ewen21

I am not buying his potential. Sorry. I have seen too much. The guy has played in more than 92 games one time in his whole career and speed guys have a pretty small window.

There seems to be some avoidance over this so whey you say "chilling about it" you pretty much explain Rocco's touch. He didn't embrace the history for whatever reason last year. I felt alienated when Rocco said, "I'm not frustrated at all" after last year's 3 and out. It's funny because the team tries to act all relaxed like it isn't a big thing, but until they can face fact and admit: YES, this is a big deal we aren't going anywhere. Time to own it.

Rocco made some pretty dumb calls and there is no question, but I don't care who we had in that dugout. It could have been Casey Stengel, Earl Weaver, Tony LaRussa, Muller Huggins, whatever. It comes down to this team (once again) putting together terrible at bat after terrible at bat. It is clear that when the Minnesota Twins reach the playoff the goal has already been achieved. That message has been deeply inculcated into the players coming though our system before they even reach the big leagues. Rocco has been indoctrinated into it as well. In fact, they selected him because they thought he was intelligent and understood analytics and they knew he was a "people person" and a players guy. He proved how super-chill he was after last year's embarrassment: "I'm not frustrated at all" That ring a bell for anyone? We have seen this rerun many times over and it is basically the same thing. We have lost 17 playoff games in a row. In those last 17 games we have scored 41 runs. In the last 15 losses we have scored 31 runs. We can go on and on about pitching, defense, managerial moves, umpiring, shifts, etc....I don't care. If this team is going to average two runs per game in the playoffs they are going nowhere. Rocco deserves to be ripped, but then when he's gone and we get swept out of the playoffs again what are we talking about?

A very definite pattern has developed over the years. Every single time the season starts Buxton looks completely overmatched in the batter’s box. He’s 1 for 13 with 6 strikeouts and “small sample size” doesn’t apply. He’s started every single season horribly. Why is this? Over the last few years he’s been vocal about hitting and what works for him. He’s talked about his need to be comfortable with what he’s doing. I’m not thinking about how he goes back on balls right now (as important as it is for him to clean up). I’m more concerned about his cluelessness in the batters box

I am glad that you did. What a brilliant post!

"You would be forgiven if you simply chose to forget any Twins player between 2011 and 2017 not named Joe Mauer" I would love to forget the 2011 version of Joe Mauer. It was pretty ugly

It's hard to call Mauer a catcher when you look at his entire body of work. Literally 40% of his work was at first base and DH. That wasn't the case with Gary Carter, Yogi Berra, Mike Piazza, or even John Bench (who played multiple positions). There is something to that. We have to be mindful of the fact that the catcher angle only applies to 60% of his career, so when people generalize and speak about the totality of his career it is flawed. We cannot put him in the same category as the great catchers for that reason. Considerations need to get made. It doesn't matter if they aren't made here or even if that concept is accepted here. It WILL factor into the judging process when writers from around the country vote and if Mauer isn't inducted I really don't want to see this place go berserk. The HOF isn't that important to me unless a guy gets totally robbed. If Mauer isn't inducted in the first round or even the second or third we should not be angry or shocked. He is borderline to me. His production dropped way too soon after that amazing 2009 season

It is widely stated here that Mauer's concussions ruined his career. I don't dispute that on its face, however, that was not the case in 2011 (where he was greatly diminished). The first known/documented concussion he had was in 2013. Then in 2016 he stated that he continued to have symptoms for several years afterward. If we are to take Joe at his word, that he felt post-concussion effects for that long....how is it nothing was noted by the medical staff? With matters such as this isn't it incumbent upon the player to be forthright with the medical staff? Why was he still catching? The concussion issues are part of it, but Mauer did himself in as well--in my opinion. He wasn't one to embrace strength and conditioning and he refused to change his approach. He looked weak when he came in for the 2011 and I saw that right away. Not sure what happened to him that winter between 2010-2011, but maybe the pressure of the contract and getting swept by the Yankees again rocked his world emotionally? It sure felt like it to me..

