Article: Rob Antony's Audition

[PseudoSABR]

 

Fellas, fellas. You're both pretty enough to take to the dance. 

But I'm the prettiest.  And clearly, I won't be going with you.  Pfft. 

 

[Vanimal46]

 

But I'm the prettiest.  And clearly, I won't be going with you.  Pfft. 

 

Annnd now flashbacks from the high school spring dance are coming back.... 

[Craig Arko]

But I'm the prettiest.  And clearly, I won't be going with you.  Pfft. 

 

Nobody puts Pseudo in a corner.

[alarp33]

 

I wouldn't frame Paul Molitor quite that way.  He's not Joe Vavra.  

 

I specifically mentioned loyalty as problem, but the hiring of the next coach is far more complex than that.  

 

He went to high school and college a few miles from Target Field, played for the Twins, ... I mean if that wasn't "familiarity", I don't know what is.  

 

I'll end this, you seem to agree with basically everything I have written, but didn't like the way I wrote it. It's a message board, believe it or not I'm working right now.  I didn't go into detail in each bullet point, I wrote it in 3 minutes.. probably not constructive for either of us to continue bickering.  

[USAFChief]

Please give me some examples you want the organization to do that you believe we are not doing that would make us better?

 

I want the organization to win. Consistently. It's difficult for me, in my living room 1500 miles away, to point to specific things.

 

But what isn't difficult is to see that the organization has had no success for half a decade, and limited success for the decade prior to that.

 

So maybe I'm simplistic, or biased, or presumptive, but that leads mr to not trust the people in charge.

 

That includes your department, BTW. Sorry, but that's my opinion. I appreciate very much you taking the time to indulge us here. Truly. But I see the team still rushing to waste outs by bunting. Slow to accept power pitching instead of pitch to contact. Reluctantly adapting defensive shifts later than other teams.

 

So I want someone from outside the org to come in and look at everything with fresh eyes. Someone without personal ties to the minor league staff, the coaching staff, the analytics staff. Someone who won't perhaps feel the need to continue down a road he/she advocated previously and now must justify.

 

Just my opinion...one perhaps overly influenced by a military background where those in charge were deliberately moved every so often for some of these same reasons.

[glunn]

I agree with Chief. 

 

I would add that it seems to me that the minor league development program is deficient.

 

One example -- Buxton's approach to bunting. Buxton is fast. If he were effective at bunting then he could get on base a lot more.

 

Instead, we see him committing too early, which allows the pitcher to elevate the pitch, then Buxton tries to bunt balls at the letters or higher, which is always a bad idea. Also, I don't remember him pulling the bat back and letting a high pitch go by. Also, I have seen him jab at the ball, which is something that I taught my little league players not to do.

 

This is basic coaching, and in light of Buxton's speed, bunting should have been a priority from day 1.

 

I could give lots of examples of what I see as mediocre player development; however, I am not an expert. Fortunately, there are genuine experts outside the organization who could be hired to give impartial opinions in this regard.

 

I also suspect that there has a system wide failure to track performance and hold people accountable. It seems to me that there should be a thick file of reports that track every aspect of a player's game, beginning with his first scouting report and ending with yesterday's game. Again using Buxton as an example, there should be scouting reports that analyze his bunting skills (and other skills) and that meticulously track his progress at every level through the system. Jack, you are a computer guy and I suspect that you do some of this, but with all due respect if I were the GM I would want to see the reports that I just described and would be trying to find out who was supposed to teach Buxton and why they failed.

 

Finally, I am not fond of the "country club" label, but I agree with those who believe that when an organization is failing for an extended period of time then it makes sense to bring in people from organizations that are succeeding. For all I know, Rob Anthony might be an effective GM, but unless he is willing to bring in new blood and new ideas I will not be optimistic that things will get much better. And if I were the owner, I would ask Mr. Anthony why my speedster stud CF does not seem to have mastered the fundamentals of bunting.

[Craig Arko]

I'd find it difficult to have much interest in an employer who treated their people in the manner described in some of the above posts.

I'd treat all prospective applicants the same:

We know we have some problems here; would you:
1) identify what you think they are
2) propose the outline of a plan to address them
3) propose a timetable for the plan
4) propose a budget for the plan
5) be loveable

Then I'd recall the old engineering maxim, you can have this a) done right, b ) done on time, c) done on budget. Pick two.

So basically like any other Product Manager. Except the 'be lovable' part. That's there by Mr. Pohlad's special request.

[Mike Sixel]

 

I'd find it difficult to have much interest in an employer who treated their people in the manner described in some of the above posts.

I'd treat all prospective applicants the same:

We know we have some problems here; would you:
1) identify what you think they are
2) propose the outline of a plan to address them
3) propose a timetable for the plan
4) propose a budget for the plan
5) be loveable

Then I'd recall the old engineering maxim, you can have this a) done right, b ) done on time, c) done on budget. Pick two.

