Fire Gardy

The always entertaining Jim Souhan wrote an article today in the Star Tribune about the Twins trade prospects.  He basically says “don’t hold your breath for Freddy Sanchez”  Which is actually a good point.  However, he does repeatedly make statements that upset me more than anything else in all of sports journalism.

Have you ever been watching a basketball game with someone, and their favorite team is losing and they lament “If we made our shots, we’d be winning”  Um, duh.  Souhan has this gem in the middle of the article

When Casilla failed to maintain a professional demeanor and approach earlier this season, he left the Twins with a shallow and slow lineup

Why is it his lack of professionalism?  Why can’t it be he simply isn’t good.  That the Casilla we saw briefly was just a flash?

Casilla will start at second base today. If he can be a professional, the Twins could become a dynamic offensive team again

I can be professional while playing baseball.  It doesn’t mean I will be any good.  I act very professionally at my job, and do it quite well.  Articles like this are just perpetuating the stereotype started by Gardy that Casilla is nothing more than a lazy Latin player who can’t focus.  I want to like Casilla.  Just like I want to like Young.  Why doesn’t anyone else get blamed for Casilla’s struggles?  Don’t you think all the times Gardy jerked him in and out of the lineup and threw him under the bus made him feel more confident?  Maybe he still has lingering hand problems going back to last season.  Souhan writes as though Casilla chooses to play poorly.  I do not think this is the case.  I think if he played for a manager who had some faith in him, he could succeed. 

He doesn’t specify how Casilla can play better, just that he needs to.  The Monty Burns approach to managing “You Strawberry, hit a homerun”

I understand that mental lapses can kill a team, but is the team doing anything to help Alexi get over them?  Has anyone noticed that the only native Spanish speakers on the 25 man roster (now) are Casilla, Gomez, Mijares, and Liriano.  That includes coaches.  Four of the youngest and most inexperienced guys on the team.  Also, 3 of those guys get most of the negative press.  Casilla gets called out in this Souhan article, it seems like everyday we read a “Liriano needs to pitch better or he will be moved to the bullpen” piece, and there is the “We traded Santana for Gomez? WTF?” piece quite often.   There can’t be too many positive vibes coming from the Twins Latin community. 

This post wasn’t written to rip on Souhan or his column (well, it kind of was), but after reading him it got me thinking about why Casilla has done poorly.  Could it possibly have anything to do with the lack of Spanish speakers in the clubhouse? We have to be the only Major League team without a latino coach.  Now, I don’t think we should hire one for the sake of hiring one, but I think it would really help our young Spanish speaking players get adjusted to the game and feel more comfortable.  Especially when they are struggling like they are. 

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Rob Neyer, famous AL Central hater, has an interestingly optimistic take on Liriano’s struggles:

Francisco Liriano’s ERA this season (5.91) is exactly two runs higher than it was last season. He’s been instructed to junk one of his two sliders. But fundamentally the only difference between this season and last season is a few more home runs. He’s still got a fine strikeout rate and he’s still walking more batters than he’d like. If he gives up seven homers — as he did last season — rather than 12, his ERA would look quite a bit better. So, this is no time to panic.

Frankly, I’m a little surprised that Neyer’s not saying Liriano’s career is over.* But part of it might just be that he’s looking at this in a surprisingly simplistic way. (Just looking at the number of home runs, really?)

* My guess is that it’s because the Red Sox have a lot of pitching depth at the moment. If they needed a pitcher, he’d be calling for the Twins to release Liriano. You know, like he did about Jason Kubel right before the season started and Kubel started raking.

I guess Neyer hasn’t seen Liriano’s numbers with men on base:

2008 Nobody on base: .250/.318/.406 Men on base: .260/.338/.374

2009 Nobody on base: .243/.314/.399 Men on base: .325/.413/.595

That’s pretty bad.

I guess he also hasn’t taken a look at Liriano’s struggles the second time through the order, which I’ve talked about in the past:

The first time through the lineup, opponents hit just .163/.253/.263 against him, with a 26/8 K/BB ratio and just 5 runs in 91 batters. The second time: .325/.400/.575 with a 12/9 K/BB and 13 runs in 90 batters. The third time? .396/.460/.717 with a 9/8 K/BB and 21 R in 64 batters.

