Depressing Quote of the Day -- LEN 3 article

LEN 3 has a column on Twins pitching prospects. Twins' search for free-agent pitching isn't over yet | StarTribune.com

He acknowledges that the Twins have "shown interest" in John Lannan, Joe Saunders and Brett Meyers then proceeds to name the potential starting pitchers in the system.

He concludes with the following quote from Terry Ryan: "We've got numbers." Ryan said. "It's just a matter of who is going to emerge. Some guys will be injured. Some will fall by the wayside. Some won't be ready. But we have to have numbers."

He did say prior to that quote that Ryan was waiting for the free agent market to heat up (which Ryan thinks will happen soon) but count me as less than impressed with that final quote from Mr. Ryan.

Numbers is what this will be all about over the next couple of years. Look at KC, they have never been able to develop pitching and the cost to them is now high. Twins have to find the pitchers, there will be move available(Dodgers have 8, KC has 6 - 7) some of these may come as salary dumps without a lot of prospect cost.

As much as I hate the idea of Joe Saunders, at this point I'll take him. I won't like it, but I'll take him.

The "we have to have numbers" part seems to fly in the face of the recent Correia signing. The Twins have numbers, and what's more they can cast some nets for minor league free agents that can "emerge" or "fall by the wayside".

The quantity of pitchers isn't the issue with the Twins. The issue is the quality of those pitchers. How many 4 and 5 starters does a team need?

Ah, the quantity, not quality approach. Just what winners are made of.

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Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

As much as I hate the idea of Joe Saunders, at this point I'll take him. I won't like it, but I'll take him.

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The Twins had a league worst 5.9 K/9 rate last year. The next lowest was the Indians, nearly a full K more per game at 6.78. Looks like the Twins are trying to lower that number by a fair margin. Probably a good idea. It will give the terrible infield plenty of practice at improving their defensive issues.

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Originally Posted by nicksaviking

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Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

As much as I hate the idea of Joe Saunders, at this point I'll take him. I won't like it, but I'll take him.

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The Twins had a league worst 5.9 K/9 rate last year. The next lowest was the Indians, nearly a full K more per game at 6.78. Looks like the Twins are trying to lower that number by a fair margin. Probably a good idea. It will give the terrible infield plenty of practive at improving their defensive issues.

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Still, if the other option is "nothing", I'll take Saunders.

We all know that shouldn't be the case but even crappy ol' Joe is better than nothing.

"we have numbers" boy that makes me feel much better about the comng season!

"throw enough mud at the wall some of it will stick" school of general managing got to love it!

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Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

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Originally Posted by nicksaviking

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Originally Posted by Brock Beauchamp

As much as I hate the idea of Joe Saunders, at this point I'll take him. I won't like it, but I'll take him.

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The Twins had a league worst 5.9 K/9 rate last year. The next lowest was the Indians, nearly a full K more per game at 6.78. Looks like the Twins are trying to lower that number by a fair margin. Probably a good idea. It will give the terrible infield plenty of practive at improving their defensive issues.

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Still, if the other option is "nothing", I'll take Saunders.

We all know that shouldn't be the case but even crappy ol' Joe is better than nothing.

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I'd take Saunders over Correia, but I don't want them both at the expense of Gibson or Hendriks, if we're truely going the rebuild route.

Is it too early to DFA Correia?

I sorta felt like Correia was the big FA acquisition when it happened. TR will probably dive lower​ in the dumpster, but I doubt they add another FA that anyone would consider better than him.

If indeed the twins are having a hard time signing pitchers, will Mr. Ryan concider improving the middle infield ?
If we are truely building towards 2015 which players in our system will emerge as our everyday shortstop?
While starting pitching is our biggest need, we do have several needs to shore up,if you cant fix the rotation maybe we can fix other areas?
Terry missed out on not signing Marcia Izturis the day he filed as a replacement for Casilla,and a posible starting shortstop.
To me there are only 3 candadites avalible now ,Drew, the 30 year old guy from Japan, or the kid from Cuba who will soon hit the free agent market

Of course, based upon Mr. Ryan's track record regarding FA pitchers we really shouldn't be surprised. I'm really starting to wonder if he really is as stubborn about pitching as some of us only thought. It's almost like he brings in guys like Correia, Marquis, Martinez, Ponson, etc. to prove the paying Free Agents doesn't work. It seems he finds joy in being contrary and purposely finding guys with low strike out rates. I may have missed one, but I am pretty sure that Diamond had the lowest K/9 rate among LH qualifiers and Correia had the lowest rate among RH Qualifiers last year. If only we could add a couple more soft tossers to the mix that would solve everything!

