Vanimal46

And the Twins have nearly $65 million tied up in 5 players right now. That's what's to be expected from a mid-market team.... 5-6 players tying up a majority of your payroll and fill in the rest with guys on rookie contracts or smaller deals.

This article is nice breath of fresh air. As fans we all like to point the finger at someone as to why the organization is run this way. It may all boil down to the culture set at the top. It's no secret that it's a very stable organization, with almost a country club type atmosphere. It can be a very bad thing (Cleveland Browns come to mind) when an organization changes direction, philosophy and voices too much. I'd argue it can be just as bad when the same voice and philosophy remains the same for too long. I think complacent is a perfect word to describe the current status of the Twins. No one near the top of the hierarchy is in jeopardy of losing their job. When that's the case, who's pushing them to be better? And who's telling them to think outside the box and take chances? I can't imagine the Pohlad's are doing this. So when everything remains the status quo for so many years, why should we as fans expect different results? TR's comfortable doing the things he's doing, almost too comfortable. TR does good things for this organization. He knows how to draft and develop talent, which is a good trait to have with a mid-market team. However, Mike Sixel said this well in the Not a TR fan thread, that I don't trust TR to be the closer when the team needs to be more aggressive to get them over the hump. I agree with what he says. I think right now would be a great time to find a young, hungry baseball executive and put a plan in place that he or she will take over as FT GM in the next 2 years. TR can teach his ways of scouting, development, and drafting, and the new person will have a more aggressive mentality when the time is right to do so.

If any team does move to Waco, I bet Chip and Joanna Gaines could fix up a stadium for them with an all-in budget of $180k..... "Alright Mr. Pohlad, are y'all ready to check out your fixer upper?"

The Pohlad's, hell most every owner in sports minus Jerry Jones and Mark Cuban, aren't the ones pounding the pavement to improve their teams. That's the job of the GM... So you may be putting your frustrations towards the wrong person. I'm just as frustrated as anyone here that there seems to be a budget put in place that the GM can't go over. At the end of the day, it's the constraints we have to live with as fans as long as a Pohlad owns this club. There's a couple of guarantees in life: death, taxes, Jeffrey Loria having a fire sale every 5 years, the Cleveland Browns being awful at football, and the Twins having a set payroll budget.

Last night's episode was great! Pretty interesting to see how Mike and Saul's relationship is developing to the point where we saw them in Breaking Bad. Life could have been so much different for Saul if it could work with Kim. Unfortunately he's always going to have parts of his life he'll never be able to share with her...

https://twitter.com/BGlobeSports/status/701881731322765312 As much as we like to criticize Sano for only losing 5 pounds, at least he doesn't look like the Panda.

That's what I'm talking about! Adding nuts to banana bread is criminal.

It's a strong start to the week! Margaritas yesterday, now.... National banana bread day! I love banana bread.... Quick, sweet, and delicious. It's also National Dog Biscuit Day! Not really a holiday we humans can celebrate, but if you have dogs, give them a special treat for this occasion.

shhh. You're bringing facts and logic into this.... It doesn't fit into the narrative that the Twins are home grown kids and signing FA's hardly ever work out!

Your guess is as good as mine when it comes to Sid. I have fond memories of listening to the Sports Huddle with Sid and Dave on Sunday mornings whenever my family would road trip to grandma and grandpa's, or driving back from a hockey/baseball tournament. Dave Mona's a saint for assisting Sid on that show for so many years. It was getting painful to listen to Sid's speech 4-5 years ago, couldn't imagine what it'd be like today.

Really? I'll believe it when I see it. Why give up the cushy seat in the press box for Twins games? I figured he was going to be the next Sid Hartman and will give up the notepad when someone pries it from his cold, dead hands.

And Minnesota Twins Whine Line. The best sports radio show not on the radio!

Agreed. Common Man is the only one I'll go out of my way to podcast his show. The Power Trip Morning show I listen to for 20 minutes while I get ready in the morning. The rest I don't listen to.

