gunnarthor

Wow, this thread went to crap fast. Jokin, no one was making any conclusions about anyone. The poster was simply putting his stat line down like the others that were placed for Saunders, Blanton, Jackson etc. No one made any conclusions and I and PseudoSABR both mentioned the danger of SSS. Stop trying to be a troll on everything that gets posted.

One thing to note though is how screwed the Twins would have been if they had planned on an April rotation of say, Baker, Diamond, Marcum, Deduno and Worley.

The Twins frustrated a lot of us by signing Correa and Pelfrey (and Harden). Thought it would be interesting to see how some of the other pitchers we wanted are doing. Baker - Cubs - started season on 60 day DL Marcum - Mets - started season on 15 day DL Saunders - Seattle - 3 starts, 1-1, 2.08 era (182 ERA+), 17.1ip 1.43 k/bb Blanton - Angels - 3 starts, 0-3, 8.59 era (44 ERA+), 14.2ip 2.0 so/bb Liriano - Pirates - 1 minor league start. Injury rehab, I believe. Haren - Nats - 3 starts, 1-2, 8.10 era (49 ERA+), 13.1ip 17.6(!) h/9 Jackson - Cubs - 3 starts, 0-2, 6.06 era (76 ERA+), 16.1 ip, 1.59 whip Villanueva - Cubs - 2 starts, 0-0, 0.64 era (634 ERA+), 14 ip, .857 whip I don't remember who else there was serious consideration for. I wanted Anibal Sanchez but don't think he was being seriously considered. I can't remember if there was any push for the Twins to trade for Santana (which the Royals did). Anyhow, 3 games is far too soon to make any conclusions (although Baker clearly wasn't ready) but thought it would be interesting to look at this now and again.

I think Carroll ends up playing a lot of second base but it's too early to give up on Dozier. For now, I don't have a problem with Escobar/Floriman getting most of the starts at short stop.

Not a problem. If you want to take Polanco over I can easily grab someone else or trade whoever you have this year.

"Hansel hot"? Not sure I've ever heard that expression before.

Pitcher A: 95-06, 148-139, 113 ERA+, 2451ip, 45.6 WAR Pitcher B: 95-06, 186-104, 119 ERA+, 2312ip, 44.4 WAR Pitcher A retired after the 06 season because his arm broke down. Pitcher B used PEDs.

Don't use facts. Fans have their story lines they need to stick with: Mauer is over paid, Gardy only plays his guys, guy goes on DL it's the Twins fault.

He had another double play catch just a few days earlier: Baseball Video Highlights & Clips | NYM@PHI: Phillies turn two off a Davis liner - Video | MLB.com: Multimedia

Good point. Sorta depends on what we mean by back end starter. Slowey and Blackburn's 3 good seasons saw them put up somewhere (roughly) between 160-200 innings, 100-105ish ERA+, and somewhere between 2-3 WAR. If that's the criteria, then I think Tim Wakefield (04-11) would be the prime example.

He was the third international signee in 2009 to go with Sano and Kepler. Not at their level but he could be a sleeper guy for us. He's mostly a second baseman at Cedar Rapids but will also DH and play short. He's a switch hitter. The season is young but so far Polanco is hitting .265/.306/.412 with 2ks and 2 BBs. Sickels listed him as a sleeper prospect to watch.

Well, true. I'll try Jorge Polanco.

Dangit. I was in a meeting this morning. I guess I'll take .... wow. Not a lot left. Can I claim whoever the Twins take with their 1st pick in the June draft?

Since Slowey was never healthy, it doesn't really make sense to compare an event (his healthy season) that happened 3 years ago to determine who should start going forward. Blackburn was horrible in 2010 but finished very strong after coming off the DL just as Slowey started to pitch so badly he wasn't placed on the post season roster. Slowey was the worse pitcher in 2011 and didn't pitch at all in the majors in 2012 and missed most of the year with another injury. Kind of hard to fault the Twins for giving up on him there. It's nice that he's had 3 starts in Miami this year but it really means nothing.