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Originally Posted by whydidnt

Of course, based upon Mr. Ryan's track record regarding FA pitchers we really shouldn't be surprised. I'm really starting to wonder if he really is as stubborn about pitching as some of us only thought. It's almost like he brings in guys like Correia, Marquis, Martinez, Ponson, etc. to prove the paying Free Agents doesn't work. It seems he finds joy in being contrary and purposely finding guys with low strike out rates. I may have missed one, but I am pretty sure that Diamond had the lowest K/9 rate among LH qualifiers and Correia had the lowest rate among RH Qualifiers last year. If only we could add a couple more soft tossers to the mix that would solve everything!

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Conversely, I think he signs these types because he thinks that eventually he'll get a winning lottery ticket and will be hailed as a genius for it.

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Originally Posted by johnnydakota

If indeed the twins are having a hard time signing pitchers, will Mr. Ryan concider improving the middle infield ?
If we are truely building towards 2015 which players in our system will emerge as our everyday shortstop?
While starting pitching is our biggest need, we do have several needs to shore up,if you cant fix the rotation maybe we can fix other areas?
Terry missed out on not signing Marcia Izturis the day he filed as a replacement for Casilla,and a posible starting shortstop.
To me there are only 3 candadites avalible now ,Drew, the 30 year old guy from Japan, or the kid from Cuba who will soon hit the free agent market

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I totally agree with all of this, there is huge demand for SS in MLB, the DBacks just traded one of the best pitching prospects in baseball for a soft-hitting SS Didi Gregorious. If TR can't give money away to SPs then try giving it away to improve our SS. Drew was injured last season and as soon as he proved otherwise he was traded to Oakland and thrust into everyday SS duties for their playoff run which could explain his sub-par batting stats. This actually works in the Twins favor because question marks = less years, less money, and less competition. Plus, if the Twins sign a guy like Drew other FA's take notice, maybe that's enough for Marcum to choose us.

Your first mistake is relying in LaVelle to get Terry to tell him their plan. I think by now people will have realized that the organization has little to no respect for him and do not allow scoops to head his way. It is pretty comical to watch a bunch of entitled fans carping on the big league staff with their fantastic theories.

Every year I wonder, but never bother to research, who were the best free agent acquisitions. These deals usually don't work out, is my feeling on it, but I don't even know how to research it, really.

How soon is the earliest we can expect to see a change in GM? That quote is ​ghastly

I don't trust LaVelle to know what is going on, honestly, but I don't see what else the Twins could actually be planning. I wish I knew whether or not the Twins were simply not going to get Marcum or Jackson based on the fact that the team has sucked the past two years and those pitchers want to go to a contender. If that is the case, oh well. If not, and if the Twins chose to pay Correia and some other joke like Lannan money instead of further pursuing quality pitching, then something is dramatically wrong with the front office. I have to wonder if the excuse is going to be like last year: "well one good pitcher wasn't going to make us a contender, so we decided not to spend that money" blah blah blah blah.

I say no to Saunders. I would have taken him over nothing before they went out and threw money in the garbage for Correia. Now, they really had better just hold on instead of adding more jokers. I would rather let Hendriks have at it then replace him with Saunders.

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Originally Posted by LoganJones

Your first mistake is relying in LaVelle to get Terry to tell him their plan. I think by now people will have realized that the organization has little to no respect for him and do not allow scoops to head his way. It is pretty comical to watch a bunch of entitled fans carping on the big league staff with their fantastic theories.

Every year I wonder, but never bother to research, who were the best free agent acquisitions. These deals usually don't work out, is my feeling on it, but I don't even know how to research it, really.

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So you have inside knowledge of the working relationship between the Twins and their beat writer but have zero knowledge of their subjects of discussion?

The "We have to have the numbers" quote basically means that you have to have enough potential quality pitchers in order to have a backup plan in case you have problems with the planned starting 5. The last 2 years the Twins didn't have any pitchers ready to step in when the Starting 5 failed due to injury or ineffectiveness.

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Originally Posted by SweetOne69

The "We have to have the numbers" quote basically means that you have to have enough potential quality pitchers in order to have a backup plan in case you have problems with the planned starting 5. The last 2 years the Twins didn't have any pitchers ready to step in when the Starting 5 failed due to injury or ineffectiveness.

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I'm no GM, but it seems to me it would be wise to worry about the "planned starting 5" before worrying about potential backups.