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TheLeviathan

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Everything posted by TheLeviathan

  1. TheLeviathan
    These takes are just so bizarre. A decimated squad has a bad game of ABs and we rush to complain about Baldelli? The hell?
  2. TheLeviathan
    With Cole Sands pitching I didn't think the reason we lost was going to be a totally inept offensive showing. The pitching was pretty damn good today and we were just pathetic offensively. After Wentz left, Peralta couldn't throw strikes and we kept bailing him out swinging at bad pitches.
  3. TheLeviathan
    This explains so much.
  4. TheLeviathan
    Don't tell the game threads that. It's a dumpster fire of loud, bad takes. Correa was sent back to the team hotel with symptoms, they tested him, and he came back positive. I hope he's back by the end of the week!
  5. TheLeviathan
    Good to know that Correa was out due to Covid-19 protocols, there were a lot of assumption made about rest time. It looks like they're just grinding right now severely undermanned. They can't blunder on defense and win in that case. They need to execute, get outs, and help their pitching staff out. They didn't do that today - Garlick had a good shot at robbing a HR, Miranda botched two plays that should've ended innings, and they ran into a out. Hopefully we can take two tomorrow.
  6. TheLeviathan
    Do tell? His numbers are ridiculous. I hope he finds success in St Paul and we see him soon!
  7. TheLeviathan
    I agree with you, but given the way this team is resting players and relying on a short bench.....I'm not sure they can let go of Gordon. We basically need our 2-3 man bench to be able to play everywhere. I'm 100% with you on Steer, but Gordon's ability to do IF and OF is something this team needs to have. (Also why I think we're at a point where Lewis has to stay up)
  8. TheLeviathan
    As others have noted, especially in light of Kepler's injury, I think the answer is "we need both". Plus, I think it's time to start talking about Steer being a guy in this mix as well.
  9. TheLeviathan
    Right, this guy was completely off my radar but reading recent minor league reports and watching highlights.....this guy obliterates baseballs. The swing is pretty and the ball explodes off his bat. This guy sure looks like a player.
  10. TheLeviathan
    Worth noting: the FO and Baldelli have stated that they work in concert. Each of Baldelli's decisions may be micro, but the reasons behind them are generally decided on a macro level. Taking issue with them is certainly fine, but remember that anything we say about what he "should" have done is arguing a counterfactual. We'll never know if what we think is better would have actually been better. Also worth noting.....considering the team's record, it certainly appears that the vast majority of his decisions are working well. Putting in Megill over Smith. Or Duran over Duffey. Or pulling X guy here. Take your pick in any of our W's so far this year. We all have the tendency not to count all those positive, micro decisions in our moments of frustration. Given the team's record, I think it's fair to say maybe he deserves some credit there....no? There will always be a human element and that element will always be subject to mistakes. Hell, baseball has a ton of randomness to it, no amount of computing or guts can perfectly navigate that minefield. All you can do is look for advantages and analytics, IMO, helps eliminate noise and bias for teams to do that. How we use it can certainly be subject to mistakes and criticism.
  11. TheLeviathan
    Respectfully, we don't know what information he's working with so declaring that he read it wrong is not really fair. We can certainly dislike the ideas and the outcomes, I've voiced as much a few times lately, but some of your conclusions are a bit unfair. Analytics aren't a bulletproof strategy, they provide advantages over a larger sample size. You might notice that at no point have I used one particular example, because that isn't a good way to approach it. A single decision, using analytics, could be wrong based on the decision maker and the circumstances. (Or just dumb luck) The benefit of an analytical approach is on the macro level. To that end, the team HAS changed. Significantly. Three years ago (and again the last two years, their biggest mistakes) they went with uppercut swings, aggressive plate appearances, and minimal small ball. Driven by the data they had on launch angles and ball flight....they were right! 2019 they were a freaking launching pad that got thwarted by the small sample of the playoffs combined with MLB swapping out the baseballs on them. 2020 was largely the same positive result. The problem was that they were not flexible enough last year to realize that path was doomed. But this year they did. Their launch angles are down. Their plate appearances involve the most 1-0 counts in baseball and the league's highest OBP. (at least as of a few days ago) They have completely, radically changed their approach driven by the data and the new baseballs. (Not to mention the uptick in off speed pitches being thrown) So, frankly, you're wrong. They have quite obviously changed. They haven't just slightly altered the team's approach, it's like watching a completely different organization from 2020. Analytics is about being data driven. That comes down to having good data and good analysts. When things go south it could be blamed on either of those things. When it goes well, it also gets credit. The key for any good team using data is to be smart and ahead of the curve on which data points they value and how they translate that into success. Shouting down "analytics" like some monolithic boogeyman misses the real nature of their use.
  12. TheLeviathan
    That isn't the logical conclusion at all. It's specious reasoning. Analytics is a process/approach to decision making, sometimes it will be used to great success and other times not so much. But let's be clear: Analytics is NOT "computer says, we do". That notion is absurd. What data analysis does is look for patterns that should drive decision making towards the best chance at the best outcome. It assures nothing, it is an aggregator that guides best practices by looking for patterns. The team is simply following that guide the best it can in the context of each individual game. Sometimes it will yield wonderful results (which are easy to forget or not notice because it was successful) and other times it doesn't. There are no guarantees no matter the approach you use. Rocco going with his gut and leaving Smeltzer in there might well have blown out the kid's elbow or caused the same result. Last year the analysis the Twins did on data yielded horrible results. They incorrectly saw Simmons, Happ, etc. as viable solutions. They were absolutely wrong. This year it's abundantly clear that they shifted the focus of their analytics and strategies to better success. It's the kind of philosophical change of gears you only see with a team invested in analytics. If this was the Terry Ryan regimes of old we wouldn't see this pivot because they were never able to do anything other than "their way". (Something they were quite proud of even as it mired us in losing) Analytics offers the opportunity to be flexible and responsive, which this team's success is demonstrating. There are no perfect solutions and it isn't robotic. It definitely doesn't have to be this kind of boogeyman.
