The security guard is definitely the star of that video.
Looks to me like the guy is doing his job. He's asking questions and talking with the woman. It's not like she's a threat to anyone.
No doubt. Still, kinda funny.
Okay, I'm making up for time with Play Index.
Today's trivia question. There are 17 players in baseball history to have 100 RBI but a negative bWAR. Only one player did it more than once, and he did it THREE times in his career. Who is it?
Does the front office know that some of baseball's best managers, historically, didn't have any ties to the Twins franchise?
Maybe these M's will be good managers, but isn't one of the main problems just how stale the organization has become? They're going to fix that by promoting from within?
There's also been two World Series wins and a decade of making the playoffs under hires from within, though.
Also, I'm all in on Dougie Baseball managing.
What other use can there be to having the spelling of his name memorized?
If it can't be my hometown boy Steinbach, (or entertainment option Ozzie) let it be Minty, and let him get #16 back.
One reason to want Ozzie, the potential for clips of this song to be played at coaching visits to mound and ejection-tirades:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DDTevharSs
The kind of change you're talking about seems like the kind of change that only comes along with a entirely new front office and philosophy. The Twins could hire Joe Maddon's Twin, but the person in the dugout is going to matter far less than the person who signs the players on the field. Unless TR shows signs that he's willing to vigorously challenge his own philosophy, the guy in the dugout might as well be someone the young players feel comfortable with from previous positive experience. Both Molitor & Mientkiewicz have been around the minors enough to meet that criteria.
A lot of people seem to think (not saying you do, but it seems to be a common sentiment) that if Molitor gets the job, he'll be a Gardy clone because he was on Gardy's staff. It doesn't necessarily work that way. Gardy was on TK's staff, but he wasn't a TK clone. When you're a coach, you have to go along with what the boss wants whether you agree with it or not. I'm not saying Molitor would make radical changes, but I'm sure he has some ideas of his own he'd like to try. Everyone has their own way of doing things.
Both M11 and Molly have spent enough time outside the organization to have fresh thoughts, and both have been on winners...and both know Minnesota baseball. If they know how to platoon and can understand an advanced stat or two, they have my vote.
Anyone seen any sign of (proper) platooning on either of the past 2 Miracle's seasons?
Don't know about platooning, but there's a difference between being willing to platoon and being allowed to platoon. You wouldn't be allowed to platoon a prospect because he needs to be able to be exposed to different types of pitches so the organization would know how to use them in the majors.
One of these M's might very well be the best choice, but would it kill them to bring in someone like Dave Martinez just to learn how the Rays think or Dave Righetti to figure out how the Giants develop pitching?
My complaint is solely that they've been so focused on considering internal candidates.
Dave Righetti's name doesn't start with "M"
My current employer likes to promote from within, but then the administration will bemoan how stale our project proposals are. Chicken and eggs.
And how do you determine who would be a good manager if they aren't in the organization? By an interview or three, observation from afar and/or recommendations from people who have vested interest in you not succeeding. At least with someone from within the organization, you have a much better idea of if they would be a good manager of an MLB team or not.
As for these two, they are not just Twins guys. They both have won World Series with other teams as players. Molitor won World Series with two other teams and played 18 seasons before joining the Twins. He also has coached for other teams as he was Seattle's batting coach for a year or two. Molitor was the one primarily responsible for the Twins employing their defensive shifts for the first time. He also was a player under TK for three seasons, so he could be called a prodigy of TK as much as Gardy. Molitor has always been known as an extremely smart baseball person who sees things that others don't.
Mientkiewicz played for six other teams, including 3 NL teams, and was with Boston when they won the WS after being one of the first teams to fully embrace sabermetrics. Mientkiewicz also played two full seasons under TK and about 2 1/2 seasons with Gardy as manager, so he would have influences from both. Mientkiewicz would seem to be more of an in-your-face type of manager that would make sure players know where they stand and wouldn't let players get away with anything. He also has managed the majority of the Twins' top prospects with a lot of onfield success.
Absent Joe Maddon's sudden availability, I don't think I would mind either Molitor or Mientkiewicz taking over.
I don't know if I'd prefer Maddon over the sudden, unexpected availability of Showalter or Tito.
Tito?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC1_brYsHjQ
Tito.
Tito
Reusse might be a bit of an old crank, but I do appreciate his idea regarding the need for an everyday coach who the youngsters from the Caribbean & Latin America can relate to. The Twins keep talking about organizational depth (a youth movement, if you will) as being essential to a successful MLB club. No offense to Bobby Cuellar, but in my mind, it's essential that this managerial selection proactively addresses the coaching and interaction with the players who comprise that 'youth movement.'
