coddlenomore

Yes, it does bug most of us that capps sucks and he is hurt. But lets remember last year when he was hurt most of the year but sucked it up and played. Mauer will never get credit for that. He is flat out incapable of such manning up! As for your point that higher salary doesnt equal higher output.....are you out of your mind? think AROD doesnt have higher expectations then everyone on the Yankees? When you sign a guy who was coming off of a MVP to 183 million dollar contract, you have very high expectations. If Mauer was in New York they would destroy him for this me first non sense. He would be hated 10 times worse then AROD! People in Minnesota live in a very strange bubble...I just do not understand how Mauer continues to get away with it. Minnesota nice I guess...

Joey, Hey bro, you are right! I play when I feel like it just like you do. Heck, my fans are almost as stupid as yours...but do you really think they are going to fall for that excuse?...lol...I sure hope so! I really hope I can sign a monster contract like yours and then become a diva!...How fantastic life must be for you!....Home town always forgivin untradeable hero who the press protect no matter what kind of non-playing excuse you make up! You have showed me the way, just like you did when you left a hint of the plate for me to slide to....I now get it, you were pretending to be tuff and block the plate but secretely giving me a back door and I missed it...My bad! But hey, you got your days off and everyone fell for it so I guess you owe me one now! Till we meeat again (nicely next time!), Rickie

Joey, Hey bro, you are right! I play when I feel like it just like you do. Heck, my fans are almost as stupid as yours...but do you really think they are going to fall for that excuse?...lol...I sure hope so! I really hope I can sign a monster contract like yours and then become a diva!...How fantastic life must be for you!....Home town always forgivin untradeable hero who the press protect no matter what kind of non-playing excuse you make up! You have showed me the way, just like you did when you left a hint of the plate for me to slide to....I now get it, you were pretending to be tuff and block the plate but secretely giving me a back door and I missed it...My bad! But hey, you got your days off and everyone fell for it so I guess you owe me one now! Till we meeat again (nicely next time!), Rickie

Really....there are people out here you are actually not annoyed with his constant and forever (yes, his entire carreer!) missing of games for suspect injuries?.....183 million, my expectations are a gamer....he could not be farther from that!!

Dear Joe, I understand during our series I slid into you at home plate and you were a little bit upset about my slide. I heard you say you had left me part of the plate to slide to and you didnt understand why i slid so hard into you. Well Joe, I have never had a catcher leave me part of the plate to slide into. Knowing you and your well earned "gamer" mentality I never imagined that you would leave even an inch of the plate left unblocked. You with your "winning at all costs" attitude, I was sure you would take one for the team and block that plate....but I was wrong. I understand you got bruised by said slide. But I was postive you would be back out there ASAP to help your team win. But I heard while reading the star tribune you were running with no problems at all on tuesday....but you did not play. I am sorry....I must have hurt your feelings to! Sorry Joe, I was feeling real down about what I did to you...how dare me think of the team first and play so hard and tuff. Thats when my buddy Torii Hunter called me and said " "Some people have to play at 100 percent, and Joe may be one of those guys. I've seen it happen. Joe is a good player, and he wants to perform at 100 percent, not at 80 percent." I know bruises can be tuff....so can foul tips of the mask, general soreness, bi- lateral leg weakness...Well, I sure hope you get better Joe. I hope you get back out there soon. With Love, Rickie Weeks

Dear Joe, I understand during our series I slid into you at home plate and you were a little bit upset about my slide. I heard you say you had left me part of the plate to slide to and you didnt understand why i slid so hard into you. Well Joe, I have never had a catcher leave me part of the plate to slide into. Knowing you and your well earned "gamer" mentality I never imagined that you would leave even an inch of the plate left unblocked. You with your "winning at all costs" attitude, I was sure you would take one for the team and block that plate....but I was wrong. I understand you got bruised by said slide. But I was postive you would be back out there ASAP to help your team win. But I heard while reading the star tribune you were running with no problems at all on tuesday....but you did not play. I am sorry....I must have hurt your feelings to! Sorry Joe, I was feeling real down about what I did to you...how dare me think of the team first and play so hard and tuff. Thats when my buddy Torii Hunter called me and said " "Some people have to play at 100 percent, and Joe may be one of those guys. I've seen it happen. Joe is a good player, and he wants to perform at 100 percent, not at 80 percent." I know bruises can be tuff....so can foul tips of the mask, general soreness, bi- lateral leg weakness...Well, I sure hope you get better Joe. I hope you get back out there soon. With Love, Rickie Weeks

My goodness...I would like to say we have hit rock bottom, but i doubt it! Thanks Terry Ryan, we had the wonderfull Clete Thomas in the lineup and Drew Buter on our bench..lol Please, some one please, explain to me how any of you can have any faith in this joke of an organization?.....what is our future plan? What is our present plan?.....This is with out question the worst run twins team I have ever seen....at least in the early 80s we had a young core andtok there lumps before they got good.....what the hell do have to look forward to with this joke of a team?.....and unlike most of you, my rant before the season started....terrible...but thanks Mr. Ryan, you saw our problems and got Clete (BLANK) Thomas and brought back Drew Butera from the minors.......DREW BUTERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!....

