My Twins

[Ncgo4]

We started out the season 1-9...I know it was 0-9, but let's have a little poetic license.  The last 10 games they have been...1-9.  That's 2-18.  And if you don't have your shoes and socks off that's a winning % of .100.  This is a very, very bad baseball team.  It's a poorly managed team, a poorly trained team and a poorly run organization.

 

The reason I am posting this is not to keep bitching.  My Grandfather was a Scottsman.  He taught me that playing golf in the rain when it is 45 degrees is fun.  He also taught me that curling outdoors when it's 25 below is fun.  Finally, he taught me that haggis was fine cuisine.  My father, also Scottish, taught me to love Gopher Football and Basketball.  

 

I'm used to not expecting too much.  I gotta tell ya, though.  These Twins are testing even my limits.

 

[jokin]

Posts like these and series like this one just completed against the White Sox suggests to me that it can't get much worse... and that this team will soon hit rock bottom and begin to start looking like a major league team once more. It probably starts when one or more of the players finally fills the current aching void in team leadership.

[Mr. Brooks]

Yeah I don't even understand what they are doing right now.

Off the field they don't seem to have any plan whatsoever.

Sure, someone like Seth can defend each and every move they make in a vacuum. But, taken all together, it's hard to see a plan anywhere in there.

 

And on the field, they don't seem to be playing for now, or for the future.

If they were playing for the future, they'd be playing guys like Kepler and Chargois, and May and Meyer would be in the rotation.

But, if they were playing for now, they wouldn't have run out that pathetic lineup today, when they just had Thursday off.

 

Then there are the things that make no sense in any context, like putting Mastroianni at leadoff, bunting early in games, and pitching May in a blowout when he didn't need the work.

 

Somewhere, Gardy has to be chuckling, for as bad as it got at the end, he never looked embarrassingly incompetent like Mollie does.

[notoriousgod71]

Things are not as dismal as they seem.

[Oldgoat_MN]

 

Things are not as dismal as they seem.

 

Well thank God for that!

 

[Twodogs]

 

Posts like these and series like this one just completed against the White Sox suggests to me that it can't get much worse... and that this team will soon hit rock bottom and begin to start looking like a major league team once more. It probably starts when one or more of the players finally fills the current aching void in team leadership.

This is correct.  The Twins have no on field leadership, and they are playing like it. They have absolutely no fire in them, they seem mentally soft and have no sense of urgency out there on the field.  I know the Sabermetric people are going to bash me for this one, but one of the main differences between this Twins team and last years is the on filed leadership of Torii Hunter.  He was a leader on and off the field for the Twins last year.  When they did good they had their dance offs, etc...  He wasn't afraid at all to tell the players when they messed up also and at least told them and showed them how to go about their business everyday.  Right now they don't have that, Joe Mauer is not a leader, sure he takes care of himself, but he is not an everyday player that is an on field leader.  No matter how bad Torii was according to the computer specialists, he couldn't be any worse than Mastronni and half of the other guys they are throwing out there.  Right now they are lacking leadership and I'm not sure if there is any of it laying around waiting to step in and take over that role.  They are not going to be a whole lot better as the year wears on.

[jokin]

 

This is correct.  The Twins have no on field leadership, and they are playing like it. They have absolutely no fire in them, they seem mentally soft and have no sense of urgency out there on the field.  I know the Sabermetric people are going to bash me for this one, but one of the main differences between this Twins team and last years is the on filed leadership of Torii Hunter.  He was a leader on and off the field for the Twins last year.  When they did good they had their dance offs, etc...  He wasn't afraid at all to tell the players when they messed up also and at least told them and showed them how to go about their business everyday.  Right now they don't have that, Joe Mauer is not a leader, sure he takes care of himself, but he is not an everyday player that is an on field leader.  No matter how bad Torii was according to the computer specialists, he couldn't be any worse than Mastronni and half of the other guys they are throwing out there. 

 

Right now they are lacking leadership and I'm not sure if there is any of it laying around waiting to step in and take over that role.  They are not going to be a whole lot better as the year wears on.

 

I admit that I don't know just where the leadership is going to come from, but the old adage is true- nature (and sports teams) abhor a vacuum. I assume that Molitor played long enough to know the personality make-up of his players, and from that, to know who to cajole or finagle into taking on larger leadership roles. Perhaps Dozier's struggles have temporarily muted his leadership cred- maybe he gets on a hot streak and then he and one or more other veterans step outside of their safety zone and start to speak out more forcefully.

[Winston Smith]

Things are not as dismal as they seem.

Are you sure?

[Jerr]

 

We started out the season 1-9...I know it was 0-9, but let's have a little poetic license.  The last 10 games they have been...1-9.  That's 2-18.  And if you don't have your shoes and socks off that's a winning % of .100.  This is a very, very bad baseball team.  It's a poorly managed team, a poorly trained team and a poorly run organization.

