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Ben B

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Everything posted by Ben B

  1. Ben B
    I was at Twins Fest on Friday. It was definitely way down from last year. Hunter's autograph line was huge, but everyone else I saw had pretty low interest. I probably waited 20 minutes in Hughes' line and the line with Vargas and Kohl Stewart. The lines for guys like Ervin Santana, Nick Gordon, and Danny Santana were almost non-existent. In past years, even when the team was struggling, that was almost unheard of. They're also not helping Twins Fest attendance with across the board price increases, even compared to last year's event.
  2. Ben B
    Gordon is signing 6:45 p.m. Friday, 3:15 p.m. Saturday, and 10:30 a.m. Sunday. Kohl Stewart is signing all three days too. And they're cheaper than Buxton/Sano! I'm close to being priced out of this event. They've doubled admission prices, gotten rid of the free prospect line, and jacked up autograph station prices across the board, not to mention parking, concessions, etc. It wasn't long ago that the cheaper autograph stations were $5. Now almost every line is $15+.
  3. Ben B
    Road OPS last year .617. Second-half OPS .698 (including at home). His season numbers look nice because of a scorching April, but he's pretty mediocre. He played a lot of center last year, so if his defense is decent maybe he'd be OK as a stop-gap for Buxton. But I sure wouldn't give up much.
  4. Ben B
    J.T. Bruett is added! Blast from the past.
  5. Ben B
    I've gone to Twins Fest every year since 2000. I'll echo what others have said already...the big problem was having the vendors in the crowded lower level. With how Target Field is laid out, you also get some looooong walks down endless hallways if you're trying to get between autograph lines. Target Field is a decent stopgap for the event, but I really hope they move to the convention center at some point. My biggest complaint was actually that they did away with giving away the prospects' autographs for free. Now they're mixed into the pay lines.
  6. Ben B
    I'm no fan of Nunez, but somebody please sign Punto quickly and save Terry Ryan from himself.
  7. Ben B
    Berardino is on the radio now. He said he asked about outfield defense and gay marriage because those are the two things fans were talking about the most in regards to the Hunter signing. This guy is a great beat writer, we're lucky to have him in our market.
  8. Ben B
    Regardless of your views on the subject or what you think of the signing (I dislike it), Torii calling him a prick in what was supposed to be a feel-good introductory press conference was immensely stupid.
  9. Ben B
    La Velle reporting that Willis and Rays AAA pitching coach Neil Allen are the finalists.
  10. Ben B
    Berardino has been killing it ever since he came here. La Velle has been mailing it in for years.
  11. Ben B
    I don't have a problem with any of the coaching hires by themselves, but I'm beginning to think the only outside hire will be the pitching coach. And I wouldn't even put it past them to go internal for that and hire Cuellar as the PC.
  12. Ben B
    I've always been lukewarm on Souhan, but this column was a joke. I cannot think of a storyline in sports that I'm more tired of than "lol bi-lateral leg weakness lol Mauer is soft."
  13. Ben B
    My list was not comprehensive I'd be fine with Cuellar.
  14. Ben B
    With his track record, the Cubs would be crazy to let Bosio go. I'd hire him in a heartbeat. I would like any of the pitching coaches that have a reputation for turning around careers. Ray Searage, Bosio, Mickey Callaway come to mind. It's unlikely to steal one of those guys, so I'd go after an organizational guy from one of the teams that consistently have good pitching like the Cardinals. Also put me down for wanting nothing to do with Jack Morris or Bert Blyleven. The old-school attitudes of those two are the opposite direction the Twins should be going.
  15. Ben B
    After their season ticket campaign centered around Dozier and he's become the face of the franchise, I can't see them trading him unless they're absolutely blown away.
  16. Ben B
    Puts into perspective how few great, or even very good, players there are in a team with a 50-year history when you get down to 100 and you're already looking at Mike Trombley and Pat Meares.
  17. Ben B
    I'm stunned. Pleasantly surprised, but I thought when they extended him last year that he basically had a job for life.
  18. Ben B
    This was a great column, and I unfortunately agree with most of it. I was also uneasy going into 2011, but I was expecting more of a fall to being a .500 team and a third place finish. I never anticipated how bad it would be, and for how long.
  19. Ben B
    Just get a Twins media guide and read along with the game, and every so often complain about pitch counts. Then you can mute the broadcast and get the same Bert experience.
  20. Ben B
    I live a few hours from Minneapolis, so it's tough for me to see games live anyway. However, in the past, and even into 2011 and 2012 I'd make the trip a few times a year. This season and last season, though, I went to two and one games respectively. And only when I had friends and family going. There is absolutely no incentive for out-of-towners to go to Target Field anymore to see baseball. Even buying a cheap ticket on stubhub, it's not worth the time and money to use all that gas, pay $15-20 for parking, and then get bled dry on the concession prices too. The last game I went to was a gorgeous Saturday night in August against a good team (the Tigers), and I felt like I was in a graveyard at Target Field. The crowd was not into it and barely paying attention. I felt like I had to use my inside voice. Some of what's gone wrong with the Twins with injuries and such was out of their control, but they seemingly shoot themselves in the foot at every possible opportunity - especially from a PR standpoint. It's about to get seriously ugly if changes aren't made this offseason.
  21. Ben B
    You know what I find the most strange? That the Twins are putting up these pitiful strikeout rates year in and year out, while the rest of MLB is striking batters out at an insane pace. It's not like this is 1998. It feels like we're living in a bubble following this team.
  22. Ben B
    I have been a harsh Gardenhire critic in the past, but I've actually softened my stance on him during this four-year run. There's not a manager in baseball that could've won with this group of players. I would still like to see him replaced with someone more forward-thinking. It's just time for a change there, as long as his replacement isn't somebody on the current coaching staff. Everything about the organization feels stale. With Anderson it's similar. No coach could've turned these terrible pitching staffs into good ones. However - there is a serious problem with pitchers struggling here and succeeding elsewhere, more so than with position players. It's reached a point where Anderson needs to take the fall for that.
  23. Ben B
    I think the pen is just getting overworked at this point. I feel like I've seen Swarzak every other night for a month.
  24. Ben B
    Hicks was actually the Twins' first-rounder in 2008, Trout was picked in '09. Twins picked Gibson that year (two picks before Trout), so your point stands...
  25. Ben B
    I caught a "Ryan Flattery" earlier.
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