Vanimal46

We'll disagree that he's been good this year and last year. Just a little too streaky for my taste. In 2016 he had a hot month of July, then fell of the proverbial cliff in September. This season he had 2 months (May and June) where he got a majority of starts to prove he belongs full-time, and didn't take advantage.

I don't see a spot for him on the 25 man next year. They have others that can fill in at 1B/DH that offer more position flexibility, speed, or a better bat. The Twins gave Vargas ample opportunity to secure a full-time spot on the MLB roster over the last 3 years. He hasn't been able to grasp it. I would move on from him.

Berrios is cruising through 2....

2-0 GOOD Guys! This is your friendly CBU

Uhh, what was that Dozier?

The Detroit crowd is just electric today! I don't know how Dick N Bert can hear each other speak...

Farmer left it right down Broadway...

Good morning Polanco!!

Is that former Minnesota OF Presley?

ANNND Welcome back! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: Cocktail Lounge Edition! I am your waiter for the afternoon, Van Benoit. The Twins are ROLLING! 4.5 games up on the Angels, Rangers, Royals, and anyone that matters for the 2nd WC. We're feeling good at the lounge, and you should too! Before we dive into an abbreviated version of randomness and debauchery, let's talk weather and lineups. Sir/ma'am, may I take your jacket and get you a drink while you wait? It's back to being a heat wave in Detroit today! Sunny and 81 degrees at first pitch. REAL FEEL of 94 degrees. Getting warmer as they go along. Winds out of the SE at 4 MPH. Minnesota Twins (81-74) 1. Brian Dozier ® 2B 2. Joe Mauer (L) DH 3. Jorge Polanco (S) SS 4. Eddie Rosario (L) RF 5. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B 6. Byron Buxton ® CF 7. Jason Castro (L) C 8. Kennys Vargas (S) 1B 9. Zack Granite (L) LF P - Jose Berrios ( R) - 81 overall on MLB The Show! Detroit Tigers (62-93) 1. Ian Kinsler ® DH 2. Alex Presley (L) RF 3. Nicholas Castellanos ® 3B 4. Efren Navarro (L) 1B 5. James McCann ® C 6. Dixon Machado ® 2B 7. Andrew Romine (S) LF 8. JaCoby Jones ® CF 9. Jose Iglesias ® SS P - Buck Farmer ( R) - Hasn't pitched more than 5 innings in 4 September starts Our swing band is here and warmed up. Ladies and gentleman, take your seats while you listen to our lead singer's beautiful voice! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yq4KA0mUnC8 Ohh yeah, we're getting real CLASSY in here! Let's talk good things today... Jose Berrios: Happy Berrios day! He's been my favorite pitcher to watch for the Twins this year. As this season draws to a close, I realized that I watched probably twice as many Berrios starts than I have for, Gibby as an example. Will he get the nod in New York? We hope so! Closing out the season: There are 7 games left, and the Twins are 4.5 games up on the next WC contender. I keep repeating that because it was unimaginable to say this is a playoff team 6 months ago. I've got my rally monkey ordered for the playoffs.... DO YOU?! Closing out game threads: Barring my services needed in the playoffs, this is the last start ol' Vanimal is getting this year starting a game thread. For those counting, I'm at 2 years service time now, and inching every so close to requiring arbitration to continue writing! We're hoping to break Bryce Harper's record breaking arbitration contract next season! Thank You: To everyone that writes game threads during the year, and everyone that participates! It really is one of the best threads on the site.... When winter comes, and all there is to talk about is who called Doug M to fire him, well, this will be sorely missed. Sorry for the abbreviated version..... Didn't realize today was an early start for our team! LET'S GET A WIN TWINS!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MXf8QS0ELA ANNND Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: Re-write edition! I am your host for the next 2 days, Vanimal. How NEAT was that game yesterday?! The Twins square off against the Tigers today, and who knows, maybe this game will be good too! Before we dive into the randomness and debauchery, let's talk weather and lineups. It's a heat wave there today! Good thing they play later on... Mostly sunny and 86 degrees at first pitch. REAL FEEL of 90 degrees. Winds from the ESE at 6 MPH. Minnesota Twins (80-74) 1. Brian Dozier ( R) 2B 2. Joe Mauer (L) 1B 3. Jorge Polanco (S) SS 4. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 5. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B 6. Byron Buxton (R ) CF 7. Max Kepler (L) RF 8. Robbie Grossman (S) DH 9. Jason Castro (L) C P - Erv Santana ( R): 1.54 ERA over his last 2 starts! Detroit Tigers (62-92) 1. Ian Kinsler ® 2B 2. Alex Presley (L) DH 3. Miguel Cabrera ® 1B 4. Nicholas Castellanos ® RF 5. Jeimer Candelario (S) 3B 6. Bryan Holaday ® C 7. Andrew Romine (S) LF 8. JaCoby Jones ® CF 9. Jose Iglesias ® SS P - Matthew Boyd (L): Was one out away from a no-hitter his last start.... Re-Writes: I don't know about you, but I threw away my preseason prediction in the trash, just like Paul Simon! Last year was so bad, and it was hard to see the Twins winning more than 74.5 wins in late February. As we stand now, the Twins have 8 games remaining, and 3.5 games up on the Angels. After the last 6 years, just watching the team in a playoff game is exciting! The intern is already hyperventilating in a paper bag thinking about it! Playoffs: The magic number is down to 6! Who'd have thought the American League will gift a playoff spot to a mid-80's win team? Give anyone a chip, chair, and a chance, and anything is possible! BREAKING NEWS: The Whine Line team just got word of a potential scheduling conflict at Target Field during the ALDS..... Minneapolis' fastest-rising band The Considerations also booked a gig the same night as game 7! Does Bark know something we don't?! Miss ya, and your rally rum.... Game Thread Re-Writes: For those that have read my game threads over the last couple of years, you'll know some have been...strange at times. Some ideas have gone back to re-write, but haven't left the notebook... UNTIL NOW! For the first time ever, let's reveal some game thread ideas that are duds! - ChiTown spent the off-season living and learning cat behavior. Does well enough to earn their trust and become their queen. Then organizes a RISE OF THE CATS to defeat the Detroit Tigers. - Chief's extremely successful bed and breakfast has a famous guest, Mike Trout! He spends the next two weeks messing with his life... Gets his bank accounts frozen, cancels his flights every day, all for the Twins to win the WC. (Editor's Note: Too dark. May get viewed as kidnapping. Let Chief have his successful business) - Minnesota Twins Whine Line: The Shining Edition! *Now they're too good. Keep this in the archives just in case. Hold on, I got to get back to re-writing this thing.... Internet crashed. What's the best day to cook? ..... Fry-day. Let's GET A WIN TWINS!

