Charleo

I understand your argument, I really do. I just can't wrap my mind around this. Why not just keep Kepler, who is a better hitter (between two terrible hitters, but still) and is not much of a downgrade from Gallo defensively? That's why I term it "useless." It's the equivalent of going out and getting a defensive catcher when you have 5 Drew Butera's on your 40 man roster....it's redundant, expensive and illogical, Gallo is getting to a point in his career where he is becoming unplayable outside of being a defensive replacement. I expected him to sign somewhere like Kansas City or Pittsburgh for 1 year at $2M to try to rebuild his value. It's just a bit shocking, I guess!

This is the most useless signing I can remember from this FO....and there have been plenty. We have 4-5 left-handed corner outfielders making pennies by comparison who would provide more value. We should have just signed Sano for half that and told him to hit left-handed. It would have made just as much sense and been a lot cheaper. Guess I'll be saving money on MLBTV this summer. Yuck.

Agreed. I was totally done with Gordon, and he has carved out a nice role as a 4th OF/utility INF (at least that's what he should be, if Twins were healthy). I have no patience, which is reason #7854 that I'm not a MLB GM.

Can someone explain how losing Buxton sets us back at all, assuming we get a good trade return? Dude is NEVER healthy! Wouldn't it be better to get some prospects, sign/trade for someone like Marte, and move on? Is Buxton for 60 games better than a player with 70% of his talent for 150 games, plus using his salary to spend elsewhere? I don't understand what I'm missing. He's had 7 years to prove he's durable. He is not.

Unwritten rules in baseball are pretty dumb, but I'm also getting older and grew up with them, and understand why some folks respect them. I get both sides. Someone made the point above, when comparing sports, that baseball isn't timed so it's a little different than, say, an NBA player jacking up a 3 at the buzzer when up by 30. You have to continue play to the end of the game. My problem was his celebration. He/his teammates reacted like he hit a walk off against Babe Ruth. You really want to get back at a team?? My suggestion in the future is to switch from aggressive (hitting a player) to passive-aggressive. If I were Rocco, I would have told my players to sit down in the field and have Tortuga throw 100 consecutive balls. You wanna celebrate? Fine, then we're done throwing it over the plate. Grab a snack, you're going to be here for another 6 hours. And if your reply to me is that this is stupid and petty, you are right, that's kind of what I'm going for

I attended this game. After Cruz hit the HR in the top of the 1st my 15yr old turned to me and said, "Just wait, Happ will give it right back." And not only was he right, but I knew he was right as Cruz was still rounding the bases. There are so many things wrong with this club, and it's hard to watch. It's even worse dropping hundreds of dollars to watch a game that was over by the 3rd inning. At least the weather was nice. Gonna be a long summer....

I mentioned this in the comments of the original "Sano is going to the outfield" article and was roundly flogged for it. Those that took exception noted that Plouffe is slower (not a deal breaker in my opinion) but also that Plouffe is already an above average 3b, so moving him for a player we're unsure of (but would most likely be league average as he's still learning the position) plus putting below average outfield defense out there in Plouffe would be downgrading two positions defensively. Valid points, and I guess it was hard to argue.

I found this article both fascinating and disturbing. Good to hear they appear to be moving away from this philosophy, but man, it makes you wonder how many players got derailed.