31 thoughts on “January 18, 2016: Whoops”

  1. First day back after vacation parental leave. I fully expect there to be lots of crying at the house today, although I'm not sure which of the three will do so the most.

    1. Welcome back to you, and good luck to the rest of the family! I think I need to go stifle my feelings of envy regarding parental leave now . . .

      1. It was almost because I was using vacation time. Having the leave occur over two calendar years did help with ensuring it was all paid.

        Griping SelectShow

        1. I got zero. Thankfully my company has very generous PTO and I had saved up four weeks. Took 2 at first then 1 more the week my wife went back to work

        2. Completely agree.

          I had enough vacation the first time around to take a couple weeks, but with the second, I hadn't accrued a whole lot. Fortunately, my boss and HR were willing to work with me and let me work from the hospital to avoid using vacation time.

        3. Dads get three days leave where I work. Anything extra is Vacation time. It's not ideal. I end up using extra time. Usually about a week and a half.

        4. I have no idea what my current employer gives for maternity/paternity. I do know that my position is staffed by few enough people though, and one of them is going to be on vacation at the same time we're due this summer, so I'm going to try to be around shortly after the baby comes, but will try to take some time after a few weeks.

  2. I just took one of those personality type tests. I am borderline for all four letters. I could be an I/E-N/S-T/F-J/P . That sure was helpful.

  3. There hasn't been a lot of Twins news lately, but I am a bit disappointed the Twins are bringing back Eduardo Nunez. It's not that I don't like him, or an angry over his playing time (they probably played him the right amount at 200ish at bats), but it just seems like he is 'a guy'. No upside, no downside (except playing him in Left Field) but it seems like that roster spot could be used for a more dynamic utility guy who is more of a late innings pinch runner/stolen base threat.

    2. $1.48 million for one year of "a guy" who was worth 1.5 rWAR/1.1 fWAR last year? That sounds like a pretty good deal to me, unless he's blocking somebody.

      Yes, he will probably regress to the mean this year, to be barely above replacement value. But I don't see a lot of down-side.

      1. Yeah, I'm okay with this. He got only a nominal raise from last year ($450k*). He's in his second year of arbitration so the $1.48 million is roughly equivalent to $2.5 million on the open market. $2.5 million as a free agent means about 0.3 wins to be worth it.

        * I wish my nominal raises were 50%.

      3. fwiw, Mike Pelfrey was a 1.4 WAR player and most everyone wanted him gone.

        maybe I'm just yearning for the Twins to do something this offseason and taking it out on Nunez being back.

        1. Mike Pelfrey also made $5.5 million each of the last two years. In 2014 he registered -0.7 rWAR, in 2015, +1.4. Which, btw, was his first positive season in a Twins uniform. (Fangraphs likes him a lot more, scoring 2013 as +2.0 fWAR compared to -0.3 rWAR).

          It's not Big Pelf's fault he was hurt in 2014. But his track record and age were not points in his favor. If the Tigers get their money's worth from him (2 years, $8m), I will be mildly surprised.

          Also, it should be noted that autocorrect tried to change "fangraphs" to "Fang rapes."

        2. Nunez is just a utility guy, though. They're not getting rid of Dozier, and third base is a logjam one way or the other (either Plouffe or Sano is locked in there). If you're upset about Nunez, what you're really upset about is Escobar, and I feel like Escobar deserves a shot - he'll only be making a smidge over $2m this year, and he's been worth every penny of that over the past two years.

          Polanco's probably going to be getting some looks this season (he hasn't exactly lit the minors on fire, but this will be his last option year, unless I'm mistaken), so I don't necessarily see what replacing Nunez specifically right now gets us.

          2. Upset is too strong of a word. Mildly disappointing is probably too strong too. I don't know, this was just some midday random thought.

            Eddie Escobar should be paid way more money than what the Twins are paying him.

    3. Nunez had the second-best OPS on the team. If anything, you should be upset he's on the bench more often than not. That may have been fluky, but I think Molitor used him well. I often heard comments about how they tried to match him up against guys with high velocity (so avoid guys that throw more breaking balls and offspeed stuff would be my guess). Also, unless the Twins go out and bring in a veteran guy, I wouldn't want a young player to be put in the bench role, especially one with good upside. Also, he's no longer redundant with Escobar starting at shortstop and Santana being a backup outfielder. Nunez doesn't steal many bases, but he is plenty fast as well. He certainly would be fine as a pinch runner for Plouffe or Park. I'm guessing Santana will be the guy to pinch run for Sano and play defense in the outfield late in games barring the Twins adding a free agent.

    1. Buxton, the outfielder who lives in his hometown of Baxley, Ga., in the offseason, admitted he was a bit taken aback by the weather.

      "When I got in yesterday, it took my breath away," said Buxton. "Just getting off the plane and walking through the tunnel to the airport, it was freezing. But two years ago, it was -18 on the day I left TwinsFest, and that was my first one, too. So it broke me in."

        1. And that's only for 4 players. Of course, the Detroit owner doesn't care. He doesn't expect to be alive in 2019. Let someone else deal with the consequences.

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