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Willihammer

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Everything posted by Willihammer

  1. Willihammer
    Twins trade to Padres: Oswaldo Arcia Padres trade to Twins: Yasmani Grandal, 25 ©, and Matthew Wisler, 21 (RHP in AA). Why the Twins should do it: They need a catcher who can hit and play defense. Grandal is that. Former top ~50 prospect. Switch hitter. Shows up on pitch framing leaderboards. I've seen him catch and to my eye he looks impressive, bites off big chunks of the corners and sets a nice low target. He is however coming off knee reconstruction surgery (performed by the surgeon who did RG3's and AD's). Thus, his asking price *might* never be lower, and I am including a high upside near-ready RHP starter in Wisler as insurance. Why the Padres should do it: Padres are desperate for a corner outfield bat, Arcia could fill that role for them for many years. They also have top C prospect Austin Hedges waiting in the wings while Nick Hundley keeps his spot on the big league club warm. They have plenty of good SP pitching depth so trading Wisler shouldn't hurt them too badly.
  2. Willihammer
    Welcome to the unofficial offseason trade idea dump. This is a running scroll for random trade ideas that anyone has. I'll give a free powerball ticket to any winners, probably. Trade ideas need not be limited to the Twins.
  3. Willihammer
    http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/231680191.html This is the man who also said Correia "left money on the table." Turns out Willingham did too. So what I suspect is going on is the same thing this offseason. Ryan casting a wide lowball net, fishing for players with a unique reason to play in MN for a discount. And when he doesn't find any, the lip service we get is "they want to play for a contender." Well, if that's true, then I guess none of these guys will wind up in Chicago, Seattle, NYM, Houston, etc.
  4. Willihammer
    Yes, I wasn't aware Burnett had made his preference public. He's a special case. Just last offseason the Cubs made several free agent pickups. So did the Brewers. So did Toronto. So did Pittsburgh. So did the Indians - all coming off lousy seasons. So when Terry Ryan says players won't play for a non-contender, I think that's a lousy excuse. Here's a challenge to those who think money isn't the overriding factor: find a report from Milwaukee about Lohse turning down more money from other clubs to play in Milwaukee, like we now know was the case with Correia. Or for Michael Bourn and Nick Swisher - were they offered more money to play elsewhere like Willingham was?
  5. Willihammer
    Humor me, would you personally rather the Twins sign B. Arroyo or M. Tanaka?
  6. Willihammer
    So you would rather have Bronson Arroyo than Ervin Santana or M. Tanaka, is that it?
  7. Willihammer
    That might be true in Burnett's case but we heard it from Dave St Peter himself, for most guys its about "dollars and years."
  8. Willihammer
    I'd be open to a Buxton for Miller trade personally but I think they're looking for a SS
  9. Willihammer
    If they are going to blow 2-3 years on a 37 year old, why not go after Burnett?
  10. Willihammer
    Came across this link and thought it might be of interest http://yakyubaka.com/2013/11/06/1162013-new-posting-system-agreement-delayed-rakutens-discussions-tanaka-also-pushed-back/ Sounds like the JPBPA is the only thing standing between MLB and NPB finalizing a similar agreement to the last one, where teams that win posting bids have bargaining exclusivity. But not clear if auctions would continue to be blind or open. Is there hope for the Twins getting Tanaka yet?
  11. Willihammer
    Well if the Yankees are serious about McCann that would put Cervelli and Stewart out of a job. Both would be good pickups IMO and might be had for a nominal prospect.
  12. Willihammer
    Heh What is an example of a variable cost in a major league baseball franchise
  13. Willihammer
    "You can't have too much pitching." -Terry Ryan, 2012
  14. Willihammer
    Who do you like in the 2017 class?
  15. Willihammer
    I'll give you a third scenario: In 2-3 years the team is still terrible, the new core doesn't play well enough to demand big arbitration raises/extensions. But by that point the team will have drafted a whole new crop of top 100 specs. And so instead of making a FA splash in 2017, the timing for a big FA push gets pushed back to 2020.
  16. Willihammer
    This talk about saving for when the "new core" is ready - I think a reminder is in order. http://twinsdaily.com/2291-minnesota-twins-roster-payroll-2014.html There is, by my count, one player guaranteed money after 2014. The Twins could hand out a 100m FA contract this offseason, another one in 2015 and another after that until Mauer's contract expires (after which point they could hand out another one),pay arbitration raises to Sano, Buxton, and the handful of other specs who don't flame out, and still have money left over. They are wide @#$^@#$^ open.
  17. Willihammer
    http://i.imgur.com/PtibbKp.jpg .654 OPS and -0.5 career WAR player, Denny Hocking.
  18. Willihammer
    Maybe Ryan prefers the longer way because he's a hopeless romantic? http://i.imgur.com/qUuYXBs.jpg?1
  19. Willihammer
    Volquez is intriguing, he has a huge xFIP-ERA gap, good regression candidate but man is he wild sometimes. Personally I would prefer Roberto Hernandez. He's just outside all of your criteria but has really cut down on walks recently and has a more enormous GB rate. And he can dial it up to 94-95 when he has to. I've always liked his stuff.
  20. Willihammer
    Haha, oh man, I know it but I don't know if I should say. Its equal parts hilarious and depressing. He was basically the Nick Punto before Nick Punto was the Nick Punto.
  21. Willihammer
    How many of the green globs in the middle of the strikezone are not actually offspeed pitches but fastballs or cutters from the Twins soft tossing starters? Many of these pitches clocked at 85-89 esp. Albers, Diamond, Worley, Correia. If those are in fact a lot of fastballs, then I wonder if starters are being forced to throw them in those locations, because of what you wrote last spring about Mauer being a poor framer of the low strike (and a good framer of the high strike). By contrast Brian McCann was tied for 4th in framers of the low strike. Baseball Prospectus | Overthinking It: This Week in Catcher Framing, 4/12 edit: In other words, might the Twins staff pitch higher in the zone overall (not just with off-speed pitches) because their catcher is squeezing them on the bottom of the zone?
  22. Willihammer
    Here's a partial list: MLB Concussions | The Concussion Blog The same blog has 2011 totals here: MLB Concussion Wrap Up 2011 | The Concussion Blog and a partial 2012 total here: 2012 MLB Concussion Update #1 | The Concussion Blog 2013 totals are here (I'm pretty sure these figures didn't change in the last month): For catchers, concussion dangers all too real The total is: Catchers: 20 All others: 34 That's 37% of confirmed concussions since 2001, according to the above data, were catchers. And most, maybe all of them, were on foul tips (I know all 10 in 2013 were sustained on foul tips). Also, this: Chirinos facing long comeback from concussion Scary stuff. I have read, however, that some of the catchers in 2013 switched to titanium masks before being concussed, and then switched to steel after. Steel has more flex and might be a safer material concussion-wise, but I don't know if it reduces the risk to zero.
  23. Willihammer
    Well the Yanks have 21 consecutive winning seasons and counting so I will believe spending big in free agency spoils organizations when it actually happens.
  24. Willihammer
    Hope you're right about Hicks, that would be a huge boost for this club.
  25. Willihammer
    Knoblauch?
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