TheLeviathan
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Everything posted by TheLeviathan
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You use your phrases at the end of this. How is this not advocating the model of playing players at other positions, during the season, at positions they are not as good at, to prepare for off-chance/worst case scenarios/"failure"? Of course I lumped Shaw into this with Milwaukee. Why would your logic on his handling be any different than the examples here? -
Trying some things out in ST is absolutely fine by me.
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- joe mauer
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Aren't the granular examples the ones that matter? It's one thing to argue that guys can move around to accommodate acquisitions, it's another thing to suggest that Boston and Milwaukee should have played those guys at 2B earlier in the year. You said that several times, isn't that playing a guy at a noticeably inferior position on the off-chance something happens in the future? I don't think that's sound thinking. I'll cross that bridge when it comes, I'm not going to use prep for worst case scenarios drive my every day lineups. So when you suggest things like that, it does seem like you're willing to choose things at the detriment of the team in the name of flexibility.
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Well, there may be reasons beyond positional flexibility that are aiding the Dodgers and Cubs success. Just saying. As for the rest, I don't find "Prepare for Failure" to be particularly helpful as an answer. You gave a lot of examples of shuffling outfielders. That's fine, but that's the easy answer. I don't think most people would find the view that you play your LF/RF/CF somewhat interchangeably as all that new or unusual. Where I get....skeptical?....is when you criticized Milwaukee and Boston for not playing Shaw and Mookie at 2B during the season. Which plays to this "prepare for failure" mantra and how the rubber meets the road. You seem to imply that teams should knowingly play guys at inferior positions to get them experience in worst case scenarios, but you don't seem to see the problem with how far you extend that thinking. I mean, should the Twins start Tyler Austin at catcher because he's the emergency guy just to get him reps there? If Sano at SS is plan C....should we start him there 10 times a year? On the off-chance we acquire a shortstop mid-season should we play Polanco in CF just in case? That's where I struggle with some of your comments. "Failure" can mean a lot of different things. Playing Shaw at 2B in April when they didn't have a good backup 3B, just on the off-chance they made a July trade....seems like a bizarre way to approach things. I don't think that's sound thinking at all.
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- joe mauer
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I'll have to dig through your posts, but I feel like I've read that sort of terminology. So here's what I've heard you say: "Prepare for every eventuality" What does that mean, if not rotating a lot of players to alternate positions?
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Where I start to doubt that is where someone suggests Rosario playing 3B is equivalent to Polanco playing SS. Saying one is just as doable as the other blurs the line a lot IMO. Or to imply that the risk of defensive liabilities are the same, doesn't sit well with me. It shows very little discretion/care between what kind of skill sets are vital at each position, player experience there, etc. Flexibility, to me, is a tool you use to enhance your roster. But it's not going to be a fit for many players, maybe even most. RB talks a lot about every guy having multiple gloves and reps at multiple positions. I just don't see how you envision a scenario like that in which you aren't advocating players at positions they aren't good at. And then name-dropping Polanco as a below average shortstop as being the same thing as tossing Rosario at third....makes me think my gut reaction is right. What he is asserting IS ok with players ill equipped to man the position.
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I almost never see you throw in the caveat that the players have to be able to play the position well. You seem to prize flexibility over ability. I see flexibility as an asset to be sought, not a strategy to force. Sometimes it does feel like you advocate the latter.
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One is a position the player has barely ever played and a major change in style (OF-IF) and the other is a position the player frequently played in the minors and is only slightly different. We've seen the ability players have to completely trainwreck games and seasons by being inadequate in the field. Whatever offensive advantage you gain from putting players into a game at different positions can easily be negated by their inability to play those positions. Otherwise....why not field 9 slugging 1B? Just sign nine guys that mash the ball and throw a dart every game? You might say, "of course I don't want that"...but I don't see much of any indication in your posts that you weigh this factor at all.
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It's a far cry to justify playing Rosario at 3B by comparing it to Polanco playing SS.
