SonofaRoache

I will give Ricky credit for today's lineup. Great job and it needs to be our playoff lineup.

In baseball you don't always have to earn it. Lopez has been brutal so it makes sense to give another guy that hasn't proven he sucks a chance yet. I am all for giving Lopez a another chance after his last outing to see if he has changed.

What Tom Time said.

Bingo. We all want Ricky to succeed as it is in the best interest of the team. We know Ricky is a great clubhouse guy, motivator, and how much the guys love him. But top notch winning organizations have high standards for their players and managers and don't settle for consistent mistakes that are blatantly obvious. This doesn't mean every decision Ricky makes fail or that he hasn't made any great moves. If I had to grade him overall it would be about a C or C-. If the FO goal is to win multiple championships and to compete long term, your manager has to be better than that. Sure with the talent we have a bad manager can have winning seasons, but there is a big difference between being the Twins/A's and being a multi champion.

Lucky for those two teams, the Tigers and Royals won't make the post season. And to be honest, I don't want to be the Twins who know they are getting swept every year no matter how good the roster is.

I disagree with most on this. One player can't carry a team in baseball and managing is important. Having the most optimal lineup, pitching managing and care, defensive adjustments, situational awareness, etc are critical. In basketball and football, having a Hall of Fame wing and great quarterback means you will be good for a very long time regardless of coach and overall talent. If you have another good player or two to compliment those two stars, you will be very good as a team.

That's fair. But you don't think that has anything to do with 24 of our first 46 games coming against Pirates, Tigers, and Royals? Hell, Cleveland and Milwaukee couldn't hit the ball when we played them.

Not well at all. But that wasn't the point. The point was that winning organizations have a high standard for the coach. Coaches have been fired after accomplishing a lot more than Ricky has. Do the argument that fans should be okay with him because of our season record is weak.

Fans are idiots, but the teams did the firings I spoke of. The Hawks fired Q after winning 3 titles. The Bulls let Phil walk after winning 6 titles. The Bears fired Lovie after a 10 win season with a SB appearance and 2 Championship game appearances. So the argument that we should be okay with Ricky because the team is winning overall is weak. We get on Nomar and EE and Eloy's defense but that doesn't mean we don't want them to be better. Ricky is in the same boat and is held to a high standard like everyone else.

Twins fans want their manager gone and they've had success the last few years. The Royals fans wanted Yost gone after making b2b world series appearances. The Cubs wanted Maddon gone after winning a title, 3 straight NLCS appearances, and a nice 5 year run. But Ricky is okay because we've dominated the Pirates, Royals, and Tigers? I love the play on the field but as I said, there is a big picture. Ricky needs to get better, period. I want him to and root for him to, but we need to see it.

So because Ned Yost won a title, we should not want our manager to be good at his job? And I'll stop saying championship caliber when Hahn stops saying multiple championships.

Its not simply catching balls. Poor routes and throw ins, potential to get hurt doing too much, and the biggest of all.... we traded for Dyson to be a defensive replacement and baserunner.

So what. The goal is championships and people are smart enough to know Ricky's managing isn't championship caliber. This doesn't mean the season isn't fun or that people aren't having a blast, but there is a big picture here. I would love for Ricky to get better and be a long time hire because he seems to be great for this team, but there are just too many mistakes at this point. For instance, Stevie Wonder could see starting McCann at DH last night was the smarter decision.

I'm not saying they'd succeed often. But hitters do try to hit the ball to certain spots on the field. If a runner is on second and no outs, the batter will try to get the ball to the right side of the field for instance.

And I guess quarterbacks don't pick on bad comebacks, or basketball coaches try to take advantage of weak defenders.

You don't think our opponents know Eloy is a bad fielder and would try to hit it to him? A bloop and a blast could have happened, but you still play to finish that game. You cannot concern yourself with the bottom of the 9th and assume you would blow a two run lead.

Having Eloy out there increases the odds of a defensive and pitching meltdown significantly compared to Dyson. Hell, I'm even worried he may hurt himself or Robert with the pressure of finishing a game off. It was a dumb decision.

Not me. I loved the extension. His mentorship and recruiting was enough to warrant that contract. The great baseball play is the cherry on top. And maybe he is playing better on a winner and is even more motivated.

The point is..... we were in the top of the 9th, not the 7th. We had a two run lead and were playing prevent defense with our closer. You bring in your defensive replacemnt to save the game. You keep using odds, but odds are we win that game if we don't have a defensive or pitching meltdown. If that meltdown occurs, you give it a shot in the bottom of the 9th. If that doesn't work, Dyson's defense helps in the top of the 10th with a runner starting on second. If you succeed in that frame, you have a runner on second base with a chance to win the game. If you can't get a hit there, you don't deserve to win. If Dyson would have batted in the bottom of the 10th, two other guys would have had a chance to win the game outside of him. But again, the odds are you win it in the 9th playing good defense all around if your closer is pitching well. There have been too many Eloy goofs and injuries in the field for this to even be questioned.

You go for the win up two or more in the 9th. If it goes to extras it would have been a fail on your team anyway. We have enough offense to get around Eloy's missing bat, especially with the extra innings rules.

If we are in a game three do or die Cease cannot start by himself. We'd have to go Cease until he sucks and then Rodon/Dunning/ and bullpen.

Bauer wants year to year contracts so he works well. And Gio is here another 3 years before an enormous salary. We have talent but we don't have two seasons to wait for them to figure things out.

Can field his own team.

Eloy can't help that he sucks on defense. Ricky should have used our defensive replacement.