The frustrating part of being .500
Posted on May 26th, 2008 – 9:35 AMBy Howard
Coming into the season, we were supposed to understand that being .500 with the current collection of inexperience and low-budget fixes wouldn’t be such a bad thing. The Twins are .500 through their first 50 games and have created some cause for excitement about their future. Gogomez alone may make the Santana trade worthwhile down the road, especially if reports of Santana’s diminished velocity, reported at the start of the weekend by espn.com’s Buster Olney and discussed on Joe C’s blog, are borne out.
At the same time, however, I’m trying to figure out Gardy’s unwillingness to try different outfield combinations to prop up an offense that has been letting down the team.
Michael Cuddyer has three extra-base hits in his last 22 games and his numbers — .225 average/,296 on-base percentage/.310 slugging percentage are flat-out flat-line miserable. His pathetic strikeout in Sunday’s eighth inning, between Morneau’s walk and Jason Kubel’s grand slam, was a moment that woould have brought howls of derision had it been done by one of the Twins’ usual whipping guys.
Those offensive numbers are spectacularly feeble. For the statistically challenged, Cuddyer’s numbers so far this season are comparable to those of a good-hitting pitcher. (Livan’s career numbeers are .233/.241/.315, for example.) Nick Punto’s numbers this season are .265/.321/.347.
And it’s not like Cuddyer’s defense has made up for his offense.
Same goes for Delmon Young (.270/.327/.344.), who grounded into two rally-killing double plays on Sunday and botched an eighth-inning defensive play that would have snuffed some of the drama from that victory. (Face it, any time the bullpen enters the game these days, there’s drama — even with a five-run lead.) As Gardy rightfully pointed out, the infield single and ground-rule double that ended Glen Perkins’ fine outing in the eighth were plays that should have been made.
In 318 at-bats, Young and Cuddyer have combined for 1 home run (Cuddyer’s) and 30 RBI. In 238 at-bats. Kubel and Craig Monroe have 10 homers and 40 RBI. Monroe’s slugging percentage is .430, Kubel’s is .428.
I’m not suggesting that Cuddyer and Young suffer a Rinconian exile to the deep end of the bench. But the Twins having a day off today and then play for another 20 consecutive days, including three at Kansas City where the Royals are scheduled to start right-handers. This would be a good time for Gardy to get Kubel and Craig Monroe some at-bats while getting the current incumbents off the field for a game or two so they can work on what ails them and better contribute when they are in the lineup.
That could start the Twins on the road to staying on the correct side of .500.
other people are here too
111 Responses to "The frustrating part of being .500"
I’d like to see Young and Cuddyer both out of the lineup at the same time. Get Kubel and Monroe out in the field and use Macri or Clark as the DH or put Macri at third and let Lamdb DH, which if KC is pitching right handers so much the better. Cuddyer needs to sit for awhile for sure, although Young has come around a little but needs to show more powrer. One homerun between them is really pitiful!
I would not lump Young (.270) with Cuddyer (.225). A .270 BA is not cause for the hook.
Its interesting that two other OF are both hitting .279.; - Carlos Gomez and Torii Hunter.
“use Macri or Clark as the DH”
Ouch. That sounds like the old days where our “DH” would be Tyner or Rodriquez on any give nday.
I’d sit Cuddy…or at least DH him for a few games. If that doesn’t work, then you bench him and let Monroe/Kubel (whoever isn’t in the field) do the hitting.
But I think the goal was to keep Delmon in LF so he’d get used to it. Dunno if that’s still an issue, but it’s something to consider.
In some respects, a .500 record is miraculous.
That Casilla has more homers than Cuddyer, Mauer, and Young - combined - is mind boggling. As feared, Lamb can’t field his position, and it turns out he can’t hit either. We have no shortstop, and second base is still a big question mark. Boof has imploded and Liriano is in the minors. Neshek is down for the year and the rest of the bullpen — apart from Nathan — are more like arsonists than firemen.
Given the above, how can they be at .500?
Certainly, Nathan is critical. Kudos for getting him signed long term. Morneau is a super star, and Mauer is clearly the best catcher in the league even if a few homers would be nice. Kudos also for getting both of them tied up for the future. Gomez is a delight and may allow us to forget Santana in a year or two. Apart from Bonser who will soon be replaced in the rotation by Baker, the young starting pitching has been effective and occasionally brilliant.
The Twins continue to be the schizophrenic team of 2007 … superlatives at some positions but real groaners at others.
obie,
The Twins .500 record is not as miraculous because some of deficiencies are not that bad.
Harris is an adequate shortstop (if hitting is included), not NO shortstop.
Lamb can hit, if you include his career stats in that evaluation.
Casilla may remove the question mark at 2B.
The other deficiencies you mentioned are at least as bad as you described.
I’m frustrated too, but I won’t blame the outfield configuration for the Twins’ woes. Gardenhire has been willing to experiment when he has options, it’s just that an outfield of Young, Gomez, and Cuddyer is unfortunately the best the Twins have right now. Kubel and Monroe aren’t better in the field than Young or Cuddyer, and they’ve been getting at-bats at DH, so swapping them into the field doesn’t help anything.
As for their bats, Young is hitting .286/.355/.393 in May- not stellar, but not deserving of a benching either, certainly not in favor of Monroe (.196/.260/.435 in May). Cuddyer has had a lousy month, “hitting” .196/.275/.272, but if Kubel is already in the lineup as the DH, Monroe for Cuddyer doesn’t help much.
Frankly, no one other than Mauer, Morneau, and maybe Gomez has been particularly valuable to the lineup. I doubt tinkering with the outfield will solve much.
If I were to bench one of the corner guys, I would put Lamb as the DH and Kubel in the outfield. Monroe has also done zero since he homers twice on Mother’s Day. Clark or Macri at third would make sense.
