IndianaTwin

I'd suggest trading A.J. Pierzynski for Luke Weaver and some lottery picks. Point being, Weaver has only gotten past 66 innings only once. It's tough to think of him as a full-time starter. (In his defense, he started 12 games in a 60-game season in 2020, so he was on pace for way beyond that.) But his stuff can be nasty. In my mind, he's a Joe Nathan candidate. Trade for him, teach him to the pbtbtbtbtbt thing, and add him to the bullpen.

Maeda trade Odo trade

I agree -- Villar had a horrible 2020, but over the past seven years has been right at league average as a hitter. He turns 31 in May. At the price he's likely to get, I think he's money well spent to fill a gap in a flexible way, even adding some substantial speed to the mix.

This looks like a fun watch as well.

Yeah, Hooch and Murphy are primarily there because I couldn’t find good alternatives. And thanks for adding It Happens Every Spring — I’ll add it to my list as well.

I was hoping someone would mention Bang the Drum Slowly. That’s probably No. 1 on the my need-to-watch list.

I confess that I’ve not seen either of the musical films, but I gotta have heart and track them down.

Good call on Lou Collins from Little Big League. I did consider him, but didn’t include him in the writing. I didn’t take into account who was playing the character, so that didn’t help Elster and Durham. That would be an interesting take in its own right — an all-star team of MLB players who played someone (other than themself) in a movie. I always make it a point to watch the credits at the end of baseball movies to see what names I recognize. Pete Vuckovich was Clu Haywood in Major League, for example. I wasn’t aware of Jack Powell, however.

