Molitor 2017

[mikelink45]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 8:34 AM, The Wise One said:

How do you know he was the one who chose them?

That is a good question.  Looking back at the hiring and various articles it appears that TR hired both Molitor and Allen at the same time - nothing says if Molitor was consulted.

 

Here is the quote about MN pitchers from Allen when he was hired:

"I love the arms down in our farm system. I love what I see in our future – the very near future. Not long-term future,” he reiterated, “but the very near future. We’ve got some big arms coming along, and I’m very excited.”

[Platoon]

I could see myself not buying tickets, in protest of keeping a manager who I view as needing replacement. But I would never buy tickets BECAUSE a certain manager was in place. I think there is too much put on the abilities of a manager. The in game thinking does not change much at any level. The game is still the game, same diamond, same differences in players talents, same need not to wear out pitchers, etc. Many situations would seem self evident. And here's where Molitor fails. He does seemingly odd things. You can't bunt for a run early in a game with this staff. Cleveland maybe can, but you can't. You can't ignore OF defense with a fly ball staff. Your bullpen guys have to have a clue of their role, it cannot change based on your last gig! It goes on. But to me the biggest difference in a MLB managers job is the clubhouse, and how you treat your players. You are not gong to impress on an Eddie Rosario, or a DanSan the error in their ways, while ignoring the same errors by the teammates with whom you have a better personal rapport. It just doesn't work. They see through you, and tune you out. It's your job to be consistent and fair with your players. And it's their job to then pay attention to detail. Neither are present in this clubhouse!

[Platoon]

  On 9/10/2016 at 3:25 AM, TheLeviathan said:

Name your favorite manager in the league and this team still misses the playoffs by 20 games.  It's such a S*#^ fest I can't really judge anyone other than the front office.

It is, but his actions remain odd! He was the one doling out PTto guys brought up, or should I say not doling out. His allegiance to veterans who have no future here, vs getting playing time for future mainstays is troubling. As is his playing time dished out to the Grossmans, Shaefers, and Santana's of the world. Last nights DH of Zuke over Vargas? Ugh! Not because I could predict the AB outcomes of either. It's who should be getting the AB's, in this time and this season!

[twinssporto]

 

  On 9/9/2016 at 8:35 PM, Loosey said:

Pohlad also said Terry Ryan's job was safe and a month and half later he fired him.

Actually he told Ryan this would be his last year and gave him the option of working through the end of the season.

[wsnydes]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 3:25 AM, TheLeviathan said:

Name your favorite manager in the league and this team still misses the playoffs by 20 games.  It's such a S*#^ fest I can't really judge anyone other than the front office.

No doubt.  I'm far more worried about the lack of development for players that have spent significant time in the majors under Molitor.  I definitely understand, and even agree with to a large extent, your original point.  I just put a bit more stock in the value of a quality manager, even on a poor talent team.  I also feel that the big league manager can help set the tone for the minor league clubs.  

 

Losing it and of itself isn't the issue to me.  I'm not saying that I like the losing, I definitely do not.  I'm always far more bothered by how my favorite teams lose.  Playing well and getting beat by a superior team on the day is fine with me.  It happens.  It's the kicking the ball around, playing poor fundamentals and beating themselves that will always bother me far more.

[TheLeviathan]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 2:28 PM, wsnydes said:

No doubt.  I'm far more worried about the lack of development for players that have spent significant time in the majors under Molitor.  I definitely understand, and even agree with to a large extent, your original point.  I just put a bit more stock in the value of a quality manager, even on a poor talent team.  I also feel that the big league manager can help set the tone for the minor league clubs.  

 

How much of that lack of development is just the natural process young players adjusting?

 

I guess, personally, I always saw this season as a potential trainwreck (not of this proportion) just because it's not uncommon for young players to have to take a step back before they take two steps forward.  So I'm kind of reserving judgment until we see those adjustments start to take hold, good or bad, over the course of the next calendar year.

 

Most of my issues with Molitor stem from what seems to be a misguided attempt to squeeze out 65 wins instead of 64.  And that mentality, throughout the season, has been a major detriment to the future.  So my question would be-  how much of that is Molitor and how much of it is organizational pressure?  And what really baffles me is how so many of the "win at all cost!" folks are siding against Molitor when he's been doing exactly what they want him to do in theory.

