Twins baseball question (Pierz, Gary, Kent: move, office, ratings)

[Govie]

Originally Posted by Slig

The Target Field argument makes no sense. The opposing team has to hit into the same wind...so nobody has an advantage or disadvantage.

Yes it does. As mentioned (^), our offense plays half of their games there. Big disadvantage.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by Govie

Yes it does. As mentioned (^), our offense plays half of their games there. Big disadvantage.

our pitching should then have the lowest era in the league instead of the 2nd worst.

we batted .252 at home and .243 on the road

we had the 2nd best home record in all of MLB last year (must've been that new cement I guess)

[yoyoma02]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

our pitching should then have the lowest era in the league instead of the 2nd worst.

we batted .252 at home and .243 on the road

we had the 2nd best home record in all of MLB last year (must've been that new cement I guess)

I wasn't saying that was the only reason the Twins sucked this year.

I was just commenting that hitting into the wind would hurt us more than the visiting team, over the course of a season.

[Govie]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

our pitching should then have the lowest era in the league instead of the 2nd worst.

we batted .252 at home and .243 on the road

we had the 2nd best home record in all of MLB last year (must've been that new cement I guess)

We had a full, healthy and destructive offense last year, but even so, homers have pretty much dried up (even last year). They've dried up big time since leaving the Dome. And of course they are going to be worse on the road as is every team.

The stadium is only part of the problem. But I think it has hurt the team overall.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by yoyoma02

Except for the fact the the opposing team only has to play a handful of games at Target Field and the Twins have to play half of their season there.

Originally Posted by yoyoma02

I wasn't saying that was the only reason the Twins sucked this year.

I was just commenting that hitting into the wind would hurt us more than the visiting team, over the course of a season.

this is just out-and-out bs, how is the dimensions of a stadium going to affect one team more than another from game to game? if anything, the difficulty in hitting homeruns should play right into what is widely regarded as having worked over the past 10 years, in the dome and last year at TF...Gardy Ball, Piranhas, Twins Way, etc... Twins have had what, one 30 HR player in the past 30 + years. You really don't have a clue at all of what you speak of do you?

[knke0204]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

this is just out-and-out bs, how is the dimensions of a stadium going to affect one team more than another from game to game? if anything, the difficulty in hitting homeruns should play right into what is widely regarded as having worked over the past 10 years, in the dome and last year at TF...Gardy Ball, Piranhas, Twins Way, etc... Twins have had what, one 30 HR player in the past 30 + years. You really don't have a clue at all of what you speak of do you?

Well, in their defense, the Twins really never had any big-time home run hitters, until now. The 1980s had some bad teams and no big time HR hitters, Kirby could knock them around and Torii had a bat... But when you go into a new stadium where Mauer is coming off a 25+ hr season, Cuddy just had a 30+ season, Morneau is easily capable of 30+, as is Kubel just entering his prime.

Baseball in general is over the HR era. Pitchers are better than ever. Mainly because they are groomed better while developing. Less innings, pitch counts, facilites, training, surgery, all have increased pitching standards, while the steroid long ball era is dead...

Dimensions of stadiums play big time into how a team plays.. Petco Field is a pitchers park. Comerica Park is a pitchers park. Target Field is a pitchers park. US Cellular is a hitters park. Fenway is a hitters park. Even the A's probably get a big number of outs a year just based on how big the foul territory is at Oakland Colliseum.

So like you alluded to, for the Twins to be successful they need a pitching staff. They also need to have their guys understand that they aren't going to hit 40 hrs a year while playing as a Twin. They need to embrace Target Field's big gaps and learn how to push the ball more. Joe Mauer has realized this. Morneau needs to embrace being an opposite field hitter and get over the fact he'll never hit 40, maybe even 30 again in his career.

[Cruz Azul Guy]

It's simply shocking to me that people actually believe that any of the Twins lack of success last year was attributed to playing in Target Field. There is no data that would support this theory, not to mention it's completely illogical. And to those complaining that Target Field is such a pitcher's park, try looking at the stats:

2011 MLB Park Factors - Home Runs - Major League Baseball - ESPN

According to the actual stats (courtesy of espn.com) Target Field is ranked 20th in the league for homeruns. This season there were 10 ballparks that were more favorable to pitching than Target Field....

