Richie the Rally Goat

you could superimpose a simplified spray chart and speak to the shift, or heat maps of pitcher v hitter to show why the catcher sets up, and when that wild pitch gets away... mechanics and fundamentals, there's ways even if the plays aren't as scripted

Great story, well written - Thanks!

I went off on a tangent in mikelink45’s extremely well written and thought provoking post “When Baseball was King”. But started thinking about why baseball isn’t king. In my mind a significant shift happened in the late 70s and early 80s. The sport that I think was a major contributor was the NFL and not just that the NFL broadcasted it’s games to wide regional audiences scheduled to minimize overlap and put premium matchups in prime time, there was one man… If you’ve been watching NFL games lately, you probably know who I’m talking about: John Madden. The man was a superstar of TV broadcasting. The formula was simple, teach the game in understandable jargon, show everyone how much you LOVE the game. 1988’s John Madden Football video game has the quintessential story about it. The narrative is that Madden wouldn’t lend his name to the game unless it taught kids the strategy and critical thinking. By the 90s many NFL commentators copied Madden, pulling out the telestrator and yelling “boom” but Madden’s legacy lives today through new teachers of the game like Tony Romo. Henry Ford was quoted once "I will build a motor car for the great multitude...constructed of the best materials, by the best men to be hired, after the simplest designs that modern engineering can devise...so low in price that no man making a good salary will be unable to own one-and enjoy with his family the blessing of hours of pleasure in God's great open spaces." What Madden, the NFL, and Henry Ford got right is achieving accessible consumer products and experiences. By making them affordable, available and understandable the products/services blossomed into dominant actors in their segments. But alas, this is not a football blog. This, is a baseball blog. In the early days of cable, the MLB didn’t coordinate on an mlb schedule or TV contract that facilitated the growth of the league or airing prime matchups to nation wide audiences. They let the individual teams reach their own TV contracts, competing not only on the diamond, but limiting viewership on the air waves. Has there ever been an MLB teacher of the game, a John Madden-esque commentator who taught deeper insights, strategies? A superstar? Not just describing what happened, but why. There’s many Bert Blylevens’s and John Smoltz’s while on air, talk about why they don’t like the game, and bad-mouth the math nerds, while saying stuff that is antithetical to the strategy of why the shift or pitch call was actually happening in the game. I fall into the camp of fan that the analytics enhances my enjoyment of the game. That is not the case for every fan. The analytical math nerds have taken over many of the successful teams, but of course we don’t want math lessons live on TV. How can baseball more thoroughly democratize the data? Teach the strategies that make the game so slow and confusing for casual fans? Accentuate the minutia that Madden did with the telestrator 40 years ago? Who can be the baseball equivalent of Henry Ford and John Madden?

Expanding on this point and addressing the OP: In 2021 Griffin Jax pitched the most innings of any pitcher currently on the roster. This team needs to rely on quad-A types worse than Jax to get through the season, no way do they limit him to the one-inning opener role. He’s the workhorse of the rotation

To that point, I don’t believe they will use openers because they can’t afford the roster spots devoted to one inning pitchers. piggy backing, absolutely likely in my mind. I picture a 7 man rotation in 5 games

Mod note: keep to subject. Ranking of Royce Lewis

Agreed, I don’t think he is a sink or swim prospect yet. The FO might even give him a quick week or two in high A if ST wasn’t enough to knock the rust off (or if there is no ST in ‘22)

I don't think the pundits really matter, but it makes sense that his status would drop to the pundits. Recent draftees are usually ranked higher, Lewis is no longer a spring chicken. I think what matters is value to the Twins relatively to other Front Offices. Clearly he's still valuable to the Twins, it's unclear his value in trade to other FOs. As has been floated in the thread that Lewis may start the year in AAA, does that signal relative value of Lewis? In other words, would the Twins risk overwhelming him, if they really valued him that much? He's hardly played in 2 years, only played 39 games in AA, the jump immediately to AAA would signify to me he's a sink or swim prospect (at risk of no longer being a prospect)

If Levine extended him and traded him in the same offseason, Levine would lose all credibility and struggle to sign or extend players the rest of his front office career. No way that happens. If a trade is not in the works, I too, would extend Arraez for all the reasons listed in the OP.

