54 thoughts on “December 27, 2018: One Last Christmas Question”

  2. I have always liked Wonderful Christmastime and didnt know it was a hated song until like 3 years ago.

      1. I think my wife shares your opinion. When it came up on the yule log, she literally paused gift opening to walk across the room to mute the TV. I can't think of another song for which she's ever done that.

  3. I only heard a bit of it, but I thought Marnie did a good job on the play by play last night. Wouldn't mind trying her out in the Twins booth too.

    2. A reasonable move, I think. He was down last year, but still a productive player. He's thirty-eight, so it's possible he's about to fall off the cliff, but it looks like they only committed themselves to one year. The only other downside is that it closes off the DH spot. That, along with the Cron signing, tells me the Twins are still counting on Sano to play third base.

        1. If Cruz can hit thirty-some homers again with OPS well over .800, I'm quite happy to tell Tyler Austin he'll have to deal with it.

      2. I like it. His stats might have been down from the few years prior, but they were still right around his career averages so if there is any decline it doesn't look steep. Plus, this ain't your Terry Ryan slap hitting dh, which is refreshing.

        1. White was over-hated because of his awful start. He was perhaps the team’s best hitter in the second half from what I remember, but his stats were so horrifying early that there was little hope of recovery.

  6. So, at what point is Cleveland no longer the odds on favorite to win the division? It seems likely that they'll be trading Kluber before too long.

    I'm not debating the pros or cons of having a fire sale when you're at the tail end of a strong run of seasons that have all culminated in postseason appearances (though, since the postseason often ends up favoring whoever gets hot at the right time, it seems like just getting there is well over half the battle). I'm just wondering when, exactly, they go from "obvious favorites" to "possible frontrunner in a laughably weak division".

    1. Trading Kluber subtracts about 5 WAR, assuming they don't get MLB-ready talent in return, which I suspect they will. There was a 13-win gap between Cleveland and Minnesota last year. Not currently seeing the possibly eight-win gap closing to only a few wins.

      I think 2020 would be the soonest, but more likely 2021 that Cleveland isn't the obvious favorite.

    2. Cleveland has had 85+ wins 5 pf the last 6 seasons and 90+ wins 4 of the last 6 and two years removed from a World Series appearance, yet attendance was not strong (9 of 15 in the AL) and cant string enough pennies to keep a pretty good team together.

      All that said, Twins send Duffey, Castro, and Thibs for Kluber who says no

  7. The song by Wings is an abomination and one of the songs I hate most. I need to avoid thinking the title of the song to keep that nasty earworm out of my head.

    1. That's Target Field. Try to figure out the game. Probably in Spring or Fall but not super cold, against the Royals (or Dodgers?).

    3. Two-time (and not more) All-star batters who have been on the Twins since Target Field opened (at least one ASG with the Twins):
      Michael Cuddyer (ASG with Twins in 2011 and Rockies in 2013).
      I think that's a complete list.

      1. I got that photo googling "Michael Cuddyer 2011 Royals Target Field", so I'm guessing 2011 (could be 2010 though).
        Google searching off Salvador Perez leads me to this article, so this is from the 9/26/11 game. Game started at 68F. The Perez image is from a 9th inning RBI single off Phil Dumatrait, when the Royals were already up by 3. So that explains why there were fewer fans.
        The Cuddy image could be from the 5th when he put the Twins ahead 3-1 by hitting a homer with Butera on base.

        1. Video clip from MLB.com gameday shows the home run, but only the view from CF over the mound, no replay.
          Was going to look if the position of the Royals on the fence lined up.

        3. That was loss #99 - the only game I've been to at Target Field. HR landed in our direction and I have the screen shot of us leaning over the railing watching it land.

  11. I hate the way this storm is tracking. We got two inches of snow and now maybe an inch of slow drizzly rain on top of it. I made a point of getting fresh gas last night and servicing the snowblower, it started right up and ran like a champ, but it's worthless against this slushy mess. Come Saturday the high will only be in the upper teens, so whatever we don't get shoveled off will freeze solid. I don't really want to shovel until the rain stops, which could be several more hours, but at the least I should go clear out the storm drain at the bottom of the driveway so we don't have an ice rink in the cul de sac tomorrow.

    1. Yeah, and our family has been hoping for at least an inch of snow since that last batch melted. And we had it! But by the time we all woke up, it was too wet outside to enjoy it.

      1. What's that old weather saying I just made up? Oh, yeah. Rain before snow, ready to go; snow before rain, major butt pain.

    2. Had about two inches last night before I fell asleep.
      Sometime past midnight it switched to rain
      I ended up shoveling slush
      It hasnt stopped raining (my guess, at least a half inch of rain but probably more)
      Its all going to freeze solid tomorrow night and not melt until Memorial Day

    4. Luckily, we've gotten all snow. Not that I like snow, but it's much better than freezing rain or rain mixed with snow. We didn't get as much as predicted--I'm guessing maybe four or five inches, tops. But we did get a strong wind, like about fifty miles an hour, so no travel is advised around here.

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