ashbury

As with election years ("all politics is local"), each team-attendance situation is likely keyed to on-field performance for some given years, and each market will react differently to the perceived success of the team. I'd be afraid to use too much statistical inference in the case of so relatively few datapoints, and be more inclined to eyeball it. If a team in a new park keeps its winning percentage up, it seems as if the honeymoon can go on and on, i.e. higher attendance levels than in previous periods of team success in the old park. The Giants have been in their new park since 2000 and the honeymoon is still going strong; attendance dipped modestly during a period of poor on-field results but never to a level of the old park, and has since bounced back. By contrast, if the team on the field stinks, the honeymoon can be short. The White Sox lost their attendance mojo very quickly after the winning stopped, and attendance was back down to something like where it was in the old park after just 4 years. The decline in the Twins attendance in 2012 looks like on a similar trajectory to the Sox. Another losing season in '13 may have per-game numbers under 30K like before the move. It could be something to do with what a market is receptive to; I have the sense that going to a Giants game (ditto Fenway, Wrigley) is more like an "event" while in a lot of other cases a team has to market competitiveness on the field, which in a zero-sum game has to run out of luck for some teams each year. But Minnesota is kind of a front-runner's town and there's probably not much the front office can do to market it differently.

If that was the FO reasoning, wouldn't Terry Ryan probably just have said so, instead of the oblique remarks about the quality of his stuff?

For those who watched, was the game as dull as it seemed to me while watching the boxscore develop?

I could go along with 1 or 2 runs being a small sample, but 18 seems large enough to me.

Trollin' trollin' trollin', keep those posts a-rollin'... Seven innings. Yep, case closed.

Originally posted in reply to thread These Call-Ups Are a Downer The Twins' 40-man roster is apparently at 39 right now, and the desire for waiver-wire flexibility is a reason given not to bring up one or two other players for September, such as Anthony Slama. How can a last-place team have any issues at all managing their 40-man roster? Just sooooo many talented players, the other teams will scoop an All-Star-in-the-making right up, if the Twins aren't careful? Indecisiveness, maybe that's the reason. Morneau, will he or won't he return to previous levels? Span, can we squeeze just a bit more out of a trade? Middle infielders, so many flashy-glove no-stick players to choose from, better hang onto a bunch and see if one steps forward. Meanwhile, at least, the scouts and front-office can make up their minds about Slama not being able to translate AAA success to the majors. So I guess indecision can't be the culprit after all. Without going through the 40-man, spot by spot, doesn't it break down roughly like this? your 25 best guys for the major league roster 5 AAAA guys to cover the inevitable injuries 5 young guys who are too old to be left off but on whom the jury is still out (a little indecisiveness is necessary and good) 5 contingency spots because what I just laid out here is too simple What additional needs and purposes are clogging up the Twins' 40-man roster? With 21 pitchers and 18 position players currently listed, I guess the area of concern is clear. I'm not in the mood to discuss spots #39, #38, ... . A forty-man roster is intended to be a bit of a headache for the "have" teams. Not the have-nots.

Originally posted in reply to thread These Call-Ups Are a Downer The Twins' 40-man roster is apparently at 39 right now, and the desire for waiver-wire flexibility is a reason given not to bring up one or two other players for September, such as Anthony Slama. How can a last-place team have any issues at all managing their 40-man roster? Just sooooo many talented players, the other teams will scoop an All-Star-in-the-making right up, if the Twins aren't careful? Indecisiveness, maybe that's the reason. Morneau, will he or won't he return to previous levels? Span, can we squeeze just a bit more out of a trade? Middle infielders, so many flashy-glove no-stick players to choose from, better hang onto a bunch and see if one steps forward. Meanwhile, at least, the scouts and front-office can make up their minds about Slama not being able to translate AAA success to the majors. So I guess indecision can't be the culprit after all. Without going through the 40-man, spot by spot, doesn't it break down roughly like this? your 25 best guys for the major league roster 5 AAAA guys to cover the inevitable injuries 5 young guys who are too old to be left off but on whom the jury is still out (a little indecisiveness is necessary and good) 5 contingency spots because what I just laid out here is too simple What additional needs and purposes are clogging up the Twins' 40-man roster? With 21 pitchers and 18 position players currently listed, I guess the area of concern is clear. I'm not in the mood to discuss spots #39, #38, ... . A forty-man roster is intended to be a bit of a headache for the "have" teams. Not the have-nots.

