jgfellows

I take back what I said about being mad as hell at us. I apologize for suggesting your anger was misplaced

It wasn't my understanding at all. When i heard "i'm mad as hell at a lot of you" I lumped myself in with the ones you were angry with. I've grown accustomed to really good writing on this site so I took you at your word and took exception to it. I would never suggest that Twins Daily raising money would end racism. But I wouldn't go to the hundreds of people that brought thousands of meal kits to Sanford Middle school that this was a drop in the bucket either. Was it insignificant in the larger scheme? You would be correct in saying that but you wouldn't be right. I would imagine that many of the people who brought food left feeling good, they had done their part and now let's get back to our normal lives. But there were a few that that thought for the first time "I'd like to do more". That's small but it's progress. 100% agree But I believe that we measure large victories by the sum of our small victories. Rarely do we have the benefit of a radical and sweeping change in a free society. I took a class when I was getting my master's in special ed on diversity and racial disparity. The professor had us take a test that would measure our level of racism. My test score was ok not great. But I remember one of the results of the test said that I was more comfortable around white people than I was around black people. when I told the professor that I didn't think I agreed with the result, he said "I get it Jim, my result told me I was more comfortable around white people too". My professor was a black man active in Black Lives Matter. What's my point? My professor used that as a point of connection between he and I to help open my eyes. He taught the class with empathy and respect with the hope that we would see the areas that we needed to change and the areas we could help change when we were teaching. It worked. So while I have my disagreements with Nick on things he stated subsequently, I agree with this statement. The problem is that many people don't know how to be a voice. Most people won't be able to figure it out on their own. So my suggestion was probably poorly presented. The end result of getting the TD community involved in helping is not to raise money and end racism. The suggestion was to help affect the community you built and empower that community. And like Sanford, many might participate and think "well that was cool! Did my part now what's on Netflix?" But a small few may see it as a first step. Anyway it was just an idea As a white, slightly affluent and fat (I know Nick inferred fat I KNOW IT!!) reader, I personally want to help but I'm not sure how. I will say marching in a protest scares the s**t out of me with this pandemic. I've been praying (not thoughts and prayers crap actual praying). I have thoughts on the rest of your post Brock but it's late. I'll say a prayer for your kids if that's ok with you.

Brock the only people who don't understand your anger would be sociopathic. Your children have every right to grow up safe and not have to fear the police. You (and I and the owners and whoever else) have every right to be angry So I was going to then say that Brock's anger towards us was misplaced but sweetmusicviola16 effed that up. Good job! I would suggest you think about changing your name to delmonyoung21 (there are other twins that probably effed up games but Delmon''s the only one who comes to mind) No sweetmusic the fact that you are not convinced is a tragedy.The officers at no time were in danger because Floyd was cuffed . If George Floyd had been 5'7 150 lbs white guy he would not be dead. Chauvin kept his knee on Floyd's throat after he was unconscious. He knew if he did it long enough Floyd would be dead. If Floyd had been me, a woman or an old asian man, he would be alive right now. George Floyd was black and huge and Chauvin was going to put him in his place. Excluding the aforementioned sweetmusic I think your anger towards a lot of us is misplaced. i think if the owners had asked the TD community to donate the amount of what we'd spend on a game, I think with the marketing skills of the owners and the rabid loyalty a lot of your readers have for Twins Daily, you guys could have raised a lot of money to help rebuild Minneapolis. I think we would have surprised you and the rest of the owners. maybe a lot of us might be better than you give us credit for.

Nick I have no opinion on Max Kepler's response. I haven't addressed it once. Secondly, you said you did a survey. Now I'm going to hazard a guess that the survey told you nothing about "making a difference" or apathy and everything about the age, ethnicity and levels of income. With that information you then drew the conclusion that a large part of your readership can make a difference but rarely does. You said your survey shows supporting evidence of this "fact" and you would provide the evidence. "It's simpler than that" suggests that I'm right and you have no supporting evidence to how much your readership wants to make a difference. My shenanigans stands If instead you had said, "I think historically there is a tendency for white affluent males to tune out when the issue doesn't directly impact them" I wouldn't be posting. You're normally a great writer. You normally rely on irrefutable statistics (and then people argue those statistics anyway) This relies on opinion masked as fact and is pushed by anger. The two logical questions to address your stance is What does making a difference mean? Seriously what does Nick Nelson and the owners think making a difference means?What is rarely?Instead of telling 46k+ readers that you know that most of us won't try to make a difference, Instead of Brock telling 46k+ readers he's mad as hell at a lot of us, the owners could have not shown disdain for their followers and done something positive. 46k+ readers respect what you and the other owners write Nick. I respect and admire that you and the owners are passionate about getting real change so that african americans don't have to live in fear in the Twin Cities. But imagine what might have happened if you had said "If this doesn't upset you, let me help you understand why it should. If it does upset you, and you can't figure out a way to do something, would you do something with the TD community?" Instead you said that you knew for a fact that a majority of us wouldn't care. You don't know me Nick (the beer offer is a valid one) and you might just consider me a troll since I don't post much on the forum. But you said "to be silent is to be complicit" and I didn't want to be complicit with being told by all the owners that I and others don't want make any positive changes.

