One thing that us skeptics have yet to hear from the pro-FO crowd, is exactly what KC might have changed that would give cause to expect KC's future results to be better than his past results. Maybe this is something Parker could look at, if he reads this. I for one would be very interested. Certainly in his first few starts, I've been impressed with his command. With the exception of a handful of cutters, its been impeccable. But he's historically pitched best in March and April. Maybe as the weather gets muggy, he gets fatigued and starts leaving balls up. Maybe he goes through a dead-arm period every August where he drops his arm slot and gets wild. I'm certainly rooting for continued success from him but until someone shares a concrete observation about a permanent change to his approach, I'm not going to hold my breath.
First, I'll agree - the Twins are seriously hamstringing themselves if they don't learn to fill in gaps through the free agent market. But I'll veer off from the direction of the story in two important ways: 1) After this year, and certainly not this offseason, I don't think the problem was the Pohlads. I just don't know that Terry Ryan is wired such that he will go and spend big money on a free agent. His philosophy is to build from within, and it isn't wholely out of necessity. He wants to give young ballplayers a chance. The only way that changes is with a different GM - and then only maybe, since I expect much of the front office shares that sentiment. 2) But let's do some real charity work, let's improve some lives. Of, he could, you know, give $20 million or $50 million per year to something like AIDS research. That might improve some lives. I'm not a big fan of telling someone how they should spend their money. The Pohlads aren't going to treat the Twins like a toy - and truth be told, that has worked out pretty well for both them and for Minnesota Twins fans. Maybe responsible, long-term, fiscally conservative management is better for a team (and a fan base) than throwing a bunch of money around on a yearly basis. It's possible, at least.
Thanks
Real nice. Thanks for this.
NM. I see now. It's a video we need to embed.
"which would look something like this to the Vanimal" Is there supposed to be a link there or something? BTW, The Voice of Reason and The Chatty Chatty Princess saw Turandot the night before.
It's possible. I'm not going to deny that it's possible.
I think a part of it was it seems like a long time ago that Silva was with the Twins (although it really hasn't been all that long) and he looked like an old guy even though he wasn't. I have two teenage boys and one who is now 21, and I still try to keep up with them on the basketball court, with mixed (but usually painful) results. (As long as I can stay on the perimeter and shoot 3's and you can find a reasonably slow person for me to guard, I'm good. Until the next day.)
I'm more than twenty years older than he is, so don't feel bad. Besides, as I always say (honestly), life just keeps getting better.
Should all stadiums North of the Mason Dixie line...nay...north of Kentucky, have a roof? This is getting ridiculous.
Rich Becker came up as a switch hitting lefthanded throwing outfielder. He was bad a a righthanded hitter and converted to being lefty-only at some point. I checked Baseball Reference and he quit hitting righthanded in 1996.
Carlos Silva - 1979? I would have guessed he was about 5 years older than that, which would still have made me 10 years older than him, which is a depressing thought. Thanks for ruining my day! (OK, I'm over it now.)
Other teams are going to catch on and stop it. They simply have to avoid two strike counts when Mauer bats. Baseball is so easy.
Silly articles like this are part of what makes baseball so much fun. Thank you
I am really happy about the Twins start. Really happy. And much better than 2012 (and 2011). BUT... I am not impressed. I'd be impressed if they were 12-3 or something (like Colorado and Atlanta) I think that it is promising (and I second all about the minor leaguers and the pipeline) but I am not about to applaud mediocrity... Sorry
I got the data from ESPN Minnesota Twins 2012 Pitching Statistics - ESPN, sort by team/year. I just did the math on my own. Obviously games started, and QS. I was curious the other day remembering watching every game last year on how I would just hope we get through 5, and then this year how much more innings our starters have the potential of throwing. Makes the hope for twins winning much better. I was very surprised doing the math it turned out the way it did, I have to admit I was getting tired, so I only did about half the teams.
I'm really surprised the correlation seems to be this close. Thanks for putting this out there. I'd be very interested in a more extensive study. Is there a site someplace that lists how many quality starts each team had last year and the year before?
Originally Posted by DK Good Post. Diamond's performance was also encouraging. Who would have guessed that the Twins pitching has been pretty good early in the year. Burton and Perkins have been outstanding as well. Thanks! Yes, Diamond was great this weekend. Burton and Perkins are fantastic, and they really solidify the back of the bullpen. It's nice to have reliable guys like them in those roles.
Good Post. Diamond's performance was also encouraging. Who would have guessed that the Twins pitching has been pretty good early in the year. Burton and Perkins have been outstanding as well.
