Cup of Coffee

July 27, 2018: A Fine Performance

86 Comments

Another solid start by Gibson. It's been so nice to watch all the adversity that he's dealt with and how his persistence and stick-to-it-tive-ness has paid off. He is fast becoming one of my favorite Twins.

So should we trade him?

86 thoughts on “July 27, 2018: A Fine Performance”

  2. I was all set to try and watch an astrological phenomenon this time - longest lunar eclipse this century! Apparently it won't be visible in the Western Hemisphere. Whoops.

        1. I had wondered the same thing, but from what I've read the dust reflects the same whether it's on the ground or in the air, so no. Bummer for anyone with a bigger scope hoping to see any details, though.

          1. Definitely. It being brighter would have only been useful for people viewing with binoculars or naked eye.

          2. We were thinking about trying to set up an old telescope we've got tonight, but are you suggesting that won't be worth it?

            1. I bet it's fine unless the telescope has enough magnification and quality to actually resolve features. Even then however, you could look at it and point out you're watching a giant storm on a planet 35.8 million miles away.

            2. Well, full moons are never a good night to take out the telescope. The glare makes it tough, and a full moon is like looking at a plate; you want a gibbous or quarter moon to get any 3-D relief, or closer to a new moon if you want to look at anything besides the moon.

              Mars would like nice but only as an orange marble. Saturn'll look great, though.

              1. Jupiter and it’s moons too (and possibly bands as well, depending on the telescope).

      2. I have a temperamental 12-year old. I don't need any more opposition in my life.

      3. By the way, Bob Berman, one of my favorite writers in Astronomy magazine, explained the origin of the Mars Hoax. It was him! (sort of)

        The opposition will be a media event, and one of those cases where popular hyped astronomy is fully in sync with what we actual astronomers enjoy. Not that Mars is immune to hype. In August 2003, we had the closest martian visit in more than 50,000 years, and in the Old Farmer’s Almanac, where I’ve been the astronomy editor since forever, I wrote that through any telescope at a mere 100x, Mars would look bigger than the naked-eye Moon.

        Well, guess what? Almost every summer after that, there have been splashy “news” headlines on the web urging people, “Look up — Mars looks bigger than the Moon!” Mars wasn’t even visible most of those summers; it’s simply that websites erroneously assumed this was an annual event. The fake “Mars is bigger than the Moon” business every single summer stems from that Old Farmer’s Almanac article, with the part about “through a telescope” omitted.

      4. There's been a lot to see lately. Mars, Venus, Saturn and Jupiter are all pretty bright in the evening right now. I play a lot of night Frisbee with the dog and use the SkyView app on my phone to identify what I'm seeing up there, at least for the stuff I don't already know. There's a lot of that.

      1. Same eclipse, I got the kids running in circles in the park chanting "Please moon don't be mad at us."

  3. Nice work by The Roommate in the Paper of Record:

    The 14th Amendment is felt by all of us, every day. If it did not invent freedom, it transformed and strengthened it, codifying a universal definition of individual rights and national identity that has been an example to the world. But the failings of those who wrote it linger on. Many of us still have not internalized the idea that an American can look like anyone in the world. Whoever calls the police on a peaceful, unarmed black or brown person is acting in a long, grim tradition. Complaints about the immigration of Muslims, Latin Americans or people from “shithole countries” restate the original arguments against the 14th as opening the doors to “heathens” and “pagans.” Even debates over the intrusiveness of the federal government and the rights of corporations are rooted in the amendment that forever altered Washington’s role in American life.

    The Americans of 150 years ago created something greater than their own limitations. Yet the law does not enforce itself; it is a tool used by human beings. Over and over again, Americans have thrown it to the ground, sometimes in the midst of praising it. At this moment, the question is not whether we will pick it up again, but whether we will break it.

