wavedog

I cut the cord with AT&T 3 months ago and switched to YouTubeTV so I have lucked out in this case and can catch all the games. As other comments have mentioned - you can watch YouTubeTV at home on your TV or anywhere on your tablet or phone as well. Saved a significant amount of money and I upgraded my internet service to make sure the bandwidth supported it. I have had no issues so far unless you are tied to surfing by Channel numbers. I also bought MLB.tv this year - so another case of real good fortune in timing - I live out of market so not sure how the playoffs will be handled in market. I thought I read where if you have MLB.tv the games on MLB Network will be available as well, but I couldn't watch any of the local Texas or Houston games this year on MLB.tv

This has been a wonderful season - congrats to the Twins on a Great Year. Cleveland kept the pressure on but the Twins sure responded well. On a side note - this is the first season I have purchased MLB.TV and I could not have had any better timing - getting to watch most of the games in this Division Championship year! Been a long time but sure is sweet.

Kelley is a bit of a red-ass - I remember when he was pitching for Washington last year the manager came to take him out and he pitched a fit and threw his glove down. Washington released him after that episode. Also about a month ago he was called in to pitch and hurt his arm warming-up and had to come out before throwing a pitch - he also reacted angrily then coming into the dugout and throwing his glove (with his good arm - lol ). So I am pretty sure this was on purpose.

I commented on the game thread so won;t repeat. I will say I think it should have ended when Cave acknowledged his mistake at first base - he was either unaware of the rule or didn't realize the count? CJ Nitkowski on a radio show here in Dallas mentioned today, the Rangers were still shifting on Cave - so he has no problem with Cave swinging on the 3-0 pitch. If they are still playing full force why can't both teams? I mean otherwise just have a slaughter rule and call the game. No one is backing that Kepler should have been hit except Kelley. Hope he pitches again in the series and Kepler takes him deep.

I was watching the Rangers broadcast and they did not mention anything so I totally missed this but did think Kepler getting hit was a little strange. I wasn't aware swinging on a 3-0 pitch was an offense - some of these unwritten rules seem like they were made up by 8 year olds. I wonder what the combination of runs your behind and inning violates the "rule" . Maybe like the no pitch intentional walk - baseball can come up with a "you violated an unwritten rule and offended our team" indication or sign so the batter can just take first base without taking one in the ribs or shoulder.

Well, after reading this and seeing how Berrios has fared so far this 2nd half I am! Nice analysis and write-up. As much as we need him wondering if a 10 day break would be of help to let him reset.

Nice article on Jake - at this point he is certainly worth calling up for a shot especially while he is on a hot streak.

At least we don't have to worry where Gonzalez is going to fit in the opening day lineup. Probably gives Astudillo a spot on the roster as well. I can't speak for certain on the reason this injury is prolonged but I can look at Sano's injury history and be very concerned on his staying ability going forward. Tommy John for the throwing arm, a stress reaction in his leg that took a very long time to heal in 2017 and needed a metal rod inserted in his shin and now this spike injury that won't heal properly all happening at age 25 and younger. I can throw in a few hamstring tweaks in there as well - one thing we know is he is not a quick healer.

I like the move! Particular the flexibility Marwin provides both in terms of positions he can play and being a switch-hitter.

Welcome the fresh material - love it! Let's hope the Twins don't have a joke of a season and this will be the only type of laughs we need.

Living down here in Texas Ranger country - I have seen Perez pitch for a few years now. He will look good for a few innings and then pick around the plate walk a few hitters and melt down and give up a big inning. The Rangers I am sure got frustrated not seeing any improvement. Maybe he could fit as a multi-inning reliever or maybe a change of scenery is what he needs to change - as a Twins fan I can hope but I am not counting on much.

Looks like with his career home/road splits we should only pitch him in home games. That is another variation to add in with the Opener/Primary concept. If we go on a long road trip put him on the DL with home sickness.