Do you have to hit home runs to DH? Why? Was Paul Molitor a bad DH because of that? I understand liking Rod Carew alot, he's a high bar to clear, one of the best to ever don a Twins Uni. Isn't that a complement? What's so wrong with that?

I like Arraez, don’t trade him because you have depth, but… 1) The Twins are woefully short at pitcher, especially starting 2) very few options in free agent starting pitching 3) need to give value in trade to get value in trade If Arraez really is “under valued” as the OP states, hang on to him, he’s more valuable to the Twins than in trade. if another team values him enough as the centerpiece of a deal that brings back good controllable starting pitching that doesn’t part with too many prospects, pull the trigger. as others have mentioned depth is critical, that goes for pitching too. There’s even less depth pitching than hitting.

“Va” means “go” en espanol so “No go” as an outfielder is less exciting but I do like “Johnny Shoe” Juan Zapata has a very big league feel

I gotta think we’re a decent substitute For a customer focus group. I mean we all care enough to debate this stuff in January during a lockout.

I get this and to an extent agree, except Donaldson and Sano have bad contracts in the current CBA/market. Offloading those two means paying a large portion of their salary and so there isn’t much savings or sending prospects with them, which I sincerely doubt this FO would ever do. If universal DH comes in, the calculus for Sano changes. At the trade deadline, the calculus for Donaldson might change. For now those two have more value playing for the Twins than in trade. Also, which pitcher is still a free agent that you wouldn’t classify as a dumpster dive? Signing both Rodon and Pineda would still result in a payroll under $120m with Sano and Donaldson on the books. Those are the two highest $ FA’s left… Arraez is one of the most valuable and tradeable assets the Twins have

I agree, a disengaged fanbase would be very detrimental. The pitching, as it stands will put this team very much at risk of just that. the free agent options for pitching are very sparse. A trade for pitching seems like the best way to make ‘22 a competitive one. Trade inherently means someone of value leaves to return someone else. I think trading Arraez makes sense, but as others have pointed out, depends on return. As a package for a very good starting pitcher, I would be very happy. As a stand alone for a low level prospect, I would prefer to keep him.

Good times!

This was awesome! Loved it!

Miranda has played 25 innings at LF and 1B vs 1400 innings at 2B and 1800 at 3B. I wouldn’t consider Miranda a part of the 1B/LF/DH mix.

I believe the word you’re looking for is “necessity”

I can’t wait for the next installment! Great work!

Carlos Rodon the moment the lockout ends

Ha haha! I can’t wait for the next installment!

Bert was absolutely dominant as a pitcher and one of my favorites along with Ryan. The surly attitude helped his cause as one of the greats. He was not my favorite announcer and I really disliked the teleprompter schtick.

I think you nailed it here. "Hope" is not a plan, but hope is what we're being fed. I think what's not being said is that the team plans to drop payroll for 2022 and beyond. They don't want to call it a rebuild, but a rose by any other name smells just as sweet.

I would not bring Miranda up to be a bench player. He’s too good to ride the pine. He needs to play every day. Assuming health of JD I’d start him in STP. I’d look to trade Donaldson at the deadline, and plug Miranda in as starting 3B there foreword. Donaldson and his contract have more value to the Twins than other teams. In 2021, JD had his healthiest season in a long time. Assuming he stays healthy doesn’t seem like a good bet for other GMs. In the off-season, no rational GM is taking on that contract. It would cost the Twins half his salary or more to offload him before the season. Thad Levine reportedly bristled at the idea of rebuilding… off-loading JD at a cost to the Twins would be waiving the white flag. With a couple teams looking to make a playoff push, Donaldson could be one of the best hitters available at the deadline. Necessity might not only unload that contract in full, but throw in a low value prospect too.