[wsnydes]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 4:13 PM, TheLeviathan said:

How much of that lack of development is just the natural process young players adjusting?

 

I guess, personally, I always saw this season as a potential trainwreck (not of this proportion) just because it's not uncommon for young players to have to take a step back before they take two steps forward.  So I'm kind of reserving judgment until we see those adjustments start to take hold, good or bad, over the course of the next calendar year.

 

Most of my issues with Molitor stem from what seems to be a misguided attempt to squeeze out 65 wins instead of 64.  And that mentality, throughout the season, has been a major detriment to the future.  So my question would be-  how much of that is Molitor and how much of it is organizational pressure?  And what really baffles me is how so many of the "win at all cost!" folks are siding against Molitor when he's been doing exactly what they want him to do in theory.

I too expected this season to be a train wreck.  Like you, not to this extent however.  

 

The development that I'm speaking about mostly is fundamental things.  These guys are making the same mistakes that they were making in April.  That's a lack of improvement.  I expect ups and downs, especially from the youth.  But I also expect to see the ups getting higher and the lows not getting as deep.  I'm not really talking about Buxton's inability to hit earlier and the like.  Like you, those are things I expect from youth and will apply patience too.  These guys need time to learn at the MLB level.  I'm fine with that.  Poor baserunning, not hitting cut off men, not throwing to the correct base, not lining a cut off to the correct base, poor situational awareness, etc are the things that the organization hasn't instilled in these guys.  That is on the organization as a whole.  That being said, these guys don't get any better at those same things while here.  That's a Molitor issue.  He shouldn't have to be teaching those things, that I'll agree with to the bitter end.  Fact of the matter is that he does have to, and those things aren't improving.

 

I don't really care about the record of this team, especially at this point.  I agree with your 65th win out of 64 comment completely.  What I've expected and wanted all season long is to see improvement from the youth of this organization.  That isn't happening.  That's what bothers me.  That's why I have issues with Molitor as manager.

[Platoon]

I have managed various levels of teams and of various calibers of players. I had one team that was so good, losing one game in a year was unacceptable. I had another that winning a game in a year was a miracle. And everything in between. Every team was treated as best I could per their talent level. But in all cases one thing I always believed: let's play as well as we can, and after the game look at the scoreboard and see how we did. Yes, I know it wasn't quite that simple. But it was a message. Good, clean, well played baseball will be your best chance to win in relation to your talent compared to the other teams. Crappy, sloppy baseball will negate any advantage you had. The Twins have major pitching issues, but they haven't done anything behind their pitchers, or on the bases to mitigate that deficit! And that's solely on Molitor.

[wsnydes]

  On 9/10/2016 at 4:46 PM, Platoon said:

I have managed various levels of teams and of various calibers of players. I had one team that was so good, losing one game in a year was unacceptable. I had another that winning a game in a year was a miracle. And everything in between. Every team was treated as best I could per their talent level. But in all cases one thing I always believed: let's play as well as we can, and after the game look at the scoreboard and see how we did. Yes, I know it wasn't quite that simple. But it was a message. Good, clean, well played baseball will be your best chance to win in relation to your talent compared to the other teams. Crappy, sloppy baseball will negate any advantage you had. The Twins have major pitching issues, but they haven't done anything behind their pitchers, or on the bases to mitigate that deficit! And that's solely on Molitor.

Exactly. It's been said in other threads that fundamentals are not reliant on talent level. Even a poor talent team can use good fundamentals as a crutch to keep them in games consistently.

[tobi0040]

  On 9/10/2016 at 4:27 PM, wsnydes said:

I too expected this season to be a train wreck. Like you, not to this extent however.

