Baldelli in the playoffs

[Mike Sixel]

Fangraphs is rating how well managers did in the playoffs. Other than 1-2 moves, they liked what Rocco did this year.....having only 1 lefty in the bullpen was NOT IDEAL. Anyway, one outsider's opinion. 

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/alds-managerial-report-card-rocco-baldelli/

 

[LastOnePicked]

I'm glad that you posted this, Mike. This helped ease my anger over losing both of those games at home. Thoughtful explanation of Rocco's moves.

[Mike Sixel]

2 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

I'm glad that you posted this, Mike. This helped ease my anger over losing both of those games at home. Thoughtful explanation of Rocco's moves.

As a fan, it's hard for me to totally be objective at times, I hated the Ryan move, but this helps me understand it somewhat.

[SwainZag]

I think it's a great piece.  Managers can only do so much.  The players have to perform.  Love or hate taking Ryan out after 2, the move worked...the Twins bats just didn't show up enough to force a Game 5.

[chpettit19]

"Forget trusting your veterans – the playoffs are about trusting your best players." That's a great line. I'm not convinced the Twins agree with that sentiment yet, but it could also be that they don't have a huge variance in talent levels on the roster.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Rocco did okay for these two series.

In my opinion, his negative marks had more to do with roster decisions and game planning, than actual game situations. I thought they would have Funderburk active for the both series, and Gallo should have been the injury callup in Game 4 instead of Buxton. Otherwise, I think Houston just beat us Fair and square.

[Mike Sixel]

3 minutes ago, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

Rocco did okay for these two series.

In my opinion, his negative marks had more to do with roster decisions and game planning, than actual game situations. I thought they would have Funderburk active for the both series, and Gallo should have been the injury callup in Game 4 instead of Buxton. Otherwise, I think Houston just beat us Fair and square.

I actually wanted Gallo over Buxton there also. And ya, I don't get not having Funderburk there either. 

[Mike Sixel]

7 minutes ago, chpettit19 said:

"Forget trusting your veterans – the playoffs are about trusting your best players." That's a great line. I'm not convinced the Twins agree with that sentiment yet, but it could also be that they don't have a huge variance in talent levels on the roster.

I'm certain of this (as an opinion), but that could just be my thoughts given their deference to Gallo for so long, and sending down Wallner and Julien during the year.....

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

I actually wanted Gallo over Buxton there also. And ya, I don't get not having Funderburk there either. 

I mean, separate from the whole Gallo debate, Gallo was the only other logical pick to play first base besides Solano. 

[Mike Sixel]

Just now, Hosken Bombo Disco said:

I mean, separate from the whole Gallo debate, Gallo was the only other logical pick to play first base besides Solano. 

and pinch hit. 

[SwainZag]

7 hours ago, Mike Sixel said:

and pinch hit. 

Who would you have had Gallo pinch hit for?  The one spot Buxton did in Game 5?  This is a pretty crazy nitpick if you ask me.

I am a little surprised Funderburk wasn't added with the Astros lefties, but who do you replace?  Varland or Paddock seem to be your only options, and in retrospect Paddock was dominate in the innings he got.  

[Mike Sixel]

27 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

Who would you have had Gallo pinch hit for?  The one spot Buxton did in Game 5?  This is a pretty crazy nitpick if you ask me.

I am a little surprised Funderburk wasn't added with the Astros lefties, but who do you replace?  Varland or Paddock seem to be your only options, and in retrospect Paddock was dominate in the innings he got.  

probably, and that is a nitpick, sure, but I'd rather have him than Buxton, which was the conversation. 

[Battle ur tail off]

I actually thought Rocco did a good job this postseason. I have been down on him in the past, but to me, he proved himself this year. He used his best arms and used them almost to perfection, save the Theilbar appearance in the last game. 

The way they used some of our starters in the bullpen and saw guy like Varland and Paddack dominate out of the pen in high leverage was awesome. Didn't even give Pagan the chance to screw up a close game, although I thought this year he might be able to do it. 

I don't care about the Buxton pinch hitting spot, in fact I loved that rather than have someone like Gallo or Luplow there. Was it the right move? I don't know but imagine Target field had Buxton laced a double there or even got on base, we win the game on that momentum for sure.

The only 2 things I didn't care for was the generous use of a struggling(hurt we find out) and IMO, bad fielding first baseman in Kiriloff. After Solano made those 2 big plays in their win in Houston, he should have started and played most of the innings there. 

That and pitching to Alvarez so much. He flat out killed us that series. 

 

[ashbury]

The thing that somehow caught me by surprise is that the batting lineup was essentially the same for every game.  A time or two, a couple of batters got swapped in the order.  Playing the same catcher every game stands out, but the rest was pretty consistent, obscured by his heavy use of platoon-bat pinch-hitting.

In the regular season Rocco employed 13 different leadoff batters to begin the game.  Our opponent in the wild card had used 4. Houston used 6.  And so on, down the batting order.  It's easy to guess any of several reasons it played out like this, but I'd be interested in eliminating the guesswork by someone asking Rocco to spell it out.

[Riverbrian]

Hats off to the author of the article Ben Clemens. 

I thought his thoughts were thoughtful... he pointed out his side of the coin while also trying to examine the other side of the coin.  

The world painfully lacks this sort of balance in the presentation of the information we receive from the wide variety of sources that we receive information from.

The disease of acid filled opinions that many of us hold are ultimately formed from the typical lack of balance. 

Ben Clemens and the style presented in this article is the antidote. 

 

 

[Mike Sixel]

48 minutes ago, Riverbrian said:

Hats off to the author of the article Ben Clemens. 

I thought his thoughts were thoughtful... he pointed out his side of the coin while also trying to examine the other side of the coin.  

The world painfully lacks this sort of balance in the presentation of the information we receive from the wide variety of sources that we receive information from.

The disease of acid filled opinions that many of us hold are ultimately formed from the typical lack of balance. 

Ben Clemens and the style presented in this article is the antidote. 

 

 

Let them know there....so few do on articles not about certain teams....