Trov

For the three changes, the only one I am on board with is the universal DH, or no DH rule. If you are going to have interleague play, you need one set of rules for all teams, not two different ones. This season, you will need to increase interleague play it would seem, so this makes it even more important. Expanded playoffs would be terrible idea. Baseball is a difficult game to always have the best team win, even in a series. To expand playoffs would weaken the regular season and weaken the playoffs as a whole. Right now it is 10 teams, 5 in each league. That is enough. If you expanded to even 12, former NFL layout with top two teams getting a bye, having a three game series for for remaining teams and move on that would weaken the playoffs. We have seen seasons were teams get super hot and fly through playoffs getting to WS then cool off after lay off and get crushed. By giving a bye this would lead to teams risking that. If you went to 14 or 16 it would get even worse with poor teams getting to playoffs and get lucky knocking out good teams in a best of 5 or 7 series. Neutral site WS is even worse idea than expanded playoffs. Teams have constantly built teams to fit their ball park, or ball park to fit their teams. Imgaine a team built on good OF defense with fly ball pitchers in good pitcher park having to now play all their games in a hitter friendly park that routine fly balls in their home park now are HR. You can do neutral site when the dimesions of the playing area are the same, like other major sports. Baseball has always had home field advantage not just by rules, but by design of fields. Also, unlike football where fans will flock to super bowl because it is the super bowl, fans will not flock to neutral site WS games. Maybe in a game 7 only, but not in the rest. Of course this year may be the exception with no fans so you take fans out of it. Also, if WS needs to be in November neutral site may be need for this year alone, but never moving forward when a season can be back to some what normal, even if fans cannot be there, but timing can be.

I would not put Nathan at top, only because he never got it done when it matter in the post season. He would be my number 2. Aggie would be my 1, but remember he did spend 1 year as a starter after he came back to Twins, maybe not full year but part of a year at least. Aggie got it done in playoffs. Nathan sure could dominate at times, but he had some blown saves in post season and that hurts.

I agree the Atlanta in Central and not Pittsburgh makes little sense. Even more so, when Rays are in the East and have to fly past Atlanta to get to most games. Also, Pittsburgh and Cleveland are closer to each other than Pittsburgh and any of the other east teams. However, there will always be some teams that have to travel further. Personally, I think the most viable option is the the Spring training homes would be best for play, but players have biggest push back. The travel is the least, can be done via bus, you can use the minor league fields for the simulated games for minor league players for replacement due to injury and the like. However, players and their families would not want this right now. I am wondering how the DH rules will be. Will they go like normal interleague play where home team rules apply, and of course have significantly more interleague games? This really puts the Twins at a disadvantage when we would be relying on so much from our DH in the offense. Now, half the road games would be played without DH, that is much more than the about 9 road games it was. So then Cruz would be sitting 40 games just because pitchers would have to hit. This would greatly affect his contribution to the team. Additionally, depending on schedule he could have long stints of not playing at all, I bet if there was a 9 plus game NL road trip Mr. Cruz might have a sore ankle that lands him on the DL for 15 days.

Two ways you can answer your question. One, what is his net WAR at SS compared to all other SS options WAR. That is a straight math question, with some speculation of course because unless they play there no way to know their actual WAR. However, it looks like this. In 2019, despite his negative DRS, according to baseball reference he has positive DWAR, kind of odd since many metrics has Polonco as worse starter around defense wise. However his total WAR was 4.8. So, unless we have someone that can put up a bigger WAR, then math says Polonco stays at SS. Of course, much of that WAR is from offense, so you could move him to a different position, which then the math just converts to total team war with plugging in each player at the position. We assume the most likely spot polonco would go would be 2nd base, since throwing is his main issue. So does the replacement at SS have higher WAR than Arrez does? Really, you need to keep dragging this out to so many defense options, but they got people to do this. Option 2, is decide how much the DRS is needed compared to others that could do better. Most of the time, top defenders are not top hitters and vise versa. Much as you stated Jeter by metrics was terrible defense for years, but he was the captain and many believed he was better at defense than he really was. Really, Polonco can stay as long as Twins want him to be there. There is no bar that one must be above to play a position. If the Twins feel him there is best for team they will play him there. Hard to replace his offense. If he drops in production then he will get moved sooner than later. If there is a shift to ground ball hitting again, he may get moved sooner than later. If someone pushes him out because they hit like him but field like Ozzie, he will get moved.

