27 thoughts on “January 13, 2022: #36”

  1. I may be a young curmudgeon, but Joe Nathan was a better 36. Doing a great job fielding comebackers for a long time doesn't make you elite.

      1. Nathan was a Twin for seven seasons. Kaat was a Twin/Senator for fifteen. It seems like that should count for something.

  2. This was a tough no for me. I get if he's in the Hall of Fame that his number should be retired but it's looking more and more that the Hall of Fame is becoming the Hall of the Very Very Good (imho) so that criteria is weakened. I think players who's number should be retired are those that were instrumental in winning Championships, long-time, highly productive career with the team and perhaps someone who died while still playing with the team. There can be a team hall of fame or something similar for the rest.

    1. Kaat is an interesting case. By Baseball-Reference he's a tiny bit better than Jack Morris: 45.2 wins vs Morris' 43.6 wins. If instead you prefer FanGraphs' version of WAR, Kaat is much better: 70.9 wins vs Morris' 55.8. By that measure, he clears the vague 55 win bar most people use for election. That is why I voted "yes" in the poll.

      1. Nate Tubbs' list has Kaat eighth. Six of the seven ahead of him have their numbers retired, with Johan Santana (7th) being the exception. Bert Blyleven, at 9th, has his number retired, too. Not that Nate's word is gospel or anything, but he does put a lot of work into it.

        1. I’d rather they retire Santana’s 57; he was the best left-handed pitcher in franchise history.

          I get why they’re retiring Kaat’s number; he made the Hall, and he’s going in with Tony-O, a longtime teammate whose number has been retired for a long time. But I think there’s probably two tiers of Twins retired numbers at this point, and Kaat is in the lower one.

  3. I bought two tickets for Golden Smog on Sunday so my two on Saturday are available. Face after fees is $65 each.

      1. $50 ticket and $15 in fees. First Avenue went with AXS over the pandemic and the fees probably doubled.

        I may have someone who would take one. But I will check, maybe we can scrounge a second.

        1. Hey! Both my friends are interested in your Golden Smog tix. Email me and we can figure out the details. "my wgom handle" @ the gmail.

          1. Just need to hear back from one other friend that is considering them. I doubt he takes them. Can they wait a couple days?

          1. Concert prices are the flipside of cheap streaming and downloads. I used to pay $15-$18 for a CD. That's $32 to $38 in 2022 dollars.

  4. I’m not in favor of retiring numbers period (Jackie excepted). The bar should be extremely high if the practice must exist. I know it’s tempting to catch all this feel-good porn on video when guys hear their number called, but I can’t help but consider down the road when everyone’s wearing a jersey in the 80s or 90s (or triple digits for the Yankees).

    All these words shouldn’t be confused with me actually caring too much about this, however.

    2. All these words shouldn’t be confused with me actually caring too much about this, however.

      Dido.

      1. This caveat could and perhaps should be applied in so very, very many places and conversations these days.

  5. Speaking of concerts, it was just announced that Not The Beths The Beths are coming to Minneapolis March 4 I think. Tix are $38 plus fees.

        1. I'm still not sure where I land on those guys, but I am still annoyed that I missed the show they were playing two blocks from my Portland hotel by exactly one week. I know they're a spectacle to see live in any case.

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