Clark is filler, most likely headed back to Rochester tomorrow, but I would like to see more Macri. He’s had injuries, but has some power and the reputation as a versatile good glove man.
Watching Casilla play this week (I only saw three games) I have seen great improvement. The homers are nice, but he is working counts, and getting some hits. Defensively, I didn’t see either of his errors, but I don’t think he had the mental misplays and I am sure that he has gotten to at least three balls on which Harris would have no chance.
I know it is hard to believe this, but the Twins offense so far this year is above average. The Twins are seventh in runs scored and sixth in runs per game in the AL. They are another good week away from being fourth (behind only Boston, Texas, and Detroit). This is in spite of the monster homer disparity (First in homers allowed, next to last in homers hit) production disappointments from several players.
I hate to burst everyone’s bubble, as I know how much some Twins fans love to grumble, but in the month of May the Twins have been putting up over 5.5 runs per game. Why start experimenting now?
Young is 22. Lamb is learning a new league of pitchers. Cuddyer hurt his hand (although at this point I think it’s mostly getting his head straight). Give them a break and the offense will be fine.
Disagree with one point above. Harris seems to be doing fine as a SS. I’ll take an adequate defensive SS who hits .260 w/ 10 HR. Granted, he needs to pick it up a bit.
When are we going to see Brian Buscher at 3B? Lamb is below average at third and hit bat is non-existent.
I hate to walk the homer line w/ Cuddyer, but he did start the season off pretty well before that injury. Howard said he’s not suggesting a Rinconian banishment; I’d agree with that. He could probably use a few days off here and there, but I do think he’ll come around.
As for Young, he’s 22. He’s hitting .270 which is nice. He hits into a DP every other AB, which is bad. We shouldn’t axe him, but there’s no reason he should be the everyday LF. I don’t understand why he seems to be ordained the starting LF, bar none.
Only question I have - defense. Monroe is a downgrade defensively in right (though perhaps not by that much), and Kubel is a downgrade in left. The D is bad enough as is; I don’t know that we want to make it that much worse.
Cuddyer is actually one of the better right fielders in the league. He makes good breaks on flyballs and has the best arm in baseball (Ichiro and Vlad included). He just doesn’t look as graceful as Gomez.
“Cuddyer is actually one of the better right fielders in the league. He makes good breaks on flyballs”
Not lately.
“and has the best arm in baseball (Ichiro and Vlad included).”
Is that one person’s opinion or a scouts consensus?
Howard, your take is mostly correct. The main reason why the twins are .500 is because the division is terrible, or at least it has been.
Did I just read that somebody thinks Cuddy has a better arm than Vlad, and Ichiro? Also he gets great breaks on ball? Hey Cruddy is an average RF on a good day at best, and I would take that if he could hit. Which he couldn’t last year and can’t this year and couldn’t any year except when Mauer and Morneau were having their career years and he was sandwiched in between them.
So far this season, the NFL’s version of parity has hit MLB, or at least the american league. Not sure if that is good or bad.
Mr. Sane, I noticed the same thing when reviewing the Gomez/Hunter stats. Hunter has two more HRs and about six or seven more rbis. Maybe I’m jaded or too familiar with Gomez’s gait, but watching Torii run after flyballs makes him look like Gomez with a bad wheel. Like I said before, Gomez will be the Twins new bus driver (ala Puckett) in a year or two. Happy Memorial Day everyone and a sincere special THANK YOU to all of our veterans!
“As for Young, he’s 22. He’s hitting .270 which is nice. He hits into a DP every other AB, which is bad. We shouldn’t axe him, but there’s no reason he should be the everyday LF. I don’t understand why he seems to be ordained the starting LF, bar none.”
cause we traded our future ace for him… thats why
hes 22.. when torii was 22 he hit 5 homers and had a 250 batting adverage…
at 21 young had a 288 batting adverage and 14 homers… give him a break… ya he may be in a power slump.. so what.. mauers in one too.. in ways morneau is too… hes only had 2 this month.. people get into power slumps… everyone does… but for people to think that a 22 year old with a 280 ba with a arm that i believe already has 6 assists.. should be benched???? come on….
I heard the Detroit Broadcast crew claim that the twins outfielders were the 2nd best in the AL (Behind the Angels)…I haven’t been able to see them much this year, but that must come from scouting reports -cause they are not homers.
More importantly, they have to figure out the infield madness. Although I have a feeling Lamb, Casilla may be turning it around, no position other than 1st is a safe bet. Thats concerning.
An offense that has let the team down…
We are second in the division in runs scored. If Boof (Ponson) Bonser wasn’t pitching, the Twins would be first in the division in runs scored. It is not the offense that has let the team down, it is the pitching!
gatty,
The corner outfielders have 1 home run without anything else — OBP, game-changing speed, extraordinary defense — to warrant them being in the lineup day after day after day after day.
All,
There’s a difference between being benched and a game or two out of the starting lineup.
CF Gomez
2B Casilla
CA Mauer
1B Morneau
3B Macri
LF Kubel
RF Monroe
DH Lamb
SS Harris
That is the lineup I would put on the field on Tuesday.
I would also remove Bonser from the rotation and send Bass to AAA as well.
I would call up Danny Graves, and Mulvey.
Graves is not on the 40 man roster so if there is no space available for him on the 40, it’s time to remove DePaula or Cali who have shown nothing, and expose them to free agency… Cali might bet picked up. DePaula could pitch middle relief for the Saints.
BC,
Mulvey’s last 6 games in AAA.
0-5 W-L, 6.84 ERA
Not worthy of promotion.
If someone must be added to the 40-man roster, the Twins merely have to put Jose Mijares on the 60-day-DL.
