd give it Santana. He's been the ace and several times this season he's thrown a CG after the rest of the staff had worn out the pen. He's not Kluber or Sale but he's been a legit stopper and a big reason why we've never had a losing streak of 5 or more this season. He's top 10 in pWAR, ERA, Wins, WHIP, IP, CG, SHO, ERA+ among other stats. He's also been helpful to Mejia and Berrios this season and just a calming presence on the mound. A close second is Dozier, our best all around player and the guy who spoke out for the team when the FO waived the flag. 1. Santana 2. Dozier 3. Buxton 4. Mauer 5. Rosario

I really hate Trump.

I thought this was interesting. Here's Buxton's slash line for every 15 games throughout the season. I picked 15 because his awful slump to start the season was 15 games and two periods are roughly a month. 1 .082/.135/.122 2 .216/.358/.391 3 .268/.362/.341 4 .224/.255/.408 5 .178/.275/.178 6 .311/.367/.422 7 .370/.400/.704 8 .286/.333/.571 9 .304/.371/.571 He's added power during the season and, for the most part, done a decent job of getting on base and with his speed and base running, on base is a big one. I dunno. I think he could probably hit something like .280/.350/.450 or better over a full season. He's hit .276/.339/.455 since those first 15 games.

You're really having trouble with context and sarcasm.

"I'm not saying the Twins winning the WS is the worst thing ever, I'm just suggesting it as an opinion." Comment section destroys him. "Gosh, why are people so riled up? It was an honest OPINION."

Sullivan's post was the same type of click bait people tend to get riled up about Souhan for doing. If the Twins win the World Series then they deserved to win the World Series.

Just read a fun trilogy by Justin Cronin called The Passage. Not too bad.

They also have to pay Sanchez 5m in a buyout for next year or exercise his 16m option. Man, that contract was a disaster for them - 5 yrs, less than 7 WAR, 700ip, 92 ERA+ for 76m (assuming they go with the buyout).

The yahoo article is interesting, if true. Rowson stopped the FO from shipping him to AAA? Great work, Roswon. Buxton's older brother is faster? Holy ****.

Sure, when they win something, fan bases forgive everything. But they haven't won anything yet and their big in-season decision was to waive the white flag at the deadline, pissing off fans and players. We're a long way from them being able to ignore the fan base.

Since there isn't a lot going on in the minor leagues right this second, I figured I'd ask what your favorite surprise was this season for the Twins minor leaguers? I think there were a bunch of good ones but I'd probably go with Baddoo's break out season where he might end up on the back end of a few top 100 lists next year. From http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/instagraphs/daily-prospect-notes-724/ "Baddoo has the speed to stay in center field and was just too physical for the GCL, hitting .267/.360/.440 there before promotion. He looks raw at times offensively, but is also flashing more raw power than I projected on the Twins prospects list. If he starts to show a feel for getting to that power in games, he’s a top-100 prospect. That seems far off for Baddoo, but he’s still just 18 years old and has already shown improvement at the plate in just over a year as a pro."

I don't think many players get hurt on plays like that. Crashing into walls or each other, sure. But not a sliding catch on the grass.