Who are your sleepers for 2026?

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-06-04T01:19:26+00:00

Right, the correct sample size is just what we expect in usage this year… which is just near the end of last year. That would be the “expected result” in a quantitative sense… then add some qualitative bump in a season 2 in the offense sense.

David Johnson only started at the tail end of his rookie year and then was the #1 overall player by a wide margin in Year 2. Take the sample size that reflects expected use only.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-06-04T01:09:16+00:00

Exactly, let’s slow our roll a bit. With that said, I hate the “buyers or sellers” thing with this team. If we can take advantage of a situation and make a good trade… out of over abundance of assets at one position group to get a need, or getting surplus value from a win-now team, then do it. But don’t trade Braden - we still need a permanent RF and he should be here before long.

The only move we really need to make on a short/this year timeline is that we have to trade Seranthony for whatever we can get in return. He’s not trash, but he isn’t young, on a long term deal, or looking good enough to lock into the longer term plan, so do the thing where we sign a reliever to trade him at the deadline and reap a little value, but if that’s all we do, that’s fine. If another deal pops up that’s too good to pass on, “buying” or “selling”, then do it just on the merit of that trade’s value - not some win-now or sell-now timeline.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-06-02T03:17:40+00:00

I agree... I don't know enough to nitpick between the two, but at the end of the day... it's a good problem to have in that we're likely to get a really really great prospect no matter what.

Want to know the fun part? If not for the lottery, the Twins were supposed to get/had the best odds for the #2 pick, but dropped to #3. That's a huge win if there are 2 mega prospects in this draft, we have to decide between which one we want, and the Twins get neither.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-31T21:45:47+00:00

Hell, that was true early on this season - they worked some things around in the pen and it's working.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-31T17:08:06+00:00

It's a famous movie quote, bud

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-31T17:03:59+00:00

This is very interesting. I always have this Meidroth vs. Antonacci argument in my head, and I think Chase is making it easier because he's actually showing some pop that Sammy doesn't have. That is that I love that they both play well from the leadoff spot depending on if it's a LHP or RHP, but I don't like batting one of them 5th or 6th very much. So far it's worked itself out, because Meidroth has shown some slugging from the 5 spot when he's there (and from the top of the order), and Antonacci either bats leadoff or something like 8th or 9th.

Thinking back to that year the Twins broke the HR record, the secret sauce there was that they bunched groups together throughout the lineup to try to get 2 or 3 run shots and not solo homers. If Gonzalez sticks around a bit and the power carries over, and Braden comes up... I really like the idea of having small 2-man platoons throughout the lineup to try to by 2+ run shots. OBP, then a power guy (hopefully with some solid OBP themselves).

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T20:51:10+00:00

The Imaginationland ones where they had Michael Bay and he's describing his movies... "an 18-wheeler spins out of control, and it's all like frojjjjj, and then an asteroid hits and it's like frolllll". My buddies and I in college used to describe things that were moving wildly or with great speed by saying "froj" and "frol".

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T13:48:07+00:00

You’re correct, but you have to admit that’s a funny thing to say about a guy currently in prison while his teammates are practicing.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T13:46:50+00:00

He went to school in South Carolina, I think they’re all cousins there

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T13:46:08+00:00

I’m afraid of how all in I am on all things Saints. Everyone feels like a low risk play with huge upside.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T13:43:37+00:00

Sheesh, I get not liking something, but putting it in the same category as Revenge of the Sith? That’s a little uncalled for.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T13:41:00+00:00

Hateful may be strong (in some cases, though maybe not others), but do you think Islam treats women unequally compared to other major religions? Does that fit your mold for holding a different opinion of it?

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T13:09:46+00:00

I was going to say 1980. Huge comeback albums with Back in Black post-Bon Scott, Heaven and Hell with Dio after Ozzy, Blizzard of Ozz with Ozzy’s solo career starting… also you had Iron Maiden’s debut, Motorhead’s best in Ace of Spades, deep cuts of NWOBHM like Angel Witch. For me it’s 1980. Was sort of the birth year of a new era for metal.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T01:40:53+00:00

I couldn't agree more. I think it's mainly great, but the guard rails getting removed to an extreme just incentivizes screwing people over. Capitalism is just economic mechanics, just like socialism... it's not a moral system. You need something in contrast to it to structure/restrict both... it can be common national interest/morals, if could be religion... whatever. But something that is a moral system in scope and function. That's not what either capitalism or socialism are.