He is recovering from an auto accident and won’t be pitching anytime soon.
Sid,
The reason why I chose him over Humber or Duensing is because he is a strikeout pitcher. None of our AAA or AA pitchers are doing exactly GREAT right now, so I chose Mulvey because of his K’s. He is a bit different than the starters we have on the roster now… so it keeps the other teams from getting a similar look each day.
BC,
Some of the relievers at AAA are doing well. Instead of Mulvey, call up Daigle or Mariano Gomez (along with Graves).
New staff would be:
SP.
Livan
Perkins
Blackburn
Slowey
Baker/Liriano
RP.
Nathan
Guerrier
Crain
Reyes
Korecky
Daigle/Mariano Gomez
Graves
I’d call up Dennard Spann, put him in RF and let him have as many AB’s that we’ve given Cuddyer the past 2+ years. I’d dump Cuddyer for someone’s #4 starter in the NL (Paul Maholm?) before every executive in the league realizes Cuddyer would be a career minor leaguer if not for the fact the Twins front office loves him so.
Cuddyer’s OPS+ last year was 111 and 124 the year before.
Why do so many people get upset over Lamb’s batting? Sure the average isn’t great, but it has improved decently the last couple weeks. Also his average w/ RISP is among the highest on the Twins.
Span is injured for several more weeks, so he’s not coming up any time soon.
For everyone defending Delmon, go to your favorite stats site and sort on LF and batting numbers. He’s not good. It is down right ugly. He is the only one w/o a HR. His monstrous .270 BA is mediocre (to put it kindly), he’s pretty much last at OBP and his slugging percentage is ugly. He isn’t being paid to be a 22 year old that can’t hit. I don’t care if he is 12. He’s being paid to be a MLB player. I’d certainly sit him for a game or two. This playing streak is a ridiculous excuse for not sitting him.
Cuddy - if he’s hurt, and that’s why he can’t play, he should be on the DL. Put Kubel in right and call up MacDonald or whatever you have to do. Frankly, he’s had 1 good year out of 4.3 now, so I’d not expect him to be great or anything, but this is bad.
Howard’s main point that it is amazing they are .500 is true. No one thought the hitting would be this way, and no one thought Livan and Blackburn and Perkins would be this good. That is a huge story, to me. Perkins has been the real surprise to me.
As for average runs scored, averages are wonky. A better stat would be the % of games where your team scores 3 or less, or 5 or more. Three runs will usually be a loss, 5 or more close to a win (4 is in the more gray zone).
I think there is something wrong with
cruddy vision. my wife notice in him continuously blinking his left eye in an at bat. he was acting like a person that had something in his eye. but he did not stop the at bat.
I don’t hate Lamb at all. I just think he needs more days off… he can’t handle 140-150 games a season.
Go with the batting order BC Beneke suggests for the entire KC series and let’s see what happens. Please give Kubel and Monroe 3 AB’s a game for awhile until they prove they can’t handle it. You make a mistake to any of the first 8 Detroit batters and it’s a HR. You make a mistake to anybody but Kubel and Morneau and it’s a single. It’s all about the extra base hits baby.
also as the offense goes.
I would like to see a stat on the Twins winning percentage in games where they have 4+ walks a game vs the games where they are overly aggressive.
The team still needs a new hitting coach. One that can incorporate the home run out of Mauer, Cuddy, Lamb, and Young. Those are all big guys that should be driving the ball, and Lamb is the only one of them that is producing extra base hits.
As for Delmon, I think the Twins coaches are babying him because they don’t want him to blow up like he did with Tampa.
As far as the Twins hitting issues, there is a common denominator here. The hitting coach. It seems impossible that the whole team goes into a hitting funk at the same time. There are too many guys with decent lifetime averages all hitting poorly at the same time. I suggest Tori was correct two years ago when Vavra was announced. Seems a new hitting coach would be the cheapest experiment to deal with the dozen or so poor hitters we are seeing. I’m not a Gardy fan, but lets start somewhere and send Vavra down and bring up someone or hire someone who WAS a hitter.
UpNorth…
I have been wanting Vavra fired since 17 seconds after I heard he was hired and couldn’t find any statistics that made him qualified to be a hitting instructor. Then Mauer wins a batting title, Morneau wins an MVP, and I think, maybe I’m wrong, but then last year… no walks, no power, no hit and runs, no clutch hitting. This year, very little clutch hitting, no power, improved, but not enough in the on base percentage overall, but still the team makes too many 1st pitch outs.
Something as simple as changing the batting order slightly may help. Putting some pressure on Delmon to produce, by batting him between two proven hitters, may get him some better pitches.
CF Gomez
C Mauer
LF D. Young
1B Morneau
RF Cuddyer
SS Harris
2B Casilla
3B Lamb
I find it interesting (and somewhat ignorant) that we are having this conversation toward the end of a month that the Twins score 5.5 runs per game, after the month they score 3.5. Vavra won’t be going anywhere as long as they keep scoring like they have in May. And as long as they do, I don’t care if any Twin hits any home runs.
There’s nothing wrong with Vavra. The Twins have hit with him as their coach in previous seasons. It’s consistency they’re lacking.
I omitted the DH from my previous post;
Monroe/Kubel in the 5th or 6th spot.
Sawdustking. Vavra has not consistantly shown anything close to improvement of these players. So one good month after a lousy season, a terrible first month, and all of a sudden the bandaid has stopped the bleeding from the bullet wound?
