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Platoon

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Everything posted by Platoon

  1. Platoon
    Wow! I gotta make my "IF’s" bigger I guess. I didn’t say the guy couldn’t pitch in the middle of the order, and I certainly hope he can pitch at the bottom of it. Nor did I say our minor leaguers should be there in place of him. I SAID that IF he ends up as a #1 as someone speculated was possible, which was not me btw, and IF our milb pitchers do not have the talent to exceed his level, then it could be a long year. I didn’t suggest any of the milb pitchers be brought up, I was solely expressing the opinion that the level down there must not be awe inspiring if we can’t fill the 5 hole with one of them. He isn’t a bad pitcher, or at least hasn’t been. But really, the thought of him as the best pitcher on a team makes one easily and likely correctly assume that the rest of the staff is nothing to hang your hat on. Nor does even the hint of him being a #1 bring forth any optimism for this team to bring a halt to our current playoff streak. Do I think he will ever achieve that lofty status on the Twins? I sure hope not. But yes, he can fill the 5 hole nicely on a contender. He will be a piece, but there had best be a separation above him to allow you to contend. Like I said, it ain’t a godawful move!
  2. Platoon
    This isn’t a godawful signing, but it brings up two issues. If he is better than anything your minor leagues can produce in the SP area, then there ain’t much down there. A) If he ends up the teams #1, as you speculated, then it’s gonna be a long year.
  3. Platoon
    Kevin Cash got the old spreadsheet out. "........Snell’s reward for his work: the hook. That’s what Tuesday night amounted to: The analytics-driven Rays removed a starting pitcher who had a 1-0 lead, who had gotten one out in the sixth, who had struck out nine, who had given up two measly singles and hadn’t walked anyone. Read that sentence. Know the result. Consider whether it makes any sense" From WAPO article on WS game 6. Here’s the link. https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/10/28/blake-snell-kevin-cash-world-series/
  4. Platoon
    The strikeout thing puzzles me. We look for pitchers who can rack up the K’s as it’s an important metric in pitching. At the same time we minimize the impact that strike outs do vs the chance that the hitter may hit one over the fence. (See Sano, Miguel). When your middle of the order hitters are prone to strike out at least a third of the time, is simply has to impact the teams production. There is nothing inherently wrong with power. It has its place. But thinking it’s an end all on offense is oversimplifying baseball. There are times and places for the other aspects of the game. Right now so many hitters (and coaches) are so invested in the long ball that players without the ability to be a consistent HR threat are still trying to jack one. With the often expected results. Ran down on the track, or more likely the catcher tossing the ball to the third baseman!
  5. Platoon
    Give him away, nope. Move him for a needed piece, yup. WHEN he hits the ball it’s awesome. It’s the ‘when’ thats the problem. Add in his mediocre defense, his injuries, and what still could be considered a questionable dedication to his craft make him very expendable. Yes, it’s hard to look past that awesome power, but for me it’s still the ‘when” that’s the problem.
  6. Platoon
    Rocco’s persistent attempts to rest everyone all the time creates lineup instability all the time. The baseball players I have known liked knowing where they stood, and liked a general idea of what was their "job" on the team. Am I a lead off guy, a middle of the order guy, a bench guy, or maybe a regular only against lefties. Pitchers are no different. Am I a starter every 5th day? A long reliever/backup starter. Do I come in only to eat innings, or do I come in to get a big K under pressure? The 8th inning man, or the closer. Players are not robots, they don’t enjoy watching someone put into their slot for no particular reason. Yes they are pros and have to roll with it, but if you have no idea what your responsibilities are on a given day, it’s hard to excel. Certain players can handle the stress of a big moment be they hitters or pitchers. Others can’t. Either Rocco can’t discern this, or just thinks that anyone on his spreadsheet can be plugged into any situation. Rocco may run a good clubhouse. Or he may not? I certainly would not know. But his mind boggling batting orders and his pitching substitutions leave an awful lot to be desired. I am sure he will be back, but I would hope in his third year he stabilizes his roster management.