Ah, that's good to know. I wasn't a real believer of him prior to the horrific knee injury. Not sure if it's wise to toss him the keys to the offense when we're coming up on 1.5 years of him not touching the field.

Just take a look at Houston the last couple of years as a prime example. Great defense, and very bad QB play. Stuck in the middle, basically. Good enough to be a one and done in the playoffs. Not bad enough to get a good QB in the draft without mortgaging some of the future. Which they did last year to get Watson.

I actually forgot about Teddy being an option this season. Maybe he'll come back mid-way through the season? The Vikings are in a tough spot. Both QB's (Bradford and Teddy) have expiring contracts, and 2 good knees between them. In an ideal world, they would let both go, and draft one of the new guys in the draft.

It's not looking good for ol' Sam Bradford... He's getting a 2nd opinion on his knee by James Andrews today. This may be more serious than they anticipated. My view on sports is the same no matter what sport... If my favorite team is competitive, I want them to go for it. If they're not competitive, I want the highest draft pick possible. So, if Bradford is out for any extended period of time, this year looks like the right year to lose as many games as possible. There's up to 4 QB's projected as 1st round picks. Most notably Sam Darnold of USC and Josh Rosen of UCLA. What say you? If Bradford is out for a while, do you want to see the Vikings still go for it with Keenum? Or Dump the season for Darnold?

If he's one of 3 or 4 people fighting for the #5 spot in ST I wouldn't mind it, I guess. Though I'd be worried that his price tag and lack of options would factor into their decision to give him the spot by default.

I'll go with John Curtiss. Rising up 3 levels in a single season is very impressive. He separated himself from the group of 10 RP's in the minors by staying healthy and effective. The future looks bright for him in the MLB bullpen.

I assume upper management got together to review who stays, who goes, etc. Falvey and Levine would be in the room and concur on the decision to let Doug go. The rest of the story went through chain of command. Steil was Doug's immediate supervisor, and gave him the call. I would expect it's the same process as the corporate world.... If I were fired today, the CEO probably signed off on it, and I would expect my direct supervisor to bring me into his office saying today is your last day. I certainly wouldn't expect the CEO to deliver the news himself, even if I've been here for 3 years.

I was certainly one of those suckers that hoped for a walk or get hit with a pitch in order to get on base..... Especially in high school when I learned very quickly that hitting a curve ball is very hard.

Ricky Rubio has a man bun and a wicked AWESOME beard now. Carry on with your day.

I hate that it is the reality in the NFL, but it's true. They pick and choose which distractions are worth it. As we all know, the Vikings accepted AP's "distractions" for far too long. Ray Rice was left out in the cold after assaulting his wife (?) but the reality was he was a declining RB... Greg Hardy is a very bad human being that was given about 9 lives in the NFL before he showed he can't get 10+ sacks anymore. I just really don't like the politics and morale of the NFL most of the time. I also don't like that I still choose to watch more football than I care to admit.

The whole "distraction" angle is so overblown in the NFL. How is peacefully protesting and raising awareness for a cause he believes in deeply such a distraction? And on the same note, a person that has domestic violence charges or criminal charges are not a distraction?

Again, I don't understand why DM deserves better than a call from his direct supervisor. Steil has confidence from the FO to make hiring and firing decisions in the minor leagues. They don't need to micromanage every process. DM's tenure, or any other person's tenure with the team who gets let go, shouldn't make a difference.

Good luck to him. But we all need to know... Who called him to let him know he was being let go?!