April 30, 2006
Twins Character
Ron Gardenhire is looking for something positive to say about the Minnesota Twins:
"I would worry if we didn't have character," Gardenhire said. "They're not going to quit, because if they do, they won't be here. We don't do that around here. I believe in them. There's going to be a lot of people not believing in you, and if you can get through stuff like this, it can make you stronger."
Character is nice, but good pitching and three-run homers win ball games. Ron is definitely channeling Sparky Anderson here, forcing me to pull out Bill James' 1983 comment on Enos Cabell:
I mean, I would never say that it was not important to have a team with a good attitude, but Christ, Sparky, there are millions of people in this country who have good attitudes, but only about 200 or so who can play a major league brand of baseball, so which are you going to take?
Good pitching and three-run homers win ball games. Right now, the Twins have the highest ERA in the majors, and 14 of their 20 homers came with the bases empty. And the 20 home runs are third lowest in the AL.
The optimistic view is the Twins are a much better team that's in a slump. The view that's closer to reality is that there's been a decline in talent. If it's a slump, it's Gardenhire's job to find a way out of it. If it's talent, then Ryan needs to step in. But noting that players are working hard isn't the answer. The work needs to be directed toward fixing weaknesses, or this team will continue losing.
Ah, you can never go wrong with that Enos Cabell comment. Cracks me up every time.
Of course, behind the BS, Sparky was a pretty good manager, his affinity for Chris Pittaro aside. Gardenhire I'm not so sure. He's done a pretty lousy job the past few years finding playing time for a pretty impressive crop of young position talent.
I think Terry Ryan has to share a lot of the blame as well. Ryan's done a phenomenal job at finding young talent and creating a first-rate farm system, but I'm not nearly as convinced about his skills at structuring a championship-caliber major-league lineup. David Ortiz was dumped because the Twins' organizational philosophy couldn't handle a high-strikeout power hitter; now they're signing guys like Tony Batista and Rondell White to try to get some middle-of-the-order production.
Ryan was also never able to use his glut of corner outfielders and 1B/DH types to obtain middle-infield help, forcing the team to play slugs like Luis Rivas and Christian Guzman for far too long. The Twins were able to take advantage of a very weak AL Central early in the decade; now the White Sox, Indians and even Tigers have caught up and are passing them by. It's well past time for a major rethink of the team philosophy.
