LaBombo

Bremer all but anointing Santiago a starter next year. And so life's rich pageantry of lowered expectations continues...

If hyperbole were pink slime, Dick is Ray... "Beautiful!" http://www.i-mockery.com/minimocks/ghostbusters2/liberty1.gif

One of the sports talkers this afternoon referred to a reporter asking Molitor why Sano hasn't been at third base every day with Plouffe out, and the paraphrased answer was that there are 'other factors involved'. It's impossible to imagine him discussing those "other factors" without erasing any of my remaining interest in seeing him manage again next year.

Someone needs a road trip to Wannaska... http://farm1.static.flickr.com/91/226512072_cb6bd8c6eb.jpg

http://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-people-ask-me-what-i-do-in-winter-when-there-s-no-baseball-i-ll-tell-you-what-i-do-i-rogers-hornsby-13-65-69.jpg

Challenge accepted.... http://www.southdownshanggliding.co.uk/pictures/titlepic.jpg

40!!!

At the risk of prolonging the game of metaphor badminton that I unadvisedly started, I said "drastic fixes" (overhaul vs. tuneup), not 'wanton punitive destruction' (letting a chop shop 'work on' your car). My point was and is that the Twins have both the freedom and the obligation to depart from the path that has led the franchise to its dismal standing today, and that the consequences for experimenting with even somewhat radical ideas, as long as they're rational, are likely relatively small compared to the potential reward. Yes, "things can always get worse", which is by the way a somewhat ironic point to argue, given that the Twins have conclusively proved it this year, and did so essentially by continuing the status quo. And to that mantra, I would reply a) yes, but not much worse, b} so? , and most of all c), resistance to change and the fear of making things worse has already cost the Twins, and it must not continue to do so. Setting aside the metaphors and philosophy, my 'to do' list for the Twins looks something like this: 1. Bring in new leadership: a CEO/president who either oversees or replaces St. Peter, and a new GM who has filled a high-leverage role in a successful organization that's at least moderately reliant on metrics. 2. Spend money. Eat a little red ink to replenish the talent pool. Hundreds of corporations do it every year to recover from the ill effects of their bad decisions, and they do it without the safety net and collateral of a billionaire owner or hundreds of millions in publicly subsidized real estate equity, let alone both. 3. Rebuild or contend, but for the love of god, pick one. Impending free agents wandering off instead of netting prospects in trade, talking tough about the bullpen and coming home from the winter meetings with only Francisco Abad in your shopping basket... these are the actions of a franchise intent on offering a competent entertainment product, not building a contending team. And if the Twins decide not to employ these ideas or any others outside their comfort zone, then I sincerely hope it's not because they're terrified of becoming the 2016 Diamondbacks. PS Greinke's xFIP is only 3.84 , Shelby Miller is only 25, Goldschmidt still rocks, and Chris Hermann is OPSing .841.

And that's how I read the article as well, which is why it made me want to scream. Obscenities. A lot. Calling the article a cautionary tale sells it a bit short. To me it felt eerily similar to the admonishing half of The Truman Show's anesthetizing, piped in radio programming that by turns reminds Truman how nice he has it in his safe, boring bubble town, and how terrifying the big, bad, unpredictable outside world can be. But the arguable specifics and questionable relevance of the D-backs' struggles aside, the simple, awful, g*ddamned truth of the Twins is that they have screwed things up so badly that even change FOR THE SAKE OF CHANGE can be a good thing. After five years of a haphazard rebuilding effort with access to the enhanced revenue of a new stadium, the Twins not only lost games at a nearly historical pace for most of the season, they also saw their vaunted farm system's most promising prospects and products struggle the most. The glass half full version of this is that the Twins can combine a relatively clean slate approach with some valuable pieces. They haven't been strip mined by Jeff Loria or confined to a venue like the Rays' enormous green sports toilet, and despite their seemingly best efforts to the contrary, their fan base remains relatively loyal. The half empty version is that the 2016 Twins have just two good ballplayers. Dozier and Santana have each posted WARs that equal the total of the next four lower hitters or pitchers combined. And the rest of the hitters and pitchers totaled just over and just under one WAR, respectively. So all is not lost, but... man, if ever there were a Twins team this century whose management could throw caution to the wind and just swing for the fences, rear back and let it fly, lay out full extension... pick your strained baseball metaphor. The Twins are a broken car. What harm will drastic fixes do? Make it not work worse?

OMG, is that... it can't... Must be a free-roaming vapor: No! It's real! "S N E P P ! ! !" http://images2.static-bluray.com/reviews/10297_1.jpg That's what I get for being on vacation for a week, I guess. Welcome back!

Gophers vs. Beavers... the Regrettable Mascot Choice Bowl. But you unjinxed the Goophs with your post and they're up by one with 8 minutes to go! Just the kind of insurmountable lead you're looking for against a team the Wall Street Journal called an 'embarrassing weakling' or some such.

Not for lack of trying.

Ervin scatters 11 hits over 5 innings to limit BS to 2 earned runs for the win... if, by "scattered", you mean "strategically placed with surgical precision". Ahhh, well.. the dreaded Streak is over, Buxton survived a 3AM flat tire and completed a mini-triathlon to get the airport, and he's now on pace for 28 home runs in September. What am I leaving out? Oh, yeah. Shaun Hill didn't blow out his knee while standing on the Vikings sideline. So good night all around.

Using backup remote with no 'previous channel' button so I'm stuck with one channel or the other, presenting a real quandary: Do I help the Twins avoid a historical losing streak by not watching and jinxing the bullpen as they try to protect their tiny four run lead, or do I preserve the suspense of how much bad a Bridgewaterless Vikings team can pack into a sixteen game season by not watching them?

The exuberance of avoiding another franchise record for futility is really starting to light up the Twins' faces... http://tonystake.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/20130903__1-joe-mauer-dugout-sad.jpg

Maybe he's trying to increase his chances of being considered for the GM job? After all, this is the franchise that said that it signed 32 year old, >1000 MLB innings pitched Kevin Correia because "our scouts really liked what they saw".

Oh, great. Pressley just returned a kickoff 108 yards for a Vikings TD. Imagine how gassed he's gonna be when he gets to the park to warm up for the 8th.

Averaging 92 losses a season for 6 years running will cause an announcer to reach... http://datelinedigitalprinting.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/drowning-manager.jpg

Yeah, I thought so too at first, but it's not her. The multiple straws gave it away.

http://ifdarwinprayed.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/prairie-dog-in-prayer-300x277.jpg

Showoff. You could have at least saved us some time by reminding us sooner than late August that you had written a brutal one-sentence season preview that accurately foretold the ugliness to come.

Held 'em to a one touchdown deficit. Not bad for a presea... Oh. Yeah. That's not 'til Sunday. http://degruchy.org/assets/posts/fbi-hacking/picard-facepalm.jpg

I was gonna say something about it but then my search for a sleeping Corgi picture made me pretty tired. That, plus he's Alex Wimmers.

Well spent in the process of accumulating 10,896 'Likes" ? http://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/36700000/Uncle-Scrooge-McDuck-image-uncle-scrooge-mcduck-36753956-500-375.gif

September headline: "Berrios/Dean Outing Causes Server Fire, Internet Outage" http://www.tus-fire.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Fire-guts-computer-server-warehouse.jpg Or is that 'Internet Outrage'?