Minnesota Twins Whine Line

[big dog]

 

Circus! Thanks for calling in yesterday. It sounds like you've got some 'splainin to do to your lovely wife. Did you let her know you were sour at Achter and not her? Either way, I have the perfect solution for you. If you have an iPad, go ahead and take a selfie of yourself smiling and happy. If this ever happens in the future, load the picture, and put it in front of your sour face the next time she asks you a question during the game. She will never know the difference!!

Great advice, Vanimal!  In my own case, the reaction after the Trout home run was to look at my wife and say "Sorry, I was watching baseball and not listening to you.  What did you say?"  That didn't work very well.  I'll try your strategy next time.

[Vanimal46]

 

Great advice, Vanimal!  In my own case, the reaction after the Trout home run was to look at my wife and say "Sorry, I was watching baseball and not listening to you.  What did you say?"  That didn't work very well.  I'll try your strategy next time.

 

That was a great effort to be honest with your wife big dog, but you made a CRUCIAL mistake: Admitting that you were not listening to her! Try the iPad trick to see if that helps. In the circumstance that your iPad is not handy, go ahead and immediately complain about a nagging injury. She will forget that she ever asked you the question if you scream at the top of your lungs that your knee hurts! 

[DRizzo]

 

That was a great effort to be honest with your wife big dog, but you made a CRUCIAL mistake: Admitting that you were not listening to her! Try the iPad trick to see if that helps. In the circumstance that your iPad is not handy, go ahead and immediately complain about a nagging injury. She will forget that she ever asked you the question if you scream at the top of your lungs that your knee hurts! 

 

Would that only work if big dog is Matt Kalil? Wait... "big dog"... crap! Is he Matt Kalil?!?!?

 

Anyways, first time long time. Question for you Vanimal. Now that Max Kepler got called up, do you think Joe Mauer develops a mysterious injury that makes him take time away from the team to make more Kemps milk billboards and lets Kepler play first base?

[Vanimal46]

Would that only work if big dog is Matt Kalil? Wait... "big dog"... crap! Is he Matt Kalil?!?!?

 

Anyways, first time long time. Question for you Vanimal. Now that Max Kepler got called up, do you think Joe Mauer develops a mysterious injury that makes him take time away from the team to make more Kemps milk billboards and lets Kepler play first base?

Thank you for the call Rizzo. Do we have a pro football player disguised as big dog? Who knows!! He could be a big Twins fan, or just a guy who needs marriage advice.. Like my grandpa always said, "The best marriage advice comes from people who aren't married. Now let's get some ice cream."

 

As far as your other question, I don't think Mauer needs a phantom injury to lose some at-bats to Kepler. If I were Molitor, I'd speak to him, man to man. He needs to be the FACE of that brand in order to return to his elite playing days. I am currently writing a letter to Kemps to start this movement #KempsNeedsMauer

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

 

 

 

ok hold on while on turn my radio down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vanimal? Hey, I wanted to bring something up but didn't know where else to do it until now.

 

This was totally ridiculous, and I am still laughing. 

 

Bummer about dropping both games of the doubleheader Saturday. What I want to say is I think the play that broke the season was made in the 7th right after the Sano homer. 

 

You know what I'm talking about. 

 

With Plouffe on third and one out, 7th inning, tie game, Suzuki called his own safety squeeze bunt. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello? Ok, you are as speechless as I am, I guess.

 

 

Yeah I know Escobar and Dozier made ridiculous errors in the 12th, but the game shouldn't have gone to the 12th.

 

I mean, what is Plouffe supposed to do? He probably thought he missed a sign. Why didn't Suzuki just swing away? Sac fly, hello? Are players on this team so brainwashed by the bunt that they will sacrifice one of the most important outs of the season for it? 

 

The funny thing is it was a really close play. I was alternately laughing and angry at Molitor all day for calling that play until I read that it was all on Suzuki. I still laugh when I think about it. How can you not laugh. Imagine if Gardy called for a safety squeeze with David Ortiz batting and Matthew LeCroy on third. 

 

But just because it was a close play doesn't mean it almost worked. The toss from the pitcher was horrible. From 30-35 feet, a better throw is made probably 97 times out of 100, making it not a close play at all. If it had been bunted closer to the line, the first baseman would have made the play instead of deferring to the pitcher. If Suzuki's ball was bunted softer, the catcher might have ran out for it and tagged the runner out himself. 

 

Like Mauer did that one time. 

 

 

 

 

 

........................sorry, I think I got cut off. I'll call back.

 

[Vanimal46]

ok hold on while on turn my radio down

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vanimal? Hey, I wanted to bring something up but didn't know where else to do it until now.

