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TheLeviathan

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Everything posted by TheLeviathan

  1. TheLeviathan
    Absolutely - which is why he should still be pitching where he can do the most good.
  2. TheLeviathan
    They need 3? May is somehow equal to three other people? You've been cheerleading May there for awhile, the truth is tht you've decided you saw enough in 25 starts.
  3. TheLeviathan
    You seem to be in the camp unfairly expecting May to be gods gift to pitching in his first 25 starts. So May is a rotation equal now to Milone and likely to get better with seasoning, so you lose nothing now and help your team long term. The only issue? A bullpen you could fix with money. Then you have Milone and another quality arm in the pen. You seem to be defending an answer to a "problem" the Twins created themselves by a refusal to spend money in FA.
  4. TheLeviathan
    The answer is that we probably have no freaking clue. Perhaps throwing 90 with his changeup makes him devastating. Perhaps he gets no bump. Some guys seem to just transform themselves in ways their numbers give no indication. I don't want to project anything because, to me, it's not the valuable distinction. What matters is how you help this team now and going forward and that is almost certainly investing starts in a kid who flashed real promise.
  5. TheLeviathan
    Terry Ryan heads the organization, so the subject never changed. As for your answer, it's almost entirely projection, not reality. I wouldn't call a rebuild successful based on what you think may happen in the future. It's based on results, which trended the right way last year, but that's the best we can say now.
  6. TheLeviathan
    I don't think it's money. I think it's a bizarre feeling that they HAVE to have a lefty in the rotation.
  7. TheLeviathan
    I'm not asking for it to be a mathematical proof, but if you're going to cite his ability to be about the same in innings 4-6 as he is 1-3, you should maybe fact check whether that is a trend worth even mentioning. Just, off the top of your head, pull up the stats of 12 good relievers that began as starters and I bet you'll find the majority struggled in their first three innings. It's the case for Perkins, Wade Davis, and many others. This isn't about stuff playing up early and then being found out for most of these guys, the truth is that a move to the bullpen is usually somewhat transformative for guys. So I'm not sure using their stats as a starter is all that reliable. Here's what we know: Milone is pretty good against both righties and lefties and last year he was electric against lefties. A guy that can do that is a pretty handy dude to have as a 7th inning guy. If he gets a velocity uptick there is no reason to believe he can't be Gorzelanny, Duke, or Brett Cecil if he moves down. He doesn't have to be a bullpen phenom, he just has to be pretty good and I think there is every reason to believe he can because, well, he's a pretty good pitcher. May has potential to be better than that and the only two arguments anybody is using to defend the move are: 1) We need him (a really awful argument, since this is freaking fixable. Even now!) and 2) He hasn't been that great....in 25 freaking starts. An argument I hope I don't have to take down because of how preposterously unfair it is to a developing young player.
  8. TheLeviathan
    It might help if liberals treated universities like the corporate blood suckers they are and apply the same standard rather than blaming state subsidies and other nonsense. Colleges are lining their pockets off tax payers and 18 year olds. If a corporation was doing that we'd hear no end to the condemnations from the left.
  9. TheLeviathan
    I think it has to be a capped amount that is only accessible based on academic merit and make trade schools free.
  10. TheLeviathan
    There are some things the free market shouldn't be used for, chief among them are health care, education, and the military. Why the right continues to understand that about one of them, but not the others is always baffling to me.
  11. TheLeviathan
    And none of whom are the responsibility of Ryan. And, to go further, all could be argued to have never even been Twins if Ryan was in charge at the time. Certainly a case can be made about Sano.
  12. TheLeviathan
    5 years ago the farm system was depleted because the GM 5 years previously had overseen some poor drafts. That's the same guy you're crediting now. I don't need all-in moves, but I'd like to see that 18M being spent on Suzuki and Nolasco contributing a lot more than it is now. And the real question is....if are about to embark on an extended run of contention, can Ryan do what it takes to augment this team further? I have serious doubts based on a long track record of evidence.
  13. TheLeviathan
    The Twins only "NEED" Milone there because they chose to do nothing to alleviate that need. It's really a pretty terrible argument. Milone's fine, I hold no ill-will towards him, but he isn't the kind of guy that this team should be making a point to wedge into the rotation at the expense of their future. While his career splits versus lefties are not great, his splits last season were outstanding. Perhaps he's developed something as a pitcher to reverse that trend. It's also a bit of a false argument to say that his starting pitching splits are an accurate indication of how he'd pitch in the bullpen. In the bullpen his matchups would be hand-chosen and there is generally expected to be a velocity uptick. I mean, if we take that argument as valid - someone needs to explain Glen Perkins to me. He sucked terribly as a starter in innings 1-3, but was much better 4-6. It would seem to indicate he also was a poor convert candidate. I'd suggest the real flaw is in trying to use that data to project. So I absolutely see him as a left-handed, late inning specialist. That is a viable role for him that the Twins just haven't chosen to give him, largely (I believe) because they insist on having at least one left-handed starter. I don't think that's very good reasoning.
