Platoon

It's the Twins Way! it's been my complaint about the FO all along. It's not that I think TR doesn't know talent. I am sure he knows more about it than me, and most of us. Buts it's still moves like this, and ones coming up that will always limit this franchise to mediocrity, with a very limited chance at becoming a consistent top tier team. And I am not talking about wild card, or winning a weak division and getting smoked every year in the playoffs. The infatuation with replacement level vets continues!

I just think they will send Tonkin back, at least for awhile. Stauffer will get one more chance here. It's the TW. (Twins Way). I am a big fan of Arcia, but even I think he has to catch a higher % of fly balls to play with this pitching staff. He might benefit from an extended stay in Rochester, both for fielding, and attitude. Trading him would be a mistake. When the light goes on for him, he will be an elite power bat. If he can get his fielding to just average, he can play a corner. Almost every team has a weak fielding, big hitting corner OF. There are lots of options here, as long as ill conceived loyalty to fill in veterans like Nunez, Shafer, Robinson, Stauffer, and Duensing don't cloud your judgement.

I tried to make this point in another thread yesterday. It was not well received! Lol. This FO loves it's mediocre vets!

Don't be shy, tell us how you really feel!

Unless Hunter is physically unable to play, he will be back. . This is going to end up as one of the most interesting and frustrating next 10 months in Twins history. Win, lose or draw! I think TR knows baseball, and knows talent. He is a fine GM for a veteran team, that needs a couple fill ins to get into the playoffs. He can find the needle in the haystack. But I truly have no faith that he is the right guy for this situation. He cannot/will not trade a veteran favorite to make room for young talent. He adores veteran seniority. Every business needs a CEO that fits its current cycle. I don't think TR is that man, in this situation. So yes Torii will be back, and Kurt, Trevor, at least one of the utility veterans, and a whole host of veteran pitchers.

There are a lot of opinions and good ideas on here, and very proactive ones. And while Polanco is a possibility for Santana, I am not sure what else will happen. Where is there any history of TR making aggressive wholesale changes in a roster, especially a winning one. If they keep winning you might see a tweaking of the bullpen, and Sanatana will replace a SP. Pinto? They sent him down to get back in shape, on track, he hit the crap out of the ball, and they left him there. As for Hunter, if he stays half decent, he will be back next year. It's the Twins way! Stauffer? Sucked in Rocherster, and gets brought right back. Two days later Rob Anthony said that Arcia would have to earn his way back. No more injured players getting in a couple games, then back. For the Twins, seniority and contracts rule, and always have.