Now if only he can be more efficient with his pitch count and get an extra inning on average per start, he could become ace level pitcher. I know we have transition to using the pen much more, which I have no issue with, but getting only 5 innings per start from a guy that is supposed to be top 2 pitcher on team just still does not seem to sit well with me. What is interesting about the spin rate, is of course it is something that always played a factor, it just was never quantified until recently.

Why not scrap the draft all together and go with a roulette type thing. Each team picks one player they would like to draft each round, no duplicates allowed. Then you put those names on a giant wheel and each team gets one spin. After each team spins you get the player you landed on, unless another team did as well. Then of course there would be a player or players not picked, so what do we do? Simple you take the duped players and non spun players onto a second wheel with again only the teams remaining to spin. You continued to do this until each team gets a player. You do this for however many rounds you want to do for drafting. How do we figure out bonus pools you ask? Greedy players and their agents always wanting to make sure they get the money they deserve. Well I have that figured out too. The first player named in each round gets that round slot bonus value. Then instead of a draft number attached the player will have slot value attached. For example, say the number one overall gets 5 million, and number two gets 4.5 million, and joe bob gets named first for the wheel, no matter what team gets job bob his value for bonus pool is 5 million, and you can sign him for whatever value you want but normal rules apply. Imagine the trades that would happen after the "wheel of fate of future ball players" event. Just a thought.

This article showed the serious problem the Twins had in drafting and why they failed for so long. When you have 2 whole draft classes with 1 MLB player in it, that is poor very poor. Yeah some years will be lean and some will be huge, but when you had picks as high as they did for years and get crap from them. Ugh hopefully those years are behind us.

I doubt you will find too many of these anymore, except for players that drop because of signing issues. Yeah, there will be a few that slip through cracks, always will be, but with high school show cases all over now players will get on radar much ealier and with so much digital video passing around less likely someone gets missed on. Think Hrbek growing up in 70's in cold Minnesota, not a hot bed for talent, despite three HOF players coming out of Twin Cities during that time, Molitor, Morris and Winfield. All three of them went to college to better show case their skills. I doubt many scouts ever saw Hrbek growing up. Not a Twin, but to me the biggest draft find of them all is Mike Piazza draft in 62 round as a favor. 1389 players picked before him.

First, as pointed out the Twins were in a very different position in 2012 than they are now. They were not on the verge of winning, but clearly the cubbord was bare, thanks to Smith win now moves. We had talent in low levels but still a couple years away, and hardly any pitching at any level. So the trades made, although not really paid off and better ones could have been made, were not all that bad under the situation. The writing was on the wall and the Twins needed to reload the system, and as pointed out Span would be wasted, so why not get value for him than let him toil away losing value, because it would have got us maybe an extra couple wins? Revere was who he was, a good defender overall, with no arm and good contact hitter but no power. He never really grew beyond that and much like Span would not have added much during those years. Now, if Twins just trade a guy because others have promise would be ill advised, I would agree. However, past trades should never affect how one makes decisions in the future. If you believe in your prospects and believe they are the better player, trade the MLB player for something of need and play the prospect. If you are not sold on them and the MLB player will add more wins to the total keep them, it is that simple. The line "The Twins should stay put with their outfield and wait for Kirilloff and/or Larnach to prove themselves at the major league level before handing them playing time." is a logical contradiction. The only way either can prove themselves at the MLB level is if you do not stay put with who you have. Unless you assume injury, but that is still not staying put. So assume no injury then only way someone gets playing time is if you do not give it to who you have now, which would mean they will never get to prove themselves because you will never give them the chance because you will be staying put until they can prove themselves, which can never be done. Ugh my mind hurts thinking the circles of arguments that drives this. However, the point to just trade someone because you believe you have an unproven replacement when you are in win now mode does hold water. However, to compare the Twins now to back in 2012 is also flawed as they were not in win now mode.

