Platoon

Hardly! He has a remarkable high moral standard!

Actually following the Twins negates the need for serial killers, most people will just kill themselves. Serge on the other hand only dispatches a select few. If Serge confronted a Twins fan, he would feel sympathy, and likely take him out for coffee, and a tour of old Florida!

And old people........

So when you were in Orlando, did your kids enjoy the ocean?

For a real take on the Florida experience one needs to read Tim Dorsey's series of books on Serge and Coleman. Serge, one of the most creative serial killers of all time is an expert on Florida history and traditions!

You need to turn your sarcasm knob to the right three notches!

Personally I would sign him to a 4 year contract.

I prefer macdonalds thank you. I forgot 5 guys. Best ever though was a cafe in a motel in Wadena. Sorry, no drive through!

You beat me to it, no comparison. I don't think I have ever seen Mauer take a throw accidentally standing in foul territory. Park is better than I thought, but not Mauer. I know Park has some slugging numbers, but I'm not sure if they currently transfer into wins. Well, obviously they do not. But while he has ten HR's most are solo. And most are from off speed cookies. Maybe he will catch up, I don't know. But so far he hasn't seemed to be a bat that any team is going to try and figure out how to work around!

Having watched the replay of Sanos adventure in RF just before his injury, it seems he limped when chasing the ball after it went by him. Seems being the operative word here. Regardless, Plouffe is in the wrong place at the wrong time. The current OF is far superior to anything they have thrown out there for quite awhile. While I am not sold on Grossman being anything past a 4th OF, he will do until Rosario comes back. And I think he will. Just sticking Sano in RF because you don't know what else to do with him is like my granddaughter hiding under her blankie and thinking I can't see her. Mauer is not going anywhere, I doubt Park is, so Plouffe is the odd man out. Not because he is disrespected or disliked, simply because there is no alternative.

And now power has become cheap(er) and we are suddenly all about power. Or were supposed to be. I don't want Ryan trading our good young stock for a late 20's or early 30's SP. if you have to buy one, buy one. But you cannot even consider trading Buxton, Kepler, or a Sano. Comparisons? Ask the Royals how long it told Moose, Gordon, etc to get there. That always takes longer than we like. But to make the wait eventually successful, you have to be willing to take some losses, and I don't mean in the W/L column. I mean in trades, to clear blocking and dead wood. For example you can't view Dozier and Plouffe as actual 3 and 4 hitters and expect a comparable return. And Ryan does, so trades become almost impossible, financially and "emotionally". You have to bite the bullet and move. most teams who have a successful player who is struggling, give him a chance right himself. The Twins on the other hand take players without a history of success and hope they suddenly succeed. You can draw on 18 and hope you hit a 3, but the math ain't good.

I think GT participants are far more comfortable when the College of Musical Knowledge is restricted to: Whoopee John Wilfhart, and the Boys will play!

That was enough info to make the Office of Management and Budget go into a catatonic state. And if Molitor knew all those numbers during that 30 seconds it took him to bench Rosario, I apologize in advance. Plouffe was a dead duck, the inability of the catcher, did not make it a good move. Nor did the minsicule improvement in scoring chance. He's Trevor Plouffe, the human statue. He should have been out. Rosario caught them napping, and unless Verlander ran the Olympic 400 meters, was not going to get caught. This boils down to two non statistical issues. Rosario's previous misadventures in the OF, his offensive struggles, and his lack of tenure. On the other side of the coin was the veteran Plouffes teflon status as an irreplaceable cog in the machine. Please understand I am not disagreeing with the accuracy of your stats, simply that they had anything whatsoever to do with Rosario ending up in Rochester. I want to add one last point. The move to extreme shifts is going to result in more of these odd chances, which go against the grain of the book. I completely agree with never making the last out at third, but if no one is playing third, that certainly changes the odds of getting caught.

This isn't going to please the "public execution" crowd, but it's a nice summation of a plan forward. I hope some of the major moves regarding players occur. I would be amazed if any of the FO moves happen.

