Original_JB

Gotta disagree...... TastyKake Butterscotch Krimpet

Yeah, that's right, I forgot to include the 'Rat' in my comment too. Ryan Reaves doesn't exactly please me either, and here I'm stuck with him on the Wild.

Hmmm, the only player I really, really had disdain for was ol' Crooked Cap when he was with the Tribe. Didn't hate him so much when he was with the Yankees, but they had their own pile of dislike --- But not as bad as: Minnesotan Yankees fans, you know, the ones that all have Yankees hats, jerseys, and load up Target Field when NY comes to town, but don't know any of the players and are reduced to "C'mon number "X", get a hit" or "number 20, sign my ball".

Improved fundamentals (physically AND mentally) from both the players and the staff.

Dozier aka "Prell"

First off, I like the game as old school as possible "rules"-wise. No shift banning, no ghost, 3 batter minimum. However, I like the idea of the electronic umpire, pitch clock and keeping the batters in the batter's box. Things that can help shorten the game without "changing" it. But, since people are complaining about ALL games running too long, why not just go to an 8 inning game? You could (in theory), use one less reliever a game. and shorten the game up by 20+ mins --just like that. They obviously don't give a rat's behind about screwing with all the other 'traditions' of the game, why not this as well? Or go to a 6 inning game with 4 outs per inning (again, totaling 24 instead of 27 outs, but also eliminating 3 "between innings" time chunks, both of which would reduce overall game time).

It is what it is, but part of me is utterly exhausted with the constant train of "If/Could" starting pitchers on this team, going back to I'd say, the Phil Hughes era. The number of articles written about the rotation where almost every single starter's writeup included an If/Could disclaimer...

I had a great time when I did this trip a few years ago. I got the "roof closed" version, and it reminded me of a giant airplane hanger. The tailgating setup is a lot of fun and people take it seriously with how elaborate of a setup they can put up. Lots of breweries, driving into/through town it reminded me of an endless version of NE Mpls, with a corner bar on every corner, seemingly forever. If you have any passion for bowling, Holler House is the oldest bowling alley in the U.S. It's a bar basement 2 laner. It's not 'out of the way' and so to me, worth a stop. In regards to the lack of Chi games, there are 6:30p.m. starts in Beloit for the SkyCarp on Thr-Sat if you like High A ball. Kind of gives you an old time park reset after a couple games in MIL.

All things being equal, I'd rather play these "most talented" teams early in the season, before they build momentum and get on a roll. I believe we have a better shot of winning while guys are still fine tuning and managers are still sorting out their day to day gameplans. Everything is a bit more volatile early in the season, try to take advantage of it.

Not sure what it should be, but one that says you like/agree with the post, but don't like what that means (ramification-wise) --- one that doesn't make it seem like you're shooting the messenger who delivers bad news.

I saw the picture that goes with the article and thought, "hmmm, looks like they've got the 2024 alternative jersey figured out".

Sounds like a right handed David West. Hopefully, they have better luck.

It's a calculated risk, no different than buying a car with a "new" transmission or a discounted price on an open box, "refurbished" big screen TV at CostCo. "Should" be OK, and probably will, but until you reach a certain time with it, you'll always have that little worry about things going wrong. So, I guess we'll have to wait and see how it shakes out. That said, after the "Dior" comment, Carlos Correa will forever be "CostCo" to me. Heck, it even sounds good as a cheer, "Let's Go, CostCo, cha cha cha"

I guess it makes the team better overall, so in that I'm glad. I'll want to puke every time they play up the "I really like it here and wanted to be here", "this was really my 1st choice", "these are the guys I want to win with" LIES, LIES, and more LIES. You wanted max dollars, period. Don't even try to lie about it. You literally agreed to deals with two other teams already, so don't go trying to blow smoke up everyone's ass.

Now, I don't like the guy either, but your off the cuff comment is painting with too wide a brush here. Factually, what do we know? 1 woman, 2 incidents, after which (in both cases) she stayed the night with him. Has there been any other "pattern" of abuse mentioned anywhere or anytime else? I guess I haven't seen it. And again, I don't want him and don't like what he did, but, there were no charges either. So, I try to not make what I call "pitchfork" comments like the above, because then they start to get quoted as "fact", when in actuality, we have no idea.

