theBOMisthebomb

I've longed for the Metrodome during many a cold April game at Target Field.

Wow, 57 games is impressive. I agree with your list, especially number 11. The best way to spend a night is at Target Field. The complaints about baseball being too boring, the cost, and time spent are tiresome and always somewhat surprising to me for some reason. Anyway, I made it to 22 Twins games in 2022, 19 at Target Field, 2 at Dodger Stadium, and one at Angels Stadium. I also attended non-Twins MLB games at Wrigley Field and Guaranteed Rate Field in Chicago. The Twins were 9-13 when I attended. I saw the Kershaw truncated no hitter, walk offs by Buxton, Miranda against the hated Brewers, and so much more. The only addition I have to your list was the all you can eat Friday nights were quite fun. I was convinced to go by my buddy and begrudgingly went along. I enjoyed the variety and was able to keep the consumption in check. So, I took my dad a few weeks later and he also enjoyed. I just fasted the day of the all you can eat games so I could enjoy the unlimited ballpark favorites guilt free.

Yes, very pessimistic yet realistic. They had a chance this offseason to spend and improve, mission failed. There's still time, maybe they can pull off a trade that is a difference maker. So far, it's just been Joey Freakin' Gallo - yuck.

That's an interesting and unique take on switching the teams around in Santana's career and I agree. As for the not getting three Cy Youngs, I believe it dearly cost him. Voters not very familiar with his career would have seen the 3 awards and maybe given Santana some consideration. There is a clear line of distinction between two and three Cy Young awards: Clemens 7 - we all know why he's not HOF yet; Randy Johnson 5 - HOF; Greg Maddux 4 - HOF; Steve Carlton 4 - HOF; Justin Verlander 3 - future HOF; Max Scherzer 3 - most likely future HOF; Clayton Kershaw 3 - most likely future HOF; Pedro Martinez - HOF; Jim Palmer -HOF; Tom Seaver 3 - HOF; Sandy Koufax 3 - HOF. Pitchers with 2 Cy Young Awards Jacob deGrom (NL 2018-19) probably not having an HOF career as of now Corey Kluber (AL 2014, '17) probably not having an HOF career as of now Roy Halladay (AL 2003, NL 2010) HOF Tim Lincecum (NL 2008-09) off HOF ballot after one year Johan Santana (AL 2004, '06) Tom Glavine (NL 1991, '98) HOF Bret Saberhagen (AL 1985, '89) off HOF ballot after one year Gaylord Perry (AL 1972, NL 1978) HOF Bob Gibson (NL 1968, '70) HOF Denny McLain (AL 1968-69) not in the HOF Who knows, maybe Johan didn't get that third Cy Young for a reason. That would have likely been difficult for some voters to vote yes on Santana considering he was a one and done case with only 2.4 percent voting yes.

Yes, the Gold Glove at 1B would have been quite a feather in the cap. My worst fear is that not getting that GG will lead Joe to have a Johan Santana type HOF case that gets dismissed too quickly. Johan lost a Cy Young to Bartolo Colon when he shouldn't have and it presumably cost his HOF case a lot of votes.

Oddly enough, it seems Mauer has a more positive profile nationally. Possibly they weren't burdened with the ultra high expectations so they have a more reasonable summary of Joe's accomplishments post career.

I'd rather take a risk on a multi-year contract rather than a one year contract with Joey Freakin' Gallo. It's about a 99.9999 percent chance Gallo is gone after one year. So, even if Joey brings back the glory years, takes a liking to the short right field porch in Target Field, and hits 40 bombs in 2023, he's most likely gone. I'm just not sure what that gets the franchise since they aren't a championship contender in 2023 (at least not yet).

Let's talk baseball on Christmas morning?!? Yes, I love it. I don't believe Mauer will be first ballot Hall of Fame. I do believe he has a better than not chance of getting in within the first five years. Then, I plan to make my first trip to Cooperstown to celebrate watching a guy from playing in high school to the HOF.

Dare to dream, twinssporto. Dare to dream, my friend. If only the Twins could be so lucky.

