Comments on: Nick Punto and The Little Things

By: buybestbeats

buybestbeats — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 17:07:45 +0000

Hello There. I discovered your weblog the use of msn. That is a really smartly written article. I will be sure to bookmark it and come back to read extra of your helpful information. Thanks for the post. I will certainly comeback.

By: zebano

zebano — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:00:30 +0000

Specifically, it hasn’t been true since Gardenhire took over for T.K.

By: Rob in CT

Rob in CT — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:23:05 +0000

I mean, seriously… isn’t there a happy medium between the guy who won’t run in the red at all (I don’t mean every year, I mean when the team sees a window of opportunity to augment a strong core with some FA pickups or trades that mean taking on payroll) & actively attempted to have his team contracted (!!) and Steinbrenner-esq spending?

By: Rob in CT

Rob in CT — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 13:20:43 +0000

He’s got a point, even if he overstated it. Their market isn’t that small, and more investment in the team might well help them leverage said market better. When CBS ran the Yankees, they did an absolutely miserable job of leveraging the best market in the country. Steinbrenner took over, invested heavily and reaped the rewards. Easier to do in NY than MN? Absolutely. But the general idea – invest in your product, and more people will come – strikes me as valid. Doing so wouldn’t turn the Twins into the Yankees. But it might have turned them into the Twins + a couple more good players (a damn good team). They do a lot of things well. It’s not hard to imagine that taking a chance and running a loss for a year or two in exchange for a title would be worthwhile.

By: Kevin S.

Kevin S. — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:17:25 +0000

You do realize that the defensive gains of playing Gomez every day over Cuddyer are completely offset by the offensive losses, right?

By: Doctor_teh

Doctor_teh — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 05:04:38 +0000

Just wanna say thank you for this article! A friend and I (both Twins fans) have an argument almost daily over Punto. I hate him and argue that his horrible batting (this year and most years) far overtakes his good fielding in terms of improving the teams win expectancy (I’m not good enough with statistics to truly make sure this is accurate or prove it) this more or less makes this argument. So thanks.

By: lookatthosetwins

lookatthosetwins — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:13:25 +0000

They would have been a lot better if they had Gomez in there every day. Gomez’s positive contributions plus not having either Delmon or Cuddy out there would have helped a lot.

By: lookatthosetwins

lookatthosetwins — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:12:18 +0000

Yes, and your conclusion is wrong. The nationals play an easier schedule than the Twins. The AL wins 57% of interleague games. You can’t compare AL and NL teams without making a large adjustment.

By: lookatthosetwins

lookatthosetwins — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 04:09:34 +0000

The Twins are 83-46 against the National League in the last 7 years. I’m sure they’d be at the bottom of the barrell if they were over there.

By: matswilander

matswilander — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 02:09:05 +0000

I agree generally that the AL Central wasn’t strong, although it was pretty darn good in 06 when the Tigers and Twins made the playoffs. But how can you compare the Twins to any small market NL team? The Nationals?

The Twins still compete in the American League, which is presumptively better than the National League, no matter what NL division you’re talking about. The Twins have dominated interleague play in recent years.

National League < AL Central < AL East