Blake

I thought the inconsequential and frivolous were the hallmarks of Twins Daily. Twins Daily is actually a serious baseball site with reverence toward the greatest game on earth? Wow, I guess my game threads have been a bit irreverent and maybe not well suited to Twins Daily. This is a revelation to me. I may have to adjust my writing style to reflect this new-found wisdom. Nah....* Seriously, though, I'm looking forward to a new year of Twins Daily. Play ball!! *I need to get ready for the season, too!

I already said the Twins would win 71. Not going to back down now.

Morneau.* *remember, I had to pick my poison. This is not necessarily an endorsement of poison, per se.

I like inter-league play. However, I think it's been overdone to a considerable degree. I would much prefer to see the Twins play Milwaukee every year. Make inter-league play special and something to really look forward to in terms of rivalries rather than insisting each team play most of an another division.

My argument against was made in my original post: That games are won and lost via the intentional walk. Baseball is a game of errors, and the wild pitch during an intentional walk is part of how the game is played. MLB is not beer league softball. I mentioned weirdness in response to the post by Vanimal, who posted a couple of great examples of how pitching an intentional walk can be extremely interesting.

I saw that also, but since it's in rookie ball and won't affect MLB this year, skipped mentioning it.

The intentional walk is a great way for some baseball weirdness to ensue. Those are two great examples.

According to the Sporting News, MLB is looking at 2 rules changes in order to "enhance" the game of Baseball and attract the younger crowd. 1. No more having pitchers throw 4 pitches for an intentional walk. Instead, managers will signal for a batter to take the base. (this is a pace of play rule and is stupid in the extreme. Games have been won and lost by a pitcher having to throw an intentional walk) 2. Raising the strike zone from just below the knee to just above the knee. (Hello, Owners, I think you've just helped reduce the value of your sinker ball pitchers to zero. But, that's an opinion as I have no hard data to back that up) Anyway, comments, ridicule and and general snark are always appreciated. See link here: http://www.sportingnews.com/mlb/news/2017-mlb-rule-changes-strike-zone-intentional-walks-proposals-mlbpa-union/1ipttbbsq3laz1lomo21b99hek

I think, though, that some people, rightly or wrongly, think the Twins have a tendency to put players on the field because, darn it, they are paying them a lot of money...even though the player is well past his "sell by" date. I freely admit I was one of those when it came to Joe Mauer until I looked at his numbers. Which made me rethink my antipathy toward Mr. Mauer. However, I also think people fear the Front Office will do the same and continue to play Mauer well beyond the time when he should have been let go. (this is assuming a huge drop off between now and the end of Mauer's contract)

Ah, cool, the Super Bowl is here. Which means baseball season is just around the corner. Which matters far more than the Super Bowl.

The Twins win 81 games this year. Because this is a family friendly site, I will not mention where I pulled that figure from.

Trends are all well and good when it comes to pitching but, in the end, on any given day, a pitcher may have better command of one pitch over another, which will change the percentages. Hitters should know the tendencies of a pitcher going in to the at bat, but that has to be coupled with observing what the pitcher is doing on any given day.

I'm sorry to hear this. Darn.

thank you. I thought Batista was another "all bat, no field" player, which the Twins already have plenty of, but I did not have the stats to back up what my eye test was telling me.

No.

I thought the idea behind signing LaTroy Hawkins was to get a veteran presence so the Twins wouldn't need to use up valuable roster spots for aging veterans. Or am I comparing apples to rutabagas?

That would be the MN Twins.

meanwhile, and this was a couple of decades ago in MN, a guy I knew flooded his kitchen by letting his faucet drip. The kitchen sink drain froze...

I think Plouffe is a class act. He went from being cringe-worthy at 3rd to very good, defensively. Trevor obviously put in a lot of hard work and it is hard to see him go.

No, Plouffe will end up in the Central, so he can torment the Twins for the next few years. You know how these things work.

Best thing about the mods is they tend to know how to save me from myself.

Everything in moderation?

RIP

We had one dog who didn't realize thecat won't take any nonsense from a mere dog. After the cat chased the dog around the yard a couple of times (dog was yowling like a leg was being torn off) the dog decided that cat was best left alone. Cat: 8lbs Dog: 55lbs

You do realize they're all plotting. Look at those eyes.