I would hope not. I listen to sports talk radio solely for the entertainment aspect, and hope those that do listen are like me, and don't listen to it as gospel. Maybe Reusse encounters these 10% of folks from his radio show, I'm not sure. I prefer the KFAN show style of entertainment with sports sprinkled in instead of sports talk all the time on 1500 ESPN.

You're probably right. My perception was he spent more time rotting on the bench than being on the DL. I have been wrong before, and will be wrong again.

I'm guessing there's going to be rumblings and frustration initially if the Twins start with Tonkin and the minor league signings in April. Which is to be expected right? I mean there were rumblings last season when Schafer was the opening day CF and Stauffer/Duensing/Fien were the key cogs in the bullpen. I'd just hope that there's a shorter leash to rotate out the unproductive players for the younger players. If we have another situation like last year where the Stauffers of the world hang around until June-ish, and Duensing had his roster spot all season long after being very hittable for 3+ months, then it's going to be a much bigger issue.

I will be making your homemade margarita tonight. Really enjoy the recipe

Pretty much. TR sounded confident at the beginning of this off-season that there was going to be activity to shore up this weakness, and something else happened where he backed off of it. Whether it was him thinking I should be able to sign someone who's above average for a 1 year deal and that person wanted multiple years, or the price tag scared him off, something happened. Could be a little of column A, a little of column B. I guess some could argue the Twins weren't prepared for the RP market this off-season, maybe had too conservative of projections on what these pitchers should be making. Or it could be an anomaly where the market blew up and they're waiting it out. I'm leaning more towards the former, but that's just me.

The frustrating part about this off-season was TR making it known the bullpen was a priority, and other than a couple of minor league signings, which happens every off-season, nothing else was done (purely talking about the bullpen here, not the trade for Murphy/signing of Park) Too late now, these are the players the Twins are going to ST with. If the youth movement is finally here, I will embrace it. With a catch: if that youth movement includes Burdi, Chargois, or Rogers making the MLB team out of camp over the likes of Tonkin or the other minor league signings.

Finally, I'm getting some credit on this GD site!!! I really wasn't that bad everyone!

You realize there are several managers older than Gardenhire, right? Including our own manager Molly... Joe Maddon, Terry Collins, Bruce Bochy, Pete Mackanin, Clint Hurdle, Dusty Baker, Buck Showalter, Ned Yost.... It's not like Gardenhire from an age standpoint is a dinosaur to be a manager. EDIT: Gardy's philosophy may be prehistoric, but his age isn't

short answer is yes, Gardenhire will find another opportunity as a manager. Long answer is still yes. There's too many examples of re-tread manager hires, and some managers take multiple years off to find the right fit. Detroit probably would have been a good fit for Gardy, with a lineup full of veterans, and a rotation full of low k/pitch to contact guys. Maybe by this time next year he will be the Tigers manager, or another team can come out of the woodwork to hire him.

Hell yes. I loved eating there when I visited friends who were attending the U. The thing to know for Dave, and maybe this has changed since I ate there last, but it used to be cash only as of 3-4 years ago.

Today's question off the top of my head.... Back to the 90's: AT&T is running a once in a lifetime offer! They want to increase sales on their land line phones, and offers you a monthly stipend for the rest of your life to ditch your smart phone, and return to the days of land lines. What that monthly stipend will be is up to you. However, there is a catch... No matter what year it is, you will never be able to own another cell phone again. And whatever they invent as the replacement of cell phones is also on the list for devices you can no longer own. Everything else in your life remains the same, using the computer to check email, browse the internet, etc. How much money would you need per month to give up your cell phone for good?

To answer the question from yesterday, all 3 options are great. And depending on your family/kids situation, it makes sense what people chose. For me, I would choose the chauffeur 100%. That would save so much wasted time debating over who's the DD for the night, who's getting the uber, how are we all getting home from the bar scenarios. And it'd save a ton of road rage from terrible rush hour traffic drivers on the highway.