This is the slap in the face after last week's kick in the crotch. MLB really has to change things on the payroll issue, it's been out of whack for years. Now it's just wacky unbalanced and out of control.

Where are you getting those WAR numbers? Baseball Reference has Kepler ahead on career WAR 16.9 to 14.7 and Kepler ahead on career WAA 5.5 to 5.2. Fangraphs career WAR has Kepler at 16.0 and 15.1 for Gallo . For fielding, OAA favors Kepler for 2022 and overall career. I want to believe the Gallo defenders, I don't know where these numbers are to justify that Gallo is much more valuable than Kepler and a better fielder.

I asked on the main Gallo thread for justification for Gallo being a plus defender because he was 95th with -3 OAA amongst 125 qualified outfielders. I received one response pulling some defensive metrics that showed Gallo as a fielder in a more positive light than OAA. Does Gallo possibly get "tall guy bonus points" for being 6' 5" by those not using defensive metrics? It will be interesting what my (admittedly unreliable) eye test says about Gallo's defense.

With the chatter about Gallo's defense being a plus, I thought I'd check it. MLB.com has his OAA for the 2022 season as -3, 95th place out of 125 outfielders. Kepler is sixth place at 11 OAA. Expanding the search back to 2016 (when this stat started), Max holds steady in sixth place with 60 OAA, tied with Mookie Betts. Gallo is 55th place with 6 OAA. I can't say that I have any memories of Gallo in the field. Could someone enlighten me as to how he gets categorized as a plus defender. Does he get "bonus points" for being a 6' 5" guy who can move a little bit?

I hope you are correct and Gallo works out and produces in 2023. I'm doubtful, hope I'm wrong.

He was bloody terrible in 2022. I'd love to have egg on my face and the Twins see nearly 5.0 WAR 2021 Joey Gallo in 2023. I'm not holding my breath. This is a head scratcher to me. Maybe if we needed to fill in Gallo to an otherwise complete roster and hope that lightning in a bottle and a short right field porch lead to 40 Gallo HRs in 2023. Not with the current roster as constructed, I'd pass on Gallo. I'm hoping the front office flips Gallo, IKF style.

Not a fan of this move. The career .199 BA and 262 strikeouts on average per 162 games are not pleasing stats. He's actually had 2 seasons of 200+ Ks. Most recently in 2021. ? ? Yuck. Supposedly he plays defense, though I'd rather have Kepler out there than Gallo. I also think I'd rather have just kept Sano, who at least has a flicker of a flame to change his destiny and become a well rounded ball player. Hopefully the FO are just going to flip Gallo, though who'd want him?

The complaining about cost is a topic that interests me. The $127 inclusive for a night out for you and your wife for an MLB game, parking and food seems rather reasonable from my perspective. You could have spent $20- $30 just going to the cheapest of cheap fast food restaurants. Your ticket cost seems reasonable, though there are decent upper decks seats for probably $10-$15 per ticket less. The food purchases seem a bit excessive if you are so focused on cost and so cost sensitive. You could eat before leaving for the game and then not eat there. You could go to the family concession stands where the food cost is a fraction of what you quote. Buying an overpriced beer and a costly sandwich seems out of character and unnecessary if you are so cost sensitive. You do know you can bring your own food into Target Field, including your own sealed water bottle? It just seems contradictory to me to stomp your feet about cost then splurge on beer and expensive sandwiches. If you think those purchases are part of the ballpark experience, then ok. Why then complain about cost? The $15 parking is okay. You could shave a few dollars possibly, though not worth that effort. Again, the costs you quote seem reasonable to me for a full night of entertainment provided by the best baseball players in the world. What did you want the costs to be? I don't know if you're noticed the cost of everything has skyrocketed. You've seen inflation numbers the last couple of years?

Yes, I offer free Twins tickets to casual friends, co-workers, and family all season long. The success rate when I ask someone new is not sterling. I have a group of diehards that I know will go to the game and normally stay with asking them. Now, amazingly in 2019, people wanted tickets once the Bomba Squad started rolling. Everyone loves a winner and it's difficult to get people off the couch. As someone said earlier, the casual fan will go to watch winning and home runs.

