BrentMpls

Well my first thought is that the title of your post and this quote do not sync 100%. Saying "I'm not going to quit until I win a world series" and what Gardenhire actually said in that quote are very different. To me, what he is saying in that quote is just keeping things positive. Of course he wants to win a World Series here, and that should be the ultimate goal. To continue to use his wording the much more likely outcome is that he will keep chugging along. TK was Manager for 15 years I think... Gardy has another 5 to get to that number, if that means anything. The next 2 years will be interesting, as Morneau's contract comes up in particular to see if the Twins can acquire some talent with their 100mil-ish cap and become competitive again during the Mauer contract era (through 2018). Before the team fell apart and all the issues since a big problem this ball club had was being truly competitive outside of the central division. 6 division wins, but no real success beyond that level. Now they are trying to get back to the level they had previously... I just don't see it happening anytime soon. But time will tell!

Smalley can't think of what to say at times, I'm not sure if he gets nervous or just can't formulate in his head what he wants to say, I'm not sure he mumbles though. In small doses, when you can tell he is excited to be talking about something and not just spewing cliches Smalley can be alright. For those complaining about TK, I hope you're joking. I would agree if you think he speaks softer and more flowing than the other guys, but it isn't as if he is hard to understand at all. While I think he tows the company line a bit much his last appearance or two (concrete settling, really?), he is the only guy that has offered anything fresh or interesting to say up there. He is critical of player performance when warranted, and praises it when deserved as well. He actually offers some insight on what a player did or should have done, he talks about "behind the scene" stuff like timing a pitcher's delivery, etc. It gets tiring to listen to the bias that is usually up in the booth, and the endless cliches. Bert has another 4 seasons of 100 games after this one so expect more of Coom-Dawg, Smalley, and (for me anyway) the much more fun TK.

For those interested I noticed that the band "the baseball project" will be playing this Friday. I've never seen them live, and the 400 bar didn't have AC last I knew, but they do have this fairly fun song: which was sure a heck of a lot better than that GB Leighton abomination that FSN played for month or two! http://thebaseballproject.net/schedule/

Correct - he said that on air just before his most recent break, I don't remember the exact game, it was within the last few weeks. He said it with some disdain, as if he didn't agree fully phrasing it something like "How a quality start is defined in today's game is 5 innings and 3 runs or less". And he did say 5 and 3, not 6.

Nope. I don't want to see Torri here. Torri is about Torri, not about the team.

I agree 100%, I hope he stays on the team for a long, long time. He got a lot of heat in the media after 2010 - Reusse in particular was threatening to drop his 4 legends club tickets on air if he is with the team the following season (he didn't drop them) and he is often the butt of on air jokes. It's clear his defense is superior to Mauer, and as you pointed out he seems to have a knack for brining out the best in our pitchers and takes more risks with calling pitches. One has to wonder if some of the initial success of veteran Pavano was due to having Butera as his 'personal' catcher. And while it is still sub par, his batting is better this year - if that can only pick up a bit more. This team has a lot of holes - I really don't think they should focus on getting a better swinging catcher and hope Butera is with this time for the long run when they might be competitive again.

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?822-Honoring-Camilo-Pascual

Whats really interesting is Rene Gayo is still employed by Pitt.

Or bitching about having a guy who occasionally shows glimmers of talent, but not enough to count on. It's a tough call either way - my hope is Ryan finds a trade that gets us something of decent value, failing that a 2 year 20-24 mil deal would be acceptable to see what happens.

I would be shocked if he doesn't accept an extension, should one be offered

You bet, thanks for reading

https://twitter.com/TPlouffe24/status/226536025286127616

I didn't even know he was pregnant! http://instantrimshot.com/

Should that be the goal, even if that is the case? Having a reliable starter who can get you through 7 innings without a home run derby occurring is worth a lot more than Liriano. Bert recently defined a "quality" start as 5 innings with giving up 3 or less runs. I'm assuming that is what this organization is realistically looking for - someone who can produce a 'quality start' on a regular basis. Liriano has been solid the last two some months, for the most part. But can you really trust that to stay pace for the next 2 years? I sure can't. 2 months on, 2 months off isn't worth having, even if he is the only guy who can throw strikes more oft than not when on. I think the Twins, for better or worse, would much rather have 5 guys that can do what Blackburn did last night on a regular basis, than a "filthy" strikeout guy that you can't count on.