Some rather bold statements in here, but I agree with them. I totally agree with you on Zoilo. THat was the year before I was born so I didn't see what happened, but looking at the numbers the whole thing seems odd. As far as Mauer was concerned. I get what you are saying. He really wasn't a game wrecker like Piazza was or a leader (important for a catcher) and power bat like Carter and Bench. He played most of his career with a table setter's mindset. Matty Alou hit over .330 in four consecutive seasons--from 1966 to 1969. That is great, but give me what Harmon did those years over Matty Alou. That said, Mauer in 2009 was unbelievable and I think Piazza, Bench and Carter had seasons that rival and perhaps surpass what Mauer did in 2009. My trouble with Mauer is this... A lot of people like to say he was "victimized" by Target Field but that doesn't hold up to the actual evidence. When you watch the clip of all of his 2009 home runs (and watch it ALL) it is readily apparent that he hit at least a dozen home runs to center and right field and a good bunch of them went way over the wall. In the entire rest of his career I do not know if he hit that many home runs to those parts of the field. Watch this here and tell me that Mauer didn't hit some monstrous shots to CF and RF. I count about 12 absolute bombs to CF and RF with at least three upper deckers to right field. Sure, he hit a lot of HRs too left that barely made it over the wall, but if you subtract ALL OF THOSE (which is ridiculous) he still has 12 or 13 home runs that were not hit to left field at all. He hit a couple of deep deep bombs to center in NY, a couple in Texas and a couple in Anaheim. He hit six or seven moonshots to right and CF in the Dome: The truth about Joe's home run decline is that he decided to become a table setter. He was all about slapping the ball to left and grinding out walks. Given the money he was paid and what was expected when he signed that contract it is kind of weak, in my opinion.

I am sorry, but getting swept by Oakland in the first round really kills it for me. As great as that comeback was and as breath taking the stretch run was we did nothing with it in the end and I look back on 2006 as a damn shame. I was OK with calling that a successful season at the time, but I can't look at it that way now.

I was born in 1966 so I cannot say I saw Koufax play, but I appreciate what older intelligent baseball lovers have told me over the years. He pitched in a four man rotation and started many more games than Santana did. The most innings Santana pitched in one season was more than 100 innings LESS than Koufax's most innings in a season. In the postseason his ERA was under 1.00 in 57 innings. Oh I know...."small sample size". It matters! I hear Yankee fans grouse about Kirby Puckett getting in and Don Mattingly not. You don't think titles make a difference? This didn't need to get so sour grapes and turn into an indictment on Koufax by guys who weren't even alive until a couple of decades after he retired with an elbow that couldn't be repaired at age 30.

I love Johan Santana. He was my favorite Twins player from when he first became a starter to the very end (especially after he ripped Twins management for putting "the future" ahead of right now). That being said, I am not even trying to hear this "Sandy Koufax is the most overrated..." stuff. It is this kind of stuff, quite frankly, that makes this place seem trite because it is sour grapes BS and Koufax doesn't deserve that. Winning sure as heck matters and Koufax is referenced as the guy who probably had the best stuff and the best stretch a pitcher ever had in the modern era. No reason to go to that tired refrain about Johan not garnering the necessary respect because he played in Minnesota. It isn't a good look, in my opinion.

I am sorry, but everyone outlives their usefulness and that is what happened with Ryan. You can say he was a great scout of talent back in the day and that he did "a lot of great things for the organization", but to deny his incompetence in the end is a bit absurd to me. YOU ARE CORRECT. The Twins were WAY LATE to adapt to change. What the heck is baseball without the dynamic nature of the game? It changes and that is an absolute which must be understood and acknowledged. Ryan refused to do so. The fact is, no matter how unpleasant it is for you to hear, Ryan was fired because he was not fit for the job any longer and we all knew it the day he stepped down in 2007. He even said so himself. Nobody told Ryan to come back, but he did. He stepped away when it was time to deal with Torii and Johan and then came back after Mauer was signed; BUT only when the team completely cratered. It was your standard "low risk, high reward" move that defined Ryan. I guess he figured....the team is already blown up, so how can I screw it up worse? And he did! Had Ryan simply walked away in 2007 and rode off into the sunset as a behind the scenes guy then maybe I can understand your dismay over how Ryan gets vilified. However, he came back when we were safely in a nuclear winter and did even more damage after he came back. Need I summarize his asinine moves of the second tenure?

When I think hitter I think the spectrum of offensive production and Harmon gave us more than what Knoblauch did, in my opinion. Thanks

I understand they are different players with different skill sets, but it isn't very hard (in my opinion) to make a holistic judgment without much introspection in this case. When making this comparison, I view it this way. If I had to draft one or the other in my first pick to start a team I am picking Harmon over Knoblauch without hesitation (and that is no slight on Knobby).