Pic of the Week

Mike Redmond, former Minnesota Twins catcher
and now manager of the Miami Marlins,
gives umpire Mike Winters the what-for
after Winters' out call was reversed on review
from New York on Thursday.

Let there be no mistake about it: Replay review is just as imperfect as the human calls on the field.

Particularly irritating are the correct calls reversed in New York, as was the case in the eighth inning Thursday in the Cincinnati-Miami game. A Reds runner was thrown out by 20 feet to end the inning but New York ruled him safe on the dubious grounds that the Marlins catcher had illegally blocked the plate. That call tied the game. The Reds then scored two more runs and won 3-1.

MLB issued a nonsense statement the next day defending the reversal as a judgment call. The judgment was on the field. The reversal was an overly literal reading of the rule. There was never any chance of a collision until well after catcher John Mathis had the ball.

According to Peter Gammons, the entire Marlins dugout heard umpire Mike Winters pleading with New York not to reverse the call.

The umpires rotate through the New York replay center, and I'm really curious who it was that screwed up this call. There's been a few of them, perhaps most notably a call that suggested that catchers cannot be on home plate when trying for a force out at home. That one got a quick admission from the higher-ups that the replay officials erred.

There was no such admission on Thursday's call. But there should have been.

Tracing some managerial trees

Walt Weiss played for four managers, two of them
Tony LaRussa and Bobby Cox. The other two were
connected to LaRussa.

Three sure-fire Hall of Fame managers, and one with a pretty good case, abandoned the dugout the past couple of years, and some of the managerial hirings this offseasons led me to ponder how the careers of Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, Lou Piniella and Joe Torre have affected the current crop of managers.

Cox: His managerial progeny includes Ned Yost of the Kansas City Royals and Fredi Gonzalez, who succeeded him with the Atlanta Braves. Walt Weiss, just named to the Rockies job, also played a couple of seasons for Cox, but I'm putting him in LaRussa's group, for reasons I'll detail later.

Torre: Joe Girardi (Yankees) played for and coached under Torre. Don Mattingly (Dodgers) coached for Torre in New York amid speculation that he was being groomed to succeed Torre; when the Steinbrenners replaced Torre with Girardi and Torre went to the Dodgers, Mattingly followed and eventually inherited the job.

Lou Piniella managed for 23 years,
but spawned few managers.

Piniella: This is odd for a guy who managed for 23 years with five different franchises, won a World Series, had a 116-win season: I can't identify any manager, current or past, whose career trajectory was clearly affected by Sweet Lou. Mattingly and Willie Randolph played for him in the early years of his managerial career, but Donnie Baseball belongs in the Torre family and Randolph had so many skippers it's hard to identify a mentor.

In an odd way, Piniella may have been indirectly influential on Ozzie Guillen, who never played for or worked with Piniella; Joey Cora spent the bulk of his career with Piniella, and Guillen leaned as heavily on Cora as any manager has relied on a coach in recent memory.

LaRussa: He's got literally generations of managerial progeny — too many, probably, to accurately recount. Consider this this: Jim Leyland was LaRussa's right-hand man during LaRussa's first job, with the White Sox in the early 1980s; Leyland's been managing pretty much forever himself. Heck, Gene Lamont spent eight seasons with managerial jobs in between coaching stints with Leyland.

Mike Matheny led the Cardinals
back to the NLCS in his first
year as manager.

Besides Leyland, current managers in the LaRussa tree would include:

• Mike Redmond, new Miami manager; he clearly regards Leyland as a crucial figure in his career;
• Weiss broke in under LaRussa in Oakland, then played one season for Rene Lachemann in Florida (Lachemann is to LaRussa what Lamont is to Leyland — a coach who left periodically for managing jobs only to return after losing those jobs). Then Weiss moved on to Colorado, where he played for Don Baylor, who had played for LaRussa himself, although it would be difficult to claim LaRussa as a primary influence on Baylor. (More likely influences on Baylor would be Earl Weaver and Gene Mauch.)
• Mike Matheny, who succeeded LaRussa in St. Louis.
• Robin Ventura of the White Sox played three-plus seasons for Lamont, the longest period for which he had a specific manager. Ventura also played for shorter periods for Torre, Bobby Valentine and others. I'm not sure which of them was most influential on him.

There are 30 big-league managerial jobs; at least eight of them are now held by the managerial descendants of LaRussa, Cox and Torre.

New trends in the dugout

Mike Redmond served a
minor-league apprenticeship
before landing a big-league
managerial job.

When Mike Redmond landed the managerial job in Miami last month, he talked about the career advice he'd gotten from Jim Leyland, his first big-league skipper and now manager of the Tigers: Take a minor league job and learn the nuances of managing in the bushes. Redmond did so: Two seasons in the Toronto system managing in Class A.

