Paul

I don't recall seeing him play, and the leg kick may very well give him trouble, but this tidbit: "Examining his spray chart, you can see that for hard offerings (fastballs, sliders, etc), he stays middle-away. On the other hand, for slower offerings (changeups, curves, etc), he pull them." is huge and the significance should not be overlooked. This tells me he's seeing well and is on the ball all in, what should be for him, a high pressure situation. This bodes well for him and the team.

Brian, This is way off the beaten track but, this has been on my mind for a year or two and I feel like doing some mental housekeeping. I forget the exact context, but a long time ago I made reference to the phrase "diamonds to ducks" in a response to you. You then asked me for the origin of the phrase. I consider it bad form to not answer an honest question. I fully intended to answer you but was busy at the time and didn't take the time to write. Since then this transgression has popped in and out of my consciousness, though always at inopportune times. Now's a good time. Here's your answer: There is a series of novels, (numbering well over 100), called the Destroyer series. The premise is an employee for a secret government agency, named Remo, who is not very bright but is well intentioned and is the baddest dude around. His trainer/mentor in Sinanju ("the sun source of all the martial arts") and life is an ancient Korean named Chiun. (Who is really the baddest dude around.) To me, the funnest parts of the books are the anecdotes illustrating the relationship between the two. Trainer/student father/son antagonist/antagonized antagonized/antagonist The phrase comes from Chiun in one of their conversations about how him giving Remo bits of wisdom is akin to giving diamonds to ducks. Another time he used pearls to squirrels. FYI A movie was made in the 80's called "Remo Williams: The Beginning" It's not very good and is only slightly representative of the books. An interesting tidbit about the books, that always amazed me, is the fact that the relationship between the two authors became strained. They lived on opposite coasts. Their method was one would write a chapter and mail the results to the other who then reciprocate.

I don't necessarily disagree with you, but I'm reminded of the Chicago Bears fan SNL skit from the 80's. Goes something like: "What if everybody else was injured and couldn't play cept McMahon and Di'ka?" Fan1 "Well it might be close till half, but den Jim and Mike's superior conditioning pay off. Da bears by 24" Fan 2 "I've seen Jim kick in practice. Dey dominate from the opening kickoff. Da Bears by 42." Fan 3 "You're both wrong. McMahon and Di'ka put such a whoopin' on 'em da 1st half, da udder team don't come out for the 2nd half. Da bears win by forfeit."

I keep seeing the name Hardy mentioned as a potential replacement for the Twins SS. Logic tells me there is no way this would ever happen. I'm a huge fan of what Hardy has to offer on the field, but he was already fired once by the Twins. Some event or, some recognition of an unwanted character attribute must have occurred to precipitate this action. Certainly it wasn't a determination based on his field contributions. From my perspective, I have trouble even seeing what's debatable about Florimon VS Drew. The contribution a competent and confident SS brings to a team is vastly understated in all the metrics the beancounters rely on. I believe in hiring the best people available, proficiency and character. Drew's been a plus plus ML SS since he was 23 years old, if he's a decent man I'd love to see him on board. The only argument that I can see against Drew is the propensity of teams with relatively finite funds to not "waste" any money or minor league assets until they feel they are ready to make a run. I'm sure this is a significant consideration of the Twins.

"...batted ball data broken down to minutia..." Nice phrase Parker, loaded with meaning. I agree with James that this is a passing fad for all but a few batters. James says 100 or so but I think there's only about 25 guys in each league who can't adapt and take advantage of unusual fielder positioning. All in all I really enjoyed your article until I looked at "(which has been a long-standing problem)" and was reminded of how frustrating it was too watch Harris and Cabrera stumble around, and how excited I was when they hired Hardy, and how pissed I got when they fired him. And how much more pissed I got when they hired Nishioka and I saw him reinstate the stumbling around. And lately I've heard the Twins won't give up the 45th draft pick for Drew. I thought I had recovered, but you just RIPPED OFF MY HARDY SCAB!! I have to go kick the dog and take a nap now. I'm very tired.

From the little I've seen of the kid, I still think he's the surest thing in the system with the exception of Buxton.

Great job Parker. But I agree with Wookie on the worthiness of the Mauer behind the back thing. Think ya missed a nugget there.

The "increased focus" on strikeouts is purely a fan focus. Teams covet the best pitchers. The best pitchers generally strike more people out than the lesser pitchers. Teams with the best pitchers succeed at a higher rate. To say teams succeed because they focus on strikeouts is analogous to saying wet streets cause rain.

Sad to see Mauer have to move. I agree with you, Seth, I think he's a lock for the HOF too, but I think if he could've caught part-time for a few more years he would be considered the best and most productive catcher of all time by most. On the bright side I think this move will allow him to play with fresher legs, arms and hands and should push his OPS over 900 for a few years, offsetting the normal decline players can suffer in their mid 30's.

"...but a little strong confidence is also sometimes a necessity for a great player." Everything done well stems from pride.

Can I really be the only one on TD who appreciates the irony of all the "pitching to contact" hate?

Seems to me that, even though the GMs feel various levels of responsibility, the economics of MLB are the predictable result of a monopoly in a free market system.

Aaaaah... so the moral is; don't throw hanging curve balls.

