Miguel Sanó Finding Second Life in Los Angeles

[Dave The Dastardly]

2 hours ago, Verified Member said:

Here is what I wish and hope: Sanó continues to improve and the Angels trade him to an American League contender. He then gets at bats against the Twins in a playoff series.

And Sano comes up to bat as a pinch hitter, bottom of the ninth, game tied, two outs, Rocco had already emptied the bull pen. He looks down the bench... nothing but position players. But there, at the very end of the bench, trying to hide his bulk behind an exhausted Ober is... a smiling La Tortuga!

"Get Buxton's uniform and glove!!" Rocco shouts "and get out there!"

And so the clash of giants begins... The excited fans launch to their feet as La Tortuga springs from the dugout, "Nice angle" the visiting Bert Blylevin remarks from the press box.

"We'd have paid a lot of money to see this," Dick Bremer adds. "And now we're going to witness history in the making. Reminds me of a game we did back in 1995, it was a Tuesday, wind was out of the west, Bert was eating a hot dog, mustard running down his shirt...

Tortuga makes sure he passes by Sano, the two giants grin at each other, share a few words neither one can understand, then pat each other on the fanny and get in position...

 

Wait a minute, I ran out of whiskey... be right back.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

And Sano comes up to bat as a pinch hitter, bottom of the ninth, game tied, two outs, Rocco had already emptied the bull pen. He looks down the bench... nothing but position players. But there, at the very end of the bench, trying to hide his bulk behind an exhausted Ober is... a smiling La Tortuga!

"Get Buxton's uniform and glove!!" Rocco shouts "and get out there!"

And so the clash of giants begins... The excited fans launch to their feet as La Tortuga springs from the dugout, "Nice angle" the visiting Bert Blylevin remarks from the press box.

"We'd have paid a lot of money to see this," Dick Bremer adds. "And now we're going to witness history in the making. Reminds of a game we did back in 1995, it was a Tuesday, wind was out of the west, Bert was eating a hot dog, mustard running down his shirt...

Tortuga makes sure he passes by Sano, the two giants grin at each other, share a few words neither one can understand, then pat each other on the fanny and get in position...

 

Wait a minute, I ran out of whiskey... be right back.

Giants and gods opposing each other - RAGNORAK!!!

[Fezig]

17 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

I marvel at Sano's power & quickness but Twins' "all or nothing" approach & his laziness has been his kryptonite. I hope Sano has matured because, under Wash's eye, he can still develop into an above-average player & LAA could use his talents. His SO rate is better (but still needs improvement), it seems like they are focusing on him making contact & getting on base. When he gets that right the HRs will naturally come. Wish Sano & Wash success but not against the Twins,

It'd be nice to see the Twins & Sano play tonight but I'd be in bed when they start the game.

I credit the "all or nothing" approach to the front office and manager. You could look at the stats of the team the past few years and that holds true. In regard to laziness, I couldn't agree more. Nothing bothers me more than lazy talent.

[nclahammer]

I'm all for making the most out of opportunities, another chance that someone has been given.   He looked alright at thirdbase to me (what a cannon he has, or I guess Provus called it a bazooka) and I wish Miguel Sano the best of luck this season, except of course, when he is playing our Minnesota Twins.  Great write up Cody & TD.

[Rosterman]

 He can still be a player if he takes care of himself, and remains coachable. If the Twins had kept him for 2023, would he have been any worse than, say, Joey Gallo...except Gallo could play all outfield spots.

[Jeff K]

22 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

Lets see...
Skilled player relies on natural ability early in career, has some success, but generally does not care about improving himself or his team.
Skilled player eventually gets released and is looked upon so poorly no other team is willing to sign him.
Skilled player gets older, matures, finally realizes he failed to live up to his god given talent.
Skilled player looses extensive weight, gets back into shape, and is able to finagle a second chance.
Skilled player sees success...

The thing that irritates me about this narrative is the amount of time and money the Twins poured into this guy.  Shameful...

Well said.  I usually don't actively dislike players (unless they are Yankees); however, I despise Sano for wasting the Twins time, effort and money while squandering the talents he was given.  It all feel apart when he had to work for it.  I would not be surprised to see him fall back to his lazy ways.

[twinfan]

Like many sluggers, Sano can be an all or nothing guy. He got a bad rap when playing 3B but wasn't really that bad. He never was able to lay off a slider that broke just off the plate. I'm glad he is getting a shot-mainly due to a starter's injury- and is at least holding water right now. He'll hit for 6-8 games then nothing for 8-10 and he'll strike out a lot (but so does Judge and others). When I see him this year, he just takes too many early, over the plate, strikes which puts him in a hole he doesn't get out of. If he couldn't learn to hit better when Cruz was helping him, he never will. But he can hit 25 homers and bat .230 if he gets 400 at bats.

[CCHOF5yearstoolate]

On 4/26/2024 at 6:05 PM, Doctor Gast said:

Many Braves have credited Ron Washington for turning them around. He knows how to do it & he brought his coaches that are on the same page as he is. 