Even Ryne Sandberg and Mike Schmidt, Hall of Fame players who harbor(ed) managerial ambitions, had to go to the minors first. Schmidt quit after a few weeks (he could make more money on the autograph circuit and didn't want to manage enough to put up with the minor league life); Sandberg is in the bigs as a coach now and reputedly the manager-in-waiting in Philadelphia.

There are a lot more minor league managers than major league managers, of course, and only a few get to ride the buses to one of the big-time jobs, as Redmond did. The odds are agin 'em.

And the odds are getting worse. Major league teams are increasingly hiring managers who haven't managed, or even coached, on any professional level.

Walt Weiss will be
the sixth manager
in Rockies history.

The most recent such move came late Wednesday, when the Colorado Rockies selected Walt Weiss, a former major league shortstop who had been coaching in high school.

Others of this ilk: Mike Matheny, who led the Cardinals to the seventh game of the NLCS in his first season managing anywhere; and Robin Ventura, who kept the White Sox in the playoff hunt.

Inexperienced and successful: Not a promising development for the dues-paying minor leaguers.

What's more, the Rockies had as one of their leading alternatives to Weiss the still-active Jason Giambi, and the White Sox were seriously considering making Paul Konerko player-manager before tabbing Ventura.

These selection were unusual. Most managers take the Redmond route of a minor league apprenticeship; others are at least coaches in the majors for a while, learning the job from a more experienced manager (Ozzie Guillen from Jack McKeon, for example).

What Weiss, Matheny and Ventura have had in lieu of experience coping with the issues of running a minor league team: Impressive major league playing resumes. Weiss was AL Rookie of the Year in 1988; Matheny caught in the majors for 13 years; Ventura was probably the greatest third baseman in White Sox history.

The single most important thing a manager has is the respect of his players. The pedigree of World Series rings and All-Star games is a good start. (The respect can dissolve quickly, however.)

All this has a certain amount of at least theoretical interest to Twins fans. Paul Molitor has never managed in the minor leagues and was last a full-time coach in 2001 under Tom Kelly. But he may be the manager-in-waiting. Matheny,Ventura and Weiss indicate that Molitor wouldn't be a unique selection.

Mike Redmond and the Miami managerial job

Mike Redmond in 2009, his final
season with the Minnesota Twins.

Mike Redmond, who played 5 years with the Twins as Joe Mauer's backup, is widely assumed to be the front runner for the Marlins' manager's job, which was opened by the dismissal of Ozzie Guillen.

Redmond definitely wants to manage in the majors, and there are only 30 such jobs. Plus he played for the Marlins for seven years — yes, Twins fans, he played more for the Fish than for the Twins — and was part of a World Series winner there (2003, when he backed up Pudge Rodriguez), so there's a genuine attachment between the man and the franchise.

Still, there are not many less attractive managerial jobs than Miami's. It's not that one can't win there — the Marlins have, after all, two World Series titles in the past 15 years. It's that the internal politics of working for Jeffery Loria are essentially impossible.

The Marlins haven't had the same manager for two opening days since 2010, when Fredi Gonzalez opened his fourth and final season. In 2011 it was Edwin Rodriguez, in 2012 Guillen, and in 2013, it will be Redmond or somebody else.

It hasn't exactly been a managerial graveyard; both Gonzalez and Joe Girardi have gone on to some success elsewhere after running afoul of Loria's misguided Steinbrenner impersonation. Still, I would think a good managerial prospect — and Redmond probably is one such — might well decide to hold out for a more stable working environment.

The little victories of a backup catcher

Drew Butera — this is not a deep secret — is not a major league hitter. Saturday's 0-for-3 dropped his batting average to .148, which is 52 points below the Mendoza line, and his other numbers aren't any better.

It is really difficult to stay in the major leagues hitting .148, even if it's as a backup catcher with less than 60 trips to the plate as of mid July.

And yet I was truly impressed with Butera on Saturday evening.

Nobody has every been able to figure out a reliable statistical measure for catcher's work behind the plate. How do you put a number on the value of his pitch calling, when it's not solely his decision to throw a fastball inside on this pitch and the change down and away on the next —and when he's not the one who has to execute the pitch? How can you tell if the way he caught the pitch — smoothly or with a sudden jerk — subtly influenced the umpire's call?

These things stuck me Saturday:

• Carl Pavano wasn't wandering away from the mound, wasn't shaking Butera off, wasn't holding endless conferences about what to throw next. Butera gave him the sign, Pavano threw the pitch. Right pitch or wrong pitch, the two were working in tandem. (Which I think is what was behind the pictured embrace.)
• Butera threw out Juan Pierre stealing (one of two). Throwing out any base stealer with Pavano pitching is an accomplishment.
• The Paul Konerko strikeout in the ninth inning was a thing of beauty.

