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TheLeviathan

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Everything posted by TheLeviathan

  1. TheLeviathan
    Clayton Kershaw is an ace. He's also been downright awful in the playoffs. Which was my point and doesn't need a lot of work to demonstrate: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/k/kershcl01.shtml He's a decidely not-Acey postseason pitcher. Based on what you said above, that would disqualify him.
  2. TheLeviathan
    Is Clayton Kershaw an ace? I'll just suggest you take a gander through the last ten years of playoff stats and see how this is largely a myth. People forget that even great players struggle and the small sample of the playoffs has chewed up many a good ace. Or good offense. Or good bullpen.
  3. TheLeviathan
    Sure, but in a large stretch of those failures we were marching out the best pitcher on the planet! Think of how many Yankees losses had nothing to do with Radke or Santana and everything to do with a futile offense or the bullpen. If an ace was enough to feel good about the playoffs, we have very different memories of all those Johan/Twins failures.
  4. TheLeviathan
    Baseball's unwillingness to sever the regional anchor is killing the sport on multiple levels.
  5. TheLeviathan
    All the NFL got was a sniff of "too long" and they made clock changes. MLB continues to dinosaur itself into oblivion. There is no reason there can't be 12 hours of baseball every day April through September in tight 3 hour games.
  6. TheLeviathan
    The NFL can charge more because they aren't bleeding their viewership with 4 hour snoozefests.
  7. TheLeviathan
    And yet they advertise all over the place during every sport, all the time. Advertising has no lack of exposure in sports. Diminishing fan interest in over-long games will make the advertisers more frustrated than anything. The most successful sport in the country has repeatedly made efforts to tighten up games and keep them streamlined. Pretty sure the NFL ain't hurting for advertising.
  8. TheLeviathan
    Two things, quibbles I guess because I largely agree with the analysis: 1. Part of why people hear "he's not good" is because the term "ace" is often weaponized against good pitchers to diminish them. I often feel "ace" is defined in such a way that it is purposely unattainable. Even when we had Johan we didn't fully appreciate how great an "ace" he was. For the record, I don't think this is done with malice or intent, but nevertheless the effect in discussion has a an unfair slant IMO. 2. I'll note again - in the postseason the idea that you win with aces is overstated. Some of the best pitching performances of the last 20 years in the postseason were by dudes who were in street clothes or struggling to keep a job only a few years later. Take 2019: Cole and Scherzer were great....but so was Mikolas and the Great Anibal Sanchez. 2018? Joulys Chacin, Wade Miley, and Nathan Eovaldi. You can look at every postseason and see that often it isn't the "ace" that pitches like one in the postseason. I've long felt we put far too much emphasis on one dude who pitches three times in a series vs. a deep pitching roster that can flexibly pitch in every game, in many situations. (Think...the Brewers in 2018 or the Royals deep bullpen, etc)
  9. TheLeviathan
    Picking 7th! Play the kids dammit.
  10. TheLeviathan
    Guaranteeing that much money to Cook was always a bad move. Running backs, harsh as this is to say, should just be dudes you grind on rookie contracts and move on. If Mattison ain't good enough to come in and be 80% of Cook then we don't have a good enough backup.
  11. TheLeviathan
    I'm pretty sure half the signs from the dugout are also telling the hitters to "aim for the little white ball" and I've heard Arraez and Donaldson need constant reminders to breath and digest. Worst of all, Alex Colome will literally wet himself if not reminded by his coaches to hold it. It's a shame, I'd gladly take the league minimum if my utter failures could just be chocked up to "my coach didn't tell me to".
  12. TheLeviathan
    I can get behind that explanation, that makes sense. I will say, the Bucs are as modern an offense as there is and they won their first game much the way we intended to win yesterday. As stringer said, I think the wins were there for the taking, the problem is the execution. But I have had similar thoughts to what you say here about our inside-2-minutes offense.
  13. TheLeviathan
    I guess I disagree Nick. I thought the offense was exceptionally well called. No turnovers, several big plays, the run game gashed them all day long, they did try some different things and the formations were all over the place. A bit more aggressiveness in situations I can understand, but I can't complain about the offense. The defense on the other hand....some really boneheaded plays. Is it just me or did Dantzler come in and look like he totally changed the way the secondary was playing in terms of physicality?
  14. TheLeviathan
    It wasn't so much blaming the offense, I thought they played exceptionally well. They scored 30+, that should win you an NFL game. It was more the devaluing of the timeout vs. 19 seconds. To me, burn the 19 seconds and give me that flexible, instant stoppage. A second timeout might have allowed them to behave differently on the drive down. But even more I think about how valuable it could have been had the offense not done so well on that drive and it was more of a grind.