 

The reason I am posting this is not to keep bitching.  My Grandfather was a Scottsman.  He taught me that playing golf in the rain when it is 45 degrees is fun.  He also taught me that curling outdoors when it's 25 below is fun.  Finally, he taught me that haggis was fine cuisine.  My father, also Scottish, taught me to love Gopher Football and Basketball.  

 

I'm used to not expecting too much.  I gotta tell ya, though.  These Twins are testing even my limits.

With ya, until the haggis.....

 

 

[mickeymental]

so the twins aren't gonna go 20-7 this month?

[Champuckett]

 

so the twins aren't gonna go 20-7 this month?

 

Nope, nor will they be only the 2nd team in MLB history to start 0-9 and make the playoffs.

 

Was fully counting on both things to happen for a while there.

[Old Twins Cap]

Bad baseball teams don't just happen.

 

They are created.

 

Twins ad-libbed the off-season, added another hitter to their log-jam at DH-1B, never resolved Sano and Plouffe and 3B, let their BP languish in hopes of young guys, bet the farm on their starting pitching, hoped injuries wouldn't happen and trusted Molitor to pull it all together.

 

Unfortunately, the rest of the AL Central got better, and the Twins young guys have actually been worse.

 

The result:  total collapse. 

[Twodogs]

 

I admit that I don't know just where the leadership is going to come from, but the old adage is true- nature (and sports teams) abhor a vacuum. I assume that Molitor played long enough to know the personality make-up of his players, and from that, to know who to cajole or finagle into taking on larger leadership roles. Perhaps Dozier's struggles have temporarily muted his leadership cred- maybe he gets on a hot streak and then he one or more other veterans step outside of their safety zone and start to speak out more forcefully.

Yeah, someone like Dozier might have the right make up to kick some of these guys in the butt.  Plouffe maybe also, except they shopped him around all off-season so he may be still waiting for the shoe to drop on him; other than those two Mauer should be the one to lead, but he doesn't seem like he has what it takes to be a leader.  Maybe if Suzuki were better the kids might listen to him.  It almost has to be an everyday type of player(s) that lead too, hard for a guy who pops out there every 5 days to really get in there with them and say what needs to be said, not that that couldn't happen, but a lot harder for a guy like Ervin Santana to take on that role.

 

But also, you made mention of Molitor; he is really the one who needs to force action in the first place.  I almost think he needs to flip out on these guys just once to see what happens??  You know like in Money ball when Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) walked into the locker room and saw (Giambi) dancing and he grabbed a bat and smashed all of the stereo equipment and basically went nuts and asked the guy playing Giambi; do you like losing, he said no, then why are you dancing.  Then when it got super quite, Brad Pitt said, there, that's what losing sounds like!  Molitor needs to show some emotion like that and go nuts just to see if it will light a fire under these guys??  Maybe he has, I dont know, but it is getting hard to watch the games.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Great post. I can imagine your grandfather (or somebody's grandfather) as a college football player, posing in an old sepia photo from the 30s, 40s or whenever, wearing the leather helmet, the gridiron stretching far behind him, down in a three point stance, looking slightly off camera.

 

The Twins belong to all of us. It is getting difficult. Even if you throw out the 0-9 start to the season, and just consider the 8-14 record since then, that would still be the worst win percentage in the AL. So it's ugly. Also, there are no guarantees this will get better in future years if the Twins don't develop their talent properly or if they continue to play them out of position. They need to get rid of underperforming veterans and make room for the younger, better guys. And like you said, leadership is a missing piece in this. It's hard to tell what role leadership plays. Even though his best years are behind him, there is no way this team would be 8-23 if Torii was still here.

 

[DocBauer]

Yeah, someone like Dozier might have the right make up to kick some of these guys in the butt.  Plouffe maybe also, except they shopped him around all off-season so he may be still waiting for the shoe to drop on him; other than those two Mauer should be the one to lead, but he doesn't seem like he has what it takes to be a leader.  Maybe if Suzuki were better the kids might listen to him.  It almost has to be an everyday type of player(s) that lead too, hard for a guy who pops out there every 5 days to really get in there with them and say what needs to be said, not that that couldn't happen, but a lot harder for a guy like Ervin Santana to take on that role.

 

But also, you made mention of Molitor; he is really the one who needs to force action in the first place.  I almost think he needs to flip out on these guys just once to see what happens??  You know like in Money ball when Brad Pitt (Billy Beane) walked into the locker room and saw (Giambi) dancing and he grabbed a bat and smashed all of the stereo equipment and basically went nuts and asked the guy playing Giambi; do you like losing, he said no, then why are you dancing.  Then when it got super quite, Brad Pitt said, there, that's what losing sounds like!  Molitor needs to show some emotion like that and go nuts just to see if it will light a fire under these guys??  Maybe he has, I dont know, but it is getting hard to watch the games.

Lolligaggers!