hate to break it to Top Jimmy, but Molitor as bench coach would do nothing to soothe Gardy. Bench coach does not have veto power over managerial emotions or delusions. Molotor is not going to keep Gardy from thinking that Punto and Tyner are just as valuable offensively as someone who hits extra base hits and stuff. The bench coach is the guy who coordinates everything the scouting and video staff has put together to give the players and gardy information.

The curse of winning is that Gardy will get more credit than he deserves and he, like his predecessor has "earned" a contract for life with this franchise. Who do you think this is -- the Yankees? Sigh.

In regards to Torii Hunter - It takes an IQ of roughly 95 and a 3rd grade education to be smart enough to manipulate the media. Apparently, you can be dumb enough to dive for a ball with 2 outs and a man on first 1-0 in a tied game in the postseason, and STILL be smart enough to have the media eating out of your hands.

My offseason hopes - First and foremost I want to see a real DH. Then I want to see Silva gone. If those two things happen I will be content enough to put up with Torii staying at what will inevitably be an overpriced contract.

A couple of thoughts:

SBG, your commentary on Jeter's leadership in this morning's Cup of Coffee is spot on. Thank you for an injection of sanity into the myth called Cap'n Dreamy. Your piece was so far from half-bakedness that it was actually burnt 'round the edges.

Some interesting (or just random) year-end stats (AL only): Justin Morneau tied for the lead in sac flies (11). Punto and Castillo were second and third in sac hits (10 and 9, respectively). Morneau and Cuddyer were eigth and tenth in XBH (72 and 70, respectively; btw, Jeter was 35th). Mauer was sixth in the AL in GIDP, but look at top seven: Miguel Tejada, Michael Young, Victor Martinez, Paul Konerko, Troy Glaus, Joe Mauer, Alex Rodriguez and Mike Lowell (tied). Mauer led the AL in BB/K (and by a wide margin) and was also third in IBB.

I'm looking forward to some good discussion--and it's already begun--about what the Twins ought to do in the offseason. Let's hope Kubel and Liriano are healthy and effective next year; if nothing else, they will cover a multitude of offseason signing sins.

I think what he’s saying is that the post season is somewhat of a crapshoot. For example, the Twins hadn’t been swept in a series since May 16-18 (although they did lose the first three games in a series with Toronto in the second half). For the Twins to completely fall apart like that was stunning.

To win the World Series or any kind of tournament takes some amount of good luck, but I think many of the mistakes we saw the Twins make in the ALDS were just a concentrated manifestation of problems or potential issues that have been lurking for awhile.

Hacking at pitches out of the zone and taking foolish risks on the basepaths are hallmarks of Gardy's teams. The lineup this season has depended a lot on singles falling in for the "piranhas" and perfectly timed hits with runners on base. It's not a great surprise to see the rookie SS tighten up in elimination game, considering the way he's been handled since last year; and it's no surprise at all to see Torii make the mistakes he made in the series. And who is shocked that Radke dug himself a little hole in the 2nd inning of Game 3, or, given the condition of his shoulder, that he only lasted 4 innings? Depth of the rotation has been a concern for quite awhile.

Sometimes a team can get away with fundamental flaws over the course of a season, given all the bad/mediocre opponents, pitching mismatches, and series pitted against the back end of an opponent's rotation. But in a playoff series matched against a top team with its best pitchers on the mound, those flaws may be badly exposed.

If the Twins had lost the series in a close Game 5 which hinged on one or two key plays that didn't go their way, I might feel more inclined to write it off as bad luck, say it's just a crapshoot. But the Twins just lost 3 straight, by an aggregate score of 16-7, in a series in which they never held a lead. Right now, I have to admit, the A's are just the better team.

I just tried posting this, but the system didn't put it on the board. If this turns out to be a duplicate, sorry....

I think what he’s saying is that the post season is somewhat of a crapshoot. For example, the Twins hadn’t been swept in a series since May 16-18 (although they did lose the first three games in a series with Toronto in the second half). For the Twins to completely fall apart like that was stunning.

To win the World Series or any kind of tournament takes some amount of good luck, but I think many of the mistakes we saw the Twins make in the ALDS were just a concentrated manifestation of problems or potential issues that have been lurking for awhile.

Hacking at pitches out of the zone and taking foolish risks on the basepaths are hallmarks of Gardy's teams. The lineup this season has depended a lot on singles falling in for the "piranhas" and perfectly timed hits with runners on base. It's not a great surprise to see the rookie SS tighten up in elimination game, considering the way he's been handled since last year; and it's no surprise at all to see Torii make the mistakes he made in the series. And who is shocked that Radke dug himself a little hole in the 2nd inning of Game 3, or, given the condition of his shoulder, that he only lasted 4 innings? Depth of the rotation has been a concern for quite awhile.

Sometimes a team can get away with fundamental flaws over the course of a season, given all the bad/mediocre opponents, pitching mismatches, and series pitted against the back end of an opponent's rotation. But in a playoff series matched against a top team with its best pitchers on the mound, those flaws may be badly exposed.

If the Twins had lost the series in a close Game 5 which hinged on one or two key plays that didn't go their way, I might feel more inclined to write it off as bad luck, say it's just a crapshoot. But the Twins just lost 3 straight, by an aggregate score of 16-7, in a series in which they never held a lead. Right now, I have to admit, the A's are just the better team.

Looking at things strictly based on results, the playoff crapshoot discussion definitely works out in Gardy's favor. Moss has frequently used Gardy's playoff performance as a case for firing him. Taking a mile-high view of the thing, though, Gardy should be judged more on his in-season results than his post-season results. And by "results" I mean "wins."

(I realize there are a lot more reasons to fire Gardy that have been laid out there. And I realize that his in-season results probably were questionable in the previous Division Championship years. But when it comes down to it, if the playoffs are truly a crapshoot, then they can't really be used as a top five reason to fire Gardy. This calculus is clearly different for managers of teams like the Yanquis and the Blood Sox since their payrolls break the formula.)

Yes, Torii is clearly a better centerfielder than, say, Grady Sizemore.

Where lies the line between just being a run-of-the-mill media sycophant and actively schilling for a contract extension for your favorite quote-machine? The press is practically negotiating on TFOTF's behalf, so desparate are they to avoid seeing him leave town. For if he does, you see, they'd then have to ingratiate themselves to another media whore, and the rest of that clubhouse doesn't exactly strike me as the type to be enamoured of such things.