39 thoughts on “June 8, 2016: Humidity”

  1. AMR, did you like my new behind-the-back move to retrieve an item from my bag? That went very smoothly! There was a guy walking fairly close behind you, and as best I can tell, he noticed nothing.

    1. That was good. The package looks like a bona-fide gift.
      I got an earlier bus (not my fallback that I've been hitting almost every morning since March), and lingered a bit at the 3rd/Nic intersection watching Pigeons mating.
      Apparently, the way to woo a lady pigeon is to puff up your chest, and follow directly behind her without giving up for a few minutes, despite her acting completely uninterested but just too polite to actually fly away.

      1. acting completely uninterested but just too polite to actually fly away

        I feel that there's something very Minnesotan in this behavior.

        1. Aah, romance...
          But, I won't say I haven't gotten away with using this technique.

  2. It took me a while to get used to the winter again, and I was only out of the northern part of the country for a winter and a half. You've got a lot more tolerance built up, I'm sure.

  3. It took me about 6 years to get used to the humidity in DC. I had a lot of dry cleaning bills for suits. Now here its is easy. Though I can barely breath when I visit my parents in AZ or go Skiing.

  4. So, this is happening.

    ---
    On-Base Plus Slugging
    1. Ortiz (BOS) 1.150
    2. Machado (BAL) .984
    3. Bradley (BOS) .980
    4. Trumbo (BAL) .972
    5. Altuve (HOU) .959
    6. Trout (LAA) .942
    7. Cruz (SEA) .939
    8. Martinez (DET) .925
    9. Cabrera (DET) .911
    >10. Nunez (MIN) .909

    1. Trade or not trade? This feels like Willingham again, except without the "big" contract attached to him.

      He's matched his season high in rWAR, set last year, of 1.5. He contributed -1.6 rWAR to the Yankees and now 3.3 rWAR to the Twins.

      He's a free agent at the earlier for the 2018 season. I'm trying to think if the Twins hold on to him if they'll want to extend a qualifying offer to get a compensation pick. This year it was valued at $15.8 million. I think it unlikely that any team would sign him if he has the QO stigma attached to him, though maybe the system will change for 2017-2018 offseason. Because of that is also seems unlikely the Twins will get any return for him if (when) he leaves. With his performance this year approaching "break out", the Twins should trade him. Maybe wait until July 1 to prove it's less of a fluke.

      1. Trade. My problem isn't that he's unlikely to keep it up, it's that he's a bad defensive shortstop, and we already have too many third basemen.

            1. Who was that other Nationals pitcher the Twins were at one point rumored to be eyeing? Clippard?

          1. Sure. They can identify and then fail to develop talent with the best of them!

      2. I say trade - his defense is still shaky, he's probably one of the few players that can bring much of anything back in a trade, and where is the best fit for him moving forward on the Twins? A .909 OPS can play anywhere on this squad though, so there is playing time to be had in the immediate future no matter who is healthy.

        The big question is how much of his performance is break-out vs. fluke? This front office hasn't proven to be skilled at determining between the two, that's for sure. He's a 29-year old with a .363 batting average on balls in play slugging over 100 points higher than his previous season high, that makes me think it is a hot streak at his offensive peak.

        I definitely don't see the need to sign him to an extension, but understand if the Twins want to to keep him around for insurance at 2B or 3B for another year.

        1. Trading him now would mean selling high, which is a very un-Twins-like thing to do.

    2. Like any trade, it would make sense depending on what they would get back. I don't care if they keep him since he's cheap and under team control beyond this season, or if they trade assuming they get could value based on what he's done recently. What I don't want is for the Twins to sign him to a long extension after he's named an All-Star just to watch him collapase in the second half. The Twins have had an annoying habit of locking up players that didn't need locking up right when they are at they're very highest value only to see the players predictably collapse in their performance (i.e., Suzuki, Hughes).

          1. I have to say, though, if this is the "real" Nunez, I don't think anything from baseball could give me more pleasure than to see the Twins trade a marginal minor league prospect to the Yankees (who has yet to reach the majors or even pitch this year) and receive back a player that turns into an All-Star level player. Of course, the Hicks trade might be pay back for the Nunez trade.

            1. Don't look now, but the Yankees won today on the backs of Smokestack and Chrissy Chrissy Parm Parm.

            2. That's a nice thought, and I'd love it if it happened, but the list of guys who suddenly became top-notch ballplayers at age 29 is pretty short. It seems more likely that Nunez will be an all-star in the grand tradition of Roy Smalley and Ron Coomer.

                1. Yeah. Smalley might make the HBH ballot (27.8 WAR). Coomer was replacement level.

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