First guy that came to mind was Joey batts. He owned the Twins at Target field no matter how poorly he was hitting he always crushed Twins, and having Donaldson hitting just before or after I hated watching Toronto games. This made me think of Ellis Burks for Cleveland in early 2000's. He also would crush Twins. Specifically, he would crush Rick Reed. Thome was on those teams too and it was just as bad trip through line up as Bautista and Donaldson. For whatever reason players seem to have teams they love to play against. Right now Kepler loves hitting against Cleveland, maybe less so with no Bauer pitching against him. I remember Luis Revas, not a great career but he hit like half his HR against the Royals.

I was thinking the same thing. To me what points out to Didi is the last year he did not performed well against too many people, but still killed the Twins. Made me think of who else killed Twins but struggled against other teams.

I think Heywood is the better manager, he is forward thinking and was ready to embrace the new shift in baseball strategy. He also would think more than "what the book says" type approach. He would let Lou swing away thinking about how having him bunt would crush the middle of the order. Heywood is willing to pull of trick plays, however, he may get distracted with the duel roll of owner and manager, those two hats may be difficult to switch between. Lou on other hand makes his hitters do push ups if they hit the ball in the air. However, I much more loved the don't give a crap attitude of Lou Brown. You want to manage Cleveland this year? "Hold on, I got a guy on the other line about some white walls." How about pissing on the contract of Dorn.

I cannot speak to what sign stealing Worthington found to be cheating, but unless it involved using non-human methods, I would not find that cheating. If players can see in and see the signs and figure out what pitch is coming and can signal the hitter, to me that is not cheating. However, what the Astros, and other teams were doing went way beyond that. Using closed circuit camera feeds, a computer algorithm, and from the dug out banging on a trash can is crazy. I mean, for years catchers would use multiple signs when runner on second, sometimes even when runner was on first, but never with no one on base, until this. As long as the game has been around there has been teams trying to gain an edge, and as long as it is a skill of the person, that is not cheating. Just like in Blackjack, counting cards is not cheating, it is using a practiced skill to help gain an edge. Why do players cover their mouths with gloves when they are on the mound, fear of a lip reader on the team learning what they talking about, should anyone have that skill. That would not be cheating, but a hidden mic in the pitching rubber hearing everything would be. I personally do not even think using video of past games to try and figure out signs from 3rd base coaches is cheating, if you want to take the time to crack the code and the opposing team takes no steps to change it.

To me, not all injuries can be prevented no matter how you prepare. Buxton shoulder was not because Twins did not do their best to keep him healthy, it was because he slammed it doing what he does trying to make great catches. Sano cut his heal doing non baseball things in off season. These are not team medical problems. The fact that no pitcher had any major issues is a big thing, and if that can continue year in and year out that is something to emulate. Injuries from work load, or bad mechanics that are not corrected are a system issue. Injuries from broken bones or non baseball actives are not a system issue. So the longest injury that to me is from system issue, was Astudillo, but is it really system or player? I like Astudillo overall, most likely because I am chubby myself and imagine I could do similar things when he runs the bases, but that chubbiness will lead to longer muscle issues most likely.

Say what you want about Eddie, and maybe the numbers do not back up what I am about to say, but there is almost no one else I would want up in high leverage situation than him. He thrives on "clutch" situations. He seems to excel at them to, or maybe he just gets more chances not sure. I know teams are always willing to pitch to him, assuming they can throw anything up there and he will chase, but he seems to come through. Again, no numbers to back this up, just my perception. That being said, I would welcome bringing in Kiroloff. I expect big things from that kid. From moment they drafted him I thought he would be a great hitter. He has done nothing to make me doubt that.

I really hope our farm system starts to produce MLB pitchers like Cleveland has been. That is what was promised when we got new GM, he was the pitching guru of finding talent and setting up development. I have always be of belief having good pitching prospects are better than position players. For one, 12 and 13 man pitching staffs now lead to more of a need, and teams always seem to be seeking upgrades at pitching. Where some position players will get blocked by others, so then their value drops in possible trades. Pitching though, you never hear a team say we cannot upgrade at pitching, so every team always willing to deal for pitching, and also with pitchers facing full season injuries or more than other position players need to replace them and have quality in the wings is also very important.

