Twins 2020

“And we wont see you tomorrow night…”

Pathetic

Fire up the charcoal, 0 and 2 and a BBQ. 18 in a row, I’m not even mad that’s almost impressive!

Ripjiggen wrote:

Ok so Twins in 2021? Someone should start a new thread.

Might as well. Keep it going for the regular season and have it locked once the post season starts, just like the team.

I have no words. This team does nothing but mash for years but as soon as you give them a competent pitching staff they all forget how to hit. I guess this is what happens when half your roster has career years in 2019. Come crashing back to earth in 2020. Record looked nice on paper but it seemed like they beat up on teams a lot easier last year.

Makes me wonder, did losing their hitting coach from last year, James Rowson, really mean that much? His Marlins lineup is hitting quite well and up 5-1 in Chicago now…

So frustrating. I’m never watching this team again. Not until next March anyway

You guys are forgetting to look at the bright side…..

At least it wasn’t a best of seven series….it would have added two more games to the already unbeatable consecutive postseason loss record

B-man wrote:

You guys are forgetting to look at the bright side…..

This is true. Thankfully they didnt allow fans otherwise I would have dropped a minimum of $100/game for tickets to go watch them. Good thing to note as I’m headed to Joes now…

tbro16 wrote:

I have no words. This team does nothing but mash for years but as soon as you give them a competent pitching staff they all forget how to hit. I guess this is what happens when half your roster has career years in 2019. Come crashing back to earth in 2020. Record looked nice on paper but it seemed like they beat up on teams a lot easier last year.

Makes me wonder, did losing their hitting coach from last year, James Rowson, really mean that much? His Marlins lineup is hitting quite well and up 5-1 in Chicago now…

So frustrating. I’m never watching this team again. Not until next March anyway

If you multiply their homeruns by 2 1/2 times it would be what their total for 162 games would be. I don’t know that they would be that far off from last year. Here is where it goes south. You need to score runs in this game to win. Period. That means people have to touch home plate. The more people who do that the more runs you score and the more games you win. Been that way since the 1800’s.

Now if you suddenly become “The Bombas” you try and increase launch angle by changing the swing path of the bat to the ball. You end up with more flyouts and strikeouts and less base hits. You lead the MAJORS in strikeouts (Sano) and finish in the bottom portion of the American League in runs scored and batting average. And guess what……….lack of runs means you lose games.

Gladden asked Provus a very good question today.

G- Whats harder to field and record a out on. A ground ball or a flyout?

P- I would think a groundout, you have to field it and throw it and somebody has to catch it.

G- So why are we teaching hitters to swing up and hit fly balls?

TBRO, you wanna try that one?

Twins gagged the central away and if it wasn’t for a epic choke by the White Sux they might have finished 3rd and gotten spanked by the Yankees.

Rocco will need to explain the Buxton fiasco also. You don’t not steal (or even attempt) your fastest guy in the 8th inning of a one run game. If Buxton is to scared (thats what I believe it to be) to go he shouldn’t have been put in.

The experimental season is over, the Twins get a grade of C- for making the play-offs.

Dutchboy wrote:

Gladden asked Provus a very good question today.

G- Whats harder to field and record a out on. A ground ball or a flyout?

P- I would think a groundout, you have to field it and throw it and somebody has to catch it.

G- So why are we teaching hitters to swing up and hit fly balls?

TBRO, you wanna try that one?

I would love to. Thats because the answer is simple. Its not about whats easier to field (although technically that leans in the favor of ground balls too- just dont ask Polanco). Its about what gives you the better opportunity to be productive as a hitter.

When a ball is batted into play its recorded as either a ground ball, line drive, or fly ball (depending on that dreaded launch angle term, of course). There are no other options.

wOBA is a nice statistic and commonly used among those that follow baseball analytics. Its about as simple as analytics gets. Compare it to “batting average” for traditionalists. Its basically a number that combines batting average, slugging %, on base %, etc. A number right around .320 is average every year.

Ground ball wOBA- .220
Line drive wOBA- .684
Fly ball wOBA- .335

Proof is in the pudding. The goal is always a line drive, but more good things happen when you hit the ball in the air vs on the ground.

If you’d like to learn more, follow this link:

GB%, LD%, FB%

More time to fish / hunt this fall without worrying about the Twins or Vikes at this point.

TBRO, thanks but no thanks.

Lol. Great entertainment. The old school Dutchboy vs the statistical tbro.

Got in the car and the first words I heard on KFAN from Barreiro was “This organization is a bunch of circus clowns.”

Mike J wrote:

Lol. Great entertainment. The old school Dutchboy vs the statistical tbro.

Not a competition at all. He likes them to hit the ball hard and far and give the stats cute little letter names.

I like them to score runs and win games. Don’t care what it’s called.

I’m sure he can give you alot of letters and numbers for why the Twinks lost again.

I can only say they got outscored in two straight games.

Anybody listen to Rocco explain why Buxton didn’t steal second in the 8th? Curious as to what he had to say.

If they can’t resign Cruz they will have a large hole to fill in the lineup. It was fun to see Kirillof play. He looks the part. I know small sample size. Can Kepler or Kirillof play left field?