"And I've remained annoyed with Gardy for being Smith's apologist about this move, too." I find it hard to believe the manager of a 95 win team would allow his starting SS to be fired without having significant input into the decision. I think it much more likely this was Gardy's decision. And one not based on a sane evaluation of Hardy's on field contributions.

It's just a matter of time before balls and strikes are established by sensors at the ML level. The technology has been with us for some time now. Sensors are in everyday use in numerous industries. They make automation possible. Light curtains are so reliable they are extensively used for personal safety. I look forward to the time when balls and strikes depend on reality, not the opinion of a 55 yr old man with his human emotion, maybe 20/20 eyesight, and sometimes even an agenda.

...And for the love of God, never quote RBI as an indication of performance... Just think how many RBIs Mauer would have if he had Joe Mauer batting 1st and Joe Mauer batting 2nd.

He will have value IF his shoulder heals and he can again crack 90 with consistency. This will have to be determined before his value is determined.

Problem is, Vizquel could probably start for this team at either 2B or SS... This my friend.....is sadly true. I second this notion. Further, I think he should be signed to a 5 yr contract. So he can be eased into coaching in 4 yrs when the farm might have someone ripe to replace him.

The "bloodbath" seems to me to be a perfectly logical first step to regain the clubhouse. It's either this or you have a fire sale. It's essential for the on field staff, the players, and the FO to all be pulling in the same direction. There's a tremendous value in that synergy.

I can offer my experience. There are many many factors involved but, generally, if the play is in front of them or in their view, veteran players are allowed to judge the play for themselves...under the assumption they are better judges of their speed than the coach. If a player's judgement proves faulty, or he demonstrates a lack of understanding of the factors the affect the risk/reward equation that governs the go/stop decision, this privilege will be revoked. Rule of thumb: If there is ANY doubt...listen to the coach.

Good post Chief.

Is this hyperbole? If it isn't I gotta disagree. I'd bet money the team's field staff and ML scouts could all rattle off a pretty good pecking order of ML SS and 2B that you would agree with. If you had phrased it: "the team's staggering inability to acquire and field superior middle infield talent." I would agree with you. I think that narrows the focus to the real 2-fold problem. A) Acquisition Gettin him out there. I would further narrow the focus to SS, as the value to the team is significantly more there than at 2B. Acquisition is the easy part. All it takes is a little bit of love, a little salesmanship, and MONEY. These guys are extremely rare. The top SS of this generation make a lot. Gettin him out there is apparently a problem. I think Gardy's history gets in the way. He was a very good div 1 SS. He's a very BB smart guy. He's had 35+ years to study and dissect the position full time. I think he intimidates the young ones. And I think he pissed off and chased off the one vet worth a crap that he had. When Gardenhire retires I hope he stays with the team ala TK. I think his expertise would pay great dividends with the very young middle infielders in the organization. But I think it gets in the way with the ML team.

Willihammer, I agree with everything you say. But my point was centered around the data I've cited from my previous comment. This data is from an article on this site a few weeks back. I find it fascinating that a ML pitcher doesn't know if the ball he's throwing will go right or left or stay up or go down. And ML catchers can't tell either. Watch Doumit in the video. It's like he got crossed up on the pitch. I mentioned my grip discovery as a way of explaining this stay up or go down phenomenon. Maybe I didn't explain it well enough. The grip doesn't eliminate the spin, but rather reduces the rpms and lessens the movement caused by the Magnus effect, much like a split finger FB. Thus appearing to the batter to sink as you described. I've never heard of this grip anyplace, and I've never even spoken of it before, and I doubt that this grip would be intentionally used by a pitcher as they normally want to increase the spin. Also, I know what you mean about Blyleven. But he IS a fountainhead of pitching finer points. If only you can decipher what he's trying to say. Parker, from the link showing his grip I agree with you, but his thumb does look to be on the seam. I know from experience that the slight added friction from the seam, rather than the smooth leather, sliding off the thumb REDUCES the rpms. (at least for me) My thought was perhaps he is careless with his grip and this varies the rpms and thusly the sink. In any event, the guy in the video clip is gettin' PLENTY of rpms, and it does look like he pronates a tad.

I'm kind of fascinated by the reports on this kid's FB. Some cut, some tail, and some sink. And apparently, nobody, including him, knows which direction the ball is going. Or, even what's causing the variance. The one thing I could add to Doumit's thoughts, “I don’t know if it’s finger pressure or wrist angle or what it is, but he’s got a gift..." is this: A normal FB is thrown with index and middle finger on the seams with the thumb opposing them, roughly forming an isosceles triangle, with the ring finger second knuckle providing stability. When I switched to softball I found the movement I had, because of the shorter distance, confounded the firstbaseman. I discovered a grip change that "killed" the spin, thus reducing movement, with no real drop in velocity. All I did was change from a 3-point cradle to a 4-point cradle by moving my thumb further to the outside of the ball and adding the first knuckle of the ring finger as the 4th point. This was an accidental discovery and had more to do with the size of the ball than any mission I had. Anyhoo, if Deduno, actively or inadvertently, moves his thumb out or hits a seam with it he might "kill" some of the spin and cause apparent sink.

I agree wholeheartedly there's a snowball effect. And that it does work in both directions. But my logic trail seems sound to me. And the assumptions I make are all quite likely. Do you find fault?