Ben B

They've had a lot of awful one-year deals, but it's hard to call any of them worst ever. It has to be Nolasco, for total dollars, years committed, and on-field performance. Mike Lamb is an underrated stinker. He was pretty good for Houston and was just cooked when he came here. That was a two-year deal I think, and he didn't even finish year one.

Echoing what others have already said, but I like Donaldson. He was one of my favorite non-Twins players when he was with the A's and Blue Jays and I was pumped when they signed him. I've always been a fan of guys like him who play with fire and emotion, and the Twins haven't really had a guy like that since Pierzynski (who I also liked!). His contract is unfortunate, but that's not his fault. My vote goes to guys like Nolasco, Lynn, and Worley who just moped around and were terrible.

I replied with it on Twitter, but the Brian Harper giant cell phone card is up there. Also the Johan 2000 Topps Finest and Fleer Tradition rookies.

I was shocked at first, but I like this move. Maybe they think Graterol's arm won't hold up or he's a reliever long term. Falvine have earned the benefit of the doubt from me, but even if Graterol turns into a stud starter in 5 years, I won't be mad for 1 second. Window is wide open, let's win now.

I have no opinion except that, years ago, when Chacin was first in the majors, a friend of mine named his fantasy team "When Jhoulys Expect It." For this reason alone, I'm in favor of this signing.

I love this idea. I once saw a Bret Boone Twins jersey -- jersey, not a shirsey -- at the Dome. A friend of mine has a Nishioka one he got on clearance somewhere for a couple bucks. Personally, I have Carl Pavano and Bartolo Colon shirseys that I wear regularly, along with my more standard Johan Santana one.

Dozier's was to left though, it seems a little tougher to hit it out that way. A moderately hard line drive to right field goes over the fence. The whole park is ridiculous.

Yeah, the Yankees are just better. It's disappointing but pretty much what I expected. Besides the false hope of the first inning, this wasn't some heartbreaker or late blown lead like so many of their Yankees postseason losses. Can we talk about that right field fence though? I think the Gregorius and Gardner homers (and Rosario's) went about 250 feet each.

Got my ticket! At last year's Twins Fest I asked Scott Erickson if he was going to the Meltdown again (I knew he wasn't, I just wanted to chat). He tried to play along, but clearly had no idea what I was talking about, lol. I guess the appearances run together for a professional athlete after a while.

Sidney Ponson. Absolutely baffling how that guy kept getting work. His last OK season was 2003. From 2004-09 he had a 5.82 ERA in 663 innings.

I was at Twins Fest tonight and got Scott Erickson's autograph. Just to make conversation, I asked him if he'd be at the Twins Daily Meltdown again (I know he wasn't an announced guest, but you never know). He tried to play along, but he clearly had NO idea what I was talking about. Funny stuff...I guess for a professional athlete it all just runs together.

After I bought my ticket I got an email that said "We will send you another email when your items have been shipped." I thought all tickets were will call?

I'm a longtime autograph collector. At one point I had over 5,000 signed baseball cards before I recently sold the bulk of it to focus primarily on collecting Twins players. From many years of going to Twins Fest, I had amassed autographs of roughly half of the players to ever suit up for the Twins in their history - through 2015, I believe the total number was 765 players. I recently started a project to get that other half - autographs of every former player, including the guys who came up for 15 at-bats or whatever and were never heard from again. It's been a ton of fun combing through old rosters, remembering some long-forgotten players, and learning about the older teams of the 60s and 70s. Many of the guys I needed were easy to locate, and I'm down to needing autographs from about 150 former Twins to complete the project. Many of them deceased or living in foreign countries. Some will be nearly impossible - Herman Hill and Don R. Williams, for instance - but that won't stop me from trying! P.S. - if any other collectors feel like helping a guy out, I can send the list of players I need :-)

That is an 80 grade headline.

Berardino is on the radio now. He said he asked about outfield defense and gay marriage because those are the two things fans were talking about the most in regards to the Hunter signing. This guy is a great beat writer, we're lucky to have him in our market.

Regardless of your views on the subject or what you think of the signing (I dislike it), Torii calling him a prick in what was supposed to be a feel-good introductory press conference was immensely stupid.

My list was not comprehensive I'd be fine with Cuellar.

With his track record, the Cubs would be crazy to let Bosio go. I'd hire him in a heartbeat. I would like any of the pitching coaches that have a reputation for turning around careers. Ray Searage, Bosio, Mickey Callaway come to mind. It's unlikely to steal one of those guys, so I'd go after an organizational guy from one of the teams that consistently have good pitching like the Cardinals. Also put me down for wanting nothing to do with Jack Morris or Bert Blyleven. The old-school attitudes of those two are the opposite direction the Twins should be going.

I'm stunned. Pleasantly surprised, but I thought when they extended him last year that he basically had a job for life.

I live a few hours from Minneapolis, so it's tough for me to see games live anyway. However, in the past, and even into 2011 and 2012 I'd make the trip a few times a year. This season and last season, though, I went to two and one games respectively. And only when I had friends and family going. There is absolutely no incentive for out-of-towners to go to Target Field anymore to see baseball. Even buying a cheap ticket on stubhub, it's not worth the time and money to use all that gas, pay $15-20 for parking, and then get bled dry on the concession prices too. The last game I went to was a gorgeous Saturday night in August against a good team (the Tigers), and I felt like I was in a graveyard at Target Field. The crowd was not into it and barely paying attention. I felt like I had to use my inside voice. Some of what's gone wrong with the Twins with injuries and such was out of their control, but they seemingly shoot themselves in the foot at every possible opportunity - especially from a PR standpoint. It's about to get seriously ugly if changes aren't made this offseason.

You know what I find the most strange? That the Twins are putting up these pitiful strikeout rates year in and year out, while the rest of MLB is striking batters out at an insane pace. It's not like this is 1998. It feels like we're living in a bubble following this team.

I have been a harsh Gardenhire critic in the past, but I've actually softened my stance on him during this four-year run. There's not a manager in baseball that could've won with this group of players. I would still like to see him replaced with someone more forward-thinking. It's just time for a change there, as long as his replacement isn't somebody on the current coaching staff. Everything about the organization feels stale. With Anderson it's similar. No coach could've turned these terrible pitching staffs into good ones. However - there is a serious problem with pitchers struggling here and succeeding elsewhere, more so than with position players. It's reached a point where Anderson needs to take the fall for that.

I was ready to tear my hair out by the end of his tenure, but I agree that it was really refreshing to have a GM who was aggressive once in a while. The Delmon trade did look OK on paper, and the Johan trade didn't look that bad either even if we could've gotten more out of the Yankees or Red Sox. He signed Sano, too. I doubt TR would've made that move. It was the trades he made later plus the Nishioka signing that made it all go up in flames, and he deserved to lose his job for it. I'm lukewarm on TR at this point, and it would've been nice to have them go outside the org. for Smith's replacement.