Unwinder

Is there a way to make a one-time contribution? If so, I'll do it.

Gotta believe that choosing a photo with Astudillo in it is the ultimate troll

I'm not too excited about Sanchez, but robo-umps are on the way, so who knows how long his pitch framing issues are going to matter?

Yeah, I'm not going to pretend this isn't a more likely explanation.

OK, having slept on this, I feel like there has to be some kind of gameplan here. Falvey has made some decisions that didn't go well, but he's not the Joker. He's not a gibbering madman who wants to lose his job. It's so weird, the moves made here seem to point at completely different strategies. The Garver/Kiner-Falefa trade was the sort of tepid, underwhelming move that we expect from the front office, which seemed to indicate that the Twins were content to tread water for the season. The Gray trade was a bold statement of contention (but also a killer bargain). This seems like a move to dump salary and rebuild. Possibility 1: The Twins are clearing payroll to make a big signing, which is going to HAVE to be Story, since the FA pitching market has dried up. Unless... they're going to try to trade for a pitcher who's already on a fat contract??? What's going on with all the Garver and Kiner-Falefa stuff though? Did the Yankees refuse to take Donaldson's contract without an OK shortstop thrown in? Did the Twins make a "safe" move to cover shortstop, and then swerve to drop Kiner-Falefa with Donaldson when talks with Story started to look promising? If indeed this is the case, then WOW, it had better work out! Falvey hasn't struck me as a big risk-taker, so I've got to believe he wouldn't take this route unless it was almost a sure thing. Possibility 2: The Twins are just trying to dump salary. They signed Sonny Gray because the deal was too good to pass up, and they don't want to LOOK like they're tanking. This STILL makes the Garver trade look utterly deranged. I really don't think this is the case? And if you're dumping salary for a rebuild, WHY WOULD YOU LET GO OF RORTVEDT AND CREATE A NEW HOLE AT CATCHER???? Possibility 3: The Twins were trying to contend up through the Gray trade but SOMETHING they had in the plans went catastrophically wrong and they decided immediately in the course of 24 hours to pivot to dumping salary and making room for a rebuild. Perhaps negotiations broke down on another SP trade? This still doesn't account for dropping Rortvedt. Yesterday, a friend was talking about a particular chess-playing computer, and said that great chess players find it hard to play against because it makes shocking moves a flesh-and-blood player would be too timid to make -- for example, sacrificing a queen and a bishop for nothing but a positional advantage. I really hope that's what we're seeing here,

Remember that bonkers J.D. Davis rumor from the other day? The runway is clear.

The Twins' direction here is not confusing at all: they're trying to put together a rotation that's comparable to, and no better than, the ones they had in 2019 and 2020. If it gets better than that, it's because prospects pan out.

It's exciting and also very scary how much the next couple of weeks will determine how the Twins' season goes. We should have an idea very soon whether the Twins are actually trying to contend, or if it's going to be a rebuild year. I'm not convinced that the front office even really knows now.

The chances are a lot better than they were yesterday!

This is very exciting. As soon as tonight there is some chance that the Twins might be good.

I'm coming around on expanded playoffs based on this article's perspective. Sure, it de-incentivizes contenders from upgrading at the trade deadline, but if it deprives mediocre teams of their excuse for phoning it in, I suppose it could encourage parity. (And now to take a big sip of coffee and see how expanded playoffs have affected other sports...)

It's true, the Twins can use them and they probably aren't even that good at basketball.

The rationale I had heard for the base sizes is that it'll shave a few inches off the base paths and make it slightly easier to reach base safely, tilting the game subtly in the favor of offense in a way that will be essentially invisible to fans. EDIT: Apparently it's also to prevent players from crashing into each other. An infielder with one foot on a base takes up most of the base, so a runner sliding into the base is likely to crash into him. With a roomier base, the defender and the runner can both touch the base and have a bit more space to avoid collisions.

Sure, I need the car to get to work, but I can afford to coast on unemployment until I'm able to haggle the mechanic down to $350.

Did Sano end up losing those thirty pounds he was talking about? If not, an extra week to get it done could be a big win for him.

I hope Buxton renders the Oliva/Mauer split moot in the next few years.

I'm sorry, his son's name is Gamble? Presumably Gamble Garver?

Picking Hajjar to click (I think they will unlock his velocity)

I recall Miranda being described as an average defender at 3rd base all last season, and I've only seen this narrative that he's a defensive liability emerge over the offseason. Where did this come from? Is this some statistical trend that only became clear after the season was over? Are we letting Keith Law color our perception of Miranda's defense? Do we have enough data to even clearly evaluate him, especially when he's been playing all over the field? I'm prepared to accept that his defense is a problem, but I'd want to know why.

Even if he's right about everything, "sub-median" is still better than "dire," and is therefore an improvement for the Twins. (I don't think he's right, I think he's a bit too pessimistic while we here tend to be a bit too optimistic)

OK, one EXTREMELY important distinction here: This was a spoken interview, right? So we don't know how he spelled "Juicy/Jucy Lucy?" I want to believe he's a Matt's Bar guy.

I like Chase Petty but I'm not impatient for him to blow through the minors. Let him develop however he needs. I'm sure that whenever he arrives, the Twins are going to have a place on the roster for a flamethrower.

Buck is the protagonist of the Twins and everyone else is a supporting player. He's a hero to the Twins and a hero to this state, and his loyalty to the Twins deserves to be rewarded with a World Series ring.

Winder is another good example of why I'm not too concerned about national prospect lists largely writing off our pitchers. I don't want to give the front office too much credit until we see more results, but it really feels like they've been able to spot and tap a lot of hidden potential in deeper draft picks.