Puckett's Pond » JJ Hardy

Stages of Baseball Grief

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 07:01:43 +0000

Jason Kubel is the newest ex-Minnesota Twin. Kubel joins Michael Cuddyer, Joe Nathan, Kevin Slowey, Jose Mijares, Matt Tolbert* and Jim Hoey as members of the 2011 Twins that will not be back for 2012. Jim Hoey was never a fan favorite, especially because the JJ Hardy trade that brought him to Minnesota worked out so poorly for the Twins. Matt Tolbert, despite being Ron Gardenhire’s golden boy, was never the beloved utility infielder that Nick Punto was before him. The rest of the gang, Kubel, Cuddyer, Nathan, Slowey and Mijares, however, enjoyed particularly fan friendly careers in Minnesota.

*Tolbert has yet to sign elsewhere, but with the Twins’ utility spot likely occupied by Tsuyoshi Nishioka or Luke Hughes, Tolbert’s time in Minnesota is over.

They say that everyone experiences Five Stages of Grief; Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. The Five Stages of Grief even have a great sabermetric acronym, DABDA, so they’re particularly well suited for baseball. In this case, Twins fans are definitely feeling loss as the roster turns and evolves.

The Five Stages of Baseball Grief are the very same stages, just expressed differently. (more…)

The Winning Teams: 2010

Sun, 25 Sep 2011 12:00:21 +0000

This is the final installment of a series examining every Twins team that has made the playoffs. Whether the current version of the Twins is 20 games over .500 or stuck in last place, fans can always hold onto memories of successful teams past.

Previous articles in the series: 1965, 1969, 1970, 1987, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009

It was just a year ago, but it feels as ancient as the Roman Empire. The same Twins team that has bumbled to a likely100 loss season in 2011 was actually pretty good in 2010.

On September 22, 2010, one day after clinching the Central Division title, the Twins completed a sweep of the hapless Cleveland Indians. It was their 15th win in 18 games, and it tied them with the Yankees for the best record in baseball at 92-60. The first year of baseball at state of the art Target Field was a smashing success. Sellout crowds crammed the seats virtually every game, and the Twins seemed to win almost all of them. Minnesota’s on-field product was arguably the best it had ever been in this, the team’s 50th year of play.

The Twins were far from the biggest sports headline of 2010. LeBron James managed to upstage them, partly because the Twins didn’t take the time to record a one hour prime time TV special. Millions of baseball fans (and millions of Seinfeld fans) will remember 2010 as the year that George Steinbrenner, a titan of the game, passed away at age 80. Meanwhile, in 2010, 33 Chilean miners were rescued after a tense rescue operation that captivated much of the world’s attention. And in Washington D.C., the Republican Party won back control of the House of Representatives. (more…)

Twins Trade JJ Hardy; Could Quietly Kill 2011 Season

Fetch — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 07:19:46 +0000

On a day that will be marked by the signing of Carl Crawford, the Twins made perhaps a more monumental move in trading away starting shortstop JJ Hardy. I am not trying to say that Hardy is a better player than Crawford, for he is not, but if the Red Sox had not signed Crawford, they would still be able to replace him with Jacoby Ellsbury or someone similar, whereas the Twins will be filling Hardy’s spot with a 27 year old who has not proven himself to be more than a utility infielder yet, and a player making his North American debut.

In return, the Twins get a pair a pitchers – Brett Jacobson and Jim Hoey. Hoey is a marginal reliever, with strikeout rates in the double digits the last three years, but also has walked a ton of guys. He is also 27 and hasn’t pitched in the majors since 2007. Jacobson is another reliever who has middling strikeout rates and decent enough walk rates. And at least he is only 24, so he still has a chance to turn into something.

There is also the matter that Hardy will probably make around 6 million this year. By trading him the Twins will be able to spend that money on relievers, platoon guys, etc. but regardless there is no way that the Twins will receive the roughly three wins that Hardy is worth back in those signings.

This is a horrible trade, and to see just how bad let’s look at it through my favorite tool – the trade value calculator courtesy of Sky Kalkman (more…)