ashbury

I don't believe that's even true. When people complain about so-called sabrmetric stats for offense, I don't know whether they realize how much of a dominant role is still played by good old-fashioned BA. I'll use OPS as a simple version for explanatory purposes. Other fancy stats like WOBA and its derivatives are better respected but harder to explain, and in my experience they correlate pretty closely anyway. Sorry this is long, but I really want skeptics to consider the details. A quick refresher for anyone not immersed in OPS. It's defined as OBP plus SLG. OBP comes from BA plus some additional outcomes (mainly walks), and it's instructive to subtract OBP-BA, although I don't know a name for it - for this post I'll call it an X factor, representing those other ways to get on base. For SLG, there is a name for when you subtract BA from it: Isolated power, or ISO, which reflects basically every extra base after reaching first before the next batter comes to the plate. So OPS equals: (BA + X) for OBP, plus (BA + ISO) for SLG. Taken together, OPS = 2*BA + X + ISO. Take Trevor Larnach's 2025 with the Twins for an example of this. He's a middle of the road offensive player, not terrible and not stellar, with an OPS of .727. His BA for the Twins was .250. The X factor (on base not coming from base hits) was .073 - almost exactly league average. His ISO was .154 - also league average for power, give or take. So his OPS breaks down as 2*.250 + .073 + .154 = .727 as promised. Here's my point: more than HALF of Larnach's OPS comes from his batting average alone. 68.8% of it. He gets a little bump for the walks, he gets a little more bump from what power he offers. But it's mostly the batting average. He's typical of major leaguers. How about Aaron Judge? His OPS is 1.144 this year. That's mostly his homers, right? Not so fast. His BA was .331, and that times two gives .662. So even Aaron Judge's OPS comes more than half (57.9%) from his batting average. That is true even with his X of .126 and phenomenal ISO of .357. (There can be a little roundoff error in that last digit.) Arraez? This year he batted .292. His X factor for walks, etc, comes out at .035 (he never walks very much). His ISO/power is exactly .100, below par for a major leaguer. Added together, it's 2*.292 + .035 + .100, or .719. A hefty 81.2% of his OPS is tied up in his batting average alone. 2025 was a down year for Luis, though. Let's look at his career year, which was his first one in Miami in 2023 right after the trade. BA of .354, X was .039, ISO of .115. Put the pieces together and it's 2*.354 + .039 + .115 = .862 (again roundoff is off by 1 in the last digit). So that's an even heftier 82.1% of OPS earned via BA. So what's the difference between Arraez and Judge? Well, yes, the walks and HR. (Also Runs and RBI, another pair of very old-fashioned stats.) Doesn't matter who the player is. OPS = 2*BA + X + ISO. Batting Average is counted twice in OPS, solely by how OPS is defined. If you broke down other popular "advanced" stats like WOBA, you'd see a similar reliance on BA. Nothing else, not even home runs, matters more than BA. BA is not undervalued by any reputable analyst I'm aware of. And rightly so. It's important. It's... just... not the final word on a batter's production.

I find this information so amazing and disturbing at the same time. How does the team "sell" this to the volunteers? This isn't some PTA running a bake sale.

There is another difference that mostly aligns with what you said but reflects a difference in intent. No one expects a given team to routinely develop someone of the caliber of Alonso. It's a privilege to have him accept your bid and come play for your team, as he improves nearly any roster. Someone like Ty France at this stage of his career? It's really a mark of failure to not have someone in-house already, to take that role. No matter that the price for France last year was a measly $1M. The team grits its teeth and pays the Failure Tax. I'm not quite willing to say "we want somebody better, a real difference maker" and "we don't have anybody" are meaningfully the same approach.

That's some next-level, Randball's Stu kind of satire going on there, using Yale's cheer as a way of mocking a Stanford alum.

This article reminds me that I really need to give Finnegan's Wake another try.

Based on the photo at the top of this article, if I were ownership I'd put Derek Falvey on notice: Either drop 30 pounds, or else stop wearing knit polo shirts in public. As for Falvey's job performance, after 2021-22 I was questioning whether the FO was driving this team into the ditch. 2023 was a welcome outcome, with memories I'll treasure. But 2024-25 was back to being a downer, and I blame ownership direction as much as anything. I think with this change at the very top, Falvey probably has two years, not just one, to show that the team's on the right track. IMO the FO have indeed driven the franchise into the ditch, but due in part to back seat driving from Joe. It's been an ownership-FO collaboration.

I didn't spot a comment that spells it out a little further, but when you say "MLB", you mean both ownership and the players union. It's the collective bargaining agreement. Probably the players hate debt so much that they insisted this be in the CBA. No way in the world do they want a team with long term player contracts to say one bright day, "oops, the money is gone and we can't raise more." I think it's fair to say that the players in effect forced the Twins to take on additional investors.

It's Pohlads all the way down.

Regardless of its actual content, this article includes possibly the best example of Betteridge's law of headlines I have ever seen. Do something that's never been done? I'm gonna stick my neck out and answer: NO! 😁

Private equity firm. Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

Note to the Twins' PR department: try to provide major media outlets such as the NYT a less insipid photo of Falvey than the one that keeps getting used.

In what way? $23M a year is pocket change.

This explains why batters who tire of excelling at hitting baseballs retire and become NBA Hall of Famers.

Sign me up for a shortstop, whichever one falls to three.

What was your favorite Daniel Susac moment as a Twin? I've thought about this for a while now, and I'd have to say it was that one time.

This sounds about right. The folks who view each player solely through the lens of their trade value, and who want to "trade high," are overlooking the actual value that a year of play each player brings to the team. It would have been easy to garner an absolute haul in return for Kirby Puckett after 1986. "His value will never be higher!"

Chuck Jones's Grinch is the indispensable one for my holiday viewing pleasure If a teevee show doesn't count, then I guess It's A Wonderful Life. Most contrarian for me I guess would be Elf - Will Farrell is hilarious when he's being funny, but his "warm" persona always hits me as snide, even when I'm assured it's not.

If Mariah Carey* ever did a cover of it, the universe would likely collapse in on itself from the sheer awfulness. * I believe "All I Want For Christmas Is You" is a perfectly reasonable holiday song, and the people who hate it are reacting to Carey's vulgar performance of it. Yes, that's the Christmas hill I would die on. Try Robyn Adele Anderson and Von Smith's version and decide for yourself.

Ask your doctor or pharmacist if The Internet is right for you. 😁

Before the firing I wondered whether the Twins would eventually offer Rocco a job in the front office rather than completely cut ties. I still wonder if they did, but this news fits in with my perception that he's a better fit for an administrative/analytics type of position.

They need outfielders, not a DH and a ninth inning defensive replacement. Can't hurt to ask, though.

Yeah, but Too Soon.

Motel 6 never provides more than coffee in the morning. Speaking from years of experience here.

Claiming at the outset they aim for "a sustainable, championship-caliber team," then trading away important bullpen pieces who were under control past the end of the 2025 season, but now saying that they plan to keep the "core", is the dastardly work of sportswriters?

Did you know that all tautologies are tautologies? You can look it up! Might as well shut down the forums and cancel the off-season articles. We're not allowed to speculate, apparently. Meanwhile the sports books will continue to accept money on both sides of the line they set, and will adjust that line to keep the money in balance and earn themselves some easy money with the juice.