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kab21

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Everything posted by kab21

  1. kab21
    We are talking about prospect trades. You take the risk that you get nothing of value. He had big upside and it's not great if Meyer is only a RP'er but it doesn't make it a terrible trade. Span was controlled for a limited time when the Twins were almost assuredly bad. Getting a lights out RP'er for 6 years still would make it a solid trade. You might be able to find the Burton's and Fien's all over the place but shut down RP'ers don't just fall off of trees and an awesome 7th, 8th and 9th inning bullpen is part of a good team. Everybody is focusing on the Shields trade for KC but the trio of Holland/Herrera/Davis was huge for the Royals this year. It's more important to build a top rotation but if my sights are the playoffs then I'm also looking at putting together a great bullpen instead of relying on finding Burton's, Fien's and Guerrier's (early version).
  2. kab21
    I'm just hoping that the Twins continue with their organizational new approach to targeting pitchers with stuff that they have recently done. Nolasco was a guy with better stuff than results (before this year). Hughes has good stuff. Meyer, May and Stewart have power arms. Berrios and Thorpe have interesting arms. Anderson was given crap to work with for the most part due to a problem identifying pitchers to target. I'm guessing that Anderson was part of that problem since TR and BS were going to be asking several people what they thought of pitcher X. It's time for a change in the org but people seem to expect Anderson to polish a turd and make above average pitchers.
  3. kab21
    You forget the context of the trade. The trade was a win-win for both clubs because the Twins controlled Span for 2-3 seasons and they were almost assuredly going to be bad for the first 2 seasons. They got a high upside arm back and if he is ONLY a lights out 8th inning guy that is peaking with the rest of the Twins prospects then it is not a bad trade in anyway. My bigger concern is that he is going to shred his shoulder and the Twins have nothing to show for the trade.
  4. kab21
    Or he understands that a new manager is going to bring in a few of his own people.
  5. kab21
    It would be better if he was a #2 starter but Betances is a rough comparable to Meyer. He's huge, similar control issues, throws 2 pitches (really hard) and has always had questions about whether or not he would hold up in the starting rotation. If Meyer turns out to be a lights out 8th inning guy then it's not a bad trade at all.
  6. kab21
    We aren't trying to produce the best AA players. You might be willing to ignore red flags because someone can hit HR's but that doesn't mean that those red flags aren't still there. He has a 3.5K to 1BB ratio. Somebody mentioned Vargas improving his plate discipline this year in Walker's favor. Vargas went from 2:1 to 1.6:1 this year (with poor rookie ball ratios). Not surprisingly his plate discipline got worse in the majors (5:1) and is a concern for next season. Arcia's best plate discipline in the minors was 2:1 with some worse struggles in short stints. His plate discipline has not been good at all in the majors at 4:1 and 5:1 and it is the one MAJOR thing that is holding him back from being a good MLB'er. Walker's plate discipline has been much worse than either of these and it's a MAJOR RED FLAG if he ever wants to be a good MLB'er instead of a great MiLB run producer. MiLB K:BB ratios of the 3 players Vargas 2:1 Arcia 2.5:1 Walker 3.5:1 some others that had solid power and some MLB K problems (numbers are just ballpark head calculations) Kubel 1.1:1 Cuddyer 1.6:1 Hunter 2.5:1 Koskie 1.7:1 Young 3:1 Gomez 3:1 Willy 1.3:1 There are examples of good players with 3:1 except that each of these were much younger at similar levels. Walker is still an interesting prospect but let's not act like red flags don't exist.
  7. kab21
    It's not true anymore though.
  8. kab21
    This stopped being funny 4-5 years ago. It stopped being accurate 2 years ago.
  9. kab21
    I think the need for a NYPL or NWL affiliate has increased with the earlier draft signing date. More players are getting into the GCL during their draft year and ready to move up the following season. They might not however be ready to move up to CR the following year. It would be a bigger issue if they ever stopped loading up on relief pitchers in the draft though. As long as they continue to use half of their early picks on college RP'ers that basically can skip to full season ball they probably won't have any logjams in short season ball.
  10. kab21
    At best supporters didn't think it was awful for the Royals but very few thought it was a good trade for them. I didn't really hate it but I thought it was an overpay and still do. One thing that gets overlooked is that Myers was a top prospect but he didn't really have elite upside. He was/is destined to be more of a Cuddyer type of player. Good bat with adequate (or worse) defense in RF. That is certainly valuable but it's not impossible to find especially since the Royals already had Gordon and Butler set in 2 of the 3 positions that Myers could have played. They traded from depth (offense) for what they really needed. A starter to return them to relevancy sooner than later. I think there is a benefit of winning 80+ games for young players even if they aren't in the playoffs.
  11. kab21
    Myers is simultaneously underrated and overrated by the opposing sides. He had a rough season but he should still be a good player. The one thing about this trade is that there were warning signs that Myers was more of a Cuddyer level MLB'er than an elite one. It's not impossible to find a good (but not great) bat to play corner OF. Regardless if Shields leaves they got exactly what they needed to return to relevancy and contrary to the popular opinion they didn't mortgage their future.
  12. kab21
    Some interesting arms in the drafts with several of them in college and not sounding like low upside guys.
