glunn

I listened to the conference call two nights ago and took a few pages of notes. The call consisted of Terry Ryan and Dave St. Peter answering questions posed by season ticket holders and group organizers. I heard some things that I found VERY interesting and that will perhaps generate some debate that is vigorous yet respectful. Below I will summarize what I heard, based on my notes. I wrote as fast as I was able, but my hand started cramping after a few minutes. Please note that I am merely reporting what I heard and wrote down. I missed the first question because my secretary was slow in transferring the call, but TR's answer was that he is interviewing manager candidates and the coaches are on hold, and the new manager will have a lot of say about the coaches. The next question was about Bruno helping Arcia become a better hitter and the value of Bruno. TR answered that the offense improved this year and continuity is important. TR also said that Arcia made strides but not enough and will do better. The next question was why should someone renew his season tickets in light of the Twins' poor perfomance. TR's answer focused on Santana/Arcia/Vargas/Gibson as "home grown" players who have shown "signs of improvement." The next question was about the timing of hiring a new manager. TR's answer was that he was starting with the candidates in the organization, and that some outside candidates cannot be interviewed until the playoffs are over. TR also stressed that free agency does not begin until November 1. The next question related to the Twins' August/September collapses during recent years. St. Peter said that the questioner made some good points and TR said that the Twins were fairly competitive this September, but found too many ways to lose. TR then said that the Twins showed a lot more "grit" than in previous years. TR then talked about Hughes and Suzuki being good decisions. TR then said that he does not want to "punt" on 2015, but the team needs work. The next question was about how the next manager should be different from Gardy. TR said that the next manager should be like Gardy in terms of respect from the players, management of the pitching staff and sabermetrics. (Yes, he said sabermetrics). TR then said that despite Gardy's strengths, something was wrong and needed to change. TR then said that he is looking for a guy who is ready to go and take it to the next level. The next question was about increasing payroll. TR said that $100 million would be "plenty", that payroll peaked at $94 million last year when the Twins signed Morales and was $80 million after the departures of Willingham, Correia and Morales. TR then noted that other teams made the playoffs this year with lower payrolls. The next question related to the decline of the "Twins way." St. Peter stressed that this phrase did not originate with the Twins and has never been used in marketing. TR then said that the next manager will set the culture of the clubhouse and lead the club out of difficult years. TR then said that Santana and Vargas are "good signs" and that Gibson and May showed "some good signs." TR then said that the Twins need a new manager and coaching staff and that the team will get better. TR then said that "Twins way" is a fallacy, and that the problems have resulted from not executing fundamental baseball. The next question was about top priorities other than selecting a new manager, TR talked about Suzuki and Plouffe getting better, and Dozier improving his batting average. He also said that Arcia has upside but strikes out too much. TR then said that the starters are an issue, that they need to "fix Nolasco" and hope Pelfrey performs as hoped and Hughes repeats his 2014 performance. The next question was about when Santana will play SS. TR said that it would be "no problem" if Santana plays CF or SS and he was a godsend when Hicks struggled. TR then said that Escobar's bat was good for 3/4 of the season and he played good defense. TR then said that either Escobar or Santana could be an every day SS. TR then said that it would be no problem if Santana plays CF if needed and that the team needs his bat and Escobar's in the lineup. The next question was about whether the Twins should go after a Scherzer/Lester/Shields level pitcher or a McCarthy/Ervin Santana level pitcher. TR said that the Twins need to get Nolasco going in the right direction and that Nolasco gave quality starts in November. TR then said that he may put a lot of money in one player or spread the money around, but pitchers will be in demand. Then there was a question about Sano moving to the outfield. I have already summarized TR's answer to this in the thread that is dedicated to this topic. Briefly, Sano may go to the outfield if there is a roadblock at 3B. The next question was about hiring a Latin coach or manager. TR said that he will be searching for a Hispanic coach and has a number of candidates in mind. The next question was about Mauer's heart not being in it any more because he is no longer catching. TR said that Joe had a tough year of transition and was hurt for about a month, but he is only 30 years old and TR expects him to bounce back. TR then said that Joe looks stoic and calm, but is committed and TR expects improvement. The next question was about lessons to be learned from certain teams that made it to the postseason. TR said that every team would like to be like the Cardinals just as they wanted to be like the Twins in the 2000s. He said that the Royals are a result of "patience." He then said that the As do a good job with acquisitions and the Cardinals and the Giants are great at drafting players. The next question was about the status of Glen Perkins. TR said Perk will be fine if he does his maintenance/strengthening. TR then said that Hughes could be even better next year -- he had some better years with the Yankees. He then said that the bullpen pitched well for the first 3/4ths of the year, then wore out. He then said that Gibson had good starts alternating with bad starts. The next question was about improving the pace of play. St. Peter and TR spoke at length about changes that re being tested in the AFL, including a pitch clock and requiring batters to stay in the box. The next question was about leadership in the clubhouse. TR said that the Twins have been missing some of this and mentioned Cuddyer. TR then talked about who could emerge as leaders, but stressed that a player has to be productive to be a leader. The players who TR mentioned as potential leaders were Arcia/Perkins/Suzuki, as well as Pelfrey if he becomes productive, and Santana some day -- Santana has the personality to be a leader. TR then said that Dozier is not afraid of the media or to challenge teammates. The final question was about the Ramos for Capps trade and TR's response was that he was going after a closer in an effort to get to the World Series and Capps met that need. Please keep in mind that I am merely reporting what I heard TR say. There are some things here that I don't personally agree with, and I may have missed some points -- TR was speaking somewhat fast when a question seemed to make him excited, and my hand was cramping from writing as fast as I can.

