Squirrel

Wish you hadn't suggested that ... too much to get done before I have to be at work ... and ... <yaaaaaaawn> ... mmm, sleepy .... <mumble>

Well, then, who? Or else Arcia is headed to the DL. But then who goes when Fuld is up? Or Santana back to AAA? Then who plays center other than Hicks?

More like Kubes is gone; or Parms is.

Worse than that ... he's putting me to sleep. I don't doubt his knowledge, but if he ever got out of monotone ...

My guess? Kubel is gone; and maybe Parms, too?

Absolutely.

Two things in that article I thought 'interesting:' that Nuñez commented on how the Yankees were never fun; and that stoic Joe Mauer was one of the planners of this.

I hope we get to see lots of pictures of this.

Game-time forecast: Steady rain is falling at Target Field, but the game should be able to be played on Saturday. Here's hoping ... Astros: SP, Feldman Dexter Fowler CF Jose Altuve 2B George Springer RF Jason Castro C Matt Dominguez 3B Jonathan Singleton 1B Alex Presley LF Jesus Guzman DH Marwin Gonzalez SS Twins: SP, Gibson Daniel Santana DH Brian Dozier 2B Joe Mauer 1B Josh Willingham LF Trevor Plouffe 3B Chris Parmelee RF Kurt Suzuki C Eduardo Escobar SS Aaron Hicks CF --------------------------------------- It's up to you now, Brian. Go forth, think, write, share. Thank you! ------------------------------------------- No... Thank You Things to think about: 1. Defense -- Watching the Houston Astros beat our Twins yesterday. It's pretty clear that defense was a major reason why. I've always doubted the ability of defensive metrics to fully paint the picture of what defense means to a baseball game. Yesterday was an example of why. The Twins were knocking the ball around pretty good late in the game. That diving catch made by Dexter Fowler was the first out of the inning... It's impossible to quantify how many runs he saved. He saved one for sure but with a full compliment of outs to play with it could have been a lot more. A great play by Matt Dominquez with a runner on third and two outs saved at least run and the Twins lost by one run. On the defensive side of the ball there is a whole lot of routine and on the fringes there are these moments and those moments take away outs or give up extra outs. As long as I've been following the game... I'm convinced those moments are huge... and we lost by one run. 2. Scott Feldman -- The 31 year old veteran was signed in the off season to a 3 year 30 million dollar contract. He was immediately slotted in as the opening day starter. Under the radar out of high school... He walked on at the College of San Mateo and produced a 25-2 record in two seasons. This led to a 30th round selection by the Texas Rangers. When you are drafted in the 30th round there is a ton of pressure on you to perform. Scott didn't crack under the pressure... He had Tommy John surgery right away and he just kept performing and was called up to the Rangers in 2005. After time in the bullpen and eventual conversion to a starter with Texas. In 2013 the Cubs signed him as a FA and later traded him to the Orioles that same year... The Orioles chose to not invest heavily in Feldman for 2014 and he hit the free agent market again and now here he is with the Astros. He was Born in Hawaii but spent his high school years in Northern California. I've seen him pitch a few times... He's a pretty good pitcher in my opinion. He throws from a three quarter arm slot and his slider will break down and his fastball has nice movement... I assume it's a cutter. 3. Nick Gordon -- Shame on me... But I didn't think about Nick Gordon yesterday. The Twins used their 5th round pick on Nick Gordon... The Son of former MLB Pitcher Commissioner Gordon and the brother of current Dodger second baseman Dee Dee Ramone. I don't offer opinions on Twins draft picks because I'm not comfortable doing so because I haven't seen them play and I don't know if what is written about them isn't floating around recycled from a monkey offering an opinion. I assume that the Twins sent their entire Planet of the Apes to check him out and are confident in their selection. I certainly hope what I'm reading is true. I hope he stays at SS and I hope the Twins finally break this streak of not producing a quality farm raised SS since forever. I understand that he has a bunch of speed and some decent power to go along with it. I love Speed and I love power... If a player has both. Sign me up. 4. Chris Parmelee... It's nice to see Chris back in the lineup. I'd rather see Oswaldo in RF but he's gimpy right now so... for the time being... It's nice to see Parm get on the lineup card. Thank You ChiTown for putting him there. Feldman will be good matchup for him since Feldman tries to stay low in the zone and Parm without question likes them low. However... He might be Tin Man Rusty. 5. Bottled Water -- I got done mowing the lawn and was feeling a little thirsty. So I opened the fridge and reached down to the bottom rack of the door. There was a bottle of Evian water... It was cold and I twisted the cap took a drink and looked at my wife and said... "Look at you buying the fancy water". She replied that it was just an old bottle that was refilled with tap water. I felt a little disappointment when she told me that. But then I thought... How do we know that Evian isn't just filling these things up with tap water and selling them to us all marked up. Then I took a closer look at the bottle with my now skeptical eyes. I looked at the word Evian and then I spelled it backwards. Ahh... Now I see.

Look forward?

I think this one is better suited for this crowd:

Then there was this: Update: Oswaldo Arcia said his sprained ankle feels better and he could possibly play Saturday.

I saw this little blurb on the site I take the lineups from: Oswaldo Arcia is out on the field testing out his ankle after he sprained it on Thursday.

Lol ... well ... my plan is to do some spring cleaning in my closets and drawers while the game is on ... so ...

And that, my friends, was the kiss of death. If the Twins lose to the 'stros, I'm blaming you, Mr. Glunn.

Ugh. DL'd?

And what's the word on Arcia?

Just got home, turned on the game, and Burton gives up a 2-run HR. sigh.

If I wasn't traveling I probably was! I tend to avoid the cold games in April, though!

Welcome, 'bama! Hope you've abandoned your Yankee ways ...

Agreed ... but then that still tells me that things are 'off' above ... my opinion. But this isn't a FO discussion.

He was talked about in another thread here.

And this is why I fault upper management more than I do Gardy. Gardy has a boss and if his boss does nothing to rectify things, then I blame his boss. But back to the issue at hand, I think Hicks will be sent to Rochester as soon as Fuld is ready. Is it the right or wrong thing to do? I don't really know at this point. Whatever the long term or short term advantages are, the whole thing is a mess, and I hope that this hasn't ruined Hicks' career and that whatever happens, he can get it back on track wherever that is. I also hope this doesn't come back to haunt us one day.

Could you post a link?

My oldest nephew is getting a PhD in physics and another nephew is getting his undergrad in physics.