  7. Platoon
    Your point about power is well stated. Power isn’t trying to jerk every pitch towards your pull side over the fence. See Dozier, Brian. Yes, if you get a nice cookie early in the count go for it. If not, that’s where discipline comes in. Sometimes later in the count you simply must concede the advantage to the pitcher, and go with what he throws you. But since power has become so over emphasized in baseball today, hitters are still trying to pull that 1-2 slider off the corner down the line. The outcome is predictable. Guys like Cruz and Miguel Cabrera have figured this out. The Sano’s of the world may never get a handle on it. I do think the emphasis on hitting the ball in the air has compounded the problem. Players are human, and they start to hit a few HR’s and it becomes a narcotic. The temptation to think you can do it with regularity becomes hard to resist. If I am a pitcher, the guy I want to see come up late in the game with men on base is one of these wannabe power guys with 20 HR’s, all 50’ from the foul pole. He’s as good as money in my bank.
  8. Platoon
    Offensively if you think you can simply bash the ball ofer the fence regularily game after game and win playoff series that way you must have missed decades of baseball. Bombas are great fun, but they get harder to hit the further you get into the playoffs. Offense built on swinging from the heels is simply unsustainable. This teams defense may have looked somewhat better this year, but with the loss of Donaldson and Sanó at first, Polanco at SS, and Arraez at 2B this isn’t exactly a gold glove group. And as is often the case, the weak links showed up big time. Then the team gets two excellent starts and for some inexplicable reason Rocco sets them after 5. There just doesn’t seem to be any rationale for that move in a playoff game. His handling of pitchers, and pinch hitters bordered on bizarre. I don’t know if those ideas came from the spreadsheet, or a lack of experience but it certainly didn’t indicate any feel for the game. Lastly, enough with the whining about the strike zone. Yesterday it was said it was "the worlds smallest zone". If you can’t hit when a pitcher is forced to zone it, then it’s doubtful you ever will. And the umpire didn’t run into outs, kick ground balls, and jerk pitchers who were on a roll!
  9. Platoon
    The word "Ace" in MN has become synonymous with the word "Unicorn". We have heard they exist, but at least locally, haven’t see one in years. The last being Johann Santana. Our desire to find one of these rarities has led to a raft of "Is (fill in the blank) our ace? An Ace? i agree that’s Maeda is the current occupant of that elusive role. But I also appreciate that you have differentiated between Ace and ace.
  10. Platoon
    Teams based on hitting have always seemed more streaky than those based on defense and pitching, both of which are more easily replicated day to day. Hitting teams are like offensive basketball teams. When the hits (shots) fall in you win, when they don’t you lose. It’s that simple. As for those who think that last years Bomba assault was going to be a yearly occurrence? You just don’t get career years from that many players in one season. More all around teams can fall back on other aspects of the game. While I can’t define how many of the teams losses were defense related the recent White Sox series included one for sure. Regardless of a definitive number of losses tied to the glove, this isn’t a good defensive team at all. As for pitching, both starters and pen have had moments, but really, 5 ish innings from starters just ain’t gonna cut it.
  11. Platoon
    Baseball is played by people not numbers. Sometimes the numbers suffer because the people are put into situations they are not suited for. My eyes tell me that when Glenn Perkins was put into a non save game situation he didn’t seem as sharp as when in a save one. Lack of focus? Hard to say. Numbers tell us that Rogers doesn’t pitch as well on back to back days. Yet seemingly Rocco has used him in that context more often, which will not help Rogers. Now it would be great to have a rubber armed every day "closer", but trying to make a player something he isn’t generally doesn’t work. So in the Rogers situation is it him who is having a poorer year? Or is it the guy in the dugout sending him to the mound in situations he doesn’t seem compatible with?
  12. Platoon
    I always thought Bert was at his best when the games were out of hand. He was more entertaining than analytical, it’s not that he didn’t know the game, it’s that he seemed to enjoy the witty repartee more than the X’s and O’s.
  13. Platoon
    https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2020/08/22/baseball-unwritten-rules-fernando-tatis-jr/
  14. Platoon
    It never would have occurred to me that the dropped third strike was so controversial. But shows what I know. For that matter I don’t think that’s the most important or beneficial rules change for catchers as far as Twins Territory is concerned. I think that runners shouldn’t be allowed to advance on balls to the backstop. Nor leave the base till the pitch crosses the plate. Like they do in little league. Then we could finally transition to catchers whose only claim to talent is to hit. No glove responsibilities at all. That would then make them similar to the criteria for middle IF that we now employ!
  15. Platoon
    You must have missed all the posts that 1B defense isn’t important?