Nice to get that first hit out of the way. Wish I had seen it.

Far more amazing. The FO at least had a track record of success.

And the reason they needed to put Swarzak on the staff!

The part where you claim the Twins never considered Baker for the bullpen and the part where you used ERA (and ignored IP and starts) to suggest that Slowey had earned a starting spot over the other pitchers in spring training.

That's one way to look at it but it ignores that Blackie was able to stay healthy and throw over 100 more innings. And bWAR has them tied in value. And it also includes time before Slowey got hurt which is sorta relevant if you want to decide who pitches for you going forward. The fact that Blackburn was the better pitcher in 2011 sorta supports that.

Posts like this are pretty easy to check. Baker was considered for the pen (and later that season, he accepted it) but out pitched Slowey for the 5th spot. Slowey did have the best ERA of the pitchers in that ST but it was with a pretty big caveat. He had a 1.69 era in 2 starts (8 games) and pitched 16 innings. Blackburn had a 1.73 in 6 starts (7 games) and 26 ip. Frankly, every pitcher except Liriano had a &tab_level=child&click_text=Sortable+Player+pitching&sectionType=sp&statType=pitching&page=1&ts=1366082527643&game_type=%27S%27&season=2011&season_type=ANY&league_code=%27MLB%27&playerType=ALL&sportCode=%27mlb%27&split=&team_id=142&active_sw=&position=%271%27&page_type=SortablePlayer&sortOrder=%27desc%27&sortColumn=ip&results=&perPage=50&timeframe=&last_x_days=&extended=0"]pretty good ST that year.

Here's hoping. I missed today's game but good to see a nice run from him.

Again, this Gardy Machiavellian BS .... Going into the 2011 season, Blackie had managed to be a better pitcher than Slowey - pitching 160 more innings over the last 3 years and pitching remarkably better than Slowey down the stretch in 2010, after he came back from the DL. Slowey had continuously shown that he was unable to pitch deep into ball games - in 2010, he managed 9 quality starts in 28 starts. He murdered the bullpen. And while Blackie wasn't great in 2011, his .6 WAR and 46% quality start rate were better than Slowey (2 QS in 8 starts and a -.5 WAR while pouting). But yeah, Gardy gave him all the breaks b/c they were both from Oklahoma. (really need an eye rolling thingy) Does Slowey ever take responsibility for his actions?

If he absolutely rakes, they'll keep him up for a bit and juggle him, Parm and Doumit in the RF/DH spots until he cools down or they trade Morneau/Willingham. If he's just solid, they'll move him down.

I guess there are really two issues here. 1) Is Slowey a good pitcher and 2) Is he a good person? He isn't a good pitcher. He had one solid season five years ago and that was pretty much it. We have a pretty good sample size to work with there. But if you want to think that one quality start in 3 starts this year means he's turned the corner (and in his defense, a 33% QS or 5.9ip/game would be far better than anything he's done in a long time), more power to you. But it's far more likely that he is the same pitcher that has sucked for so long. The second issue is he a good person. No one here knows him but there have been stories about him being a D-bag for years. On the old ESPN forums, a fan mentioned some dicky things Slowey did to a young fan seeking an autograph during ST. Souhan mentioned that he had never seen someone burn as many bridges in the locker room, coaching staff and front office as Slowey had managed and that no one liked him. I suppose we could say that Souhan is libeling Slowey but he probably had some basis for the charge. And I'll print below all the teammates who spoke out in his defense: We do know that he pouted and refused to go to the bullpen despite being unable to pitch deep into games. So, he's probably a dick. I suppose we can hear from anti-Twins people (and it's really hard to say these are pro-Slowey guys, it's just people trying to be contrarian) who will say Gardy doesn't like him b/c he could read a book or refused to be one of Gardy's guys or some such bull****.

Nice post.