h2oface

I would love for Joe Maddon to be manager of our Minnesota Twins. But the more I read about Joe Maddon and his recent firing, I feel the state of the Minnesota Twins and Front Office Control is right in line with the Angels, many other teams, and the Puppet Managers that either sign on, or have no job. Is Baldelli in control of anything, really? Pregame “choreography” and pitching woes may not change as long as the numbers people keep sapping the soul out of Major League Baseball. But I doubt they will take the blame. https://www.si.com/mlb/2022/10/06/joe-maddon-tom-verducci-book-excerpt Just a taste for you......... "Moreover, what Maddon calls a pregame “choreography” took root, spearheaded by Minasian and Tamin. Those two, not Maddon and his coaches, would decide which relief pitchers were not available for the game that night. It was based on a proprietary algorithm developed by Tamin that kept track of a pitcher’s work in rolling 30-day increments. In recent years it had become common for front offices to usurp control of the bullpen from managers. So-and-so “is down tonight” entered baseball parlance, and it came from upstairs. “In that losing stretch that led to my demise, a lot of relievers were made unavailable,” Maddon says. “I couldn’t use them." ``````````````````````````````````````````````````` "What happened between Minasian and Maddon tells a familiar story of what has happened to the role of the manager—and baseball itself. The power shift from the dugout to the front office over more than a quarter of a century has changed how the game is played, and its value system. Knowledge over wisdom. Technology over teaching. Data over art. Efficiency over entertainment. As front offices seized control, games grew longer, with less action, and there were more pitching changes, more fungibility of personnel and fewer fans. (Attendance has declined slowly but steadily since the all-time per-game high in 2007.) Meanwhile, baseball managers ceased being celebrities. It happened in part because the replay challenge system reduced colorful arguments with umpires, but mostly because managers operated with less power and job security than general managers. To survive, they adopted the bland corporate-speak of their bosses." “Tam had the 30-day matrix built on how to use relief pitchers, how often and how much rest they needed. Honestly, that’s insulting.” Maddon read body language, mechanics, clues in how his players answered his questions . . . all the insights gleaned from 42 seasons in professional baseball. The modern front office, however, has too much access to data to rely on the instincts of a veteran manager. Minasian and Tamin were not revolutionaries. They were deploying methodologies that had become mainstream. Says Maddon, “If you’ve grown up in an era of understanding the game and how important it is beyond the numbers to connect with people and establish patience and relationships with your players in order to have success, it’s hard to get on the same page with front offices today. “Other managers that I’ve spoken with, guys with experience, feel the same way, and they are encouraging me to speak up. This is not an attempt by me to ‘get even’ or anything like that. I’m not trying to protect myself. It’s exposure. If you’re a baseball fan, if you love the game and care about the game, you should know what is behind how the game is being played today.” Sound or seem familiar?

Duran hasn't pitched for 8 days now...... since Tuesday, Sept 27,

They ought to just forfeit the last game. I mean, really, what is the point.? They are just so pathetic now. Sloppy. Embarrassing. Total collapse.

Gordon is really a mess as a defender. Sad, really.

The next "Eddie" to dominate in the playoffs? He sure is hot at the right time. https://www.mlb.com/news/aaron-judge-eduardo-escobar-are-september-2022-players-of-the-month

…… and Joe Maddon is still available!! Baldelli would make a great bench coach.

Yup. His bad decision to try to stretch the first inning single into a double cost us the third run, and a tie game. Instead it was the losing decision as it turned out. Good for him. It all counts. No Duran for a week now. Our best can't get in a game.

Because it usually isn't that the Yankees beat us as much as it is we give them the games?? Because we are baseball fans and like to see something extraordinary happen and the player just happens to be on the Yankees?

Twins doing their best to clinch 3rd place tonight. Why wait for the next two games......

Nope. Marwin pops out on the first pitch

Gordon keeps up his error pron play.

And Castro comes in after Severino pulled after 7 with 94 pitches and a no-hitter..... and gives up 2 hits in a row and a groundout and the shutout is even lost. Baseball these days. No-hitters don't even get a chance to happen when it is..... wait for it..... RIGHT THERE IN FRONT OF US!

Hey.... I thought you said your goodbyes...... Just can't stay away, eh? Twin love.

Should he play nursing a hamstring injury and risk greater injury in meaningless games? I get it though. But it also leaves it on Judge to just hit some, and he is slumping anyway. Like 5 of the last 29 or something....... It also means that Judge can pass him with no further competition, right?

Give Sanchez enough PAs and he will be below .200 when the season ends.

And it could have been 3-0, right Carlos.

I think it is Jayce Tingler's doing. He is the jinx. This is the second year in a row that the team he is manager/bench coach of had an epic collapse at the end of they year after they competed most of the season. San Diego last year, and the Twins this year. Yep. Jayce Tingler's fault.

Graterol to shine. In the Playoffs and for years to come. But we got a 2 month hot streak from Maeda for him. I bet he is happier to be where he is though - on a great team.

Soooooo, do you change your vote now?

"Oct. 2: RHP Trevor Megill (oblique tightness) exits during warmup pitches It's highly unusual to see a manager and athletic trainer make visits to two players in succession, but that's exactly what happened ahead of the bottom of the seventh inning. After Megill spiked a warmup pitch that bounced up and struck catcher Ryan Jeffers in the neck, manager Rocco Baldelli and athletic trainer Jason Kirkman examined Jeffers and then progressed to Megill after the Tigers' dugout alerted them that something was wrong with the pitcher. Jeffers stayed in the game, Megill did not, with Baldelli revealing after the game that Megill felt tightness in his oblique area. "This is the kind of thing that if he goes out there and truly tears the thing, that’s his entire offseason, it's going to be spent rehabbing an oblique," Baldelli said. "Obliques are not something to mess with in this game.""

"Not many of the Twins' injured players are going to make it back this year. But to his credit, Ryan Jeffers did. His rehab and recovery from a fractured thumb to longer than expected, and the catcher position was an offensive black hole in his absence, but ultimately Jeffers did make it back for the end of the season and that means something. " Kind of a defensive blackhole with him behind the plate, too, as today's game showcased (not that we have better, which is a big hole as well). Many WP were created by his "on the butt" set up. It was just gross, today, watching him throw that ball to second. Plus, he is not too enticing at bat, either, and I would say he is part of that offensive blackhole. I hope we fill that black hole with someone other than both Jeffers and Sanchez. Welcome to a second consecutive losing season.

The throw was great, SWR dropped it and pushed it away..... The error was weird. Nobody went right after the ball, though. And now we get called 3rd strike on Sanchez on a well inside pitch. I can't take it. Just a horrible team to watch, a AAA team, and then horrible umpiring........ gotta go. I tried.

???? Never happen, unless he really struggles in the first 2 months. Even then, I doubt it. I bet he just gets better both at the plate and in the field.

This is just sad. Gordon and Urshela K swinging on horrible pitches.

And SWR even helped with the WP and then dropped the ball on the tag that would have got him out.