  14. TheLeviathan
    There are some other potential issues, it would basically require some kind of cost control agreement between businesses and the schools and would really only be viable for large businesses. If all you want to fix is vocational training, fine, but I think there is real value in a more diverse education. The liberal arts/renaissance person style isn't the problem. The problem is that it's been dumbed down so that colleges can attract more mouths to the trough. We turned higher education into a transaction rather than a process, your idea only furthers that.
  15. TheLeviathan
    Partially true, there likely was an increase in my responsibility coming but that isn't what happened. There was a total remodeling of the insurance. It is what it is, I understand the need to insure those that needit, but there were costs for many with negotiated benefits or benefits with their employer. Healthcare reform was going to have that price regardless, but it still hurt.
  16. TheLeviathan
    No one wants Ryan to go into the offseason in gunslinger mode, doing whatever crazy thing crosses his plate. I'm a huge advocate against the "all-in" model. It's record of success just doesn't justify the costs associated. That said, there is middle ground between a constant pursuit of all-in and what Ryan has shown us. He's been trigger shy to add in the past and so far continues to occupy the middle ground of FA. Meanwhile, right now we have 35 million signed to three starters and a catcher. Would you rather have Santana, Nolasco, Hughes, Milone, Gibson or Grienke, Gibson, Milone, May, and Duffy? To me that's a simple choice.
  17. TheLeviathan
    I think the floor vs. ceiling point is another valid criticism. As an example of where you hear this vocalized by the club, I see it every time they credit a pitcher as an innings eater. Guys like Correia and Nolasco were signed, in part, because the Twins value that stat to a point of ridiculousness. Yes, being able to stay healthy and be on the mound is great, but we could set our sights a tad higher than that too.
  18. TheLeviathan
    I think we have to attack the source of the problem, starting with capping the amount of money public universities can charge/ask students to take out in debt. I think it has to start there - take away the damn trough. They are literally soaking 18 year olds to line the pockets of the university and fund non-stop rebuilding projects, expansion, etc. Ideally, we need to completely redo student aid and make colleges less of a money making operation and back to a place of higher education. But I don't see much hope for that. We're some 40-50 years down the path of transforming the intent of college education here. The creation of the federal aid program we know has been nothing short of a total disaster.
  19. TheLeviathan
    Gee, I just wish it was possible to be critical of the Twins without some absolute whacky fall-out in response. It'd also be nice if those criticizing Ryan tipped their hat a bit more as to what he does well. This all or nothing stuff is ridiculous. Here's the thing, I have very little confidence in Ryan making a significant, aggressive move during our next window of contention. I also worry that his past nickel and diming has just morphed into larger sums, but still the same core problem: too much money tied up in players not capable of helping the team much. Guys that, if cut and their salaries pooled, would create more than enough money for a guy that would actually help. Ryan does a lot of things well, I think draft and develop is the right system. I'm pretty confident he won't make glaringly terrible trades. But my positives about him don't blind me to fair criticism either.
  20. TheLeviathan
    It's not a bad idea, but it still lets the colleges get away with WAY too much.
  21. TheLeviathan
    Yeah, there seems to be either a fundamental misunderstanding on the left about what's wrong with student loans and college tuition. Every solution offered is worthy of slapping your forehead. Sanders being the worst of them all. He's basically subsidizing one of the most exploitative corporate models in America today.
  22. TheLeviathan
    You got my vote on that, I've been cheerleading that for years. Would do a world of good for black kids and other kids in poor environments.
  23. TheLeviathan
    For me Obamacare cost me a significant amount in the quality of my healthcare. As a teacher I still have great benefits, but they went from outrageously good to pretty good. That may seem like a "boo hoo" statement, but when your profession is wildly underpaid and that is one of the few things that makes up for it, it hurts.
  24. TheLeviathan
    I think Bernie is tapping into the 18-35 generation which has been been decimated by decision by the left and the right over the last 50 years. I don't agree with the politics and solutions offered by Sanders for those feelings, but as a member of that generation - I sure as hell empathize.
  25. TheLeviathan
    Your first paragraph is a distinction without a difference. For you what is "right" is likely not a compromise. That's the rhetoric we hear leveled against McConnell now. Cruz is celebrated for being uncompromising about what his side thinks is right. That's a huge part of the problem. To your second point, the Republican party has done a poor job keeping financial balances leveled. That is major change. But that change is almost entirely invested in the military, a stance they are continuing to double and triple down on. Only Paul refuses to engage in that same stance. As for how they are framed - they're doing that to themselves. Their rhetoric is framing nicely regardless of the media.
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