Comments on: Holy crap, Posnanski linked to us!

By: Ragstoriches

Ragstoriches — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 21:07:44 +0000

The "5 division titles" defense for Gardy makes no sense to me. Since when does regular season success define greatness? Sorry, but some of us strive for more than the AL Central every year. The guy can't win a playoff game, much less a series. You know what would be one sign of a good manager? Pulling an upset, getting the most out of your team vs. a more talented opponent. His teams play scared in the playoffs. If the Yankees won 5 titles in 8 years or whatever, and won 1 playoff series in that span, would their manager be praised as one of the best in baseball? That guy wouldn't last 3 years.

People don't expect much out of the Twins, which is infuriating. Fans and even the team put the Yankees and Red Sox on such hallowed ground here, it's like we're not even playing the same sport. "They have a giant payroll, which isn't fair, so we can't be expected to compete with them." The Twins have been "small market" because in the past they've refused to spend money. So they should be commended for it? No. Should they have lowered expectations because of it? No way.

This year they can't use the "small market" excuse, so how will their 1st-round sweep be congratulated this year? The Nathan injury is shaping up to be the perfect scapegoat.

By: sirsean

sirsean — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:08:53 +0000

Well I wouldn't say "they can't trade him," but if the haul is similar to the one we got for Santana. I mean, if we can trade him for Heyward & Strasburg then hell yeah we should do it, but that's not going to happen.

Especially if the 2009 draft is the start of a trend of the Twins going over-slot to get high upside guys, we'd be better off going for it this year and taking the picks rather than accepting an underwhelming haul in a trade.

And I don't know why nobody seems to be putting pressure on Mauer to sign. Maybe because they like Mauer more than the front office? Maybe because we expect Mauer to do what's best for Mauer, but we expect the Twins to do what's best for us?

By: FunBobby

FunBobby — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:35:43 +0000

I think the main reason for keeping Mauer all year is I think we can win a world series this year. If we are out of contention in july, and can someone get a package similar to something the Rangers got for Tex a few years back I say do it. Although the braves were trading for 1.5 years of him, not 1 or 1/2. I still think they will be able to sign him though

TwinsCentric writer Set Stohs had a good post on the topic last week http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/87093087.html?elr=KArksi8cyaiUqCP:iUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUU

why is the Twins front office getting all the blame. Instead of saying “Sign Mauer!” Why aren’t we saying “Mauer, sign!”.

By: Bryz

Bryz — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:26:54 +0000

I saw that Posnanski linked to here yesterday. Congratulations! Throw that in your dad's face as a retort to failing to change the blog name :-P

I don't see how taking 2 draft picks is more advantageous than trading Mauer. You can get A LOT in return for him, so why not take a handful of players that either already have major league success or are much easier to project for the future, rather than two guys that will be coming out of high school or college and likely will still need 4-5 years to develop in the minors.

By: FunBobby

FunBobby — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:24:46 +0000

Right. I think Smith would be in the same situation he was with Johan. and he didn't handle that particularly well. If Mauer doesn't sign, I say we keep him all year, try to win it all and see if he decides to sign next winter.

but let's try to stay positive.

By: sirsean

sirsean — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 17:03:02 +0000

I have a post bouncing around in my head right now about the possibility of trading Mauer. We'll see if it actually solidifies enough to get written down.

My initial reaction is that it'd be tough to get a deal done, given how much a team would have to give us to make it worth our while -- but then, like Santana, they'd want to lock him up to a long-term deal and thus wouldn't be willing to give us anything good.

By: FunBobby

FunBobby — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:59:53 +0000

We may nitpick with how he gets thing done, but we (at least I) don't disagree with the results he gets. Bitching about some things just gives us something to do while there isn't a game going on.

Also, on the radio this morning Souhan suggested the Twins should trade Mauer. I for one think that even if we don't sign him taking the draft picks is better than trading him.

By: rural

rural — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 16:08:38 +0000

He called your site informal based on the fact that you use the informal 'Gardy' vs the more formal Gardenhire.

Also, Gardy wins, enjoy it.