Twinsoholic

Lee is too slow for the double steal, and he was too slow leaving third once the catcher began his throw to 2nd. Crazy play calling.

Is Lee going to get Wally Pipped?

LaTroy is great, but I see the Audra Martin interviews as pointlessly interrupting the televising of the games. I don’t think they really know how to use her effectively. Are her in-game reports really needed?

The starter-only-throws 65 to 80 pitches is a paradigm in search of a shift of perspective, a perspective inorganic to the game. If a starter averages 15 pitches per inning, then 5 innings equals 75 pitches. If he throws 16 pitches per inning for 5 innings, that is 80 pitches. The team then relies on relievers to pitch 4 innings per game. Yikes!!! In a 6 consecutive game stretch, starters by this model throw, combined, 30 innings and relievers 24. How can you not tear up a lot of your relief pitchers? The Twins are lucky this year because Duran, Jax, Varland, Coulombe, Stewart, and Sands are an above average group. The team overall record, nevertheless, is a losing one for reasons related to terrible hitting with runners in scoring position, lousy team speed, not the best defense, as well as a spate of injuries. Aim for at least 7 innings from starters in the minors as well as the major league. Think of the impact on the relievers. Aim for increasing team speed and defense. We saw some more lackadaisical plays tonight in the outfield. Props to Bader, though, for robbing a potential HR. Draft and develop (and trade for) impact position players (speed is impactful as is being able to put the ball in play). Sounds simple, but some teams manage to do this more consistently than the Twins.

What is the point of the extended interruptions by Audra? New pitcher comes in, but that is less important than a “pro” wrestler. The other interruptions during the series are just as annoying.

Keaschall brought his bat, glove, and speed to the lineup. This is one of the slowest Twins teams that I can remember. The team needs hitters, but it particularly needs hitters with speed so that they won’t get gunned down repeatedly at home when Tommy Watkins windmills them around third base. I hope Gaspar has a successful MLB career, but given his tool kit, the addition of a lot more speed would really make that more likely to happen than not.

Chief wrote: “Line drives on 0-2 are not "good pitches." Quite the opposite. They're terrible pitches.” The KC game winning hit by Garcia was out of the strike zone, low, but I agree with Chief that it was “terrible pitching” because Duran should have kept throwing the high fastball. By throwing, instead, the splitter or splinker, Duran sped up Garcia’s bat, which led to the powerful contact. He was not close on the high fastball. While it is true that Garcia went down to hit the pitch, he was able to do that because the pitch was not nearly as challenging as the fastball. Don’t speed up a dangerous hitter’s bat. Works occasionally, but too often it is a boon for the batter. Unless Duran had buried the pitch in the dirt in front of the plate, he was courting danger.

Mike Sixel writes: “We should have pilots fly without data too! They never used to use it. Maybe computers and phones should stop using data.” Mike, I almost always find myself enjoying your posts. You bring a lot of passion to the threads. I have quoted you because I don’t think anyone is saying jettison data, i.e., drop so-called modern analytics. No one is advocating that Rocco embrace vestigial strategies for, say, Rounders when people post criticisms of Rocco’s decision to have Sands come in for Ober. Speaking only for myself, I am saying that unless there was a medical reason for pulling Ober after 6 innings (or unless Ober told Rocco that Ober felt he was running out of gas), then not letting Ober pitch the 7th against the bottom of the KC order is super puzzling. We have, arguably, an overworked bullpen, so getting effective starters to pitch past the 6th inning would appear to be desirable. From my admittedly limited perspective, Rocco made two blunders in Tuesday’s and yesterday’s games. He comes across to me, speaking for no one else, as consistently mechanical. Perhaps there is much more improvisation with Rocco than meets the eye. Perhaps, however, his level of managerial mojo and intuition are not that deep. Perhaps he is just super comfortable with one overriding methodology. Finally, I do agree with the point many have made that the lack of scoring runs is awful and increases the level of difficulty for a manager. As the level of difficulty increases, the chance for more mistakes rises.

jmlease1 writes: “It is absolutely hilarious to invoke Earl Weaver in an anti-analytics screed. Earl was one of the forerunners of modern analytics in how he constructed and ran his teams.” Watch any Orioles telecast when Jim Palmer is one of the broadcasters and a starting pitcher—who has been pitching well and has a moderate pitch count—is removed after the 5th or 6th inning. Palmer will inevitably lament the decision and point out the success of Orioles starters under Weaver going deep into games, i.e., pitching at least through the 7th inning. In the Ober example, Palmer would no doubt note that the next three scheduled hitters comprise the bottom of the batting order Weaver was a superbly astute manager who was anything but mechanical. He managed with gutsy, passionate intelligence. Whether or not he can be called a forerunner of analytics I will leave up to each reader’s discretion. None of us has a crystal ball, and we will never know what would have happened if Ober rather than Sands pitched the 7th inning. All we know is the Sands outcome (set up by Rocco’s managerial decision) just like all we know is the outcome of Jax pitching to Vinnie P rather than intentionally walking him after Jax’s crazy throwing error which allow Witt to go from being an out at first to standing safely on third. Rocco’s decision was to pitch to Vinnie, a left-handed batter, with a slow, right-handed batter on deck. Weaver (Tom Kelly, Joe Torre, Felipe Alou, Dusty Baker, Sparky Anderson, Casey Stengel, etc.) would have ordered Jax to intentionally walk Vinnie (empirical baseball acumen, for over 100 years).

