Rocco: "I'm not frustrated at all"

[Rosterman]

There is no crying in baseball!

[USAFChief]

 

I shouldn't be surprised but still find myself surprised that we have people here who don't recognize PR. 

 

Public Relations is a pretty big field these days. They offer degrees in Public Relations at Universities and Colleges around the country. 

 

The reason you need public relations is because over time it has become clear that every time you walk up to a public microphone, the public will inflate the words you use to problematic levels. 

 

He is not going to stand in front of the public and point out mistakes made by the front office, the players or himself. Because if he does... the public will make him eat those words and they will be spoon fed back to him as long as he remains in a public position.

 

If you don't believe that will happen... you simply don't recognize this behavior in yourself. Universities and Colleges around the country would have no reason to offer degrees in this field. 

 

How anyone is shocked by positive comments, cliches, measured statements out of the PR playbook in this day and age is what is truly shocking.

 

Be honest with yourself, what you want is for him to do is express himself honestly. Then after he does, you want to take those honest words and bang him over the head with them again and again.  

 

 

The real conversations happen inside the offices of 1 Twins Way and that's where the real conversation should happen because we have proven time and time again that we can't handle the truth.  

 

 

Your theory is the Twins PR department had a meeting with Rocco prior to the post series presser and told him what to say? That none of this matters?

 

You believe that was effective PR?

 

That was so tone deaf it's beyond comprehension. 

 

 

[Brock Beauchamp]

I shouldn't be surprised but still find myself surprised that we have people here who don't recognize PR.

 

Public Relations is a pretty big field these days. They offer degrees in Public Relations at Universities and Colleges around the country.

 

The reason you need public relations is because over time it has become clear that every time you walk up to a public microphone, the public will inflate the words you use to problematic levels.

 

He is not going to stand in front of the public and point out mistakes made by the front office, the players or himself. Because if he does... the public will make him eat those words and they will be spoon fed back to him as long as he remains in a public position.

 

If you don't believe that will happen... you simply don't recognize this behavior in yourself. Universities and Colleges around the country would have no reason to offer degrees in this field.

 

How anyone is shocked by positive comments, cliches, measured statements out of the PR playbook in this day and age is what is truly shocking.

 

Be honest with yourself, what you want is for him to do is express himself honestly. Then after he does, you want to take those honest words and bang him over the head with them again and again.

 

 

The real conversations happen inside the offices of 1 Twins Way and that's where the real conversation should happen because we have proven time and time again that we can't handle the truth.

I don’t expect Baldelli to say an ill word about his players or the front office.

 

But there comes a time when a good manager falls on his own sword after a colossal failure. That’s part of the job. Someone has to take a beating for this performance and Baldelli is that guy, particularly given how badly he managed the first two games of the series.

 

When everyone from top to bottom fails in a situation, someone has to take a punch to the face. Baldelli is the public leader of this team, therefore he’s the one who takes the punch.

[USAFChief]

 

I don’t expect Baldelli to say an ill word about his players or the front office.

But there comes a time when a good manager falls on his own sword after a colossal failure. That’s part of the job. Someone has to take a beating for this performance and Baldelli is that guy, particularly given how badly he managed the first two games of the series.

And I don't for one second think he's not frustrated. At least I hope not. 

 

Might as well just tell fans they're wasting their money, it doesn't matter anyway. 

[gunnarthor]

 

47-16 against 4 teams. Maybe 101 wins wouldn't have happened or the HR record if the Twins played less games against Royals, White Sox, Tigers and Orioles.

Meh, most good teams dominate bad teams. Your Cards had a similar 30-11 record against four teams. Good teams dominate bad teams.

Twins had a .518 winning percentage against the A's, Rays, Astros and Yankees combined. They should have been more competitive in this series but they weren't. Again.

[Riverbrian]

 

But in pro sports, the product is emotional. There's also an element of PR to show empathy to obviously frustrated fans. This isn't just General Mills responding to a product recall or something, where you want to take emotion out of it. It doesn't have to involve specific blame or anything, but a little more empathy might be warranted. "Not frustrated at all"?

