Ginsamax

I do understand that Kiriloff will probably be as good or better than Rosario but I think that they will miss him and that the Twins will be worse in his absence. It would be great if they kept him and brought up Kiriloff for a 4 OF rotation sort of situation.

Let's just be clear: LaRussa has a long history of advocating for far right-wing causesLaRussa strongly criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, which is strongly supported by most of the White Sox playersLaRussa is one of the leaders of the "play the game the right way" narrative, which is extremely racially tinged. The things that are not the "right way" include bat flips and big celebrations are often identified with Black and Latin American players (great article by Jeff Passan about this)LaRussa has multiple drunk driving arrests now. In both cases, he was far over the limit and tried to use his celebrity to avoid arrest and complained of being treated unfairly by the police who in these cases were legitimately doing their jobsLaRussa was hired basically in a no interview, good old boy network sort of situation ahead of many more deserving candidates, in contravention of rules that require interviewing minority candidates.The White Sox stars include Abreu, Jimenez, Robert, Moncada, Anderson and Moncada. The hiring is a recipe for disaster. Good for the Twins but bad if you care about fairness, equity or a welcoming environment for the majority of the players.

While I understand that Rosario can be very frustrating, he has probably been our best player over the last 5 years. With his free agency looming and the glut of OF prospects, I do understand the motivation for moving on. I think that we will miss his consistent performance, team leadership and exciting play. For every bone headed play that he makes, he does something that is literally jaw dropping (hitting a walk off home run from one knee or throwing somebody out from 300+ feet among other examples). I think that if you need to trade someone, Kepler would be just as good of an option. He, unlike Rosario, has basically only had 1 and a half good seasons. Buxton, as much as I love him, has never really put it together for a full season. If it were me, I would keep them all and see how next year shakes out.

This is one of the biggest Minnesota news stories of my lifetime (born 1978). Max Kepler put on a Blue Lives Matter mask and made national news. He then made a pithy, half-hearted apology. While I do understand that he is a very young man and was raised in Germany, he is still a public figure and a Twins player. How could a Twins website not cover it? As far as solutions are concerned, would you want Nick Nelson to cite studies about the value of mandatory police training in de-escalation techniques, awareness of white privilege and policy changes regarding the demilitarization of police (should our tax money pay for local police to have tanks and military weapons?) and immediate suspension of officers accused of policy brutality (Chauvin had 17 such accusations)?All of these measures have and are being studied and are working where they are being implemented. Do they belong in an article about Max Kepler? I'm not so sure. It certainly would have been a lot longer. Would the "shut up and dribble" crowd have read it? I have my doubts.

Like many of you, I read Twins Daily for its baseball content. However, I am very impressed and thankful that Nick Nelson posted this thoughtful article. For all of the commentators posting some version of "shut up and dribble," you need to realize that sports is not played in vacuum. The majority of professional athletes are people of color and are deeply affected by police brutality and white supremacy. White people (I am one) need to have empathy and try to understand the fear and rage that come with the real possibility of being murdered solely based upon your skin color. Having empathy is not (or should not be) political. Kepler's actions lacked this empathy and it is impossible to not to lose respect for him. I have never posted in the comments because they often devolve into hot take style negativity that I don't what to be a part of, however I felt it necessary to do so.