JB_Iowa

As a non-Minnesotan, I never really grasped the Joe Mauer "deification" thing. To me he was always a very talented player with great potential and accomplishments and a pretty milquetoast personality. From the outside looking in, it seems to me that there are a lot of factors that may figure in for those who boo Joe Mauer -- and John has mentioned many of them. I believe that the team's current misfortunes are the biggest factor. If the Twins were winning "forgiveness" for last season would come a lot faster. But when the team is as bad as this one is, people tend to lash out at the most visible factor (in some ways its payback for the way they idolized him when the team was winning). And things like his salary and his Florida residency start to nag at people and put a bullseye on his back. I don't think Joe Mauer will ever be the "golden boy" that he once was. I do think that he would regain a lot of his "goldeness" if the team would start winning and if he stays healthy over several seasons. Obviously he has to have some decent level of performance as a result of that health. It also wouldn't hurt if he was a little more publicly involved in charitable endeavors in Minnesota (again a case where more is expected from an "idol"). And remember, when you are lost in the dark forest of losing, it is hard to see any shining lights.

Well, personally, if I had spent over $112 million last year and $94 million this year ... and saw it swirling down the drain the way it is, I'd be out kicking some b*tts in the team leadership (front office; field staff; players all included). Bah, humbug. And yes, they made money last year and undoubtedly will this year but it's not hard to see that profits may be getting smaller. Face it, if the profit margin is 10% (hypothetically), I'd rather have 10% of $300 million than $200 million.

Well, let's hope he doesn't forget everything he learned in AAA the minute he steps off the plane.

Casilla is one of the least of the Twins problems right now. There are an awful lot of other things to focus on.

Did he or didn't he? We'll probably never know for sure. But this year is starting to feel like a really bad replay of last year.

Oh, Delmon ... I didn't think you were this stupid. Beyond the stupidity of the incident, think about the timing. You will be a free agent in about 6 months -- can't claim you are a stupid 21 year old kid anymore.

Thank you for this column. The other day when Andrew (Twins Fan From Afar) had a post on Mauer's stats with RISP, I asked about the discrepancy between the stats he cited and observation -- why I (and others) don't feel much confidence when Mauer comes up in high leverage situations (especially in later innings). You've helped to give some definition to those gut feelings/observations. I'm not a boo bird but I hope my confidence in Mauer grows as the season goes on.

Never hurts to have a resident curmudgeon. I miss Andy. We all have our favorite complaints -- for the last year and a half, mine has been the need for "new blood" in the management of the organization (f.o. and field staff) -- pretty sure I sound like a broken record on that topic. (Do people still know what a broken record sounds like? Ah, the sound of those repeats and skips in songs on the airwaves). But I'm pretty tired of the ones on your list, too.

Dear Dick Bremer, All the Twins have been having are "Off Days"

They're watchable in the same way that you watch disaster footage. Maybe like a flood since it is so slow moving and prolonged.

It looks like the Twins are lost, too.

Run like Revere. Per Joe C., Ben is back. And congrats to the Willinghams.

I appreciate the stats, Andrew but there seems to be a gap between the statistics and perception. And I wonder why that is? Is there something that observation tells us that can't be defined statistically? Even before last night's game, what percentage of the people who comment on this board (or of all fans for that matter), would have wanted Mauer to come up in that situation and what percentage would have had a sinking feeling in the pit of their stomach? For reasons I can't explain, Mauer doesn't inspire much confidence in me. And it sounds like I'm not the only one. So what explains the discrepancy between our "gut feelings" and the stats you've cited?

I enjoy TK but I am absolutely and 100% opposed to a 3-man booth. They've had that at times in the past (including with TK) and all they do is talk over one another. I wouldn't be opposed to it just being TK and Bert though -- its TV, I don't really care if I have the play-by-play. It does seem to me that TK swallowed a couple of "political correctness" pills over the winter (Twins brand, of course). We'll see if that continues or if he gets a little more gritty as the games go on.

