TheLeviathan

And next year if the results come back with Jon Garland as the fifth best with his performance is tht how you will choose to judge it? That seems odd.

maybe but you have been overlooking Lirianos consistent penchant for awfulness to bang the drum on him for several seasons. He needed to go and I would like to see two consecutive non-awful years before I declare a multi year deal wise.

If I remember the Twins blamed the slider overuse for his arm blowout. So either they are going to be proved wrong or right by his health.

Yes...but Hamels and Cain re-upped. Still was pretty decent. To your point Brock, that only matters if the future resources aren't wasted, which we've already talked about.

You talk as if that couldn't happen tomorrow anyway. We always get reminded about how Liriano is talented if he strings so much as two starts together that don't stink. Guy is pitching well.....but we have seen that before. also, I find it irritating that we often assume similar results in different situations. Liriano might have just found the right spot for him for now, be it the NL, the coaching, the teammates or whatever.

Which means the prices are likely to be really absurd. The year after doesnt look much better. Let's get off the "there was no one good last year!" It was a pretty average year.

I can understand not wanting to slam a guy he's probably hoping to move the next few weeks. But these comments again show how low the threshold is for veteran starters to be appreciated by this franchise. I'm still pretty uncomfortable with "having a pulse" and "doing stuff on the mound for a 4-5 innings" qualifying for success. Still far too little emphasis on guys capable of doing, you know, good stuff while they're out there. (Obviously I'm being snarky, but really...does it amount to much more than that?)

Awesome blog - really cool to compare especially with Franklin up and having some success in Seattle already.

I like this: We'll let him dictate what happens to him in the future.

I don't like Chafin - too "twins pitcher"ish to me. I could live with Holmberg, but I'm not blown away by that package. I'd need more I think.

Um, I did back on BYTO. The talk here is of a Top50 spec, by BA's rankings, Bradley and Skags are the only candidates on Arizona. I also clearly said it was unrealistic, but that's the kind of offer I'd be aggressively shopping for. If you had told me Didi Gregarious could land Trevor Bauer I'd have also called you crazy. Arizona appears to be our most ideal fit, maybe Verve is right that Holmberg is the more appropiate guy to pair with the SS, but I'd sure be asking about Bradley. The whole point here is to shop and see if you get blown away, not deal him for a pile of middling guys.

Is this another result of that cheerleader case and the fact that a website was held accountable for the post of a member? I've seen a wave of reactions on the internet just like that and it seems a bit too coincidental. That said - it was where so many of us were born. *Sniff*

I'm excited about Zucker and it's nice to have another skilled power forward...but I am very worried about our depth at center ice.

I don't expect the right-wing to wake up to their stupidity in this case (racial injustice just doesn't seem to be a concept they can understand) but I am heartened that some are waking up to the real problem here. Some left-leaning sites actually seem to be digging into more than the surface finally. The more I read about it today the more I think a prosecutor with an interest in making a name for herself duped millions of people into thinking this case was more than it really was. (Some were even predicting that before the trial even started based on the affidavit) That becomes really aggravating when you consider all the people that damages.

How we just got Nick Punto's slightly younger Twin called up to reinvigorate the team?

I started with Owings but the problem with Arizona is a real lack of interesting pitching specs after Skaggs/Bradley. (Who are likely too highly rated) Have any better suggestions?

Maybe, but Bauer was talked about the same way. In any case, I think that is the kind of deal I shop for if I am Ryan. High demand can do crazy things to prices.

I'll throw something out there: Archie Bradley and Chris Owings from Arizona for Doumit and Perkins. Maybe a bit unrealistic, but I'd jump all over it.

Well right, the problem is when you suggest "here is what is really happening" there are a host of people ready to tell you "nuh uh, he never said that". Just last week on this subject someone suggested they were at the actual budget because no one had said otherwise. I think there is always some subjectivity in interpreting public comments but these were always an obvious cover for misering the payroll. THe scary quotes are Ryans about being meaningful with his additions...because (scarily) I thin he meant those.

Apparently Derschowitz has been calling for her to be disbarred. They have quite the feud going. In the 77 year olds case a judge did wield some executive power to erase the "crime" that was the sentence and she just pressed on for a judge that caved. I Really think her role in this is getting underplayed in the rush to not look at the details of this awful, corrupt prosecution. and let me be clear....seeking a charge was needed, doing so unethically only made this injustice a guarantee.

That's pretty disgusting. There is no "oh well" to this - we have an innocent with their life lost. At night and being followed for an unknown reason are really strong reasons for someone's flight/fight instinct to kick in. The poor kid was probably scared out of his mind - or at least nervous. What he did wasn't stupid, it was perfectly reasonable under these conditions. Hell, it's precisely why Zimmerman was told to not pursuit. To the larger case - I'm more and more disturbed by this prosecution. Their opening statements claimed Zimmerman was on top and it was Martin screaming - by the end they had acknowledged Martin was on top and that he had a right to defend himself. How does that happen? I chewed on the interviews/press conferences and there is just something I don't like about Angela Corey. A quick check of her background shows that she has been involved in some really extreme cases of overcharging - charging a 12 year old as an adult, putting a 77 year old man who fired warning shots into the ground to scare away people threatening to assault him for 20 years (a charge a Florida judge called a crime in and of itself), and the case of a black woman who fired a gun into a ceiling to scare away her abusive husband. All under her watch. Combine that with a flimsy affadavit, repeated failures to disclose discovery, firing one of her employees for testifying in court that these things happened, and a flimsy case....and I see the work of a politician. This seems like it was all a publicity stunt on her part to continue to boost her name recognition. I know this is conspiracy theory-ish, but read up on this woman's past. I'm no longer as shocked as I was before about how this case came to end up like this. Afterall, how can anyone in their right mind think you can get a murder conviction when your case looks like the model the underpants gnomes use: 1. First, he racially profiled 2. Then....... 3. Next....murder! Just stupid. No justice for a slain kid because someone wanted to win political points rather than pursue a charge they might have actually succeeded at.

We have an excellent farm, but it's not built on pitching prospects. In Ryan's career as a GM, how many elite SP have we developed successfully? No matter how you shake things, he's got things to prove before they can be relied on. Could he trade players? Sure, he might be able to continually swing those types of deals, but that's difficult as well. And even if you do, you might be playing a zero-sum game - you're not adding from outside the organization, you're just shuffling your own deck.

In his entire career - a span longer than most GMs in the league are ever afforded - he's never done more than three years for any player that didn't involve arbitration years. If this team had 2 elite SP prospects and a collection of very good ones on the way, I could see how his strategy to FA over the years might work. (Think OAK or Tam) But we need pitchers - good ones won't come for less than 5 years and without a lot of risk. So yes, he's going to have to get comfortable with either that risk or dealing mutiple prospects in a trade. You take your pick....either way he hasn't demonstrated that propensity yet.

We can agree to disagree here - I get your point, but I just don't think these perfect moments are all that predictable. Timetables can change quickly, I'd rather be aggressive when it's possible than be left holding the bag and wishing you had been. Impatience is different than brazen incompetence. I agree that Ryan is patient and that is often to his benefit. I'd also argue that feeds directly to my point at the end of my first reply: caution is a great strength, unless you let it become a vice. (Borderline pathologically risk averse) If you become too worried about not making mistakes, you miss opportunities.