A week ago today, on July 14th 2012, the Twins honored Camilo Pascual by inducting him into the Twins Hall of Fame. (for a full list, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Twins#Twins_Hall_of_Fame ) Known for his curve ball, Camilo Pascual played for the Washing Senators in 1954 until they moved to Minnesota and became the Minnesota Twins, which he stayed (Playing in the '65 World Series) until 1969 moving on to the Reds. Former Twins Player (and later Dayton's employee) Julio Becquer was there - along with Tom Kelly, Rod Carew, and Tony Oliva. I'm a big fan of Twins HOF day each years since 2000 - and like to get there early to collect one of the 5,000 pins that you can obtain after entering the park each year. To my surprise, during a Twins game only 2 days prior I heard about how Camilo would be signing autographs before the game at the pro shop. I thought that would be a pretty fun thing to go to, as he isn't here in MN often, and who knows if he'll ever be back again. After waiting at gate 34 for a while, a Twins gate guard announced that if we were there for Camilo we better get over to gate 29, which had a line already. As we were making our way to the back of the line, up walks Mr. Pascual himself, a Twins handler approached him and told him "all these people are here for you" to which he smiled and walked on to the front of the line (curiously actually outside Target Field - so you didn't need a ticket to meet him, which many people seemed aware of, and which caused concern for pin collectors such as myself as we couldn't enter the ballpark and leave as there is no re-admittance). The gentlemen in line behind us was talking with Camilo on the way up, telling him about how he remembered watching him pitch against Whitey Ford as a kid, and Camilo told him about striking out Mickey Mantle numerous times. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1616[/ATTACH] As the line progressed Clyde Doepner (the curator for the Minnesota Twins) was patrolling the line, checking out what people had and giving tips to let the ink dry. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1617[/ATTACH] Eventually we made it up to Camilo, he was fun to briefly talk to with his thick accent and seemed generally happy to be there. Clyde was right - he does have a real "Harmon-eque" signature - beautiful and legible. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1618[/ATTACH] The induction ceremony was fun, even if after all these years its hard to understand much of what Tony Oliva says. Later during the 7th inning stretch Camilo sang take me out to the ballgame with his wife and a bunch of kids, which was fun to see, he seemed to be having a good time. Fun day, and a great thing for Camilo Pascual to finally be in the Twins HOF. According to Dave St. Peter "top player candidates for '13 inductions" are Grant, Knoblauch and Guardado. [ATTACH=CONFIG]1619[/ATTACH]

I wouldn't be totally against a 2 year deal at 10-12 a year, but I really hope they unload him (for as good as a return as possible), he is just too inconsistent. And if they do sign him, that eats up the majority of next seasons dough that the Twins have to play with, which leaves little hope to acquire a solid #2/3 guy for next year.

I can tell I'm being trolled, but one last response on this thread... No, what you wrote was: Nobody other than you was claiming that someone or someones were going over the top in cr4editing him. Nobody is saying he is the end-all, be-all. As far as taking things personally when you say accuse people of "hyperventilating" when you they are trying to understand and respond to your erroneous statements is strange and immature, to say the least. Again, nobody said Adelmen is beyond criticism. You are inflating things with each response. Suggesting that there are some things from last year that you cannot put in the "win" column is not all Reusse is suggesting in that article. As far as Adelman and Williams relationship/playtime/performance goes, I'll listed my thoughts on that above already.

You are asking him to tone things down yet going off the deep end yourself with your assessments and statements. Adelmen is not getting total praise, nobody said that but you. The point that you are missing, as you like to say, is that you are making inflammatory statements with no basis, much like Reusse did.

Not really fair first year on the job with the team, in a shortened season with no time to work with these guys other than at actual games. This year should be a lot better than what was already a great season, even if they missed the playoffs.

He said the same on the radio the other day. He wants the message to get across it seems.

I went to almost every single home game last season - my thoughts are that due to the shortened season there just wasn't time to work with these guys beyond trying to win games. This season should be a lot more interesting - hopefully you see a lot more movement than just pick and roll. Adelmen should get a ton of credit - I feel that he was the main reason the Wolves had their first decent season in years, and if it wasn't for injuries they even had a shot at the playoffs. "why was Williams as erratic and confused on the court in Game 66 as he was at season's start?" is just an inflammatory comment with no basis. I do feel that Williams wasn't played much, and when he was played often didn't "wow" me, but what can you expect first year with no pre season? Adelmen would play guys and stick with what was hot each quater and each game. He didn't play favorites - whoever was hot that night got the floor time.

I saw the movie at St. Anthony Main yesterday - I enjoyed it. An analogy is made to raising crops being the same idea in raising ballplayers - and that is reinforced strongly throughout the film. You are exposed to a bit of the negatives on both sides of this process (trainer and family // vs // MLB) and get a slice of these two players experience in that process. Worth seeing.

Is Fan Graphs willing to foot some of the bill?