Dave The Dastardly

The radio announcers just informed us that Pittsburgh has the second most bridges of any city in the world. I'm thinking that last one was a Bridge To Far for the Twinkies.

Just heard a couple shots from my neighbor a half mile south of me. He was a Twins fan. I'm guessing the TV went first.

The longer a guy can keep his wife buffaloed, the longer he stays married. Sounds like you're good for another year or two. The Twins pitching staff... not yet sure they can buffalo other team's line-ups. But at least I'm not ready the throw in the towel either. Hope springs eternal if you're a Twins fan. Even if Minnesota doesn't have a spring anymore.

Nice analysis. However like most things, the proof will be in the pudding. And like most comments so far, I'm clicking the heels of my red shoes together and repeating the refrain; I hope he can, I hope he can... Wait a minute! Am I mixing up my metaphors? See what Gibby does to Twins fans...

Good news/bad news. Bad news: I have looked forward to this day for three months - maybe longer. Then three days ago I learned I have a family obligation to attend this afternoon. The good news; the obligation will be held at a sports bar and grill during happy hour!!!!!!!! Christmas in March!!!!!!!!

I think the head scratching is caused by a case of the grass being greener on the other side of the fence for the FO. For some reason Rule 5 pickups, players other teams don't protect, seem to enamor them more than our own prospects. Now while Shaggy has earned a spot in the Dodger's pen, we'll carry Kinley like deadweight in ours.

I have Hookem, Crookem and Snookem on retainer. Very reputable.

As long as we're going archaic, how about Hammond Hammurabi? It's got that alliteration thing going for it. And you know, because we're sort of looking for a guy who can lay down the law. That's an historic pun by the way. What can I say, it's a slow Sunday afternoon.

Ill vote romero... what's that mean in Latin?

I'm having trouble wrapping my mind around this. Sire - the male parent of an animal, esp. a stallion or bull kept for breeding. Is that what they're doing down there in spring training? Talk about greener pastures...

Take the mound and get us deep into the game! (virtual pat on the fanny).

That clinches it, I'm going to spend a weekend in Cedar Rapids this summer. Already downloaded the Kernels schedule. Anybody have any suggestions as to which series?

Maybe more than the balls were juiced for the last couple months of last season.

Sounds kinda rocky to me.

"I'm glad I ain't afraid to be lazy." Augustus McCrae - Lonesome Dove You could add me to the same fearless crowd.

Nice article with a great title! Love it!

Thanks for the vid link. Have to agree, he doesn't look grossly overweight. From some of the comments I'd expected to see him using a wheelbarrow to hold his gut in place while he runs down to first. And they saw the camera puts 10 pounds on people. Maybe for the Sanoman the camera takes 10 pounds off.

I think what is lost in the TD discussion is that Dozier's future salary is a relationship strictly between the front office and Dozier and oftentimes the discussion doesn't necessarily take into consideration the relationship between Dozier and Twins fans. Even though the latter relationship impacts the first. Twins fans, in general, like and respect Dozier both on and off the field. Because of that they'll pay (buy tickets, jerseys, etc) to watch him play. If the Twins let him walk and replace him with a virtual unknown that can't equal Dozier's production on or off the field, it's going to cost the organization some ticket sales. It's also going to cost the team some wins. Which is also going to negatively impact the organization's revenue through more lost ticket sales (the well-worn bandwagon metaphor). I'm sure our analytics-oriented FO has a formula that tells them exactly what the trade-off in cost/revenue is between letting Dozier walk and offering him a deal. If so, the team's offer to Dozier, if they make one, and I think they will just to placate Dozier's fans, will be at that inflection point. The problem is recent baseball player salaries often have had little relationship to "value". To be honest, from an economic sense, I believe player salaries have been grossly inflated over the past few years. And that's probably why we're seeing the current lack of activity in the free agent market. Players have been getting more than their "worth" for the last few years and naturally hope to continue doing so and that's what has been distorting the market. What we're seeing now is an adjustment to player salaries closer to real value as determined by the analytics movement. Unfortunately for Dozier, he's going to be caught in the downside adjustment to the market. The Twins will offer him less than he believes he's worth as compared to other similar players already under inflated contracts and therefore it will be difficult for him to accept the Twins' offer. He'll walk out of pride and the Twins will take a public relations whipping for letting him walk if they don't at least make him an offer. Jeez! That's a lot more than I set out to say. Must be that extra cup of coffee I had this morning. Or maybe it's cabin fever. Let's get this season started before I really go nuts!

Twill be interesting to see if any one of the minor league catchers really "catch" on this year. Don't know why, but I'm keeping an eye on Rortvedt. Although this Silva guy also sounds interesting.

I've never given much credence to the "Ace Pitcher" theory. In football you need an "ace" quarterback because he takes the field every game (barring injury of course). Baseball? A pitcher takes the mound every 5th game. That's 20% of the season - again, barring injury. Even if the team wins every time the ace takes the mound, we're talking maybe 30 wins. When's the last time any pitcher won 30 games? How many pitchers have won 20 games in a season in the last five seasons? I think the answer to that question is something like 10 or 12. Too lazy to check that right now. But I bet I'm close. I'm with Doc, give me three No. 2's, a strong defense and some big bats. Three of a kind beats a single ace every time.

Palacios For Odorizzi Not Odoriferous

Shades of Terry Ryan! Empty the dumpsters, raid the old folks home, sign another has-been and keep the prospects down on the farm. The Twins Way!

Ah, the search for a "true ace"! Sort of like looking for a new Messiah; nobody knows what he should look like but we all think we'll know him if we see him. We used to think a "true ace" could win 20 games a year while throwing a minimum of 250. I mean if a guy is a "true ace", as differentiated from a "faux ace" that's not an unreasonable expectation, is it? But how many pitchers have crossed that threshold in the last five years? The answer is none. In fact there's been less than 10 players in the last five years that were 20 game winners and no one met the 20 wins/250 strikeouts yardstick. The closest was RA Dickey in 2012, 20 wins, 230 strikeouts. Quick, all those out there who believe RA Dickey was a "true ace" raise your hands. Thought so. My point is, forget hoping for a new messiah to make a "sermon" on the Twins' mound (little play on words there). Give me five No. 2's (maybe we should define that standard) and I'll feel saved. So will the Twins.

“By definition doesn’t a player stay with you if he’s performing at a value less than what you’re paying him and he’ll walk if he’s performing at a value above it?” Levine said. I haven't yet been "sold" on the new Twins regime, but I don't understand the controversy over that remark. As a man who has in the past been involved in numerous salary negotiations, I think Levine is spot on. The trick is to find that point where the organization is getting exactly what they're paying for and the player is being paid for exactly what they're contributing to the organization. If you can't find that point, its best to walk away from the deal because one side or the other will be disappointed. Disappointment leads to disarray.

Evidence? On a fans' site? I thought we were restricted to hyperbole, uninformed opinions and pure speculation! At least that's been my modus operandi.