Guardians 3, Twins 1: A Big Zone Extends a Cold Spring

[John Belinski]

15 hours ago, D.C Twins said:

I'm worried most about Wallner.... He has shown nothing throughout Spring training and now the regular season.

If the league has adjusted to him, I hope he can make his own adjustments..... and soon. 

Have been a fan of Wallner, but he looks lost when batting this year. Guess pitchers have found his weakness since just can not get a hit this year.

[Doctor Gast]

10 hours ago, NotAboutWinning said:

It may not be a straightforward as changing the coaching. The FO built a team for the “all or nothing” approach. Asking them to change to a contact approach may be the equivalent of using NASCAR stock cars in a Formula 1 race.

 Yes this FO is enamored by Gallo-type of hitters so they draft, sign FAs & coach all hitters to obtain this of type of hitter while not putting importance on defense & contact hitting for many years. Change will not be quick. I like your analogy but I'd reverse it. Reducing baseball to an HR derby (how boring) thinking whoever hits the most HRs wins. But fortunately, baseball isn't an HR derby, defense is important up the middle, it's a game of constant adjusting, and nobody will purposely serve up a big meatball to hit in a clutch situation, they are up there to strike you out which they normal do with this mindset.

Baldelli said during the offseason that SOs were a concern but they weren't going to change their approach. They tried to offset the team's SOs by picking up 2 mediocre contact hitters that haven't helped. Now Baldelli is stated that he wants his hitters to shorten up their swing in clutch situations not only with 2 strikes. It's too little too late. That idea should have been implemented during spring training.

Hopefully the Twins will change their approach by putting more importance on defense by not putting emphasis on drafting big bat only & neglecting defense, evaluate all players & develop their strengths not trying to squeeze out every HR while disturbing their swing & causing SOs. And not trading away clutch line-drive hitters especially when their glove is elite.

[Doctor Gast]

To help out Julien's lack of range & improve his OAA, they have him cheat a lot. Which really hurts him & yield him vulnerable when batters don't get around on the pitches. It seems a lot of GBs got thru on the right side that a good 2Bman should get, especially with this series with CLE.

[wabene]

The umpire scorecard for yesterday's game was just posted and confirms what I saw with my own eyes. Some terrible calls that absolutely impacted the result. It is just one game and you'd hope these things even out. 

 

[Linus]

2 minutes ago, wabene said:

The umpire scorecard for yesterday's game was just posted and confirms what I saw with my own eyes. Some terrible calls that absolutely impacted the result. It is just one game and you'd hope these things even out. 

 

I don’t follow these scorecards much but this one is as bad as I can recall. Angel Hernandez like. 

[bean5302]

The Twins were over .500 to begin Thursday. Two days later, the sky was falling... I've noted this in another thread, but great teams win 60% of their games (97 wins). terrible teams win 40% of their games (97 losses).

Baldelli has been the most outspoken on the subject of strikeouts doing a 180* in the summer of last year. In early summer, he talked about the strikeouts being a problem. By late in the season, strikeouts were irrelevant. It doesn't take an expert to read between the lines and figure out Falvey doesn't feel like strikeouts matter.

Now, strikeouts are not worse than any other kind of out. They're better than medium grounders with runners on, for instance. A swinging strike out provides a little extra for a runner trying to steal, the catcher can miss the ball and a strikeout can wind up with a guy on first, etc. What I don't think has been researched is how a bunch of strikeout prone hitters in the same line up cause a chain reaction which reduces overall offensive value.

Pythagorean is not a good metric. It's nice compared to straight wins/losses, but it doesn't tell you the trend. 
12-0-2-8-3-1-1-9-3-2 = 43 runs. Probable record? 4-6 <--Twins
4-5-5-3-6-2-1-4-5-5 = 40 runs. Probable record? 5-5 <-- Lower K/HR teams

That's what I think

[Swing Batter-Batter]

15 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I am just as frustrated as you are but IMO the problem isn't the hitting coach, he's just doing what he's told to do. It's the "all or nothing" approach that the Twins have adapted.

I agree. I have heard Falvey say it more than once.

[wabene]

54 minutes ago, Linus said:

I don’t follow these scorecards much but this one is as bad as I can recall. Angel Hernandez like. 

Lol, it is like a Yankees scorecard.

[Doctor Gast]

23 minutes ago, Swing Batter-Batter said:

I agree. I have heard Falvey say it more than once.

Back in '21 & also again in '22, the Twins were accused of using a type of "all or nothing" approach. Falvey denied it because the stats were terrible. he then blamed the batting coachs & fired them.  The 1st chance he had after the Twins finished a successful '23 season. he credited the "all or nothing" approach to the Twins' success.  I couldn't help but laugh & shake my head.