 

The development that I'm speaking about mostly is fundamental things. These guys are making the same mistakes that they were making in April. That's a lack of improvement. I expect ups and downs, especially from the youth. But I also expect to see the ups getting higher and the lows not getting as deep. I'm not really talking about Buxton's inability to hit earlier and the like. Like you, those are things I expect from youth and will apply patience too. These guys need time to learn at the MLB level. I'm fine with that. Poor baserunning, not hitting cut off men, not throwing to the correct base, not lining a cut off to the correct base, poor situational awareness, etc are the things that the organization hasn't instilled in these guys. That is on the organization as a whole. That being said, these guys don't get any better at those same things while here. That's a Molitor issue. He shouldn't have to be teaching those things, that I'll agree with to the bitter end. Fact of the matter is that he does have to, and those things aren't improving.

 

I don't really care about the record of this team, especially at this point. I agree with your 65th win out of 64 comment completely. What I've expected and wanted all season long is to see improvement from the youth of this organization. That isn't happening. That's what bothers me. That's why I have issues with Molitor as manager.

You hit the nail directly in the head.

[TheLeviathan]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 4:27 PM, wsnydes said:

I don't really care about the record of this team, especially at this point.  I agree with your 65th win out of 64 comment completely.  What I've expected and wanted all season long is to see improvement from the youth of this organization.  That isn't happening.  That's what bothers me.  That's why I have issues with Molitor as manager.

 

Is it really fair to blame Molitor for Buxton coming up and being unable to hit?  How many hours had Molitor spent with the kid prior to last year working on hitting or anything else?  Same with the fundamentals - should they be better?  Absolutely.  But again, I'd stress that those things shouldn't be something you have to learn at the major league level.  If you do, your developmental system failed you somewhere.   

 

How you assign credit and blame on something like this has always been hard for me to determine.  For instance, does Molitor get credit for Dozier?  For Kepler's solid rookie season?  For Buxton's bounceback?  Is he to blame for the pitching being terrible?  For trotting Sano out to the outfield?

 

I don't know the answer to that.  I think for any of us it's sort of a gut feeling more than anything we can establish with certainty.  My gut still tells me most of this is on flawed organizational frameworks.

 

Of course none of that explains the continued emphasis on playing Danny Santana or some other things I would disagree with Molitor about.

[Willihammer]

I've also asked myself how much credit/blame managers deserve for something like fundamentals. On the one hand, what are the minor leagues for? After thousands of innings in the system, players shouldn't need more than a fine tuning by the time they reach the show, right? Maybe we are seeing poorer fundamentals lately because of a breakdown in the minor leagues at teaching them. On the other hand, Gardy had to deal with rookies who didn't play smartly too, and at least visibly, he seemed a hell of a lot less tolerant of it. How many dugout interactions and outright benchings did we witness? A lot. With Molitor, we see no reactions, ever. I know its a difference of philosophy but I'm not sure its a better one. In Molitor's two seasons so far, the Twins have been bad/awful defensively. In the Gardy era, they were above average. My gut feeling is the two managers each deserve a good slice of the credit/blame for that, but I couldn't pin an exact number on it.

[TheLeviathan]

If Molitor was pulling Buxton, Sano, and Kepler out of the lineup every time we say a mistake in fundamentals.....wouldn't we destroy him for that too?

 

Just sayin.

[wsnydes]

  On 9/10/2016 at 8:46 PM, TheLeviathan said:

Is it really fair to blame Molitor for Buxton coming up and being unable to hit? How many hours had Molitor spent with the kid prior to last year working on hitting or anything else? Same with the fundamentals - should they be better? Absolutely. But again, I'd stress that those things shouldn't be something you have to learn at the major league level. If you do, your developmental system failed you somewhere.

 

How you assign credit and blame on something like this has always been hard for me to determine. For instance, does Molitor get credit for Dozier? For Kepler's solid rookie season? For Buxton's bounceback? Is he to blame for the pitching being terrible? For trotting Sano out to the outfield?

 

I don't know the answer to that. I think for any of us it's sort of a gut feeling more than anything we can establish with certainty. My gut still tells me most of this is on flawed organizational frameworks.

 

Of course none of that explains the continued emphasis on playing Danny Santana or some other things I would disagree with Molitor about.

I kindly ask you to reread my entire post instead of taking the last paragraph out of context. I answer all of your questions, which I felt we are in agreement on mostly.