They will move the Fat Kid to DH and Kirilloff will play first.

Dutchboy wrote:

He likes them to hit the ball hard and far and give the stats cute little letter names.

I like them to score runs and win games. Don’t care what it’s called.

I’m sure he can give you alot of letters and numbers for why the Twinks lost again.

I can only say they got outscored in two straight games.

Get pretty defensive pretty quick after getting proven wrong with those gosh darn numbers and their cute little names.

No wonder why you dont like them so much

Barrios and Maeda (sp) both had good starts. No Show Sano and Buxton are our cancer, neither play half the season or come thru when needed.

3rdtryguy wrote:

Barrios and Maeda (sp) both had good starts. No Show Sano and Buxton are our cancer, neither play half the season or come thru when needed.

I agree with that

Death by suicide!

3rdtryguy wrote:

Barrios and Maeda (sp) both had good starts. No Show Sano and Buxton are our cancer, neither play half the season or come thru when needed.

How about a 4th try, guy?

tbro16 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Dutchboy wrote:</div>
He likes them to hit the ball hard and far and give the stats cute little letter names.

I like them to score runs and win games. Don’t care what it’s called.

I’m sure he can give you alot of letters and numbers for why the Twinks lost again.

I can only say they got outscored in two straight games.

Get pretty defensive pretty quick after getting proven wrong with those gosh darn numbers and their cute little names.

No wonder why you dont like them so much

Well there ya go………… I didn’t know I was defensive and I didn’t know I was wrong.

There is a old saying, much older then you by the way that goes like this……….

“Figures don’t lie if liars don’t figure.”

Now, don’t get bent out of shape I’m not calling you a liar. What it means is you can twist any number to get it to read what you want it to read. Example: exit velocity means something to you because the ball was hit hard and left the park. Me, I don’t care if it went 400 feet high and took 3 minutes to come down. Results are the same…………..homerun. Wins above replacement: you use it to judge how good a player is compared to his peers. I use championships and titles. As good as Mike Trout is, and his WAR I believe says he is the best player in baseball hasn’t won a play-off game or been in one in a while. So really what good is WAR? I want guys who win play-off games.

We will never agree and I know that. I’m about winning games and championships. The stats in my mind are driven by the fantasy craze, as I understand it (i’ve never played) it’s more a numbers driven game then a who won the game thing.

The beauty of baseball is a Cardinals team of the 80’s with one legit homerun hitter could take down great power teams. Numbers didn’t matter, wins did.

Kind of a David vs Goliath thing.

Dutchboy wrote:

They will move the Fat Kid to DH and Kirilloff will play first.

I figured Sano is the DH after Cruz left. Was kind of hoping he would come back. Can’t imagine Donaldson being able to play full time third for next three years. So he may have to move to DH by default.

I was born in 79. Grew up in the 80’s. Watched every baseball game I could. Bought and aquired over 100000 baseball cards. I religiously watched TWIB, This Week In Baseball, every Saturday morning with Mel Allen. “How bout that!” I bought the USA today paper cause it had a better sports section. I went to atleast 100 Twins games at the dome.

I played little league, Babe Ruth, Legion, and Amateur town ball.

I have never, and most likely will never care much about analytics. They’re a science of a sport, but not a sport themselves. I know the science side of baseball has always existed, but the game to me was more exciting before the craze. I’m way over launch angles, exit velocities, spin rates….. Of course those things have always existed. But they were inside the game. Now that they’ve become the game, it’s changed for the worse.
I can’t imagine growing up now days and falling in love with this constant science experiment.

Oh, right, Twins thread. Ummmm, they’re terrible.

Rant over.

tbro16 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>3rdtryguy wrote:</div>
Barrios and Maeda (sp) both had good starts. No Show Sano and Buxton are our cancer, neither play half the season or come thru when needed.

How about a 4th try, guy?

Cancer might be a bit much. But mostly a true statement. Starting pitching was good this series and Buxton and Sano have yet to play a full season and each has missed playoff games as well. Not really a hater of either but it is kind of an issue for both so far in their careers.

The problem with the analytics/fundamentals debate is that it’s either all or nothing.

The good teams use a mix of fundamental old school baseball IN TANDEM with analytics.

For all they’re heralded, the Falvey/Lavine/Baldelli regime hasn’t accomplished anything more meaningful than Terry Ryan.

mahtofire14 wrote:

The problem with the analytics/fundamentals debate is that it’s either all or nothing.

The good teams use a mix of fundamental old school baseball IN TANDEM with analytics.

We will agree if you toss common sense in there somewhere.

Common sense dictates if all the fielders are on one side of the infield you at least TRY and hit it the other way.

Common sense dictates it’s easier to score from 2nd with 1 out then from 1st. Get the runner to second.

Dan wrote:

For all they’re heralded, the Falvey/Lavine/Baldelli regime hasn’t accomplished anything more meaningful than Terry Ryan.

The more I watch Baldelli run this team the more I can’t stand him. Today it hit me that it’s unbelievably similar to watching Zimmer run the Vikings. They have one game plan and refuse to adapt when said game plan doesn’t work out.