Otto von Ballpark

The last major broadcast radio innovation was the widely ignored HD Radio, which suggests that the public doesn't care too much about broadcast radio anymore in general. FWIW, the last couple of cars I've owned haven't had very good AM reception anyway. Unless I'm willing to tolerate a lot of hiss and interference, it's typically a much better experience to scan the FM dial for the closest affiliate while I am driving. But I'm guessing most fans would just open an app instead.

Unless there is some plan to replace AM radio itself, or repurpose its broadcast frequencies, I suspect it would still hang around for awhile, even if it's not supported in new electric cars.

True. A lot of people seem surprised to learn that you can still get TV broadcasts over an antenna too.

This is triple insanity. A team backing out of a $350 mil contract agreement? Another team signing the player for over $300 mil, at a position where they've already signed another player for over $300 mil just last year? That team also spiking to ~$380 mil in annual payroll?

Checking Gallo’s leverage splits, he has a 77 tOPS+ in high leverage (meaning his OPS in high leverage is 23% worse than his overall stats). It is normal for a player’s performance to be worse in higher leverage, but that seems a bit worse than expected. Kepler is only 3% worse in high leverage, Sano 8%.

Pete Rose gets the first base hit in the Metrodome, but the Twins secure the first victory, a 5-0 win over Philadelphia in an exhibition game. The baggie is noticeably absent in KSTP's footage as rookie Kent Hrbek homers twice to tie Harmon Killebrew's spring training club record of 9. Hrbek and fellow Twins players Gary Gaetti, Butch Wynegar, and Dave Engle comment on the stadium. View full video

This debate is now concluded and open for public comment. There is also a poll at the top of the thread to vote on which side you found more persuasive. Thanks to both of our participants, @mikelink45 (A) and @stringer bell (B)! If you have any ideas for topics or would like to participate in future debates, please message @Otto von Ballpark or @Squirrel

The weary Twins stumbled across the finish line, as did their equally weary fans in the TD forums. What's next for the team and for us? Image courtesy of Twins Daily Target Field is getting winterized; TC Bear is ready to hibernate; the Twins Daily community is reviewing 2022, previewing 2023, and looking for sources of non-Twins baseball discussion to fill the void. @wsnydes asks, How did your preseason win prediction go? Were you one of the "lucky" folks who predicted 78 wins? If so, are you satisfied with yourself now? Next season, please try to use your prognostication powers for good, not evil mediocrity! Don't care to look back? You're not alone. @Danchat is ready to look ahead at 40 Man Roster Management For 2023. Woods Richardson was already the "big name" addition, in more ways than one, but there are likely to be more. Also looking ahead, @mikelink45 shares My questions for next season. Do you have any answers? The Twins front office may randomly select one answer to try. If your answer is selected, you could win a Drew Maggi MLB game-used bat! In the minor league forum, @DJL44 shares the story of Doug Deeds, a former Twins farmhand reflecting on the difficult decision of When to hang it up. If only Deeds could have once played in an injury-ravaged organization like the 2022 Twins, he may have made a MLB appearance. Finally, for those Twins fans not ready to hang it up for 2022, you can discuss all of the playoff action with fellow bitter, jaded fans in The 2022 MLB Postseason Thread from @cHawk. What storyline are you following in the postseason, or in the Twins hot stove offseason? Share it in the forums! View full article

The Twins Daily forums received an unwelcome math lesson this week, on the topic of elimination numbers rather than magic numbers. Image courtesy of Twins Daily As the season winds down, the community is looking beyond math, at storylines around the league, gearing up for the hot stove and 2023, and creating and sharing art inspired by happier times for the Twins. Last week, this humble correspondent invoked the phrase "it's over" (or "it's Ober") to describe the 2022 Twins playoff chances, but that wasn't technically true: as late as Wednesday this week, we were Still not eliminated from postseason contention yet according to resident mathematician @kydoty. Alas, even that faint glimpse of possibility is gone now too: it is finally, and officially, Ober. If you are wondering how the Twins can improve next year, @Nine of twelve brings good news: "Rebranding" underway: New scoreboards and new uniforms. There's nothing wrong with the 2022 Twins that a new coat of paint can't fix! Speaking of paint, @Snarkier Than Reusse objects to whitewashing in What I Wish the Twin’s Front Office Would Say About 2022 (Part 1) (as well as Part 2). Would you like to see them handling the Twins P.R.? If you want to take a break from the Twins, head over to the Other Baseball forum to follow some other teams and players for a change. @mikelink45 has some recommendations in Keep watching - baseball keeps going. What will you be watching during the last week of the season and into the playoffs? @Trov tries to take their mind off the Twins by asking, Do we want parity in baseball? If so, how do we get it? Although a side benefit of parity is that the Twins don't need to get any better if all of the good teams just get worse. Finally, baseball inspires art as our very own @alexlegge has a gift for any Twins fans who are also fans of drum-and-bass, jungle, or electronica music genres... (isn't that all of us?). Be sure to see them perform at the (Jake) Cavern Club before they get famous! Do you have a fave Twins song right now? Share your jam or dirge in the forums. View full article