  13. kab21
    If it were me I would consider trading almost any prospect not named Buxton or Sano to pick up legit above average MLB talent (esp SP'ing). Berrios or Meyer would require quite a haul though. I don't force a trade but trades like Latos or Gio (or even Fister) are good examples of trades to look for. Bud Norris is another. Some of these guys are borderline aces while others are good #3's that pitched better. Of course the better course is to spend the available money if there are starters out there. And there are starters out there this year. 2 years ago it wasn't the right time since the Twins didn't have much of a young core or players in the upper minors. Now they have several young players establishing themselves and a lot of talent in the upper minors. I could see the Twins adding 10 wins of internal improvement during the next two seasons as young players (Meyer, May, Berrios, Buxton, Sano, Rosario, Polanco, etc...) come up and others (Arcia, Vargas, Gibson, etc...) perform better. Add a top pitcher (+5 wins) and it's a good team. Imo this is what the Royals realized 2 years ago. They had a young core that was establishing themselves and felt that these young players and other prospects would be worth 10+ wins over the next couple of seasons taking them from the low 70's to the low to mid 80's. So they added a starter and 5 wins to make them playoff competitive. The Twins don't need to replicate the exact formula but they should recognize that they are close to the same point in the rebuild cycle (a young core) but without the same financial restrictions. SPEND IT!
  14. kab21
    I don't think 70 games did much to affect the time to reach his short term potential at SS. He played winter ball and spring training at SS and probably had about 50 games at SS in AAA/MLB this year. One big benefit is that he got MLB playing time and the pressure will be off of him to hit next year and he can concentrate on defense (assuming he plays SS).
  15. kab21
    The Brewers trade turned out well for both teams but I would easily take Greinke over them. And I would easily take Greinke over Shields. At this point I would probably take Odorizzi and Myers over Escobar and Cain. But none of this really matters because the Royals weren't going to take that step forward in the 1.5 yrs that they had Greinke signed for. It was the right move at that time and the Shields trade has worked out well for them. Basically both trades have been win-win trades for all 3 teams.
  16. kab21
    Santana is a raw, toolsy defender at both positions. If he's going to play consistently good defense at either position then he needs to get as many reps as possible at his long term position. Playing CF didn't affect his long term defense at SS but he needs to be a SS in winter ball and spring training.
  17. kab21
    I'm not sure I would have considered it as either or those two deals. With Greinke the Royals weren't where they are now. An argument could be made that the Royals should have signed Greinke to a massive extension at that time and then they would have had a better pitcher and kept their prospects. Or they could have had an awesome rotation with Greinke/Shields. Money might have been an issue but they aren't spending much.
  18. kab21
    Masterson doesn't interest me much. He had one good season and he doesn't really have swing and miss stuff despite the K's in his one good season. This season his velocity was down 2-3mph (88.9mph) and there's a chance that he's injured. I would prefer that the Twins concentrated their resources this offseason on either the OF'er or SP'er and at least end up with one above average player.
  19. kab21
    The only defensible reason is that at some point journalists have to have proof otherwise it is libel. I 100% agree with Simmons.
  20. kab21
    This is the type of creativity that would be needed to trade Nolasco. However this would require unprecedented creativity to do. That's the reason that I don't think it has any chance of happening. It is a win-win for both teams also since the Dodgers need to move an OF'er and are quite thin in the rotation. But I am 99% sure that Nolasco will be a Twin on opening day.
  21. kab21
    I seem to remember the same things being said about Herrman. If players are legit catching prospects then they would catch more games since their development is really important. turner for example caught 92 games in Ft Myers. Quesada might be a great defensive catcher but you don't stall the development of someone that you think is a legit catching prospect for 24 yr old career MiLB'ers. But this is one of the interesting things that we will read from the scouts this offseason. Perhaps they liked his defense.
  22. kab21
    It's mission impossible to trade Nolasco right now. I'm still convinced that he's going under the TJ knife. It would be interesting to know if the Twins have an insurance policy on him like the had with Nathan IIRC. But a Nolasco for Crawford trade straight up is interesting. Crawford is owed more money (about 8M/yr) but he's actually a decent player (not a superstar like he was). If Nolasco's value is zero (or negative) then that 12M is a sunk cost and I would sign Crawford for 3/24 if he was available on the open market. The team gets a better OF defender and a guy that could bat #1/2. The Dodgers would probably be all for it since they have too many OF'ers and they save money that can be squandered elsewhere.
  23. kab21
    There's the center of the plate and their are the edges of the plate. The Twins might want their pitchers to pound the strike zone but they don't want them to miss the edges and leave a pitch in the middle of the plate.
  24. kab21
    I wouldn't consider 4 out 5 months as half a season (give or take). It will be interesting to see what scouts think of Garver this offseason. So far there doesn't seem to be much buzz about him even though he had a great season. He was old for the league (for a prospect) and is already a C/DH but he showed power in a neutral/pitchers league with great plate discipline.
  25. kab21
    This is just the first step in the 'subtlety use the media to run a player out of town' handbook. If it was someone in the orgs plans next year then we would never have heard about it. This doesn't change my opinion of him long term as a player. Neither did his 67 game MiLB stint. His long-term contribution to this team has been questionable since he looked awful in his second MLB stint this spring.
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