Rocco to Return

[TheLeviathan]

Just now, Aggies7 said:

“Gave up out of exasperation”. 

good god man

Got exactly the ROI I expected.

[Aggies7]

7 minutes ago, TheLeviathan said:

Got exactly the ROI I expected.

Oh by the way, I asked about content you aren’t seeing because of the Rocco noise, and I told you exactly where to find that content and you just never acknowledged my point. 
 

Did you “give up out of exasperation” too?

[The Great Hambino]

With all the talk of the Pohlads not wanting to pay two managers as a reason for running it back with Rocco, they'd have to get creative to move on. 

What if they gave the job to someone already on the payroll?  Preferably someone with respected leadership credentials, baseball acumen, and likely to have a decent amount of free time (read: time on the IL) next summer.

May I present to you Carlos Correa: Player-Manager

Would this happen?  Not in a million years.  Would it be effective?  Probably not.  Would it be interesting?  Definitely.  And with the way next year looks to be shaping up, I'll take interesting.

 

For real though, count me as mild-to-moderately disappointed that he's coming back.  He had always struck me as better at the macro than the micro - his deficiencies in in-game strategy were (somewhat?) covered by big-picture strengths (team morale/vibes, balancing playing time for a roster that was handed to him with a giant PLATOON ME sign taped to its back, etc).  But the nature of this year's collapse has me doubting if he has the handle on the big picture stuff that I'd thought he had.

Did he lose the locker room?  I don't know, I wasn't there.  On the one hand, the comments from Ober/Correa were pretty emphatic that he didn't.  I know they're not gonna explicitly throw him under the bus, but they could've avoided answering or offered up some non-answer word salad if they felt he'd lost them.

On the other hand, if this wasn't losing the locker room ... Good lord, what would it have looked like if he had?

[FanFromPhilly]

I've been a fan since 1972 and I'll continue to be one but I'll be much less invested if they continue down the current road.  I hate the way the team plays under Rocco so winning has been the only thing getting me to watch.  Of course if the youngsters improve and the team returns to its winning ways I'll be back!

[Otaknam]

The front office and Rocco are totally welded to analytics, to the detriment of the team. Analytics does have a place, and some of the data is interesting. But removing Ober and Ryan when they are pitching really well, with low pitch counts, makes no sense. How about showing some confidence in your starters and using your manager’s intuition from time to time, though that’s probably sacrilegious in the baseball analytics world. 

[knothole61]

On 9/29/2024 at 4:04 PM, LastOnePicked said:

It is a fair question and a good question.

I think for some of us, we know what it's been like to work for an inspirational leader, and also what it's like to work for an ineffective leader. And make no mistake - the MLB manager is a leadership position. A robot could write out a lineup card. AI could map out your bullpen usage. A manager should have skills in communicating with supremely talented human beings, identifying their blind spots, elevating their skills and maximizing their chances for success.

Does that describe Rocco Baldelli's work here in any way? No. Not even close.

Yes, players like him. He's likable. I've worked for places where many of the employees love working for someone who will never bust their chops or challenge them. Those department, divisions and companies always fall behind the competition. Always.

For some of us, Rocco isn't just caught up in the Twins' woes - he's central to the cause. And a firing would send a message that anything short of a tenacious 162+ game fight for a title won't be tolerated in Twins Territory. That would be so refreshing, and the prospects coming in might find themselves rising to meet that challenge.

Well said LastOne...I think those who tend to downplay the significance of the MLB manager are too wedded to stats and the kinds of things that, as you say, "AI could map out" but not with the invaluable human, and largely spiritual aspects of a managers job.  

[cmoss84]

Tito signed with Reds. We missed a GOLDEN opportunity. 

[Schmoeman5]

On 9/29/2024 at 6:15 PM, Gagnerules said:

Also can we all admit the players quit on Rocco. If you dont think they quit then we have not been watching the same team.

when the players quit on the manager you have to fire them.

I don't for 1 second think his players quit on him. I believe it was more of a snowball turning into an avalanche on the entire team. When you say quit, are you implying that they weren't giving 100%? Or is it more that him speaking fell on deaf ears?

[ashbury]

29 minutes ago, Schmoeman5 said:

I don't for 1 second think his players quit on him. I believe it was more of a snowball turning into an avalanche on the entire team. When you say quit, are you implying that they weren't giving 100%? Or is it more that him speaking fell on deaf ears?

Concur.  I read someone saying that poor hitting with RISP was evidence of the players quitting.  If so, how do you explain the players who got on base in the first place?  (No, there weren't many of those either, but the evidence of quitting was seemingly super selective, from at bat to at bat.)

[Gagnerules]

12 hours ago, Schmoeman5 said:

I don't for 1 second think his players quit on him. I believe it was more of a snowball turning into an avalanche on the entire team. When you say quit, are you implying that they weren't giving 100%? Or is it more that him speaking fell on deaf ears?

His voice is no longer being heard by the players.

[stringer bell]

I tend to be more pre-Rocco than anti-Rocco, but with all he did all season to protect his players, why did they play like such a tired team in August/September?

[Muppet]

First off, other than pick the linup card, send in pinch hitters, and change pitchers, I'm not sure I really know what the manager does. I've never seen the inside of a clubhouse. I've never heard whether or not the manager forces players to work on XYZ skills or taking extra batting practices from same side pitchers throwing XYZ types of pitches. 

But 2 things strike me. 

1. I think this team was WAYYYY overrated from the start. I think the Twins' good record early on came as they were very good at cleaning up against bad teams. I did a little calculating. They went 33 and 11 against the 8 worst teams in the league and 7 and 23 against the 8 best teams in the league. For the most part, most of those games all occurred before their slide in September. Mostly their hitting was terrible. I still hold out that while their pitching wasn't great, it wasn't their weak spot. I think if they had magically brought in Ohtanhi (as a pitcher) at the trade deadline, they'd be out of the playoffs by now. 

2. Wouldn't it be the responsibility of the coaches to help batters and pitchers improve and work on their stamina to play throughout the whole year? Wouldn't it make more sense to demand their heads for allowing Julien, Lewis, Larnach, etc.. to flail away rather than getting pissed at Rocco for sometimes playing Margot instead of Larnach? Who knows, maybe Larnach had diarrhea that day. 

I do like how the Tigers have made it this far with a bunch of no names and rookies. For now, I'll be rooting for them. 

Till next year....

[Linus]

20 hours ago, stringer bell said:

I tend to be more pre-Rocco than anti-Rocco, but with all he did all season to protect his players, why did they play like such a tired team in August/September?

I’ve been thinking about this too.  Not only tired but injured. I get that it seems intuitive that more rest should equal fresher players with fewer injuries but that hasn’t been the case. And it’s not only this year.