Monday Morning Minnesota: Rotation, Rays, and the good ol’ days

Hi. Baseball is being played now. That’s cool I guess. Today’s soundtrack is 90’s rock.

• The Runner Sports looks at the questions swirling around the Twin’s starting rotation, which as of now is basically three guys and then a bunch of funny gifs of cats accidentally rolling off of couches.
• Miguel Sano and Ervin Santana are to blame thank for the Erick Aybar signing.
• Also from Mikey B is a bit on Jake Odorizzi helping the Twins on their apparent quest to sign just all of the Rays. Every one.
• Here is an extremely fun Hardball Times piece that looks back at some late 19th century and early 20th century news clippings complaining about big-business taking over baseball.

Old Timey Baseball Player of the Day: Butts Wagner
Butts was the brother of the much more famous Honus Wagner. He played for two teams in 1898, his only in pro-ball, and racked up an impressive -1.1 WAR. Later in life he and Honus talked about starting a circus, but Butts settled on his own pool hall. Like many butts, Butts “had bladder ailments and other ailments, partly caused by years of drinking.” While that one Honus Wagner card sold for literally all of the money, I found a Butts Wagner card on ebay for 99 cents.

Thanks for reading!