…so you’re being sarcastic about a comment that 28 out of 30 GMs would make? Okay.

Sorry if that was unclear. The Yankees reference was not about the playoffs; it was about them wanting to rush out and hire him. I was just trying to imagine a Yankees GM ever saying something like that; try it, it makes it sound very silly. So I joked that with a can-do attitude like that, the Yankees will want to hire him for sure. It’s just a funny contrast with their win-or-else mindset. Still not with me? Oh well — I was tired.

But come on, can you imagine a Yankees GM speaking proudly of being “decent,” let alone qualifying even that multiple times, in one sentence — “more often than not”.. “pretty” decent job .. a “decent roster that can compete” — that doesn’t strike you as aiming kinda low? Not winning, but competing — not decent, but pretty decent, more often than not?

I find that really funny, in an old fashioned “How To Talk Minnesotan” kind of way. Like you’re not allowed to ask for a cup of coffee, then you have to turn it down three times, then you can finally say, well maybe, but only half way? There was a really funny book about this by Howard Mohr, still in print.

I just think it’s amusing how reined in his goals for the team are — to be proud of more often than not being decent is also a little pathetic though.

And I don’t think it’s out of context to say it’s his definition of success, although yes that was a bit sarcastic. But he said that with pride, as justifying what the Twins do. I think that is the Twins definition of success — not winning a world series, but just being decent enough to compete each year. Which used to be fine. I admit don’t think it’s that quaint and charming to have such modest goals anymore, when you just demanded and got hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies, by threatening to leave town, which always struck me as pretty blatantly extortionate; and then if within two years you’re back to filling your roster with also-rans who give you a decent chance of competing, sometimes, it’s not as cute as before. So if you detected some bitternes, sorry, you’re right. But I didn’t mean to be nasty about it.

I mostly just thought it was funny how many times he qualified such a timid statement, that’s all, and indulged in what I thought was a gentle tweak at their low goals. Oh well — too cryptic, too subtle, or too just not funny, I guess. Or all of the above. Whatevs.