Hey, it’s the Christmas season and there’s no real baseball on TV. Nor is there any real baseball news, and I don’t want to discuss one more time whether the Twins are in rebuild or retool mode. But it’s a wonderful life, and there are movies to watch. On a recent road trip with my son, we tried to come up with the starting lineup on the All-Time Baseball Movie team. These are the fictional guys. It would be too easy to insert Lou Gehrig from Pride of the Yankees and Babe Ruth from any number of films. Here’s what we’ve got. Add your comments and rebuttals below. Leading off and playing center field, we have to go with the speedster Willie Mays Hayes from Major League. The original version, not Major League II, III or whatever they’re up to by now. When you hit like Mays and run like Hayes, you gotta be in the lineup. Hayes is a tough call in center over Kelly Leake from Bad News Bears and Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez from The Sandlot, but you clearly gotta keep the latter on the roster as a pinch runner. Batting second and playing left field will be Shoeless Joe. I know that I said this is fictional and Joe Jackson was real, but the movie is clearly a fantasy, and we’re talking about perhaps the best-known character in the genre. With that line drive back through the box off Ray, he’s clearly adept at going with the pitch, a skill we’re looking for in our No. 2 hitter. Batting third, where we want one of our best hitters, we have to go with The Natural, Roy Hobbs. He plays rightfield and has the lineup’s best walk-up music. If you don’t believe that, just stay after any minor league game for the fireworks show and you’ll get a listen. It’s not intentional to have worked our way around the outfield with top three spots in the order, but it came out that way. We’re kinda going to continue that by finding a way to get Major Leaguer Pedro Cerrano’s bat in the lineup, which we’ll do in the cleanup spot as the DH. Movies don’t tend to have the DH in a starring role, but Jobu hits the fastball very much. Oh, and don’t steal his rum. Catcher is tough. Some of the genre’s best characters are behind the plate. I know I’m going to get flack for not choosing Crash Davis from Bull Durham, but the dude’s a career minor league. Stay tuned, I’ve got a spot for him. Similarly, Jake Taylor from Major League is a gamer, a masterful bunter and a great handler of a pitching staff. And then there’s Hamilton Porter from The Sandlot. I don’t think I can go with him, but we need him on the bench – there can’t be a better bench jockey and trash talker in the league. But all those pale compare to the one who truly was in a League of her (Their) Own, Dottie Hinson. She’ll woman the backstop and bat fifth. Following her in the lineup and batting sixth is her teammate. Playing second base, we have the window-breaking slugger, Marla Hooch. First base is a hitter’s spot, but it’s actually a little weak in the movies. Granted, Clu Heywood leads the Major League in most offensive categories, including nose hair, but we only want the good guys on our team, so we can’t use him. Similarly, Mr. 3000 is just such a bad movie that I’m not going to use Stan Ross. That leaves us with another aging slugger, back from Japan, Mr. Baseball Jack Eliot, and he’ll bat seventh. Third base is another sparse one. The potentially obvious choice here is Roger Dorn, but he pretty much showed himself a clubhouse cancer throughout Major League, so we’ll have to pass. Instead, we’ll go with our third pick from League of Their Own, Doris Murphy. She can rub teammates the wrong way, as witnessed by her taking on Kit Hinson after a rough game, but she’s clearly a gamer, the kind of player who want as a spark batting near the bottom of the lineup at No. 8. Finally, we need a shortstop. Amazingly with such a glamour position, I couldn’t come up with a good standout shortstop from a baseball movie. I mean, with his way of coaching up teammates, it seems likely that “The Jet” Rodriguez could pull out his inner Cesar Tovar and play there, but I don’t think he actually does in the movie. But I’ve got an unnamed sleeper. Unnamed in that I couldn’t remember his name ever being used in the movie. But you need defense up the middle, and with that final play to come in and bare hand the tipped ball to preserve the perfecto at the end of For Love of the Game, this unnamed guy will play short and bat ninth. By contrast, though it may seem that the lineup is a bit weak at the bottom, we’ve got a loaded rotation. He is, by definition, a Rookie (of the Year), but with the bionic arm, Henry Rowengartner is in the mix. I like to work young guys in slowly, so I’m going to start him at No. 5 in the rotation. And speaking of youth, we’ll have another youngster in the No. 4 spot, Amanda Wurlitzer from the Bad News Bears. Despite her youth, she does have championship experience, leading the Bears to the title game. At No. 3, we’ll go with Bingo Long from his Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings. He’s based on Satchel Paige, so that’s impressive. Picking between the top two spots was tough, but I had to go with experience. I like Ebby Calvin “Nuke” LaLoosh’s million dollar arm in Bull Durham, but I don’t want someone with a five-cent head getting the start on Opening Day, so he’ll have to wait for game two. Which means that our Opening Day starter will be Billy Chapel from For Love of the Game. When you wrap up your Hall of Fame career with a perfect game and demonstrate that “the cathedral that is Yankee Stadium belongs to a Chapel,” you’ve shown you have the moxie to get the Opening Day start. There’s several noteworthy candidates to fill out the staff while pitching out of the bullpen, including Kit Hinson from League of the Their and Eddie Harris from Major League, but we know that it will be the Wild Thing, Ricky Vaughn from Major League, marching out of the bullpen to close games after a stellar career in the California Penal League. The team’s top pitching prospect is the newly signed Rigo (“Peanut Boy”) Sanchez from Trouble with the Curve. So there’s the roster. But before we get away, we have to recognize that it takes more than players to run a team. You need a coaching staff, for example, and baseball movies have given us a few. Because they formed the best manager/coach duo, our team will be led by Pop Fisher and Red Blow from The Natural. There are other noteworthy coach/managers who can fill out the coaching staff, namely Frank Perry (For Love of the Game), Jimmy Dugan (League of Their Own) and Lou Brown (Major League). I’m big on character, so it’s against my better judgment, but I did save a spot for Morris Buttermaker from the Bad News Bears. Also in the dugout will be young Bobby Savoy (The Natural) as our batboy. Billy Heywood from Little Big League was a choice for the coaching staff, but I realized that he has to be the team owner, since several other of the team owners portrayed are dirtbags. Think of Rachel Phelps from Major League and The Judge from The Natural. Heywood’s more seasoned ownership partners include Gary Wheeler (For Love of the Game) and candy bar mogul Walter Harvey (League of Their Own). Also in the team’s administration is GM Ira Lowenstein (League of Their Own). He oversees a scouting staff that includes Gus Lobel (Trouble with the Curve) and Ernie Capadino (A League of Their Own). The latter is known for his skill in negotiating contracts, as demonstrated in signing the Hinson sisters. For astutely observing how much better Pete Taylor has been playing since his parents came to visit, Pete Klein (Trouble with the Curve) will head the team’s analytics department. Heading the scouting staff, and likely working her way up to GM on her own, is Mickey Lobel from Trouble with the Curve. With such a varied range of experience on our team, there are bound to be injuries, and we’ve got the best possible medical staff in place. Heading the group is Doc Archibald (Moonlight) Graham from Field of Dreams. Assisting him, with specializations in providing CPR and overseeing the pool at the training facility, is Wendy Peffercorn from The Sandlot. A team like this needs a place to play, and fortunately they have stadium architect extraordinaire Ray Kinsella (Field of Dreams). As noted above, I do have a backup plan for Crash Davis. He’ll assist Ray as groundskeeper, with particular expertise in managing the irrigation system. Also of note in game day management is Frank Drummond (Naked Gun), who will serve as stadium security. He’s also been known to fill in for Enrico Polazzo in singing the National Anthem. A team like this certainly deserves media coverage. Again, there’s lots to choose from in the broadcasting department, since using an announcer is often part of what helps the plot flow in sports movies. They’re playing themselves, so our rules keep us from naming John Gordon (Little Big League), Vin Scully (For Love of the Game) and Curt Gowdy, Jim Palmer, Tim McCarver, Mel Allen, Dick Enberg and Dick Vitale, all from Naked Gun. But even if that rule didn’t apply, the broadcasting gig would still have to go to Harry Doyle from Major League. And finally, we need someone to wax eloquent and write Roger Angell-like essays. The clear choice for that would be Terrance Mann. So, how’d I do? Who’d I miss?