I guess he also hasn’t looked at thrylos98’s analysis of Liriano’s release point:

As you can see, not only the successful Liriano release points are tighter, they are closer to his body. When he throws further away from his body, bad things happen.

These are a bunch of bad things. Liriano and Anderson have both claimed that they’ve found the problem, and it’s the crappier slider Liriano’s been throwing. If that pitch is the reason his delivery is out of whack, and is the reason he’s throwing fewer changeups, then yeah, maybe that’s the problem. And given that his sharp, biting slider is obviously a better pitch, he should probably just focus on that one.

Still, his mechanics are a major issue, and one that I haven’t seen any indication that he’s resolved. Also, perhaps a bigger issue is his inability to adjust to what hitters are doing to him — this (along with arm fatigue, from conditioning and/or mechanics) is probably the reason he gets lit up the third time through the order.

Obviously, I don’t share Neyer’s optimism. I wish I did. We’ll see how he throws tonight.

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Before the season, the Twins cut ties with Bobby Korecky, allowing him to be taken on waivers by the Diamondbacks. Early in the season they cut Craig Breslow in favor of Sean Henn. This week they cut Luis Ayala and replaced him with Bobby Keppel. Now, Korecky, Breslow, and Ayala were no great shakes or anything out there on the mound, but the Twins have seemed to go out of their way to replace them with inferior versions of themselves.

Breslow’s a crappy left-hander used in a LOOGY role? Well, we have Henn, an even crappier left-hander suited solely for a LOOGY role!

Ayala’s a crappy right-hander completely unsuited for late inning relief? Well, Keppel’s an even crappier right-hander who can barely get anyone out at AAA!*

* Seriously, in 6 seasons at AAA his ERA is 5.13, and he’s struck out just 5.2 per 9 innings. This is his first season as a reliever, and his ERA is down despite the fact that his peripheral numbers are worse; expect him to explode, Ayala-style, in the most embarrassing fashion possible.

Now, you might want to accuse the Twins of being cheapskates. After all, they didn’t go after any of the hot-shot relievers in free agency this year, and they won’t trade away any prospects to pry a good setup man from a flailing non-contender. This is the problem, right?

Wrong.

The problem is that they’re promoting crappy relievers to the majors while excellent relief prospects continue to toil away in the system, dominating at every level, getting older but not better. Robert Delaney and Anthony Slama have nothing left to prove at their current levels — AAA and AA, respectively — but yet they rot.

One obvious possibility is that the Twins believe in Reliever Roles, and they follow that system dogmatically. You must have a LOOGY reliever, which means “a crappy lefty you can bring in to face a single left handed batter, and usually walk him, before going to someone else in a more difficult situation with runners on base, and you have to do this even if he can get right handed batters out just as well.” You must also have a 7th/8th inning right hander who gives up runs every time out but there’s still always the chance he sneaks through an inning somehow. That was Ayala, and now it’s Keppel. Of course, when the Twins’ bullpen was working well (years ago), the Reliever Roles “worked” because all the relievers were good. If you have six relievers who can all go 1-2 innings and not allow a baserunner, much less a run, then it doesn’t matter whether you use them in their proper roles or not — you’ll have a good bullpen.

So is the Twins’ belief in the necessity and value of roles the reason for Henn and Keppel being on the team instead of Delaney and Slama?

It’s possible, I guess. But I’d like to think that the reason is considerably stupider than that. I’ll posit such a reason to you now.