20 Target Field (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
21 Tropicana Field (St. Petersburg, Florida)
22 Fenway Park (Boston, Massachusetts)
23 Petco Park (San Diego, California)
24 PNC Park (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
25 Angel Stadium of Anaheim (Anaheim, California)
26 O.co Coliseum (Oakland, California)
27 Busch Stadium (St. Louis, Missouri)
28 Citi Field (New York, NY)
29 Kauffman Stadium (Kansas City, Missouri)
30 AT&T Park (San Francisco, California)

[vcvc]

Until this team realizes you can't be a legitimate WS contender with nothing but slap hitters and soft tossing pitch to contact pitchers, they won't go anywhere. Yeah, you want some of those types of guys on your team, but you don't want an entire roster comprised of them.

And blaming injuries for this year is just silly. Had they been healthy then what? Yet another division title and beatdown at the hands of the Yankees in the playoffs? Pretty sure everyone got sick and tired of that act long ago. The goal is to get to and win the World Series. Settling for being a "nice little team" and winning the Central division is NOT acceptable.

I was driving home from work the other day and an ad for the ALCS game on and it was dubbed as power pitching(Verlander of the Tigers) against power hitting(the Rangers) The Twins have virtually none of those types of players anywhere within the entire organization, and the are deliberate about it. They don't like homerun hitters because A) They strike out a lot and B) With high homerun totals comes a big fat contract, regardless of the rest of your numbers. And they don't like power pitchers because A) Power pitchers usually walk more hitters and B) Yep, you guessed it, power pitchers who can strike guys out command big salaries.

The changes within this organization need to come from the top, not so much with the players on the field. They need new strategies in game planning, drafting and scouting. And more importantly than that they need a new attitude. They need to play with an edge and some swagger.

The "Twins way" that you hear about all the time helped the organization win 2 WS championships in '87 and '91. But in case you've been living under a rock for the past 2 decades, the landscape in Major League Baseball is drastically different than it was then. Mega payroll teams and flat out talented players are what win in today's MLB for the most part. The ways of 20 years ago are no longer conducive to competing for a WS. Until they figure that out I wouldn't get my hopes up about this team. Rant over.

[Ghengis]

Twins have some hope in the minors though these two may be a couple of years away. Miguel Sano and Eddie Rosario each hit 20+ HRs in less than 70 games. Something that has been done only twice in the previous 20 years for any team in the Appalacian Rookie League in which they were playing. Twins outbid the Yankmees and Philadelphia to sign Sano as a 16 year old a couple years ago and while still rough at SS & 3rd where they have him pegged, he's just 18 and 6'3" 195 lbs and has a pretty good chance of being a big bat in the lineup before too long.

[Govie]

Originally Posted by vcvc

Until this team realizes you can't be a legitimate WS contender with nothing but slap hitters and soft tossing pitch to contact pitchers, they won't go anywhere. Yeah, you want some of those types of guys on your team, but you don't want an entire roster comprised of them.

And blaming injuries for this year is just silly. Had they been healthy then what? Yet another division title and beatdown at the hands of the Yankees in the playoffs? Pretty sure everyone got sick and tired of that act long ago. The goal is to get to and win the World Series. Settling for being a "nice little team" and winning the Central division is NOT acceptable.

I was driving home from work the other day and an ad for the ALCS game on and it was dubbed as power pitching(Verlander of the Tigers) against power hitting(the Rangers) The Twins have virtually none of those types of players anywhere within the entire organization, and the are deliberate about it. They don't like homerun hitters because A) They strike out a lot and B) With high homerun totals comes a big fat contract, regardless of the rest of your numbers. And they don't like power pitchers because A) Power pitchers usually walk more hitters and B) Yep, you guessed it, power pitchers who can strike guys out command big salaries.

The changes within this organization need to come from the top, not so much with the players on the field. They need new strategies in game planning, drafting and scouting. And more importantly than that they need a new attitude. They need to play with an edge and some swagger.

The "Twins way" that you hear about all the time helped the organization win 2 WS championships in '87 and '91. But in case you've been living under a rock for the past 2 decades, the landscape in Major League Baseball is drastically different than it was then. Mega payroll teams and flat out talented players are what win in today's MLB for the most part. The ways of 20 years ago are no longer conducive to competing for a WS. Until they figure that out I wouldn't get my hopes up about this team. Rant over.

I'm fairly certain a couple of the teams that made the postseason this year had LOWER payrolls than the Twinks this year. I know at least one does but there might have been two.

And to say us leading the league in injuries isn't a factor is ridiculous. One problem (as pointed out in an article in the PP recently) is the pampering now that players receive and the fact they (and their agents) have so much control over when they return from the DL - on what conditions.