Well I'll be honest, it wouldn't be the first time I had to take back a shenanigans. But yes I'd like a little more clarification. You say that the survey showed "much your readership falls into a category that is able to make a difference but rarely does." First of all ALL of your readership is able to make a difference. Secondly Is there a standard definition of what "making a difference" means? How did the survey describe what making a difference would look like? And you are now suggesting that the general demographics of Twins Fandom is also capable of making a difference but rarely does? What did your advertisers say when you told them most of your readers were apathetic and selfish? (I'm paraphrasing) Yeah I'd need more data on that before I take it back. Secondly Users – 45,589 (up 168% from 2018) Sessions – 105,910 (up 100% from 2018) Page Views – 285,486 (up 59% rom 2018) That's your May 2019 stats. Huge jump in users. If your "facts" are based on several years back, statistically your information is not only insulting but outdated. You need a new survey and final point. Unless you hold the opinion that people cannot change, your argument holds no water. The MMPI (Minnesota multi phasic inventory) is the best survey of an individual ever created. It's also the most widely used. The accuracy is better than any other psychological test out there. (If you are unfamiliar with it, it's the one that asks 600 yes or no questions) If you have ever taken an MMPI and it was reviewed by a competent analyst, they could describe your personality to a T. But if if you took it more than two years ago, guess what? It's completely invalid. Why? Because all but 2% (way outside the bell curve) of people change over time. Let me say that again, people change over time So I am genuinely curious about what the question was that got "most are capable of making a difference but rarely do". Especially in light of advertising. But however the questions were phrased, there are glaring problems with the results your demo has more than doubled in size the results are invalid due to the survey being outdated. Jim

THANK YOU! That is honestly the nicest thing I've heard all week! I haven't even read what else you wrote! Just kidding glunn. I actually agree with you. I'm somewhat proud that my garbage analogy was, in fact, garbage. Years of listening to Gleeman and the Geek have not been wasted. I'm actually not that bothered by the topic being broached on a baseball site as much as I think it was really mishandled by the owners. I use the bad analogy of the restaurant server because I get why some people were critical. I take exception to the assumptions the owners make when they say "I'm mad as hell at a lot of you" and "much of this readership rarely makes a difference". In a way, I'm agreeing with Nick in the fact that I didn't want to be complicit in the owners assessment of their readers. Thanks again for making my day!

A lot of us aren't posting on this article. But a lot of us are reading it. In a forum that I've found to be based in exceptional writing based on statistics there is a lot of assumptions flying around. Speaking for myself, I happen to agree with the mayor of St Paul, the governor and a few dozen other folks that have publicly stated that there is a difference in the heartbreaking reasons people rightfully feel the need to protest and the people who are instigating the riots. The Mayor of St Paul, the governor etc have said the rioters are different people who have a different agenda. If that makes you mad as hell at me, then ok. I'd like to call shenanigans on that one Nick. I've done a good amount of analytics for my clients. If you have a statistic that backs up this statement I'd love to read it and I will take back my call of shenanigans. If you said "My fear is that much of this site's readership..." then fine. That's an understandable opinion. But stating it as fact is wrong. And Nick if your next question is "What have you done to ever make a difference?" I wouldn't suggest it. I am 99.9% sure that my resume for helping those in need beats yours. And if it doesn't, I would totally buy you a beer. I, like everyone else here, love baseball and enjoys reading articles written by people who are way smarter than me on that topic. I visit the sponsors of your events and this page. I don't post a lot but I love to see people dive into the deepest minutia about a player or some stat I don't quite understand. But as a listener to one of the owner's podcast, I'd like to try my hand at a garbage analogy. Imagine going into my favorite restaurant. I'm looking forward to another amazing meal. But when I'm ready to order, the server tells me the world is in a shambles because of global warming and if I'm not talking about it, I'm complicit in causing it. I might agree that global warming is a huge deal, but at that particular moment, I'm just looking for a burger. From what I know of the owners of this site, I genuinely like them. And if the owners had used their collective influence to say "Hey TD readers, we all love and miss baseball but it's nothing compared to the tragedy of George Floyd. We need to come together and we would like our baseball community to be a force for change! So join us on (whatever day) at (whatever place), bring non perishable food and your checkbooks, listen to our stories from the protests, help us to do our part to bring peace and justice to our town. Donate some of the money you would have spent on Twins tickets this season. Let's stand together with and for those who are scared for their lives" That would have been a $ six figure event.

