gunnarthor

I'd rather the Twins lose in the playoffs than not make the playoffs. That's pretty obvious. But, yeah, this isn't a great team. Just looking at the latest "power rankings" from espn (lame, I know), you could argue this isn't a top 15 team in baseball. But a weak division gets them into the playoffs.

They are what we knew they'd be at the beginning of the season, enough offense to carry them (3rd in r/g inAL), pretty bad pitching. It's a lot better than last year's pitching staff though, so, progress. We might still win the central but I doubt any of the three teams pulls away. We'll see.

I doubt his career is over, he'll pitch somewhere in the majors again. But for a 5th round pick, he's had a nice career. He's made over 7m (I also believe he signed a neat contract with under armor where he got a bunch of money v. his future value. Could be wrong on that though). And he lasted a long time. Good on him to work and good on the Twins to hit on a 5th rounder.

I really do like it when athletes do things like this. Obviously, it's a good thing in of itself, but it also is a nice way for the players to be part of our community.

But he's not that young - this is his age 26 season. And his k rate is actually a touch below MLB average - 8.4 v 8.5 k/9. Some numbers, such as fip and xfip, suggest Ryan has actually been lucky. I don't think he's top 50 in any MLB stat.

It's a bit hard to define now since starters aren't asked to do as much - is he who he is because that's how the Twins run things, or is this his ceiling and the Twins are protecting him? But he's pretty much a traditional back end starter, which isn't a bad thing. Over a full season, he'll likely produce somewhere about 2 WAR and roughly a league average ERA+. At the same time, he wouldn't sniff the rotation for the Yankees or several other playoff caliber teams,

It's a fair trade with the potential to really blow up in our faces in a few years. CES is a tough pill, I really liked him. But Mahle is instantly our best starter and we really needed help. I still think our pitching isn't good enough but they did upgrade it quite a bit today.

I agree with Mike, the trade makes sense for both sides. We gave up quantity with some upside but we have several years of control and fits an obvious need.

If the Twins put up the white flag while in first place, I might not take it too well. The team has to do a few things in the offseason but there's room for hope. In the meantime, I'd rather watch the Twins lose in the postseason than miss the postseason.

Any of these teams could win the central. The Twins pitching is bad but our lineup is pretty impressive and we've taken 6 of the 10 against Chicago, which is a good way to keep them behind us. Fangraphs slightly favors the Sox over us. Health and pitching will probably be the defining matters for these last few months.

I didn't look into draft stuff so much this year as in other years but I think the first two picks make this my favorite draft since 2016. We'll see how it plays out but I'm happy with this draft.

Twins nailing the draft. Well done.

Yeah, that Ohio story is terrifying. But the people who want this care about control - not life.

I know more people who work at the ACLU on a personal level, and I know how dedicated and smart they are. So that's one thing. Second, PP works on one major issue but ACLU works on the same issue plus immigrant rights, voting rights, policing issues, etc. More bang for your buck. But it's a bit of dealer's choice. Both are great orgs and I'm proud of both.

I'd go ACLU-MN over PP.

Thomas' concurrence specifically targets three cases that permitted gay sex, same-sex marriage, and right to contraceptives. He didn't mention interracial marriage (Loving v. Virginia) but he is married to a white woman so maybe sees the need for that right. I think same-sex marriage is the obvious next target and some state legislatures have already talked about rolling that back. It won 5-4 with Kennedy on the Court, now that both he and Ginsburg are gone, the math is bad. I imagine in the next 30-60 days, we will see where the targets are. On abortion, we're going to see a flurry of cases as states pass all-out bans, which will be challenged. Even Rehnquist, of all people, didn't think a complete ban on abortion would be possible without a carve out for health of the mother but some of these laws don't have that. So we will see abortion challenges under both state and federal laws. States will presumably begin to pass restrictions on women - can't leave Texas to get an abortion in another state, for example - that will invariably end up before the Supreme Court as well. As a gentle reminder, I've worked in non-profit law for over twenty years. Most of the heavy lifting on abortion, same-sex rights, immigrant rights, etc are being done by legal nonprofits such as the ACLU, planned parenthood, etc. I know many of the people working in these orgs and they are dedicated to these issues and are ****ing dying right now. Support those groups, donate money, call your congressmen - both state and federal.

Yeah, that was a pretty insane opinion. Spending money = speech. Not spending money = not speech? It'll go to the Supreme Court but with this court, who knows. It might be better to guess the issue to figure out the law then relying on the law. Legal twitter is in disarray over how bad the courts have gotten.

It's a good team and should make the playoffs. Really enjoying Arraez' break out.

Yeah, it's pretty rough.

That's horrific for him. He looked really good this year.

I believe I read on legal twitter that the investigations' interviews will be public by October or November. And they will turn everything over to DOJ if they haven't already.

Jack Del Rio, showing that he's never the smartest person in a room, should be fired, per Souhan. https://www.startribune.com/jack-del-rio-commanders-vikings-linebacker-should-watch-his-career-bite-the-dust-jim-souhan/600180895/?fbclid=IwAR12ot3Bmi8Dr1YNVgkMlWUckYVq-xKU1KtzBTa6aZ1x4b1UaylzJkwXhGs I tend to agree.

Yep. yep. And I hope not.

Wow, the first day of hearings was much better then I hoped. Clearly laid out the plan to steal the election with emotional testimony and solid tv bites. Probably doesn't change the crazies but hopefully reminds the rest what is really at stake.

Yeah, this isn't a fun team to watch anymore. Very disappointing. But they're a playoff team and, after last year, that's probably what the FO needs. So I don't expect anything to change unless Chicago or Cleveland get hot and start pressing us.