F. Other; really depends upon the parameters of said contract. Had they been making other offseason moves to boost our depth/quality in other places, and got away from the '10 years' nonsense (unless the price comes down), I guess I'd still be 'ok' with it, but it wouldn't really excite me much because what did we do with him last year in what should be his prime years, didn't get us there. I hate to say "we all know" here, but we all know if they do sign him to a long term deal, that's the only 'big time' FA we will have on this team, and we'd need to see a LOT of 'growth' and 'development' from who we currently have to 'grow our own' (underpaid per performance) stars enough to really be a threat.

Not quite the same thing, but the Wild are on my sh*tlist that way for acquiring Ryan Reaves. Which is odd, as I didn't really get that worked up when they got Cooke, but he did seem to have cleaned up his act a bit at that point. Reaves..... ahh, I don't know, it's like he's deliberately playing the edge of legality, trying to bait someone into swinging at him, and outside of playing a brick wall, all he's for is to protect KK. But I just don't like it, just like that wet rat Marchand, but at least he has hockey skills.

I was looking back on my life, And all the things I've done to me; I'm still looking for the answers, I'm still searching for the key

As a kid growing up and with Cal Griffith owning the team, I always knew that the team would never have much of a payroll, or the best players, and not be as competitive as I would like, but would take solace that we always had young "hungry" players giving 110% to, I hate to say it but, to make it to the next level (play for another team). The number of guys they let go over the years seemed staggering. But, at the time, I also stated that I'd much rather have the team we did, than a bunch of overpaid divas resting on their laurels (while still being a lousy team) like the Orioles of that era. So that, and my best friend and I both played (through H.S.) and loved the game, and until he passed away suddenly 10 years ago, we would sit on the phone arguing the live game we were watching on the tube (each at home) on strategy, and either how excessively long, or frustratingly short Gardie would leave his relievers in. For better or worse, I still have those arguments with him from time to time. So maybe it's the game moreso than the Twins, but I've lived here pretty much my whole life so that's where I'm at. If I moved to another major league town, I'm sure I'd end up following them (but would always still "check in" with my Twins).

2 Vikings (back-to-back) 2 Wild (couple years apart) 1 Twins (they'd get more, but I don't want them thinking that their current philosophy on 'how to win' justifies more than that) 0 'Wolves (wonder if they'll go with "Supersonics" when they move to Seattle?)

Just turned 58 myself last month. And believe me, it's not what I want to see happen, but the "price" per WAR, as it were, seems like we're just turning the corner to the upward curve in a classic "hockey stick" graph.

I'm not just talking about the Twins, I'm talking about the viability of the league as a whole if they don't get their financial workings sorted out. Having teams where 1 player (not yet, but close) makes more than another team's entire roster is not going to make it financially over the long haul. If they don't split into a Premier League styled upper/lower bracket or start sharing ALL tv revenue or something, IMO there's less than 20 years left of the game/league as we know it.

Yup. I'm well aware of that. Makes me wonder if (like I've heard they might) the MLB, NHL, and NBA leaderships are actually thinking about/pursuing a buyout of Diamond; at the same time, I've also heard that the leagues have resolved themselves as to needing a 'viable' broadcaster and while not liking Diamond, they have a (semi-) working product in place.

I think the upcoming contract talks with Bally's/Sinclair for the broadcast rights is going to have some effect on what happens going forward. Joe Pohlad is no dummy, and I think he sees that the financial numbers are getting way out of control, especially with each team having portions of its own, unshared broadcast $$$. I believe the Dodgers just signed a 25 year $8.35B deal of which they'll get about $250M a year and "sharing" $120M/yr with the rest of league. Without the finances changing, it's going to be harder to "keep up" with the bigger spending teams in the coming years. If the Twins aren't able to secure a large enough deal in their new TV contract, I can see the Pohlads start looking for buyers. Get out while the gettins' good. Sure, the team will still be 'profitable' but it will be harder to keep it that way as time goes on. Without "winning", it's going to be hard to justify higher ticket prices, so do they just shift to the Pirates/Red/Marlins/Rays/A's method and keep the payroll down and play "Washington Generals" going into the future? To me, I'd cash out before owning a non-competitive team that was "making money" but not very good and the fans have gone apathetic. *Edited to add: I guess I don't know how much they care, but again if it was me, I wouldn't want the legacy of the team going down the crapper on my watch regardless of the reasons for it, and would sell the team before letting it come to that.