NATHAN… The team hit like shit last year, and in 2006 as I have said about 1000 times now. Hunter credited Mauer, Mauer is a singles hitting freak, and Morneau also credited Mauer. Punterrible credited Rod Carew. Cuddyer was credited to having a breakout year by getting out of the hell that was 3rd base for him. Last season the team couldn’t hit water if it fell out of a boat on Lake Superior… the hitting and running? Non-existent, clutch hitting, not so much. This season… slight improvements in the numbers are cute, but they upgraded the overall talent of this team something fierce, and to see it have this little power, this little pop even as far as doubles go, and still not taking enough walks…
I take the Ignorant remark from Sawdust, and I ask him to please bend over and stick it back up his ass where it came from because it was uncalled for, and as believable as some of these fools that think that Kevin McHale is doing a good job running the wolves, George Bush is doing a good job running the country, and Brad Childress is a good head football coach. All have been proven failures, and Joe Vavra is right there with them for his ineptitude as a hitting instructor. You have to be able to reach your players, and he has not reached Punto, Cuddyer, Delmon Young… he has not helped Joanne Mauer hit with power, nor helped Carlos Gomez lay off breaking balls out of the strikezone. By the way he didn’t do that for Torii Hunter either. Funny look at what he’s done in LA with a real hitting instructor!
BC,
Last year at the all star break the Twins ranked 7th in MLB (6th in AL) with 4.95 runs per game. The offense only sucked for the last 2 months (and the first month of this season).
I’ll stand by my ignorant remark.
Vote for me, fire Vavra, impeach (too late now) “Imperialist and sell the US down the river” Bush, and trade Michael (the Has Been) Cuddyer along with “Rinkdink” (Hijo de Puta) Rincon.
Changed my mind, am replacing Gonzalez as my running mate with Vavra - he likes to stay under the radar and is practically invisible!
Vavra won’t be going anywhere as long as they keep scoring like they have in May. And as long as they do, I don’t care if any Twin hits any home runs.
You should care, because when a Punch ‘n Judy offense that doesn’t draw walks actually gets into the postseason it gets shut down by quality pitching.
Who expected the Twins to make the post season 2 months ago?
snepp - you make sense. Wanna join the Nader anti-corporate crusade?
Trade Boof for Luis Rivas, he of the two homer game on Sunday, jeez, that is incomprehensible, isn’t it?
BC, maybe you should have looked Hunter’s stats before you showed your true ignorance. “Funny look at what he’s done in LA with a real hitting instructor!”
Torii Hunter’s stats last three years.
2006 .278 31 hr 98 rbi w/Vavra
2007 .287 28 hr 107 rbi w/Vavra
2008 .279 6 hr 25 rbi w/o Vavra
Projected .270 19 hr 82 rbi
It seems to me Hunter hit better with the Twins aka Vavra than he has, or will, with the Angels.
Anyone remember a couple of years ago when Justin Morneau sucked for 2 months and then went on to win the AL MVP?
I guess sometimes you can’t judge a player by his performance over 2 months…
Nathan still has a pretty good point though…
If you want to see how the Twins fare in the win/loss column you need look no further than Justin Morneau. When he hits the Twins usually win, but if he is O’fer they will lose just about every time. How goes Morneau, so go the Twins.
I agree, notice how Cuddy has the bat way behind his head, long swing, not good. Also, bat Garris second not AC.
Check out his pre/post-sll-star break splits from last year.
Even the year Morneau won the MVP the Twins did not start winning consistently until June. They made some other move that helped, but Morneau hit and the Twins won. Jeter got his hits win or lose, but Morneau’s stats are night and day in wins and losses, and we just missed matching the Yankees in wins by one. Vavra should get a raise.
I think it’s important to let Young and Cuddyer swing through their hitting problems… They’re both competent players, just not playing up to high expectations… I’d be for giving them a day of rest… have em take some extra BP… but any significant playing time taken away will only hurt the development of these guys (especially young)
all in all the team is doing better than I expected. So because of who our team is (owners cheap and dedicated to the mid or small market mantra) I have been having some fun with the wins and have a little hope for one of those “holy crap” seasons–the inspite of the negatives we catch fire kind of “crap”.
There are a lot of iffy/perhaps maybe kinds of players this year to say the least.
Fun tho’
Last I looked, Ponson is being shelled for 12 hits and 5 runs through 6 innings against the Rays. Texapon is looking more like Minnepon. What kind of funk did he bring the other night?
bassamundo,
Some days Sidney is the dog.
Some days he’s the hydrant.
Howard,
I agree that Cuddy and Young stink right now, but they do contribute defensively (see arm strength). I do think that Gardinhire should sit both players, but one at a time. I don’t know about you but placing Monroe in the outfield does not make me comfortable. Kubel should replace Young for the next couple of games. And Cuddyer needs to just see ball hit ball. (Both of them need to see ball hit ball and not hit ball into DP)
But I still say that pitching is the twins biggest concern. Right now we are poised to give up 787 runs this year, 62 more than last year and 104 more that two years ago. Not exactly a winning formula.
sane,
you’re right. I guess tonight he was the Tampon.
gatty,
I agree 100% with you…sit Cuddyer, let him sit next to Gardy and Vavra in the dugout and see good AB’s from the boys. Remember when Gardy sat Gomez and then next day he went 3-4 with a homer? I think that is what needs to be done here. I agree with sitting Cuddy for a few days and letting Kubs play RF.
After this short break, lets see what Delmon does. I think he was just getting a little worn down and just needed a day for relaxation and clear the cobwebs. Cuddy needs to sit since he has not been hitting at all, but Delmon has (3 triples in 3 days) and he is still young and will rebound.
I would love to see a rotation of:
1. Hernandez
2. Perkins
3. Blackburn
4. Slowey
5. Baker
Hernandez and Blackburn have recently hit snags but I think they will rebound vs. KC. I would release Rincon and callup Mariano Gomez too. Gomez is flashing a lot of things in the minors and it is time we moved on from Rincon.
Hunter with MAUER… not Vavra.
Hunter has come out and said he learned how to be a better hitter because of MAUER.
