PseudoSABR

Keith Law hates monkeys.

If the Twins were going to spend money on a positional player, this was the guy. The cost wasn't prohibitive; hopefully they apply it elsewhere.

1. It's true that outside voices can matter. But if outside voices essentially believe in Gardyball, and perhaps was a Mets minor leaguer, that outside voice doesn't matter. I agree if all the hires had been from within the organization, there'd be a real fear of insularity. The Twins hire of Neil Allen, among others, puts to bed that fear in two ways 1) that he has ZERO connection to the Twins and 2) that he's from AAA, hopefully demonstrating a move away from risk-aversion. It's odd that you don't mention Allen in your post. 2. The thing I like about the hires is that there seems to be no one test for the coaches to pass. They are unrelated to one another in significant ways. I like that. 3. I'm sure these people are good at their jobs, the question is were they the best possible hires that were avialable. And who the heck knows that at this point. 4. I think this is the crux of your argument, really. Cleaninghouse rarely makes sense for any institution. You don't just give up the talent you already have in-house, especially if they have good, unique ideas. Gardyball or the Twins Way isn't some infectious disease that every Twins-connected person suffers from. Just because someone is associated with the Twins, doesn't preclude them from having ideas totally opposing what the Twins have done. Rather the idea of cleaning house seems to me to be to punish or to save costs and efforts. Cleaning house would be rash, especially if there's talented and unique personnel already in the dugout. 5. Gardy and Andy and Ulger are gone. Really that's the regime that's been around. Retaining Varva and Brunansky adds continuity and probably will help facilitate large endeavors like Spring Training (Varva's duties evidently). Brunasky didn't deserve to be fired. Everyday Eddie has never coached, may be bilingual, and sat in the bullpen far away from Gardy during his playing days. Gardyball is dead. 6. Neil Allen says hi. 7. Dude, you totally minimize this. Why not seriously address how both Allen and Glynn have spent all their career away from the major league club. Hernandez, which was another suprising, outside the box hire, even if he was from within the organization, he's very far removed from the major league club. I think the voices you are looking for are already on the team. Good organizations foster the talent they have and steal the talent they can from others. There's plenty of that going on. Continuity can be a good thing, don't hate.

Didn't Hicks and Parmelee both simply fulfill their contract and return home?

Good take; I've always considered this as well. They reversed Oakland's supposed thinking, believing that BB/9 was more obtainable/teachable than BB% (OBA - AVG). But that thinking just gets you subpar pitchers that stop living up to their measurables as they begin to face elite talent.

Not in-house enough.

Not to make Levi's point for him; but no reason to criticize the Twins for not making a big splash when 1) they just signed Yang, who profiles as a mid rotation starter with the potential to be better (not unlike Hughes and Nolasco) and 2) it's very early in the off season (maybe ten FAs signings so far). There's plenty of other threads for discussion the Twins lack of big freeagent acquisitions.

Berardino suggests that he'd come for less than 5mil; for that money the Twins aren't going to get a real upgrade in the OF. Personally, I'm fine with Hunter coming in; I don't expect the Twins to compete next year and I don't want to sign a veteran OFer to a long term contract, if he wont be in his prime during our next contention window. If Hunter can help get the most out of young talent, so much the better; though his benefit will probably mostly be providing a draw for ticket sales, when the team will have few.

Darren Wolfson ‏@DarrenWolfson 10m10 minutes ago Told the #MNTwins are down to two candidates for the pitching coach job. Viola has been eliminated. He was granted a phone interview.

No trade clauses often have to do with increased bargaining power not necessarily playing preference. If it's more the former, you can imagine why they'd select the largest markets.

Oh the Twins should just do what St. Louis is doing? heh

The goal is -- whether hiring from within or outside of the organization -- a diversity in viewpoint. Hiring from outside the organization is onto itself merely cosmetic if it ends up producing a clone of the coach he's replacing. While having connections with the Twins organization, more importantly, the new coaching staff have attributes and/or resumes that separate them from the coaches they replace. I imagine we'll see coaches hired from outside the organization, though I also imagine it will be easy for some to construe a connection to the Twins that questions whether it is outside enough.

The only way this makes sense is if the Mets plan to sign more than few comp-eligible FAs. As for Cuddy, he must have wanted to get out of Colorado; he probably nets more money if he takes the QO and tries for a two year contract next offseason.