 

Yes Pro Sports is emotional... Which of course, doubles perhaps triples the PR necessary to negotiate the public emotional landmines. 

 

It isn't General Mills... it's more acute because of the emotional investment.  

 

"not frustrated at all"

 

You are hanging him for those words and by doing so, all you are doing is proving my point. He has to be very careful with what he says because if he doesn't express himself perfectly, we kill him for it.

 

Which you are doing. You are fixating on a sentence, inflating it's value and meaning in a sound bite world and throwing it back at him.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[bird]

 

Howeda nailed it, as far as I'm concerned...couldn't be more tone deaf.

And for the record, he couldn't have managed worse in this post season. He had as bad a series as his team.

 

While I'll give them a Mulligan myself, I thought Wes Johnson, Jeremy Hefner, and Rocco Baldelli all performed terribly in this series, as did so many of the players for whatever reasons: stage fright, nagging injuries, inherent ineptitude...

 

If I'm the GM, I'm sending Baldelli off to get some PR and speech coaching. Tone deaf is the perfect description. He needs to tone down the hipster stuff if for no other reason than to change his innocuous and grating post game nothingness.

 

That said, on balance I approve of him as a manager.

 

 

[Don Walcott]

 

47-16 against 4 teams. Maybe 101 wins wouldn't have happened or the HR record if the Twins played less games against Royals, White Sox, Tigers and Orioles.

Or maybe we would have hit 400 HRs if we played half of our games in Yankee Stadium.

[Platoon]

Not even close to the same game.

Were half the pitchers throwing 98mph in 1991? Pretty sure that’s a hard no.

Same game. And all the hitters using whippier, harder maple bat bats. All the hitters being superior athletically and better trained. All the hitters catch up to 98. Hitters built like NFL linebackers. Different approach? 3 true outcomes. No hitting for contact with the bases loaded, no outs. No moving a runner. No pitching inside. Pitchers have improved. Hitters have improved. Same game! Lastly, in 1991 good pitching beat good hitting! In 2019, same game!

[DannySD]

I think we're lucky to have Baldelli, and I liked his comments. It was obvious to anyone watching that the Yankees were more patient at the plate and had better pitching. They looked like they had been here before, we did not. With this playoff experience and a good offseason from Falvey, that could change next year. 

[Riverbrian]

 

Your theory is the Twins PR department had a meeting with Rocco prior to the post series presser and told him what to say? That none of this matters?

 

You believe that was effective PR?

 

That was so tone deaf it's beyond comprehension. 

 

My theory is that the Twins have a PR director and the Rays have a PR director and the Red Sox have a PR director and our reactions are why they have them.

 

My theory is that he has been exposed to the do's and don'ts since he hit a major league field.

 

My theory is that he has learned from past mistakes and will make new mistakes but all of it shapes how they conduct themselves with a microphone in their face today and tomorrow.  

 

I don't believe he needed a PR meeting prior to the press conference much like I don't believe a SS needs a meeting to throw the ball to 1st base after fielding a grounder. Yet sometimes, the SS throws the ball in the dirt. 

 

 

 

[Riverbrian]

 

I don’t expect Baldelli to say an ill word about his players or the front office.

But there comes a time when a good manager falls on his own sword after a colossal failure. That’s part of the job. Someone has to take a beating for this performance and Baldelli is that guy, particularly given how badly he managed the first two games of the series.

When everyone from top to bottom fails in a situation, someone has to take a punch to the face. Baldelli is the public leader of this team, therefore he’s the one who takes the punch.

 

Well, they lost. 

 

The punches are going to come.  

[Battle ur tail off]

 

101 wins in what was supposed to be a "figure out what we have" year. He should be extremely happy with the season and the future of the franchise.

 

He should be happy about the future. But if you asked my how I felt about how my team played this series. I would have flat out said we sucked, I sucked and I apologize that you fans had to go through this again. We WILL be better, I WILL be better. And stick with us because this team is going to be hard to beat going forward. 

Honesty is cool. Acting like it was ok and "just happy to be here" isn't the thing to say to a fanbase that has watched their team get smoked in the playoffs time and time again. 