Sano's SO rate has always been high & had been trending higher in his the last few years of his career as a Twin. Even starting out as an Angel it peaked out at 42.4 but has been trending in the right direction. It's a small sample size but with Washington record & hopefully change of Sano's attitude it will only get better.

Ron Washington is, by all accounts, an incredible baseball personality and a great player manager.

He's not a magician. Don't fall for small sample sizes. 

[minman1982]

Good for Sano for earning himself a second chance. It was clear by about this time in 2022 that his time with the Twins was quickly coming to an end. I looked up his stats on Baseball Reference for the last three seasons he was a Twin (2020-2022). Here is what his stat line looks like

• 208 games played
• 808 plate appearances
• 716 at bats
• 148 hits
• 36 2B
• 44 HR
• 0.207 batting average
• 0.289 OBP
• 0.441 SLG
• 1 K every 2.4 AB
• 3.5 K per BB
• $30.25 M in salary

[Fire Dan Gladden]

On 4/26/2024 at 6:45 PM, Joe A. Preusser said:

Come on man, we're all flawed humans.  Just what are you expecting from him or or anyone?  Cause if it's perfection or even excellence you're just setting yourself up for a whole bunch of disappointment.  

My life had been littered with unrealized potential, along with some realized.  The misses won't define me, and shouldn't for Sano just because he happens to be à public figure with heightened expectations.  He doesn't owe you or the Twins anything.  

These are real people, not commodities. 

This isn't an argument of humans vs. robots.  This is a discussion of an elite athlete that bites the hand that feeds him.  The Twins kept giving him chance after chance to see if he would turn the corner and he didn't.

I am talking low-hanging fruit here.  Stay in shape.  Work on your defense.  Listen to your coaches about your hitting approach.  He did none of these things.  He had to get totally kicked out of baseball before the light bulb went off.

Shameful is the correct word.  Shameful that the Twins did not recognize this earlier and cut bait.  Shameful that when he got his big money contract he coasted.  I have argued multiple times on this site that sometimes players need a change of scenery to figure things out.  This was not the case here.  He just didn't care enough to improve.

Everybody needs to stop defending him here.  His failure was lack of caring.

[John Belinski]

It just seems that the Twin's coaching staff did not do a good job with him. He needed to lose weight and get in better shape, but isn't that what coaches are supposed to help with? Just not impressed with the Twin's coaching staff from Rocco on down.

[Joe A. Preusser]

5 hours ago, Fire Dan Gladden said:

This isn't an argument of humans vs. robots.  This is a discussion of an elite athlete that bites the hand that feeds him.  The Twins kept giving him chance after chance to see if he would turn the corner and he didn't.

I am talking low-hanging fruit here.  Stay in shape.  Work on your defense.  Listen to your coaches about your hitting approach.  He did none of these things.  He had to get totally kicked out of baseball before the light bulb went off.

Shameful is the correct word.  Shameful that the Twins did not recognize this earlier and cut bait.  Shameful that when he got his big money contract he coasted.  I have argued multiple times on this site that sometimes players need a change of scenery to figure things out.  This was not the case here.  He just didn't care enough to improve.

Everybody needs to stop defending him here.  His failure was lack of caring.

You are making a ton of suppositions here.  Did he never work on his defense? or did he, and it just wasn't that good?  Or was it OK, but he never got to show out?  Work on his hitting approach?  Did he?  Didn't he?  Was it coaching?  Was it stubbornness?   If he got tons of chances to "turn the corner" and didn't, is it completely on him?  On his coaches?  Both?  Neither?  

You say it isn't an argument about humans vs robots, but you're still treating him like a fixed entity,  that based on his "potential" should have succeeded if only he'd TRY hard enough.  You assume his failure (although he wasn't actually THAT bad for us) was all about effort and never about circumstance or bad luck or any number of other variables.  Respectfully, you don't know that at all.  

 

 

 

 

 

[Fire Dan Gladden]

16 hours ago, Joe A. Preusser said:

You are making a ton of suppositions here.  Did he never work on his defense? or did he, and it just wasn't that good?  Or was it OK, but he never got to show out?  Work on his hitting approach?  Did he?  Didn't he?  Was it coaching?  Was it stubbornness?   If he got tons of chances to "turn the corner" and didn't, is it completely on him?  On his coaches?  Both?  Neither?  

You say it isn't an argument about humans vs robots, but you're still treating him like a fixed entity,  that based on his "potential" should have succeeded if only he'd TRY hard enough.  You assume his failure (although he wasn't actually THAT bad for us) was all about effort and never about circumstance or bad luck or any number of other variables.  Respectfully, you don't know that at all.  

 

 

 

 

 

How quickly we all forget... Stop defending him... just stop.

https://www.yardbarker.com/mlb/articles/twins_miguel_sano_reported_to_camp_overweight/s1_127_25769009
 

And of course his own manager calling his work ethic out
https://twins-time.com/2016/08/miguel-sanos-up-and-down-play-gives-twins-more-to-ponder/