 

This was totally ridiculous, and I am still laughing. 

 

Bummer about dropping both games of the doubleheader Saturday. What I want to say is I think the play that broke the season was made in the 7th right after the Sano homer. 

 

You know what I'm talking about. 

 

With Plouffe on third and one out, 7th inning, tie game, Suzuki called his own safety squeeze bunt. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello? Ok, you are as speechless as I am, I guess.

 

 

Yeah I know Escobar and Dozier made ridiculous errors in the 12th, but the game shouldn't have gone to the 12th.

 

I mean, what is Plouffe supposed to do? He probably thought he missed a sign. Why didn't Suzuki just swing away? Sac fly, hello? Are players on this team so brainwashed by the bunt that they will sacrifice one of the most important outs of the season for it? 

 

The funny thing is it was a really close play. I was alternately laughing and angry at Molitor all day for calling that play until I read that it was all on Suzuki. I still laugh when I think about it. How can you not laugh. Imagine if Gardy called for a safety squeeze with David Ortiz batting and Matthew LeCroy on third. 

 

But just because it was a close play doesn't mean it almost worked. The toss from the pitcher was horrible. From 30-35 feet, a better throw is made probably 97 times out of 100, making it not a close play at all. If it had been bunted closer to the line, the first baseman would have made the play instead of deferring to the pitcher. If Suzuki's ball was bunted softer, the catcher might have ran out for it and tagged the runner out himself. 

 

Like Mauer did that one time. 

 

 

 

 

 

........................sorry, I think I got cut off. I'll call back.

Now it's a party, we have Disco in the house! Thank you for the call. It's a lot to chew on, but I'll do my best to explain. Clearly Suzuki was listening to North's call a couple of month ago, where we decided that an 11 man bullpen and bunting every at bat was the FUTURE of baseball. Was it the right time for Suzuki to go ROUGE on the team and call his own safety squeeze? Probably not. I don't trust that he's had enough practice with the bunt, unlike Nick Punto. Overall I love the aggressive play to go on his own, and prove us right that bunting > HRs; he just needs more practice with Punto to learn how to master the art. By this time next year it should be a different story. I don't care who's pitching, we'll be so amazing at bunting that even Suzuki will be able to put some English on the ball, and curve it back into play.

[Vanimal46]

Annnd Welcome back! To, Minnesota Twins Whine Line. Last week we had some great questions coming in; Dare I say it was a Home Run?! I get it, you guys are all playing the Byron Buxton silent treatment on me and not calling in. Or is it because the intern didn't hook up the phones correctly? We'll figure that out. 

 

The Twins are coming down to the wire, and the hot Twins takes are a plenty. We'll open up the phone lines and see what regulars chime in today. You're on Minnesota Twins Whine Line, hello?

[mickeymental]

so where do you think the twins be if they had picked up papelbon?

[Mike Sixel]

I'm feeling conflicted. Part of me wants to be happy about the season, and part of me is disappointed they didn't bring up Berrios and acquire one more RP....or even AJ to catch. I don't feel like they really went for it, even though they had a chance to be in the playoffs. I feel like the GM said, "we aren't all that good, I'm not even going mostly in"......IF they don't make it, how will YOU feel?

[D. Hocking]

 

so where do you think the twins be if they had picked up papelbon?

 

I think next year the revived Vanimal is going to be three times the pitcher that Papelbon is with only about a 2/3 of the personality disorders, toxic behavior, and diva attitude.  We won't need Papelbon

[Vanimal46]

 

so where do you think the twins be if they had picked up papelbon?

 

Thank you for the call, Mickey. The Twins certainly wouldn't be in contention today if they decided to go with Papelbon. At the end of the day it wasn't going to be a good fit if he wanted to be handed the keys as the closer. On a side note, who would Papelbon choose to fight on the Twins if he was on the team? And which Twins player would you want on your side if said fight broke out? We broke it down, ranked below:

 

- Miguel Sano & Kennys Vargas - not much needs to be said on this one. If any fight breaks out, I want the biggest guys on my side. Sano and Vargas could build a solid 600 lb. wall for me to hide behind while I say cheap shots about Papelbon,

 

- Mike Pelfrey - another big body to hide behind. He's also supposedly a good clubhouse guy, so even if I'm in the wrong, I want him to back me up.

 

- Byron Buxton - he may be small, but I've got to imagine his punches are LIGHTNING quick. 

 

- Eduardo Escobar - it's the smaller guys you need to be worried about. They've always been overmatched in fighting situations, and he could be the wild card in any fight.

 

- TC Bear - the guy is fearless. His vision may be tunneled a little bit, but you don't mess with a bear.

