gil4

Duran got that memo just in time.

That line fits for Duran, too.

Maybe he will be good enough that we won't need one.

We'll take it. Didn't inspire confidence, but he survived.

I know this comment was from a long time ago, but I just stumbled upon the Straker post today. That was strange that he didn't get more of a shot, but he picked a bad time to get hurt. In 1988, he missed half of June, all of July and all of August, Meanwhile, he had more competition than in 1987. That's not saying much - in 1987 they had Viola, Blyleven, Straker, and a bunch of guys who were truly awful. Mike Smithson with a 5.94 ERA was the #4 starter. In 1988, they still had Viola (won the Cy young) and Blyleven (not good, but he really wasn't fighting Straker for a job.) Add Allan Anderson, who led the league in ERA, and Straker is fighting to keep the 4th or 5th starter slot. That competition was quite a bit better than 1987 - Charlie Lea and Freddie Toliver weren't great but they were OK. Roy Smith made four starts and was OK, too. (He was better in relief.) Straker was slightly better than them, but it was a group of guys who were basically interchangeable, and Straker had the bad luck to get hurt. In 1989, they added a few more interchangeable parts - Rawley, Dyer, Guthrie started a few games, Smith was better and was in the rotation. And then the Viola trade happened, which brought back Aguilera (a starter at the time), Tapani, and West (supposedly the key acquisition/best prospect). That buried Straker - his 4.24 ERA in the PCL was better than it sounds - a lot of those stadiums were launching pads. And then he pitched 6-2/3 innings in AA and disappeared.

Bad nights are their specialty

Two THREE in an inning. Is that legal?

That strike zone is going to get someone ejected.

On the plus side, there's no way he will ever pull a hamstring the way he jogs to first. OK, I'm not sure that's a plus side.

Either that strike zone box needs to be recalibrated or the umpire's eyes do. We'll take it.

Baez expanded the zone just a bit

Don't know who the announcers are for the AppleTV, but they were saying "This is why it makes so much sense to have Wallner leading off" as he walked up with two runners on. Yeah, if by some miracle two of the black holes on offense happen to get on base, then we have Wallner available to try to drive them in.

My daughters have seen the BBC/A&E Pride and Prejudice approximately 100 times, so they know what the vapors are. Because of them, I have seen it about half that many times, so I know, too. My birth certificate says I was probably in the 25% anyway, and they wouldn't be on this board except maybe to ask the difference between an extra point and that thing that's worth three points, so I agree the explanation is in order.

Hopefully it will be a bit warmer for you than it is tonight. And we will be looking to extend a winning streak instead of snapping a losing streak.

Could be worse - you could be in Chicago seeing it.

Knew it was satire because it's completely unrealistic to have them relegated to anything above the Midwest League.

From years of playing slow-pitch softball, I found the biggest problems with my back were caused by swinging a bat (and the biggest problems my back caused were with my swing.) I never felt strain on my back while on defense. The thing that took me out of defense is my knees. I gave up playing about 15 years ago - now I umpire (HS baseball.)

I just came to see which one was going to not hit lefthanded during the IL stints.

Every time I want to gripe about a trade I force myself to remember that I was absolutely against this trade. I thought Kielty was going to be very good and was probably as good as Stewart right then. Sometimes I still gripe about the trade, but I'm a bit more careful about it now.

You should know that's not the Twins fan way. Let’s all get irrationally worried about Matt Wallner's spring training stats a year after what started as a lousy spring ended up with a demotion by mid-April.

Knowing what we know now, I'd make the trade again. The Rangers probably would, too.

For some reason I attached my brother-in-law's voice to that comment. It was eerily accurate. (He has lived his whole life in the Twin Cities area. I lived there for 9 months. The first 9 months.)

From the MLB site: A Rule 5 Draft pick can be placed on the Major League injured list, but he must be active for a minimum of 90 days to avoid being subject to the aforementioned roster restrictions in the next campaign. There's a bit of a loophole, but it isn't that big. I can't think of any blatant abuses that I have heard about.

That should become a thing.

I'll have what you're drinking. Make mine a double - maybe that will get Coulombe the Cy Young.