Let’s see, Hunter would be 1st in doubles, 3rd in triples, 2nd in homers, 2nd in RBI, tied for 3rd in steals, and his .337 on base percentage which is terrible would be 3rd on the Twins among players with over 100 at bats. So while he’s in the middle of a slump for the Angels he still would be the 2nd best player on the Twins.
So there is no ignorance on my part. The Angels are going to the playoffs this year, next year, and most every year after that… The Twins are not going to get to the playoffs with Vavra’s style with no plate discipline.
When a team cannot hit consistantly the easiest thing to change is the hitting coach. You cannot fire all the hitters, and when it’s systemic that the team’s ob% is terrible, they have no power… something has to be done, and Vavra should be fired!
Young is 22. He’s doing fine and bound to get better. Cuddyer’s in a slump, he’ll be allright.
The low and outside pitches like Greg Gagne never figured out how to lay off are giving both of them trouble.
I’ve never had an at bat in pro ball at any level, but after many years of watching, the really good hitters seem to be able to take those for a ball, even with 2 strikes.
I think they’ll both pick it up, and don’t forget about defense. Would you rather have Kubel and Monroe out there? Cmon, fogeddaboutit.
HAVE FUN!!! GO TWINS!!!
with Vavra’s style with no plate discipline.
Well, I agree with you on the lack of plate discipline, but I wouldn’t blame Vavra for that, at least not exclusively. Delmon Young’s walk rate this year is nearly double last year’s. The problem is more of a minor league problem. Players need to learn it in single A.
Young has a reputation as a swing at anything batter. No one is going to toss a cookie over the middle of the plate. But if his improved plate discipline continues and Lamb keeps improving toward his Houston numbers, he’ll eventually see some pitches he can jack out of the park.
“the team’s ob% is terrible, they have no power… something has to be done, and Vavra should be fired!”
Vavra is not the cause. Firing Vavra would have the same effect as firing you - NONE!!!
But at least firing you, means something was done which won’t hurt the team!
BC,
Keep making the same complaints about the Twins, T-Wolves and Vikings staffs and all three organizations will keep ignoring you - because you are wrong, wrong and wrong!
BC,
How about mixing in a NEW idea occasionally. Aren’t writers supposed to be creative? Same old, SAME OLD!!!!
sawdust.
I agree that the problem is fundemental to the whole organization, but I also believe in WAKEUP CALLS. If this were a guy who had a track record as a good hitter, or a good hitting coach that is one thing, but Scotty Ulger and Joe Vavra both had zero qualifications to be hitting instructors. Joe Vavra was a minor league field coordinator before this, and Ulger a pretty successful minor league manager. That means he’s a good student of the game, and good at managing, not at teaching a hitter how to hit.
I can give you a list of 10 guys that I think could come in here from A ball to the major league level, and have this team straightened out for the most part in 2 seasons, so that by the 2010 season when the new ballpark is here our hitters are ready to break windows from across the street, and understand how to hit according to the situation of the atbat, as well as with the runners, and the counts.
the other part of it with Delmon Young, and Gomez, and players that are that young. They need a guy that they see the veterans respecting right off the bat so they follow the footsteps. That early Delmon Young commercial this year is one of the most offensive baseball commercials I’ve ever seen in my life. The message of just swing at anything might have worked for Kirby Puckett, and it might have worked for Tony Oliva, but it universally is a PANNED theory that should be a BANNED theory. It is fundementally destroying the Twins organization.
I know I’m going a bit overboard on this, but it’s kind of like how Michael Jordan accidentally destroyed the NBA by being as good as he was…
He dunked the ball with such flair, and ESPN, and major news networks made it such a focal point that no one bothered to see him take the 2 hours a day of studying tapes to play defense. How he would hire former college players and retired players to come in and work with him so he could get his defense right… that didn’t make good sound bites, and 10 second clips so we get a generation of dim witted JR Riders, and Harold Miner, and Gerald Greens that can only dunk a basketball thinking they are going to be superstars.
It’s the same thing with baseball, and writing, and everything else, you have to have a solid base of fudementals to be able to perform unless you are a unique snowflake like Kirby, or Yogi Berra, or Tony Oliva… They all developped power in their careers though. Someone needs to have a talk with Joe Mauer about developping power. Being willing to sacrifice a couple of strikeouts so he can hit 20 bombs a season. I would rather have him hitting 295 with 30 homers and 90-110 RBI than .340 with 8 homers, and 71 RBI. He’s big and strong enough to do it. Vavra either doesn’t posess the ability to do this, or he doesn’t command the respect of the players that would make them want to buy into his program.
Pitching seems to be the main problem to me.
Sid, Just because it’s boring doesn’t mean it’s not true.
I am wrong about the Twins, Timberwolves, and Vikings? Oh my god… you just made me smile pal.
Twins… hitting philosophy does not exist, and is not coached properly. Prove me wrong.
Better yet, Fire the hitting instructors from Rookie ball through the majors. Find these people throughout baseball, and try and hire them and you will see this team become a hitting machine by 2010.
MLB - Bernie Williams
AAA - Al Oliver
AA - Kevin Seitzer
A+ - Mike Greenwell
A- - Kal Daniels
Rookie - Bill Madlock/Johnny Ray
Rookie - Carney Lansford/Terry Pendleton
Then bring in some more scouts to hit inner city areas, and division 2,3, and 4 colleges.
Also take some of the money that they are saving by not putting a roof on the stadium, and use that money to scout Asia, Europe, and even Africa, and bring in talent. Crazy maybe, but, when you are a middle market team you have to be creative!
……….
The Vikings… Brad Childress and Darrel Bevil are OFFENSIVE.. as in they offend the concept of football, Jump passes are discouraged in the NBA, and are a perfect sign that a QB has no common sense, yet the Queens keep going with him because they don’t know much about offense, and they are too pigheaded to admit a mistake.