I was merely reporting what I heard TR say on Wednesday's conference call. My personal impression was that TR was stating this as a possibility if there is a roadblock at third base.

I listened to the Twins fan forum conference call on Wednesday evening and took notes. My notes show that (on Wednesday) TR said that he had seen Sano the previous day and he is healthy. TR then said that Sano would be in camp in spring training, but won't make the club out of spring training. TR then said that Sano could play in the outfield if there is a roadblock at 3B -- Sano has speed and can throw.

I personally hate censorship, and know for a fact that all of the 8 moderators hate censorship. We also make a conscious effort not to moderate any more than we feel is necessary to avoid flame wars and disruptive threadjacking. None of us are perfect, but we all love respectful debate, and we all work hard to promote an environment where such debate can thrive.

I believe that you have made a lot of valid points and I agree with all of them. With respect to protecting women who are exploited, I agree that priority should go to eliminating sex slavery. I also agree that some women (and men) make a lot of money from prostitution and stripping, and they should have the freedom to do so. However, it also seems to me that a lot of prostitutes end up working for a pimp and/or working to support a drug habit, and I would like to protect them by decriminalizing and regulating both prostitution and drugs. Criminalizing these activities and building new prisons have not been effective strategies. I am saddened by the number of people in our prisons and the inhumane conditions that they endure, and I am sickened by the fact that justice in our country seems very uneven as applied to black and hispanic people. If drugs were decriminalized and made available to addicts (with required counseling), then we might be able to put a lot of the dealers and distributors out of business, and some addicts could be saved. And if prostitution was decriminalized, then I suspect that pimps would have a harder time, because the women would be less afraid to report to the police that a pimp is beating them. In either event, the police would have more time and resources to go after other crime, and we would save billions of dollars per year by putting fewer people in prison. Finally, the genetic engineering scares me, but I suspect that it is inevitable. If parents can tweak their DNA to produce smarter, better looking offspring who are not disposed to violence or sex addiction, I don't believe that anyone will be able to stop this.