Kirilloff and Larnach seem to blend together in my brain. High upside, need to stay on the field. Almost like a younger, left handed version of Buxton.

I'm not certain what this rant is all about. You were called out for whining about Correa not playing when he was on the IL. You could have checked the internet before the Astros game in June for injuries. Now, six months later you were caught embellishing and don't want to admit it and refuse to eat crow. I showed the number of games played and you go on some tangent about what games played means to you. I don't care if you don't like to go to the games. You opened the going to games conversation. I could show you multiple ways to drastically cut costs at a game. I'm guessing it's more fun to whine about it. And, of course, you USED to go to so many games back in the good ol' days... of course you did. I humbly wish to remove myself from this conversation. I'm hopeful your profession was attorney because you are skilled at redirection and avoiding the topic.

Old man yells at cloud then tries to slide step and talk his way out of the rant. I'm not trying to be harsh, yet doubling down after getting called out like that is just an even worse look. I will grant that the Buxton load management days were annoying and bad strategy at times (at least to an outsider). Correa played 136 games in 2022. With the exception of Buxton, who did you want Rocco to play more often in 2022? Looking at Baseball Reference and games played in 2022, I can't see anything from the position players, other than Buxton, to complain about. Games played in 2022: Arraez and Urshela 144, Gordon 136, Sanchez 128, Miranda 125, Celestino 122, Kepler 115, Polanco 104, and Buxton 102. If anything, I would have enjoyed seeing Gordon and Celestino play fewer games. You talk about rotations - did you mean starting pitching rotations or lineups? It sounds like you meant lineup not starting rotation so that's confusing. Rocco's starting pitching rotation was a bit perplexing as he'd mix in an extra day off when he could do that could throw off things. His bullpen usage was maddening along with pulling starters consistently after 4-5 innings. I'm guessing you didn't show at Target Field to watch any of the members of the Twins 2022 staff. Rocco isn't above criticism for player management, I'll grant that to you. Though for a player to be on the IL and you miss that piece of information is on you.

Yes, no other fan base in major sports leagues has any envy for anything that Twins fans have. The Twins are nonthreatening and innocuous to other fan bases. I'm of the belief that no other fan base wants what the Twins have. Yeah, the Twins have a nice, underrated, somewhat unknown jewel of a ballpark. That's about it. I came to grips with this after the Gardy era - I don't ever expect the Twins to compete in the postseason and I just enjoy the games detached from results. Simply enjoy the game and Target Field when I am there. Maybe someday we'll get pleasantly surprised with something than a Central title or getting swept in the first round of the playoffs - I'm not holding out any hope or expectations, again just enjoying the journey and the regular season ride. I wish I had higher expectations, I just don't to keep my sanity and interest.

Yes, that was the reason I used the 30 years. The Twins haven't been relevant as a World Series contender that entire thirty years. There were a few nice Gardy era teams and the 2019 regular season was a blast to witness. Of course, it's all been capped off by getting swept or going out meekly in the first round of the playoffs with the exception of the first Gardy era playoff appearance. Target Field has become a moribund experience despite its beauty, evidenced by the poor attendance in 2022. Yes, the new uniforms are interesting and a slight distraction. If that's all Twins fans have to look forward to, it's no wonder only the diehards remain at Target Field. I'm not a Twins doomsday person and will always attend the games. I honestly can't see why a casual fan would have any real motivation to attend a game. The Twins pulling a San Diego and breaking the bank and really going for it would be a nice change. If not, we are looking at the next 30 years as a repeat of this most recent 30 years.

Man... I'd take 30 years of constant rubble for another World Series championship. I watch these other fan bases and the ride to a championship and I'm just so dang jealous.

My notes say average level wOBA for a catcher is .310 and Castro's career wOBA is .307. I guess if I'm shown stats where Castro is at least average to above average I could be convinced otherwise.