That last deserves some description. Earlier in the game, Konerko hit an 0-2 fastball for a home run. Later, Pavano struck him out in an at-bat in which he stayed completely away from the fastball. Now, it's the ninth, the tying run's at third, and Konerko's up.

Pitch one: Change up, low; Konerko swings and misses. He's thinking: There's no way I'm seeing a fastball in this at-bat. But I want one.

Pitch two: A fastball, up, probably out of the strike zone. Konerko swings late, fouls it off. Bleepity-bleep, he threw a fastball past me. Can't let that happen again.

Pitch three: Change up, down and away, swing and a miss, strike three.

Butera called the pitches. Pavano threw them. Pavano gets the statistical credit. Butera gets a hug.

And a major league paycheck. Both are better than a ticket back to the minors.

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Elsewhere on Saturday, Charlie Walters of the Pioneer Press was channelling his inner Sid Hartman with this suggestion that the Twins re-sign Mike Redmond, who was cut loose by the Cleveland Indians and is now a free agent. Quite obviously, Redmond would displace Butera.

Sid used to do this kind of thing a lot — urge the Twins in print to bring back some washed-up relic of a source. I suppose that kind of piece helps the writer make his copy quota and cultivate the player in question (I figure Redmond is done as a player, but he's going to coach and/or manage somewhere someday), but it's misleading for the reader. Bringing back Redmond can't really be a serious notion.

Dolenc and other notes

Mark Dolenc, the former MSU player who has been making random appearances in the Twins exhibition games the past few days, started Monday in a game televised by ESPN. He went 0-for-4.

I have my doubts that was the plan. Denard Span was reportedly to start in center field, but it was raining in Jupiter and they switched him to DH with Dolnec playing center.

Which makes sense. The Twins may not be thrilled with their options to fill Joe Nathan's slot, but they're even thinner for center fielders.

In more consequential developments less than a week from Opening Day:

• Joel Zumaya, the oft-injured flamethrowing reliever for Detroit, pitched on back-to-back days Sunday and Monday without immediately reporting for further surgery.
• Fausto Carmona — star in 2007, bum since — is impressing people in Cleveland's camp. This is a guy who has walked more men than he's struck out over the past two seasons, but he's apparently getting strikes with his sinker again.
• Mike Redmond is slated to be Carmona's personal catcher this year. Just speculating: Might this decision be based on the notion that some of the Minnesota strike-throwing magic can be transferred to Carmona through the ex-Twins catcher?
• Former Twins shortstop Cristian Guzman has been bounced as the starter in Washington in favor of rookie Ian Desmond.

No Kouzmanoff for the Twins

The Padres have reportedly agreed to ship third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff (right) to Oakland.

Kouzmanoff had supposedly been the subject of trade talks with the Twins, who were believed to be dangling Glen Perkins in exchange. San Diego wanted more than Perkins, and the Twins wouldn't budge.

I'm not dismayed by this; Kouzmanoff is a low OBP guy, and putting him back-to-back with Delmon Young in the lineup is a recipe for lots of outs and quick innings. He's got some power, and his numbers were dragged down by the San Diego park, but as a hitter he's essentially a younger, healthier version of Joe Crede. And defensively, he's not much.

Still, it's another infield option that won't come to fruition for the Twins, and every one that slips past makes the return of Crede more likely. The more I think about it, the more interesting Matt Tolbert looks.

Meanwhile, Mike Redmond (left) signed Friday with the Cleveland Indians. And his putative successor as the backup catcher, Jose Morales, needs wrist surgery.

Redmond's departure was expected and planned for; Morales' injury may leave him not quite ready for Opening Day but doesn't figure to be long lasting. Still, it was an unwelcome pair of developments to have on the same day.

Old McDonald hit a bomb

Tragic number as of Wednesday morning: 19.

Twins and Tigers both had three run leads in the middle innings behind rookie starters, and both saw their middle relief implode.

In the Twins case, it was newcomer Jon Rauch (above), who entered with the bases loaded and no outs. He not only allowed all three inherited runners to score, he gave up three of his own. Which really ruins his Minnesota ERA (from 0.00 to 5.78), not that 4 2/3 innings is significant.

Unlike most middle relief meltdowns under Ron Gardenhire, this was strictly a one-pitcher affair. But Rauch faced no left-handed hitters; Cito Gaston loaded the lineup with right-handers against Brain Duensing and stuck with them against Rauch. That meant Gardenhire didn't have his usual opportunities to shuffle in a LOOGY and work back to a righty.

Two other points:

* Any team that gives up three hits, including a home run, to John McDonald deserves to lose.