 

I'll add that if your minor league system fails you, that means that the big league manager needs to pick up the slack. Should it happen? Again, no. Fact of the matter is that it must on this team. Considering the same mistakes made in April are still made in September, that tells me that those fundamentals aren't being addressed by the big league staff. That is solely on the big league staff. We're talking fundamentals, not things like Buxton's BA.

[wsnydes]

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:16 PM, TheLeviathan said:

If Molitor was pulling Buxton, Sano, and Kepler out of the lineup every time we say a mistake in fundamentals.....wouldn't we destroy him for that too?

 

Just sayin.

Nobody is saying that someone should be pulled everytime a fundamental mistake is made. They should be addressed as they occur. If the same mistakes are made over and over again by the same player, that's a habitual problem that needs to be handled differently. That's on the player too, but it's also on the manager.

[TheLeviathan]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:17 PM, wsnydes said:

I kindly ask you to reread my entire post instead of taking the last paragraph out of context. I answer all of your questions, which I felt we are in agreement on mostly.

I'll add that if your minor league system fails you, that means that the big league manager needs to pick up the slack. Should it happen? Again, no. Fact of the matter is that it must on this team. Considering the same mistakes made in April are still made in September, that tells me that those fundamentals aren't being addressed by the big league staff. That is solely on the big league staff. We're talking fundamentals, not things like Buxton's BA.

 

I didn't take it out of context, I just snipped the part I emphasized in my reply.  

 

Here's the thing - are you tracking improvement by the young players?  You say you're not seeing it, but is that perception or something you can actually determine in detail?  Do you know they are ignoring it?  Because I can recall at least once in which Molitor started instituting spring training drills in the middle of the season because of his own frustration.  Do you have any inside information on how much the team is working and drilling guys on fundamentals?  I don't, so if you do, I'd love to hear it.

 

And, even if we could actually establish that it isn't just perception that they aren't improving, but actually cite evidence they are not.....isn't at least some of that due to the big leagues being a horrible place to try and learn fundamental baseball? 

 

[TheLeviathan]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:21 PM, wsnydes said:

Nobody is saying that someone should be pulled everytime a fundamental mistake is made. They should be addressed as they occur. If the same mistakes are made over and over again by the same player, that's a habitual problem that needs to be handled differently. That's on the player too, but it's also on the manager.

 

How do you know attempts aren't being made to change it?

 

I can pull a bad employee into my office every day to correct the mistakes.  I can give them retraining, have them shadow other employees, work with them directly myself, discipline them, and a host of other things and it still might not change the mistakes.

 

Merely seeing them again (potential perception issues aside) is not an indication that there is nothing being done.  It's only an indication that nothing is being fixed.  You seem to be conflating the two.

[wsnydes]

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:23 PM, TheLeviathan said:

I didn't take it out of context, I just snipped the part I emphasized in my reply.

 

Here's the thing - are you tracking improvement by the young players? You say you're not seeing it, but is that perception or something you can actually determine in detail? Do you know they are ignoring it? Because I can recall at least once in which Molitor started instituting spring training drills in the middle of the season because of his own frustration. Do you have any inside information on how much the team is working and drilling guys on fundamentals? I don't, so if you do, I'd love to hear it.

 

And, even if we could actually establish that it isn't just perception that they aren't improving, but actually cite evidence they are not.....isn't at least some of that due to the big leagues being a horrible place to try and learn fundamental baseball?

It's not perception, it's observation. The same mistakes are made over and over again. I should not see Polanco and Dozier line up for a cutoff to third when the play is at 2B and no play will be at 3B in mid September.

 

I never said that I believe the players or coaches are ignoring fundamentals. I'm saying that whatever they are doing isn't working. I can say that because these mistakes are still taking place. There are countless examples of missed cutoff.men, throwing to the wrong base, poor situational awareness, etc.

 

The big leagues is a horrible place to learn fundamentals. Unfortunately, that's exactly what has to occur here.

[wsnydes]

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:24 PM, TheLeviathan said:

How do you know attempts aren't being made to change it?

 

I can pull a bad employee into my office every day to correct the mistakes. I can give them retraining, have them shadow other employees, work with them directly myself, discipline them, and a host of other things and it still might not change the mistakes.

