Dave The Dastardly

I live in the same world. That's why I'm still baffled by the Lewis move.

Good to see Lewis is still "learning" how to play baseball. Another couple years in the minors should do the trick preparing him for the Majors.

FO: "We're going to hire a manager that uses data and analytics. The data says Lewis is the 4th best player on the team; therefore we're going to return him to the AAA team." Illogical.

Hate is a pretty strong word. "Dislike" or "confusion" over some of Rocco's decisions might be more appropriate. Rocco's belief in the mythical "100 pitches" and now the "third time through the batting order" schtick vex us old-timers and some of his batting line-ups defy all baseball logic even for the young-timers. I don't like any of those things. Doesn't mean I hate the man. As far as Manager of the Year, bring that up after the All-Popular (Star) game and let's see where the Twins are in the standings. I hope they're on top, or at least in contention. If they are I will have less dislike for Rocco's methods.

Interesting. How tall was the North Pole (Doug Mientkiewicz)?

Not to mention saving the bullpen an extra inning of work.

There are two reasons why I always look forward to Fridays: pizza night and Randballs Stu on TD. Not necessarily in that order.

Dreams die hard, expectations easily. Sano's inconsistency has worn out a lot of Twins fans' expectations and now it seems the "Next Big Poppie" dream has also bit the dust. Time to move on. Best for Sano, best for the Twins.

Exemplum. Had to look that up. I gave you a "like" for improving my vocabulary and giving me a new word I can drop on my in-laws. Who says you can't learn anything new on TD?

Once upon a time in a land not so far away where civility, fairness and sportsmanship were still valued, I had the good fortune to coach a girls' high school basketball team. We had one of the best athletes I'd ever coached, boy or girl, in any sport, she of many conference and state awards to attest to her abilities, to lead the team. Unfortunately she came down with bronchitis just as the season started and she missed the first few weeks of the season. She eventually returned to play but with a noticeable decrease in stamina. We had another girl, second-stringer, not as talented, couldn't dribble more than four feet without losing the ball, not as fast, not as physical, but a little taller and eminently coachable. I informed this second girl that her role with the team would now be to spell our "stud". She'd play the last two minutes of the first half and the last two minutes of the 3rd quarter so our "stud" could catch her breath. I told her I expected her to score two points, grab two rebounds and collect two hard fouls; not cheap shots, but play physical enough against the girl that had been guarding our "stud" that she might draw a contact foul. So we drilled her on playing physical defense under the basket, worked her on positioning for rebounds and how to use the backboard for put-backs. Fittingly enough, this "second"-stringer, played two minutes every half, grabbed her two rebounds, scored her two points and kept our "stud" fresh while tiring out our "stud's" opponent. The team voted her MVP at the end of the season. I'm not saying Coulombe will be the Twins MVP, but he appears to know his role, knows what he's capable of, sticks to his "two-minute" assignment and makes it possible for his teammates to do their stuff. Exactly what a reliever is supposed to do. Teamwork; it makes up for a lot of short-comings. Statistics only reveals them.

So if I may attempt to summarize comments so far; Gordon is best with a bat when he plays every day, but he's not an everyday player. I'm having trouble coming to grips with that.

We all knew the wheels were going to start coming off sooner or later, but two wheels at the same time? Come on!!!!! Twins fans are masochists.

"Gio is a way better third baseman defensively than Arraez or Miranda" Agree about Arraez but how do we know that about Miranda?

How come Sano's "hit" wasn't recorded as an error? The ball hit Grossman's glove. Used to be an automatic error in the old days.

Nice write-up Nash. I'm thinking the Twins will drop the opener and take the next two, if Rocco doesn't burn out the bullpen in the first game. Otherwise, "Good Night Irene".

Agree wholeheartedly and there are numerous studies that support your instant-gratification claim. And Americans take the lead in chasing instant-gratification over slower-developing, deeper-thinking entertainment. Take American movies for example; if a movie doesn't have a couple mandatory car chases (with crashes and explosions), three or four bloody shoot-outs, a dozen chicken-fighting (martial arts) scenes and an exposed breast or two (hopefully two) it's not a hit at the box office. Plots are optional and often get in the way. Compare that to plot-driven movies (you might have to go overseas to find one) that require their audiences to watch for subtleties and analyze what's happening in order to fully appreciate the climatic ending. In other words, the audience had to "work for gratification". Sports-wise its like the difference between NBA and MLB. Numerous studies have pointed to the advent of video games and falling IQs (IQs in general have been declining since the 1970's) as culprits behind this shift towards instant-gratification over strategic thinking. But whatever the cause, I think you're right, baseball as it exists today is probably doomed. My guess is that it will more closely resemble a home run derby by the end of the decade. Can't get any more "instant" than that. However if we want to prevent that transition from happening and fail to come up with a solution in the next few years, by the end of the decade we'll be too dumb to fix baseball, or anything else for that matter. Have a great day!

I just watched the video of Gordon throwing out the runner from centerfield... what was that about Gordon not having the arm to play short? Still baffled.

True, but wasn't Dougie also mentioned as a replacement for Molitor, who Falvey canned supposedly because he couldn't relate to young players and Dougie had great success with the Twins A team that had Polanco, Sano and a couple other young future Twins on it, all of whom voiced support for Dougie?

"Adalberto Mondesí brought Andrew Benintendi home on a bunt single to make it 2-0 Kansas City." Bunting is stilled allowed? It doesn't even have a launch angle!

Biggest mistake this FO ever made was going with Rocco instead of Dougie. Said it then, and it's proving itself to be true day after day. Might be one of the few times my opinion has been proven correct. That alone makes it noteworthy.

The current team will be out of it by June.

We need to see those three NOW!!!!!

New season, same manager, same mistakes. At least we're consistent.

I agree that TD produces enough terrible opinions (myself included) without going outside the realm, but I don't get the general umbrage over this outside opinion. Yeah, it's rather short-sighted and out there in a galaxy far, far away, but it does make you think; is there someway to keep Buxton in the game without making him wear armor? Or by making him "play" only through a video game console? Or is the article an attempt to stimulate "out-of-the-box" thinking? Little play on words there... you know, like keep Buxton in a box so he doesn't get hurt... get it? That's my terrible opinion for the day. I'll have a new one tomorrow. I have a quota.

As long as we're contemplating resurrection I'd go with Billy Martin.