And if you defend Kevin McHale for the job that he’s done… please make sure that when you turn your car on tomorrow that the garage door is closed because there are already too many stupid people on the planet. Kevin McHale could screw up russian roulette with a fully loaded automatic weapon…
the gun would jam! and he’d go and trade for the next Marko Jaric!
So while you want me to get creative… we need to fix the fundementals before we dare get too creative. As a former trainer, and coach I can tell you that without a doubt the fudementals have to be sound before you can go further. The Minnesota pro sports teams lack the fundementals in key areas.
My hopes for the Twins:
Gardenhire retires after the season and goes into either Broadcasting, or scouting. He would be a valuable tool in either area.
Anderson could take over as manager, Ron Guidry brought in as the pitching coach, Bernie Williams or Al Oliver as the hitting coach Al Newman brought back as the 1st base coach, Ron Washington (after he’s fired in Texas) brought in to be the 3rd base coach.
After Childress is fired, Bill Cowher is brought in as the Head Coach, and he is allowed to make all personel decisions on the coaching staff.
Kevin McHale is kicked off the planet, Hoiberg is brought in as an assistant coach… we pick up a GM from the front office of either San Antonio, or Utah teams that are consistantly good, and they hire staffs that are sound from 1-1000 in every position, and we rebuild Minnesota Sports.
Sid,
If you want to see my creative writing…
please follow this link.
blog.myspace.com/expression451
Please feel free to rip me all you want about my creative writing on my page.
If you don’t see the problems with Minnesota Professional sports then if you’d like to meet with me personally so I can schedule you into counseling please contact me there and I will give you my phone number, and my business address and we can talk. I live to help people… I’ve dedicated most of my life to it. Sports however is my release from a fairly stressful life. I knitpick it to death, and to me even if they went 162 and zero… they could find ways to improve. It’s about always trying to get better, and never settling for the status quo.
BC Beneke,
After all your wrongheaded crybaby rants over the winter regarding the Santana trade, you have zero credibility. You could not have been more incorrect.
You’re a wannabe writer with limited brain power and a massively over-sized ego. I’m embarrassed for you when I read your tripe. Nobody cares what you think. Go away.
since, someone brought the Garza/Young trade, here is Garza’s line with the Rays this year:
GS 8, W-L 3-1, IP 44.3, BB 20, K 19, ERA 4.06 WHIP 1.466
and here is Perkins’ & Blackburn’s lines for a comparison
GS 4, W-L 2-1, IP 26, BB 4, K 16, ERA 2.77 WHIP 1.192
GS 10, W-L 4-3, IP 63.3, BB 11, K 34, ERA 3.55, WHIP 1.405
If Garza were with the Twins one of them wouldn’t be and both of them are having a better year than Garza.
Young and Cuddy’s performance is not even close. Cuddy is in a slumb, Young is getting out of one (and has the 3rd best OBP in the team)
What I do not understand is Gardy’s tendancy to hoard infielders on the bench. It makes no sense that the best player in Rochester (Darnell McDonald) has not been called up, while mediocre people like Macri and Clark have been. He could at least push Cuddy for the outfield. Kubel should not be an option out there….
Common… Bench Young and Cuddy for Monroe and Kubel? This is just cherry picking numbers. There is NO way you bench Young. He hasn’t been good but his defense is better than Monroe and Kubel combined. He has a way better OBP then either of them and can steal bases. He just needs more time to really get going. Kubel should play IF… and I mean IF they are facing a right handed pitcher. The guy can’t field and he can’t hit left handed pitching. He hits 180 against left handers. He strikes out against everybody and has a poor OBP. You also don’t bench Cuddy he hasn’t had enought at bats yet to get going. He has a bent finger and has proven he can hit in the past. He just needs more time and more at bats.
Sean,
“He has a bent finger and has proven he can hit in the past. He just needs more time and more at bats.”
He also needs a good finger. Maybe he won’t hit all year because of the finger. Should the Twins play him with a bad finger and continued bad at bats or is there a time to cut the line and play more productive outfielders?
It makes no sense that the best player in Rochester (Darnell McDonald) has not been called up, while mediocre people like Macri and Clark have been.
It’s about needs right now, not so much talent.
The Twins have 5 healthy OF options at the moment.
Their MIF at the moment is down three (Tolbert, Everett, Punto). And last I checked Harris can’t play both positions in the game.
Clark, Casilla, Macri give Gardy some IF options while those three are out.
With Punto coming back, I’m guessing you can say farewell to Clark.
Casilla’s making a play to keep his spot, which spells trouble for Everett…who just can’t get healthy. But until Tolbert and Everett come off the DL it’s a non issue.
They’re not going to call up a guy like McDonald when all he’s going to do is sit on the bench and rot behind Gomez, Young, Cuddy, Monroe, and Kubel.
It’d be like calling up a 3rd catcher at the moment. Redmond barely gets any playtime, so what good does a backup to the backup do them?
I don’t know if Macri can play MIF as well as 3B, but it’s likely they’re looking at him as an option if/when they find a way to move Lamb either ot the bench or off the team.
“Twins… hitting philosophy does not exist, and is not coached properly. Prove me wrong.”
How about you prove yourself right. You can use statistics to show the team isn’t hitting well…but how do you prove the existence of a philosphy?
It’s all opinion at that point. And since your opinion is more than abundantly clear…it wouldn’t matter what people try to use.
There’s no constant with your reasoning, so it’s tough to build any kind of counterpoint because you’ll just change what’s important and throw that back as a rebuttal.
The Twins have been shutout X-number of times? Well they’ve also scored more than 6-runs X number of times. And 10 or more runs X number of times.