  13. TheLeviathan
    Analytics is why the team is working more counts, going the opposite way, leveling their swings, changing the way their pitchers approach their craft, employing defense and shifts, etc. Seriously, your argument is pure emotion. It has absolutely no basis in fact. Analytics is not some evil boogeyman.
  14. TheLeviathan
    Analytics is why this team is in first place.
  15. TheLeviathan
    Perhaps my phrasing of "stretched out" is problematic. Maybe it's more like he's on a regiment with limits given his time away? As in.....we'll let you flirt with 80, but we're not going past that until you've been pitching for awhile.
  16. TheLeviathan
    It's not lazy, it's just reality. In the case of any of the players you listed, did they pitch in 2021? Because Smeltzer didn't. I think people forget that he's coming back from injury and hasn't been all that stretched out given the time he's missed. Teams have pitch limits and plans for players with injuries like the one Smeltzer endured and given the time missed. It's ok not to like that, but everyone does it. It probably has medical merit as well, even if we don't like it. The mistake, IMO, was in the choice to replace him (I'm good with Duran too!) or to pull the escape hatch on Duffey when it was obvious things were going south. That was a classic "Joe Smith comes in and throws two pitches" situation and we let Duffey rot. That part is inexplicable to me.
  17. TheLeviathan
    It was the most he had thrown all year. If he wasn't stretched out for more than you don't run the risk of injury. This is the reality for all teams right now. Your argument lacks the necessary context.
  18. TheLeviathan
    Definitely feels like we snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. * Going to the pen in the 8th is totally ok with me. Not warming someone up when the second guy reached was a mistake. When Duffey is on, he's on. But when things go sideways he has a tendency to unravel. * As others have said, the Royals blue-printed the way to approach it in the top of the inning, but Gordon should've been the pinch runner. *I feel like there have been a lot of times this year where I scratch my head at our third base coach's decisions. Nobody out and bases loaded is a time you have to execute, but it should've been a tie game at that point.
  19. TheLeviathan
    Phoenix is a long gameday commute....
  20. TheLeviathan
    Look, you can certainly feel that about Anderson's remark. It isn't relevant, hard as that might be to swallow. Donaldson employing that phrase in a scrum is a jackass move. He meant it to be hurtful and rub Anderson the wrong way. Pretending it was a joke only doubles down on that. And here's the part where you need to look in the mirror: MLB didn't suspend him for anything regarding racism. You think they did and imply it here, but YOU planted that into the conversation. And it sure feels like you're looking so hard to be offended by it that you never bothered to check the truth value of what you're arguing. Here's what the MLB ACTUALLY said: And they are 100% right. It was disrespectful. It did show poor judgment. It was clearly baiting given his knee on Anderson a few days earlier. He was THE key part in that escalation.
  21. TheLeviathan
    I don't know if he intended to be racist, but I know saying what he did as a slight made it possible to perceive it that way to Anderson and others. And if I were Donaldson and I opened that door, my apology would've looked a lot less jackassy. He lost my sympathy with "but I was joking....derp"
  22. TheLeviathan
    Everyone should just listen to what Judge said, he hits it spot on. And he doesn't shy away from saying it again even after a private apology from JD. Think whatever you want about whether Anderson should've made that comp in the first place, dropping it in the middle of a brawl after you kneed the dude off 3B and spent the series chirping is, at best, pure stupidity. He did it to upset Anderson, knowing why it would upset him, and then a totally BS line of reasoning to excuse it. I'd have had a lot more respect for Donaldson and his intentions if he had just said "I got heated and wanted to say something nasty because I was pissed off, but I crossed a line I shouldn't have. It wasn't ok, I'm sorry."
  23. TheLeviathan
    This deal will only look better as it ages.
  24. TheLeviathan
    1. I don't know how anyone can argue Baldelli is mismanaging the 'pen. The bullpen has been phenomenal, the Twins are all but undefeated once they have a lead, and he's getting production from a near constant shuttle from AAA. Honestly, I don't know what successful looks like if it ain't this. 2. I said it at the time: the deals with the Rangers and Yankees were about creating flexibility and looking for upside. Garver has really struggled, Rotervdt looks like damaged goods, and Donaldson is a DH a third of the time. It's possible they knew his future was there and that Buxton's health would require more use of that spot. They also bet on helping Sanchez improve behind the plate, that Urshela would be a leader and a defensive stud, and that the money freed could land them something spicy. All of those things are happening and the team is so much better for it. A similar move with Rogers/Paddock didn't work out in the near-term, but it was the same kind of thinking: don't let the past have too much influence over the future. Swing for upside. 3. The young players are really developing. They've missed on some bats it looks like, but man do we seem to have the development pipeline humming right now. Frankly, and I know I'll have boos chucked at me for this, but it's time to start thinking about extending this FO. They're doing what they came here to do.
  25. TheLeviathan
    When umpires suddenly change their strike zone....you don't have time to learn it. Arraez was forced to foul off a bunch of pitches out of the zone because the umpire was calling a weird zone all of a sudden. Arraez literally did not see a strike in that entire at-bat.
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