Tangentially, how can a last-place team have any issues at all managing their 40-man roster? Just sooooo many talented players, the other teams will scoop one right up if the Twins aren't careful? Indecisiveness, that's the reason. Morneau, will he or won't he return to previous levels? Span, can we squeeze just a bit more out of a trade? Middle infielders, so many flashy-glove no-stick players to choose from, better hang onto a bunch and see if one steps forward. Meanwhile, at least, the scouts and front-office can make up their minds about Slama not being able to translate AAA success to the majors. A forty-man roster is intended to be a bit of a headache for the "have" teams. Not the have-nots.

As I understand it, Parmelee didn't play one inning in the outfield at Rochester. If RF is Ryan's hope (soap opera pun unintended but acknowledged ) for Parm, does he have no influence on the lineups in AAA?

I can try to cut down on the swear words but it won't be easy.

Count me in.

And catchers play first base and the DH is stationed in left.

No quarrel with the jist of your message. But this kind of statement always bothers me; do we look forward to sending a roster of such guys into Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of a playoff series? Let's hope they learn to play loose and with confidence at all times. Easier said than done. Let's start with this and worry about step 97 (going into Yankees stadium) afterwards. Let's don't, to the last part. I'm not saying Ryan and Gardenhire should make asses of themselves with the players. But if professional players need their GM to say soothing things publicly, in order that their performance not be hindered, something is wrong. This ought to be 0% of Terry Ryan's focus in talking to the press.

Yes, but he is, so the shortcut is full of brambles and maybe a pitfall. You can't make a personnel decision like this without considering all the relevant aspects. It would be like deciding not to offer $21M/3 to Josh Willingham based on just his low career batting average. I don't really disagree with your what-if, but it's kind of like (my hazy recollection of) an old Saturday Night Live skit: "What if Eleanor Roosevelt... had been born a horse?"

c) Gives Ryan a sense of where the opinion shapers and fanbase really would be if such a trade were pursued in earnest later on.

No quarrel with the jist of your message. But this kind of statement always bothers me; do we look forward to sending a roster of such guys into Yankee Stadium for Game 1 of a playoff series?

1000 Twins Daily points for this post. Kudoes. How does the rotation set up? Do we have to worry about making sure a lefty is lined up at Yankee Stadium?

Sort of like saying a surgery will go well if you separate out the part about keeping the heart beating during the procedure. A general manager has to synthesize all the aspects of the team, including PR. I think it's true that more businesses go under due to cash flow than due to debt per se. The Pohlads are in a position to buffer the cash flow if they want, but still the business principle will be applied. If a trade makes sense for 2016 but stands to kill attendance and cash flow for the coming three years, the GM and his staff may not be around to reap the benefits.

You should maintain this in the Adopt-a-Minor-Leaguer section and see if the mods dare delete it.

Don't look now but JWillie is drifting back down to his career norms, and is on a pace to reach there by season's end. Which still is a good acquisition, don't get me wrong.

So losing causes the hitting to go bad? That's it, then! Terry Ryan should go get some wins for the team, while he is acquiring starting pitching, and the hitting will surely follow suit.

He's a Rule 5 draftee. Why isn't the story "great scouting, trading to keep him, and coaching"?

I suppose the converse difficulty is seeing a guy who consistently strikes out more than one per inning, and keeps his ERA under 3, called marginal.

Well, it's a cat and mouse game. Decoy that you're going to play for one run, hope they lay one in the strike zone for Morneau to whack at. I'm not saying I endorse it, but against the best pitchers you sometimes feel like you have to go against the book because the book hasn't done anything for you in the first eight innings.

You don't think Hernandez earned his win?