WHERE if anywhere did I blame this all on Gardenhire? I have said -- repeatedly -- that I believe that the front office and coaching staffs are stagnant and that they would benefit from an infusion of new energy, talent and ideas. That doesn't necessarily mean Gardenhire. It could mean him. It could mean Rick Anderson. It could mean Joe Vavra. It could mean Terry Ryan. It could mean Rob Antony or Jim Rantz or Mike Radcliff or Deron Johnson. Or some combination of them or others. It's nice that they all like working for the Twins so much that they basically just stay. But usually organizations evolve and you have people who move on to new (usually better) positions in other organizations. The Twins staff doesn't really seem to do that. I didn't go back today and look at the leadership personnel (on and off the field) for each year but I have done so in the past. It has moved beyond stable to stagnant. Unless you infuse new energy and ideas on a fairly regular basis, you often fall into a type of group think (I'd call it a rut) where you just keep doing what you've been doing. You don't challenge each other's assumptions because you are so used to working with one another. And, unfortunately, I think that is what is happening with the Twins. (And as for their playoff failure, they need to look at their pitching first -- from who they draft through the way they handle them). So, my response to Thrylos' thread is in some ways premature -- I don't really care if they make changes in response to what has happened this year, it is pretty much what I expected. But I've been waiting to see an infusion of new ideas, talent and energy at the coaching and front office levels for several years -- and what I see is merely recycling.

For those of you who think I'm a bandwagon jumper, you are dead wrong. I've been a Twins fans since 1965 (sorry, they didn't impinge on my conciousness until I was about 10). I didn't call for anyone's head specifically. But what I see in this franchise front office and coaching staff is stagnation -- very, very little turnover. While stability is good, a failure to infuse an organization with new talent and ideas -- even at the very highest levels -- can lead to complacency. And I'm afraid that is what is happening here. For all their accomplishments over the last decade, they HAVEN'T won a playoff game in recent memory and their record against the A.L. East has gone from 91-80 in 2002-2006 to 66-95 in 2007-2011. So not everything is as rosy as you would think. My first response to this thread has nothing to do with their record this year. And, surprisingly, not all that much to do with 2011. It has a lot to do with how I felt on October 10, 2010 when it FINALLY hit me in the face that some major changes needed to be made if the Twins were ever going to compete in the postseason. I really didn't have very high expectations for last year or this year. Admittedly, I didn't anticipate that last year would be quite as bad as it was but I knew that there would be a dropoff. The 2010 team won 94 games and still couldn't win a playoff game (we're talking game here not series) and had a 14-17 regular season record against the A.L. East. I find that depressing -- and nothing that has happened since then has changed my assessment. They are stuck in a rut.

I don't cut them much slack. I really think that this franchise is stagnant and would like to see some infusions of new talent in the front office and coaching ranks. They had a good run over a 10-year period but they seem almost too comfortable with one another. Just as they did in the early 2000's, the franchise needs to come up with a strategy for competing with middling resources. (Not as low-budget as they once were but without the high-flying local TV revenues that some franchises enjoy.) Franchise just seems stale.

Too early to know. Let's get a larger sample size before we have any coronations. (I like what he's done and he got me a lot of points in pick to click last week but we haven't even finished 10% of the season -- lots of ups and downs for every player yet to come.)

Enjoy your Rock Cats updates, Andrew. On the Ace, I think a lot of people were clamoring for an Ace before the 2009 and 2010 seasons -- and an Ace might have made a difference then. Some even begged before the 2011 season -- when we didn't know that injuries would decimate the line-up. But I think a lot of people who watch this team closely admitted that trying to find and pay an Ace for 2012 was likely to be a waste of money. What I wanted to see -- and still want to see -- is them using the next year or so to either harbor money to buy an Ace or investing in several players with Ace potential in hopes that one of them may pan out. In late 2010 I posted that I wasn't sure how they could improve upon a team that won 94 games and yet was still dead in the water in the playoffs (and acknowledged that I was pretty depressed about the team's prospects given the repeated playoff failures). I felt then -- and continue to feel -- that they need to rexamine everything from top to bottom (including front office, medical and traing staffs and coaching in addition to players and the minor league process) Yes, I would call it rebuilding -- and it is likely to be pretty painful. But guess what? What happened last year and so far this year is painful too. To me, acknowledging that you need to rebuild and undertaking the process is like the old days when the doctor actually gave you a shot. It hurt at the time but you got better a lot faster.

