Jocko87

Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on POV that's easier said than done.

Hard to say, I haven't seen much written about it. From the outside he seems very rank and file solid troop. His struggles on the field the last couple years make it very difficult to assume a strong leadership role other than people seeing you work hard to get back. I don't remember 2019 well enough to say, was he more vocal and swagger when he was at his best?

One of the best lessons in leadership I ever got was when I was being mildly chastised for being too hard on someone (in the process of terminating or otherwise moving on 40% of a facility) I told my boss it was very frustrating to walk that line when the senior VP driving the change was an enormous remove the dividers in the toilet stall kind of *******. (yes he actually did that) I did hurt a feeling, but look at my example. My boss very tactfully agreed with me, "sometimes we learn what to do from our leaders, sometimes we learn what not to do." I realized at that point that he was in the same situation. That VP was very high on the charismatic scale but a disaster of emotional intelligence and very low pragmatic. The organization I was in was driving a culture change and in a lot of ways he was the right guy at that time. However, two years in when we realized the madness wasn't going to stop as we got things fixed he lost any good will he had acquired. Donaldson is very similar. In the right situation he can be a spark. In New York he can be that situational leader as hes not the top guy and can fade into the background. In Minnesota, where he was asked to carry the mantle for the organization his limitations are revealed, can't fade away in that situation. The best leaders have traits in all three categories and they build off each other. Limited leaders with a negative in one of the categories will struggle as one negative category will drag the others down over time.

There are multiple exit paths that can be good for the Twins. Popkins is working as much for building up to play well this season but also to make him a valuable trade or QO candidate. If this lottery ticket hits, he hits 35-40 home runs and the Twins get another high draft pick when he declines the QO. That's significant upside for 11m bucks. Its not like they are hitching the whole wagon to him for multiple years, its part of the push for depth and being able to play all over makes him worth the flyer. If he's completely washed, Lee or Lewis or Julien or Wallner or Kirriloff or Martin will take his roster spot. They will probably still be able to trade him for a low level prospect if they take on some salary.

I don't see any reason why we should have a different time for the postseason or late in games. Play the rule, all the time. I would include the ghost runner as well. We are in the midst of a deep, deep adjustment period and we need some time to see how this plays out. We will have plenty of high leverage moments in the regular season to see how this plays out. If anything, I could see them adding a couple of seconds as it feels really fast at this point but I think we will all adjust. Its also rapidly filtering down to lower levels and I can tell you the results are stark. I just got home from working two 12u games behind the plate. These kids have gotten the message. Twice in the last two weeks I had to call no pitch due to them working so fast umps aren't set or a foul ball hasn't been retrieved yet. My internal clock has had to speed up quite a bit and I'm loving it. I get paid by the game, not the hour. 😉 A year from now it will all feel normal. Adding a couple seconds will probably be a discussion but at that point the actual time wont matter much as the results have been achieved.

In this situation, there will be multiple feeds that show all of this stuff as well. I run a 3 screen setup and will see it all, quickly. 🤣

Point for Rocco yesterday, the lineup setup to use the pinch hitters worked out perfectly and is a great example of how better personnel allows the lineup to be set for attack moves. Odd coincidence it happened in the 6th but with 21 LOB it looks like it was setup as a 7th inning move and the game flow moved it up. Either way, good to see.

I think the way the lineup was set for this strategy this typically would happen in the 7th given average game at bats or 8th in a really tight game. It came up in the 6th because the bases were loaded multiple times, 21 LOB. Normally that wouldn't matter as you would expect a bunch of runs with that many base runners. They will come. I like the setup and its a perfect example of what Rocco can do with the better personnel. With the minimum batter rule he can stack a lineup to flip the L/R to his advantage either way, by making the move or leaving them in. I questioned the initial lineup but now that I see the execution I'm a fan.

They had a chance to retain a pitcher for $11m but Dylan Bundy wanted the year off. What pitcher was available for near that money?

Guys, Pablo coming out for the 6th is progress. Last year xyz wouldn't have made it out of the 5th. No worries on a cold early season start limited to 80-90 pitches and getting the big guys some run is good too. Hits will come, Grienke is still crafty as hell. Larnach is sneaky fast for a big dude, especially with a intact groin. 🤐 The pinch hitting worked out nicely and according to the radio call was setup that way on purpose. I was wondering about the LLRR bottom of the lineup but apparently Rocco planned it that way. He just happened to have two guys who rake against lefties and can play those specific positions ready to go. Score one for Rocco.

I can't help but pulling for guys like this.

He is a great get, he will be a positive WAR player if he fills in all season in center no matter how he hits. Buxton being able to play center unlocks more usefulness that doesn't show on the stat line. I really like him available as a late game sub either on defense or running the bases. He can be used as a weapon off the bench.

It is go time for Rocco, as in go show what you can do. For the first time in his tenure the FO has removed many of the easy excuses by building a deep roster on both sides of the ball with reinforcements in the minors to boot. I don't think he is on the hot seat however. A poor year this year will make next year the very hot seat. The in game stuff has to improve. They are saying the right things and maybe better personnel helps the strategies work out but I've been constantly puzzled in many game situations, like using his pitch hitter in the 6th only for the same spot to obviously come up in a leverage situation later. Just because the data says make a move doesn't mean you should make it. I love the modern analytics as much as anyone but the role of the manager is knowing what data applies in what situations. Get the damn run in to win in extra innings, it might require a bunt or SB, the horror!

Maybe, the other teams have that data too. Without the chance to try to go deeper he has no way to improve on those numbers. He can force the issue by pitching well early and should focus on that.

Good point to get ahead of the inevitable threads after they aren't at 120 pitches in April. It'll be fun to chat about in game threads but this is a topic that we will need a couple months of data to know anything.