Molitor or Mientkiewicz both seem like fairly conservative, "easy" choices, but both have experience working with young players. I just hope whomever they hire is willing to build a staff that knows how to connect with the core group of young talent: Vargas, Santana, Arcia, Pinto, Sano, Escobar, Berrios, Rosario, Polanco...fluency in Spanish is just the tip of the iceberg.
One advantage for Dougie is that he has already coached a number of these kids at Ft Meyers.
I forget who wrote it, but someone asked some of the top prospects, including some latinos, who in the Twins organization they rely on the most and the consensus was Molitor. In fact, I think the writer asked who else? And they repeated Molitor.
That was Souhan. He was in reporting mode, so it was a decent column.
If Dougie is hired as manager, I'm not sure how I would feel about the Twins having a manager younger than I am.
What I like about this one is the pointer to and use of the Baseball Heat Map's Injury Database.
Using Baseball Heat Maps's injury database from 2011 (when the concussion DL was introduced) and through the end of 2013, I've found that the seven-day concussion list has been used 47 times by MLB clubs for 42 different players. Of those players, more than a third of them (17 in all) were catchers. Again, out of nine positions on the diamond (and designated hitter), over a third of the players who received concussions between 2011 and 2013 were catchers. Two of those players (Paul Konerko and the aforementioned Justin Morneau) were first basemen. So no, Bob, by moving Joe Mauer out from behind the plate the Twins have dramatically cut down on the possibility of him suffering another devastating head injury. Given what we now know about the affects of repeated head injuries (including repeated injuries that don't even rise to the level of concussion), good for them for doing so.
my favorite stupid comment on the piece contains this brilliant understanding of physics and logic:
FWIW – I don’t understand why MLB allows catcher’s masks that could cause a concussion from a foul tip. A baseball weighs five ounces. It should be pathetically easy to prevent a five ounce object from harming a catcher’s brain. Most concussions in sports are caused by 200+ pound athletes colliding or hitting the ground at full force. A concussion from getting hit by a baseball while wearing a helmet should be as likely as a concussion from getting hit by a football while wearing a helmet.
by DJL44 on Oct 2, 2014 | 3:19 PM reply
Uh huh. Because footballs aren't thrown at 90+ MPH, and catchers get hit all the time, whereas a football player almost never gets hit in the helmet or facemask with a thrown football?
There's actual research on the question of how much force is imparted to the head from blows to a baseball catcher's facemask. The research is pretty new (see here, here and here), as much of it came in the aftermath of Mike Matheny's 2006 career-ending concussion.
whereas a football player almost never gets hit in the helmet or facemask with a thrown football?
And if he does, he probably gets a concussion.
plausibly.
The typical NFL quarterback can throw a football in the 50-60 mph range. It weighs about 14-15 oz inflated. I suppose if a lineman got drilled in the head from short range by a full-force throw from a QB, that would be a pretty big blow, particularly given the small area of impact (probably pretty similar to the area of impact from a thrown or batted baseball).
I remember a story from a biography I read as a kid of one of the legendary QBs -- probably Johnny Unitas, or maybe Bart Starr. Some nasty defensive lineman had been cheap-shotting the QB repeatedly after throws, so he told his offensive linemen to let the guy through next play, and he drilled him square in the forehead with a pass, cold-cocking the guy. Not sure whether the story said it hit the player in the helmet or not.
A baseball (~144 grams) at 90 mph is 115 joules. A football (~415 grams) at 50 mph is 104 joules. Using the fastest known velocities (104 and 60 respectively) yields 156 and 149 joules.
Thanks, sean. I was too lazy to do the conversion.
The literature I cited seems to imply that many blows to a catcher's mask would transmit sub-concussion level forces. and yet....
I don’t understand why police forces and the military allow uniforms that could cause trauma from a bullet. A 30-06 bullet weighs about 10 grams. It should be pathetically easy to prevent a ten gram object from puncturing person's body.
Maybe if we re-write this sentence, the writer will understand his error.
Oooh. Well done.
Chromecast is cool.
Runner daughter is now set up in her apartment, and since she was not getting cable/U-verse, I decided to use her as an experiment and ordered a $25 refurb Chromecast to replace her HDMI cable. So far, I like.
Linds and I use our Chromecast constantly. It's very cool.
Zach Lowe's podcast with Amin Elhassan has a lot of Rubio talk. If you like hoops Lowe is always worth a listen but Rubio fans should give this one a listen, for sure.