Given how bad the Twins pitching has been, waiver wire cast-offs from other teams should be better than the Twins own cast-offs. But once they get here, would the Twins know what to do with them or how to keep them healthy? I had resigned myself to a pretty dismal season this year. The one thing that would make me satisfied about the season is to see them make progress on rebuilding. i do not want to see another summer full of non-moves or last minute moves gaining nothing.

Would "snide" be better than vicious? Perhaps it is all in the way you hear it. I wish I could come up with specific examples but it is a general impression I've formed from watching him broadcast far too many games. I think it comes mostly from the way that, to me, he relishes it when an opposing team is going through a difficult streak or when an opposing player makes a bad play -- and it is more in the tone of his voice than in the words he uses. I've commented on it in game chat from time to time but don't have a way of retrieving examples. Couple that with the way he comes across as "whiney". Last night, for example, his whole convoluted discussion about how the Yankees can afford to buy players who have a history of being injury-free just struck me as sour grapes (Bert didn't really bite on it because Dick couldn't articulate it yet tried making the point more than once). Just count me as someone who is not a fan of his. I'm always grateful when I can get the other team's feed and I rejoice when Bremer has the night off. But my distaste is primarily based on the fact that he rarely shuts up (although I did think he was a little better the first few games this season). When you combine his incessant yammering with the overabundance of on-air "talent" that FSN and the Twins think we need to hear, it makes my ears hurt.

While I agree that it isn't an easy job, Dick Bremer could improve his performance 200% (or more) by shutting up about 30% more than he does. I realize that there are people in the audience who only watch the occasional game but Bremer seems to find it necessary to fill every open second -- and a lot of what he says is mindless garbage. He is much too much in love with the sound of his own voice. Everyone talks about Hawk Harrelson and what a homer he is. So I spent some days last week really watching (and listening) to games he was broadcasting (some games the Sox won, some they lost). Yes, he is a homer but he doesn't have that somewhat vicious streak that Dick Bremer often has about opposing players. AND, more importantly, Harrelson lets the sounds of the game come through. I know a lot of people really like Bremer and he obviously knows how to appease his employers but you can count me as one viewer who almost always mutes the sound by the 3rd inning.

To me, the $18 million dollar payroll cut would have been a little more palatable if they had just acknowledged that they needed to rebuild. While I am mindful of the fact that the 2010 team won 94 games, this really IS a different team. The losses of Cuddyer, Kubel, Young, Punto, Hardy, Hudson, Nathan, Crain, Guerrier, Rauch, Mijares and others mean that about 1/2 of the team has turned over. But more than that, the players that remain from that 2010 squad aren't the same as they were then -- and aren't necessarily better. Joe Mauer doesn't walk on water -- and may not recapture the glory of 2009 and earlier years. Justin Morneau remains a giant question mark. Span's health was iffy. Pavano is 2 years older (and that does mean something in your 30's unless you are Jaime Moyer or Tim Wakefield). And as we're seeing, adding a couple of years to the arms of Baker, Blackburn et. al. seems to have adverse effects as well. There are enough faces gone from that 2010 team -- and enough health concerns among those that remain -- that it is a matter of rebuilding, not reloading. And, although that team won 94 game in the regular season, they continued their utter futility in the playoffs -- that alone should have merited some strategical changes. I hope that the powers-that-be acknowledge among themselves that they are in a rebuilding process even if they won't acknowledge it to fans. I'd hate to see another summer of squandering player assets without much return. And, please, please, please make those 2012 draft picks count.

Looks like they gave themselves a collective kick in the b*tts after that Texas series. Now to see how they can do against CC.

"I don't think this switch is going to make much difference" -- well it does put the Hammer between the M's. At least I won't be so frustrated seeing Span and Carroll on, Mauer hit into a DP and then Morneau make another out. We'll get a chance to see if Willingham can do something different from Mauer and Morneau. Can't hurt to shake things up.