Joey Self

The save is among the most worthless stats in baseball, ranking right up there with the RBI and the Win. I'm glad Baldelli doesn't subscribe to the "one guy is a closer" line. Use the best pitcher in the situation where he can do the most good, and don't worry about who gets the "save."

I hope the Twins don't think like this. I don't like the idea of a "closer" when the game may be lost by the set-up men. I want to see the best pitcher against the best hitters whichever of the last three innings they come up. The matchups for an inning is more important than the inning itself. JcS

As a Twins fan, I'm glad Lindor is gone. As a guy that watched a lot of Twins/Indians games, I'm going to miss watching him play. Easily one of my top 10 favorite non-Twins. JcS

I'm in Arkansas, and have Roku with the MLB Extra Inning package. I only miss Twins games when they play Houston, Texas, Kansas City and St. Louis. The Houston ban is goofy. It's 7:40 from my house to the stadium in Houston according to Google Maps, but I guess since South Arkansas is closer, the whole state gets put under the ban. St. Louis is 6 1/2 hours, but I get why Arkansas is included; even though the Rangers and Royals are closer for a lot of us, this is Cardinal country. EDIT: I just looked, and Oklahoma seems to have the same teams under the blackout; that doesn't make sense that West Memphis (extreme eastern part of Arkansas) and Tulsa have the same restrictions. I can--and do--watch the games an hour and a half after they are completed. If I make it to the next morning without hearing the score, I watch it like I do any other--with my finger on the advance button. JcS

Any sentence that has "trade Arraez" is one I don't like, unless preceded by "The Twins won't trade Arraez." Then it is a good one. Unless some other teams goes brain dead and offers Mike Trout-like quality, then the Twins should at least listen... JcS

Arraez has to be factored into the equation. Where is he going to play, because I've seen enough to know that he needs to be in the lineup. JcS

I have to agree with those that say that it appears to be a slight advantage to the Twins so far. But I write not to echo others but rather to say that I enjoy these kinds of pieces. Good work. JcS

As a Twins fan, I'm more concerned about the Hinch hiring than I am that of LaRussa. The latter makes no sense to me, either from a baseball or a PR perspective. The former has its obvious (Glad) baggage, but Hinch understands the modern game. JcS

That's not the point of bunting for a hit; the idea is to punish a defense for shifting. Get a runner on and then have a long ball, it hurts twice as much. After all, the mission of the hitter is to reach base (or in the contra: Not make an out). JcS

Amen to the second one. A guy doesn't swing, and has to step out to adjust his gloves? Makes no sense. JcS

No, there should be no such rule. Teams can start bunting for hits to beat the shift when they want to. Want to increase the pace of play? Start using the electronic strike zone. I'm not listening to "it's not perfect yet" arguments; the criteria should be "is it better and more consistent than what we have now?" and when the answer is "yes, it is," start uing it. Hitters will go to the plate knowing what the strike zone is from the first pitch--and pitchers will also know. There will be more balls in play, because pitchers won't be able to rely on a catcher "framing" the pitch to fool the human eye, and will have to bring the ball over the plate. More strikes means more hitting.

I wondered the same thing. JcS

Exactly--find the right spot in the order to bring him in. The idea of a "closer" is bad thinking to start with.

So, it wasn't anything we saw, it's what we think we'll see. And I'm not arguing with you, I just didn't see anything to put my finger on that said "this guy isn't fully ready." I agree that teams will have better scouting reports--any number of rookies have faced that problem--but Jeffers will also (presumably) have another spring training under his belt to work on whatever OUR scouts are seeing. JcS

I view the free agent evaluation much like trades with other teams. Using Avila for example, if another catcher is available for a price that the team thinks is a better value, then Avila is "traded" for that one. (Now, I know the team that just lost the better catcher may not sign Avila, but that's not relevant.) It's not a perfect analogy, because often a catcher is traded for an outfielder and a prospect. JcS

You may be right. You may not be. Because of the 2020 performance, I believe the Twins need to spend some time (and maybe money) thinking about plan B if this doesn't happen. JcS

"We’ve already seen him play in pressure situations- the Twins should take their time in grooming the young star." And what did we see in those pressure situations that make us think he needs "grooming time?" JcS

