How bout those Twins?? ammmi right?

[bisonaudit]

they better hope verlander strikes everybody out

It will be interesting to see what they do with their lineup. On MLB Network they were speculating that because they have a couple of strikeout/flyball starting pitchers and a couple of pitch-to-contact/groundball guys that one tactic may be to play Inge at 3B and rest or DH Caberra or Fielder when the groundball guys are pitching.

I'm sure we'll see a lot of late inning defensive substitutions from them as well.

[stevdock]

Personally I don't see how Cabrera is going to play 3rd for any serious amount of time. He was decent at best when he played 3rd for the Marlins and that was how long ago?? I know if I were an opposing team I would be bunting down that 3rd base line at least a few times a game because he is not going to make that play. And then throw in the ever graceful 1st baseman and my goodness it's going to be awful and I'm going to feel really bad for those pitchers there.

I absolutely love baseball. I love everything about it, but my goodness they are trying to ruin this game with the home run ball and teams selling their soul to get it. When the Twins were good and on the carpet in the Dome that was a fun team to watch. They would take every base and put the pressure on the other team. It's not going to ever happen again in MLB because it's boring but I would love to see a team win with pitching, defense, and aggressiveness. Screw the HR's, so the anti-moneyball. Wish a team would try it and see how successful they could be with it.

[bisonaudit]

Personally I don't see how Cabrera is going to play 3rd for any serious amount of time. He was decent at best when he played 3rd for the Marlins and that was how long ago?? I know if I were an opposing team I would be bunting down that 3rd base line at least a few times a game because he is not going to make that play. And then throw in the ever graceful 1st baseman and my goodness it's going to be awful and I'm going to feel really bad for those pitchers there.

I absolutely love baseball. I love everything about it, but my goodness they are trying to ruin this game with the home run ball and teams selling their soul to get it. When the Twins were good and on the carpet in the Dome that was a fun team to watch. They would take every base and put the pressure on the other team. It's not going to ever happen again in MLB because it's boring but I would love to see a team win with pitching, defense, and aggressiveness. Screw the HR's, so the anti-moneyball. Wish a team would try it and see how successful they could be with it.

Tampa Bay, maybe?

Saying anti-moneyball, I think reveals a common misunderstanding about the concept of moneyball. Maybe anti-OBP. Which was the undervalued commodity at the time that the A's exploited. What you see in TB is moneyball but the market inefficiencies they're exploiting are more in the areas of defense, the structure of long-term deals for young talent, and bullpen construction.

[CAS4127]

Tampa Bay, maybe?

Saying anti-moneyball, I think reveals a common misunderstanding about the concept of moneyball. Maybe anti-OBP. Which was the undervalued commodity at the time that the A's exploited. What you see in TB is moneyball but the market inefficiencies they're exploiting are more in the areas of defense, the structure of long-term deals for young talent, and bullpen construction.

I watched Moneyball the other night-->I am assuming the book is better . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

[aces1180]

I watched Moneyball the other night-->I am assuming the book is better . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The book was boring in my opinion. I really enjoyed the movie, however.

[bisonaudit]

I thought that both were very good. Of course I love baseball, statistics, books and movies and I think that Aaron Sorkin and Michael Lewis are brilliant at what they do, so maybe I'm a little bias.

It's pretty remarkable that the movie got made at all. Steven Soderberg had the rights for a while but his interpretation never got financed and even after The Blind Side did so well as a movie Micheal Lewis was convinced that they'd never figure out a way to put Moneyball on film.

Lewis's newest book "Boomerang: Travels in the New Third World" is tremendous. It's an easy, fun read of his travels through Ireland, Greece, Germany and Iceland during and after the financial crisis. Each can easily be read as extreme examples of specific problems that also occured in our financial crisis.

[stevdock]

Tampa Bay, maybe?

Saying anti-moneyball, I think reveals a common misunderstanding about the concept of moneyball. Maybe anti-OBP. Which was the undervalued commodity at the time that the A's exploited. What you see in TB is moneyball but the market inefficiencies they're exploiting are more in the areas of defense, the structure of long-term deals for young talent, and bullpen construction.

You're right. Saying anti-moneyball was the wrong wording but my 2nd grade vocabulary couldn't come up with anything else. I just hate what the HR ball has done to the game. In some ways it very similar to the defenseless receiver call in football. Both are changing the game forever and I doubt it will ever change back.

Tampa is as good of a comparison to the style I enjoy as there is in baseball right now. Unfortunately you've got the Evil Empire and his brother to go through just to make the playoffs, then beat them again to go to the World Series.

[jimmyptubas]

You're right. Saying anti-moneyball was the wrong wording but my 2nd grade vocabulary couldn't come up with anything else. I just hate what the HR ball has done to the game. In some ways it very similar to the defenseless receiver call in football. Both are changing the game forever and I doubt it will ever change back.

Tampa is as good of a comparison to the style I enjoy as there is in baseball right now. Unfortunately you've got the Evil Empire and his brother to go through just to make the playoffs, then beat them again to go to the World Series.

Maybe what he meant to say is that he dislikes some of the over analytic tenets of SABREmetrics. I think there is proof that a lot of that stuff works but I still am a firm believer that sometimes there is room for a manager to make a "gut" call in baseball. We know it can backfire as it did in 03 when Grady Little left Pedro Martinez in, but would SABREmetrics have Tom Kelly sending out Morris for another inning in the 10th?