 

Merely seeing them again (potential perception issues aside) is not an indication that there is nothing being done. It's only an indication that nothing is being fixed. You seem to be conflating the two.

I never said they weren't addressing them. I'm saying that what they're doing isn't working. It's not getting through to them. That's all. I don't expect things to be corrected overnight, but they should be improving by mid September.

[TheLeviathan]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:34 PM, wsnydes said:

It's not perception, it's observation. The same mistakes are made over and over again. I should not see Polanco and Dozier line up for a cutoff to third when the play is at 2B and no play will be at 3B in mid September.

I never said that I believe the players or coaches are ignoring fundamentals. I'm saying that whatever they are doing isn't working. I can say that because these mistakes are still taking place. There are countless examples of missed cutoff.men, throwing to the wrong base, poor situational awareness, etc.

The big leagues is a horrible place to learn fundamentals. Unfortunately, that's exactly what has to occur here.

 

Right, but you're claiming they aren't getting better without having any real detail beyond anecdotal observation.  Maybe it was happening 90% of the time in April and it's down to 65% now.  I don't know, I've given up on watching the team enough that I'm not observing their play nearly often enough to draw conclusions.  Not to mention TV viewing isn't exactly ideal for that sort of thing either.

 

If you've been keeping well-detailed notes on it, that might be another thing.  If it's just casual observation, you'll have to excuse me if I look at that with a great deal of skepticism.  You may even be right, but just because sloppy play is continuing, doesn't mean there hasn't been improvements.  

[Willihammer]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:16 PM, TheLeviathan said:

If Molitor was pulling Buxton, Sano, and Kepler out of the lineup every time we say a mistake in fundamentals.....wouldn't we destroy him for that too?

 

Just sayin.

There are two sides to that coin for sure. I also don't miss Gardy calling players out by name to the media. I doubt that was very helpful.

But, I think there is probably room for Molitor to be more of a nagger. The team commit way too many mistakes on almost a daily basis. Its worse than any year of the Gardy era IMO.

[wsnydes]

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:39 PM, TheLeviathan said:

Right, but you're claiming they aren't getting better without having any real detail beyond anecdotal observation. Maybe it was happening 90% of the time in April and it's down to 65% now. I don't know, I've given up on watching the team enough that I'm not observing their play nearly often enough to draw conclusions. Not to mention TV viewing isn't exactly ideal for that sort of thing either.

 

If you've been keeping well-detailed notes on it, that might be another thing. If it's just casual observation, you'll have to excuse me if I look at that with a great deal of skepticism. You may even be right, but just because sloppy play is continuing, doesn't mean there hasn't been improvements.

I keep score at the games I attend which will be about 25 this season. Beyond that I am not tracking this. However, sloppy play is still a constant with this team. Sloppy play is a sign of poor fundamentals. These are things that should be virtually nonexistent at this point of the season. Improvement or not, their play is still far too sloppy for September. That's a problem. That's on the coaches to fix.

[TheLeviathan]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:46 PM, wsnydes said:

I keep score at the games I attend which will be about 25 this season. Beyond that I am not tracking this. However, sloppy play is still a constant with this team. Sloppy play is a sign of poor fundamentals. These are things that should be virtually nonexistent at this point of the season. Improvement or not, their play is still far too sloppy for September. That's a problem. That's on the coaches to fix.

 

Again though, you can keep saying that, but how many things do you want them fixing at a time? Perhaps there simply aren't enough hours in the day to fix all the ills.  Or perhaps the ills aren't as bad as they seem.  Either could be true.

 

I just have a real problem with the idea of saying "It's Molly's fault things aren't improved!" when we can't establish A) whether or not there is actual improvement or not (the existence of sloppy play in September is not a valid argument to the point you were making earlier) and near universal agreement that our development system has handed off a bunch of woefully ill-prepared young guys.  

 

I can demonstrate some of the beef I have with Molly.  233 at-bats by Danny Santana is a start.  What you're arguing is your gut (that things seem to be stagnant) but you really have no basis for that other than a gut feeling.  My gut feeling tells me you can't spin gold out of straw.  As long as we agree neither one of us can know for sure, I'm fine with that.  These sorts of evaluations are hard to do even if you're the Pohlads, much less fans.