What happens in the AL Central? The division that was a joke a few years ago, a cakewalk for Cleveland, is going to become even tougher as Detroit improves. I haven't studied what the problem is in Kansas City, but they showed flashes of life against the Twins this year, so maybe they too are on the way back to contention. JcS

Yeah, I'm not so sure I believed that. There had to be a bathroom break sometime in that 4 1/2 hours where thoughts of Eddie would have been allowed. JcS

I can't remember the exact number, but in order for stealing to pay off over the course of a season, a base stealer has to be successful something like 75% of the time, or else the expected run value is hurt to the point that staying at first is the better move. Stealing third is even of less advantage; my recollection is that it has to be successful over 80% of the time to pay off over the course of a season. Bunting is almost always dumb move from the EV standpoint--giving up an out for a base is not the right statistical play unless the hitter's average is something like .160 (again, working from memory), which won't be the case too often with the DH (but this could be adjusted for a lefty against lefty where the hitter can't handle southpaws, I presume). Giving up an out for two bases--moving runners from 1st and 2nd to 2nd and 3rd-- with no outs IS a proper play to get at least one run. If a big inning is needed, then probably not too wise to give up an out for two bases. Hit and run isn't so easy to quantify--or if it is, I've missed the articles analyzing it. Sending Kepler on a hit and run with Arraez at the plate is probably OK. Sending Sano when 2020 Garver is up--not so much. But, I like to end on agreement, and hitting them where the fielders aren't strikes me as just common sense. I heard a major leaguer explain that it's hard enough to try to hit a 97 MPH fastball or a 85 MPH slider without trying to aim it, and I understand that; not all hitters can do it. But it's something to work on, maybe. JcS

There's a difference between "giving up an out" and bunting for a hit. I think most MLB managers and players know which is which, and I'd like to see guys do it and/or try to hit to beat it, especially when the game is not in doubt. Unless the computer is astute enough to pick up on where balls are going in a meaningless portion of a game, hitters can screw up the scouting reports a bit. BTW, in the article, I think this part needs editing: "with shortstop Jorge Polanco on the left side of second base and Marwin Gonzalez, playing slightly in at third to guard from the bunt, as the only body on the right side." If the third baseman was the only body on the LEFT side, then Polanco was on the RIGHT side of second.

I'd LOVE for Lindor to become a Twin--I enjoy watching that man play the game. But the idea of sticking an infielder in the outfield is one that I hope has died in the Twins organization. I remember Santana, Escobar, Sano and I think someone else being stuck out there, with predictable (poor) results. If Lewis has shown in the minors that he can play outfield, OK, but it's not an entry level position for a major leaguer.

"Yet it is hard to imagine that a team with this caliber of players would not have made some noise in October given more time to work out kinks and injuries, restore confidence at the plate, and find their true identity as a ballclub." This misses the obvious-- playing 162 increases by a factor of almost 3 increases the time for more season ending injuries, and overlooks that the same injuries that happened in 60 games that were played could happen in the last 60 games in a regular season. I'm not sure what the phrase "their true identity as a ballclub" means. Unless they were suddenly going to become a small-ball team, they knew what they were. JcS

I agree with a lot of this. I'm not a fan of the bunt, but 1st and 2nd with no one out is THE time to do it, especially with Buxton's speed. Garver just doesn't have it this year. Was last year lightning in a bottle, or will he come back strong in '21? Don't know, but I do know what I'm seeing this year didn't warrant pulling Jeffers at that point--or at any point. As for bringing in Odorizzi, I have to defer to Wes Johnson on that--he has seen him in the bullpen and maybe on the mound at St. Paul. Any time the one on the mound doesn't do well, it's natural to think someone else would. But the way the Astros used their reliever was what I wanted to see the Twins do--May was throwing well, leave him in and don't worry about tomorrow. He could be back for game 3 if needed. I disagree that it was a "game deciding" play by Polanco. There's no reason to think the Twins would have scored in the bottom of the 9th, given they didn't; yeah, maybe playing for one run would have worked, but that's not the smart play. JcS

Yes, and had the Twins had the division championship locked up on Sunday, I doubt Hill would have pitched--or at least not as many innings as he did. But they didn't, so he did... JcS