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#21
Posted 03 April 2012 - 06:58 AM
2009 Spring Training http://espn.go.com/m...2009/type/pitch
2009 Regular Season http://www.baseball-.../MIN/2009.shtml
--> Vast assumption is that these are accurate.
Some numbers track into the regular season, some don't.
Spring Training is a time for the coaches to evaluate new talent, and for the established veterans to work on stuff. No matter how much fun it is to try and rely on the Spring stats (and I fall into this trap myself every year), we just won't know how bad he is, I mean how well he does, until the year starts.
#22
Posted 03 April 2012 - 07:08 AM
One of the best opening day rosters in years. Now go get 'em.
#23
Posted 03 April 2012 - 07:12 AM
I predict he'll be about league median for closers, meaning nothing special. He'll "save" 80% of his opportunities. Hopefully he overachieves and some other club that over values closers will trade for him.
Is it possible for the Twins to trade him to themselves?
#24
Posted 03 April 2012 - 10:38 AM
#25
Posted 03 April 2012 - 02:35 PM
#26
Posted 04 April 2012 - 08:28 AM
#27
Posted 06 April 2012 - 09:45 AM
That Rangers team is loaded. Nathan's second-half performance last year (after he got some time to get his arm back) was actually pretty good. Granted, the stakes weren't exactly that high, and the knock on Nathan (for me anyway) was that he tended to implode at the worst possible times in September pennant runs or in the ALDS. He was a dominant reliever for many years, but his success was inflated to a degree by the fact that he got to fan out wussy Indians and Royals lineups over and over again. And since he's only brought into the game against a team we're already beating, it's not like he even had that many opportunities to pitch in the 9th against the Yankees and Red Sox.So Weaver, Sabathia, Holland et all won't be able to step up their games and will all end up with ERA's over 5.00? Professional athletes change their focus based on the stakes, I expect his execution to be much better once the season begins, we'll see if that's good enough.
Perhaps we should have kept Nathan, his ERA is over 10.00, granted it's only over 7 innings but if I were the Rangers I wouldn't be too ecstatic about the $14 million I just spent.....not that I don't love Joe.
Nathan can fail and they still have Mike Adams and Uehara. Or could shift Feliz back to the pen. The TWINS have far worse concerns with their bullpen, for sure.
#28
Posted 06 April 2012 - 10:22 AM
#29
Posted 06 April 2012 - 10:54 AM
#30
Posted 06 April 2012 - 11:05 AM
closers are overrated.
Closers might be, but blown saves are not. Let's do some back-of-the-napkin figuring....
Capps blew 40% of the games he was trying to save last year, an absurd percentage. The average closer, even if he's trying to protect just a one-run lead, converts something like 90%.
A closer on a good team is asked to save about 50 games. The difference between blowing 5 of them (90%) and 15 of them (70%) is a ten game swing. And because they happen in the ninth inning, the team generally has very little chance to come back from them. Even if they just to go extra innings, that's a five game swing, which is huge for a competitive team.
"Closers are overrated" can mean a lot of things - they've overpaid, they're babied, etc. So I don't know what that means. Instead, I'll state a truth is so obvious as to make the statement itself absurd: it's REALLY important to protect a close lead in the ninth inning. And the guy that the Twins are giving that role to has been really bad at it, and didn't inspire any hope this spring that he's got any better at it.
#31
Posted 06 April 2012 - 11:38 AM
#32
Posted 06 April 2012 - 11:42 AM
#33
Posted 06 April 2012 - 11:51 AM
#34
Posted 06 April 2012 - 09:29 PM
Edited by mysonlikes7, 06 April 2012 - 09:32 PM.
#35
Posted 11 April 2012 - 09:00 PM
#36
Posted 12 April 2012 - 06:42 AM
#37
Posted 12 April 2012 - 07:00 AM
#38
Posted 12 April 2012 - 02:58 PM
Edited by Highabove, 12 April 2012 - 03:06 PM.
#39
Posted 12 April 2012 - 03:03 PM
#40
Posted 12 April 2012 - 03:12 PM