 

- Joe Mauer - he's the last guy I want on my side in a fight. I imagine his version of conflict resolution goes like this. "Well gosh, Jon, what's the matter? Did you just punch me? Stop it. Golly."

 

 

[blairpaul715]

 

 

 

- Joe Mauer - he's the last guy I want on my side in a fight. I imagine his version of conflict resolution goes like this. "Well gosh, Jon, what's the matter? Did you just punch me? Stop it. Golly."

In your best Gomer Pyle voice.

[blairpaul715]

 

I'm feeling conflicted. Part of me wants to be happy about the season, and part of me is disappointed they didn't bring up Berrios and acquire one more RP....or even AJ to catch. I don't feel like they really went for it, even though they had a chance to be in the playoffs. I feel like the GM said, "we aren't all that good, I'm not even going mostly in"......IF they don't make it, how will YOU feel?

If we dont make it , i will be dissapointed, but later in the offseason i will be happy with the season overall......their are always alot of what ifs, but it has been a good season. Few of us saw this year coming , next yr and/or 2017 was to be our breakout yr............I believe most of us seen Sano and Buxton getting a chance this yr, next yr to become accustomed to the league and 2017 to be the yr, hopefully we are ahead of the curve.

[Jham]

I was going to start a separate thread, but I figure it's still too early to be so negative, but if the Twins miss the playoffs by a game or two, which game or decisions hurt the most looking back?

 

Some obvious ones aren't so obvious any more.  We can safely cross off "not acquiring Tulo" and signing and playing Hunter and Pelfrey.  It also looks like throwing Duffey in against the Blue Jays wasn't as crazy as that looked.  

 

I still look at Yankees series as the turning point.  I think we lost our swagger at that point, and have survived on grit since then.  

 

We lost the sweep against Texas in a tough extra inning loss.  We could have pushed them 3 back, instead they left a game behind.  

 

Pulling Duffey from a shut out against Houston looms huge right about now.  Many have argued that May was the right play in that situation.  My thought is May should have either come in at the beginning of the inning, or Duffey deserved the opportunity to get the last out in the 7th.  

 

Losing to Smardja after a Rosario grand slam hurt.  Losing a 5-0 lead with one hit hurt too.

 

We have Hermann pinch hitting for Buxton and too many bunts or not bunts or steals to list.  

 

We've made a bunch of great calls this year, but some of the bad ones are haunting..

 

[Vanimal46]

 

I'm feeling conflicted. Part of me wants to be happy about the season, and part of me is disappointed they didn't bring up Berrios and acquire one more RP....or even AJ to catch. I don't feel like they really went for it, even though they had a chance to be in the playoffs. I feel like the GM said, "we aren't all that good, I'm not even going mostly in"......IF they don't make it, how will YOU feel?

 

 

Thanks for the call Mike. I can completely relate to how you're feeling. It's pretty tough to have red-tinted glasses when there was much more they could have done much more to solve these pitching issues. To answer your question, I will be pretty bitter if the Twins come up 1 game short of qualifying for a game 163. You may see #bitterVan if that's the case. For the time being, let's hope for the best. 

 

If it makes you feel any better, my intern played the last 7 games of the season on MLB the Show, and the Twins won ALL 7 games by a combined score of 125-7!

[Mike Sixel]

I think I'm just going to feel satisfied, and try real hard to ignore the other thoughts in my brain.......It's been an overall good season.

[twinsnorth49]

I'm feeling conflicted. Part of me wants to be happy about the season, and part of me is disappointed they didn't bring up Berrios and acquire one more RP....or even AJ to catch. I don't feel like they really went for it, even though they had a chance to be in the playoffs. I feel like the GM said, "we aren't all that good, I'm not even going mostly in"......IF they don't make it, how will YOU feel?

I'm just going to enjoy a winter of contented discontentedness.

[Vanimal46]

 

I'm just going to enjoy a winter of contented discontentedness.

 

That should continue once the Jets start the regular season

[twinsnorth49]

That should continue once the Jets start the regular season

Ok my friend, tough talk after beating the Moose the other night.

[Vanimal46]

Annnd welcome back! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line. It's the 2nd time this week that I'm present and in the right mind set to talk HOT Twins takes. Our favorite ball club just put a pounding on the Indians, eliminating them from the playoff race. The intern is so pumped up that he begged me to open the phone lines. So here I am, just a man and his show. The vodka is poured, another Twins game is coming up, and it's a perfect night for scorching hot takes.

 

We'll take calls in the order that they were received. Who's first on Minnesota Twins Whine Line?

[Platoon]

Ok my friend, tough talk after beating the Moose the other night.

There's a Moose team? I need to go further back into the sports pages!

