Cup of Coffee

March 13, 2022: Burn It Down

43 Comments

In protest of daylight savings, I'm posting this at 7am, which is really 6am.

Oh wait, actually this is the artificial move. So I should post this at 6am? Whatever, burn the whole system down.

43 thoughts on “March 13, 2022: Burn It Down”

  1. If you are sick of obscure island nations, todays Worldle is just what the doctor ordered.

  2. Now that the season's set, I've decided I will try to usher again this year. I had a lot of fun doing it last year and I really do miss being around a bunch of people watching baseball. I've done the math and I should be able to make it happen. There's a quota of 35 games to work and I can't really do weekday games, so I'm limited to Friday, Saturday, Sunday. That give me 38 games I can work, maybe a couple more when they get the first week rescheduled. I expect they'll also book a concert or two once all the game dates are set. Because of the two-hour gates on weekends and Friday night fireworks the shifts tend to be longer, but they pay me by the hour so I don't mind. It works out to about $100/game and I get to hang out at the ballpark all summer. Mrs. Twayn is 100% on board, I think she liked having me out of the house on occasion and she understands the health benefits - you're pretty much on your feet for six hours at at time and getting in thousands and thousands of steps, often up and down stairs. On that note, I've lost 8 pounds since starting spring training last month, I want to lose another 12 and have my legs firmly under me by Opening Day.

    1. When I saw the notification, I was worried this cost them Arráez or Larnach. I’m more surprised than upset they traded a top tier arm they just drafted. Would’ve preferred Castillo over Gray, but I’m sure the expected return was much higher.

      That said, I don’t get the front office’s pitching strategy at all. Trading any prospects — let alone a fireballing first round arm —for any pitcher old enough to be nearing a second turn in free agency makes me queasy. Just, what are you doing, guys? Sign an actual free agent, then!

      1. My first thought was, well, they need someone to fill up some innings. But Gray really hasn't been what you'd call an innings-eater. He'll certainly help the rotation this year, but what does that mean for this team? That they have a better shot at finishing .500? He's signed for this year with a team option for 2023, so at most we probably have him for two years. If Chase Petty flops, then its a good deal, but it certainly carries a substantial chance of backfiring.

        The Twins also get right-handed reliever Francis Peguero, who's twenty-four and hasn't pitched above Class A yet. He strikes out ten guys per nine and walks two, but when he doesn't strikeout or walk someone they apparently hit it--his ERA at Class A last year was 4.96. It's always possible that the Twins can get something out of him that the Reds couldn't, but I wouldn't want to bet heavily on it.

    1. To sum up: Targeting average and old with potential for steep decline. Sounds like a strategy.

  5. I know the tweets machine is a small sector of fandoms, but Reds fans are loud about not liking this trade.

    2. I feel like this is a great trade for the Twins. Petty is more likely a reliever, and several years down the road in any case. Gray isn't the best, but he's good and likely will be for the 2 years we have him. And if we flop, he can probably be flipped. This move I like.

  6. damn it.

  7. Spamtowners crushed Kasson-Mantorville yesterday with a 45-17 second half. On to regional final vs Winona.

    One more trip to State on the line for retiring Coach Fads.

    I saw that East also advanced to their final.

      2. I've tried for a long time today to sort out the words to describe how upset this makes me and how grateful I am at the progress of my home town has made WRT to gender identity and sexual orientation. I'm still in a bit of shock because I was always considered different and weird and ..... I was marginalized and ostracized as a youth and yet I fell well within the gender normative behavior model of the time. For many, many years I loathed going home because I would inevitably encounter some vestige of homophobia (spoiler, I'm pretty straight....) related to my decision not to play football.

        This is a long way of saying that I'm really proud of how my home town responded, and really, really deeply confused and pissed off that the folks of New Ulm can not get with the program.

  8. um, okay?

        1. Clearly there are other plans in place (right??), I'm not going to judge until the dust has cleared.

    3. I get that Donaldson’s health is a significant risk at this point, but he has so many qualities I’m going to miss.

      This saves them some payroll. For what, who knows at this point. Something else has to be coming. This makes no sense on its own.

        1. I get that his personality is probably an acquired taste, but so is watching a lineup with Gary Sánchez & Gio Urshela in place of Donaldson & Garver.

    1. Right now: looks like we swapped Garver and Donaldson for Sanchez and Urshela. That's approximately a 4 WAR difference (based on 2021 only - doing this quick), and saves 21 million this year alone.

      If they don't go out and spend then this looks an awful lot like Jim became Carl.

      1. Spend on what? Their biggest need was pitching, and they whiffed on any signing a single free agent starter of consequence.

        That’s the only thing that makes sense, but signing a free agent deal with someone like Story or Correa is so unprecedented for the Twins that I’m left feeling like it’s ridiculous to consider the only possible explanation that makes sense.

Comments are closed.