And you too, Mr. Kepler.

But the thing is, they didn't. To expand on my very brief post above, the cost for three years of Odorizzi was a 20-year-old who had just finished Low-A and, if I'm remembering correctly, wasn't among the Twins most highly regarded prospects at the time. There's no guarantee they're going to get a return like that on every trade, but it goes against the assumption of most on this string who seem to be thinking that any level of quality is going to come at massive expense.

nowilfongorgoltz?

Jermaine Palacios for Jake Odorizzi, anyone?

I tell people that I went to college thinking I was majoring in math education, but really, it was "anything but dairy farming." I value greatly the experiences and what I learned, but I didn't want to spend years and years at it. I'm thankful for those who do, and I certainly recognize some of the life lessons and skill development that my kids missed out on!

Wow — that’s a great article. It’s long, but take the time to read it, friends. (And Eris, I’m also dairy farm kid who started listening at about age 9 as well. WHO in Des Moines for me. Were you any more successful than me in trying to find ways to get out of feeding calves? My best strategy was to go next door to Grandma’s and read. A father can’t tell his own mother that his son shouldn’t be reading, right?)

It’s tough having to face Superwoman.

Gotta like having Wrigley.

No hockey?!?!

It’s in syndication, so it’s on different times for all of us (7:30 on the South Bend station), but we should have started a Game Thread.

Is there anyone else who made it to the majors and is perhaps more remembered for their Little League career? No one immediately comes to mind.

Hey, not trying to beat a dead horse, Bean, but I just caught this. As I noted in my first post, in 1966 there was only one Cy Young across both leagues and voters just listed one person on their ballots. Koufax got all 20 votes. We'll never know, obviously, but I'm guessing that if they were using the later pattern of separate awards and a 5-3-1 ballot, Kaat likely would have won the AL award easily. Using the stats they paid attention to at the time... He won 25 games. McLain won 20, Wilson 18 and no one else had more than 16. He was sixth in ERA, but the leader only went 12-10, followed by guys with 13, 13, 11 and 14 wins. He was second in strikeouts, just 20 behind the leader, who went 9-8. He pitched 40 more innings than anyone else in the league. He had 19 complete games and no one else had more than 14. He beat the aforementioned McLain and Wilson in ERA, strikeouts, innings and complete games. While that didn't get him any Cy Young votes over Koufax, he did finish fifth in the MVP voting, the only pitcher in the top 10. It's hard to tell with 1962, where NL pitchers (led by Drysdale) got all 20 votes. There wasn't a dominant AL pitcher, but Kaat was third in WAR (meaningless then) and top six in wins, ERA, innings, strikeouts, innings, complete games and shutouts (tied for first), but he probably would have gotten some support.

Clearly it's a peak vs. longevity question on Viola vs. Kaat, but even "peak" is subject to interpretation. Viola's peak is driven by three years. His fourth-best season by ERA+ was 110 and he only had five seasons where he was even above league-average. Kaat had six years above 110 and another six when he was above league average. Said another way, Viola only had three years when he was better than what Michael Pineda has been over his Twins' career. I don't say that to disparage Viola -- he made a great contribution to the franchise. But to talk about "all-time great" for a 60-year franchise, I think you need more than two great and one really good season. If a peak that short is sufficient, one could argue for Shane Mack over Viola. And certainly Bob Allison. PS: I suspect we could have the same type of "peak vs. longevity" conversation when I see Brad Radke and Jim Perry omitted. But hey, it's all in good fun and reminiscing. ?

I have no need for Manfred. Manfred causes pain.

I still remember a comment from Peter Gammons on the night Hrbek retired. “If he would have taken better care of himself, he might have made the Hall of Fame,” Gammons said. “But we wouldn’t have loved him as much.” As noted above, Tony O made me a Twins fan. But after some time of not paying as much attention to baseball during high school, Hrbek brought the love back for me.

I'm enjoying reading the lists, but... No. 10 Kaat: 15 yrs., 190-159, 3.34 ERA, 133 CG, 23 SHO, 3014.5 IP, 1851 K, 1.231 WHIP, 110 ERA+, 12 Gold Gloves, HOF (largely based on his success as a Twin). No. 9 Viola: 8 yrs., 112-93, 3.86 ERA, 54 CG, 10 SHO, 1772.2 IP, 1214 K, 1.295 WHIP, 111 ERA+, 0 Gold Gloves. 2 HOF votes before falling off. Viola does have a Cy Young, but in Kaat's best year by ERA+ (1966) there was only one Cy across the majors and voters only listed one person. Some guy named Koufax was the unanimous choice. Kaat was, however, No. 5 in the MVP voting that year. Viola was 10th in the MVP the year he got the Cy. I think you've got those two in the wrong order. (And if I'm guessing correctly on the remaining eight, I'm thinking I'm going to suggest you missed another pitcher better than Viola, but I'll hold off on that comment. ?)