gil4

I've this before, so I'm just goi copy and When I was about 12 I got to go to a couple of games at Fenway with a friend of mine. We stayed at the same hotel as the visiting teams (my friend's family had some kind of partial season plan and they knew their way around).I bought a 3x5 spiral notebook and we just hung out in the lobby getting autographs. The Orioles were in town for the Sunday game (rained out - got to see Rick Dempsey do his routine on the tarp before they called it) and the Yankees came in for a Monday night game. Reggie came out, and of course he was mobbed. He excused himself after a minute or two (before we got to the front of the mob) and went into a restroom. I turned to my friend, said "I think I have to go' and followed him in. I took care of business, finished washing my hands about the same time as Reggie, then asked him if I could get his autograph. He said, "You don't even let a guy pee in peace, do you?" I don't know if I even answered, but he signed my book. I still have the darned thing, and it's amazing some of the names in it.Palmer, Weaver, D and T Martinez, Oscar Gamble, I think Catfish Hunter...I'm going to have to get that out again, because there were a lot more familiar names. I also got the autograph of some guy who turned out to be one of the trainers for the Orioles, but he looked like somebody and he was with somebody... OK, I dug it out. McGregor, Bumbry, Singleton, Ruppert Jones, Dempsey, and Tommy John were the other significant names. (No Catfish Hunter)

I'm not necessarily ready to concede that yet.

If he retired because of the stuff he read on TD, he needs to retire again. (If he even reads TD, he might want to think about retiring.)

Apparently that's just from July 31 to the end of the season (See post #31 on this thread)

I think there are a few of us who would line up to take his money

According to Baseball Reference, it's 130 AB or 45 service days (or 50 IP), and Buxton exceeded the service days. There was also some mention of possible exceptions due to DL time, but since Buxton actually played in 46 games, I'd be surprised if that's the case for him. Maybe Berrios can win it.

They have tried various combinations of the above, and there were several noticeable changes in approach last year. The attempt to "pull the ball into the huge right-center gap they're giving him" resulted in a ton of K's and pop-ups. The return to doing what he does best resulted in a bit of a hot streak, but didn't last. The only one I haven't notices is the last one on your list, but it can't be too long in coming.

It's difficult to pitch 200 innings without pitching well. If you get 33 starts, you need to average just over 6 innings a start. In these days of low pitch counts and 12/13 man pitching staffs, it's tough to get there without pitching well. You have to keep your job in the rotation, consistently keep your pitch counts down, not get shelled too often, and not get hurt. None of those things are easy, and they are almost impossible if you aren't any good. "Good" and "top-end talent" are two different things, and top-end talent is tough to find, develop, and keep healthy.

If Shields is a 2, Radke was a 2. The difference in ERA is a function of the differences in league ERA. Radke's was .43 better than the average of his leagues; Shields was .45 better. Top 6 seasons by bWAR: Radke: 6.5, 6.2, 5.8, 5.2, 4.6, 4.5 Shields: 5.5, 5.2, 4.1, 3.8, 3.3, 2.7 Top 6 seasons by ERA+ Radke: 136, 135, 120, 116, 115, 114 Shields: 134, 131, 124, 123, 117, 109 Differing styles, but very similar results. (If you go beyond 6 seasons, the results favor Radke more. Shields still has an arm attached to the body, so the analysis could change.)

He's gone? Really? Wait, that can't be. I don't see Kershaw's name there, either.

And Duensing. Isn't it one of the TD rules that Duensing must be included in any irrational trade?

Torii's production showed signs of teetering on the edge of the cliff last year. While he put together a couple of hot streaks, I think he made the call. I liked him as a player. I thought the Angels were crazy for signing him for as much as they paid him when he left the Twins, but I was wrong. I was conflicted about him coming back, but I'm glad he did. I agreed with his position on gay marriage. I disagreed with his "no gay teammate in the locker room" comment. I disagreed with some of his comments on race. None of that changed my opinion on him as a member of the Twins.

You are right, but you are misleading by omission. It does say plenty about marriage. When giving instructions for marriage (as opposed to reporting the condition), it's always one man and one woman. It also says plenty about homosexual behavior. Edit - I just saw the "stop the conversation here" post. If you feel the need to clean up the mess, please clean it all up (including the "No, it just makes said person a bigoted person") (Of course, Nick really asked for the mess in the article, and the other side of the discussion has been pretty restrained.)

When the lead sentence of the article is "Eddie Rosario is having one of the best rookie seasons in Minnesota Twins history" they are somewhat applicable. Off the top of my head I had him at #3 in the past two years (behind Sano and Santana). Going forward, the comparisons aren't very useful. Santana's numbers last year screamed "fluke" (but so do his numbers this year.) Rosario's numbers are in line with his past numbers, so given his age I'd say he's more likely to improve than to collapse.

Like only because there were no cannibals in this joke.

I'm not sure why that would stop us. Ceiling = Willie Mays except fewer HRs and more triples.

I speculated a while ago that part of what may have contributed to his decline (especially in contact rates) is seeing about 25 pitches a game instead of the 150 or so that he saw when he was a catcher. Yes, it's a slightly different angle, but he's still tracking a ball from the pitcher's hand many fewer times a game now that he's playing 1B. No, I don't think he's moving back and I don't even know if he'd be willing to try it.

BA over .200 - things are looking up! What's his ERA?

I sure hope that part was sarcasm. Jason Marquis has long been filed in the "gone and intentionally forgotten" bin, right there with Sidney Ponson and ... I can't remember his name now. It worked! (Free agent signee, 3B, about 15 years ago, possibly Tony something, released pretty quickly.)

They can at least watch the game while picking their noses. It's hard to do that while napping or picking daisies. Plus we might get to use the old "How'd he break his finger? He got hit in the nose" joke.

Pining for the fjords?

There's the true outcomes cycle for Sano. The fielders should just take a nap or pick daisies when he's up (like the outfielders on my little league teams always seemed to want to do.)

You can still watch it. It might not do much.

Torii Hunter is barely above replacement level, and I wouldn't call Rosario of Hicks "premier" either. It's time for Hunter to earn the mentorship part of the contract. There is nobody in the Twins' system who should stand in the way of playing time for Buxton.

With Vargas it's easy to explain - when he was born he was so big his mother said "It feels like there are two of him". (One of our kids was like that) I don't know anything about Ramirez - maybe he had a talent for making a mess in two rooms at the same time. ("Honey, the Williams were at it again.") (At least one of our kids was like that, too.)