Dave The Dastardly

Sounds like corporate ownership is a panacea. I wonder if the $450 million tax-payer handout has anything to do with corporate interest. Probably be easier to improve team morale just by changing the team name to something other than "Guardians". I bet that will be the first thing the miracle worker Blitzer will change. The Cleveland Blitz perhaps?

Good thing you explained that. I've been staring at it for 15 minutes, pondering its secret meaning. Was thinking it meant you love steak, grilled, on the backyard grill, temperatures in the 80's, cold beer in hand, Twins on the radio, one up in the tenth, wondering who they were going to send in to ice the game.

Trade him, if the Twins can actually find a club willing to take him in trade. I'll wager there are few that desperate to acquire an inconsistent DH because he's a liability in the field and nobody will want him as a first baseman. How far he can hit the ball or what sort of velocity he can put on a ball going out of the park is immaterial in my opinion. No matter how high or how fast a homerun gets out of the park they still only count as one run. But a strikeout with runners in scoring position can cost a team as much as 3 runs. So why if we have a young player who can hit more consistently and play a better first base, why would we want to retain Sano? Illogical.

Been following this kid ever since I saw an earlier video of him. Great stuff and lots of movement. I think he's going to climb his way up to AAA in short order and make the Bigs in 2023. Love the bit about the "Woody" nickname.

True, but if you think about it and if we're talking about the key members of the relief corps we would indeed be talking about the core of the corps. In any case, a good write-up, Cody.

There's only one way to accurately determine if a player is ready for the Bigs; play him in the Bigs. Expecting some mystical sign to occur in the minors; a burning bush, the appearance of a comet, or Obi Wan materializing to say with a wave of his hand "This is the player you are looking for", it's all guesswork. Donaldson isn't the future; Arraez and Miranda are. Dump Donaldson and use the savings to sign a pitcher that doesn't come with a "salvaged" tag hanging from his jersey and put the kids in the field. By July we'll all know if Miranda is the real thing or not.

I'm afraid we'll cheer Bundy's first appearance and then his career will over. So Andover is a good nom de plume for the guy. Which coincidentally is French for "Who was that guy?". Andover, by the way, was named for the first guy to win the state Annie, Annie Over contest; Andy Ober. He wasn't much to look at but he had a lot of balls.

I rescued my 33-year old son's baseball card collection from the Whirling Dervish who was bound and determined to clean out his former closet for things like... Christmas decorations, and maybe out-of-season coats. Short on baseball news, I have now vowed I will traipse through his collection, reminiscing through those glorious years of yesterday while simultaneously guarding it from the Whirling Dervish and preserving it for posterity. One small step for man, one temporary setback for womanhood.

Don't forget the Run Strategy Coach, the Pitch Count Coach and the Spreadsheet Coach.

I get it. It's the off-season and we need to have something baseball to talk about, but I can't get into these discussions on potential shortstop trades, acquisitions, etc. The 2021 Twins sucked. Big time. That implies the Twins have more than one problem to resolve so they don't suck in 2022 and shortstop, in my mind, pales in significance to signing Buxton and acquiring a decent starting pitcher. We got Buxton inked, how many more wins is that? We get a decent pitcher how many more wins would that be? We sign a shortstop, what appears to be a suddenly rare commodity, how many more wins would that be? Let's all rank the three positions by potential wins and thus priority; if it doesn't come up Buxton No. 1, Pitcher No. 2 and shortstop No. 3 on 95% of Twins fans' lists I'd be damned surprised. So why all the angst over shortstop? I also wonder why Gordon, supposedly a shortstop throughout his minor league career, is so bad at fielding and/or throwing from short that he's automatically written off and instead considered only a utility player. Does mobility issues (range) or a poor arm at short suddenly disappear when he plays center field? Or third? Does his glove turn to stone at short, but not at the hot corner? How come this kid's been automatically written off so completely at short he isn't even been giving any consideration? Instead the talk's about signing one of the three or four elite shortstops for a ton of money when we still haven't landed a high-ranked pitcher. And if it's so important to land an elite shortstop but there's only four possibilities, who the hell is playing short on the other couple dozen teams? Do they all have their own elite shortstops? Or are the majority of them getting by with some average blokes (Gordon caliber) at short and yet still win more games than the Twins? But enjoy the discussions. What the hell, when the Twins ain't playing you have to let your imagination run wild. By mid-January when the snow's hind-end deep, the brass moneys have all been neutered and I've memorized "Major League", "Love of the Game" and "The Natural"... again, I imagine I'll be working on my own baseball novel. Hint: the hero is a pitcher, not a shortstop. Imagine that.