It could be worth millions of dollars a thousand years from now if you and the rest of the TD owners would sign it. In the meantime, $25 would be worth it to me to have something printed and bound instead of some corner-stapled printout.

With all due respect, I was not blaming the women nor was I saying that men cannot overcome their biological impulses. I don't see anything in my post that even suggested that. I recognize that many men rationalize that biology is immutable or that women should be blamed. I am not one of them, but I do believe that understanding the biological component is vital to solving the problems. I was saying that we need to protect women against biologically based male behavior that is at least partly a product of evolution. It seems to me that until we can change the biology, we need to focus on protecting the women, especially the women who are suffering the most. The Emma Watson speech is a step in the right direction. As CRArko's Star Trek clip illustrates and as history demonstrates, mankind can overcome biological impulses through education and adoption of better cultural norms. In the meantime, hundreds of millions of women are suffering far more than the FSN girls, and it seems to me that education alone will take too long to help these women. I think that we can all agree that education will be critical in changing the current situation. But as stated so eloquently by Captain Kirk in the Star Trek clip, it seems to me that part of such education should include an understanding of the biological component of the oppression that women have endured for thousands of years.

I would hope that he works on two things during the offseason -- fielding and hitting curveballs. With enough practice, I believe that he could become a plus outfielder, but maybe he would play better in LF than RF. I also believe that he needs to take a lot of live BP with pitchers who have decent curveballs.

It seems to me that there is a biological component that we cannot change, and a cultural component that will always be evolving. I also believe that the biological component will eventually be changed once mankind is able to master genetic engineering. At that point, perhaps 50 years or 100 years from now, parents will be able to design their babies to suit the cultural aspirations at that time. In the meantime, I think that society needs to focus on protecting the women. The vast bulk of this iceberg consists of women who lead far more difficult lives than the FSN girls -- strippers, prostitutes and sex slaves. I believe that men are biologically different from women in fundamental ways. For example, strip clubs with female dancers far outnumber strip clubs with male dancers. I do not believe that this is mainly cultural. I believe that for many men there is a very positive physical (and possibly metaphysical) reaction at seeing a women take her clothes off. I believe that this is a biological response that has dominated the human gene pool for thousands of years. My theory is that the men who were stimulated by seeing naked females (and even more stimulated by seeing multiple naked females) tended to have more offspring, and after eons of evolution, many men still have a very enjoyable reaction to behavior that objectifies women. Until we can genetically engineer ourselves out of this dilemma, I believe that we should first focus on the women who are suffering the most. I would start with the sex slaves and the women who are being genetically mutilated. Then I would move on to the prostitutes then the strippers then the FSN girls.

I am also watching the Astros -- if they can win then the Twins get the third draft pick -- unfortunately the Astros are now behind to the Mets, so it looks like the Twins will pick at #4.

I want to echo those who have enjoyed the game threads this year. It was another painful year for Twins fans, but the game threads helped make it bearable.

Oh well. At least the Twins made a good showing.

Coming up on our last 3 outs of the season ... against Joe Nathan. I am still hoping for extra innings.

I hope that Gibson can start next season where he is leaving off in this game. This young man seems to have great potential.

Maybe you need to wear him down? Maybe by game 25 he will start making mistakes.

I would like to end the season with some extra innings. We need a run.

Tigers' announcers just gave credit to Pinto for calling a good game.

Hicks!!! I doubt that Santana would have caught that.

Gibson is getting some valuable experience today.

To be clear, it appears that the list also includes marginal players. The preface to the list says: "the Twins have no shortage of dead weight on the 40-man roster, plus plenty of marginal talents clinging to spots"

This is one of the best threads I have seen on TD. Thanks to jokin for starting this and to all who have participated!

Some advice from someone who has been married a long time -- pretend to enjoy it and be extra nice.

You are ending the season on such a strong note that it is an even worse tragedy that the Twins are not going to the postseason.

What about making it available through an online on-demand publisher?

I did that last year.