I know this debate has been going on since around 1999, but there have been enough comments in posts lately where it seems relevant once again.

Let's hear it, TT: where should Joe Mauer play long-term?

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Twins fan here. I'm just checking in to see how you all are treating the man of many talents, Michael Cuddyer. Apart from being an amazing magician (they're illusions, Michael) and pillar of any community, Michael Cuddyer is fun to cheer for as well. I realize that the consensus on this site is that signing him was like winning third place in a beauty pageant (Two organic Arrested Development jokes in as many sentences? What are the odds?), but again the consensus was that he was still desirable, even if his price tag was, all things considered, a bit of a turn-off. I hear you, that's pretty much the same reason we Minnesotans weren't devastated to see him go, even if he is helping you win a few more games than you would have with Street or Jurrjens or however you were going to allocate your resources.

It's been a month, people. Do you have a nickname for him yet? My two cents...after the jump!

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I live in DC, looking to drive up to Camden for what I can only hope is a Twins win. Anyone interested in joining?

Need 75 words, so let's see...live in Cap Hill and want to get there early to take advantage of $1 beers at Pickles. Tickets were $20 each so the views are decent but it being opening weekend even in Bmore you won't get seats you normally would. I remember some DC people did this last year and it worked out well

Have you looked at our lineup lately? We need another bat, badly. Our team cannot absorb losses of a Professional Hitter™ and Cuddler® as easily as getting Willingham and hoping Morneau returns to beast mode. The folks over at MLBTradeRumors have done the heavy lifting here by assembling a list of free agents who can still hit a ball around with some degree of proficiency.

So unless you are comfortable with

1. Span - CF

2. Carroll - SS

3. Sweet Baby Jes Mauer - C

4. Morneau - 1B

5. Willingham - RF (maybe 4th)

6. Doumit/Plouffe/Parmelee - DH (oh lawd, no wonder he's writing this post)

7. Danny V - 3B

8. Casilla - 2B

9. Revere/Platoon Partner - LF

as your opening day lineup, let us pray that the FO reads this post. Pedestrian analysis after the jump.

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EDIT: Thanks for the recs, folks. For the eleven of you who want some sort of contest, I will draft up a mock of the contest (and maybe have an admin look it over), then we can have at it until sometime around the arbitration/free agent deadline.

With the latest on next year's payroll confirming our hopes for a decent team next year, I know the absolute first thing to come to mind is: great! Now to scour MLBTR and fine tune my 25-man (or 40-man, if you're thorough like that) roster for next year...begin the rosterbation!!!

NOT SO FAST!

I've quietly mentioned this in threads, but I must insist that while fantasizing about next year's roster is really the only thing we've had to look forward to for the last couple months, it's just too depressing to start doing it while our Rochester man-boys are still (allegedly) trying to win games.

Ground rules after the jump.

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Remember how we have a Japanese second-baseman on our team and he has pretty much nobody on the team with whom to relate?

Go for it?

It would be the nice thing to do, especially since we have him for a few (perhaps hopefully more?) years in Minny. I really think the FO should have tried to pick up a Japanese player in the offseason and still think it would be a great gesture. That and Okajima in no way would be a detriment to our bullpen at this point.

Yahoo league with pretty normal rules, but need two players to fill out the league. Live draft Sunday at noon. Email me if interested. benjamindbennett@gmail.com 

Somewhat competitive (our league rules this year are "don't suck" and "try") and no buy-in.

And sorry for wasting fanshot space with my own business. I guess I will reach 75 characters by saying that one time I was mad at a friend in the league for streaming pitchers so I put Nick Punto on his roster.

Nevermind looking at bullpen splits and observing that Twins relievers have the lowest ERA in the AL. Nevermind that our FO has been very good about acquiring great bullpen arms in spite of significant turnover this year. Nevermind that I have to edit a quiz and grade some papers for school tomorrow. I will never be content with our bullpen and must direct my rage appropriately.

There's a question that's been eating at my soul: Which relievers do we hate and why? All I know is that we don't win every game we turn over to the bullpen when we are in the lead and this is unacceptable.

I'm pretty sure this can be classified as a mindless rant, but I had fun writing it and hopefully you'll have fun reading it. More confusion after the jump

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