* Last Friday I posted a piece comparing Jose Morales and Mike Redmond. Since then Morales has started once; the Twins won. And Redmond has started once; the Twins lost.

Mike Redmond vs. Jose Morales

Some data points Ron Gardenhire either doesn't know or — more likely — doesn't believe enough to act on:

Twins' won-loss record in games started by Mike Redmond: 12-24, .333 winning percentage.

Twins' won-loss record in games started by Jose Morales: 9-6, .600 winning percentage.

Twins' won-loss record in games started by Joe Mauer: 46-36, .560 winning percentage.

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Twins ERA when Redmond catches: 5.54

Twins ERA when Morales catches: 4.59

Twins ERA when Mauer catches: 4.38

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Opposition stolen bases/caught stealing with Redmond catching: 30/5

Opposition stolen bases/caught stealing with Morales catching: 13/8

Opposition stolen bases/caught stealing with Mauer catching: 45/17

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And, of course, there are the hitting stats, which Gardy is certainly familiar with and which you can see by clicking on the linked names above.

I'm sure there are things Mike Redmond does better than Jose Morales. I can't find that they translate into results.

Bunto Punto, part II

Having ripped Nick Punto earlier this month for failing to get bunts down, it is only fair to take note of the beautiful squeeze bunt he laid down Sunday. (The photo above is of Brendan Harris scoring on Punto's bunt.)

That was the time and place to utilize the sac bunt.

Not in the third inning, when you're down a run, playing a team with the sluggers the Rangers have. Not when the top of the order's up with a man in scoring position.

Dick 'n' Bert were vocally unhappy that Denard Span didn't bunt Punto from second to third. I was unhappy that Gardy was ordering the bunt to start with. Build an inning. Don't throw away Span's at-bat (batting average .308) and leave the job to Alexi Casilla (batting average .197).

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I was also disappointed by ESPN and KEYC, neither of which aired highlights of the most memorable play of the game — Mike Redmond's triple. Yeah, it didn't matter — he neither scored nor drove in a run — but man, it was funny.

And lord only knows what Marlon Byrd was trying to accomplish with that slide while pursuing the ball.

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From Phil Rogers, Chicago Tribune: "It's not a done deal that (Rich) Harden is going to the Twins, although it seems certain he's not coming back to the Cubs." He believes the Twins should and will get Harden.

Losing two of three to Cleveland

This was the lead to the Star Tribune's game story after Tuesday's Twins-Indians game:

Hard to say what the Twins enjoyed more Tuesday night: Padding their statistics or browsing a schedule that shows 11 more games against this dismantled Cleveland squad.

Now's it's down to nine games, and on Wednesday and Thursday the Twins combined to score two runs against this dismantled Cleveland squad.

I shouldn't ridicule Joe Christensen (much) for assuming that the Indians would be easy pickings the rest of the way, but baseball is weird that way. Somewhere in my voluminous baseball library is a description of Sparky Anderson fretting when taking his powerhouse Cincinnati Reds of the early '70s into San Diego to face the lowly Padres; the Reds were a good bet to win 100 games in any given season, and the Padres an equally good bet to lose 100, but the Padres had a pair of good pitchers in Clay Kirby and Randy Jones, and if Kirby and Jones had good games, the Reds could lose two of three.

Department of the second-guess: Given that it was time for Joe Mauer to get a day off behind the plate – a day game after a night game and all that — it was a curious bit of timing on the art of Ron Gardenhire.

Mike Redmond (above) has extreme platoon splits — always has. This year, he's hitting .382 vs. lefties, .181 vs. righties. OK, that's not a lot of at-bats. For the last three seasons, Redmond is .350 vs. lefties, .28o vs. righties, with even steeper dropoffs in power. For his career, Redmond is at .326 vs. lefties, .269 vs. righties.

The point being: If you're going to face a lefty and a righty, and you're to play Redmond in one of those two games, it's best to use him against the left-landed starter.

Yet he sat Wednesday against lefty Aaron Laffey and started Thursday against righty Fausto Carmona. Left-handed hitters are hitting .313 against Carmona this year; righties, .230.

Now, it may be that Gardenhire didn't decide Mauer needed a break until Wednesday, when he was charged with a pair of passed balls. The fact remains that he used Redmond in the game in which he would be at the greatest disadvantage — and the following facts are that:

* Redmond went 0-for-4;

* He knows he's in trouble at the plate against Carmona;

*He was at the center of the second-inning failure to capitalize on a first-and-third, no-out situation, fingered by Gardenhire as the key to the loss.

It's tempting here to suggest that were the switch-hitting Jose Morales the backup catcher, the Twins might have won the game. On the other hand, there's no guarantee that Morales would have made the catch-and-tag play at the plate in the seventh inning that kept it a one-run game.