[MMMordabito]

 

101 wins in what was supposed to be a "figure out what we have" year. He should be extremely happy with the season and the future of the franchise.

 

What he doesn't have is anyone under contract to pitch the lion's share of innings in 2020 or the organization that will commit to acquiring the talent to fill that void.

[LaBombo]

My guess is that most people weren't expecting a Jim Mora "Playoffs?!?"-style meltdown from Rocco, with him lighting up players by name and weaving an epic deconstruction of the Twins' failures.

 

But it's surprisingly off-putting to watch the entire clip and walk away with the impression that you feel worse about this series sweep than the guy whose job it was to at least not get swept.

 

Now I know that's not true, but Rocco makes it feel true, with his dispassionate, blandly positive, context-free checking of all the proper boxes - 'congrats to our opponent, my guys had a great season, postseason didn't go our way, we'll get 'em next year...'

 

I like Rocco, but this presser makes him seem a little like he could have led the evacuation of Dunkirk and afterward just be pleased with everyone having had a nice little cruise.

 

Shorter version: Saying you're not frustrated when the fan base is marinating in frustration comes across as glib and obtuse.

[Jacks02]

 

Yawn. Different game, different time.

 

Scherzer threw 109 pitches last night for Washington. Two days after he pitched in relief.

 

There's no reason Berrios couldn't have pitched at least 5 innings in game one. He had one bad inning that was mostly caused by crappy defense behind him. 

[cardsfan]

Meh, most good teams dominate bad teams. Your Cards had a similar 30-11 record against four teams. Good teams dominate bad teams.

Twins had a .518 winning percentage against the A's, Rays, Astros and Yankees combined. They should have been more competitive in this series but they weren't. Again.

Did you see where the Cardinals rank in several offensive categories in the NL? It's been our pitching which turns over every few years since 2000.

 

I thought with your 5 starters you could beat the hated Yankees this year. It's hard to believe that many playoff losses in a row.

 

Now you will have to rebuild your pitching staff. Very good season.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

I shouldn't be surprised but still find myself surprised that we have people here who don't recognize PR. 

 

Public Relations is a pretty big field these days. They offer degrees in Public Relations at Universities and Colleges around the country. 

 

The reason you need public relations is because over time it has become clear that every time you walk up to a public microphone, the public will inflate the words you use to problematic levels. 

 

He is not going to stand in front of the public and point out mistakes made by the front office, the players or himself. Because if he does... the public will make him eat those words and they will be spoon fed back to him as long as he remains in a public position.

 

If you don't believe that will happen... you simply don't recognize this behavior in yourself. Universities and Colleges around the country would have no reason to offer degrees in this field. 

 

How anyone is shocked by positive comments, cliches, measured statements out of the PR playbook in this day and age is what is truly shocking.

 

Be honest with yourself, what you want is for him to do is express himself honestly. Then after he does, you want to take those honest words and bang him over the head with them again and again.  

 

 

The real conversations happen inside the offices of 1 Twins Way and that's where the real conversation should happen because we have proven time and time again that we can't handle the truth.

 

Bill Belichick is intruiged by this “PR” idea you mention, and will be contacting you about how he can become a better football coach and hold better press conferences.

[Riverbrian]

 

Bill Belichick is intruiged by this “PR” idea you mention, and will be contacting you about how he can become a better football coach and hold better press conferences.

 

Don't contact me. 

 

I'll give him bad advice to try and tear those Patriots down. 

[Mike Sixel]

Pretty tone deaf toward the fans. But then, he works for an organization that has been that way for some time. How many times have we commented here about St. Peter and his comments?

[SpicyGarvSauce]

 

Pretty tone deaf toward the fans. But then, he works for an organization that has been that way for some time. How many times have we commented here about St. Peter and his comments?

 

So you are saying it might be an organizational thing?

 

Hmmm, who knew!?

[Squirrel]

 

He made some rookie mistakes managing and if he can tighten them up I would be happy if the Twins have him manage for a long time.

Ine thing I believe should be done is to switch the 3rd base coach. I dont remember how many times I wonder wth was he thinking.