[mrcharlie]

"...the beauty of baseball.". 

True in that the game reflects much of life's journey in adulthood.  We try our best to navigate different stages in the hope of ending up safely at home.

RE:  our Twins.  It is troubling to see these ballplayers looking at so many third strikes.  They must have a plan when they get in the batters box.  To let the umpire dictate the result is hard to watch.  

[USAFChief]

1 hour ago, bean5302 said:

Now, strikeouts are not worse than any other kind of out.

False. Categorically, unequivocally false.

Proof: Are K's desirable for our pitching staff?

[nicksaviking]

19 hours ago, Aggies7 said:

Just a continuation of a horrible spring training. Hoping it will get better because it got better last year is all we’ve got. Unfortunately the division seems to be more competitive (low bar) and the lineup didn’t improve. 0-20 something with RISP is offensive malpractice.

I think it's a continuation of 2023. I know the bats picked up at the end of the year, but this is pretty much what we saw the first 4-5 months of last year too. 

I don't think their 'take all the pitches' hitting philosophy is the one-size-fits-all approach they think it is.

[Linus]

46 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

False. Categorically, unequivocally false.

Proof: Are K's desirable for our pitching staff?

Yea I could never figure that one out. The only thing many people care about are pitchers that strike people out but turn around and say for hitters it’s just another out. Perhaps they feel hip to the metrics or something. 

[ashbury]

13 hours ago, Fezig said:

There was a shortstop years ago that was highly heralded. He struggled early in his first season and kept listening to everyone about how making this change or that change would change his luck. Finally someone gave his the best advice he could have, which was essentially, stop thinking about what you're doing and do what got you here. He won rookie of the year beating an up-and-coming first baseman for the Twins. His name was Cal Ripken. The point is, the players on this roster need to stop doing what the manager is telling them to do and just start hitting the ball like they did on the way up to the majors.

 

Ripken was not yet 22 years old when he went through that rough patch as a rookie.  Royce Lewis is the youngest hitter on the Twins' major league squad and he turns 25 in a few weeks.  Not much of a comp there, especially since Lewis himself is the only one remotely in Ripken's class and he's the one who's been doing all right (when not injured).

[Linus]

40 minutes ago, nicksaviking said:

I think it's a continuation of 2023. I know the bats picked up at the end of the year, but this is pretty much what we saw the first 4-5 months of last year too. 

I don't think their 'take all the pitches' hitting philosophy is the one-size-fits-all approach they think it is.

And I think it is important to remember the schedule was much easier the second half so it’s tough to really know. 

[Linus]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

The Twins were over .500 to begin Thursday. Two days later, the sky was falling... I've noted this in another thread, but great teams win 60% of their games (97 wins). terrible teams win 40% of their games (97 losses).

Baldelli has been the most outspoken on the subject of strikeouts doing a 180* in the summer of last year. In early summer, he talked about the strikeouts being a problem. By late in the season, strikeouts were irrelevant. It doesn't take an expert to read between the lines and figure out Falvey doesn't feel like strikeouts matter.

Now, strikeouts are not worse than any other kind of out. They're better than medium grounders with runners on, for instance. A swinging strike out provides a little extra for a runner trying to steal, the catcher can miss the ball and a strikeout can wind up with a guy on first, etc. What I don't think has been researched is how a bunch of strikeout prone hitters in the same line up cause a chain reaction which reduces overall offensive value.

Pythagorean is not a good metric. It's nice compared to straight wins/losses, but it doesn't tell you the trend. 
12-0-2-8-3-1-1-9-3-2 = 43 runs. Probable record? 4-6 <--Twins
4-5-5-3-6-2-1-4-5-5 = 40 runs. Probable record? 5-5 <-- Lower K/HR teams

That's what I think

I think the important aspect is not the total runs scored rather the volatility of the numbers. There have been a bunch of games where the offense does little or nothing. Games where they had no chance to win. 

[RocRedWing]

7 hours ago, bighat said:

I am completely with you and so is MLB - which is why they instituted a pitch clock and bigger bases, making it easier and more encouraging for teams to put the ball in play. 

The Twins for whatever reason haven't embraced "making contact" as a strategy. "Close your eyes and swing as hard as you can" has been the mantra since the juiced-ball year of 2019 and today this team is impossible to watch. 

Getting swept by Cleveland at home with your 3 best pitchers on the mound while striking out 50% of the ABs is not going to win you any casual fans - and die hard fans like those who post here have a right to be disappointed and frustrated. 

