The winning ways this season remind me of glorious seasons of the past. I can't help but think of Andy MacPhail and the two World Series he helped bring to our favorite franchise.

 

In an article from SI in 1992, MacPhail spends some time talking about being a small market GM, and the premise of the article is how great of a GM he was for trading Viola for Tapani, Aguilara, and Erickson.

 

https://www.si.com/vault/1992/03/30/126247/master-of-the-trade-when-it-comes-to-building-a-baseball-team-for-the-90s-andy-macphail-gm-of-the-twins-is-the-best-in-the-business

 

The parallels are amazing. It seems like MacPhail tried to cultivate an image of a small market baseball team. It feels like that image still exists.

 

Does this ghost of the past(who still looks younger than his successor) still frame how you make arguments over what Falvey and Levine should do with the roster of this ball club?

 

Do you find yourself hoping the repeat of the pattern continues? I doubt the "great swindle" would ever happen again, but do you find yourself hoping that Levine can flip Santana for the next Tapani/Aguilara/Erickson?

Not really related to the OP, but I found this tool on baseball-reference and thought it was really cool.

 

Here's the Twins hitters sorted by OPS through the last 45 days: 

 

https://www.baseball-reference.com/tiny/A4baZ 

 

Buxton and Dozier have been terrific. Stats over a full season or recent seasons stats are important, but that's a long term measure of how good a hitter is... not necessarily how well they are hitting currently. I'd rather face a good hitter in a slump than an average hitter who is raking. Hitting often goes in streaks. Plus, sometimes guys simply elevate or lower their performance level. 

 

Anyway, looking at the Twins best hitters over the past 30-45 days explains why Polanco and Buxton are hitting in the 3 hole. This list is sorted pretty differently than the full season stats we typically see.