ewen21

Do you know the guys in the Guess Who?

I try not to play the "what if" game anymore. Especially since we won 101 games. I think saying "what if Buxton didn't get injured" at this point sort of ignores reality. He gets injured and it is awfully hard to lament that fact because he can control it if he chose to. There is another thing about Buxton and anyone who reads this can take it or leave it: https://www.baseball-reference.com/play-index/split_stats.cgi?full=1&params=oppon%7CNYY%7Cbuxtoby01%7Cbat%7CAB%7C I find it hard to believe he would have had an impact in the Yankees series. Not if he is going to continue to hit like a pitcher against them. The Pineda situation was a bummer, but the Yankees lost Domingo German. As far as pitching is concerned we were terrible in that series aside from game 3 where Odorizzi pitched OK. Marcus Stroman was not that great with the Mets, to be honest about it. He had a 1.475 WHIP with them. Had he given us that he would not have given us much. I get that winter is in swing now and hot stove talk is in full gear. I don't want to discourage any of it, but we were not hit with bad breaks. The Yankees suffered a ridiculous amount of injuries and persevered. Our team did not persevere in the post season. I am wondering WHAT IF we actually won a round in the playoffs (maybe two) and made some noise? That is the WHAT IF I wonder and I think had we done that we would be in a better position in the free agent market. Going three and out in the playoffs at a record pace does nothing to make the Twins a more attractive destination. It was a thoroughly disappointing season because of the ending. I choose not to blame that on things beyond our control. Not when we were non competitive.Sorry

To assume each game should have been/could have been played flawlessly is futile. The Yankees made errors too and we didn’t capitalize on them at all. Even if we played flawless defense we wouldn’t have had much a chance with the way we hit and how our starters pitched.

I’m in Florida now and flying into Albany early tomorrow morning. When I get home I will add my story since I’m not a Minnesotan. Been in upstate NY all my 53 years so it’s not common for someone in my region to be a Twins fan

Excellent read. I wish I had more than a phone right now.

If a starting pitcher gets outs and goes seven and your offense hits three home runs you are safe. How many web gems can an upgrade in the field give you over what they’ve replaced? Maybe 10 in a year tops? If that defensive upgrade isn’t a very good hitter and what he’s replacing is then it’s actually probably a downgrade overall. We are chasing our tails here

It is about opportunities to impact a game. The vast majority of plays made in baseball are considered routine for a major league player. If you put an above average fielder in the field over an average to slightly below average fielder how many opportunities will the above average fielder have to make an impact? We know he will get four at bats and if he can’t hit a lick what do we get from it? The hope that he can save a run isn’t anything that can be controlled. The number of at bats he gets can be. Houston and Washington got as far as they did for two main reasons: deep lineups and stellar starting pitching. I we are going to be honest it wasn’t because they “caught the ball” Guys like Hawk Harrelson and Gardy subscribe to that dated theory. Sure, it helps, but to make an analogy defense in baseball is like special teams in football. Offense is offense and pitching in baseball is like defense in football. Whether that analogy works for you doesn’t matter to me. The main point is defense in baseball has nowhere near the importance of pitching or having offensive depth. And let’s not kid ourselves here. Defense was not why we lost in the playoffs. Above all, it was because we scored 7 runs in three games and because our starting pitching was mediocre. I honestly don’t want to hear about the defense. It had virtually no impact in any of the three and outs we have had. It was mostly because we haven’t hit worth a damn in the postseason. Look it up if you don’t remember. We have scored on average less than three runs a game in the postseason and it’s not because the opponent’s defense took hits away from us

Break it down for me.

If I were allowed to field a team of the best offensive players by position and you were allowed to field the best defensive players by position and we had equal pitching staffs and we played 162 head to head games I guarantee my team would crush yours. I am not saying defense doesn’t matter. I’m saying it doesn’t matter nearly as much as you seem to believe. Pitching and offense is far and away the biggest aspects of the game with defense in third place. Could you imagine taking a team of the best players all time offensively by position against the best defensively by position? You can pick Ozzie Smith first and I’ll take Babe Ruth. Who made the better pick? Honestly, I think people who want to act like scholars or connoisseurs lean heavily on the defense argument because it is a nuanced position that requires and enlists arcane metrics. You did a mic drop with DER being the determining factor in who wins championships? You don’t think Houston and Washington didn’t get there because they both had deep lineups and maybe the best starters in the games? It was there defensive efficiency. Let’s be clear about this. The Twins were swept by the Yankees because we scored seven runs in three games and our pitching was exposed against their deep offense. It wasn’t because we couldn’t make 2 or 3 extra web gems.

