Surely this is the beginning of the end of the nightmare...

[Aquavit]

Another 90 loss season is finally, mercifully, in the books for the Twins, and once again our pitching (especially starting pitching, despite fairly significant investment from from the front office) was laughably bad. Alex Meyer, who had a strong season overall starting in AAA Rochester, was never called on as management inexplicably couldn't stop themselves trotting the likes of Samuel Deduno, Logan Darnell, Kevin Corriea, Kris Johnson, and Yohan Pino out every fifth day for the overwhelming majority of the season. Besides the pitching woes, and the related ludicrous personnel decisions, the Twins have just become a very bad baseball team playing an unwatchable, lousy game. Young players previously seen as talented up-and-comers have completely cratereed, and players previously thought of as likely HOFers have become parodies of themselves.

Ron Gardenhire, chief architect of this disaster, somehow finds himself with one more year on his contract. His deputies, most notably pitching coach and "pitch to contact" champion Rick Anderson, are out of a contract as of tomorrow. Chief Complacency Officer and GM Terry Ryan, whose own future is relatively in doubt due to health concerns, has recently commented that Gardenhire is likely coming back next year.

Surely the Twins won't continue to employ the likes of Ron Gardenhire and/or Rick Anderson, will they? With season ticket sales falling faster than so many of the extra base hits off the bats of opposing teams' hitters, and with a seeming majority of fans screaming for change louder than so many of the line drives that hit the walls at Target Field this summer, the Twins' ownership can't continue to accept the status quo.....can they?