Squirrel

Since I think the GG award is pretty much useless at this point, I don't think anything is truly egregious, except maybe the award itself, I do think it laughable Mauer not receive consideration. If innings played is a consideration, then they should up the line for qualifying, especially if it is the difference maker for voters. I also think one of the above posters made an interesting point ... errors saved ... although that's truly hard to qualify, but from my eye test, I'd say Mauer had plenty of those from Polanco and Sano. But then ... I couldn't say how many of those any of the others had, either.

I do get the innings played and how that may have entered into the decision, and I think is a valid point for not winning, but that he didn't even make top of the list is more than surprising to me ... but then again, it just validates the worthlessness this award has become.

But in how many chances?

No, not the way DeLeon pitched this year, he would not have been an improvement to the club this past year and would not have been an improvement over the others we saw this past year. And further, if we had De Leon and not Dozier this past season, we wouldn’t have made the playoffs. Period. That doesn’t mean that next year we might be regretting it. But we still have Dozier, who has more sure value now than at this time last year, we can still trade him and will come out ahead, IMO. Some feel that DeLeon, the more that time marches on, and given what he’s done so far in his career, is not going to be the SP that this club needs. I get that you still have hope that DeLeon will be that 1/2 SP we need, but he’s not yet, so, given where Dozier is today and where DeLeon is today, it was right for us not to make that trade one to one last January. I don’t think anyone is calling the trade a definite win, because, as I said, maybe next year we’ll regret it, but for this year, no, it was not a regrettable move. That we still need SP is no doubt. That either through trade and signings and development, we need to do something. I don’t think anyone is arguing that. But this one transaction that didn’t happen, because we refused to give up an asset this past year that would have ended up being a net loss if we had, it’s a good thing, even if in hindsight. If you think DeLeon is still the future ace we need, maybe we can trade Dozier this year to the Rays for DeLeon straight up. Where is the loss then in not doing that last year?

Moderator note: Stick to the topic. This is about pitching in the here and now, and into the future and does not include tangents of Slowey and Gardy/Andy from 2006-7.

I’m not agreeing with the article merely restating it’s premise. I don’t see the savings either, particularly how the article has aligned the teams.

I think the Carolinas (maybe even just North?) have a lot of minor league teams around. Both Charlotte and Durham have AAA teams.

Exactly. That’s why I think the article is kind of ... not well thought out and why everyone is proposing their own realignment. And I even mentioned that in previous posts. I even went so far as to compare actual mileage with some to try and put the best workable solution to that.

One point the article made was that the lost revenue in going to 156 games would be made up in lower travel costs because of realignment. Thats why everyone is emphasizing locations as they are. It’s not just about being viable in community and financial support, but is also viable in location.

The Carolinas have quite a few minor league teams with Triple A teams in both Charlotte and Durham.

Well, sure, right now. Who knows when this would happen even if it would. And I wouldn't want to be in a division with the Yankees or Red Sox, either; especially the Yankees since we can never seem to get past them.

While I think the 4-team divisions and keeping the NL/AL somewhat intact is the better model by far, how would you make the 8-team divisions, and not keeping the NL/AL in tact? (I just can't come up with 8-team divisions, keeping travel in mind, that keeps the AL/NL in tact.) I think what was proposed was just ... wrong, especially since they are trying to consider travel costs. MN might be further north, but it's also further west than a lot of other 'northern' teams. It just doesn't make sense to have Twins in the same division with the eastern most teams. Either Chicago team would make more sense than that, imo, both still are considered northern, too. NE division: Boston, Montreal, New York Yankees and Mets, Toronto, Cleveland, Detroit, Chi Sox SE division: Baltimore, DC, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, Tampa, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh. (If Montreal is not an expansion team, and they added one somewhere in the broader SE quarter of the U.S., I'd move Pittsburgh to the NE in place of Montreal, and add the expansion team to the SE. Or, as Ash suggested a 3rd NY team, that would replace Montreal.) Central division: Milwaukee, Chi Cubs, Minnesota, St. Louis, KC, Houston, Rangers, Colorado West: Seattle, Portland, San Fran, Oakland, Anaheim, LA, SD, Phoenix No matter how you would do it, it would turn baseball upside down. I just think this whole 'expansion and then what' speculation would kill the sport if followed through on.

Heh, well ... for this exercise, it's actually more difficult to place Pittsburgh. I think it would be better to add a team in the south somewhere, and not Montreal. There are already a large clump of teams in the broader NE sector.

This is nearly identical to what I suggested in post 8, except I'd put Washington in the south, not Pittsburgh, since Washington is, well, further south. And I called the North division the Midwest division, as I thought that suited better. But what the divisions are called matters not. But I think ScottyB in post 5 got the alignments right by moving Tampa into the NL and Colorado into the AL.

The minute we started interleague play baseball has been moving towards this. I’m assuming DH for all and doing away with the National and American Leagues. I don’t like it. I say add a team to each league, have 4 divisions of 4 teams and do away with interleague play and return to how it was and quit messing with it. And align teams to keep them in the leagues they are in already but create the extra division. NL: East - Mets, Nats, Phillies, Pirates South - Braves, Reds, Marlins, expansion team tbd (not Montreal) Midwest - Cubs, Brewers, Cards, Rockies West - DBacks, Dodgers, Giants, Padres If Montreal is the team in the mix, put them in the East Division and move the Nats to the South Division. AL: East - Boston, NY, Orioles, Toronto South - Tampa, Astros, Rangers, KC Midwest - Cleveland, Detroit, ChiSox, Twins West - Seattle, A’s, Angels, expansion team tbd (assuming Portland) As for playoffs not sure how I’d work it. No WC game. Four division winners play a best of 5, then best of 7 for league championship, then onto WS. If the goal is to expand the playoffs then the top 2 of each division play a best of 3 series.

Well, or not. If there isn't a market for him, what's to motivate the team to offer him what he may want or even anything that equals what other 2nd basemen have gotten? Or by 'promising sign' you meant that we can re-sign Dozier to a team-friendly extension without worry that he will say no and resign from his position for FA when the time comes?

I stand by my opinion as you stand by yours.

Concur. But as you said, can't really argue it, either. I couldn't really argue any choice in this category of the main contenders. It all depends on how you weight everything. And while no one category is more important than the other, imo, I still put a higher weight on defense, and this year I'd still say Buxton or Mauer were more valuable overall.

Now that the Molitor news is official, please continue the after-the-fact conversation here: http://twinsdaily.com/topic/27763-article-its-official-twinsmolitor-agree-to-three-year-deal/ Thanks.

Pikler is the outfield instructor. How much of an influence he's had on this specifically, don't know.

I'm not a Molitor fan but I'd have been okay one way or the othe, but the entire coaching staff? Really? Hmmm.

Wel, **** ,,. Fine time to tune in ... I'm not watching

Lol ... I'm home now. And I can barely stand to watch!

****!!!!! I missed a home run! Damn ****ing late rehearsals!

OkAy don't give anything away until I'm home!