Max Kepler, Josh Donaldson, and the Power of Good Clubhouse Vibes

Donaldson was a good player with an attitude once , now he is just an unemployed ball player with an attitude  ... 

Vital?  That's too strong a word.  The early 70's Oakland A's provide a counter example.  The late 70's Yankees, same thing.  Horrible clubhouse drama with both squads, along with World Series victories.  Teams and individuals can hate each other and still win a lot of games, especially in baseball: a team sport that is based on the individual match ups that occur with every pitch. 

A cohesive team/clubhouse probably helps a little.  Some players may focus better when there is minimal drama, and perhaps Kepler is one of those guys.  However if teams can't hit, pitch, catch, and run they will lose no matter how much they like each other.  Josh Donaldson was perceived to be a very valuable player when he was playing well.  He was so greatly valued that he won an MVP vote in 2015.  He became a "problem player" when he stopped hitting a couple of years ago due to age and injuries.  There are many great players that you might not want as a neighbor or friend, but they could really play ball, and they helped their teams win titles.  

Toxic?  There's another of them thar woids that get thrown around these dayz with no thought.  Nah, Josh was all right.  He was a tough competitor.  He just got old. 

6 hours ago, Road trip said:

Vital?  That's too strong a word.  The early 70's Oakland A's provide a counter example.  The late 70's Yankees, same thing.  Horrible clubhouse drama with both squads, along with World Series victories.  Teams and individuals can hate each other and still win a lot of games, especially in baseball: a team sport that is based on the individual match ups that occur with every pitch. 

A cohesive team/clubhouse probably helps a little.  Some players may focus better when there is minimal drama, and perhaps Kepler is one of those guys.  However if teams can't hit, pitch, catch, and run they will lose no matter how much they like each other.  Josh Donaldson was perceived to be a very valuable player when he was playing well.  He was so greatly valued that he won an MVP vote in 2015.  He became a "problem player" when he stopped hitting a couple of years ago due to age and injuries.  There are many great players that you might not want as a neighbor or friend, but they could really play ball, and they helped their teams win titles.  

Great talent can overcome a crappy clubhouse but most teams don't have great talent.

Something tells me chatter of Donaldson's clubhouse toxicity during his time in Minnesota never sees the light of day if he bangs 40ish homers and puts up a ~.950 OPS like he did in 2015-2016 for Toronto.

The Donaldson signing was a good one and the trade even better. 

If you have enough great players then team chemistry isn’t important. It does seem important as the time passes from the date freer agency was started it seems like the less there are the brawling teams. One of the things free agency allowed was  to get away from people you couldn’t stand   

Kepler's second half performance has as little to do with Donaldson as his first half performance. That is, Donaldson hasn't been relevant in this clubhouse in almost two years and Max has his transcendent moment five weeks ago. You want to write something relevant figure out what happened over the all star break. 

A good clubhouse can make or break a team in most sports. Maybe baseball is less vulnerable to a cancer than most other sports but I am not sure. Of course, talent in baseball wins out compared to basketball, hockey and football but still a bad team member doesn't help at all. And who wants to be around one anyway.

Baseball has a much longer seasons with more travel and time together than other sports. Teams with good and bad vibes have had great and terrible results over the past 130 years so nothing is certain, but it's hard to hide from an utter jerk over the course of eight months of being together almost daily, over half the time away from home. 

A pat on the back has always worked better than a in your face. Donaldson is and was a in your face.

There may be a reason Donaldson was not the most popular in Twins Clubhouse. He wanted to win and HATED to lose!

Lots of Twins want to win.The difference? Many including Rocco don't seem to mind losing!

Rocco is known as a "Players" Manager. Donaldson's last year here the Twins was a mess. Like the first half this year except with poor pitching. Rocco just went along staring at his cyber metric cards in the dugout. Donaldson hated that.

This year Rocco waited half a year to have a team meeting. Why?

Professionals are able to put personal differences aside when it comes to performing their jobs. Sometimes it’s hard, but it can be done. Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone had numerous personal differences but their shared commitment to the band made the band great.

2 hours ago, Nine of twelve said:

Professionals are able to put personal differences aside when it comes to performing their jobs. Sometimes it’s hard, but it can be done. Joey Ramone and Johnny Ramone had numerous personal differences but their shared commitment to the band made the band great.

Punk rock analogies are always welcome 👍