If we can add talent to the team I am all for it - I think we need to mix some things up because I am real worried we have too many one-dimensional players. Ranked in order of preference: Soria - we need a couple of bullpen arms - Soria qualifies as a quality add on a 2 year deal Cruz > Austin in my worthless opinion. Cruz has power and gets on base even for an old guy. Austin has power - can either play a position well? Cahill looks like a nice arm to add - what are the odds our current 4 starting pitchers pitchers make it through the year healthy? Caveat - not sure what they are doing with the opener/primary role this year but that would be a good way to get some of our younger pitchers some innings this upcoming year like Romero, Mejia, Gonsalves and Stewart in the 5th spot. Ramos - if they have concerns about Garver's concussion history and him being able to catch regularly then Ramos would be a nice signing. Not sure where that would leave Garver though as we have ample folks at 1B/DH but honestly Garver may be the best hitter out of the bunch of them. The other thing it looks like is Sano has to get in good shape and has to play 3B. We don't have a dependable contingency plan and we are full of 1B/DH types.

I like the hitting tools that Santana would bring and also the fact that in addition to 1B he could play some 3B as a backup plan for Sano. I would also say if the $ would prevent us from upgrading the 2B/SS position and Relief Pitching then not on board. The other issue is we already have Cron and Austin and to a lesser extent possibly Garver/Sano splitting the 1B/DH position. There would have to be several moves to make all this work.

Excellent article and a bit depressing about the OBP currently on the team. Hopefully the new regime will help lift it up. I would sign Lowrie and Bour with Austin being traded.

Looking at his 2018 stats - Grossman did much better hitting against Lefthanders - we now have Cron and Austin battling for that role and the roster does not that redundancy. I like his patient AB's and OBP but not having a good clear defensive position and $4M tilts the scales to non-tender.

If you look at Cano/Diaz playing ability-wise I likewise thought this would be a good fit with the Twins needs. But that Cano contract is horrible. Fortunately Cano would not come here and only his former agent who negotiated that contract wants it back - lol! The other thought that crossed my mind is that Polanco/Cano would make a good PED suspension platoon at 2B. Polanco could be suspended the first half of the season and Cano the 2nd half.

Appreciate these get to know segments Seth - gives some good perspective behind the names we see in the box scores and write-ups.

Glad he is able to go out on his terms. I will miss him not being in the lineup next year. Great story of a player getting to play his career in his hometown. We are left with some really good memories and boy I feel older clearly remembering the excitement when he was drafted and now reading that it’s over. End of an era - time to start a new one.

Joe certainly has his limitations but given the current 40 man position players - he is one of the better hitters and fielders on the team. That probably says more about our roster but we have so many holes to fill I am inclined to bring him back for another year - maybe we go year to year. I don't want to pay him $12-$15M though - I am hoping for $5M - $8M.

I believe Wilson caught for Madden at Tampa Bay so maybe that influenced the trade. He wanted his skill set for September for the Cubs.

I expect we will get cash instead of a PTBNL - maybe lunch money.

Certainly wasn't expecting a trade involving Bobby Wilson and trading him for almost the same catcher type in Gimenez. I guess since Darvish is done for the year Chicago didn't need his personal catcher anymore. We can try him out in the closer role.

As stated above - many things we are not privelaged to seeing to know exactly how he is doing - I have to go by things I do see. His term has been defined by team performance highs and lows (good years in 2015, 2017 horrible in 2016 - disappointing 2018 - I would think a top manager can help smooth the lows, could use improvement on bullpen usage - more even use of relievers - not overuse and in some cases non-use, disappointing development of Sano and Buxton - not sure how much of that is on him - but they are our cornerstone players, so many outs on the basepaths this year, rumors of a poor clubhouse environment this year at least. On the positive side, he took the team to the playoffs last year. This year he has managed through a lot of roster turnover and we have not sunk like the Titanic. Considering all that I would give him a C-

My biggest take away was Grossman was going on a rehab assignment. I have not missed him at all the in the big league lineup.