twins/mlb

Would still love to see the Strib finger the scout who said Nishi could field. Hope that fellow is out of baseball.

This article, and this paper's overall bent, toward defense is rubbish. Defense does not and has not ever won championships, at least not in baseball. That's a fallacy, and I think the reason the Twins and their media allies talk it up so much is to avoid talking about the real issues in this organization, namely coaching and scouting. It's said that the way a novice coach tries to compete with good coaches is by strengthening his defense, so he can stay in games and subsequently look competitive. Here's the reality: In most cases, pitching wins championships. The Giants have won two of the past three World Series. They are amongst the best on the planet in terms of starting pitching. Where did they finish in defense? 13th in the NL! That's worse than the Twins (11th in the AL). This team needs to concern itself with one thing: Bringing in REAL, TOP-NOTCH starting pitching. The truth is, the Twins have won division championships with teams ranked as low as 11th in defense. But pitching...when you don't have Johan and Radke and guys like that, you don't win.

They still have two black holes. Third and Second.

gee'z...with the EX-MLB shortstop..aka Gardo, managing the team, why is shoring up the defense even in the equation? Why, having an air-tight infield should be a given. The truth is the Twins have regressed in the infield under Gardo just as much as they have in pitching under Andy. When the team had better infielders the strategy seemed to jettison them off somewhere else because old Gardo didn't like them or Billy-Bob/Ryan wanted to save a buck.

I just kind of giggle a bit at the title... So the twins need better defense and pitching? All you left out is that they also need some better hitting as well. OK, granted, we have three pretty good hitters, when nobody is on base. At the third element to the title and it is easy to figure out why this team is going nowhere fast. PS.... where are all these players going to come from?

Pitching and hitting are expensive. Defense is cheap. Defense is important, for sure. But look at the Tigers, for instance. They got to the World Series on pitching and hitting, with atrocious defense. When the Giants outpitched them, the Giants won. I myself am a fan of defense, because I made my high school team despite not being able to hit at all (I could bunt!) and having a rag arm. I got in front of everything at second and no matter where the ball hit me, I got it over to first in time. But I was a rotten player on a good team, and I knew we were good because of...pitching and hitting. I batted ninth, or got DH's for (high school rules).

You cannot take a two-time 60 win team and make it better by putting the same guys at different positions. This team does not have enough big league quality players on their pitching staff or in their everyday line-up.

Second, short and third possibly need to be fixed with real major league players. There are a couple available in free agency that could fix the problem. I expect the usual dumpster diving from Terry Ryan though. And why has this team had such issues with defense since TK and company left? Why can't the coaches teach players to play defense when you can teach kids the most basic of fundamentals? Why are the players unable or unwilling to learn? The answer is no accountability for anyone, be it GM, coach or player with this clown team. Jim "I'm not Knee Jerk" Pohlad has let this once proud, solid, classy team go right into the toilet. Nothing will change until the team is sold. Get ready for another 90+ losses in 2013.

The Giants have won two of the past three World Series. They are amongst the best on the planet in terms of starting pitching. Where did they finish in defense? 13th in the NL! BALLFOUR: Their fielding percentage was 13th in the NL, not their defense. We all know that fielding percentage isn't a measure of defense. The Giants defensive efficiency rating was above the league average. In 2010, the Giants' defensive efficiency was No. 1. To say defense never won a title is just an easily refuted opinion if you look beyond the relatively useless stat of fielding percentage at a broader defensive picture. Also, you can't pick one or two teams and prove a point. Otherwise, we can just pick the last two Twins' World Series teams. In '91, the Twins made the second-fewest AL errors. In '87, they made the fewest errors. So if you want to pick a team and use its fielding percentage, why not choose them?

Casilla was the Twins best ss and 2nd baseman. They just don't get it. Oh yes, the article mentions JJ Hardy.