Jason Tyner, I remember his HR, it was in Clevland believe made like second row. I remember every time he would come up my mom would say something like hit one out, I and would respond he never has, and she would say he is due then. Well she finally got one right haha. He was a first round pick because he was fast. The my remember guy is Jeff Reboulet. I don't know why he always comes to mind for me when I think of how the hell is he on the team. He played 5 seasons with the Twins, never topping more than 250 AB. Normally a defensive replacement, and mustache that could not be beat. He did not come up until he was 28, but played until he was 39. That is crazy. Never would a player like him make it past 32 anymore. How he conned his way onto a roster for so long I do not know. Good on him though.

It would be great to have learned how well he would have done had he never got that concussion. Would he have stayed with Twins his whole career? Would he have played late in the 30's instead of only 35? Was the concussion still affecting him at that point when he retired? If he would have stayed healthy and played late in his 30's he would be HOF talk, instead of what if. I am sure many teams have the what if this injury did not happen, but yes the Twins have 2 in recent history, Liriano and Morneau. Two seasons that if fully healthy would have been fun to see playoffs. For Morneau he was the leader of the M&M boys, the RBI producer constantly coming through with 2 outs it seemed. My favorite Morneau memory is a walk off he hit at Target field, only because I was living out of state watched the highlight and said oh crap that was my buddy that dropped his HR. Later to learn my buddy claimed to have called it, but forever he will on video dropping a walk-off HR ball.

This is the exact illustration I like point to when I hear people tout FIP all day long about real stat on how well a pitcher will do. Just as any other stat, FIP is only a piece. It points to absent fielding how good a pitcher should be, but they play defense in baseball so why would we say FIP is so great to determine how good a pitcher was, and just got lucky with good defense. FIP only measures non defense outcomes, which yes if you can strike out a lot walk few and give up very few HR you should do well, but if your defense is terrible and allows tons of hits and errors because they are all terrible, no pitcher will do well. On other hand, if pitcher can get weak contact and have great defense even if his FIP is high he will still have a good season. That all being said, that is crazy low strike out rate for any pitcher. That team had great defense though, only weak spot was Cuddy. Punto and Bartlett up the middle with the soul patrol in the outfield.

I agree with Buxton as he has yet to put together a consistent season, unless you want to say his inconsistent seasons are what he is, or his consistent time on injury list. I agree with Penida as his suspension will carry over. However, I think your own argument about Garver is why it does not matter. You state he will not reach FA until 33, that is doom enough for him. Even if he rakes it will only give a small increase to arbitration, and the Twins would be dumb giving him an extension that takes up free agent years. If Garver wants to get paid over his career he will need to have a Dondaldson or Cruz type 30's. He will need to keep hitting in his early 30's leading to free agent season. I would agree more so if he was facing a FA season and he needed this year to prove last year was not a fluke. He will have a few years to prove he can keep hitting. If anything, the lost year is more for the Twins loss of possible production and not for Garver. Even if Garver did it again this year, he still would need to prove it a few more years to get a contract at 33. Now, if he can stay at catcher and hit lefties well, there will be jobs for him in the future, just not always as a starter.

I would have Stewart trade higher. If you want to go way down the rabbit hole, the Chuck Knobloch trade led to a huge trade tree that helped a ton. Sure the first returns were not game changing, but Eric Milton to Philly for Silva and more importantly Nick Punto, who when he was going well the team did amazing. Then Buch Bucannon to Padres for Bartlett helped for couple years. So I would put the Knobloch trade up there, not because of the first returns but what it eventually led to. I personally would not put the A.J. trade too high. Yes, it was huge win compared to what Giants got, but that was Giants fault for not thinking about personalities of players being important. Yes, Nathan is career leader in saves, an overrated stat, but how many times did he falter in the playoffs? Did it help yes, but would not have it be my number 1. This exercise has made me think of some terrible trades in team history, mainly coming from Smith as GM. Sure there were others, but he had so many bad ones it is a wonder how he managed to stay GM so long. However, he did sign Sano, Polonco, Kepler all in same year, so he had done something right.