I don't think he comes even close to Scott 'Windmill' Ullger. Not even close. imo.

[SomeGuy]

 

What he doesn't have is anyone under contract to pitch the lion's share of innings in 2020 or the organization that will commit to acquiring the talent to fill that void.

Replacing Gibson, Odorizzi, Pineda, and probably Perez won't be that challenging.  You're really just trying to replace/re-sign Odorizzi.  Gibson and Perez are back of the rotation caliber pitchers. Pineda is never on the field anyway (150 innings 3 times in 9 years, 0 times since 2016). A combination of Dobnak, Graterol, or Smeltzer could effectively replace the Gibson and Perez innings/results in 4th and 5th spots.

 

Extending Odorizzi and signing a pitcher in the mid-tier like Alex Wood should give us a better staff than this season.

 

[twinsnorth49]

Yeah, I don't think the sentiment is throw players and management under the bus, of course he's not going to do that. But relate to how the fans are feeling. What's wrong with saying that's not the way we wanted it to end and that's it frustrating because we expected more after such a great year. 

 

Even just using the term we conveys that he's not blaming the players, just that all of them are as frustrated as the fan base. 

[Huskertwin]

 

Yep, he seems rather oblivious to the fanbase in general.

 

Which I'd actually be somewhat okay with if he managed like an analytical general. Instead, he talks like Epstein and manages like Gardenhire.

Actually I think you might have just insulted Gardy. lol

[Channing1964]

Now that it's over I can say I was pissed off when they hired him. But. Now that it's over I will admit I am a fan. This was the best year in a long, Long time. I still want to see the Falvines do something, Anything more to help, but that was a hell of a nice job Rocco.

[ewen21]

 

I don’t expect Baldelli to say an ill word about his players or the front office.

But there comes a time when a good manager falls on his own sword after a colossal failure. That’s part of the job. Someone has to take a beating for this performance and Baldelli is that guy, particularly given how badly he managed the first two games of the series.

When everyone from top to bottom fails in a situation, someone has to take a punch to the face. Baldelli is the public leader of this team, therefore he’s the one who takes the punch.

This series was lost before it was played.  This organization has a problem and it really needs to be fixed.  I am not sure if he had Casey Stengel in the dugout it would have mattered.  A manager doesn't figure THAT MUCH in ballgames.  We watched BRUTAL at bat after BRUTAL at bat.  That is on the freakin players and more needs to be made about that if you ask me. Show some balls.  Make a game of it.

 

There is an odd mindset around this team.  I hate the fact that Rocco said "i'm not frustrated at all".  HE completely alienates me with those words.  Much in the same way Gardy did when he said "the effort was there" after the last time the Yankees swept us.

[notoriousgod71]

I, for one, would have loved for Baldelli to go Hal McRae there.

 

 

[jkcarew]

I'm not a Rocco guy...yet. Kinda think almost anyone could have managed this club to a 95-win season. The team was very good offensively (obviously)...and the schedule really was that bad. It. Just. Was. Only 32 wins against +500 teams to get to a total of 101...unprecedented, for sure. Adrianza hitting home runs off Verlander in May not withstanding, there isn't anybody (objective and rational) that EXPECTED the Twins to beat either the Yankees or the Astros in this post-season. So, we're angry because it was more noncompetitive than we expected?

 

OK. But why does Rocco have to apologize for frustration based on the history? One of the posts above (with which many seem to agree) literally states Rocco should have said "I sucked and I apologize that you fans had to go through this again". Again? Rocco's lost one series here. If it's anyone's job to do a mia culpa, it would probably be the Polad's in the Twins current circumstance.

 

My two cent...the only thing a player or manager ever has to apologize for is lack of effort or preparation. And even when those apologies are in order, they don't make me feel better. Just fix it.

[yarnivek1972]

Rostering players that weren't 100%.

 

 

Is there anyone who is 100% after a 6 month, 162 game season?

 

You roster the players you think will give you the best chance to win.

 

Garver and Kepler were clearly affected by their injuries. Adrianza didn’t even play. Next 3 in line would have been Wade, Astudillo and Torreyes. I’m not sure any of them help.