Paul

To objectively understand the current Twins situation it's important to not underestimate what the new FO considers their number 1 task. I've read it stated many times and ways in numerous interviews with them. In their words: "Change the culture" "Get everybody on the same page" Reach out to everybody" etc. The current situation has its genesis in whatever transpired in the clubhouse in 2011. It was apparent to me that the clubhouse was lost. When that happens it's almost impossible to get back without changing either the FO or the majority of the players. The player roster is almost completely turned over from then but, the residual effect continues to contaminate every player to a degree. Countering this effect was Torri's contribution in "15". Without a leader with his charisma they finally realized the FO had to be overhauled. The new guys are focused and working hard on this. This could improve fast. With everyone pushing in the same direction this year could be shocking to a lot of people.

Respectfully disagree. I've never seen this kid pitch but, the thing Glavine did best was spin a baseball. According to the article they do share the ability to command though. And if this kid can keep from hanging the breaking pitches and hit the corners or run 'em off the plate, maybe he can be something special like Glavine.

"playing baseball games is a poor way to condition and a poor way to develop MOST baseballskills" THIS exactly. If he's gonna play the OF he's got a lot of drilling ahead. I listened to a souhan interview with Radcliff. The guy has like 30+ years scouting experience. Radcliff said Sano is the best foreign player he has ever seen. Souhan asked who was the 2nd best. Radcliff responded Cabrera. As in Miguel

Kudos to you my friend

My opinion is Simmons is already a better SS than Smith. And even Omar Vizquel, who I believed would never be surpassed. You can make a strong argument Simmons is the best defensive SS to ever play. Smith was flashier, and Vizquel had unique hand/eye coordination and was a tad better mechanically. But Simmons is the proverbial whole package. His defensive tools are in uncharted territory.

Sometimes a lack of inference can be truly startling. I agree 100% with your take, by the way. As a matter of fact, it smells like the Gomez to Hardy to zero thing to me.

One thing you didn't mention, and one I've never seen mentioned on this site, is the catcher's ability to to catch a borderline pitch with the center of the pocket over the plate. This means: recognizing the pitch is off slightly, holding the glove with the center of the pocket over the corner or edge of the strike zone, letting the pitch hit the little finger, heel or thumb of the glove and deflect into the pocket, doing this with enough strength the the glove doesn't rock too badly giving away what you did. I don't recall seeing this kid catch but Mauer was excellent at this. All the best catchers do this. The lesser ones not so much.

"I think that the best pitch depends on the pitcher and the situation." Exactly! No matter what you throw, or where you throw it, if the hitter is sitting on it you're in trouble. Nice to see the new technology supporting the old axiomatic thought of "4-seamer up and in...softer stuff low and away".

"just to show how WAR #s should be taken with a grain of salt, Fuld is currently ranked just ahead of Jacoby Ellsbury" That's not a grain...that's a shovelful.

I think Carew might not be recognizing the fact that he acquired a high level of confidence as a baserunner early in his career that those he is referring to may not have acquired yet. It's hard to believe runners are taught different today, namely, if the play is in front of you, you decide. If there is any doubt, listen to the coach.

To Aaron Hicks: Dear sir, I wish you the best of luck with going back to hitting from both sides of the plate. I think you corrected a bad decision made under the cloud of desperation. Please don't put much stock in the opinions you read on the internet about this matter. Take this site for example. This is the best baseball forum I have experienced, but I would guess far less than 1% of the posters here have faced a high 80s slider/cutter launched directly at them. Their opinion should carry NO weight with you. You proved it at AA. You have have the tools it takes to make it in the show. Clear your head and do your best on the work your coaches assign/suggest. Let them help you. I have every confidence you will succeed. I look forward to watching your career take off.

I may be repeating what someone else has said but, maybe, just maybe, Mauer knows what he's doing. Maybe he's part of that small 99.9% group of players that are taught to look for a particular type of pitch in a particular zone in a hitters count. And maybe, because he has little fear of not being able to get the barrel on the ball, he considers 0-0 a hitters count for him. And maybe the pitch and zone he looks for ain't a grooved fastball down the center of the plate. And maybe if he did look there for that more often his BA on first pitches would drop substantially from almost .500, which ain't too bad. Here's an anecdote for ya. I think it was the last year at the dome, Verlander threw one up and in, 98 MPH. Mauer was looking for that pitch in that zone, turned on it and hit it in the upper deck. Verlander was quoted as saying something along the lines of "I threw that ball exactly where I wanted. No one else in baseball can do that to that pitch."

If you wouldn't blame a duck for quacking, then you really shouldn't blame an MBA for trying to increase their revenue stream every way available to them. There's nothing nefarious going on. The anti-trust exemption awarded to MLB in the 20's was the result of the brethren being convinced of two things: ML baseball was somehow essential to the well being of the US and, ML baseball could not survive without the exemption. From my perspective, the validity of both things today could be successfully argued against. In any event, it won't change until our busy legislators are alerted by a focus group. Wait, did I just say that last part out loud?

Good for you, AJ. Keep going. You're on a very rewarding track. If you were my son or grandson I' be proud.

Bummer, all I got was this old one. lonelyfavour - 03-23-2012 01:12 PM hi my there. my name is favour desmond. i will like to be your good friends i have important thing to share and discuse with you in private so pls here is my private email (favourdesmond51(@)rocketmail(.)c/o/m) thanks I smell an investment opportunity !!

Nice article John. I thought it was one of the most insightful things I've read on this interweb thing in some time... until I got to your last sentence. " I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between." (I'm bettin' you couldn't resist turning that phrase.) I think without question both perspectives are the truth. And further, it can be successfully argued that BOTH viewpoints are most definitely subjective. We all see this beautiful immense diamond we call life, but we all only see the facets in our field of vision.