To me for one-hit-wonders, I am would think of Scott Diamond, in 2012, who had 12-9 record with 3.54 era, 2.6 war. Rest of his career was pretty much 1 full season after that where he produced negative war. After that 1 inning three years later at MLB level. That is a true one-hit-wonder. The list you put together, I would not even consider Phil Hughes as a one. If you mean for the Twins, then yes, but he had a productive career before the Twins, not to level of that one season but he was productive. Cordova, Punto, Jones, and Guzman I would not consider them one hit wonders either. Yes, they had outlier seasons that had peak value, but they still played several years in the majors. Lew Ford I would put on the list, because he pretty much came out of nowhere and returned to nowhere. Else we could put Jack Morris on Twins one hit wonder. He had 1 season with Twins and helped them win a WS, sure he was career HOF pitcher, but 1 season with Twins. Scott Diamond is my number one. Super flash in the pan to never be heard from again after he fell back to his norm. I see one-hit-wonders as coming out of no where, having big value, then nothing after that.

The poor BABIP to hard contact ratio has been the big question for Kepler and why many think he can tear it up one day. What is odd is that it has been season after season not just a single one. A single season you would think it is just bad luck and good defense, but every season, it has to be something more. I think the number one adjustment he needs to make is realize teams are scared of him, and will start to pitch like it. Work on identifying the holes and stay off those pitches. Take page from Mitch, and say if I cannot hit that pitch hard, why swing at it. If it is a strike so be it, just let it go. If Max can make the adjustment to stay off the pitches where he struggles, then he can be a beast. Easier said than done. How many times, for other players, Buxton to be specific, do I say to myself here comes the slider off the plate leave it, and there is the slider and he swings through it. Everyone knows it is coming, but in the back of your head it is, but what if this is the one time it is not and I miss the fastball. I personally, would coach players to make pitchers show they will throw you a strike more often then they won't. Why do their job for them. That is why I love Mitch and his approach. He looks middle middle and swings hard. He figures if he cannot get a hit on edge of zone pitches, why swing. Unless it is two strikes and you need to foul off close pitches, but even then if you are not good at that, just take it, let the ump do his job.

Doc, I agree with the Twins lineup for this year, if played, and most likely next they have a deep lineup and you can hardly go wrong with many different guys hitting second. Hard to pick who is the "best" as each can put up big offense. Fact that Donaldson hits more HR than Polonco does not mean he would need to hit second over Polonco or others. All I was pointing out was argument that they are taking the old number 2 guy and changing it up with old traditional number 3. Whoever that is for the Twins I do not know, guess that is good problem to have. I agree I miss the old style of stealing bases, hit and runs, ect. Personally, I think eventually there will be shifts to having some of the old style slap hitters that can steal bases, because teams will adjust to how things are being played now, then will make adjustments. Teams will see the flaws in the new defenses, new way of pitching to hitters, and adjustments will be made. As long as they do not institute rules to stop shifting, because shifting is nothing new, just being used to higher levels than before.

Although, I cannot show you the numbers, the reason behind it is the change in philosophy of the 2 hole. In the past, the 2 hole was used to be a guy that could put ball in play well, normally for hit and run purpose or was a good bunter to put lead off guy in scoring position. However, with the philosophy of not giving up outs or risking stealing with missed hit and runs, that has changed. So really, the only thing that has changed is you take the 2 hole guy and drop him further down the lineup and moved everyone else up. Even lead off has changed from OBP+speed to just OBP, because stealing bases is mostly a thing of the past. In addition, if the lead off guy gets on, since the plan is now hit extra base hits by hitting ball in the air out, why not have the former 3 hitter move up to 2 hole and just hit a double or hr to drive in lead off guy. The day of trying to manufacture a run is over. That is why I think the new spot for best hitter is 2 hole.