32 thoughts on “February 19, 2016: Start Date”

    2. The hosts on BP's Effectively Wild podcast almost never talk about the Twins. And when they do, it usually includes how backward the front office is.

      1. Yeah. Last year when the Twins had the best record in the league in late May, I think Sam said something like, "Well, I guess we have to talk about them now." So they got Aaron Gleeman so someone else could talk about them instead of them. And of course Aaron mostly talked about how backward the front office is.

        That said, I appreciate that Ben twice so far this preseason has talked about Joe Mauer and how sad he is that is career has tanked and it will hurt his chances for the hall-of-fame despite being a hall-of-fame catcher. He described Joe as one of the most fun players to watch in his prime. I wonder if EW had been around in 2009 if there would have been a lot more Twins talk.

        1. One of the commenters at FanGraphs posited several things why the team isn't as popular now, and one point was the BA leaders back in the day: Oliva, Carew, Kirby ... excuse me, Kirby? Joe has 3x more BA titles than Kirby. It's like he's an invisible man.

      2. They just don't make news. The Twins are barely medium players in the FA, international FA, and trade markets. Furthermore, they haven't won many games over the span Jeff looked at so it's inevitable they're at the bottom.

        1. They haven't even quite been bad enough to really get attention either.

          I do think that partly it's inevitable that an MLB-wide site is going to be somewhat biased towards writing about the teams that are playing in nationally-televised games that more people watch, which tend to feature the Yankees and Red Sox. The unbalanced schedule then has knock-on effects where playing so many games against Cleveland and KC (even if they are interesting and good!) and Detroit and South Chicago means the Twins are bound to dwell in relative obscurity.

  2. Whoopsies.

    1. Three dead horses I like to beat:
      1. But less than that's too much to make the windows a bit less bird-lethal.
      2. I assume the state will pay for it.
      3. But it'll still be as ugly!

  4. I got some backpay and bonuses on this paycheck to the tune of roughly $300. With my MN State tax return, I'll have about an "extra"* $500 in the next week or so.

    I want to be responsible and save/invest this. What are some suggestions for something with more returns than just a savings account? Should I start a stock portfolio or just get a CD? Something in between?

    *Fight about the interest free loan to the gov't if you must.

    1. Save until you have 10K then buy a tax-free (Fed+State) municipal bond from an entity in the state that you live, or buy shares in a tax-free municipal bond fund from your brokerage.

      1. Save until you have 10K

        HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

        Oh? You were serious? Yeah, that number isn't reasonable.

        1. Then in a (hopefully low-or-no fee) tax-free municipal bond fund.

          I just hate paying taxes.

      1. Something a little more liquid would be nice, though I'm not opposed to stashing it for the next 40 years either

        1. At those amounts, I would say savings account actually is your best choice. You need the liquidity more than a return.

          When you are to the place of being able to sock away a couple thousand, then a no-load mutual fund.

          1. I went credit union recently for everything I wanted liquid. I went to affinity based on recommendations. Their lack of a south or sw Minneapolis location is annoying to me but their presence in St.P is better. Plus when I lost my card in Fargo I just went to Moorhead and they printed me a new debit card within minutes.

      1. If you can find a Kasasa account, that worked well for us for a good while, before our geographic location changed.

        1. Where’s Kasasa?
          Due to a banking regulation, we aren’t allowed to tell you which local banks and credit unions offer Kasasa (we know, bummer!). But, if you want to find a FREE Kasasa checking account and get serious about rewards, just check with your friendly neighborhood search engine.

          I mean, I can Google with the best of them, but that's annoying

          1. It is.

            As I understand it, latest banking regulations capped debit card transaction fees for large banks, but not for small ones. Kasasa is a small-bank program that takes advantage of debit card transaction fees to make the banks money, and then you get a reasonable percentage on your account.

            Wouldn't be surprised if those same regulations had such restrictions as a concession to the regulated banks.

  5. So we're all welcoming Spooky to Minnesota by going to the Eagan Best Buy and dither over TVs for 30 minutes but then leave the story without buying anything right? My March 6th is wide open.

  6. The Wolves go 31-31 at the free throw line and finally get over that 10 made three pointers in one game hump (they made 11!) and still lost.

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