Nice write-up. The more Vavra quotes and interviews that I read, the more confidence I have in our coaching staff. This whole idea that our coaches prevent hitters from putting the ball in the seats seems to be a big oversimplification. My impression is that when someone like Thome isn't having problems at the plate, the coaching staff won't try and change their approach, but when guys like Hardy and Ortiz are struggling, the staff will try a bunch of different approaches to get them hitting again.
At the end of the day, the reason that Hardy and Ortiz weren't hitting the cover off the ball in Minnesota has to do with where those guys were physically and mentally at the time, and not because the coaching staff was inferior.