Ben B

I'm on the fence with them as well. I was hyped when they were brought in and I still like them, but I want to start seeing results. One thing really starting to annoy me is the players they've given away: Wade, Baddoo, Nick Anderson, Luis Gil, Huascar Ynoa, Tyler Wells. You can excuse one or two of those as bad luck or whatever, but this is a clear problem. That's an entire MLB core they gave away and have literally nothing to show for it. Learn to evaluate your own guys!

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.

I grew up a block from the old Wayzata High School. My dad told me we used to go past the field when they were playing varsity games and I was just captivated by it. In his words, "you just knew it was something you wanted to do". This was when I was about 4 years old. We would go to the high school games and town ball games, and my mom bought me my first baseball cards. A year later we went to my first Twins game. Oh, and this was in 1991. ? I remember watching bits and pieces of the World Series but I fell asleep before any of the games ended. I remember the morning after Game 7 excitedly asking if the Twins had won. From there it turned into an obsession of watching the Twins, playing little league, and collecting cards...and it never stopped.

I agree with most of what's been said about the game itself so I won't write a lot rehashing it. I agree with banning the shift and adding a pitch clock. The game is boring as hell and too long. I'm a cord cutter but I have MLB.TV and I know how to work around the blackouts. I would say I've watched 90% of games this year but always as background noise, and paying attention when there's some action. I can't remember the last time I sat down and watched a full game, even in the playoffs. I'll also tune into other games to watch players that I have on my fantasy team. Even when the Twins are good, I'm almost more invested in my fantasy team than the real team! I'm not sure what that says about the sport, but it can't be good! As for attending, I used to go 10+ games a year at the Metrodome. I've been to maybe 10 at Target Field SINCE 2010! Part of that is aging and having small children, but the cost to go is pricing me out.

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.

I got one in 2000. We were sitting about halfway between home and first near the top of the lower level of the Dome. Ron Coomer hit a bullet toward the empty seat in front of me, and I reached down and caught it on the fly in my glove. The people around me even clapped! I still have it, and it's one of my favorite memories from a game.

Probably the Indians. I was a big fan of Kenny Lofton back in the day, and they're such a fun team now I always root for them when they're not playing the Twins. Just wish they could get over the hump.

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.

I didn't grow up a football fan. Got moderately into it in my 20s when Peterson broke out and paid attention to the Vikings for a few years. Agree with all the posts about concussion issues, domestic violence, NFL being a horrible organization, etc. One thing though, is the games are absolutely BRUTAL to watch. Snap the ball, action for 3 seconds, time out. Commercial. Another snap, action for 3 more seconds! Oh wait, a flag. Time out. Commercial. Rinse and repeat. I know baseball has some similar pacing problems, so maybe I'm just used to it in baseball. I also noticed, just in the short time I was watching games, they started cutting the camera away extremely quickly when a guy got injured. Like they were trying to hide the fact that the sport is violent.

I wonder if this season is a tryout for LaTroy and Torii with an eye on one of them maybe replacing Bert in the future. Or maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part. Bert is obviously checked out and has been for years. He only does, what, 100 games a year? He must be getting sick of it.

Based on talent alone, it should be Santana, Gibson, May, Berrios as your top 4. Hughes can slot in there somewhere if he's healthy but that seems like a big if and I tend to agree that he'd be better used in the bullpen. I still can't fathom why they kept Santiago around. I'd rather see somebody like Mejia or Duffey in the rotation than watch Santiago throwing meatballs every five days. They would likely equal his numbers and have some semblance of upside.

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'm in favor of a Dozier trade, but what I'm looking forward to most are the scorching takes on Star Tribune and other sites on whatever we get back. I was just talking to a diehard White Sox fan who is PISSED about the Sale and Eaton trades. Most fans don't understand stars-for-prospects trades...

They could've just filmed 80 games of the Twins media guide sitting on a table and it would've provided as much insight as Bert.

Valencia gave it a try with a bad 2014 season, but he's managed to continue the Twins' perfect record of players getting better after they leave Minnesota.

I've taken this quiz a few times. Best result was 255/260. I can't remember everyone I missed, but I know that Lew Ford was one of them. I forget him every time.

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 used to live in Willmar, and Anthony Swarzak and Trevor Plouffe came through one year. Plouffe was on the mic giving out signed balls as prizes. They gave out some single balls first. And then he said something like "and for this prize Anthony and I put our balls together..." And the whole room busted out laughing. Plouffe then accused us all of having dirty minds. Another year, everybody laughed at Aaron Hicks because he thought "caravan" literally meant they would get a party bus or something and pick up a bunch of fans and go for a ride.