So basically like any other Product Manager. Except the 'be lovable' part. That's there by Mr. Pohlad's special request.

 

that maxim is idiotic. Accepted in business, but idiotic. You should set realistic goals that can be done right, on time, and on budget. I have this argument at work all the time.....whomever started teaching that did a real disservice to the business (and engineering) world.

[Craig Arko]

 

that maxim is idiotic. Accepted in business, but idiotic. You should set realistic goals that can be done right, on time, and on budget. I have this argument at work all the time.....whomever started teaching that did a real disservice to the business (and engineering) world.

I respectfully disagree.

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

And this is part of the problem. There are an awful lot of people on here who claim to know Rob can't do the job based solely off their opinion of Terry or an interview he did almost SEVEN years ago. And they also assume someone from the outside is more qualified even though they have the same job duties as Rob because they are from a different org. 

I would respectfully disagree with you there, Jack.  I don't think there are many people here, at Twins Daily, basing their opinion of Antony's GM readiness solely on that interview.  (I think if there were, you probably wouldn't bother commenting here!)

 

We can be a critical lot for sure, but most of us on Twins Daily back up our opinions with more evidence than that -- not perfect, obviously, but generally the best and most complete evidence we have available as fans.  In this case, the evidence comes from the likely cause of Antony's problematic 2010 interview -- his suspect record as assistant GM here during the difficult years of 2008-2016.  For example, I personally thought the Delmon Young trade was likely a disaster the day it happened, and while I don't know if Rob Antony may have cautioned against it privately, the fact that a full two seasons later, he still publicly claimed that RBIs were more predictive than slugging percentage... well, I highly doubt that Antony cautioned against the Delmon Young trade. It's far more likely he was a proponent of the trade, as well as later moves driven by similarly problematic narrow vision such as Ramos-for-Capps, Hardy-for-Hoey/Nishioka, and the Jason Bartlett reunion. In that case, the interview is just one piece of evidence among many supporting a larger case, that Antony might lack the ability and curiosity to quickly learn and adapt as befitting a modern head of baseball ops in MLB.

 

This extends into your second point, about someone from outside the organization with the same job duties as Antony.  If such a candidate had likewise not distinguished himself or his organization in the creative thinking and management practices associated with heading a modern MLB organization, over an 8 year opportunity as #2 in command, most Twins Daily posters would recognize that and oppose him or her equally as much as they might oppose Antony.

 

I don't doubt that some fans offer more shallow judgements, but I don't think it's the norm around here. (And I suspect those that do, go even shallower than you suggest -- I would guess most such fans are rather unaware of Antony's 2010 interview or even the timeline of his Twins tenure.)

[Mr. Brooks]

Buddy Boshers and Tommy Milone hit the DL in August of a lost season.

Instead of using that as an opportunity to get a look at a couple of guys who might have a future with us, Antony gives us a couple of AAAA lifers in Albers and Dean.

Sorry, not good enough, he's not the guy for the job.

[Otto von Ballpark]

Buddy Boshers and Tommy Milone hit the DL in August of a lost season.

Instead of using that as an opportunity to get a look at a couple of guys who might have a future with us, Antony gives us a couple of AAAA lifers in Albers and Dean.

Sorry, not good enough, he's not the guy for the job.

What the heck happened to Pat Light, the rumored right handed call up whose flight was delayed?

 

Heck, if they didn't want to call up Light or Melotakis or any of their internal options, make a waiver claim like Patrick Schuster. Instead we're treading water with guys guaranteed to get dropped after the season - Milone, Albers, Dean...

[operation mindcrime]

TC Bear is great for the kids and that guy works harder than anyone in the organization

 

Lmao! This couldn't be more true!!!

[Craig Arko]

Kurt Suzuki on 48-hour trade waivers.

 

http://www.twincities.com/2016/08/13/minnesota-twins-kurt-suzuki-placed-on-trade-waivers/

 

[Kwak]

The Strib report (today's edition) had an answer from DSP that the "process for a new GM may not be completed before season's end. The delay is caused by contacts with people in other organizations that are in playoff contention and/or likely inclusion.  I infer that Anthony is interim only as "the top BB guy".

[Vanimal46]

Kurt Suzuki on 48-hour trade waivers.

 

http://www.twincities.com/2016/08/13/minnesota-twins-kurt-suzuki-placed-on-trade-waivers/

Well, it's the final countdown for Suzuki. Take the money and run? Or wait for a flawed prospect at a later date?

[Kwak]

 

Well, it's the final countdown for Suzuki. Take the money and run? Or wait for a flawed prospect at a later date?

Or the phone never rings...

[PseudoSABR]

Darren Wolfson, on his podcast, asserted that Rob Antony will not get the job (right around 2:30 mark); in the same podcast he presented an interview Antony (this might be the same TV interview).  He also said the Cherington is very, very much in the mix...

Edited August 16, 2016 by PseudoSABR