Throughout their minor league careers, Delaney and Slama have always racked up a lot of strike outs. Normally that’s a good thing, but not if you’re being measured by your effort. Let’s just go ahead and say the following happened at some point this season:*

Minor league pitching coordinator Eric Rasmussen sits at his desk; Bobby Keppel, Anthony Slama, and Robert Delaney enter. Rasmussen: Hi guys, thanks for coming in. I called you in here to tell you that one of you is going up to the majors! Delaney gives a little fist pump. Rasmussen: What was that for, Del-y? You think you’re the one getting the call? Delaney: I’m not? I mean, I’ve struck out 9.5 batters per nine over my entire career, and I’m at AAA now … what do I gotta do? Rasmussen: We haven’t seen what we want out of you. You’re not clutch. Delaney: Clutch? I had 18 saves last year! And 35 the year before that! Rasmussen: That’s not what I mean. We haven’t seen you get out of any jams. You’re not putting in enough effort out there. You need to show that when runners are on base, you can get out of that tough situation. Slama: Wait, isn’t it better to just strike everyone out? Rasmussen: Absolutely not! We pride ourselves on our defense around here – Keppel: Yup, I heard that, which is why I signed with the great great great Minnesota Twins organization. Rasmussen: … thank you Bobby. As I was saying, we pride ourselves on our defense, and we don’t want our great defensive players just standing around watching you walk people. Delaney: I don’t walk people. 1.5 BB/9 is pretty low. Rasmussen: Bah! You should be more like Kepp-y here. He’s getting out of jams all the time! Look how many times there are men on first and third and he gets the ground ball! Keppel: That’s true, there are men on first and third a lot. Slama: That’s a BAD THING! Rasmussen: Can it Slam-y. Getting out of tough spots is valuable. You two bums haven’t ever done it. Slama: I’ve struck out 13.7 batters per nine innings! For my whole career! Rasmussen: Exactly. Your 53 strike outs in just 36.2 innings so far this year tell me you’re not ready for Twins baseball. Keppel: Rasmuss-y? Rasmussen: Yes Kepp-y? Keppel: I’m tired from all the work I’ve been doing. Did you know I gave up 26 homers last year? And that my WHIP was 1.663? That’s hard, grueling work. I need to take naps. Rasmussen: I know you do Kepp-y. And look at all those baserunners! And that’s what I’m talking about, you bums. You should be more like good old Kepp-y here. Delaney: You mean you want us to stop striking people out? Slama: And start giving up more runs? Rasmussen: In so many words, yes. Yes I do. That’s why Kepp-y’s getting the call. Congratulations my friend! Keppel: zzzzzzzzz Rasmussen: Aw, isn’t that cute? He loaded the bases last night but only allowed two runs to score. He needs his rest. Delaney and Slama dejectedly walk out of the office, each considering taking up some drugs of abuse so they can get suspended for 50 games and not have to deal with this fucking bullshit any more.

God damn it.

* By the way, this did not happen. I hope.

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Remember when Joe Mauer used to be good at baseball?

It was a simpler time then. A time of ice cream and apple sauce and those little sparkler things that never actually hurt anyone but always seem like they’re about to. And Mauer was putting on a ridiculous hitting clinic, absolutely tearing up the American League.

It was May, 2009. In Mauer’s first 29 games this season, he hit .431/.516/.873, with 12 HR, 7 2B, 35 RBI, and 28 R. He was on a tear. The man could not be stopped.

In the 9 games since then, he’s hitting just .351/.415/.405, with 0 HR, 2 2B, 1 RBI, and 6 R. He’s still sneaking the occasional single through the infield, but he’s completely lost his power.

The difference between an IsoP of .442 and an IsoP of .054 is the difference between Ruth and Tyner. Not only is it not the same player, it’s not even the same league. (Possibly not even the same species.)

Well, apparently he’s been feeling sick lately.

Joe Mauer is sick, but in the lineup. He said he started feeling bad in Seattle. He looked and sounded horrible when I saw him this morning.

“Just pull a Michael Jordan.” I said to him.

“Sometimes you play better when you’re not feeling well.” Mauer said. “Maybe it will help.”

He really started looking bad in Seattle, and it hasn’t abated. Since the beginning of the Seattle series, Mauer is hitting .310/.375/.379 — decent for a catcher, but this isn’t the superstar we bargained for.

He’ll probably never post a 1.300 OPS for a month again, but we sure need him to get up over .800, each and every month. So hopefully he can kick whatever’s ailing him and start hitting again soon.

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