I'm mad as hell at a lot of you from preventing change from happening But you're mad as hell at a lot of us. Why is that?

I’m watching the 91 series. I’m really impressed as to how well the video plays almost 30 years later.

I guess I’m not sure how the twins were cheated out of anything. They won their division with 101 wins. Now if it came out that the Yankees cheated, then I’d be upset. In the overarching baseball world, the Astros shouldn’t be recognized as champions of anything. And if they find the same thing in Boston, same deal.

So here’s what I struggle with. Nobody wants to define what an “ace” looks like. Apparently it’s like being in love. You just know it when you see it. If you hit .300 you’re a great hitter. If you steal 30 bases, you’re speedy. If you’re over 40 and left handed pitcher, you’re crafty. etc. Berrios had 14 wins, an ERA under 4.00 and almost 200 strikeouts. I think there is a legitimate argument that he has “Ace” numbers. (Granted 14 wins isn’t something to tout but I was at a couple of those games he didn’t win and the offense did not help him out)

I think it would be great to have Pineada back. I thought the qualifying offer was a bad idea for him was a bad idea and I’m glad the Twins felt the same. 1/10 would make sense to me but I don’t know anything about baseball.

The Twins could make this right by offering a contract to him that makes this bad faith move irrelevant.

What if the Twins also consider (and hear me out on this) moving Sano to catcher? Even better, we could have everyone move one position to the right.

it’s like there is this unspoken understanding of “what makes an ace”. I’ve always assumed ace translated into “he’s the best guy to put us in position to win a game and he does it a lot”. But we have been able to say that about Berrios for a while now. So what qualities define an ace? (Not just asking you Diehard)

I honestly don’t understand why he’s not considered an ace now. What piece is he missing?

I would have if they were gong to give him 17 million bucks for a year. And this is apples and oranges I’m not against signing Pineda. I’m against a qualifying offer when he screwed his team over. I would bet there’s more than a few in the Twins clubhouse who would agree with me, maybe even Polanco.

He’s an older player that got paid by the twins to rehab and then got busted for a banned substance. His action clearly hurt the Twins playoff run. And he gets rewarded with $17 million? I don’t care if he doesn’t get paid for 35 games this is a lousy message to players and a bad game plan for the Twins.

When we win the 2019 World Series despite the loss of Pineda (and possibly Cruz) it will be one of the most dramatic seasons in baseball history.

I'm saying there is fiscal conservatism in not spending over 50% on one player, regardless if you spend the full amount. Yes I think their primary goal is profits over a championship. And i would think that it would be more profitable to invest in a new GM and an analytics department to appease the public than it would be to invest $15-$20 million more in players. I think if you look at the moves ever since the Pohlad sons have taken over, they all make sense from a profits standpoint not from the point of working past a "building season".

No I understand how the draft works but I appreciate the recap. I will take the lack of response to the front office expenditures that you probably agree with me that the front office moves aren't that expensive.

Well first I would disagree with you that the hiring of multiple employees is that expensive. I might be completely offbase but if a new analytics department increased overhead by a million dollars, I'd be shocked. So no I don't think these things are expensive in baseball standards. The Twins are well below average in staffing and in player salaries. (They might be up closer to par now as far as office staff) And yes I think that if I'm directed by my boss (and again this is a theory) that profits were of utmost importance over World Championships, then not dropping the maximum on the number one pick might be more profitable in the long run.

Do you think an analytics department costs a lot? That's really the only increase in costs that you've listed.

I'm not suggesting they're making draft choices. What I am suggesting is that if you are a GM who was told that their top priority is profits and not a championship, that's influence enough. It's just a theory, but all of the signings and moves made since the sons took over make a lot more sense from a profitability view than they do if you're looking to build a championship team

None of the Twins moves make much sense under the premise that the Pohlads want the Twins to win an eventual World Series. I've been convinced by a friend that this is a flawed premise. If you view Twins moves with the premise that the Pohlads want to have a profitable season, all the moves make perfect sense.