glunn

I wonder what incentives Farmer offered at the players only meeting.

Lots of players played well tonight. Hopefully this was the start of a turnaround.

I think that the disconnect may be that he said "whatever" personal differences. That's not the same as saying "his" personal differences. I think Hosken was leaving open the possibility that there may be no personal differences. I also think that the nature of their relationship is fair game, although as is often the case we don't have enough inside information to do more than speculate. Personally, I would have let him go out for the 4th. From Rocco's perspective, either Gray would perform (which would have been great for the team and the fans) or not perform (which would help in the future by reducing Gray's repeated unhappiness when Gray feels that he was pulled too early). Drama between people who are on the same team tends to fester..

Great recap well presented. Terrible game for the Twins.

Add me to the list of us who think that pulling Gray was a mistake. It seems to me that he earned the opportunity to give up that grand slam -- or to get the batters out.

I was impressed by his performance at the Angels game that I attended.

I believe that Pagan has always had great potential, and that if he could harness such potential then he could be an all star. That said, he has a history of struggling.

Thanks Stu. This one was particularly hilarious.

Welcome to TD. Great second post.

I hope that tomorrow the Twins blow these cheaters away.

I don't think it can get any better than this. There will be downs, but this could become the best season ever.

I am keeping fingers crossed that Farmer's injury is not as bad as it looked.

I like Farmer's approach to the plate and his swing. I hope that they keep him in the lineup after Polanco comes back.

Welcome to TD.

I would allocate some of the blame to inadequate wall padding.

It's been a long time since I went to law school, but my sense is that with adequate testing (that establishes that the new wall is safer than the old wall), this should not be a liability issue, because an injured player would not be able to establish negligence. Part of my suggested R&D budget of $500,000 would be devoted to extensive testing, first using crash dummies then using paid stunt people from Hollywood.

I believe that injuries to outfielders could be greatly reduced if the outfield padding at Target Field were replaced with high tech padding. One option would be to replace the existing padding with much thicker padding that has a layer of low density foam on the outside (facing the players) and thicker densities closer to the concrete wall. I have a mattress that came in a box that has this arrangement and believe that this approach could be adapted to baseball to cut the trauma from hitting the wall by 80% or more. Or the Twins could borrow from Hollywood stunt people and use technology based on the air bags and crash mats that lets stunt people fall from high places without injury. https://fall-pac.com/news/fall-protection-for-stunt-men/ Based on some rough math, I believe that for $500,000 of R&D, $1 million of manufacturing cost and $500,000 of installation costs, the Twins could have an outfield wall that could cut the injury rate by more than 50%, perhaps more than 90%. This would be peanuts compared with the loss of value if Buxton gets injured on the current wall. To me this is a lot like adding roll cages to race cars -- a small cost for a lot of safety. What value of WAR will be lost if Buxton gets injured by the wall? And I firmly believe that Royce Lewis would not have been hurt at all last year by his wall collision if the high tech wall had been in place. One small side benefit would be a slight home field advantage -- balls that hit the padding would tend to stick and die there, not bounce back into the field of play. The Twins players would develop expertise in dealing with that. Players from other teams would have to learn how to adapt, like with the ivy at Wrigley. Another side benefit would be that players could be more aggressive when they are near the wall, knowing that it is by far the safest wall on the planet. I believe that eventually all teams will have this. Why not get out in front of it and maybe even develop some patents to make other teams pay to get it?

Welcome to TD.

That *%&$ hit 3 home runs in the deciding game against the Twins. One of the more sickening days in my life, sitting in the left field bleachers while the Twins got blown away. Thanks for reminding me. ?

Great article. Great responses.

You held out for longer than me. I gave up last week.

The 2021 season was horrible, but there was some consolation to be had from getting relatively high draft picks this year. This year there was genuine reason the feel that the Twins could win the division, but next year's draft picks will be middle of the pack.

Thanks for your very educational posts. Do you think that it could be helpful if he could find a batting glove that absorbs more of the energy when he makes hard contact?

Not my favorite trip to Dodger stadium, and some of the defensive plays were painful to watch. As Rocco said, the Twins were outplayed in every facet of the game.

Probably won't be in first place much longer.