I have to agree. Defense did not hinder us that much last year and the real reason why we have been terrible in the playoffs is that this team clenches up so horribly they can’t hit. Lots of talk about improving defense this winter but in each case it eels like we are chasing our tail. It’s nice to have good defenders all over the field but let’s not pretend defense makes a bigger impact than offense at the ML level

I think Falvey and Levine had a great offseason last year, but they didn’t solve the culture issue. There appeared to be a very high satisfaction level with the players and that is a good thing until we got to the playoffs. If cleaning out these coaches and bringing in new ones helps take a step away from the “content to contend” mindset I am all for that. Let me be clear that this doesn’t mean I want guys throwing tantrums and acting out. I don’t want that at all. I’d just rather not have people acting like they are perfectly fine with losing 3 straight and proclaiming to everyone that they are still satisfied with the season. It seems pretty fraudulent to have hearty celebrations when we win the division and then act like it’s all good when we get rolled like patsies in the first round. Maybe temper the jocularity after winning the division next time?

“Frantically lament” This choice of words suggest people aren’t being rational. Where is that happening here? I don’t know if one can broad brush plain old criticism as a “frantic lament” Not with the people posting here I think this place is rather tame in that department whereas things could be easily a lot more harsh about (once again) being swept out of the first round, with us now entering a historic place in regard to playoff futility. In spite of the 101 wins I feel there is still something broken in the culture of this organization. One needs to look no further than Baldelli’s “I’m not frustrated at all” reaction to this last playoff sweep. That says a lot to me when you consider he embraced winning the division, celebrated with zest and spoke about how this is what you play for. It reminded me of the last 3 and out against the Yankees where we were non competitive and Cuddyer says we had a “successful season” (Months later he was talking about accountability issues) I think too much is put on “having fun” and more emphasis should be put on being a professional. “Having fun” all the time is baloney. It’s totally unreasonable to have that expectation out of life. Happiness is in achievement. This organization is content to fall back on winning the division and calling it a day. That’s not much of an achievement for a 101 win team. These guys can reshuffle the deck if they want but if we keep playing that same card game nothing will change. One man’s opinion and I think it was expressed in a pretty even tone. Nothing “frantic” simply a criticism

Pretty much my reaction when I saw this thread

He has good discipline and he’s durable. He and Arraez are guys I am not worried about

Not so worried about Polanco. Way more concerned about Buxton

This explanation for Mauer no longer hitting HRs after 2009 never really washed with me. It’s almost saying that he never really fell of in regards to making contact and to me he did significantly compared to what he did in 2009. This is what happened in 2009. Here are all his HRs: Early on, the first five or six, you can say that, but he hit to center or pulled 12 or 13 of those and he stopped doing that for good You can count on one hand the pulled long balls he’d hit over the course of three seasons He had a few monster shots that year and that hardly ever happened after that. Makes a guy wonder to be honest with you. I’m not sure what Polanco is going to do, but I doubt he’s going to take out his 7 iron every at bat like Mauer did. Polanco sees a fat pitch and tries to turn on it whereas Mauer might spit on that same pitch or try to chip it into left. I think Polanco has 17, 18 home run power. As a matter of fact I bet about 150 guys hit 17 or more and Polanco should be around there perennially. Mauer was lucky if he’d get ten and I always felt that was strange.

No character issues with that guy

Did you not notice that the mods took the previous exchange down? If you want to talk to me via PM then knock yourself out. I am done talking about this baloney here.

He has not had a single season where he made the qualifying number of plate appearances so I agree with you

When I mentioned him getting the yips It was more about the control problems he had when He started with the Cubs.

I dont think the shift will kill Arraez the way it got Mauer because Mauer became a one trick pony. He literally would go weeks at a time without pulling the ball unless it was a ground ball. He was an opposite field hitter and he dedicated everything to that. I don’t see Arraez as being that. I feel he is going to adjust constantly where Mauer never did. That’s more on him than him being “victimized” by any shift.

If I’m trading Arraez I would rather go for someone still under team control instead of a guy who turns 34 during the season and has a history of implacably getting the yips. Darvish seems kind of popular with the crowd here and I’m not exactly sure why.

For the record I wanted nothing to do with Darvish back then.

I know I have spoken about trading guys to bring in pitching, but if that means trading Arraez to bring in Darvish I am dead set against it. That would be a deal we would regret for a long time, in my opinion

It is for the reason I do not worry about the kid. He is young and at the bottom of the pay scale. If this were his third or fourth season and he was hyped I could understand the concern. Luis Arraez is the least of our problems. Other guys who are older are a far bigger concern to me.