Unlike my predecessors on this thread, I will neither write 3000 words, nor have 5 thoughts. While I think my spell check could handle the 3000 words, personal history tells me that 5 interrelated and concurrent thoughts are not likely due to a significant loss of temporal lobe structure. Whether this could be the result of binge watching "The Gong Show" at too early an age, has not been determined. That said, I sure do miss that show. But I digress, on to today's game! Baaahston v Twins. Being a fan of "This Old House" and "Car Talk", I can pretty much understand most of what they say in Boston. So if I had access to NESN I could probably understand their description of the game. Unlike when I try and listen to Tony O do the Spanish broadcast, or for that matter, Dick/Bert on occasion. The locals are on a roll. I am not sure exactly why, as the total sum seems to exceed the parts. Maybe it will be another magical mystical 1987 again? Or, Cinderella might turn back into a pumpkin! Regardless of any misapplied comparisons, things are going exceptionally well right now. Will they continue? Tune in later. The first two weeks after the ASG seem to be a bench mark for many teams. As to today's game, here's the long and the short of it. The long! (And big) Big Papi. (Sp) I read somewhere that he used to play for the Twins. That seems so unlikely that I just ignored it and moved on! Ok, I really did know that. Ortiz has done as much, or more for the publics perception of the Twins style of hitting, as Glenn Perkins has done for the publics perception of Josmil Pintos style of catching. In all likelihood neither the style of hitting, nor Pintos catching are as bad as these publicly stated opinions. But as any good politician can tell you, if you say it often enough and loud enough it becomes fact. The short! Dustin Pedroia. Pedroia is small, feisty, plays hard, has amazing power for his size, and always wears an unwashed uniform. Pedroia is what Nicholas Punto could have been, had Gardy had not called him Nicky. Or Little Nicky. Or Punty! Nicholas could have been our own little Dustin. But his career suffered from being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Imagine, if you would, what could have been, had he played for a team which valued light hitting utility players handling a regulars role. Oh the possibilities! If the Pohlads had been considerate enough to put a retractable roof over Target, I would not have had to go through all the effort to find an accurate weather forecast. And since they wouldn't put in that effort, neither did I. But since TD Game Thread protocol calls for a weather report, I did open up the NWS site. A brief perusal shows temps maxing out at 70, with showers in the 20% bracket possible. Since neither I nor the NWS actually have anything to do with the weather, with the exception of stating an opinion, please do not complain if this information is incorrect. The NWS is a governmental agency. They won't listen or care. As for me, I will listen, but I also will not care! The lineups. Your MN Twins: 2B Dozier RF Hunter 1B Mauer 3B Plouffe C. Suzuki SS Escobar DH Nunez LF Rosario CF Hicks P. Nolasco Their Boston Red Sox 2B Pedroia CF Betts DH Ortiz LF Ramirez 3B Sandoval 1B Napoli SS Bogaerts RF Nava C. Swihart P. Kelly This is a good chance for everyone to compare two of the better 2B in the game today. Hopefully ours has a better series. As for the pitching matchup, it looks like a toss up. Ricky N has a much better record, and has pitched "ok", but it has the look sometimes like a figment of someone's imagination. Sooner or later in my experience, figments turn into figs, fall off the tree, get dried, and inserted into a Newton. I am not sure if that will be Nolasco's fate, or if he will eventually be inserted back into the NL. Only time, and TR, will tell.

Speaking of minor league performance, Rob Anthony was quoted as saying Arcia will not come back unless he shows he can produce. It's the way they do things now. This must have started right after Stauffer? This also means Oliveras will meet the team in Boston tomorrow!

Wait til Brian gets a look at the 2 lane roads in MI! You get in the woods over there in the dark on one of them, and you expect to see Rod Serling stand in on the side of the road, ciggy in mouth, inviting you to another dimension!

They are like summer sausage, you don't want to know!

And if it hit someone I'm the posterior it would be a?

first off the catcher has to be in the box for a legal pitch........... Second and most important, the umpires would be very unhappy!

If whether a comment is related or not is going to be an issue here,I am going somewhere else. :)

I think every team has a "doghouse". Sometimes it seems like a stay in the Twins doghouse tends to run a little longer. I don't know this for a fact, and I doubt there are any analyticals to back it up. But, sometimes there just seems no other reason for some of the roster comings and goings.

but can you be perplexed by what you DO NOT know? . .

Getting sent to Rocherster is one thing! Getting sent to Rochester for Tim S. Is quite another! Btw, why should the 25th guy be a "he's not gonna play anyway" guy? Why not fill that spot with someone with a specific talent? Speed, defense, power bat. Why let it lay fallow with a utility guy that does none of these things well? In the AL, the 3 spots above him should give you flexibility! (Barring 3 catchers of course).

We adore mediocrity! We value stability! We admire seniority! We salivate over effort! We abhor non conformity! And we weep and gnash our teeth without parallel!

I never understood Texas either, and I never wil.

Roy just said Kennys needed to go down and get straightened out? That's the same thing the judge said to me just before sentencing!

No, as we like to call it "out state mn".

I predict no one will ever score a run in the 8th or 9th inning again against the Twins. There should be a league rule: if the Twins lead after 7, the game is declared over. It will cut the avg time of MLB games, and make the new commish look good!

Frankly I have no idea, on sale is bars, off sale is bottle shops, if you have both you are on/off sale.

When did that start. I owned off sale in MN. 10 every night closed Sunday. Open at 8 am.

Blaine Boyer to the rescue. No one has scored on him since Satchel Paige was a small child!

The sad part of this is that I am not sure if I am that quick witted, or that I am like you? .