Unwatchable baseball. It was like this for about 2/3 of last year, too. 

Completely agreed. Went to the game Saturday with a few friends who are not big baseball fans, but I've been trying to convert them. They wanted to leave by the sixth and so did I lol. What a miserable game to watch, maybe the worst I've paid to see in person.

[ashbury]

I see that Sunday's game has been postponed due to lack of interest.

[Old Twins Hat]

You know it's bad when the author refers to the hitting coach as Popovich and no one really notices.

Fifteen Ks is five full innings of nothing happening.  Five.

It's simply unwatchable.

[JD-TWINS]

On 4/6/2024 at 8:39 PM, Doctor Gast said:

I am just as frustrated as you are but IMO the problem isn't the hitting coach, he's just doing what he's told to do. It's the "all or nothing" approach that the Twins have adapted.

It’s the hitters …. Falvey isn’t influencing how Buxton or Correa or Kepler are trying to barrel up the ball. It’s nuts to think Carlos Santana can’t get a hit after 16 years because he’s been poisoned by ”the Twin’s approach”. Lewis doesn’t/hasn’t seem to be negatively affected by the Twin’s system. Julien hasn’t been told to stand, like a dunce, and take strike 3 …..5 times in two games. The damn hitters are responsible!

The F.O. is responsible for assembling the talent - it seems, after 7 games, there may be a problem. Not having their best hitter and not having their best prospect as a depth piece to fill in (Lee for Lewis) is not a good situation!!

The corner OF pieces of Kepler & Wallner are embarrassing. Julien looks like, as I said last year, he thinks he’s Ted Williams & if he doesn’t swing it’s a ball. Most arrogant looking young hitter I’ve ever seen.

Plenty of time to come around through the next 10-20 games but something has to happen with a couple guys right now. The staff can’t pitch any better. If one removes Ober’s 8 runs and his 1 1/3 innings, the rest of the guys (12 pitchers) have a 2.26 ERA.

Can’t have 10 guys hitting .200 or below!!

[Fezig]

16 hours ago, ashbury said:

Ripken was not yet 22 years old when he went through that rough patch as a rookie.  Royce Lewis is the youngest hitter on the Twins' major league squad and he turns 25 in a few weeks.  Not much of a comp there, especially since Lewis himself is the only one remotely in Ripken's class and he's the one who's been doing all right (when not injured).

There was no comparison of talent. The point is the Twins need to let the players play to their abilities and strengths.

[TwinsDr2021]

On 4/7/2024 at 3:35 AM, Karbo said:

I'm not blaming the loss on the umps at all. The team isn't hitting well, especially with runners on. But the strike zone that guy was calling was so bad, and so much in favor of the Guardians. I really don't recall any time lately any ump calling so much of different zone from one team to another.

I watched the whole game and the ump was horrible, but I don't think it favored one team or the other, it looks worse for the Twins because they were taking more pitches, and Cleveland was going after that low inside pitch that Wallner and others continued to watch after it was being called a strike over and over. The worst call IMO was the one on Santana that started way outside and ended up outside.

[JD-TWINS]

1 hour ago, TwinsDr2021 said:

I watched the whole game and the ump was horrible, but I don't think it favored one team or the other, it looks worse for the Twins because they were taking more pitches, and Cleveland was going after that low inside pitch that Wallner and others continued to watch after it was being called a strike over and over. The worst call IMO was the one on Santana that started way outside and ended up outside.

He missed 3 of 5 pitches…..1 to Santana & then 2 to Wallner in back to back AB’s. It’s tough enough to hit, w/o guessing what the zone might be, pitch to pitch. No credit to Cleveland for getting fooled and swinging at pitches outside the zone.

We gotta hit, granted, but don’t need more obstacles than the opposing pitcher.

[TwinsDr2021]

8 minutes ago, JD-TWINS said:

He missed 3 of 5 pitches…..1 to Santana & then 2 to Wallner in back to back AB’s. It’s tough enough to hit, w/o guessing what the zone might be, pitch to pitch. No credit to Cleveland for getting fooled and swinging at pitches outside the zone.

We gotta hit, granted, but don’t need more obstacles than the opposing pitcher.

agreed, If I remember correctly that was the 4th and Ryan came out in the 5th and tried to get that call, and Cleveland ended up getting two hits (an a couple of foul balls) of that low and inside pitch. Then Wallner's next at bat took that pitch and it was called a strike and kind of complained again, I think he ended up getting hit by a pitch that at bat. It just seemed like Cleveland realized that was getting called and starting looking for that pitch and the Twins didn't adjust to that pitch being called.