A week ago, TD member @CRF said "It ain't Ober...till it's Ober." Well, now it's Ober, and the only pun left is Sugar Ray's breakup song. Image courtesy of Twins Daily Re-live the last moments of optimism from a week ago, lovingly preserved in Hanging by a thread. @Number3 captured a moment in time when it was still possible for the Twins to get back in the race, just before Cleveland cut our last thread of hope. But they can never cut our forum threads! Like how @PopRiveter wants to witness the battle of Arraez vs Evil -my last remaining reason to care. The whole world is watching Aaron Judge but can our own La Regadera ("The Sprinker") spoil his triple crown? The Twins and Yankees not only share batting title competitors, they also share starting pitcher trade deadline disasters, as chronicled by @Brandon in Montas or Mahle, Which pitcher helped his new team the least? Unfortunately, that may be where the Twins and Yankees similarities end, as New York has been preparing for the postseason, while the well-seasoned Twins have been cooking on a post over a Cuyahoga River fire. If you don't care to look backward or suffer the present, look to the future with @cHawk at the 2023 Rotation. There are plenty of arms to consider -- two arms per pitcher, in fact. Over in the Other Baseball forum, @Vanimal46 is still thinking about baseball while watching football in Take Notes, MLB. What would you like to see MLB adopt from NFL broadcasts? If you said "illegal formation penalties," I've got good news for you! Finally, the ballclub may be struggling, but the Minnesota Twins have finally become masters of their own domain. @Rosterman reports how a pair of real-life twins are likely celebrating a financial windfall as Twins.com finds a new home. Would you have sold Twins.com? Or would you have dedicated it to Taylor and Tyler Rogers? Share your ideas in the forums. View full article

The seasons are rapidly changing, both on the calendar and in the TD forums, unless the Twins can find a way back into the division race, and fast. Image courtesy of Twins Daily Firings, fantasies, fu-machus, futures, and football were just a few of the alliterative topics of discussion in the community this week, in the twilight of a Twins season perhaps best described by the letter "F". Is it time for Twins fans to heed the advice of Meredith Brooks, in the bridge of her profanely-titled hit 1997 single? Just when you think you've got me figured out The season's already changin' I think it's cool you do what you do And don't try to save me @RickOShea felt that Rocco Baldelli should have been fired on Monday Afternoon, after getting swept at home by division rival Cleveland. But according to consultant Bob Slydell, "Studies have statistically shown that there's less chance of an incident if you do it at the end of the week." Even if Baldelli sticks around, we may have a pitching coach vacancy. @darin617 wants to know if any big-name options might be available to turn things around in Pitching coaches contracts? With apologies to Pete Maki, eight letters combined is presumably not a big enough name. (Fortunately, that also disqualifies a reunion with Dick Such.) In player news, Randy Dobnak put on waivers was brought to our attention by @Rosterman. At first glance, this seems like a fall from grace for the mustachioed hurler, but maybe this is just what Dobnak needs to restore the underdog status that fueled his ascent back in 2019. In the minor league forum, not content to simply look ahead to next year, @Fighting4par asks What will the twins pitching staff look like in 2025. Lots of young arms to think about, but I'd still wager on Andrew Albers making an appearance that year too. Finally, for those ready to completely check out of baseball this year, there's still room on the bandwagon in @Vanimal46's 2022 Vikings Regular Season Thread. The TD Vikings Talk forum features football topics from the perspective of a baseball fan: why 11 players rather than 9? Why are they always colliding instead of providing sliding lanes to each other? At least both sports now share common ground in inexplicable replay decisions. Are you ready to fold on 2022, or are you fighting to the last game? Share your perspective in the forums. View full article

Obviously Gleeman isn't lying. But there is reason to be suspicious of BP's conclusion, without seeing their data or knowing their methodology. Big questions: - Does it account for projected playing time? Maeda has spent the whole year on the IL, but he also should have been projected for few if any innings this season. - Does it do anything to avoid double-counting? For example, if Sano was projected for 1.5 WAR at 1B and then got hurt, then Kirilloff was projected for 1.5 WAR as Sano's replacement, would it count the Twins as losing 3 WAR to the IL? I suspect it may be a simple equation -- number of games on the IL, prorated to a seasonal WAR projection for that player -- in which case it's essentially just restating the total days on the IL without really adding anything meaningful.

