Monkeypaws

Somewhere, Bert Blyleven has a smile on his face. Limits, shmimits!

James Shields isn't helping his free agent value with this post-season....

Cable is an evil that needs to be gone - the internet has been chipping away to good effect, but forcing people pay for network after network of crap they don't want to watch isn't a smart business model; people hate feeling exploited, and cable does nothing but. A la carte or bust. OTOH, MLB needs to get rid of that blackout nonsense. I'd buy MLB if I could watch the Twins on it. Serious disconnect there. But I suppose that's where the money comes from.

Nice work Seth - this just goes to show how complex the life of a baseball executive can be. Hermsen is a good case; lingering results of injury? washed-up? Hate to give up on a 24 year old who has shown promise. It is interesting how many guys choose to re-up with the Twins. It is a fundamentally good organization IMO.

Indeed, I do get Surly when there are no IPAs on draft at my local Saga is also a nice hoppy drink of beer. Like a good stout too though.

I'm a hophead, and given the beers of a lot of our new breweries, so are many of the brewers around here. I don't know exactly what beer was like before prohibition, but I can't imagine it had anywhere near the variety of style that we currently enjoy. Golden age of beer? May be.

Pardon my ignorance, but what exactly does "checked-in" mean? Unsold?

Thanks for starting this thread. 1. Agree - Kuemper has great size and quickness, and is actually good in shootouts. 2. Agree again - adding Dumba and Folin has added more mobility and offensive acumen. Clayton who? 3. Parise has no off switch. Having leaders like Parise, Suter, and Koivu to mentor our youth, all hard workers themselves, welcome to the hive.

I came across this SBNAtion blog today: http://www.blessyouboys.com/2014/10/10/6921047/detroit-tigers-ron-gardenhire It was titled If Tigers choose to be bold, Ron Gardenhire could be their manager in 2015. It included this assessment of Gardy: Really?

Speed at the top and bottom of the lineup, with power in the middle. I still like situational ball too - KC has pulled all my strings this off-season as a fan. Also, a bench that has something to offer other than mediocrity: elite speed for pinch running. power for pinch hitting, leather for defensive replacement. A bench of guys that are basically not as good as your starters is kind of useless. No offense to Hermann, Nunez, Parmalee, but really, why?

I vote for hybrid: •top of the order filler with speedy platesetters like Buxton, Dozier. •middle of the order with mix of power, average, and even a wee bit of speed like Sano, Arcia, perhaps one day Walker. •bottom with some power and a speedy 9 guy who isn't an embarrassment. Pretty classic lineup really. The Twins will hopefully put that together for me.

Somehow the Cards keep the mill churning, whereas the Twins have hit a dry spell or two. Twins and Cards both play in easy divisions, so they must be doing something better. Atlanta also has a tremendous record in this area, although their post-season success amounted to a single championship - booya tommychppers!

Nice one VeryWellThen - your name almost sounds like a Monty Python reference.

Wow, do I love the way the Royals "get after it." They share many traits with good Twins teams, but are even better at certain things. Speed, defense, pitching (good lord the arms), that is fun to watch when they execute as KC has this postseason. Their team power didn't show much during the regular season, but has been timely and killer this post-season. Billy Butler stealing a base was the icing on the cake. They got a fan in me for the rest of this season, although I like the Birds too.

If the Twins want an advanced stats guy they should name Perkins player-manager.

I like Oswaldo a lot - he is very fan-friendly, he as an elite tool in power, and he projects well given his minor league numbers. Too often he was put in the role of the guy who has to do it, and as our lineup gets better, so will he. Even the presence of Kennys Vargas improved his performance markedly, to the point he almost overtook Dozier for HR lead on the team. 23 years old, and some good learning experience and 34 HR MLB homers in his pocket. He is a total stud imo. BTW, he is 5 months older than Adam Brett Walker. We are just scratching the surface with Oswaldo.

I wonder if Colorado would be interested in trading for Mauer and perhaps having their 3rd ex-Twin in a row going for a batting title next season. Mountain air might be just the tonic Joe needs. Congrats to Justin.

Lots of good posts in this thread. •The game? Thanks Twins! They invented game 163 drama, and MLB was smart enough to pick up on it. •Wil Myers? For every Wil Myers trade, there is a Bagwell trade waiting to haunt you. Risky business. •Shields looked great last night, in spite of Yost - I'd welcome into the Twins fold with open arms. He looks like he has LOTS left in the tank. •Loved watching Finnegan proceed over the A's wake. He was brilliant. Like Sale, once in a while you see immediate dividends in the draft.

11-14 looking pretty strong!

The Twins should emulate the Wild, not the Royals - TR needs to sell Jon Lester on the future of the team by pimping the prospects and the future, much as Chuck Fletcher did when he lured Parise and Suter to the Wild. Imagine a rotation going forward with the phantom twins, the rumored linchpins of the Santana trades that didn't happen, Lester and Hughes.

I agree with the premise of this thread, and beyond the statistical evidence, they pass the eye test - Hughes Gibson, Santana, Dozier, Vargas, the improved Plouffe, Arcia as the season progressed, Suzuki, even Escobar. These are all legit reasons for optimism that have been sorely missing the last couple years, not to mention the farms system. If the new manager can get the fundamentals right, they could be enjoyable to watch next season.

Yep - Gardy is a big man - he has my respect.

I guess he'll have to change his name to Gardenfire. No hard feelings Gardy, but it was time.

And what opposing GM is gonna go for that? "Hmm, if there's anything I like better than average/bad players, it's lots of them."

Is it the opinion of you guys that our minor leaguers get enough playing time? If there aren't enough at bats or innings to go around, then I'd could see another short season affiliate. I'd hate to see a minor leaguer fail simply because lack of playing time, prospect or not.