Thread: Article: Where are the Twins at with statistical analysis?

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=...tical-analysis

This just reinforces my belief that the Twins are carrying beepers when the other teams are using smart phones.

Interesting that I happen to come across this article as I'm watching Moneyball on demand.

Wonderful article. Still you always will need the ground troops to evaluate people of the same level. How do they handle pressure? How are they in the clubhouse? Can the better players lead the clubhouse? These are not statistics, but qualities that need to be found out.

Originally Posted by GoMNTwins

This just reinforces my belief that the Twins are carrying beepers when the other teams are using smart phones.

good article though

It reads like Goin and this intern are the entire department, is that correct?

Nice way to start off the New Year, Parker. Best article I've seen in awhile because the team is so tight-lipped about their evaluation tools.

Thanks for the insight, Parker. And thanks to Mr. Goin for talking with you.

Mr. Goin and his intern may be very good at what they do -- the question is how much weight the "powers that be" give to their analysis (especially if the powers-that-be don't want to hear the analysis only want a capsulized result). I would hope, though, that if the results of their research are fruitful, they may gain a larger placehold within the organization.

This seems to agree with what I've been told by Dave St. Peter... the Twins believe they are middle of the road when it comes to advanced statistics.

One thing I had St. Peter tell me is that the organization does not want other teams to know what they use. He doesn't mind that the fans think this team's sabermetrics is counting home runs and looking at ERA, because he feels that if the team has an advantage, they are not going to broadcast it to the world a la Billy Beane and Moneyball.

Great article...I was a little disappointed with the grammar in the headline. Not sure who is responsible for that but it should be, "Where Are the Twins with statistical analysis". The "at" is redundant and a really annoying misuse of language...Not normally something I'd mention in a comment but in a headline the error just jumps out at you....

Originally Posted by GoMNTwins

This just reinforces my belief that the Twins are carrying beepers when the other teams are using smart phones.

TR: Do you know if the hotel is beeper friendly? [What do you mean?] I'm not getting a sig' on my beeper.

Later, TR: You probably get this a lot. This isn't the real Caesar's Palace, is it? [What do you mean?] Did, ummm... Caesar live here? [No.] I didn't think so.

Great article Parker!

At first blush... It seems that the department is too small. I say that with no idea how the department works exactly but yeah it seems that they would need a few more staffers because one guy and an intern would have to be getting overwhelmed with the mountains of data on the mountains of ball players across all organizations in and out of the professional ranks.

I'm sure, just like with all large corporations, that dedicated intern has a ton of sway with the decision makers.

A guy like Goin has to have a lot of pressure on him. He needs more staff, but he's not going to get it until he proves his worth. He won't get more resources until his analysis has been "right" often enough that it gets noticed. That takes time.

Originally Posted by Jim Crikket

A guy like Goin has to have a lot of pressure on him. He needs more staff, but he's not going to get it until he proves his worth. He won't get more resources until his analysis has been "right" often enough that it gets noticed. That takes time.

Which is completely and utterly ridiculous. When you're dealing with a team that (should be) spending $100m on payroll a year, it's a good idea to back up that investment with a couple of $50k/year employees to give you another avenue of analysis. The combined total for two employees of that type is 1/1000th of payroll, even less when you factor in the minor league players. If it works out, hire more employees to do a better job (or pay the existing employees more). But you're not going to see real results until you give them more than bubblegum and matchsticks for tools with the mission "build me an atomic bomb".

Kevin Correia. Who the hell is responsible for that?

Anyway, great article Parker. That provides insight into the vast statistical machine that is the Minnesota Twins! They can't even have multiple INTERNS involved here!?

Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

Which is completely and utterly ridiculous. When you're dealing with a team that (should be) spending $100m on payroll a year, it's a good idea to back up that investment with a couple of $50k/year employees to give you another avenue of analysis. The combined total for two employees of that type is 1/1000th of payroll, even less when you factor in the minor league players. If it works out, hire more employees to do a better job (or pay the existing employees more). But you're not going to see real results until you give them more than bubblegum and matchsticks for tools with the mission "build me an atomic bomb".

I completely agree. I was just saying that the circumstances Goin finds himself in (though he probably knew what he was getting himself in to) present a real challenge. I don't think the Twins intentionally set him up to fail by limiting his resources, but they clearly aren't buying in yet, either. It's really tough to succeed in that kind of situation and almost impossible to do so quickly.

Originally Posted by Jim Crikket

I completely agree. I was just saying that the circumstances Goin finds himself in (though he probably knew what he was getting himself in to) present a real challenge. I don't think the Twins intentionally set him up to fail by limiting his resources, but they clearly aren't buying in yet, either. It's really tough to succeed in that kind of situation and almost impossible to do so quickly.

Oh, I wasn't suggesting that you were supporting the decision, Jim... Just pointing out that the thinking behind a decision like that is rather asinine.

Any guesses on who the pitcher (and his sinker) under scrutiny was?

B-Webb???????