[wsnydes]

  On 9/10/2016 at 9:56 PM, TheLeviathan said:

Again though, you can keep saying that, but how many things do you want them fixing at a time? Perhaps there simply aren't enough hours in the day to fix all the ills. Or perhaps the ills aren't as bad as they seem. Either could be true.

 

I just have a real problem with the idea of saying "It's Molly's fault things aren't improved!" when we can't establish A) whether or not there is actual improvement or not (the existence of sloppy play in September is not a valid argument to the point you were making earlier) and near universal agreement that our development system has handed off a bunch of woefully ill-prepared young guys.

 

I can demonstrate some of the beef I have with Molly. 233 at-bats by Danny Santana is a start. What you're arguing is your gut (that things seem to be stagnant) but you really have no basis for that other than a gut feeling. My gut feeling tells me you can't spin gold out of straw. As long as we agree neither one of us can know for sure, I'm fine with that. These sorts of evaluations are hard to do even if you're the Pohlads, much less fans.

I've listed several times examples of fundamental plays that keep getting messed up. If these ills aren't as bad as they seem, they wouldn't be on pace for 100+ losses. How many of these do I want fixed at once? All of them, that's what a coaching staff is for. Sloppy play is the same thing as a lack of fundamentals, at least in my view. Beyond that, we're obviously at the point where we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm sure we can both agree on that.

[TheLeviathan]

 

  On 9/10/2016 at 10:07 PM, wsnydes said:

I've listed several times examples of fundamental plays that keep getting messed up. If these ills aren't as bad as they seem, they wouldn't be on pace for 100+ losses. How many of these do I want fixed at once? All of them, that's what a coaching staff is for. Sloppy play is the same thing as a lack of fundamentals, at least in my view. Beyond that, we're obviously at the point where we'll have to agree to disagree. I'm sure we can both agree on that.

 

They're coaches.  Not wizards.  We're on pace for 100+ losses because we can't pitch, hit, or field.  This sort of goes back to my post a few pages ago: pick your favorite manager in baseball and we probably still lose 90+ switching him for Molitor.  Unless you demand he actually be a wizard, the basis for your complaint doesn't sit well for me.  It's possible for sloppy play to still be happening in September and for this coaching staff to have done everything humanly possible to fix it.  They may even have substantially improved it and you are none the wiser because you focus more on the sloppy plays you continue to see and have no way of telling if anything has gotten better.  Either way, they aren't wizards.  No wizard I'm aware of exists that could have turned this group into anything better than a 90 loss team.  Nor will any wizard make them mistake-proof in September.

 

I can't judge the improvement (or even regression) of the team's fundamentals as a fan.  Anecdotal observations of that sort are just a really flimsy case for me to swallow.

 

Amusingly....in 2014 when we were about to fire Gardy we were also lamenting the collapse of fundamentals and how un-Gardy it was. Maybe it wasn't Gardy and it isn't Molitor....

[Mike Sixel]

Kurt Suzuki....DH.... What more needs to be said?

[tobi0040]

  On 9/10/2016 at 11:34 PM, Mike Sixel said:

Kurt Suzuki....DH.... What more needs to be said?

With expanded rosters too. You have all sorts of guys that could have been a productive 4-5 at bats. So glad he will be back next year

[ashbury]

  On 9/10/2016 at 10:49 PM, TheLeviathan said:

We're on pace for 100+ losses because we can't pitch, hit, or field. 

Picky picky picky, but the run-scoring has been on a pace worthy of a .500 team. Nothing about that scoring jumps out as fluky in regard to the underlying hitting stats.

 

The 100+ losses are coming from the run prevention. A run worse than league average. In a class by themselves.

[TheLeviathan]

 

  On 9/11/2016 at 2:19 AM, ashburyjohn said:

Picky picky picky, but the run-scoring has been on a pace worthy of a .500 team. Nothing about that scoring jumps out as fluky in regard to the underlying hitting stats.

 

The 100+ losses are coming from the run prevention. A run worse than league average. In a class by themselves.