So you're saying it's The End of the grand slam-less streak by shortstops in postseason play?
It's certainly The End of Pittsburgh's World Series dreams.
It's certainly The End of my birthday 🙁
Or the second day of your Birthday Month. Keep celebrating.
I'll get working on my thinkpiece about how Jeter retiring allowed a shortstop to finally hit a grand slam in the postseason.
I'll get working on my thinkpiece about how Jeter retiring
allowedinspired a shortstop to finally hit a grand slam in the postseason.FTFY.
Oooooooh. #R35PECT
You're quite good at reading between the lines.
My b-ref account is fixed. They said they couldn't locate any of my previous three e-mails. Guess I'll keep Sean on speed-dial.
Looks like the folks in Pittsburgh need more practice finding their way around playoff baseball.
The security guard is definitely the star of that video.
Looks to me like the guy is doing his job. He's asking questions and talking with the woman. It's not like she's a threat to anyone.
No doubt. Still, kinda funny.
Okay, I'm making up for time with Play Index.
Today's trivia question. There are 17 players in baseball history to have 100 RBI but a negative bWAR. Only one player did it more than once, and he did it THREE times in his career. Who is it?
sometimes known as "rWAR" 🙂
RAWR?
We have a winner!
I think his WAR was on the plus side when this photo was taken
His WPA is for sure.
There is some love for M11 in the org:
Does the front office know that some of baseball's best managers, historically, didn't have any ties to the Twins franchise?
Maybe these M's will be good managers, but isn't one of the main problems just how stale the organization has become? They're going to fix that by promoting from within?
There's also been two World Series wins and a decade of making the playoffs under hires from within, though.
Also, I'm all in on Dougie Baseball managing.
What other use can there be to having the spelling of his name memorized?
If it can't be my hometown boy Steinbach, (or entertainment option Ozzie) let it be Minty, and let him get #16 back.
One reason to want Ozzie, the potential for clips of this song to be played at coaching visits to mound and ejection-tirades:
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2DDTevharSs
The kind of change you're talking about seems like the kind of change that only comes along with a entirely new front office and philosophy. The Twins could hire Joe Maddon's Twin, but the person in the dugout is going to matter far less than the person who signs the players on the field. Unless TR shows signs that he's willing to vigorously challenge his own philosophy, the guy in the dugout might as well be someone the young players feel comfortable with from previous positive experience. Both Molitor & Mientkiewicz have been around the minors enough to meet that criteria.
A lot of people seem to think (not saying you do, but it seems to be a common sentiment) that if Molitor gets the job, he'll be a Gardy clone because he was on Gardy's staff. It doesn't necessarily work that way. Gardy was on TK's staff, but he wasn't a TK clone. When you're a coach, you have to go along with what the boss wants whether you agree with it or not. I'm not saying Molitor would make radical changes, but I'm sure he has some ideas of his own he'd like to try. Everyone has their own way of doing things.
Both M11 and Molly have spent enough time outside the organization to have fresh thoughts, and both have been on winners...and both know Minnesota baseball. If they know how to platoon and can understand an advanced stat or two, they have my vote.
Anyone seen any sign of (proper) platooning on either of the past 2 Miracle's seasons?
Don't know about platooning, but there's a difference between being willing to platoon and being allowed to platoon. You wouldn't be allowed to platoon a prospect because he needs to be able to be exposed to different types of pitches so the organization would know how to use them in the majors.
One of these M's might very well be the best choice, but would it kill them to bring in someone like Dave Martinez just to learn how the Rays think or Dave Righetti to figure out how the Giants develop pitching?
My complaint is solely that they've been so focused on considering internal candidates.
Dave Righetti's name doesn't start with "M"
My current employer likes to promote from within, but then the administration will bemoan how stale our project proposals are. Chicken and eggs.
And how do you determine who would be a good manager if they aren't in the organization? By an interview or three, observation from afar and/or recommendations from people who have vested interest in you not succeeding. At least with someone from within the organization, you have a much better idea of if they would be a good manager of an MLB team or not.
As for these two, they are not just Twins guys. They both have won World Series with other teams as players. Molitor won World Series with two other teams and played 18 seasons before joining the Twins. He also has coached for other teams as he was Seattle's batting coach for a year or two. Molitor was the one primarily responsible for the Twins employing their defensive shifts for the first time. He also was a player under TK for three seasons, so he could be called a prodigy of TK as much as Gardy. Molitor has always been known as an extremely smart baseball person who sees things that others don't.
