glanzer

I was mostly thinking about the uniform set as a whole, which incorporates colors, logos, lettering, etc.

Here is my first ever ranking of the MLB jerseys/color/logo schemes. I'm sure this list will be ripped to shreds by others, but hey, this is just one man's personal preference. Athletics - only team to prominently feature green or yellow, plus cool alternate logo Cardinals - festive, timeless jerseys with bats and birds Braves - much like Cardinals, like the tomahawk Mariners - need way more teal, but always a fan of the color scheme Mets - the bright blue and orange really pop to me Cubs - good classic circular logo Rockies - only team to prominently feature purple Dodgers - timeless script White Sox - effective use of colorless scheme Yankees - would be much lower if they were less historic Rays - the blues with burst of yellow is favorable Blue Jays - like the newish throwbacks with the lined font Orioles - lots of orange Marlins - new unis and logo a huge improvement Giants - great for Halloween Diamondbacks - most innovative, original Royals - a fine, clean look Pirates - let's see more yellow Angels - the red alternates with red numbers bump them up a bit Twins - the gold accents bump them up a peg Red Sox - fairly dull except that it's a classic Brewers - due for a refresh, but nice alternate throwbacks Nationals - unexciting, but the W font is kinda interesting Phillies - is that maroon or red? can never quite gauge it Tigers - would be last, but some points for timelessness Rangers - in need of a big refresh Reds - totally unmemorable Indians - I really think they should keep the name but make it about India, the country Astros - really dislike the block lettering; so much potential wasted Padres - I know, their alternates are cool, but I just despise their navy-white home unis... come on, add an accent color!

What Twins-related insight do you feel you are best equipped to provide compared to the many other bloggers, writers, insiders, and publications that provide Twins mailbags? I suspect you know a lot more about the minor leagues than the typical writer. What do you think?

Agreed on Boshers. Doesn't Duke basically replace him anyway?

It would have been fun to have the national and international spotlight on the team, but I'll lose no sleep over missing out. I'd rather the Twins pursue more "sure thing" sorts of talent anyway.

I was at this game... so when we play Houston, we're 1-0 when I attend and 0-5 when I don't. Clearly on to something here. Also, was fairly surprised to see a few hundreds Twins fans at Minute Maid. I received many friendly (and some unfriendly) jabs from the Houston crowd as I strutted around in my red Killebrew jersey.

Not that I believe this FO is considering this, but I would think going into sell mode now would kill the confidence in the clubhouse. The players have seemingly battled pretty hard to stay in the race into mid-July. Whether or not they're for real, moving some key veterans, I think, would have a negative ripple effect. The idea that the front office is behind you would be a nice jolt for this team. I'd at the very least stand pat, if not be a fringe buyer. Selling would be out of the question for me right now, but a terrible next 10 days could change that.

Do the Twins employ a team psychiatrist? It certainly seems both players' issues could be helped by talking to a professional mental health expert. It's pretty clear in both cases this is a confidence issue.

I don't know... Alvarez has a career .438/.500/.500 line at Target Field in 18 PA!

Yes, Sergio Romo! He's at the top of my list for a bargain reliever.

I'm thoroughly surprised with the shape the front office is taking! I was certain this summer after the TR dismissal and Pohlad "lovable" comments that the Twins' version of a shakeup would just be handing the keys to Rob Antony.

Half-serious comment... I would love for these to be transcribed. I don't have an opportunity to listen, but I would have an opportunity to read.

Dude, I'm not saying we keep him. You and me, we both know that if we can get a solid return package for Dozier, we move him. My comment is about the team's marketing strategy for the 2017 season, and how losing your star player will make it more difficult to sell tickets, especially after a 103-loss season. That's all. From a marketing standpoint, losing your most marketable asset is bad. That's all.

Of course winning sells tickets. But try selling season tickets this winter for the 2017 season to a fan base whose team just lost 103 games and then proceeded to trade its best, most marketable player, presumably for prospects that won't pay off for a few years.