My brother always insisted that he was the only real human being and all the rest of us were robots just put here to annoy him. He could've been right. But nobody shut us all off when the brother went to that Big Stadium in the Sky; bleacher seats. So I've concluded the Twins play a similar role but in reverse; they're only here to annoy us robots. That's why we keep coming back for more Twins disappointment when a real human being would've given up a long time ago. Just be careful you don't accidentally bump your off switch next time your throwing crap at the TV when the Twins go down 1-2-3 with the bases loaded. You can't be recycled.

Sports fans in particular and people in general are notoriously short-sighted. This long-term blindness allows them to complain no matter what happens with Buxton so we shouldn't be surprised when the second-guessing starts. Players get millions, Fans get something to complain about and Front Office types get ulcers. American baseball; something for everybody.

Grasshopper: Team who play crap shoot, often get crap.

Who's on first.

Agree. The Twins have two priorities; signing Buxton to a long term deal and adding a quality starting pitcher. Both are going to cost mucho bucks. So forget shopping for a free agent shortstop and give Gordon the chance to prove he can play short better than Polanco.

Agree. Twins Way means they start searching in the hospital wards, then the Old Folks Home, and eventually rattle all the dumpsters looking for anybody who still owns a baseball glove. I'd prefer they focus on giving our own minor league players a shot at the Bigs.

Ain't blowing up my skirt.

I'd rather watch the kids play. If they need "mentoring" they should stay in the minors another year.

I gotta go with Option 2. Makes me want to start watching the play-offs.

Tom, you have to stop making sense. It's antithetical to off-season discussions.

Donaldson is the developmental key; trade him and use the salary savings to help retain Buxton or chase down a decent starting pitcher, Donaldson's absence opening up 3rd base for Miranda, who has nothing left to prove in AAA. With Donaldson completely out of the picture Sano moves to DH, opening up 1st for Kirillof, and backs up both corner positions if needed.

In order of priority isn't location, movement, velocity the old pitching refrain?

Sounds like a couple of law firms. What? Now we're going to be sued for jumping off the band wagon and into a snow drift?

Fly On The Dugout Wall Rocco Baldelli/ Wes Johnson “Was that a strike?” “It almost hit him in the ankle, boss.” “So it wasn’t a strike.” “Nope. Not even close. “Should I take him out?” “It’s only the first inning, boss.” “Yeah, but if he isn’t throwing strikes… that’s bad, ain’t it?” “You don’t want to bring in the bullpen just yet, boss.” “Why? Are they bad?” “Most of the time. But the point is if you go to the pen too early we’ll run out of pitchers before the game is over.” “Whaddya mean? We got La Turtle don’t we? “That’s La Tortuga, boss.” “Same difference. We got ‘em here don’t we or did we forget and leave him in the minors again?” “No. He’s here. That’s him out there in centerfield.” “That’s not Buxton? He moves likes Buxton.” “It’s Astudillo.” “Who?” “La Tortuga.” “So why’s he in centerfield?” “You gave Buxton a couple days off, boss. You thought he looked exhausted after playing for a whole week.” “He played a whole week? Straight? What is he? Superman?” Should we put him on the IL?” “I think he’ll be okay, boss. At least until his next injury.” “All right, but if something happens to him while he’s sitting on the bench it’s your ass, Wes.” “Yes, sir.” “By the way, who is pitching for us? I don’t recognize the guy.” “Neither does anyone else, boss. The guy showed up before the game, said he’d been claimed off the town ball waiver list by the Front Office… let’s see, here it is… yup, he was pitching for the Climax, MN town team. Says here he won a couple of games… yup, threw a no-hitter against Fertile, MN. I hear those guys are pretty potent.” “There! By God that was a strike, wasn’t it?” “Yes, sir. Right down the middle of the plate… looks like it’s still going. Let me give the stat guys a call. Find out the launch angle on that one. Could be a moon shot.” “How ‘bout the exit velocity? You get extra runs for that, don’t you? Exit velocity? We don’t need to give up extra runs, Wes.” “No, sir. We don’t. There easy enough to come by the way it is.” “Why don’t you go out there. Find out what the hell his name is. Check and make sure he isn’t hurt already. He coulda got whiplash following that dinger out of the stadium.” “It’s still only the first inning, boss. I go out there now and the next time we gotta pull the guy.” “Who made up that rule?"

Not ready to give up on Jax. He's still getting his feet wet.