Dave The Dastardly

Several months back I suggested the Twins let Buxton ride the bench until after the All-Popular Game. That way Buck might actually be healthy and available to keep the team from repeating the Dreaded 2022 End Of Season Fade. Now I fear Rocco may have read that post and taken it seriously. It was tongue-in-cheek, Rocco! Tongue-in-cheek!

As others have already mentioned the real question is how Rocco envisions using, or not using, a designated long reliever. A two-inning guy, in my mind, isn't a "long" reliever. But for Rocco, who seems to favor 4 or 5 innings for starters, two innings is probably close to an eternity.

Someone should invent a Dickhead Scanner. Put one at every gate to keep out the riff-raff. Maybe give them an electric shock as we send them on their way. I applaud your group for standing up to the a$$holes.

Snow out?

I attended a number of Twins/Brewer games in my younger days and whether it was in Wisconsin or in Minnesota I loved the camaraderie between opposing fans. Lot of joking and teasing but always in good taste. I miss that. "Hate" is a pretty strong word, but I extremely dislike the Yankees. Same reasons as others have mentioned; the press overplaying everything a Yankee does on the field (don't recall which play-off game it was but the camera always went to Jeter even when he was sitting on the bench while the other team batted - a guy from the other team hit the ball, the camera went to Jeter). Jeter was at best an average fielder but yet he won Gold Gloves. Give me a break. The second reason I dislike the Evil Empire is how MLB constructed the schedule so Yankees/Red Sox played each other constantly instead of maintaining a more balanced schedule that forces them to play every team the same number of games. Oh yeah, and I hate (yeah, I know) how the Twins always seem to choke when playing the Yankees. Gotta admit though the worst "annoying fan" game I ever attended was a Vikings game. Half a dozen twenty-somethings, all guys, were right behind my brother and myself and our two young sons. The twenty-somethings were drunk, puffing on left-handed tobacco, which they exhaled in our direction, and were loud and obscene. We left early and I've never attended a Viking game since. Gopher football games though have always been great. Love how the fans get into the game without being horses' hinders.

"rigright-handedckup" Sorry, not familiar with this position. Is it similar to the "lefrov-footedckup"? Just on the other side of the field?

I'll wager a Grain Belt that Miranda will lead the 2023 team in RBIs. Assuming of course Rocco doesn't have him bat behind three guys who can't get on base...

My point being the Twins FO, which proclaimed it was going to establish a pipeline of team-produced talent, has apparently been unable to do so. Unless I'm mistaken, all the SPs listed were acquired via trade. Ipso facto; the pipeline is either plugged, or it leaks like a sieve.

No Twins Pipeline Pitchers among the starters? Say it ain't so!

Sounds like the Charge of the Light Brigade. Once more onto the breach?

You made a logical, rational, well-thought-out argument. Sure to draw a lot of pushback.

Sounds like a typical MLB balls-up.

Thou Shall Want

Given Winder has been stricken with the Twins' Dreaded Impingement Malaise, thus suggesting reduced time on the mound until, if ever, he fully recovers I'd say the logical path forward for the man leads straight to the bullpen. With a slow build-up he might actually prove to be the proverbial long reliever much bemoaned as lacking by many TD followers. And there is nothing to prevent moving Winder from the pen into a starting role, if he's no longer impinged, as other starters fall by the wayside. Impingement, as we have come to learn, runs rampant through the Twins staff, as well as through Twins fans; the latter perhaps from hoisting too many desultory libations.

Very interesting. Farmer is superfluous now that the Prodigal Son has returned. Not many teams would carry a starting quality shortstop for a "spare" and doing so blocks a couple of our Pipeline Shortstops from getting a taste of the Bigs filling Farmer's spot on the bench. I'd say make a deal; Farmer and maybe one of our retread outfielders (Hello Gallo) for LA's best catcher prospect.

I've always had a soft spot for KC, mostly because I was living in Eau Claire, WI back in the 70's and met Tom Poquette (Eau Claire native who was an outfielder for KC) thru his brother. Nice guys, both of them. KC had a helluva roster in the 70's, most notably Hall of Famer George Brett and two time Cy Young pitcher Bret Saberhagen. It seemed the team was always in the play-offs. I liked that, that a small market team could be a continual serious pennant contender and always hoped the Twins would learn a few lessons from KC's success. Unfortunately, it seems both teams need more than a few baseball lessons these days. Regardless, I still root for both. Maybe I need a few fandom lessons myself.

Another "sure fire" reclamation project? Or Dumpster Diving? Not only not blowing up my skirt I don't even feel a breeze.

Nice comparison; Ryan to Radke. Radke was a rock, a cerebral, dependable, stopper. He often gave up a run or two in the early innings, but had his team ahead or still in the game when he left in the later innings. Like they say down south; he "out thunk" opposing batters. And like you, I see Ryan's resemblance to Radke. We should be so lucky to have Ryan replicates Radke's career.

If Ryan is a "true" # 5 for the Twins then Katie bar the door!

My doc calls me mellow yellow... not sure why but I hope it will pass.

I'd offer all the Twins "O"s; Polanco, Gallo, Celestino and Solano. for a talented catcher. A trade like that would also open up a few spots for deserving rookies.

Baffling. I guess we'll have to wait for the Pipeline Guru to descend from the mount and share his wisdom.

Interesting, but I find it confusing when you used different statistical categories to evaluate Yankee hitters; bWar for Judge, OPS+ for Rizzo, OBP for Torres for example, then went totally subjective when comparing Yankee hitters to Twins hitters. Regardless of methodology, I agree with your overall assumption. There is no reason, other than a self-constructed mental barrier in the minds of Twins players and coaches, for their continued embarrassment at the hands of the Evil Empire. But that's my totally data-deprived personal opinion. In other words, probably not worth much. On another matter, I find your comments concerning Donaldson being an "albatross" for the Yankees and the organization unable to find any other team willing to take him off the Yankees' hands telling. Sometimes the best trade a team can make isn't so much what the team "gained" but what they got rid of. Kudos to the FO for sticking the Evil Empire with Donaldson.

Super-utility equates to jack of all trades, master of none. Manager's job is to learn where each player plays at his best and leave him there. It's not a question of where he "can" play, but rather where he excels.

Fragility is not fixable. Nor is it predictable. So parking Buxton on the bench for scheduled "rest days" when he's feeling fine does nothing but lose one more game on the field for him, the team and fans. Play the guy when he's healthy and rest (repair) him when he's not and hope we can squeeze 100 games out of him between IL stays.