And is it really ridiculous to think he doesn’t have the talent to steal more bases? Obviously he has speed — but being 2nd in the MLB in Bases Taken indicates good, aggressive baserunning.

If you think it’s “ridiculous” to think that “speed and good, aggressive baserunning” is a good platform on top of which to build a base-stealing skillset, fine. I disagree, and in fact I think it’s precisely the mold from which you want to build your base stealers.

There’s a big difference from what your advocating now to what you were before. Before you wanted Span to steal more right off the bat and generate offense because our 2-4 hitters hit into too many double plays. And now you’re advocating Span to steal more when the offense is in need of a spark. On this I would have to totally agree and throw my Twins hat in the air with a hoorah!

Obviously, when the heart of the lineup is clicking, Span doesn’t have to do anything but get on base — the thing is, I don’t think it’s fair to expect the big hitters to hit big all year long. They’ll go through slumps. And when they do, my hope is that Span’s basestealing skills have developed to the point where he can spark something (in some cases by stealing his way into scoring position).

At this point, he’s close to the only guy in the lineup with the speed or talent to do it.

Maybe the lineup is good enough that steals shouldn’t even be a significant part of the offense. I don’t know if that’s the case, but in case it isn’t, I hope Gardy is willing to pull some baserunning tricks out of his hat.

So no, it doesn’t mean Span can never steal.

It doesn’t challenge conventional thinking, it offers an idea of high-risk – high-reward baseball tactics with one of the best tops of the lineups in baseball.

Secondly, Mauer does put the ball on the ground a lot — call it “run and hit” instead of “stealing with Mauer at the plate.”

The idea here is to challenge conventional thinking. Span can’t steal with nobody out, which means he’s not going when Hudson’s batting. He also can’t steal with a good hitter at the plate (Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Kubel, Thome), which means when Hudson makes an out (that’s not a GIDP), Span also can’t steal. At this point, that means Span is never stealing.

And that’s what we’re trying to avoid.

Let’s say Span steals 25 bases next season (out of lets say 35) – this not an unrealistic estimate. That’s him getting caught 28% of the time.

Joe Mauer grounded in to 13 DP’s out of 125 Opp. (roughly 10%) out of all of the Starters Joe Mauer has the 2nd highest Productive Out Percentage (behind, you guessed it, D. Span). He’s also got the highest percentage of Base Runners Scored for a full time member (Delmon Young is inhead of him… somehow)

So what your proposing is that Span steal more with Mauer at the plate (i understand O. Hudson). Which I think is foolish. You have one of the most productive hitters at the plate, I’ll take my chances with the league MVP instead of an up and coming base runner.

All stats are from baseball-reference.com

Second, I’ve always wondered about the Cuddyer RF numbers; like the Green Monster at Fenway, everyone always says the baggy at the Metrodome takes getting used to. It was the stated reason for keeping Cuddyer in RF rather than playing Delmon there, who is a natural RF. The Green Monster messes up defensive metrics, and defensive stats guys admit that. Does the baggy have a similar effect? Since we’re in Minnesota rather than a real baseball town like Boston, nobody gives a shit. But I think it’s worth thinking about. Or at least, it used to be.

Third, we are moving to a smaller ballpark, with a less-spacious outfield, and less foul territory. That means the outfield defense’s impact is lessened, and the importance of their range is minimized.

So even if it’s a bad outfield defense, and I don’t think anybody’s disagreeing with that, the Twins are in exactly the sort of situation where it’s not a huge deal. The only thing that’d make it better is if we had a different pitching philosophy, but that takes longer to change.