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At the very least Morgan needs lots of playing time. I read Tracy Claeys say Seth Green would be his QB this year....did that man ever see him throw? How was he ever a QB for anyone? Nice win, need 2 more of them this year.
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Buxton's injury issues are often blamed on his mentality. He might just be brittle.
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I eagerly await his every decision to be hated by 50% of hte fan base, supported by the other 50% of the fan base with no rational basis. It's a sweet gig.
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Embrace analytics, steady personality. (What type...I don't care) Beyond that...throw a dart.
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- paul molitor
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Haunting Hill is good. Daredevil is probably among the last of the Netflix Marvel shows (One more Punisher and Jessica Jones too) and it's ending with a bang. I haven't finished, but Fisk is still the best villain in any Marvel property and Bullseye has been well done too.
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Yeah, there are some serious coaching issues. Coughlin looks like a possible talent on Sunday though, man is he good. Also....the Wildcat needs to go. Running the same option dive to the left every freaking play is just stupid. That's ridiculous.
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Playing guys at random middle infield positions in case of a worst case scenario sounds like a good way to create that scenario. If you believe defense matters, throwing guys randomly around the field is very contradictory. Kepler should play 1B when it creates an advantage for the Twins. Which could happen in splits opportunities when deciding between a Cave and Austin. I could see that being beneficial at times if the Twins don’t upgrade 1B.
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I think 95 wins is very plausible. For one, Cleveland is about to lose their two best players from an already weak bullpen. Their starting staff is still awesome, but they can be challenged. For two, the team has the trade assets in the minors to supplement any signings with trade value. In fact, of the additions they make to improve, I hope the majority come from trade. The FA signings should hopefully fill in the gaps/bullpen.
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Jake Cave would be another. And in the recent past - Dozier, Pressley, and Escobar. Good things can happen when you give upside an opportunity. Sometimes that means cutting loose a marginally better player to create the opportunity.
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There is a wide gulf between "Yeah, we like you well enough to not cut you" and getting his level of production. It absolutely was a fluke, the kind of flukes teams get when they offer opportunity. Dozier was a guy like that for us not that long ago.
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Milwaukee definitely had some flukes help them too, as in the case of Aguilar. He was a waiver wire pick-up and a guy they had no intention of playing (as evidenced by the Thames signing) but given playing time he had a breakout year. It's why it's so critical to give long looks to players on the bubble. You never know what you might have.
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I hope the Twins are active with one big trade this offseason. This is a good time to leverage someone like Nick Gordon into an impact player on the 25 man roster.
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He is a year and a half in, his recruiting class is pretty much all freshman on the field. They've had a good win against Fresno and a bad loss against Maryland. You can see that there is more talent on the field, more explosiveness, and more competitiveness than the previous regime. I don't mind looking at a freshman group playing well in Ohio St. as a moral victory. You are all over the place on the very idea that people might be happy with that because they haven't won enough Big 10 games, 3 games in. I guess I prefer to judge the growth of the season at the end of hte season, especially if I were using Big 10 wins as my barometer considering there are still six more of them. Maybe just chill a little bit. I'm not going to award Fleck a 10 year extension for a moral victory, but I can appreciate that it's a good sign for the program. Now he has to build off of it, if he doesn't - than I'll be critical for it.
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Or you could just wait and see how things play out? No one is crowing about the moral victory here, but you are dismissing progress this season only halfway in. That's not fair either. I'll wait to criticize/praise them as things happen I guess.
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You've also dismissed any growth in the program with 6 games left in the Big10 schedule. Perhaps you should save some of the hyperventilating until season's end? Moral victories like this one, can be building blocks for exactly the kinds of wins you're asking for.
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Fresno St. was not a creampuff win. They have to go 3-3 to "show improvement" in their record and they'll get a chance to have a few Big 10 home games too against the softer part of the Big 10. No one is saying actual wins don't matter, they do. But moral victories can matter too.
