nicksaviking

I agree, Duffey started off hot, but by the end of the season he was easily the weakest link in the bullpen. I'm hopeful after a full offseason of gearing up for the pen instead of pensively hoping for a rotation spot he'll be a better reliever. But I don't know what kind of value he has at the moment. I'd also think due to the position scarcity and his production at AAA that Mitch Garver might have quite a bit of value.

I'd rather have a team that has a chance to win a WS but could also tank due to injuries than to have a team that has a good shot at making the playoffs but has next to no shot at winning a WS. If by contend you mean maybe they make the playoffs, yeah I guess they have a good shot to do that. However that rotation puts them in an awful hole when trying to beat the top dogs to make it to the WS. It isn't close to good enough and Cobb and Lynn won't help in a one game playoff. And for the record, among the starters on the 40-man, I wanted Kyle Gibson to start game 163 last year.

Watched season 4 of Black Mirror. It seemed they may have ran out of new tech ideas but that didn't really matter in my view as there are plenty of hypothetical stories to tell within the tech world already established. Season 4 was a lot like season 3, a couple of continuous action episodes, one drama everyone will hope has a happy ending, and nihilism, just so much nihilism. I think the first episode was my favorite. I watched all six in two days, maybe next season I'll learn to watch one a day so I can better digest the ideas and messages.

Agreed, unless it's uttered between two consenting adults it 100% is harassment.

Things that need to die in 2018: Derailed threads* *Moderator mis-steps included.

I'd prefer not to post links to such debauchery from my work computer. I'll just say if you're curious, try a google search of Led Zeppelin and mud shark. And yes, it probably is along the lines of what you're thinking.

Seeing as defensive metrics don't and can't measure whether or not the manager has instructed him to be overly aggressive trying to throw out runners I'm not putting a ton of weight on numbers assessing his arm. Throwing behind the runner can be fixed, trying to nail guys at the plate instead of cautiously tossing it to 3B could just as likely be on the coaches as it could be on the player.

You've clearly never been to a Led Zeppelin after party.

Well like I said, I'd prefer the media to stop saying that Republican candidates are racist, not that mainstream outlets do much of that. Pointing out that racists continue to identify and praise that party is enough. When pledging their support, they are not brining up fiscal issues, it's nearly always social issues.

I don't like that tactic, it looks shallow and blanket arguments are stupid and disingenuous. I don't know why it would be any less effective for the refrain to simply be: racists support Republican candidates.

Well I was hypothesizing a complete lack of on-field value and a DFA rather than a trade. My position is basically, "So what, our valuation of the player was based on his first 3-4 years anyway."

And that's a particularly valuable perspective for GMs as it may be best to just walk away from the player and use the roster spot for a better player at the end of such a deal. The player's salary and his production should only be tied at day one, after that they should be on completely different evaluation models.

Yeah, it's basically the efforts of every male perusing a woman in movies up until a decade or so ago which we all used to either laugh at or cheer but now shamefully acknowledge how awful we were for doing so. I mean, good lord, 1960's James Bond was a serial sexual assaulter. We looked at persistence as a trademark of hard work and a strong will instead of an imposition upon someone just trying to say no. Shame on us for thinking that was romantic or even comical once upon a time. It's not like we as the public didn't help perpetuate this when we pay good money at the movie theater to watch Indiana Jones forcibly kiss Marion and cheer when she finally relents.

Well people on this board don't get to dole out the consequences. Judgments are free for all to have under the constitution though.

Seems like the big clubs are clearing out their payroll this year to allow them to spend with fewer penalties next year. I think if the Twins fail to make a big splash in the starting pitcher market this year (Darvish), they'll probably lose their window. I don't think that team you put together has a shot at winning the WS. Not that you said it did, it's probably a realistic portrayal of what the roster would look like under the prior regime, hopefully the new one makes some bolder choices.

Interesting idea. I don't tend to like signing left-handed hitters as Target Field is much more friendly to righties, but the market for corner bats is just so non-existent now, there are going to be some 1B-types that go for a song, Duda might be one of them. I'd certainly stay away from low-ceiling guys like Napoli while guys like Duda are still out there getting no hits.

In my school years, just about every report I had to write on a historical figure, famous person etc, I wrote on Jim Thorpe. Still my vote for the greatest athlete of all time.

I like Sano a lot. I also desperately want significantly better starters at the top of the rotation. I'd consider moving Sano for an elite arm, but I'd rather first try to package Gordon, Gonsalves, Kepler and just about every other young player.

With how often Teixeira was traded and how he was always in demand, it would be interesting to see what kind of pieces the Twins would have gotten back for him after his inevitable trade. The roster would have likely had some serious reconfiguration.

It took awhile but I now prefer the smaller divisions, but I'm pretty easy, I don't fuss much about change. Just so long as the Twins don't get shafted and end up in a division where everyone else is in a different time zone.

I like Busenitz, I was surprised all year that his stuff didn't translate to more strikeouts, I think we see a big jump in that in 2018.

All I'm concerned about is him being capable of pitching game 163 and beyond. How would Cobb or Lynn even contribute in a one game playoff? They probably don't start over Berrios or Santana.

Then wouldn't it have been easier to just post this rant later instead of asking everyone to prematurely search for our pitchforks?

If the arguments are personal how could anyone possibly prevent the threads from devolving into finger-pointing, name-calling, rage-inducing anarchy, a la every other message board in the internet? I guess I also don't know how we could have true debates without facts.

*****Spoilers****** I agree, however at the same time there's not a second of Luke, Rey or Ben that I would have wanted cut, I wanted more of those characters as well. I'm cool with a 3 hour movie but when they start going over 2 1/2 hours critics and fans seem to start holding it against the film for being too indulgent. I'd guess there will be more screen time available in Episode IX without Han, Leia and likely only minimal ghost Luke. I wouldn't be surprised if we find out later that one of the auxiliary characters was saved in re-shoots after Carrie Fisher's death knowing that they were going to have a plot to fill. Finn's survival did not seem to fit. Next time I get to watch the film I'm going to pay attention to the ending to see which shots he is in and who he interacts with to see if it looks like he was only added back in in re-shot edits. Rose too. One other thing that I've been pondering, there was ghost Yoda, but no ghost Obi Wan. I wonder if they chickened out after getting so much backlash for CGI'ing Peter Cushing into Rogue One. I'd like to see a way around that in Episode IX, maybe have Ewan McGregor do the actual acting and then just CGI him up to look more like Alec Guiness. And another thing, I haven't seen it anywhere (though I only watched the film last night) but I'd guess Leia's death will be explained away due to a fairly large time jump? I mean the ending of the movie was showing kids, implying that they were the future of the rebellion. They're not going to have 7-year-olds flying space ships (again) and getting slaughtered by Sith Lords (again) are they?