If you don't believe me, check out his answers to some Twins-related questions from a chat that took place on ESPN.com yesterday...
This guy cannot answer any question related to the Minnesota Twins without including some vieled (or not-so-vieled) insult toward the organization, many of which are ridiculous and totally baseless. This is unfortunate, because Law is a pretty intelligent baseball mind. But his opinions when it comes to the Twins are not even worth taking seriously.Jon (Mass): Hi Keith, What do you think of the idea of Joe Mauer for MVP... he was great at the plate this year, played a much more physically demanding position than Pedroia, and handled a very young pitching staff well.
Keith Law: I wouldn't have any real criticism of any of the following players if they won the AL MVP: Mauer, Pedroia, Sizemore, Youkilis, Lee. It's a pretty open race. Bad choices would include Morneau or K-Rod.
Ben (Charlotte): What is the ETA for Ben Revere?
Keith Law: 2011, although the Twins promote very (too?) aggressively and a good 2009 between high-A and AA could put him in the majors sooner. I hope that they see Carlos Gomez' struggles and decide to be more conservative with Revere, who, like Gomez, doesn't draw a ton of walks and hasn't shown power yet.Clint (Grand Island NE): With one year of additional experience under there belts, where do you see the Twins finishing next year? AL pennant?
Keith Law: I see them finishing somewhere between 5th and last place in there division next year. Look for regression across the board from everyone except Mauer. If I were the Twins I would be inquiring about Crede ASAP
Allan (TX): Woah, From what I have read...people say the Twins promote a little slow...Besides Gomez, give an example. Not sure where you came up with that one. Ha, I act like you will respond!Keith Law: Joe Mauer had less than a half-season in AA when he was called up. Zing!
Mary (Okoboji, IA): Ron Gardenhire for Manager of the year? If he doesnt win, he definitely should get top 3, right?Keith Law: If luck was a coachable trait then he would run away with it. Unfortunately for Ron, luck is not coachable. Any manager who benches there 3rd best hitter (Cuddyer) during the most important week of the season deserves to be run out of town. Win? No. Top 3? No. Top 25? Maybe.
Normally I wouldn't care much what some talking head at ESPN.com thinks, but reading his chat yesterday got to be too much for me. So I sent him an e-mail, which reads as follows:
"Mr. Law,
My name is Nick Nelson and I blog about the Twins. As I and many others have noticed over the course of the year (and years past), you seem to harbor some sort of grudge against the Twins franchise. We get it, they were lucky to score as often as they did this year due to a high batting average with runners in scoring position. But why do you feel the need to insult the organization just about every time you answer a question relating to them?
Your chat today was just too much to take. It's fine to claim that the team's offensive production this year was buoyed by unsustainably high numbers with RISP, but some of your criticisms are totally baseless and come off as sheer contempt for the ballclub. Ron Gardenhire is a bad manager because he benched the team's "3rd best hitter" in Michael Cuddyer? Do you have any clue what you're talking about? Cuddyer isn't the team's third-best hitter when he's healthy (Jason Kubel is), and he is certainly not anywhere close to being the third-best hitter when he's hampered by a foot injury and hasn't played regularly in months, as was the case during the timespan you referred to. Then you insinuate that the team promotes prospects too aggressively (an absurd notion) and use as evidence the rare instance in which they promoted can't-miss prospect Joe Mauer straight to the majors from Triple-A. Yeah, that didn't work out for them at all, did it?
I don't know where this disdain for the Twins organization comes from, but how about you show some professionalism rather than turning every one of your chats into a hatchet job against the team? It's impossible to take your analysis seriously when you show such an obvious bias against a particular club. That's unfortunate, because I do appreciate the way you judge players and break down the game. You're writing for one of the most trusted and respected sports media outlets in the world. Act like it."
We'll see if he responds. Somehow I doubt he will. And really, I don't care.
14 comments:
Great stuff, Nick!
I guess I would ask him more about the fast promotion thing... I would ask him to name a second. I guess Slowey and Garza were promoted very quickly. I think they're alright. Who else? I agree that they tend to go the other way.
I think coming into the season, Cuddyer would have been considered the #3 hitter on the team, but the injuries really derailed that. Kubel absolutely was the team's #3 hitter most of the year. The injury and lack of playing time is why he wasn't playing. I think Cuddyer is going to be great again in 2009, and I hope they keep him around. But this answer comes across as not really paying attention.
On Gardy, as Twins fans, we are probably a little/lot too critical of many of his decisions, but to throw him under the bus like Law did is ridiculous. And for a person with his following (Law's), you would think he'd have a little tact. I don't get it.
And, no 'stathead' likes Morneau, we get that, but still.
As for regression, certainly in my mind, that is a concern. There were a lot of guys that played very well. Casilla and Buscher regressed at the end of the year. But I don't see any reason why a lot of them couldn't actually get a little bit better with experience. In reality, Mauer was amazing in 2008... can he do that again? Maybe, but if anything, he could be a candidate for regression just because he's so great. But Law loves Mauer.
Great posting Nick... keep us updated with any follow-up!
Maybe I'm just annoyed and it feels like Law is piling-on when the season ended so painfully, but I don't get it. Why can't he or many other acknowledge that the Twins are one of the best organizations in baseball? And why the hatred for Gardy? Maybe you disagree with certain individual decisions he makes, as do most rabid Twins fans, but the Twins have had one losing season in the last seven with Gardenhire managing, with four division titles. Why do people hate on the Twins so much?
That was awesome Nick, thanks for representing Twins fans.
Reading those chats it was too much to take. I've never seen an "expert" just make unwarranted claims about a team like that. Ridiculous!
i've always thought keith law was a tool, but this just sealed it. i used to think rob neyer hated the twins the most, but now i think i would rather read neyer. fortunately, i think espn charges you to read their garbage, so i never do anymore!
Once upon a time a boy nam
ed Keith met a pretty girl with gorgious twins from the Land O'Lakes. He showed up at the plate but she let him intentionally walk, and well ever since that day..
Well said, Nick. I've seen this from Law before and it drove me nuts. He showed it back in 2006 when Morneau won the MVP, and it's continued ever since.
Joe Crede? Really? Yes, that's the answer, Keith. But what do we do for the half of the season when he's on the DL?
Thanks for the comments guys. To his credit, Law did respond to my e-mail. We'll cover that tomorrow or on Monday.
Good work Nick! You speak for all of us.
Thank God! Way to go!! Please share the email from him with us!!
So, the Twins lost their "third-best hitter" for most of the year and their second-best (at least) relief pitcher for most of the year and they still finished way above expectations and Gardy still did a bad job of managing? How does that work? They were just lucky? Is that why they underperformed their Pythagorean, had a losing record in one-run games and had a losing record in extra-inning games? And promoting prospects too fast? Ask Robert Delaney and Anthony Slama about that. If Jose Mijares had been promoted a week or two earlier, the Twins would probably be in the playoffs right now.
Also he doesn't use his "theres" right. That always pisses me off.
It seems to me that to chalk an unexpectedly successful year up merely as "luck" doesn't really understand baseball. To me, baseball is 50% luck no matter what, and the other 50% is working with that luck to take advantage of the good things thrown your way and work around the bad.
Wait, am I crazy because I thought the Twins would be BETTER next year?
(This sort of assumes we sign a middle infielder or 3B with power)
But, Slowey coming back, Neshek coming back...I like our chances. I also have to believe Liriano will eventually recover a good portion of his ability.
If I'm not mistaken, the Twins are one of the best defensive teams in the big leagues, and you have to attribute that to the organization and their dedication to fundamental baseball.
Post a Comment