    1. Not mentioned:
      ↺ Ducks can't count as high as their brood size, so she might not realize she has so many.
      ↺ Mother ducks can be territorial against other adults and might chase away other hens, leaving those hen's chicks mixed in with hers. (This happens with Barrow's Goldeneye in the 1998 BBC/Attenborough series "The Life of Birds".)
      ↺ Baby ducks aren't that good at following their mother as opposed to following the pack of ducklings they find themselves in. I once witnessed a mother Mallard with a large brood and a mother Wood Duck with a brood of a similar size. They crossed paths. The chicks got entangled. At one point they were all following the Mallard, but the Wood Duck came back to try to get some to follow her. I did not see how it resolved.

    1. Heh -- spent five of my post-college years working just across the street to the south. Haven't been there in ages, but it's not bad if you know the tricks. That said, it's still an airport. And Los Angeles.

    2. Almost every time I’ve flown in there, it’s been into the terminal they banish all the low cost airlines to. It’s tiny. The best Burger King in the world is there. I kinda love that terminal. I’ve been to a couple other terminals and they were hell on earth.

  7. A job opportunity that I thought was dead a couple months ago shockingly came back to life earlier this week and I'm a finalist again.

    However, the scope of the job is to be the on-site contact/account manager for a large Minnesota company that was in the news this week and will no longer be a large Minnesota company. Maybe it will exist as a subsidiary in the future or maybe it goes away entirely? Who knows, we're only a day away from the news breaking. For all I know, by the time I interview next week the job itself might get killed before hiring anyone.

    I was crushed a couple months ago when this job fell apart, mostly for financial reasons, and couldn't believe it when I found out that was no longer a problem earlier this week. So it has been quite a roller coaster.

    Thankfully I'm really happy at my current job, there just isn't much in the way of growth/development (and I knew that going in) or passion about what I do.
    I worry about what that means 3-5 years down the road.

    2. I know your pain. Many moons ago I interviewed with a tech company that was building data warehouses (for offsite and backup storage, not for networked data). This was when the cost of storing data was still quite high, but dropping rapidly. I did two interviews and was scheduled for a third but they called and cancelled it without explanation. The next week the company folded.

      1. What's so frustrating for me is that the company I'd work for is perfectly aligned to where the market is going, for many reasons this has felt like a perfect next step over the last 7+ months I've been talking to them. I just don't know what happens if my assigned customer doesn't exist any more, hoping further conversations provide some clarity if I am the chosen candidate. As the bread winner for the family, any instability with my job keeps me up at night.

  9. Not to brag, but yeah I'm bragging...Mrs R & myself are marking 27 years of weddingness today. So have a drink on us tonight!

    1. Congrats to you both! Is an email invoice acceptable for reimbursement, or do you need the actual receipt?

      1. A notarized, signed copy of the receipt will suffice. Reimbursement will be in bitcoin.

          1. I should be available next week, Tuesday should work, or Wednesday or whatever...

  10. I don't know why you would want to trade Gibson when he's finally performing to his potential and isn't a free agent until 2020. I'd be more inclined to lock him up with a multi-year deal in the offseason if possible. I like watching a team's player investments provide return over the long haul. Certainly that can happen via trade, but few GMs offer a Nathan, Liriano and Bonzer for AJ Pierzynski type deal these days.

  11. Apropos to nothing here are some random thoughts on traveling in a vintage automobile, in this case a 1962 Triumph Herald (go ahead google it). Last year we determined it is possible to drive from Omaha to the Okoboji Lakes region and back with a non-functioning alternator. Provided you hook your battery up to a charger at least one night. The nice thing about alternators is O'Reillys will keep giving you new ones free when you bring in the crapass one they sold you. You cannot travel very far, perhaps a couple of blocks at most, after the bolt on your water pump shears off completely. Last week driving from Omaha to LaCrosse we learned that it is possible to get 900 or so miles out of a bald tire, but not 950 miles. It also helps to have a spare with actual air inside the tire. You will not go anywhere if your connection to your fuel pump is disconnected. It is important to have as many tools and spare parts and bits as room will allow. And easily the most important lesson is always travel with other people who now a heckuva lot more about car maintenance than you do. And be willing to by them many beers.

