Article: How Did Cleveland Acquire Its Top Talent?

[jimmer]

 

Like Sano, Kepler, Polanco, Minier, Diaz, Ynoa, Javier...

 

Ryan/Twins current front office did all of those things with the exception of trading someone like Cliff Lee or CC Sabathia successfully. 

Yeah, he specifically talked about Terry's strategy and Terry wasn't GM when Sano, Kepler and Polanco were signed.

Edited October 20, 2016 by jimmer

[Vanimal46]

 

 

Appreciate all of the research you did to make that post... Just seems like a lot of nitpicking to be honest. Every GM makes mistakes, even immortal genius-god Theo Epstein. 

What excites me about him is the Andrew Miller trade this season. They saw a window where they could legitimately compete in the playoffs. They went out and acquired a dominant reliever who helped them clinch the division, and be their safety blanket throughout the playoffs. He also has 2 more years of control, so if they don't win it all this year, they're set up with a dominant bullpen next year. 

When a team has a chance to win it all, I want a guy who's not afraid to push the chips in and go for it. 

[frightwig]

 

Appreciate all of the research you did to make that post... Just seems like a lot of nitpicking to be honest. Every GM makes mistakes, even immortal genius-god Theo Epstein. 

What excites me about him is the Andrew Miller trade this season. They saw a window where they could legitimately compete in the playoffs. They went out and acquired a dominant reliever who helped them clinch the division, and be their safety blanket throughout the playoffs. He also has 2 more years of control, so if they don't win it all this year, they're set up with a dominant bullpen next year. 

When a team has a chance to win it all, I want a guy who's not afraid to push the chips in and go for it. 

 

I don't expect any GM to be a perfect genius-god. I just have some issue with the premise that Falvey has been involved in, or learned from, a whole bunch of shrewd moves that built the 2016 AL pennant-winners--and may be carried over to rebuild the Twins.

 

The nice thing about the Andrew Miller deal is that it shows the Indians appreciate how much it helps to have strong setup men. Well, that's not really an innovative idea--but maybe the idea that your best reliever should be in a flexible setup role will catch on. And if you're running a club and think, This is Our Year, maybe it makes sense to cash in a big haul of prospects for the Proven Veteran who will make your bullpen invincible. If he helps you win the pennant, congrats, you're a hero.

 

Trouble is, relievers tend to be volatile. There aren't many you can count on to dominate, or even just be good, year after year, much less game after game. Who knows, Andrew Miller may even blow a key game or two in the World Series, or possibly blow out his arm while Tito leans on him to put out every fire next season. I mean, Greg Holland was awesome for 4 years, until he blew out his elbow, right? And then Joakim Soria was supposed to be the Proven Veteran help when KC signed him to a 3+ year deal to make up for the loss of Holland and the departed Ryan Madson. By September, Royals fans on Twitter were raging at Ned Yost whenever he brought Soria into the game. 

 

Relievers are valuable, but also fungible. Paying top dollar or big prospect packages to chase after the Proven Veteran reliever isn't something I want to see the Twins doing, generally. I hope we're not looking at the Miller trade as a reliever acquisition blueprint for the Twins to follow. The next Andrew Miller/Wade Davis is probably a currently flailing starter, just as those guys were, once.