My goodness...I would like to say we have hit rock bottom, but i doubt it! Thanks Terry Ryan, we had the wonderfull Clete Thomas in the lineup and Drew Buter on our bench..lol Please, some one please, explain to me how any of you can have any faith in this joke of an organization?.....what is our future plan? What is our present plan?.....This is with out question the worst run twins team I have ever seen....at least in the early 80s we had a young core andtok there lumps before they got good.....what the hell do have to look forward to with this joke of a team?.....and unlike most of you, my rant before the season started....terrible...but thanks Mr. Ryan, you saw our problems and got Clete (BLANK) Thomas and brought back Drew Butera from the minors.......DREW BUTERA!!!!!!!!!!!!!....

I understand we have many issues right now.....but I would assume with the loss of blachburn and the question marks with marquis and now Liriano, I would think pitching would require some urgency.....But thank god for Terry Ryan!!...He made me realize that everything can be fixed by stopping the arbitration clock on Ben Revere and then picking up Clete Thomas cause "we have always liked that guy!".....Can anyone tell me how a guy who strikes out a third of his at bats in the MINOR LEAGUES is going to help us??....thanks Terry! Love the team first money second approach you continue pretend to embrace....how about some proof just once?.....Ah, so nice to have a team in Minnesota nice isn't it Terry??

I understand we have many issues right now.....but I would assume with the loss of blachburn and the question marks with marquis and now Liriano, I would think pitching would require some urgency.....But thank god for Terry Ryan!!...He made me realize that everything can be fixed by stopping the arbitration clock on Ben Revere and then picking up Clete Thomas cause "we have always liked that guy!".....Can anyone tell me how a guy who strikes out a third of his at bats in the MINOR LEAGUES is going to help us??....thanks Terry! Love the team first money second approach you continue pretend to embrace....how about some proof just once?.....Ah, so nice to have a team in Minnesota nice isn't it Terry??

Hard to argue with the point that we were geared to mash......just wonder if that theory will change not that we clearly are no longer that team. Gardy always plays it safe and risking a hit and run or a stolen base I fear may not be his strong suite....but I hope im wrong here!

I have always been perplexed through recent years with the Twins so called approach of doing the "little" things to win baseball games. We were even called the piranhas by Ozzie (man....I already miss him) and had those Punto type guys who had no pop what so ever, but played the game right. I wont focus on the defensive side because I believe the Twins deserve credit through the years for being a top notch defensive teams with last year being the exception. Now with target field and two years of no power, you would assume we do those little ball things right? I do not want to go to inside ball here (I welcome anyone who will!), but lets focus on a few of those "little thing" stats. How about stole bases? We are loaded with speed right? We have Casilla, Span, Revere, and even Nishi. Last year we stole 92 bases and ranked 22nd in baseball. 2010, we stole a whopping 68 bases and finished 26th in baseball. How about sacrifice bunts? You know, run around out there and "get guys moving" as Gardy would say. Last year we finished 27th in baseball and in 2010 we were 24th. For those stat heads out there, how often do the Twins hit and run? The last 19 games I have attended last year, not once. So target field plays big....REAL BIG! We have a team with not much pop at all. Hmm...yet we do the little things? All I see is Gardy glaring at anyone who dares get caught stealing or picked off, a team that damn near never bunts, and a team that is not patient at the plate (26th in baseball last year in walks per at bat). Sorry folks, we do not play big ball, that is evident. Do we play little ball?....im not seeing it at all.

I have always been perplexed through recent years with the Twins so called approach of doing the "little" things to win baseball games. We were even called the piranhas by Ozzie (man....I already miss him) and had those Punto type guys who had no pop what so ever, but played the game right. I wont focus on the defensive side because I believe the Twins deserve credit through the years for being a top notch defensive teams with last year being the exception. Now with target field and two years of no power, you would assume we do those little ball things right? I do not want to go to inside ball here (I welcome anyone who will!), but lets focus on a few of those "little thing" stats. How about stole bases? We are loaded with speed right? We have Casilla, Span, Revere, and even Nishi. Last year we stole 92 bases and ranked 22nd in baseball. 2010, we stole a whopping 68 bases and finished 26th in baseball. How about sacrifice bunts? You know, run around out there and "get guys moving" as Gardy would say. Last year we finished 27th in baseball and in 2010 we were 24th. For those stat heads out there, how often do the Twins hit and run? The last 19 games I have attended last year, not once. So target field plays big....REAL BIG! We have a team with not much pop at all. Hmm...yet we do the little things? All I see is Gardy glaring at anyone who dares get caught stealing or picked off, a team that damn near never bunts, and a team that is not patient at the plate (26th in baseball last year in walks per at bat). Sorry folks, we do not play big ball, that is evident. Do we play little ball?....im not seeing it at all.

Compare these players when they were both in there prime...not now. Also, has anyone ever questioned how or why Hunter was hurt? Never. Apples and oranges.

I agree with the expanded playoff concept totally! If you look at times before we had any WC teams, it was all about winning your division and if you were in a tough division, your team might be screwed for years. The WC format changed that and allowed the 2nd best team in each league to get in with little or no penalty for being the fourth best team in your league. Yes, I know who were slotted to play the best team in your league unless your were from the same division. This just ended up with the Yankees and the Redsox playing other teams every year. Now we expand playoffs to one more team in each league and allow for much longer regular season drama. Then the playoffs start and the teams that squeaked into the playoffs have to fight for there lives to win a one game playoff to get to the next round....How can that possibly be bad for baseball? Fantastic move and I applaud MLB for doing it!