Platoon

I think we should start locking up talent. Duensing, Fien, we need to put some of these guys (back) on the 40 man.

I think in Negative Game 163, we are the odds on favorite. No team can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like such!

I will have you know I speak 7 languages fluently, unfortunately Canadian is not one of them!

Yes, and since the loser is the winner, it could be a long game. It would be kind of fun to put together a lineup to guarantee a loss! And no, you cannot use tonight's.

I am glad you typed that in English. I have no idea what the Canadien word for ****ing is?

It is my understanding they asked Polanco to play, to paraphrase his response: WTF, don't you think I saw what happened to Kepler, Meyer, Berrios, and Rosario. I am staying on the bench and collecting MLB meal money!

Or another game 163. . . .

I am happily and safely ensconced in moms basement! I fear entering RiverWorld would be akin to stumbling into the castle of Dr. Frank N. Furter, sans Janet!

I feel that tonight things will turn for the better. Dozier announced yesterday he is addressing the team before the game. I am sure Dick/Bert will cover the address in depth. As long as he stays away from topics such as catching pop ups behind 2nd, pulling outside pitches to the SS of LF'er, and complaining about every called third strike, I think the talk will be well received. Now if on the other hand Dick informs us that Dozier was pulled suddenly from the lineup due to a pregame eye injury, that is another matter!

The bone head play, would have violated the UR. Ergo, he is being called out for that. I also clearly stated that I consider his demotion warranted on a performance basis, but it was unnecessary to pile on over what was not an unsound play. If on the other hand, Molitor considered it disrespectful or selfish to take the bag, he should say so, and not couch it in competitive terms.

First off, full disclosure. I am a believer in the "Unwritten Rule". While I wont debate each and every one, there is a place for most of them. And one of them was supposedly violated yesterday in Detroit. No I am not talking about the unwritten rule that MLB players should be able to hit a cutoff man, catch a pop up behind second or SS, not run over the top of a dead ball in RF, not bounce throws by the first baseman, and not make Verlander look like it was 2013, not 2016. The one I am talking about is stealing 3rd with two outs, and down a bunch. A rule btw I firmly agree with. That is if there is a third baseman. If your team decides it needs the third baseman to stand at short, that would seem to me to be an invitation for someone with speed to simply jog to the empty base. Would I care if your feelings were hurt? Or your throw em out stats suffered? Not really. And who is batting is in this case irrelevant, since you can't get thrown out if no one is there to throw to. As for whether Rosario should have taken the subsequent huge leads, causing Verlander to react like a pitcher in 9 year old league, that's on Verlander. Ignoring Rosario would have been the simplest way to resolve that issue. The rise of extreme shifts is going have to cause the reassessment of some of the unwritten rules. Players aren't where they used to be when the unwritten rules were written. Bases and acres of real estate are left uncovered. Bunts by non bunting type players will happen, and advancing to an uncovered base, I don't call it stealing, will become more frequent. It's going to be the unintended consequence of advanced metrics. Molitor apparently acknowledges, metrics at least as far as the shifting goes. I assume this means he is willing to violate the unwritten rule that the third baseman plays third. And if he is that enlightened, he should have no trouble accepting the fact that if the bag is left open, why not take it? The term "respect for the game", is a Twins cornerstone. And I have no problem with that theory. But is respect for the game defined by not taking an open bag down four? Or by taunting a team with an extreme shift, and leaving a bag open in front of a runner as Detroti did. In essence, making the base runner look foolish or lacksidasical for not advancing? I guess it depends on perspective, doesn't it? I am not writing this to argue the demotion of Rosario, he has certainly had his struggles. That is another issue completely. In fact if the team wanted to demote players who were not performing to MLB standards, they should have just taken the whole charter to Rochester. But if Rosario's steal was the straw that broke the camels back, we might need a new camel!

So when you are two down, two out, and on first, and they don't hold you on, you should not take second base? Because your run would not make a difference? If he had stolen third in a standard defensive format, I would have been with you on this, out or not out. But this wasn't that situation. And if Molitor was upset with the huge leads, forcing Verlander to bluff him back, I would like Molly to tell me what Rosario should do? The problem I see, is that some players are disciplined for mistakes, perceived or otherwise. And some are not. All managers have favorites, the good ones don't get caught at it!

I don't even know that he didn't warrant it, as a stand alone issue. And there were a lot of offensive reasons to demote him, but the BS about the steal and the aggravating Verlander is BS. Mr. Burr made some excellent observations on that issue. And I added my two cents, which was: if you don't want to cover third, that's your problem, not Rosario's. There is no code that on a 3-2 count with two outs you stay close to first, even with no first baseman. This is simply an adjustment to extreme shifts. Dollars to a donut that if Dozier had done it, he would have been heralded for his aggressive baserunning. (Well maybe up until yesterday when Bert started reaming him a new posterior)

Had the FO not lost John Hicks on the Murphy fiasco, and Murphy had not come to his senses and retired, we now would have brought in 3 players off the scrap heap, before the 20th of May. We need a TD pool. (Legal disclaimer, no money will change hands, only pork chops). Everyone throws in a buck, er I mean a pork chop, and picks the name of someone on the roster. If your player is the next one to Rocherster, you get all the money, uh pork chops!

Well said, and valid points. Rosario to Rochester is not of itself all bad. But the rationale is. and this isnt unusual. Hicks ended up in Gardy's doghouse and got benched for flipping instead of throwing the ball into the infield. Respect for the game has become a timeworn mantra for a team that bunts in the second inning. A couple of additional points from someone who frankly is a traditionalist. Move like Roasaio made today are going to become more prevelant, and should. If you're not going to play a third baseman that's your decision, live with it. Another is the influx of Hispanic players, which ch will and is changing the style of play. Better, worse, is your personal opinion. But they grow up playing with a different "creed" than our unwritten rules.

The top ranked farm system, or so we are constantly told in MLB, and we cannot come up with one decent f*^#ing OF'er?

Btw, if you had any doubt left as to why decisions like this are made, Molitor yesterday said he doesn't consider the season lost.sadly he was not clear as to when he would get to that point.

I wonder if we could get the band back together again. They could sit on the deck and play "Nearer my god to thee" Rosario has sucked, there is no doubt about it. On its own this might just be a blurp, but this seems a daily event, with no reasonable expectations of improvement. Now we have a IF playing CF, two AAAA of, and an offensive tackle playing RF. I actually feel sorry for Twins pitchers! I cannot believe I just typed that!

You can argue the level of "mismanagement" which Molitor has bestowed on Meyer, Polanco, Kepler, Berrios, and today Rosario to almost any degree. What you cannot argue is that all of them have one thing in common. At the same time, veterans are immune from any repercussions. Doziers defense has been lacksidasical all year, capped off by the lousy attempt to catch a pop up. Suzuki, whose only forte was blocking low pitches, fanned on a short hop, just one of many lately. Plouffe has bunted? Cutoff men are either ignored, or missed completely. My point is the lack of effort and execution is team wide. But a veteran is never the focus of corrective action. And that is the fastest way to lose a clubhouse, differentiating the way you handle issues like this. You should try and handle each player as an individual, but you better treat them all the same. And I don't buy into the fact that veterans earn that deference. They maybe earned a pass for a bad day, not a bad year!

NO to the nth degree squared X's 9 (now I wish I had taken algebra)

You listen to your wife? Don't let this get out of TD, it would be catostrophic!

Not really, there's all that blue Kool Aid in there to sip!

He could have added, "nor last place"

I know there is going to be a lot said, but I am not sure there is anything else one can say at this point!

It actually works either way!