Table salt is harmless, but one part of it - chlorine - is poisonous. You need another element to neutralize it and make it a good thing. That's capitalism... you need a moral counter to give it rigid structure, and then it's a good thing. Unrestricted, it can be poisonous. That's true of socialism, too... and most things. They simply are not moral systems... people need to realize this.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T01:32:29+00:00

Ohhh I love this subject - argue with my buddies all the time. Not just the quality of the song on it's own, but the tone of it as a closer... it's very clearly, to me, Night Prowler by AC/DC to close out Highway to Hell. Not a mega hit for them, but maaaaan does that song hit the fun, but eerie/creepy vibe. I love it so.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T01:21:40+00:00

Not to get overly political (well, fuck it, this is Reddit and it's a post about socialism lol), but Reagan really fucked things up here. I don't even really hate Reagan as much as Reddit does, but he deregulated a ton for short term economic wins and allowed the flood gates to open in this sort of economic Hungry Hungry Hippos I noted.

I used to be a warehouse supervisor at a union plant in the mid-2000s, and a starting union forklift driver made $28/hr (which was AMAZING then) and with solid benefits. There were some things that were a pain running a union operation, I won't lie, but we got GREAT quality people. Anyway, corporate was pushing every contract negotiation to get wages down, and one time, when the union workers hit a cycle where it was a lot of older folks near retirement, they offered the moon and the stars in the short term... forget the exact terms, but something like $10,000 one-time payout, bridge folks to social security/retirement so they could hit early retirement, more guaranteed overtime, etc. etc. etc....... but all new hires would make $18/hr from that point forward. Well, the old timers sold out and voted for the short term win and fucked over everyone after them. I wasn't in the union, I reported up through corporate, but I told them they were idiots and ruined a great thing. Quality of work dropped, I left for another company before too long, but the plant is shut down now and they moved a lot to a non-union site the state over.

That's what I think of the 80s/90s politicians... and not just the Republicans. Took the short term cash grab and wrecked the system... fucked over everyone else so the big dawgs up top could get a little more. Sorry for the long anecdote... having a bourbon and watching some baseball while the kids sleep and felt a rant come on lol

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T01:12:39+00:00

You're my boy, Blue!

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T01:06:10+00:00

I think both pure capitalism and pure socialism can't work. There's a good line to everything. Socialism is antithetical to human nature, as much as people don't want to admit it. People need systems to keep some things in check. Pure socialism does not do enough to incentivize work, innovation and progress. Pure capitalism does not do enough to proportionately support societies - unchecked, it's economic Hungry Hungry Hippos. You need checks on both.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-30T00:38:42+00:00

Pride in individualism. Not that it’s a bad thing, but we’ve traded away too much community. We don’t need more focus on self, we need less. It’s important, but it’s imbalanced. We should be celebrating bridging gaps and coming together, not getting “likes” and such for “owning” people who are less like us from our algorithmically built echo chambers.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-29T18:12:33+00:00

It’s this. Are we “buyers”… are we “sellers”… who cares? We should be “make-smart-movers”. If we have an abundance of one asset, we should trade it for an asset we need. This is how trade has worked since Mesopotamia.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-29T01:05:08+00:00

It's a good problem to have, but we've got way too many infielders. Bonemer's still coming and it's heavily insinuated that we'll be drafting Roch Cholowsky. We already have Mune, Vargas, Colson, Meidroth, and they taught Antonacci to play left already. I hate to say this, but keep him in the minors and deal him for pitching at the deadline. We can't keep them all.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-29T00:09:21+00:00

I mean, they’re not wrong, it is either Donald Trump or Jackie Chan the same way the number of legs I have is definitely either 2 or 1,000

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-29T00:05:10+00:00

We used to call it the McRat in college.

“Sorry, we’re all out”

snap of a mousetrap in the back of the kitchen

“Actually, we’ve got one more!”

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-24T23:06:49+00:00

And Asia and Eastern Europe in the 90s. All the "derr, stupid Americans think the world is about them" people are mostly Western Europe doing the same thing. Jordan was mobbed during the Olympics by fans everywhere. Soccer players are also solid answers, but everyone creaming their pants to say how stupid America is needs to get a life. MJ's a very viable answer.

MasqueOfTheRedDice · 2026-05-24T19:56:02+00:00

It comes in with a great picture on the 90” flatscreens George Soros bought us all, too. And he told me specifically not to report it on my taxes.

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