Internal / "organic" growth

[Warfarin]

A lot of talk is focused on the external moves to make this team better, but a key part of the FO transformation and hirings is the idea that we can potentially see a lot of decent improvements from our own players, using a combination of analytics and advanced scouting that Minasian is bringing in.

Minasian has mentioned it in some of his interviews, but he has stressed the importance of improvements coming from players we already have on the roster.  It's hard for us to see as fans, but teams that are strong at "game-planning" and utilizing a blend of analytics and scouting can potentially eke more out of their players than other teams can.

So in that sense, perhaps we can see some of our current player personnel make some minor/modest leaps next year.  A little bit of improvement from a group of players should go a long way towards helping improve this team, along with whatever moves Minasian makes to acquire talent this offseason as well.

[tdawg87]

Gross.

[BTH]

They could probably improve their game-planning, game-calling, and defensive alignments a bit this upcoming season. Some of the stuff Minasian has talked about seems like it may take a couple years to be fully implemented.

[AngelsLakersFan]

4 minutes ago, Trendon said:

They could probably improve their game-planning, game-calling, and defensive alignments a bit this upcoming season. Some of the stuff Minasian has talked about seems like it may take a couple years to be fully implemented.

Im skeptical that we see much improvement in these areas, aside from perhaps pitch calling.

[BTH]

Just now, AngelsLakersFan said:

Im skeptical that we see much improvement in these areas, aside from perhaps pitch calling.

Improving the game-planning and defensive alignments would probably take more buy-in from the coaching staff, which could make it tougher to see improvement.

[Warfarin]

22 minutes ago, Trendon said:

Improving the game-planning and defensive alignments would probably take more buy-in from the coaching staff, which could make it tougher to see improvement.

Maddon seems to be pretty open to ideas and concepts.  I wouldn't be surprise to see Minasian's FO help brings some ideas to Maddon, which in turn get implemented on the field.

I'm not talking about leaps and bounds of changes, but I certainly could see some minor/modest improvements from our pitching in particular, which can be a reflection of pitch-calling/sequencing, as well as defensive shifting.

I feel Minasian has learned from one of the best minds in the game, and I'm hoping we can see some of that translate to production on the field.

Minasian seems like a guy who understands the need to blend different approaches.  Eppler, OTOH, seemed a bit heavily focused on certain analytical types of things (spin rate, etc), and perhaps got too into the forest to see the trees, so to speak.  Maddon's comments about having some players go back to basics and stop focusing too much on launch angle, etc, kinda foreshadowed Eppler's demise, IMO.

[Blarg]

Internal organic growth is just another name for yeast infection. 

[Lazorko Saves]

Don't forget good ol' player development, down in the minor leagues.  It's hugely underrated in our current era of obsessing over the shiny new thing, analytics.

[BTH]

6 hours ago, Warfarin said:

I feel Minasian has learned from one of the best minds in the game, and I'm hoping we can see some of that translate to production on the field.

If the new front office could help players like Barreto, Rengifo, Jones, and Thaiss develop, that'd be huge. At the very least, those players need to be at or above replacement level. It kills the team every year when players like them are producing negative WAR.

[T.G.]

4 hours ago, Lazorko Saves said:

Don't forget good ol' player development, down in the minor leagues.  It's hugely underrated in our current era of obsessing over the shiny new thing, analytics.

I’ve never heard that before. Ever. Not once. 

Thank you.

[T.G.]

After reading this thread... My eyes have rolled into the back of my head and I can’t get them back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thankfully. 

Edited December 20, 2020 by T.G.

[Docwaukee]

does this mean all the players have to eat Kale now?  

[Warfarin]

9 hours ago, Trendon said:

If the new front office could help players like Barreto, Rengifo, Jones, and Thaiss develop, that'd be huge. At the very least, those players need to be at or above replacement level. It kills the team every year when players like them are producing negative WAR.

Right - that's the key thing.  How often do we see teams like the Dodgers grab a Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, etc from other teams and then help them make changes to become great players?

So, all the jokes aside, that is what I am referring to.  Minasian has said that for us to improve, we do need a number of our own players to grow and improve.  Part of that process is having a collaborative approach that goes across the entire organization, from Minasian, to Maddon, to the minor leagues, etc - the ability to utilize advanced analytics AND scouting to help achieve better outcomes.

Canning and Buttrey, for example, have a lot of potential, but Canning has sorta stagnated and Buttrey regressed significantly.  If we can provide them with access to better information (and scouting) than they had previously, which I feel Minasian's team can help provide, then we can see significant improvement across the board.

It will take time to implement this strategy, but it's not an insignificant change.  It's how the Dodgers have become what they are under Friedman, it's how the Braves keep getting better under Anthropolous, and it's likely how the Giants are going to be very soon under Zaidi.

[ELEVEN]

Player development has been lacking for too long. Major strides can be made there.

[Lazorko Saves]

15 hours ago, T.G. said:

I’ve never heard that before. Ever. Not once.

Hi Jerry!  How's the weather in Seattle?

[Pancake Bear]

Pretty sure organic costs more. Are we sure Arte can afford it with the cost of yacht fuel these days?