Thanks for the link. What a treat. Also, what a blast from the past. Weather forecast that expected rain instead of the nice day they got, advert for a gas station that washed your windows "all the time", advert for White Owl cigars, even a guy hustling (Uhlander) and ending up on 3rd on a routine pop fly to right. Thanks again.

This exact sentiment is what really chaps my hide about WAR, which I'll be the first to admit I do not fully understand. But is it that incomprehensible that having a plus plus SS in place of Florimon could add far more wins than 1 or 2? I don't know what kind of guy, or what the quality of Drew's character is, but the SS position is normally a leadership position. I'm not sure how to quantify this, but competency on both sides of the ball coupled with character, and confident leadership from that position can make a tremendous difference in the outcome of games. It's the synergy from a close knit team pushing in the same direction that tips the scale and wins games. I don't know if Drew is the guy to fill that void but, I do know most people continue to mature so he might be. Unless the team has already established he's a negative in this regard, from my perspective this is a golden opportunity to find out if he can. Because it's so much easier to lead from a plus plus status means he's already half way there. Like with a putt, if you don't hit it hard enough it ain't got a chance.

To me, the shoes / steel toes thing is an apt analagy Brian. Well said. I view myself as a guest here and behave appropriately. But I can understand people who frequent the site and their desire to take "ownership/host responsibility" and share in the culture creation here. I think that's good for the site. I think the push/pull going on is a healthy thing for Twins Daily. The one caution I would make is the old "power corrupts" thing as it applies to the moderators. In the moderation process their dynamic should be the attractiveness of the site for all, not their own personal attractiveness.

I don't recall seeing him play, and the leg kick may very well give him trouble, but this tidbit: "Examining his spray chart, you can see that for hard offerings (fastballs, sliders, etc), he stays middle-away. On the other hand, for slower offerings (changeups, curves, etc), he pull them." is huge and the significance should not be overlooked. This tells me he's seeing well and is on the ball all in, what should be for him, a high pressure situation. This bodes well for him and the team.

Brian, This is way off the beaten track but, this has been on my mind for a year or two and I feel like doing some mental housekeeping. I forget the exact context, but a long time ago I made reference to the phrase "diamonds to ducks" in a response to you. You then asked me for the origin of the phrase. I consider it bad form to not answer an honest question. I fully intended to answer you but was busy at the time and didn't take the time to write. Since then this transgression has popped in and out of my consciousness, though always at inopportune times. Now's a good time. Here's your answer: There is a series of novels, (numbering well over 100), called the Destroyer series. The premise is an employee for a secret government agency, named Remo, who is not very bright but is well intentioned and is the baddest dude around. His trainer/mentor in Sinanju ("the sun source of all the martial arts") and life is an ancient Korean named Chiun. (Who is really the baddest dude around.) To me, the funnest parts of the books are the anecdotes illustrating the relationship between the two. Trainer/student father/son antagonist/antagonized antagonized/antagonist The phrase comes from Chiun in one of their conversations about how him giving Remo bits of wisdom is akin to giving diamonds to ducks. Another time he used pearls to squirrels. FYI A movie was made in the 80's called "Remo Williams: The Beginning" It's not very good and is only slightly representative of the books. An interesting tidbit about the books, that always amazed me, is the fact that the relationship between the two authors became strained. They lived on opposite coasts. Their method was one would write a chapter and mail the results to the other who then reciprocate.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I'm reminded of the Chicago Bears fan SNL skit from the 80's. Goes something like: "What if everybody else was injured and couldn't play cept McMahon and Di'ka?" Fan1 "Well it might be close till half, but den Jim and Mike's superior conditioning pay off. Da bears by 24" Fan 2 "I've seen Jim kick in practice. Dey dominate from the opening kickoff. Da Bears by 42." Fan 3 "You're both wrong. McMahon and Di'ka put such a whoopin' on 'em da 1st half, da udder team don't come out for the 2nd half. Da bears win by forfeit."

I keep seeing the name Hardy mentioned as a potential replacement for the Twins SS. Logic tells me there is no way this would ever happen. I'm a huge fan of what Hardy has to offer on the field, but he was already fired once by the Twins. Some event or, some recognition of an unwanted character attribute must have occurred to precipitate this action. Certainly it wasn't a determination based on his field contributions. From my perspective, I have trouble even seeing what's debatable about Florimon VS Drew. The contribution a competent and confident SS brings to a team is vastly understated in all the metrics the beancounters rely on. I believe in hiring the best people available, proficiency and character. Drew's been a plus plus ML SS since he was 23 years old, if he's a decent man I'd love to see him on board. The only argument that I can see against Drew is the propensity of teams with relatively finite funds to not "waste" any money or minor league assets until they feel they are ready to make a run. I'm sure this is a significant consideration of the Twins.

"...batted ball data broken down to minutia..." Nice phrase Parker, loaded with meaning. I agree with James that this is a passing fad for all but a few batters. James says 100 or so but I think there's only about 25 guys in each league who can't adapt and take advantage of unusual fielder positioning. All in all I really enjoyed your article until I looked at "(which has been a long-standing problem)" and was reminded of how frustrating it was too watch Harris and Cabrera stumble around, and how excited I was when they hired Hardy, and how pissed I got when they fired him. And how much more pissed I got when they hired Nishioka and I saw him reinstate the stumbling around. And lately I've heard the Twins won't give up the 45th draft pick for Drew. I thought I had recovered, but you just RIPPED OFF MY HARDY SCAB!! I have to go kick the dog and take a nap now. I'm very tired.

From the little I've seen of the kid, I still think he's the surest thing in the system with the exception of Buxton.