    1. (had to google it)

      Convertible or hardtop?

      You are much braver than me, that's for sure. I don't like taking my Midget on the highway at all, let alone for extended stretches.

      1. Convertible. When we travel we try to stick to the back roads and avoid busy highways if at all possible. It takes longer but is much more enjoyable. One of the other travelers in our group was driving a Midget last week.

          1. Looks interesting, I'll have to add that to my already too long reading list.

    1. He finishes tied for 30th in Twins history for doubles in a season, in 96 games. The next player with fewer than 100 games played was Morneau in 2010 with 25 in 81 games. Close misses were Puckett in 1994 at 32 doubles in 108 games and Knoblauch with 45 in 109 games.

    2. Well, that rather sucks. I suppose they figure he's a bit redundant with Polanco back and Sano waiting in the wings, and he's got more value as a rental than Dozier right now. They better be some good minor league players, though. The cupboards on the farm are looking a bit bare these days. And there's only so much Adrianza I'm going to be able to stomach for the rest of the season.

    3. I know this makes sense (if they got a decent return) but I'm still disappointed. Hope he comes back next year.

    4. This saddens me. Escobar was high on my list of favorite Twins of the past decade or so. At least i know which team I'm rooting for come September.

    5. Rhett Bollinger was with Molitor when the news of "done deal" was on TV. First Molitor had heard of it and Escobar is still in the lineup, so we'll see.

      1. Now from Jeff Passan:

        Sources: The Twins are getting RHP Jhoan Duran, OF Ernie De La Trinidad and OF Gabriel Maciel from the Diamondbacks for Eduardo Escobar. All three are at Class A Kane County.

      2. Maciel is the D-backs' No. 11 prospect, Duran is ranked No. 19 and De La Trinidad not among Arizona's Top 30 prospects.

        Not sure who's rankings these are. Looks like it was more quantity over quality.

        1. That's the MLB Prospect Watch rankings. Apparently Baseball America bumped Maciel into their top 10 recently. Not much better, but, looking at returns around the league in trades, this at least seems comparable. Wish a few were closer to the majors, obviously, but for a rental...

  13. Sano's been back with the Red Wings for a week now. Wonder if he'll get the call when/if this Escobar deal is official.

  14. Dang it, Escobar is awesome.

    1. I really wish this was wider so it'd fit as a featured image for future game logs.

  16. I'm really tired of hearing from the remaining Twins players of how they're upset that the front office is trading away players. Well, guess what? Who's fault is that? You're 8 games back and 6 games under .500 playing in the easiest division in baseball. You had 3 teams in your division calling it quits before the season even began and you laid a huge, giant egg. And boy was it rotten. Dozier said this was an all-around sucky day. Well, Dozier, this has been an all-around sucky season for Twins fans, especially from you, and were sick and tired of it. We want a real chance to contend, not just a chance to maybe sneak into the playoffs and get blown away by clearly superior teams.

    1. That was kind of my reaction, too. I'm sure it's no fun to see a good friend get traded, and I don't expect them to be happy about it. But they know how baseball works and they've seen this happen before. There had been plenty of rumors floating around, so it's not like this came out of nowhere. Again, I'm not saying they should be happy about it, but I would say be a professional and deal with it.

      1. I would have liked to just hear someone, especially a supposed leader like Dozier who's having a crappy year, say, "Yeah, this sucks, but we have no one to blame but ourselves." I'm sure they don't want to admit the season is lost, but even the most optimistic playoff projection gave the Twins a 5% chance to make the playoffs before the trades, so there's not much point to complaining about the front office not having faith in them, just being realistic and wise.

        1. The other aspect I'm getting tired of is hearing how close Dozier and Escobar are. I don't doubt that it's true, but I don't think it would've stopped Dozier from going somewhere else next year, so let's not act like it's agony for him that they're not together any more.

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