Definitely Gordon. Preseason projections had him no higher than a 90 wRC+, and he's at 113. Miranda has had a strong rookie campaign at 123 wRC+, but at least some projections had him in the 108-115 range before the season. Still an achievement, just not quite so unexpected.

The Twins did about as well as Radio Shack stock, but the TD forums were still full of Q's to which the Yankees unhelpfully provided some A's. Image courtesy of Twins Daily Playoffs?1, trade grades, stadium snacks, and intelligence (or lack thereof) were all topics of discussion in the community this week. @Trov leads off with If Twins do not at minimum split with Yankees, should we even care if we make playoffs? Looks like Trov's calendar for October just opened up. Although if you give the Twins a +2 game handicap, perhaps we could consider it a split? Second question goes to @alexlegge: Mahle for Steer/Hajjar/Encarnacion-Strand - How did the Twins blow this one so badly?? Okay, that sounds rhetorical, so I don't think we have to answer it. But Mahle rhymes with Bally so the Twins should have seen this coming. Next question: Is the Twins Pipe lined with ice or sludge? asks @Game7-91. Are those the only two options? Hey, Culligan Man! We may need to hire you as our scouting director. The final question this week comes from @mikelink45: Is Rocco really middle management? Next time you call Target Field to complain about a short start, perhaps you should ask to speak to Baldelli's supervisor. @strumdatjag reports there are No Vendors working the aisles at Target Field anymore. To fill that void, Twins Daily should volunteer to host those vendors in our forum. Instead of walking between rows, they could instead appear between our posts, maybe in the form of banners -- wait, nevermind! Over in the Other Baseball forum, @CRF shares news of likely Rule changes for 2023. I think my favorite might be the pitch glock, although moderns pitchers hardly need another weapon at their disposal. Finally, @ashbury demonstrates intelligence by leading a discussion of Baseball IQ. Is your Baseball IQ high? Or are you just high? Either way, share your knowledge in the forums. View full article

Classic 21st century Twins/Yankees matchup! Rumor has it the ghost of Mike Trombley was warming up in case the game went into the 14th inning...

The Twins gave a sliding lane to the TD forums by completing a successful homestand this week, gearing up for an AL Central grudge match. Community topics include forecasting, reflection, the dulcet tones of former Twins, the best ballparks to visit before you die, and the worst ballpark to visit while you are dying. Last Friday, @Thiéres Rabelo asked the community for their opinions on Rocco Baldelli's future; the Twins skipper responded by helming 5 consecutive victories. Who would we like to see in Thiéres' crystal ball this week? Instead of the future, @mikelink45 looks to the past, specifically Correa and the SS market from last offseason. Maybe Correa hasn't been the super-duper-star we hoped, but he's still ahead of his free agent competition. If he opts out, will the same hold true next year? What do you listen to during Twins games -- the TV broadcast, or the radio? @peterb18 isn't thrilled about the Twins color announcers, specifically the Justin Morneau and Glen Perkins back-and-forth, aka the "metronome from the Metrodome." Has anyone tried listening to the Twins Daily Game Thread with text-to-speech instead? Rumor has it that @Monkeypaws wished upon their namesake artifact last year, that our Twins wouldn't lose in the postseason again in 2021. Avoiding a curse in the minor league forum this week, they provide an update on the lesser-known players involved in a notable deadline deal from four years ago: Escobar for Duran, Maciel, De La Trinidad. As good as Duran has been, he may never be achieve a first- last-name basis with Nicolas Cage. Finally, ballpark connoisseur @Riverbrian, fresh off documenting an 18-day American odyssey in the Sports Bar (now with photos!), kicks off a lively discussion of Baseball Stadium Rankings. What's your favorite ballpark, and why is it the Metrodome? Share your stadium take or pennant race prediction in the forums! View full article

FWIW, the minor league season goes pretty late, so this statement technically doesn’t preclude some rehab appearances there. But if that was the case, you’d think he could appear in the final week of MLB games too.

Would you still roll with him in your playoff bullpen?