Oh, but those don’t matter because a blowout is a fluke.
Yet if the Twins get blown out (19-3 vs. Detroit) it’s an example of horrible coaching, and not a likewise fluke.
That’s the problem I have with your reasoning. There’s not counter. Everything you say is cold hard fact and anything we respond with is dismissed as a fluke or just “X-loving”.
mmmhmmm
Thanks, I appreciate you taking the time out of your busy day to say that. When I start caring what you think, I will contact you personally.
As for the off-season ranting… I still think the Twins would have been better off with a deal with the Red Sox. I just happened to under-estimate Gomez. I don’t see the other three players helping, meanwhile Lowrie has been up in the bigs most of the year, Masterson has done alright, and Ellsbury has proved to be a very solid player so not exactly sure what I was saying that was so terribly wrong?
Don’t bench Young and Cuddyer. Give them more days off here and there, and give Monroe and Kubel (who have what, 10 HR between the two of them?) more opportunities. You get more production and you put pressure on the guys who aren’t producing.
Cuddyer has a great arm and knows how to play balls off the right field wall in the Dome. Other than that, he is a below-average outfielder.
BC,
“Sid, Just because it’s boring doesn’t mean it’s not true.”
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion(s).
Its just difficult to be bludgeoned by the same hammer repeatedly without asking for a new hammer.
Is there anyone here who would trade the Twins .500 record for the Tigers 166 extra base hits?
I have had this theory that Kubel and Monroe are more streaky hitters than Cuddy and DY. So, decided to do some quick and simple research. Just based on this year, in games where they have had at least one official PA:
Cuddy:
10 hitless games;
23 games with at least one hit;
6 of those were multi-hit games
30% ofer games; 18% multi-hit games
Kubel:
17 hitless games;
24 games with at least one hit;
12 of those were multi-hit games
41% ofer games; 29% multi-hit games
C-Mo:
16 hitless games;
13 games with at least one hit;
7 of those were multi-hit games
55% ofer games; 24% multi-hit games
DY:
17 hitless games;
33 games with at least one hit;
15 of those were multi-hit games
34% ofer games; 30% multi-hit games
The secret is playing Kubel and C-Mo at the right time. That’s what makes managing hard. You never know when Howard, Joe, or La Velle are going to call one of these guys out. You have to be ready to play them at that time, because you know they will be lights out for a while after that.
It would seem almost a “lock” with this blog from Howard that Cuddy and DY are in for a huge series against KC. Thanks Howard!
Still waiting for that “White Sox will run away with the divison blog entry”, as we could sure use the help pulling them back to the pack.
Cuddyer does not need to be benched but how about moving him out of the 5-spot until he shows he can bat again? He’s wasting space there. Young and Kubel/Monroe would likely get better pitches to swing at if they were behind Morneau instead of Man-Swinging-Bat-Badly.
Agree with Kay…the most remarkable thing about Morneau’s excellent season so far is that he’s doing it with Cuddyer as his lineup protection.
Cuddy is the new Punto for 2007…
Your unsolicited Lew Ford update…Ford has hit in every game since being recalled from the Japanese minors over a week ago and his average has climbed from .170 to .220 in that span…thought the world would like to know (Lew’s catching up to Cuddy for crying out loud–shouldn’t that be motivation enough for Cuddy to get it going!)
D Young continues to do just enough to keep his butt in the lineup each day, but grounding into two double plays on Sunday was no fun.
Leeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww..san
Carlos,
Dang, I hope you’re right about my influence over these events! If it takes a well-placed blogger to call out the corner outfielders, then so be it.
Here is a statistical factoid about offensive production this year:
This year’s AL average OPS is .709, in 2007 the average OPS was .777, in 2006 it was .761, in 2005 it was .759 and in 2004 it was .763
Conspiracy theorists commence work 
By the way, that grand slam by Kubel on Sunday was further proof that the “Kubel in Moderation” as opposed to “Free Jason Kubel” is the way to go…my prediction is if they play him five straight games this week you’ll probably get about 3-for-20 or something…
and the AL average ERA numbers to complete the previous:
2008: 3.99
2007: 4.29
2006: 4.37
2005: 4.32
2004: 4.32
trylos98,
Year OPS
2008 .709 (not cold weather adjusted)
2007 .777
2006 .761
2005 .759
2004 .763
Looks like a bell-shaped curve with 2008 not adjusted for the cold weather months in an April-May sample.
sane,
so shouldn’t Cuddy and Young and Co, get a ‘cold weather’ break, too?
thrylos99,
Yes, their 2008 numbers should all be normallized for MLB-average 2008 decreases.
But I don’t think that would bring Cuddy’s numbers up to respectable.
you don’t get a cold weather discount when 60 percent of your games thus far have been played in domes.
If you take Boof and Liriano out of the starters ERA you’re left with a 15-10 record and a 3.83 starters ERA. Replacing the 2-9 record with the staff average would result in 7 more wins or a 32-18 record overall.
Hopefully Baker can come back, the rest of the rotation keeps it up and the Twins will be 57-43 after another 50 games.
Whether or not Young and Cuddyer hit any more home runs…
by the way, I think D Young is lying through his teeth when he said he doesn’t care about homeruns so long as the team is scoring enough runs to win…
this guy has to be thinking about it every time he steps to the plate…he’s human; he sees the numbers just like the rest of us.
Jason,
“you don’t get a cold weather discount when 60 percent of your games thus far have been played in domes.”
You get a 40% off discount.
3
That’s the number of home runs Justin Morneau hit in August and September last year…
…with an OPS of .623 and .657 respectively…
Here is a statistical factoid about offensive production this year:
This year’s AL average OPS is .709
2008: 3.99
The 2008 AL ERA is 4.10, and AL OPS is .725.
