Dave The Dastardly

"But to change course on the reliever with the highest upside because of a middling spring training performance is either short-sighted or a flawed philosophy. " Actually I think it's both; short-sighted front office and Molly's flawed (and failed) philosophy. Saints preserve us! (That can be taken two different ways if you think about it.)

Cool stuff! I'm now smarter about pitching. Probably grade out around a D-, but I'm an old dog. Which means I won't remember any of this stuff tomorrow morning. Just like how I'm having trouble remembering how badly the Twins pitching staff sucked last year. Anybody seen my season ticket application? I think I started to fill one out...

Interesting article. Can't say as it makes me giddy about Santiago though. But I'm hard to giddy. That's why I haven't bit into the tail-wagging-the-dog (is there a pun in there somewhere?) theory over Obi Wan Castro and pitch framing either. I suppose somebody is going to come up with a nut-cup-adjustment statistic next and high school catchers all over the country will be working on their... balls instead of strikes.

Berrios has blown his chances of going north with the big team by sitting on the bench for the WC. He starts in Rochester. Mejia joins him so our "experts" can get a longer look at him. Duffy wins the 5th spot by default. Shaggy should join the major league pen. I see no future for Haley unless the Twins can cut a deal. If the BoSox wanted him back, he wouldn't have been available, IMO. So given the Twinkies historical interest in cast-offs, I think the pony up some cash and send him to Rochester. Given what we already have in the minors, I still can't figure out why we picked him up in the first place. But then I'm not a pitching guru, at least not as guru as some are said to be. Okay, maybe I'm not a guru at all. Maybe I've just been listening to Bert for too many seasons. Or maybe not enough seasons... Whatever.

Vogelsong's demise, though feared by many experienced Twins fans as something that would not take place until July or later, was inevitable. The Twinkies are the only major league team that has always sought messiahs in the old folks home. Or the morgue. Sometimes bystanders have to let the hopeful jockey know he's riding a dead horse.

An aggressive manager (like Dougie) would have Shaggy on the major league team. Molitor has no patience for young players and prefers not to use the yutes (apologies to Cousin Vinny) until they're at least 30 years old and have proven themselves to be perfect while throwing their arms out in the minors. Somebody should prod Molly every now and then and make sure he hasn't fallen asleep.

Charlie Chan says "Death by a thousand cuts most painful. Expectations sharpen blade."

I can remember LB Windschitl leading off for us in the 1950's. In other words, who's Rick Monday? Did he play other days of the week?

Is that a Catch-22?

You're right. If truth be told, I visit Twins Daily for wit, not wisdom. If I don't get at least one belly laugh and two chuckles off this site every day I'm outta here. Otherwise being a Twins a fan is just too depressing.

If I was 30 years younger I'd jump on the deal, but there's no way an old geezer with bad knees, ankles, feet (take your pick) is going to go standing room only. But then he isn't going to drink too many $10 beers either unless they come with a handful of bicarbs. I bet the Twins are going to strike out with the old foggies with this package. Cheaper and easier to enjoy the game stretched out on the couch with Dick and Bert for company. But then they always say that baseball is a young man's game anyway.

Until Dougie takes over I'll remain skeptical.

I get the feeling the Twins staff was short-armed by this report. Everyone knows the most accurate information is on Twitter.

Is that Placebo, or did you really mean Palacios?

"USBS has the same entrance system as Target Field: basically empty your pockets" Tom, you got that right.

Did they hold a gun on you?

How come lefties are the only pitchers that are crafty? I mean have you ever heard of a crafty righty? Is it a left-brain, right-brain thing? And what's that mean if you're a lefty but you aren't considered crafty? Does that mean you're dumber than a rock? Or just guileless? Somebody help me out here... I'm ambidextrous. Don't know which way to turn.

I agree whole-heartedly. I've argued against trading Dozier for prospects all along. The Twins have plenty of prospects already in the system. If they're going to build a team for the future they need to find out if the young guys mentioned can play at the major league level now. If they can, Dozier fits. If they can't, we need more than a Dozier trade to build a winning team.

2020? Is this like a Back to the Future kind of hindsight thing? This winter must be more severe than I thought.

Nice lead!

Good question. What's the end game? Are we trying to get back to .500 ball or just playing Make A Deal?

I'm giddy. Is that a picture of the pitcher Diaz with a 1-8 record? If so, how come he's holding a bat? Did his former coach force him to carry a bat around to remind him that's what he's supposed to miss when pitching?

Lighten up dude! The Twins aren't playing (although that might be construed as a blessing), the Vikings have forgotten how to win, the T-Wolves suck (as usual) and I heard the hockey team (what are they called again?) is doing their usual inconsistent thing and winter is slowly tightening its grip around our throats and pretty soon will have us by the balls (don't be alarmed - that's a little play on sports there). What else do Minnesota sports fans have to do right now but be preposterous? A fan's gotta survive any way he can. Even if he has to invent fecal matter. (Will that slip past the censors?)

I agree with the low bar setting. Twins' fans have become so desperate for any signs of improvement they'd go ga-ga if the current management ordered a new case of bats. I guess we'd have to better define "bold and strong" before passing judgement. I don't know how bold it is to realize you don't have a catcher, then go out and sign one. I mean what were the Twinkies going to do next year, just let the pitch roll to the backstop? For me "bold and strong" would be convincing ownership to let Molitor go and replacing him with a manager that's proven he can work with young players, has a temperament that doesn't allow players to continually screw up and knows how to win. Dougie for Molli. Now that's bold and strong in my book.

A) Signed for two more years at a comparatively low salary is a plus, not a minus. Age 30 is no longer the line in the sand it used to be. If it were, why do we have minor league players age 26? Even if we brought them up to the majors in 2017, they'd be toast in three years. Besides, wasn't the new brain trust hinting they wanted to acquire an older player to supply that intangible "leadership"? C) If Dozier's value is predicated on him being able to help a play-off level team, why would that team give up a key player, or pitcher, (which is supposedly what we're after) to get him? Especially if pitching is king? Why cut their own throats? D) What do the Twins have, 5 minor league teams? And none have a potential No. 2 pitcher on their roster? (I'm assuming that also means we don't have No 1's down there either.) Jeez! Clear the deadwood out before they turn 30 and draft nothing but pitchers. And get new scouts and new pitching coaches. E) The current pitching staff woes on the major league team isn't the core issue, instead it's a symptom of an organizational problem. Trading Dozier for one or two more "prospects" is a short term "fix"that will not solve the organizational problem. If anything, our dysfunctional minor league system will screw up the pitching prospects while the major league team struggles to find an RBI guy to replace Dozier. Completely overhauling the minor league philosophy and its coaching staff as well as replacing the scouting department will prove more beneficial in the long run than a Dozier trade, so why spend precious time playing Let's Make A Deal? Forget it, and bring Dougie up to the major league club as bench coach/manager of the future. There. That's my two cents worth, which adjusted for inflation is probably somewhere around $20 nowadays. Still not worth much.