Mientkiewicz played for six other teams, including 3 NL teams, and was with Boston when they won the WS after being one of the first teams to fully embrace sabermetrics. Mientkiewicz also played two full seasons under TK and about 2 1/2 seasons with Gardy as manager, so he would have influences from both. Mientkiewicz would seem to be more of an in-your-face type of manager that would make sure players know where they stand and wouldn't let players get away with anything. He also has managed the majority of the Twins' top prospects with a lot of onfield success.
Absent Joe Maddon's sudden availability, I don't think I would mind either Molitor or Mientkiewicz taking over.
I don't know if I'd prefer Maddon over the sudden, unexpected availability of Showalter or Tito.
Tito?
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fC1_brYsHjQ
Tito.
Tito
Reusse might be a bit of an old crank, but I do appreciate his idea regarding the need for an everyday coach who the youngsters from the Caribbean & Latin America can relate to. The Twins keep talking about organizational depth (a youth movement, if you will) as being essential to a successful MLB club. No offense to Bobby Cuellar, but in my mind, it's essential that this managerial selection proactively addresses the coaching and interaction with the players who comprise that 'youth movement.'
Molitor or Mientkiewicz both seem like fairly conservative, "easy" choices, but both have experience working with young players. I just hope whomever they hire is willing to build a staff that knows how to connect with the core group of young talent: Vargas, Santana, Arcia, Pinto, Sano, Escobar, Berrios, Rosario, Polanco...fluency in Spanish is just the tip of the iceberg.
One advantage for Dougie is that he has already coached a number of these kids at Ft Meyers.
I forget who wrote it, but someone asked some of the top prospects, including some latinos, who in the Twins organization they rely on the most and the consensus was Molitor. In fact, I think the writer asked who else? And they repeated Molitor.
That was Souhan. He was in reporting mode, so it was a decent column.
If Dougie is hired as manager, I'm not sure how I would feel about the Twins having a manager younger than I am.
DG alert! Cheetah myths debunked.
The Hidden History of This Year's MLB Playoff Team Logos
Cool - I love when people put things like this together.
Another piece piling on the Bob Sansevere is stupid bandwagon.
What I like about this one is the pointer to and use of the Baseball Heat Map's Injury Database.
my favorite stupid comment on the piece contains this brilliant understanding of physics and logic:
Uh huh. Because footballs aren't thrown at 90+ MPH, and catchers get hit all the time, whereas a football player almost never gets hit in the helmet or facemask with a thrown football?
There's actual research on the question of how much force is imparted to the head from blows to a baseball catcher's facemask. The research is pretty new (see here, here and here), as much of it came in the aftermath of Mike Matheny's 2006 career-ending concussion.
whereas a football player almost never gets hit in the helmet or facemask with a thrown football?
And if he does, he probably gets a concussion.
plausibly.
The typical NFL quarterback can throw a football in the 50-60 mph range. It weighs about 14-15 oz inflated. I suppose if a lineman got drilled in the head from short range by a full-force throw from a QB, that would be a pretty big blow, particularly given the small area of impact (probably pretty similar to the area of impact from a thrown or batted baseball).
I remember a story from a biography I read as a kid of one of the legendary QBs -- probably Johnny Unitas, or maybe Bart Starr. Some nasty defensive lineman had been cheap-shotting the QB repeatedly after throws, so he told his offensive linemen to let the guy through next play, and he drilled him square in the forehead with a pass, cold-cocking the guy. Not sure whether the story said it hit the player in the helmet or not.
A baseball (~144 grams) at 90 mph is 115 joules. A football (~415 grams) at 50 mph is 104 joules. Using the fastest known velocities (104 and 60 respectively) yields 156 and 149 joules.
Thanks, sean. I was too lazy to do the conversion.
The literature I cited seems to imply that many blows to a catcher's mask would transmit sub-concussion level forces. and yet....
I don’t understand why police forces and the military allow uniforms that could cause trauma from a bullet. A 30-06 bullet weighs about 10 grams. It should be pathetically easy to prevent a ten gram object from puncturing person's body.
Maybe if we re-write this sentence, the writer will understand his error.
Oooh. Well done.
Chromecast is cool.
Runner daughter is now set up in her apartment, and since she was not getting cable/U-verse, I decided to use her as an experiment and ordered a $25 refurb Chromecast to replace her HDMI cable. So far, I like.
Linds and I use our Chromecast constantly. It's very cool.
Zach Lowe's podcast with Amin Elhassan has a lot of Rubio talk. If you like hoops Lowe is always worth a listen but Rubio fans should give this one a listen, for sure.