The one move I want to see Gardy make tonight is to protect Morneau with someone other than Cuddyer…I don’t care who that guy happens to be!
We know Gardy would rather use a Bat Boy for a DH than remove Mauer from that coveted three spot, so I’ve almost given up on this campaign as it seems way too logical for anyone to act on.
So, for tonight, please, give Morneau a real hitter to follow him so he won’t get walked each time up. Hell, make it Brendan Harris if you have to!
snepp,
my numbers are the equivalent of ERA+ and OPS+ (i.e. normalized for park factors)
Howard,
Off to a good start so far… Cuddy with 3 hits in his first 2 at bats (nice call 3b ump with the foul ball call on the double hitting the chalk) and with the nice diving catch in the outfield.
Cuddy has had two good at bats so far. He would have had a third but he just couldn’t let the pitcher throw a ball.
Has anyone heard of Luke Hughes? He is playing in New Britain Rock Cats, hitting .352, with 10 HR, 4 SB, 3triples, 8 doubles, 19 walks, only 5 errors, but he does have a bad strikeout, 37 in 137 at bats, but why is he not up in AAA, and Buscher not in the majors? Matt macri, looks descent, but Brian Buscher has played 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. He is leading Rochester with 7HR and 29 RBI with only 17 so in 140 AB, and is hitting 3rd with .307. Instead the twins have Macri and Clark up in the majors!???? Are the twins thinking of trading Lamb with all these 3rd basemen, or do not any of the 3rd basemen have a glove like lamb???? And what is going on with Baker??? Are the twins just keeping him in the minors to see if bonser ever has a breakthrough game??? I look back at is now and F Liriano wasn’t all that bad, sure he gave up 4 runs then 3 runs, then 6 runs, but the twins only scored 4 runs in his 3 starts. Never mind he gave up 13 walks and 15 hits in 10 innings, he may need to work on his pitching control a lil more. Hope he gets back to close to what he was before. we have solid pitching with hernandez, and blackburn, and hopefully if Perkins can keep up his great work. Would the Twins ever think about bringing up Danny Graves!??? Potential starter?
Everyone I think has heard of Luke Hughes who hit 9 homers in the first few weeks of the season before getting hurt. I think he hasn’t been called up because they are trying to give him more atbats at 3rd base to see if he can get it down well. He is kind of like Matt Tolbert in the fact that he is the super sub guy.
Baker will be pitching a rehab start on Saturday, and as Joe’s column just showed Bonser and Perkins were just switched in the rotation so that Bonser’s start will conincide with Baker for when he comes off the DL, and Bonser most likely goes into the Pen.
From what I was told (and I’m nobody, and some people on here are quick to point that out) Graves is getting innings any way that he can, and with the way the rest of the starters are performing in AAA Graves is just getting his innings that way. They really want to test him to get him back up here if he can help, but they have no plan to rush him. My guess is that he will be the next pitcher brought up if there is an injury, and that Brian Bass will be the pitcher sent down when Baker is ready.
As for Liriano… his control is slowly improving at AAA… It is true the team didn’t score for him, but those walks are unacceptable, and you cannot relearn how to pitch at the major league level, and do so successfully. I think Tommy John and Frank Tannana are the only two pitchers that were able to successfully do that at the MLB level. We need him healthy and 100% for next season. If we can get him before that it’s a bonus for the Twins.
Sid,
Your point is well taken. I would go off on Boof, but to me that’s fishing in a barrel, or attacking Iraq after it’s already been destroyed by sanctions, and 12 years of bombing, or beating up an elderly person… It’s boring, low class, and far too easy.
I’ve been thinking about starting a blog on my kevin mchale page on myspace… I’m not allowed to post the name anywhere on here other than on the Wolves page. But I am thinking of doing a weekly sports blog so I can work on more of the positives. It’s just so easy for me to concentrate on the things that upset me about the Twins, Wolves, Vikings, and other sports teams. I figure I will try to do one that is completely positive, and one that is negative, and see where more attention goes, and I am always willing to get ideas…
By the way I think I’ve been pretty good about admitting I was wrong on Gomez, and accepting the Nathan signing, and not beating the heck out of Cuddyer as he does his best Nick Punto impersonation.
I’m not on here much, but it sure nice to vent and write about things we see and know. Not everyone is perfect, and other people have different opinions and views. All I know is Gomez is young and inexperienced, but the guy has had a couple of homers and is to be ont of the fastest base runners in baseball, but I seen the way he acted the other night when gardy motioned to ulger to bunt for a sac to score a run, he swung away, that is not needed for the major league level, it is a team sport and a lot lies on Gardy’s shoulders. Sure he hit for the cycle very talented young man, but he needs to listen and understand the team effort.
As for Cuddyer, all I can say is he is not more than a .270-.290 hitter with 20-30 HR potential, good defense, good arm, nothing wrong with him, just been hurt for a while, he will do much better, he the jokester the twins need in the club house, and a smiling face everyone likes to see.
And thanks your comments make sense, and it seems like you really know what your talking about, sounds nice to hear from people who actually read and understand whats going on.
I don’t know what all this media hype is on the Twins not haveing any power? What do people expect when the twins are the 6th from the bottom of the league in payroll. It looks like they are 19th in Runs scored and 10th overall in hits. As long as I can remember I don’t think the twins have looked for power since the early days I thought the organization was built around speed, defense, good work ethic, and power comes later. Don’t get me wrong sure I’d love to have a 50-60 HR power hitter, but I think it is nicer to have a couple of stud starting pitchers. Afterall Championships are won on defense am I not correct on that?
[…] Advanced Search | Help document.write(”); clearEmptyAd(”OAS_topleaderboard”); « The frustrating part of being .500 […]