Right. They waited weeks to fake-interview people to somehow win your goodwill through a charade of a managerial search. Just because they ended up with the person you didn't like or who was the favorite ahead of time doesn't mean their search wasn't serious or genuine. It's fine you think what you think, but the facts hardly fit the boldness of your claim.

Maddon is sixty and seeking a huge payday (allegedly). There's plenty of reasons for Maddon to avoid the Twins without ever needing to evaluate the quality of the organization. I just don't think Maddon's thinking went that far.

I get the frustration of not seriously pursuing what seems to be the best option for what is the only current opening for manager. But how seriously must the Twins pursue Maddon if they know he's asking for more than what they value/price a managers' impact on the game? I imagine Maddon's pricetag would be one of the initial points of contact; so any contact that would have been made may not trickle down to potential sources. Similarly, if Maddon simply had declined to pursue the job, such contact would probably not trickle down beyond some primary sources. I think both these things were obviously pretty clear without the need for much more than minimal contact. For the Twins and Maddon to pursue the interview process would leave essential questions of potential pay and competitive likelihood for after the interview; neither party would waste each others' time. While the Twins farmsystem is great and the front office is Minnesota nice, that probably doesn't have much play for a guy who just left a plucky losing club (oh, and where he left a legacy). I was even guilty of entertaining the notion of Maddon coming to the Twins, but that conclusion was more delusion than logic.

1) The Twins aren't even interested in Maddon! 2) If the Twins are interested in Maddon, Maddon probably has NO interest in the Twins! 3) If the Twins are interested in Maddon, it's only to pacify the fan base. 4) If Maddon is interested in the Twins, it's only because he wants to drive up his own price. (What with those high-spending Twins!) Some fans' cynicism knows no bounds. While I find it unlikely the Twins will sign Maddon, it's cheap speculation to question the sincerity of either party. Both could really wish to form a relationship, and it not work out without incompetence or insincerity being part of the reason why.

LEN3 Heh.

Good for Nick Punto.

I just saw the press conference (via strib) and I found it striking that Gardy was there for his own firing. Honestly, he acted classy, and I feel oddly proud. Even TR with all his uppity shrwed stubborness got vulnerable calling Gardy a brother, admitting so how obviously this was the most difficult decision of his baseball career. Yeah, I feel oddly kinda proud--yes, undeserved and stupid, but it's difficult to not root for these people.

Wow. The opportunity was there with Gardehire's retirement vesting (do I have that right?), the possible in-house replacements (as Steiny's name is already being mentioned for other jobs), and the radical roster change over the past year (and the following one). As much as players liked playing for him, too often the team has been unwatchable in each of the last four season's second halves. The August and September swoon were a stale staple of Gardenhire's recent teams. That Gardenhire didn't make losing unpleasant was probably part of the cultural problem. Best of luck to Gardenhire, whom I hope the Twins retain in some Spring Training Specialist /token job kind of way, where Gardy can just meander around and praise everyone for battling their tails off, without doing in long-lasting psychological damage.

congrats, mike!

If people are willing to blame the media for meddling in the private lives of professional athletes, they can certainly blame that same media as well as the coaches and managers and family members who insulate (and empower) such athletes to the point where they think such violent domestic relationships are legal much less appropriate. Violence is never appropriate in any domestic relationship, and often is illegal; please let's have more public exposure of people who privately believe otherwise.

I'm pretty happy with having an opportunity to win the consolation bracket. My team's been buoyed mostly by renewed hitting and health, along with Bauer, Bucholz and Pineada. While I think my team is still a ways away from a championship run, I hope to compete for a playoff spot in the winner's bracket, as my team as performed pretty similarly to many of the winner's brackets squad. One thing I've learned is that it's easier to rebuild the farm than it is to acquire major league talent. My offseason posture could be pretty aggressive again; though my prospects like Stewart and Frazier won't fetch premium value, though I think they could fetch much more value at some point next season. There are a few teams though, that need total rebuilds (like my opponent in the finals, The Naturals), hopefully I can get some productive vets on the cheap. Congrats, Mike, on the steam rolling so far, I shouldn't have doubted the moves you made in the offseason because your team is a juggernaut right now.

Rhett Bollinger ‏@RhettBollinger 12m And to clarify, RHP Samuel Deduno was claimed on outright waivers and is now an Astro, per an MLB source. #MNTwins