 

Fair point, but there was a stretch of the season (the first two months) where the hitting was subpar.  But I agree, run prevention has certainly been a bigger factor overall.

[Rosterman]

It's fun to look back at the managerial hunt for Gardy's replacement. Ultimately, the organization wasn't ready to look outside (although they did bring in a couple of stranger coaches). The internal options mentioned were Steinbach and Dougie. But an awful lot of Molitor praise early in the game.

 

And it was interesting that Paul got a three year contract out of the chute. In 2015 the team did do better than WE all thought. But they were far from competitive, although they someone managed to stay in the Wild Card hunt to the last game (shades of 1987). 

 

But 2016 has been an overall disaster. And I, for one, don't lay the blame on the players and their production. Yes, we have some players that...well...WE wonder "What the Hey!" That's the fault of the General Manager. But the mistakes up and down and all around the field...that is the field staff.

 

Y'know. These guys ARE producing in the minors. Dougie has followed some up the ranks. At best, he would probably manage at AAA next season if Molitor stays. But if something isn't working, it may, in my own opinion looking from the sidelines, is the fear of advancing players too fast thru the system...some seem to get stuck, go backwards immediately when they show trouble. Of so much time is spent on changing things, adding things, maybe even overworking fundamentals.

 

 

The baseball diamond is the exact same size on the practice field in Ft. Myers as at Target Fiueld (shades of Hoosers!). The distance to a wall may be more or less. There are stands all around. The surface is absolutely perfect. When the ball is put in play the players consistently run faster and harder than in the minors. The guys in the outfield are more athletic. The pitchers all seem to have pinpoint control and multiple pitches. You have film on absolutely everything and people just looking to find ways to get you out. Plus you have better travel, more money, and suddenly the dream of even more if.....

 

Major league ball is a big adjustment, no matter how well you play in the minors. Yes, your major league coaching staff should still be teachers and all leaders. You have twice as many on-field guys than you did a decade ago, it seems, as well as a couple of "consultants" always around the clubhouse (or so it seems). The coaches are to work on the fundamentals with all players. To help put together the game plan for pitching, fielding and offense, under the overall direction of the manager who also must be a youth counselor, a steady pat on the back to vets, and a pipeline to the front office. It's a helluva a job...but you have all the time in the day to prepare for each and every game and tools that past generations of ballplayers never dreamed would be there. Hell, you got indoor batting cages so you don't have to get wet if it is raining a little.

 

http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2014/10/01/twins-seek-new-direction-with-gardenhire-dismissal/

 

Go back and read this piece from a couple of seasons ago. Can we tell what direction the Twins wanted to go, what they were expecting from one of the most intelligent baseball men in the game, if they hired him? Why didn't it work out between Ryan and Molitor and the players that both of them have been following for most of the careers of the players cuirently on the team and that were in the upper part of the system the past few years.

 

Can we simply blame it on ownership who saw Molitor as a face of the franchise and someone that would excite the fans. Seriously, managers may win (or lose) games. But ultimately they have to do it by properly using players and allowing some to become superstars, many loving contributors, and the rest solid (see Nick Punto) clubhouse contributors to a baseball team.

 

Maybe ALL the success of 2015 can be placed on the glorious smile and clubhouse presence of Torii Hunter. Maybe that was the ingredient that made the 2015 tam excel beyond belief...not Molly.... The one decision that paid big dividends, not only in getting more season ticket holders to lineup in the off season, but also saw better on-field results, even though the play of Torii was far from his best ever.

 

Man, I can't believe that I'm heaping praise for the success on the Twins because of Torii. And no other reason. But think about it. Take away that presence in 2015, and what do we have for a team. Did that leadership in the clubhouse contribute x-amount of WAR to the team, compared to no clubhouse leader and a rudderless ship this season? 

 

Jim Pohlad...write the checks. That is it. Get someone in and listen to them and give them the opportunity to recreate the Twins in an image that is far left (or right) of whatever the Twins Way is/was. Trust them to do what is right. Don't question their moves. Don't ask to play it safe. Don't give budget constraints (well, we have to stay within 55%). Because of the system DOESN'T FAIL, you will have riches beyond belief!