Vanimal46

Not sure how much else can be added to this conversation.. TR did cash in initially on Suzuki and Hughes with good, team friendly contracts. It's just frustrating that the FO took the bait and doubled down after Hughes' career year, and Suzuki's career high 1st half. I think we can all admit that we would be talking about Nolasco and Santana under performing their annual contract rate eventually. I just figured we would get at least a good year out of them before we got to this point of being frustrated with them.

When you look at this season overall, sure this was a successful year. Considering most of us had them in the 75-85 win range, they're hopefully going to achieve that while staying relevant in the WC chase. I'm a believer in expectations changing during the season, and there were some things that were not changed that IMO could have made this season even better. And those are the frustrations we've noted all year: - The couple weeks prior to the ASG my expectations grew as the team had the 2nd best record in the AL completely unexpectedly. Instead of building on that momentum, very minimal changes were made to the roster. - Trevor May demotion: He was finding his groove as a starter, until E. Santana came back and caused a disruption in the rotation. I didn't feel he should be the odd man out then, and the 1 month disappearance from high leverage action was mind boggling. - World's longest leashes for unworthy veterans: Tim Stauffer got 3 months worth of paychecks for....reasons. Duensing, Boyer, Robinson all still getting more playing time than I would like. So overall there's been good, and bad, with this season. Who knows, they could get hot in September like they did in May, but I think this season could have been even better with some aggressive moves earlier this season.

No doubt! Entry-level engineers, no matter the discipline (civil, electrical, mechanical, etc.) make some dang good money off the bat.... No chance I am smart enough to know how they do their jobs, but it's nice to make money finding better opportunities for them

hope your son stays on the engineering path! I recruit engineers for a living and know there's a huge demand for them....

Looks like we may be holding off on the Berrios call up for.... Michael Bowden????? WHO?

I hope you're right on the prediction, I'd love to watch him pitch... Call me a skeptic, but I can't see it happening in mid-August at the risk of burning an option year. More likely to see him in September and start the option years in 2016.

Yep, very few on the list push the needle up in significant trade negotiations during this season... This offseason Plouffe would be the best option to use as a feature piece in trade talks for position upgrades. Preferably for younger, near MLB-ready talent at C or SP if they go that route.

Not sure if I'm breaking any news to you, but there's a 85% chance you'll get a contact high at the Techn9ne concert.

You're absolutely right! I forgot they scratched the love song angle of "Circle Me Babe" and made it sound errily similar to Def Leppard's "Pour Some Sugar on Me"

I reckin' he's one of those Cy Young types, Chief. You sure that's how you say his name? Looks like Guh Lardo to me. Daniels is always fixin' to change the rotation. Fight Texas, fight!

That's what dawned on me how big the state is. Took 11 hours of consistent driving to get to OKC from Bloomington. Another 6 the next day to end up in Austin. And 7 hours to get to So. Padre Island from Austin....

That is still true. I could look outside the bedroom window at my last apartment and see a TX state flag waving proudly. It was big enough to be viewed from the International Space station in my estimation.

Way too long to get to the punchline. Creative signs like that cause serious accidents, and doubles my commute.

Potential song titles written by Bert: "HOF" "The Ugly City, Detroit Detroit" "I F'd this up" "Let's do this F'in thing again" "Circle Me Babe" - every band needs a love song Others?

You'd be surprised how you acclimate after a while being in the TX heat. It's currently 105 today, been near 100 for the last week and a half. Sometimes you're too dang hot to sweat! And the beers go down easier too.......

You are correct that it's nearly impossible to be stopped for speeding.... The date: May 2014. I was cruising on I-35 somewhere between Dallas and Austin, traveling 88 in a 70. I look back and see a State Trooper gaining traction on me in the side mirrors (the car was filled to the brim with stuff I was moving down from MN). Brand new, less than 24 hours in my new state, I thought "oh ****, I can't afford a fine right now." I signaled to the right lane and slowed down, anticipating the cherry lights to flick on. INSTEAD, the trooper kept right on moving, going well above 90 MPH, and the sweat stopped dripping down my face.

I think it's still fair and valid to have those discussions with your buddy about player performance and whether or not he should still be on the team. Pro athletes know their performances on the field are filmed, stats are recorded, and compared to athletes internally and externally. Shouldn't be different than questioning whether Bill on the sales team is doing enough to keep his job. His "stats" are recorded in salesforce and brought to light at the sales meeting on Monday morning. Bill outside of work may be rescuing puppies and donating all of his earnings to charity...still valid to question what he's paid to do.

Luckily you can find a couple of safe sanctuaries online with integrity and policies in place to comment on your interests. TD is certainly that for me. I couldn't tell you how many times I've typed in a comment for political/sports discussions on social media, and deleted it all. There's too much stupid involved in social media that it's not worth the trouble.

If the argument to keep Buxton in AAA for the short term is to get him back up to speed, fine, I can live with that. If the argument to keep Buxton in AAA is because of his previous stats and not earning it, that's where I disagree. If we took a poll of all TD posters, the typical range we would see on wins this season would be between 75-85 wins. That's not going to be enough for the playoffs even on the high end of that scale. I would rather sacrifice a couple of wins this year by giving Buxton the at bats and MLB experience to hit the ground running in 2016. Otherwise what's the topic going to be going into next year? I can already see the articles in the Star Tribune now.... Buxton has less than 100 ABs in the MLB..... he's not ready to be the full-time starter. Someone equivalent to Jordan Schafer gets signed to handle the RF or CF position until early June.

The real question that relates towards the Buxton dilemma. Where do you view this team? Do you think they can get through this slump and still be contending in September? Or did you wave the white flag and it's over? If it's the latter, then Torii should begin the decline in playing time to make room for younger talent. A 39 year old should not have the most playing time out of all OF options on a non-contending team.

100% on board with that. I didn't watch his last start, but from what I read he was having troubles with velocity barely getting it to 90 MPH? If that's the case, let him rest, rehab, whatever he needs to do to get right again next season.

I don't claim to remember a vast majority of these guys listed in the trade examples... I recall Luis Castillo working out well. The one that stuck out to me and should include an asterisk is Johan Santana. He was a Rule 5 pick that year. The Twins had the #1 pick, Marlins #2. So essentially they swapped picks (cash received in deal) so the Marlins could select Jared Camp, and the Twins selected Johan. I guess you could consider that a trade? But again, that goes back to the debate of does the credit go to the person scouting the player or the GM turning in the card.....

The only question you need to ask is this. Is Buxton a better option than Shane Robinson? Yes? Great, bring him up.

Completely agree with you Seth. It doesn't make any sense to use an option year on Buxton this year if a week later it's September call up time. He can easily take Shane Robinson's spot on the roster after the rehab session.

Proof from any media outlet that this is for certain? If it is, what a mistake that will be. You shake Torii's hand at the end of the season, tell him thanks for transitioning the team out of the AL Central cellar, and MOVE ON.