Berardino: Twins place Milone and Fien on waviers

[tobi0040]

 

He cleared waivers. Generally not a sign you could flip him for anything.

 

True, but there seems to be a LOOGY or three picked up on July 31st every year.

[tobi0040]

 

My take on the entire roster shuffle. Centeno likely stays on the 40-man all years as Hicks' (the catcher)replacement. If Murphy figures things out in Rochester, he'll be back soon. Mastro is DFAed when someone is ready to replace him (please let it be future AAA player of the month of May Byron Buxton). Boshers has been effective and might get an audition as a bullpen lefty. Milone will pitch again for the Twins sometime this year.

The Twins shouldn't have tendered Fien, but they believed they might contend this year and wanted a veteran to fill that role. Milone is a 4-5th starter on a good team, not someone you build around, but an alright piece. He can't be overexposed and he will have some rough patches. I don't think it was a mistake to tender him and as I said earlier, my guess is that he'll pitch again for the Twins this year.

I don't think this team is that far away despite their horrendous record. They need the pieces to fit together better and for a lot of guys to meet expectations.

 

I think this team conservatively leaves 4-6 wins on the table every year through poor roster decisions.  When a company is run this poorly someone smart realizes it and takes a huge stake and forces changes.  New leadership, a few board seats, etc.  Than the company goes up 30% in 4-6 months.

 

The frustrating thing is I don't think we need one of the smartest people in the world to come in.  Give a business intern microsoft excel, WAR data for the last five years, and a $100M payroll budget and I think they could construct a team that wins 3-5 more games.  The only caveat is they get complete discretion over where a player plays in the field.

 

 

[DaveW]

 

I think you'll get plenty of disagreement here. If he was a 4-5 starter on a good team, how did he go unclaimed by 29 teams?  Especially with teams like LAA being decimated by injuries and ineffectiveness in the rotation

I think Milone is a 6th starter on a "good team" personally. He is solid depth to have when someone inevitably gets injured and can fill in ideally 10-15 starts a year.

 

He is a decent 5th starter on a middle of the road NL team IMO.

[alarp33]

 

I think Milone is a 6th starter on a "good team" personally. He is solid depth to have when someone inevitably gets injured and can fill in ideally 10-15 starts a year.

 

He is a decent 5th starter on a middle of the road NL team IMO.

 

Yeah, we're probably splitting hairs a little by putting a number on it, I agree he's a decent short term insurance policy for a good team... but I think its fairly telling no team had interest in his ~$3.5million for the rest of the year.  

 

The Dodgers who have some SP issues took on Fien just to send him to AAA as likely a worst case scenario bullpen option... and yet didn't want Milone

[stringer bell]

Teams go with their own mostly this time of year. When they see that their options aren't that good within the system and/or have a lot of injuries, they go outside the organization. When he got bumped from the rotation, someone mentioned pulling him in a game vs. LAA and another couple starts where he left with two outs and everyone he had left on base scored. He has to hit his spots and even then it's likely he gets knocked around the third and fourth time through the order. However if handled properly, he produces a nice number of quality starts and decent stats. A rotation full of Milones would tax the bullpen and the manager, but having him as the fourth or fifth guy wouldn't be a problem, even on a good team (IMHO).

[Otto von Ballpark]

 

Teams go with their own mostly this time of year. When they see that their options aren't that good within the system and/or have a lot of injuries, they go outside the organization.

 

That's a perfectly reasonable reason why a team wouldn't trade for a guy like Milone right now, or most of the other Twins salary dump candidates.  But available for free (apart from his modest salary)?  I don't think teams would hesitate to add him, if they really shared your opinion of him.

 

 

When he got bumped from the rotation, someone mentioned pulling him in a game vs. LAA and another couple starts where he left with two outs and everyone he had left on base scored.

 

Actually, Milone only had his inherited runners scored in one game this year -- 3 vs the Brewers.  Relievers stranded two of his runners is each of two other starts.

[DaveW]

 

Teams go with their own mostly this time of year. When they see that their options aren't that good within the system and/or have a lot of injuries, they go outside the organization. When he got bumped from the rotation, someone mentioned pulling him in a game vs. LAA and another couple starts where he left with two outs and everyone he had left on base scored. He has to hit his spots and even then it's likely he gets knocked around the third and fourth time through the order. However if handled properly, he produces a nice number of quality starts and decent stats. A rotation full of Milones would tax the bullpen and the manager, but having him as the fourth or fifth guy wouldn't be a problem, even on a good team (IMHO).

I think with a guy like Milone it also depends on who you have pitching in front (and behind) of him when it comes to series etc with teams.

 

Milone is hardly a "hard thrower" strike out type pitcher, for better or worse he is one of those pitch to contact types, now if you put him at the back end of the rotation of say...the Mets, who have a bunch of strike out pitchers at the front part of the rotation, it can and does make some sense as he switches things up a bit during his start and can see some success in a series. However in the Twins opening day rotation, Milone is basically more of the same, so basically any team facing the Twins are seeing three similar pitchers each and every time out (prior to Duffey and Berrios getting called up).

Does that make sense at all? I think a lot of the reason why Big Sexy Bartolo Colon sees some nice success as a SP for the Mets is because he is pretty much the polar opposite of the other guys the Mets are tossing out in a given series.

[tobi0040]

 

I think with a guy like Milone it also depends on who you have pitching in front (and behind) of him when it comes to series etc with teams.

 

Milone is hardly a "hard thrower" strike out type pitcher, for better or worse he is one of those pitch to contact types, now if you put him at the back end of the rotation of say...the Mets, who have a bunch of strike out pitchers at the front part of the rotation, it can and does make some sense as he switches things up a bit during his start and can see some success in a series. However in the Twins opening day rotation, Milone is basically more of the same, so basically any team facing the Twins are seeing three similar pitchers each and every time out (prior to Duffey and Berrios getting called up).

Does that make sense at all? I think a lot of the reason why Big Sexy Bartolo Colon sees some nice success as a SP for the Mets is because he is pretty much the polar opposite of the other guys the Mets are tossing out in a given series.

 

My theory is this line of thought is extremely overrated.  I don't think who I guy faced yesterday has a big impact on today.Pitchers today probably spend a decent amount of time watching tape of todays starter and become familiar with him pretty quick.

 

I obviously have no way of knowing for sure.  I just think we should make roster decisions based on the skills/stuff of the one pitcher.  He will be on the mound by himself.

[DaveW]

 

My theory is this line of thought is extremely overrated.  I don't think who I guy faced yesterday has a big impact on today.Pitchers today probably spend a decent amount of time watching tape of todays starter and become familiar with him pretty quick.

 

I obviously have no way of knowing for sure.  I just think we should make roster decisions based on the skills/stuff of the one pitcher.  He will be on the mound by himself.

Fair enough. Either way, we agree on the end result. Neither of us thought Milone made much sense to give a starting spot to out of spring training.

 

Duffey was clearly a better option, May highly, highly likely was a better option as well.

[ShouldaCouldaWoulda]

 

Milone is a 4-5th starter on a good team..
 

No. Just no. 

 

If he is a  #4 or #5 on a good or average team...that team better be looking to swing a trade before the deadline for some starting pitching help.