diehardtwinsfan

To be clear, I want him to ruffle the feathers of the establishment. Too much politics these days though is nothing more than ruffling the feathers of Joe and Jane voter to get him/her to run to the polls and vote for a really bad candidate. It's stirring the pot without fixing the problems. That is something I'm tired of. If Rand can ruffle some feathers promoting real solutions while sticking to his guns on them, I'll be happy... But like I said, I don't know if he's a true Libertarian or just another politician looking to get some votes.

In the NFL, they fire bad umps... in baseball...

Rally puppy. She might even make it out of her kennel if they pull this off.

You can cut out the sarcasm here as it's really not necessary. I'm not making predictions on what Meyer will or will not be. I am saying that major league hitters tend to be more patient and tend to do a better job against a pitcher than AAA hitters do. You're right that a minor leaguer can improve from a promotion from time to time. But let's not pretend that it happens all the time, or even most of the time. And it's funny you bring up Santana since nearly everyone and his mother has predicted Danny to regress big time this year. I think we all hope that it doesn't happen, but a .400+ BABIP invites that type of speculation. And if you want to talk conjecture, how is it that that your argument isn't conjecture? I find it odd that you want to dismiss what I'm saying as conjecture when I'm arguing that statistically speaking, Meyer is far more likely to get worse after a promotion than to get better, especially given that this happens to players far more than it doesn't. I don't think it's unreasonable to have a guy get those types of things under control, because it isn't that he's in AAA that is somehow making him be unable to hit the strike zone. It's because he cannot consistently hit the strike zone. As I said before, if you can show me concrete data that says that players consistently improve as they get promoted, I'll be the first to stand up and admit that I'm wrong. Until then, I'll have no problems letting a guy work out control issues in the minors before he's promoted to the majors.

I guess I'm missing how my statements that MLB hitters will do a better job against Meyer than minor league hitters have is conjecture. Are you really arguing that they'll do a worse job than AAA hitters? When May got promoted, his walk rate skyrocketed. Is it a fixable issue? Sure, but let's not pretend that there isn't a talent gap between AAA and MLB. If you have some study that shows that AAA pitchers consistently see a drop in walk rates on promotions to MLB, I'll freely admit right here that I'm wrong, but I don't think it's conjecture to state that major league hitters will hit him better than minor league hitters. Nor do I think it's conjecture to state that if a guy can't hit the zone consistently in the minors, those problems won't get any easier as he advances.

Is it that he didn't have control problems or that less disciplined hitters in A+ weren't laying off as much? Control becomes a much bigger problem higher up you go. That won't change in the majors. Just look at the jump in May's walk rate between AAA and MLB.

MLB hitters will certainly do a better job of hitting Meyer. I don't think that's unrealistic. I don't see how that's going to reduce his walk rate unless we are arguing that no one bothers to take the bat off their shoulders. That said, I don't see that changing in the big leagues. Those walks will still come, except that some hitters can and will punish pitches that aren't good.

I seem to remember a fun with numbers thread in 2013 where at one point, the Twins had more rainouts than Hicks had hits.

Since we are talking puppies, this is the one we adopted a week and half ago. You can keep her as a good luck charm, though she's getting fixed next month.

FWIW, Hu is quite a bit older than Stewart. He's still a prospect in that sense, but given his age, I don't know if I'd conclude that he's a better prospect, even if he's putting up better numbers.

Not sure about all the faith people have in Dougie... that's just me.

I'd add to this that you could argue that 2012 was more of a retooling for this very reason... 2013 was when they traded the CFs and (even though it wasn't public) essentially told the world they were rebuilding.

I have a bad feeling that this won't be so hypothetical. I think that guarantees that you see Meyer and May. Not sure if the 3rd spot will be Berrios, Wheeler, or Taylor Rogers at this point. I'm not sure if either are on the 40 man (pretty sure Wheeler is), so who knows. What I'm really hoping for is that one or both of Pelf/Milone pitch well enough to be traded at the deadline and replaced with someone who is dominating AAA hitters.

I cannot speak for Peter D., but Tyrion Lannister would be a great candidate for Pres As for Rand, yeah, I think there's truth to that. Not sure I agree about the government out of the churches... It's there, not to the extent is elsewhere, but it's there. Lest we forget, not that long ago the government was telling churches that their medical plans had to pay for abortions. But all politics these days is about ruffling feathers, which is why I hate it so much. I swear politicians actually enjoy doing it. Ruffle the feathers on stupid issues to disguise the real problems. I hope Rand isn't that guy, I really want him to be like his dad. Problem is that part of me doesn't think he is.

He never cleared the fences once in MN. In Philly, he's now done it multiple times. He's clearly juicing

I'd like to mean this is Trevor May's call here. Given it's elbow, even if it's just pain, I suspect rest/rehab for some time. This contract though is really starting to look like a disaster. Our own version of the Carl Pavano Yankees contract.

I want to address this comment (and I'm not really aiming my reply at you Jimmer, just to be clear). Personally, I'm one to disagree with the front office where I think they've made a mistake (see May, Trevor 2015 for example or our CF situation), but I know that myself, along with a few others, feel we are being forced to defend the front office as much of the criticism borders on ridiculous (such as the claims that some implied that they should have somehow known Santana was juicing). Something I was told during marital counseling some 13 years ago applies here to... "not right, just different". Keep that in mind. You and I may not agree with the Milone/Pelfrey decisions, but that doesn't mean that the front office is incompetent, especially given the fact that they've had a track record of success. It doesn't mean you have to agree with their decisions either. It's simply a pretty big leap from 'I don't agree with this decision' to 'these guys don't know what they are doing'. That's just not being fair, and it invites the bickering that we've seen on the forums of late. To me, and I think I'm speaking for the mods here, this is where the negativity goes overboard. No one is saying that everyone needs to agree with the front office, but when people start injecting their pet peeves into every single thread and concluding that everyone over there is inept... well, let's just say that this is where being upset goes overboard... Side note, there are inpet front offices, but we are hardly there. Some real good examples: Pitt and KC before their resurgence, the Cubs before Theo... Or the Cleveland Browns. A lot of that, I might add gets traced back to ownership.

Well, Eduardo Escobar can play all of those positions too. He hits better than Punto as well.

Hmm... that's about 6 hours from where I live, plus I pass through Elizabethon to get there. Need to think about that...

If he keeps pitching like he did today, I cannot see him lasting much beyond May. Then he can move to LA since he loves it there so much. I don't see any team picking up the remainder of that contract.

I'm a big fan of his dad. Rand hasn't sold me yet. I think the sentiments on the Libertarian movement in this forum are a bit off here. I was always a small gov. Republican until I realized that the Republican party wasn't a small gov. party like they claim they are. I've been voting mostly Libertarian ever since. Most people in that vein just stopped voting. But as Levi said, he's rejected for precisely the reason he should be supported. If Republicans relooked at a few of those items (gay marriage, pot, military spending, prison reform), I could see a lot of Dems and independents switching sides. Paul's dad was pretty consistent on a lot of this stuff, which is why I liked him. As for Rand, he hasn't sold me yet. It will be interesting to watch.

Not sure this is fun...

no way you bring in a guy like Hammels unless you are jettisoning Nolasco or Santana.

Is Thorpe officially going down for TJ?

I could definitely see a clause like that at the outset of a contract. I'm more concerned about buyers remorse after the fact. That's what going on with A-Rod and Hamilton right now. That said, wasn't it George Steinbrenner that got suspended for digging up dirt on what was at the time one of his biggest FA signings? I'm guessing the rules are there b/c certain owners had no problems in the past of crossing lines they had no business crossing.