The Death of the Red-Ass

The Minnesota Twins are having a much improved season.  The team is far more enjoyable than last year's squad, which flirted with being worst team ever in franchise history.  This year, less than spectacular, but steady pitching has teamed up with a consistent batting lineup to make for a winning team, and a legit chance at the 2nd wild card spot in the American League.  Even Joe Mauer is playing above average, having the best season he's had since moving to first.

I always, to a fault, have faith, but my gut feeling is the Twins won't win it all this year.  They might get super lucky and take out the best wild card team, but they're missing a key ingredient winning teams need for long term success.  The Twins don't have a Red-ass.

What's a Red-ass?  It's an affectionate term for the guy on a major league team who still plays the game because they love it like a ten year old, holding every other player on the team accountable to love the game as much as they do, regardless of where the red-ass hits in the roster, pitches in the rotation, or how much they get paid.  And, the red-ass HATES losing more than anything else!  You've probably had experience with a red-ass; the guy on the office beer softball league who acts as if it's game 7 of the World Series every time you go to play.  That's a common example, but where the guy over emphasizing winning the regional office softball trophy is kind of pathetic, a red-ass on a major league team helps the players remember what got them playing baseball in the first place.  They're playing to win!

It wasn't long ago where most Major League Baseball team's rosters were red-asses.  Even into the 70's, there were multiple red-asses on every team, quick to chew out a player who was perceived as not giving their all.  You didn't dive for a ball you could've caught? Expect to get yelled at on the bench.  You struck out in the 8th, leaving the bases loaded in a game you're losing?  Expect to get threatened for not delivering!  You have an error that cost you the game?  Expect to get a right cross in the locker room.

Red-asses have tempers, and have I mentioned they HATE losing?

There's nothing which dictates who on a team will be a red-ass.  Sometimes it's the best player/highest paid player.  Pete Rose, the cheater, was a notorious red-ass, even dislocating Ray Fosse's shoulder when he collided with the catcher scoring the winning run in a pointless, nothing but bragging rights on the line, All Star game in 1970.  Before he was corrupted by gambling and other vices, Rose would be the first to greet you coming into the dugout if you screwed up in a game, ready to chew your ass.

Torii Hunter was a red-ass.  He had no problem going after the less experienced players, like when he slugged Justin Moreau in the jaw to teach him how to be a better teammate (for the record, they're friends now and Justin went on to win the AL MVP afterwards. Thanks Torii!).  Hunter would also go after the resident superstar.  With the Angels, he and Albert Pujols nearly came to blows when Pujols usurped a players only meeting and tried to drive his own agenda without having all the facts.

Sometimes it's one of the lesser players on the team.  Mike Redman was the back up catcher with the Twins in the the first decade of the 2000's.  He knew how to run a tight ship too, chewing out players who weren't delivering.

Starting in the 1980's the rules for red-asses started to change.  No longer was it okay for the lesser player to get in the face of the team superstar or ten million dollar a year player.  I get it to a point.  You don't want some guy making the league minimum punching out your star first baseman, costing you wins, money and fans while the superstar heals.  Most teams don't have a red-ass anymore, and it shows.  Teams started purging their rosters of red-asses, and this purge was one of the reasons Hunter and Redman left.  It's probably a good thing because neither would have been too happy with Mauer's play at first base prior to this season.

To be fair, Hunter did sign a one year deal with the Twins to finish out his career, but he seemed to understand his job wasn't to grab anyone by the nape of the neck anymore.  Torii still had a lot of fire, including a DEFCON 1 meltdown, where he chucked equipment onto the field and partially disrobed after getting tossed from a game in 2015.

The Twins don't have a red-ass this year, and that oversight will cost them.  Having the player on the bench who'll make the other players accountable is part of the engine which drives good teams.  Without a red-ass, the team sighs and says, "I guess we'll try harder next time." That feels like the Twins attitude WAY too much this season.

It's been a good year for Minnesota, but one can only imagine what would've been if the Twins had that little bit of extra motivation in some key series this season.  Maybe we'd have picked up a game or two, becoming the masters of our own destiny, instead of looking like a team holding on for dear life, just so they can be a minor speed bump for the big boy teams.  If only we would've had a Red-ass to push this roster just a little bit harder.  If only...