  16. Platoon
    I wanted to read it also. Not all Twins news is good, but it still may be interesting. It also may bring up that Rogers seems in a tough stretch. Btw, I see that advancing Buxton to third via an out, albeit without a bunt, can be productive? Who’d a thunk it?
  17. Platoon
    Turn the warning track into an 8’ deep moat. When he hits the water at 22 mph, he will slow down quickly but safely. Btw, before you call in the backhoe, someone ask Buck if he can swim. An additional benefit to this approach is that the next time Jake Cave dives for a ball that he has no chance in getting to, he won’t tear his uniform pants, and can simply dog paddle after the inside the park HR. (Do baseballs float?)
  18. Platoon
    Well it certainly wasn’t the greatest series of balls strikes in recorded history. Nor am I in a position to evaluate Meals as a MLB umpire based on this game. But, and there is always a but. The second pitch was the epitome of what we have been calling for Twins catchers to do for years. Framing, pulling, or stealing a pitch to influence a strike. And the third wasn’t much different. Just turned out their catcher was a little more adept at it. The other is that if Meals zone was large, then what is a left handed hitter doing taking a low 0-2 floater? Finally umpires have bad days, just like players. Some days the strike zone is as easy to read as Anne of Green Gables, some days it’s War and Peace and the game takes just as long as the book, or seems to. Finally, the Twins aren’t what? 1-5 recently because of the umpiring. They are either hitting HR’s or nothing. And that’s not a sustainable approach, despite last years euphoria over Bombas. Throw in a rotation that’s a flaming mess, and you have identified the issues. But it wasn’t Meals strike zone, or Keplers AB.
  19. Platoon
    So are the Twins sitting on their prospects because the players clock will start ticking? Ticking in a season which is already an aberration, and may not come to conclusion? I am not advocating that concept but it would be in tune with the rationale many pro sports decisions, which is, follow the money!
  20. Platoon
    Garvers hot bat covered his cold glove last year. While I am not sure if his one kneed catching stance is getting us more called strikes, it’s definitely getting Garver more exercise running to the backstop. With runners on maybe he needs to return to a more basic stance. Neither his glove or his arm are good enough for him to crouch as he currently does. He is 28? 29? years old. His bat may return, but he will never be a decent defensive catcher.
  21. Platoon
    It still grates at me that pro sports resumption is predicated on consistent and frequent testing and the resulting protocols, when few others can access those privileges. And yet, with all the wealth and leverage which is obvious to anyone, they still can’t get it right. Add to that the sad comparisons of people waiting for 8 hours in AZ for a test, or LA testing sites running out of tests in "minutes" after opening and I question the whole concept and feasibility of this process. I have been a baseball and sports fan all my life, but I would think that we must have a better use of the resources consumed by this attempt to normalize life in a time when normal isn’t even a word anymore. The only thing real here is the money. The stats, the standings, even the game itself isn’t really real. It’s an asterisk waiting to happen.
  22. Platoon
    When someone says "but", after the phrase "I know you are a man of integrity", they know you really aren’t!
  23. Platoon
    The rumors of your demise were greatly exaggerated! Or so it seems? Btw, I learned more about the music licensing business in your OP than I ever did.
  24. Platoon
    Thanks, during the last three months I think of this clip often. There is nothing wrong with having problems to fix. There is something wrong with refusing to admit it.
  25. Platoon
    >>>>>>" Our community is broken. Our country is broken." We live in the greatest country on earth. Our community/country is not broken. You are stating your opinion as fact. A tragic death lead to a protest which lead to planned riots and anarchists coming to Mpls and many large cities throughout the nation." There are things wrong with Nicks post, but "Our community is broken. Our country is broken.", isn’t one of them. The assertion that a tragic death led to this protest is somewhat simplistic. It disregards the totality of not only the last three months of news stories related to this issue, but the last 400 years as well. Toss in the Covid, and the resultant financial crisis, and you have far more than a "tragic death" in play here. We do live in a great country, but it’s not quite as great as we like to believe. Members of this site love metrics. And a precursory dive into a list of metrics that quantify our standings in the issues that define "great country" isn’t as pretty as some seem fo believe. Nicks piece and your response do have some positive points, and do have some of which I disagree with, But, until we all take a deep unvarnished look at what has and is happening in this country, we will never have the wherewithal to make it what we, in our wishful thinking, believe it now is.
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