While I'm still baffled by Pagan, nervously optimistic about a new trainer and flat suspicious of supposed in game adjustments I do have to give them a lot of credit for the past 12 months. Those are the 12 months of Correa during which they made significant changes in their approach to the trading deadline/roster construction methodologies. I don't know how much credit to give them, Correa, Boras or the new Pohlad in charge but it feels like they stepped on the gas. Their handling of the Correa situation was masterful, I would love to drink a beer with Falvey and compare notes. They also deserve credit for putting themselves in a position that Correa would be interested in the first place. Being flexible and stockpiling talent (mostly hitters) paid off big. However, 6 days after signing Correa they signed Archer off the bargain bin. That seems corrected for the most part, the veteran signings still have skill and the fits make sense. There has also been a nice streak of good luck lately. Correa is fortunate, but not a completely lucky situation. Landing Brooks Lee and the 5th pick this year is dumb luck that we were long overdue for in the draft. Can't penalize them for good fortune but they have to maximize it and so far they have. I will say I believe we need to think a little differently about Falvey and his pitching development story. When we say home grown we assume drafted and that's not how he was successful in Cleveland for the most part. Kluber, Carrasco, Cleavinger, Trevor Bauer were all trade acquisitions. Damn few drafted talents although of course there were a few that contributed. He did draft Bieber and McKenzie on his way out in 2016. To me that's what they are doing here. They have had to ramp up what they are willing to pay to get out of the bargain bin but trading for 21-25 yr old pitchers isn't bad business. It would be a fascinating piece for someone to write now that he has several years here to compare. I think we would find that the home grown reputation is mostly a creation of our casual fan brains. For example, I bet all but the most attentive Guardians fans will be thinking Joe Ryan was a Twins home grown talent.

Mr. Madison, I award you no points. Low key, this was one of the best moves of a very good off season. First, its 50 hr potential, not 25. Plays solidly at 6 spots in the lineup (including DH) and potential gold glove at 3. 1 year for 11 mil is nothing for that kind of upside and gives a ton of versatility off the field as well. He's still eligible for a qualified offer so he can be a trade chip that gets a prospect if he's bad, a decent prospect if he's decent or possibly a draft pick for a QO if he goes off. Worst case, we get nothing, but that applies to everyone. Best part, for you anyway, if he goes away his most likely replacement will be Wallner, AKA Baby Gallo. Embrace the player type, its going to be around for a while.

What he was thinking is not in evidence and speculating that we know his thoughts at the time is reckless. I didn't say that he didn't know right from wrong, that would be mind reading. I will say emphatically that knowing right from wrong is a heck of a lot different from rising above to stop the thing the elders are doing. Agreed that it is part of the story, 100%. I see it as unfortunate that it happened and believe he is a better person and leader for going through it. I also contextualize it by noting that the tradition of cheating in baseball is only rivaled by the IOC, NASCAR, the NCAA and the United States Congress.

While money still matters a lot to agents and unions, we are seeing a shift in all sports of priorities for the players themselves. The days of needing the best money to survive are long gone and players are choosing on other factors as the difference between 70 and 80 mil isn't that big a deal. Location, chance at winning, chance at getting playing time faster, chance at endorsements to make up the difference etc. Tom Brady is the poster boy for taking less to further other goals.

value-brand Gallo 🤣

Not making mistakes is not a thing. Over and over again is also doing that same thing until they got caught. Was there something I'm not aware of after the trash cans? Take a look at the 2017 Astros roster and tell me you would expect a 22 yo Correa to tell 40 yo Carlos Beltran, 33 yo Brian McCann or even a 27 yo Jose Altuve we are stopping this. He may have, or he may have been fully on board, we will never know. Regardless, as this is a leadership thread, as a leader you have to hold the more senior personnel to a higher standard due to the implied leadership that comes with seniority. That 22 year old kid, amazing #1 overall pick or not, is going to follow a hero in Beltran every time. Thats why AJ Hinch, Alex Cora and Beltran got the toughest punishment. It's messy, and we will never know who started it. Some reports say it went all the way to the front office, some say Beltran was the ringleader. Correa has stated Beltran was not the ringleader and Altuve was clean but as senior guys if they didn't stop it they are basically in on it, tacitly approving. The Ace Rothstein theory of incompetence applies here. Even Verlander wishes he would have said more. On Correas part, this is what he said in 2020 after the investigation finished. "We were wrong for everything we did in 2017. It's not what we stand for. It's not what we want to portray as an organization, and we were definitely wrong about all that and we feel really sorry. We affected careers, we affected the game in some way, and looking back at it, it was just bad." That's a proper apology. No waffling, no half accountability, no I'm sorry if you fell bad about the bad thing I did. Then, in a really advanced leadership move, he defended his teammates from the accusations growing out of control. Take responsibility for your mistakes but do not let your people be defamed with things they did not do. Watch the Ken Rosenthal interview. He is taking bullets for his teammates when he didn't have to. If you are ever in a situation where someone does that for you, you don't forget it. That's what leaders do. I'm highly confident we won't have a similar situation here.

Front office deserves a ton of credit for the entire situation. They nailed the market value of the player from the start. It took a path but they were on the number from the beginning. They also probably figured out much earlier than even Boras what the Mets were up to and positioned themselves perfectly to take advantage. While the rest of us were tuned out of the holidays they were working hard on this. The main reason they were in this position is how they treated Correa and others while he was watching.

Its not about making the mistake, its about how you react to making the mistake.

I am interested if he would take a minor league deal. A little extra cash would do it and he would be a great influence and emergency option.

https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2023/03/rangers-release-sandy-leon.html I wonder if they could talk him into a minor league deal with extra cash. Presence at AAA working with the pitcher and not really taking meaningful playing time. Break glass for MLB emergency.