Matthew Taylor writes: “But while we’ll never know how things might have gone had Ober stayed in to start the seventh, Baldelli’s choice was grounded in real data, recent performance, and a desire to avoid worst-case scenarios. You might not like the outcome, but the process had logic behind it.” The ghost of Earl Weaver says Big Deal if there was “real data” contextualizing Baldelli’s decision to remove Ober. Weaver also relied on “real data” when he guided the Orioles, counting on his starting pitchers’ athletic ability to pitch deep into games (and be super successful). We live in an age of fetishization of “real data,” the rhetoric of numbers, so I assume Baldelli will remain consistent in his anti-Weaverian approach. Perhaps Sands will do better next time—I am sure he will get a lot of similar chances.

Great point about hustle rv78. We also saw hustle when Altuve tagged up at 3rd and scored on a line drive to Bader—Harrison threw the ball to second, and Altuve then dashed to the plate. What a heads up play by Altuve to help spark the Astros comeback win. Bader should either have thrown home to ensure that Altuve stayed at 3rd, or he should have thrown the ball to Correa if Correa was in the standard cut off man position. Altuve would not have tried to run on Correa if he was in the standard cut-off spot.

Hey BrokenCompass, your point that it is hard to blame “pitching or Rocco” does not actually address Chief’s complaint, which you quoted. Chief’s point is a good one: why on earth would the manager think it was a good idea to pitch to Vinnie rather than walk him to set up the possibility of a double play to get out of the inning, leaving Witt stranded at 3rd? Vinnie bats left-handed while Perez bats right-handed, and Perez is a slow runner. Your pitcher is right-handed. As Chief notes, 100+ years of baseball managing says the manager has the pitcher walk Vinnie rather than pitch to him in such a situation. Witt should never have been at 3rd—that is all on Jax. But, given the error by Jax, Rocco compounds it by not having Jax intentionally walk Vinnie.

Brutal way to lose this game and series. Jax throwing first pitch fastballs was no mystery to the Astros in the ninth, but the Twins should have put the game on ice much earlier. Sucky performance in the second half of the game. You have to play to win for all 9 innings so that you don’t go to extra innings.

Great catch by Bader. Making up for the two previous miscues.

Anyone can take criticisms of Baldelli with a grain of salt. To each her own. The managerial malfeasance is, to my spectacles, very apparent. Mostly, Baldelli’s miscues remind me of the mania of Tom Kelly running Brent Gates out onto the field day in and day out one season while somehow expecting a miracle, i.e., different results. I see a foolish consistency often in Rocco’s approach. He is the manager, however, and I am just a Twins fan of 50+ years.

Froemming is correct about the minor league portion of the Rule 5 draft. Rosario and Oliver were listed on the Twins AAA roster, so they could only be selected during the initial round of the Rule 5 draft. For the minor league rounds of this draft only certain players on each tram were eligible to be selected: no one from the 40 man roster, and no one from the AAA roster, Recent players in the Twins minors (typically players drafted or signed within the last 3-4 years) are protected from the draft.

In 1980 the Twins used the Rule 5 draft to select reliever Doug Corbett from Cincinnati. He saved 23 games for the Twins that season. The next season he made the All-Star team. The third season, 1982, the Twins traded Corbett and Rob Wilfong to the Angels for Tom Brunansky, Mike Walters, and cash. The Twins won that trade.

Where is the Draft Tracker? This was a very helpful listing of the Twins picks and signing bonuses.

Nice play Vazquez.

Bean, I don’t remember the batter, but SWR threw a above the belt fastball today (a ball) that the radar gun registered as 95 mph. Maybe it’s a fast gun, but it is typically good form to avoid absolutes. Having said my peace, I generally like your observations about players.

Duran throwing a curveball there that gets hammered reminds me of the Braves Mark Wohlers throwing a slider to the Yankees Jim Leyritz that he slaughtered out of the park to upset the Braves in a game Atlanta should have won. Don’t throw your second best pitch.

Nice mix of pitches by Ober.

The Twins could have sent Funderburk down, but I guess Rocco wanted three lefties in the pen.

Isn’t Bowman also available to pitch?

Buxton’s at bats this season often look like those of Delman Young. With 2 strikes it is almost inevitable that he will chase a pitch way out of thd strike zone.