October 27, 2011

“Gleeman and The Geek” #12: Bonnes’ Blueprint

This week's episode of "Gleeman and The Geek" went so long that we closed down Big Ten in Hopkins and had to break the show into two parts. Topics for the second installment included going through John Bonnes' offseason blueprint for the Twins, imitating Bill Smith, arguing about Ron Gardenhire's stance on platooning hitters, and analyzing my "sexiness levels." Give it a listen and also let us know if you prefer long episodes in one part or two parts.

Gleeman and The Geek: Episode 12

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12 Comments »

  1. like the two episodes. smaller doses, more likely i stick around.

    Comment by UGH — October 27, 2011 @ 1:20 am

  2. Definitely better to break it up like that, yes.

    If the Twins sign Michael Cuddyer for 4 years and $44 million, I am going to blow a gasket. I mean, if they are doing that, then they might as well be trading 3 or 4 of these prospects coming of age soon (Benson, Arcia, Parmelee, etc.) for some elite pitching. If that is not in the blueprint, then . . . yuck. If Cuddyer were a good defensive anything, I might think differently. If he wasn’t insistent on playing injured *and then getting praise for playing injured by the fans and media* while *sucking*, I might think differently.

    Comment by Shane — October 27, 2011 @ 7:47 am

  3. I would say if you are breaking the 1 hour mark, you are probably better off splitting the podcast up – but either way, I don’t think you can go wrong. Again, great podcast(s) this week – keep up the good work.

    Comment by Nick — October 27, 2011 @ 11:09 am

  4. Repko was not a better hitter against left handed pitchers than Kubel . . . Repko career .633 OPS vs. LHP Kubel career .731 OPS vs. LHP.

    So while I agree with ur overall point that Gardy’s unlikely to straight platoon two guys the Repko example was a poor one.

    Comment by halfchest — October 27, 2011 @ 11:43 am

  5. Greetings Aaron,

    In 2002 and 2003 Rod Gardenhire used the platoon of Dustan Mohr and Bobby Kielty in right field. This worked out very well for the Twins, and proves your point that platoon players can be a good option. However, it also proves John’s assertion that Gardenhire has and will use a platoon.

    It does seem though that while Gardenhire is willing to platoon players, he is only willing to do so infrequently.

    Comment by Jonathan — October 27, 2011 @ 12:19 pm

  6. I think sometimes the armchair GMs/statheads undervalue legacy with a team. If there is absolutely no loyalty – between players, fans, and teams – then the whole exercise of baseball fandom seems especially pointless. Casual fans need people who they can go to the ballpark and cheer for, and those ticket sales partially compensate for paying a player a little more than they might be able to be replaced for. Recognition matters.

    Having said all that, I almost have to side with Aaron on the Cuddyer/Nathan thing – I wouldn’t like to seem them go but it’s hard not to notice it seems like they can both be replaced for half as much, freeing up much needed cash to bolster other team weaknesses. And as far as loyalty goes, I suppose it cuts both ways if a guy is willing to take off for an extra million bucks when he has tens of millions in the bank (for that matter, this surprises me often in professional sports – I just can’t imagine giving a shit whether or not I made $7MM or $9MM as both seem like $infinity to me).

    So I guess I’m torn.

    Comment by Jeff — October 27, 2011 @ 3:12 pm

  7. If you get Gardy to buy in on 2 platoon guys, he’ll platoon them for a couple weeks then find a favorite and start making nonsensical playtime decisions like Mauer sitting vs. the righty after playing against the lefty. I’d be shocked if it happened any other way.

    I’m loving the podcast, but there are a couple things that could improve it:
    1) The arguments tend to drag on a bit long saying essentially the same thing back and forth.
    2) John is sometimes hard to hear.

    Comment by JS — October 27, 2011 @ 4:54 pm

  8. all this baseball stuff aside, it’s super cool that you guys have Meatsauce singing your opening theme song. been in my head all day….

    “Gleeman! Geek…Gleeman and the Geek!

    Comment by spoofbonser — October 27, 2011 @ 7:34 pm

  9. If Aaron and John are interested in pursuing the Mauer-Redmond playing time, it would be simpler to look at weekend games and see if the Twins faced a lefty Saturday night with Mauer in the lineup and Redmond faced a righty Sunday during the day given that it seemed Gardy liked to rest Mauer so many Sundays.

    Comment by Shane — October 27, 2011 @ 9:05 pm

  10. John should go back to water. Should have let Gardy’s platoon problem drop, and then the Cuddyer 4/44 insanity.

    Comment by Brad — October 27, 2011 @ 11:25 pm

  11. Is someone available to replace John? Someone a little more geeky?

    Comment by David — October 28, 2011 @ 1:03 pm

  12. I think the reason the podcast works is because John’s not really that geeky (in fact, Aaron’s the geek). That’s where you get the interplay between the sabermetric guy and the slightly more traditional guy that keeps it interesting. If they just sat and agreed with each other, what fun would that be?

    Comment by Jeff — October 28, 2011 @ 4:39 pm

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