I don't disagree that trading Dozier could make a lot of sense from a baseball standpoint, but the team also has selling tickets to worry about in 2017, and parting with the team's best player/face of the franchise would undoubtedly alienate a large portion of the fan base. I'm not sure Mauer is particularly marketable anymore, and Sano/Buxton probably aren't recognizable enough to the casual fan yet. Trading Dozier means losing the team's most marketable player in a year where the team desperately needs someone of his stature. In my opinion, they'd need to make a pretty splash move to offset that... again, from a marketing standpoint.

It just kills me that Falvey is younger than me. What have I done with my life!?

Someone will conveniently get injured today, making it a moot point.

To me it's so obvious, although I know I'm in the vast minority here... there are no real veteran players on this team. No player in the organization is over 33 years old. These young pups get up to the Show and have no one to guide them on the field. Not to totally discount the coaches, but having a Torii or two out there as fellow teammates, regardless of their on-field performance, I believe does wonders. Dozier and Plouffe, said to be the new clubhouse leaders, are not veteran players. They have 3 and 4 full seasons experience, respectively. On some other teams THEY would be the young guys. The "older" players on this team aren't guys to serve as mentors, it seems. If I had been in charge, there would have been a couple veteran "character" signings this off-season.

There is no player on this team over the age of 33. I find that to be a red flag. The fact that Dozier and Plouffe are two of the guys being leaned on as "veterans" on this team is crazy. Dozier has 3 full seasons to his name, and Plouffe only 4. They themselves should have an established veteran to turn to keep them in check.

He's only 16 hitless at-bats away from tying the all-time worst streak in baseball history of 47, set by Eugenio Velez a few years ago for the Dodgers. I say we ride it out and see how close he gets to the record.

I don't buy that. But I do buy that Mauer having infant twins is preoccupying his mind and he's no longer able to focus 100% on baseball.

I would say under. Let's not forget the 2013 team had the EXACT SAME record of 32-36 through 68 games before going 34-60 the rest of the way. My guess is 70-92.

I caught the top of the 7th inning on the radio tonight in the car and my wife and I were both left yelling at Dan Gladden. I love the guy, but he kills me sometimes with his lack of description. The way he handled play-by-play duties were as if he and I were sitting next to each other at the game and he just reacted to things he saw. When Jason Kubel pinch-hit, Gladden said something to the effect of this... "And here's a little pop-up, Braun comes in, Gennett goes out and lunges for it. Wow. And Gomez just standing there with his arms crossed. Braun just gave up on that ball!" What happened? Did Gennett end up catching the ball? Is Kubel on first? How was Gomez involved at all? We never found out! He literally never came back around to tell us what happened! Only after I got home and looked at MLB Gameday did I find out Kubel's pop out was caught by Gennett. Next batter was Danny Santana, and again Gladden very lazily made the call. "A wicked short-hop liner here off the bat of Santana, wow. Hit that ball on the screws, to the right of second base. Watch out. And here comes Dozier to bat." At this point I'm wondering what happened to Santana. Is he out? Did Gennett throw him out at first, or was Kubel on first and forced at second? Did anyone get out? Was it a hit? I get it, Dazzle is a color guy thrown into a few innings of play-by-play to spare Provus or Atteberry, but dude... give me something! I'm not asking for a John Gordon scorecard reading of 4-3 on the putout, but a simple "hit" or "out" would suffice! Only after Dozier walked and then Mauer was retired did we find out how many outs there even were in the inning. I've been listening to games for over 20 years and that was the single worst inning of announcing I can recall.

It all depends on what you do with your $2000. It better go towards something amazing!

Don't forget, Gardy is already on the coaching staff, so it's pretty much like we're guaranteed two All-Stars from the current roster! Ha ha... I think Suzuki's chances are great as long as he doesn't crash back down to earth in June.