[Platoon]

Hey Van Man, 7th time listener, 3 time caller! (I keep track). Torii Hunter? Great Twins Player? Or Greatest Twin ever? On a more important subject, do you know where I can get a good hamburger in Cleveland? I'll hang up and come back later for your reply!

[Vanimal46]

Hey Van Man, 7th time listener, 3 time caller! (I keep track). Torii Hunter? Great Twins Player? Or Greatest Twin ever? On a more important subject, do you know where I can get a good hamburger in Cleveland? I'll hang up and come back later for your reply!

Platoon, always good to hear from you. 3 time caller? That's God dang impressive and puts you on pace with the regulars like Bark, Mike, North, and Jaime!Dude!.

 

Torii seems to be the topic o' the day on TD. To answer your question, not only is he the greatest Twin ever, I'd venture to say he's the greatest baseball player currently BREATHING. Let's break down the ways that this is true:

 

BA - #1 in MLB for ALL players age 40 and older.

HR - Also #1 in MLB for ALL players age 40 and older.

Baserunning - ELITE. I would wager any dollar amount on him against any MLB player in a 4 yard race with a 1.5 second head start.

 

Most importantly, Leadership: SO ELITE, it's impossible to quantify it's true value. Teammates merely in his presence acquire unstoppable baseball skills; and play at absurd levels above their capabilities. In fact Platoon, I heard through the grapevine that the powers were bestowed on players IF, and only if, Torii were to chest bump them while in mid-air! Once Torii left a team, they continued the chest bump tradition. But the players regressed to their normal selves, and the team started losing more games. Why is that?? Magic?

[Platoon]

Yo Vanster! Not sure if you accept back to back collect calls, but while watching Twins/Cleveland I got to wondering! What would the Twins have to give up besides Duensing to pry Francisco Lindor from the Tribe? I know he's young and might need a couple more years at Rochester, but I still think he would be worth it?

[Vanimal46]

Yo Vanster! Not sure if you accept back to back collect calls, but while watching Twins/Cleveland I got to wondering! What would the Twins have to give up besides Duensing to pry Francisco Lindor from the Tribe? I know he's young and might need a couple more years at Rochester, but I still think he would be worth it?

Well Platoon, the last time someone else got through twice I had to fire my intern. But I like this intern. He always shares red hot Twins takes right after he's done playing MLB The Show. Why not, it's a slow night, and I have a hankering for Twins talk.

 

Duensing is a good start in any trade discussion. Do you know how rare it is to find a left handed pitcher that throws 92 mph, with the last name Duensing?? It's a gold mine. Now If I'm the Cleveland GM, I also demand for Hunter. They have playoff aspirations, and need LEADERSHIP to get there. It may also take Nolasco. That's the toughest pill to swallow, but for Lindor, I'd consider it heavily...

[Vanimal46]

Annnnd welcome back... To, Minnesota Twins Whine Line. Your OFF-SEASON Headquarters for blistering hot Twins takes. It was a rough weekend for us all... The Twins were in it until the end, but couldn't find their way into the playoffs. It's been a particularly rough weekend for the intern. I don't think he's ate a thing since the loss on Friday. He also destroyed his MLB The Show game, so hopefully his takes are just as hot now that he can't play as the characters. 

 

Anyways, let's fire up the phone lines to see what the listeners think of this off-season. We'll take calls in the order that they were received. 

 

CC to Bark, North, Mike, Chief, diehard, and Jaimie! Dude! This song below is for you:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htZir_Taizg

[ashbury]

I am VERY disappointed in the off-season. Not one move by Terry Ryan and company. The complacency of this organization drives me nuts!

 

_{^{/ am I doing this right?}}

[Vanimal46]

Annnd Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: HOT STOVE Edition. I am your host, Vanimal, along with my trusted assistant, The Intern. You would have thought a guy could take some time off after a busy season on the radio, but I'm back. I was at the airport yesterday on my way to Punta Cana, DR hoping to run into Miguel Sano... Unfortunately since it was Veteran's Day, Chief called in a favor to his TSA buddy and put me on the "No Fly List" in order for me to do this show.

 

Here's what we've learned in the last couple of days. Byung-Ho Pak may be joining the Twins soon! Aaron Hicks is gone, but we got a guy who plays catcher!

 

There's a lot of HEAT on this stove, and I'll be here to answer any question you may have. I'm going to have some coffee to get PUMPED up... Then we'll take calls in the order that they were received...

[Miss Vanimal]

So this is what you do with your spare time, huh Van?

[Vanimal46]

 

So this is what you do with your spare time, huh Van?

 

Oh god, is this my nightmare?? How do you possibly know about this?