I looked at the Kaplan link. It completely boggles my mind to think the Twins would go from the Ryan era to a new GM/Kaplan era. I don't see anyway this could be integrated, it would have to be a total blowout. The resistance from an organization engrained in philosophies that accept bunting in the second inning, bringing in the infield in the third, not understanding the value of a strikeout on either side of the game, and still thinking you can find that one magic bean i.e. Johan Santana, every year would make simply a change at the top unworkable. This also would be a massive investment, both financially structurally for the Pohlads. I don't think that is in their DNA. You mentioned Ryans dealing with the personal side of the game, which in a manner, is one of his faults. Not moving veterans, not selling a FA acquisition high when the season collapses, etc. Thats the most frustrating part of the analytics discussion for me. It doesn't take analytics to know that Hughes, Nolasco. Dozier, Plouffe, Grossmann, Suzuki, Centeno, etc, etc, etc are who they are. Many if not all have established histories. Wishing and hoping that because they are now MN Twins, they will turn into a carriage and stay that way are what gets us to where we are. Don't get me wrong, I am not against analytics, but I don't need them to tell me that you cannot take low SO, fly ball pitchers, and team them with a crappy defensive OF. There really cannot be just a new GM and or analytics dept here, it needs to be blown up.

There is still an incredibly long way to go. While props to the FO for moving Hughes to the pen for now, an almost unheard of action, I will want to see what this team looks like the day after the trading deadline. What will they do with Plouffe, Dozier, Nolasco, and Suzuki. And if Ryan makes some moves, will Molitor take advantage. Good grief, Dozier STILL in the two hole? You know Suzuki will return as the starter the minute he is able. Bringing a guy up because of an injury, and celebrating a hot streak by a hitter (who btw I do believe will someday get it) does not a rebuild make. What of Park? His travails have flown under the radar completely. Basically, I hope you are right. And it's a long way to the trading deadline, but it's even farther to getting this mess straightened out! Call me pessimistic if you like. You can take the last 4 days as an indicator, I will take the last twenty years!

Yes we don't!

Just a perusal of the column leaves me with the impression that money played a large part in Ortiz leaving? His stats seemed above average, and he was pretty young. Makes me think that I should read it again, there is no way money could have been the determining factor? We should get over this, Ryan was somewhat new as a GM at the time, and made mistakes. He has learned and adjusted! How do I know? He now keeps all DH type players on the team, and will even bring some in from other countries. True it causes a few glitches on defense, but most baseball games are won by hitting, not pitching or defense.

Two points. I can't say I follow other teams moves, so maybe this is more widespread than I know. That said, almost all Twins moves are reactionary. Barring an injury, it's very difficult to lose your job once you get ensconced as a regular. Also, in a perfect world Buxton could have easily used another month in Rochester. But the Twins perfect world evaporated with decisions made late in 2015. The Twins are so far past painting themselves in a corner, they are now standing on the top of the paint can, while needing to go to the bathroom. Btw, hit Buxton nine, reducing the pressure for now is more important than more AB's, or a Twins win!

As much as I dislike decisions Ryan has made, the next example being our new $13M a year long reliever, and our almost historic inability to develop middle infielders and SP, I tend to agree with DJ. What the last twenty years tell us is that Ryan should go. This season is simply icing on the cake. What those years appear to also tell us is that the Pohlads have no desire to win anywhere else than on the P&L. Some of this is obvious by the retention of almost the entire management staff regardless of the W/L record, and some by the rarer than a hens tooth siting of a Pohlad. While TSF is now a catchphrase, the other significant part of that interview was simply anyone quoting him on anything. St. Peter is there to decide what kind of food they sell, and how much to charge for beer. Until something drastically affects the bottom line, no changes are forthcoming. And sadly if they do, the marching orders will be "get that bottom line up"!

Does he have to go back to Rochester like the rest of em?

That's exactly what my doctor said it should be!

I don't disagree with this to a point. They would bring in something. But with the dearth of pitching here, and this is sad to say, these two are two of the better. Sheesh. Park I agree with. I have a lot of qualms over him, plus to us he is simply a DH.

What happened to Berrios? A month in Mpls and he implodes? Lost confidence? Trying to change his style,or pitch selection?