Thread: The American League and the .500 divide

Originally Posted by old nurse

Unlikely is not quite stong enough.
Beddard's year for bounceback from injury was last year. He was not good.
Saunders will sign with any team for a three year deal. Twins need to have luck with signing one of their own pitchers to a three year deal to convince the Pohlads that it is a sound investment..
Francis had a lot of good years in Colorado, bad once he left. He had a good year when he returned. I don't think he wanted to go elsewhere. His year in the AL. was bad.
Jurrgen's velocity keeps dropping. He might be an injury waiting to happen. He might just need a different training staff than Atlanta.
Braden had capsule surgery then more work late last year. Probably why there is no news is rehab could still be ongoing and he still is not even thinking of pitching. Probably a great pickup for 2014.

Given the Twins miserly approach and self-esteem issues, unlikely probably isn't quite strong enough.

Bedard actually had a good year going until he ran into some bad luck in the second half of the season, masking underlying stronger peripherals, still would rather take him than Correia any day.

I'd still take a flyer on Francis for peanuts over Correia.

Jurrjens is an injury waiting to happen as are most of the new Twins acquisitions in the same boat. If he has dropped to the level of a prove-it deal, it might be worth the risk. I have a feeling that you're being just the slight bit facetious about your comparison of the Braves and Twins training staffs....

Thanks for the update on Braden, there's a guy like Harden, perhaps even a better low-risk high reward option, that I hope the Twins carefully keep monitoring on their radar. 2 years younger and potentially a lot more tread left on the tire.

Originally Posted by Riverbrian

LOL... Jokin... You know that we "Speak No Evil Guys" are necessary right?

Kinda like Batman to the Joker... A Ying to the Yang... If all this board had was doom and gloomers... The Core of this board would collapse on itself from the weight of gravity and explode like a Supernova leaving a black hole.

I actually don't mind being the Joker to your Batman, we all have to find ways to entertain ourselves while most of the rest of the League and Central Division get fat. Glunn and Seth are actually the 2 voices of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm-esque sanity that skew the Ying more favorably to the balance point of positivity and negativity, their efforts don't go unappreciated by me.

I do think for the sake of Gotham City and the surrounding TDaily territory, it might be best to bring in Superman to re-rout that Jason Frasor Black Hole Thread to another dimension in time and space.

[QUOTE=twinsnorth49;75059]

Originally Posted by jokin

That's what I thought you meant, I'm all for trading away replacement level guys for low A maybe's, never stated anywhere that I wasn't. Not sure where Jason Frasor fits in with that plan.

Please take that across the hallway. Let me just reiterate that there were a myriad (and still are a few) of Frasor-like RPs available that would all represent a significant upgrade to a bullpen chock full of replacement-level guys that I scratch my head over why they keep getting invited back year after year. The continued shaky nature of the Starting Rotation kind of demands more than the Twins apparent stand-pat mode for the RPs (Diamond, Correia and Worley are your 3 principal guys that you hope to get you 30 starts apiece through ~6+ innings, really?) . This just seems like common sense at Burton-lite money and shorter contract time, I still don't understand why this was such a controversial point of view.

Originally Posted by jokin

Given the Twins miserly approach and self-esteem issues, unlikely probably isn't quite strong enough.

Bedard actually had a good year going until he ran into some bad luck in the second half of the season, masking underlying stronger peripherals, still would rather take him than Correia any day.

I'd still take a flyer on Francis for peanuts over Correia.

Jurrjens is an injury waiting to happen as are most of the new Twins acquisitions in the same boat. If he has dropped to the level of a prove-it deal, it might be worth the risk. I have a feeling that you're being just the slight bit facetious about your comparison of the Braves and Twins training staffs....

Thanks for the update on Braden, there's a guy like Harden, perhaps even a better low-risk high reward option, that I hope the Twins carefully keep monitoring on their radar. 2 years younger and potentially a lot more tread left on the tire.

On Bedard, 9/14 games after the first of June. were bad starts. Most of the good starts were in PNC Park. Creepy high FB/HR radio. Did look good beating the Twins.

Francis wan't going to go anywhere when he played better in Colorado. In terms of pitchers and payroll, I am sure Ryan would swap Francis for Correia in a minute.

Jurrgens went from having a 92-93 FB to an 88. Something is wrong. Somebody differently medically needs to see that guy or Parker needs to get out his video and analyze like he did for Blackburn. If it is mechanics, Twins have two "mechanics" for pitchers. They better start him with the bullpen guy first.

The .500 line? Are you kidding me? We are going to go under the Mendoza line.

Originally Posted by old nurse

Other than Dempster signing with Boston, Jackson signing with Chicago, no above average pitcher has signed with a below average team. Marcum and Lohse are all that are left.

Can identify the massive pool of good starting pitching that signed with good teams that would make this statement actually aid the argument you seem to be making, rather than contradict it?