  15. TheLeviathan
    Ok....I was at the game and one decision rubbed me wrong, tell me if I'm alone: The sack to end the Card's last drive was at 2:19. Zimmer used his second timeout. Then the punt, a 2 yard Thielen gain, and a Cook run before the 2 minute warning. Is 19 seconds (minus punt time) worth more than having two timeouts in your pocket? I prefer the two TOs.
  16. TheLeviathan
    Jose Berrios is a really good pitcher. "Ace" just seems like a thing we too frequently use to demean really good pitchers because they aren't a life altering Randy Johnson in their prime. Because, well, almost no one is so the criticism often becomes mean spirited. Not always, but it sure feels like it. Scott Baker got the same treatment during his stretch as a really good pitcher for us. Additionally, I'd say the Aceiest Ace of all the Aces in baseball the last ten years (Kershaw) has been consistently mediocre to awful in the postseason. And that is typically a quality people associate with earning that label. Yet, many definitions of "ace" would purposely not count him. It's ok to have your own ace definition, I just wish people would understand their definition and apply it fairly. It's ok to want a dominant, intimidating, Johan-level dude fronting your rotation. They just number in one or two handfuls most seasons leaguewide and are virtually unattainable if you didn't develop them yourself.
  17. TheLeviathan
    I like the idea, just not the fit.
  18. TheLeviathan
    Lost in this Oh-so-Vikings loss is that the boys up front were fantastic today. Great protection and holes you could drive a truck through. Feels like 0-4 coming in a bunch of close losses.
  19. TheLeviathan
    Polanco hasn't actually been bad at SS this year, for the record. I'd rather have him there than Simmons. I'd rather see what Pat Meares is up to than Simmons. I'd rather play Sano at SS than resign Simmons. I'd rather see Kirk Cousins at SS than resign Simmons. Royce Lewis may be a fine option down the road but I hope the Twins don't bake that into their planning. He feels years away and is no certainty given what the young man has been through.
  20. TheLeviathan
    Everything @chpettit19said. This team has a ton of money to spend and they should spend half of it on the most important position on the field defensively. We have some arms near-ready but nothing ready at SS anytime soon. (The kid from Toronto is a LF) We can still spend 30ish million to bring in one good starter and Pineda and some filler to help pitching depth. As for names, Correa is the best defensive player, Story might be the best overall player, but let the big fish circle them. We should throw a ton of money at Baez or Seager and lock that position in place for a half a decade. They'll be a better fit and value for us. Resigning Simmons might kill my fanhood. Seriously.
  21. TheLeviathan
    By what measure is Seager a sub-average fielder? By fangraphs and B-ref he is average to slightly above average.
  22. TheLeviathan
    Next year? Probably not, but I think this team needs to be thinking 2023. That's when most of those young guys you mention should be ready to contribute after some seasoning in '22. Thing is....the FA shortstop market will never be better than this year and the organization has no one ready to fill that position any time soon. I get the appeal of investing heavy in pitching, but the farm does look to have some near-ready contributors there. I do think we need to address the depth of the pitching and to that end I'd trade Donaldson, I'd sign at least one guy for a mid-tier contract, I'd bring back Pineda, and I'm on the record wanting to target Zac Gallen as a buy-low. But big money free agency? Go get a stud shortstop is the way to go IMO.
  23. TheLeviathan
    Plus, one $100M pitcher doesn't really change the fact that the staff lacks a depth of quality. Fielding a good defense is going to help bring several of those bad pitchers up in quality too. Also....we'd be replacing a negative player with a righteously positive one on a daily basis.
  24. TheLeviathan
    C - Garver, Jeffers 1B - Kiriloff 2B- Polanco 3B - Arraez/Miranda SS - Seager LF - Larnach CF - Buxton RF - Kepler DH - Sano/Rooker Deal Donaldson for pitching or to free up money for Seager. We absolutely have to sign a right-handed hitting OF. Probably two for the bench. And one of them should play CF. Arraez-Polanco-Seager-Buck-Kiriloff-Garver-Larnach-Sano-Kepler is a damn fine lineup and a not-terrible defense. Pitching probably isn't contention ready in 2022, but opportunities will be there and a rotation of Ober-Ryan-Pineda-Trade Target-Competent FA Guy is at least at a "not embarrassing" level of quality.
  25. TheLeviathan
    I disagree, I think you get more bang for your buck putting that money into a hitter and if they are a good fielder (like Seager) that helps ALL your pitchers.
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