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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    "Moreover, he’ll bring an unmatched level of reliability. Since debuting with Cleveland in 2010, Santana has played in 1930 games, the most of any player in baseball" I think they are conflating reliability with durability.
  2. nicksaviking
    But if you weren't a Twins fan, but an objective observer who hasn't thought twice about Max Kepler in the past decade, would you look at this and think it more likely the 31-year-old will explode or implode? Even if he's just average, you'd probably be holding less value at the deadline.
  3. nicksaviking
    We have seen this before, but I still don't think it makes a ton of sense for the White Sox. I'd have to think they'd want prospects now instead of gambling that Kepler and his not-insubstantial salary can be traded for better later.
  4. nicksaviking
    Three DFA'd players at once? Seems unlikely they'll all be claimed. I'm thinking the Twins wanted to remove Balazovic from the 40-man, and they might have seen this shock-and-awe blitzkrieg of the DFA ticker line to be their best shot at keeping him. Perhaps they even only picked up Weiss to obscure their motives. I'm thinking it doesn't work. In any case, I'm not sweating it. Unless they're throwing absolute gas, every and any reliever that struggled with walks in the upper minors (and majors obviously) is off of my priority list.
  5. nicksaviking
    But it should be able to work the other way too. Instead of pixie dust, maybe gypsy curse? I've been pretty firm this offseason that I want players who are reliable producers; someone who doesn't have wildly different outcomes each year. But relievers are still a different animal. I'm still Ok if the evaluation is on what the pitcher SHOULD have done as opposed to what they have done. Saying that, none of the relievers the Twins picked up looked terribly promising in either regard.
  6. nicksaviking
    Castro was non-tendered by the Tigers and the Twins signed him to a MiLB deal. So no waivers. I'm guessing the parallel being drawn wasn't to having to expose anyone to waivers, but to cast-off players popping later. But still, I wouldn't use an infielder for that example. Happens with relievers all the time though. The Twins have had plenty of luck with this in years past and TB seems to build most of their pen this way. But I'm sure a lot of this is small sample size shenanigans in one way or another. Either good luck with the new team, or bad luck with the old.
  7. nicksaviking
    I'd think his velocity as a starter separates him from Sands. As to Winder? Well let's hope Festa's FB isn't as flat; I thought Winder was going to be a really good starter, but he just can't miss bats even when he was pumping up his four seamer. I'm concerned about the control, for sure. If that's mitigated, I think he could be pretty good.
  8. nicksaviking
    Jax did well, and Duran and Rogers went straight to relieving too. But tons of guys need a year. Duffey, May and Perkins. Too many top end relievers who were converted starters, like Liam Hendricks, Brad Hand and Andrew Miller were all lost because their first team didn't give them the requisite time in the pen to figure things out. I mean it wouldn't be the end of the world, but how many pitchers fall off the top prospect lists and then three years later actually turn into a good starter? I think the chances that he could become a really good reliever are significantly higher than the odds that he'll ever be a good starter, so I'd rather play with that path because with his dwindling options, the Twins may only get to give a reasonable try one of those routes now, not both.
  9. nicksaviking
    I guess I haven't read into racism being the cause of the dislike of Dak, but that wouldn't surprise me I suppose. It is Texas and Jones has been lying and trying to cover up all his racist crap for decades. The most recent notable defamation toward Dak came from CeeDee Lamb's mom for what that's worth. I mean, it's obviously worth nothing, and I'm all for anything that will tear that club apart, but that's what I was referring to anyway.
  10. nicksaviking
    I've been hearing about the future of American Soccer for 30 years. The NFL figured out how to be a 12 months sport somehow and they're not giving the other sports a chance to breath. They're happy to eat up the market share of every other sport that makes a misstep. Which for MLB is a monthly trend it seems.
  11. nicksaviking
    And root for them to under pay players for the sole purpose of leveraging the city for free tax money. Such a farce.
  12. nicksaviking
    I just don't want them to miss their window if he needs to go to the pen. If that's his eventual destination, he should have a full year between spring training, AAA and the majors doing only that job before he runs out of options and the Twins lose him for good.
  13. nicksaviking
    Well I mean I'd do Prielipp and the comp pick without thinking twice. But I'm not even sure Cease is better than Ober and Ryan. Looking at his career, his one excellent season is looking like an outlier.
  14. nicksaviking
    I'm not a big Gordon fan either. Even in his good season he couldn't get on base very well. A 4%BB rate isn't inspiring. On the other hand, I'm the low guy on Martin too. I have a hard time getting excited about slap hitters. A .361 MiLB slugging percentage isn't very good. I like that he can get on base, but with that little XBH ability, I'd like to see his OBP quite a bit higher. I'm not down on the system at all though. There are other guys I like quite a bit.
  15. nicksaviking
    I think the best bullpens tend to have a core group of three to four guys who have been there multiple years and operating in a similar way and used in similar spots. Gardado/Hawkins/Romero, Nathan/Crain/Gurrier, Rogers/May/Duffey. Without doing a deep dive into other team's pens, I doubt this one is the BEST, but I think they're in line to be really good, mostly due to some consistency setting in. I'd hope they don't monkey around with too many of the new recruits with control problems though. I hope the ones who are still around come March are strictly break-glass-in-case-of-emergency arms stashed in St. Paul
  16. nicksaviking
    Yup, real broken up about it.
  17. nicksaviking
    Funny, for as good as the Cowboys have been, those coaching jobs there can't be terribly attractive. Looks like a bomb is about to go off. With McCarthy's job on the line, people screaming that Dak isn't a big game player and with the star players' families and friends (boneheadedly) saying unflattering things about leadership on social media, they could be a surprise train wreck team next year. Lots of folks seem to think they can't handle the pressure in the playoffs, well next year, the whole season is going to be pressure like the playoffs.
  18. nicksaviking
    I could begrudgingly be talked into giving up Julien for a top end pitcher, but I don't think they'd have to since is Lee still hitting the prospect charts so high and being capable of playing SS. And Julien is my second favorite Twin right now, I don't say that lightly. I like Jeffers and wouldn't move him. Now at least. If the young guys in the system are killing it and knocking on the door, I may consider next year. But Jeffers gets no league wide buzz; perhaps there's some skepticism after a slow 2021-22 seasons, but I think the team would actually be selling low on him now. Even if 2024 is merely good, and not as great as 2023, I think his value goes through the roof. But then again, that could make him untouchable for the Twins. But if they got one more controllable top end pitcher now, the top four rotation spots should be set for the foreseeable future and they can then supplement as needed with the high ceiling prospect arms when needed.
  19. nicksaviking
    How do they improve the team? They're the same as Ryan/Ober/Paddack but on the backside of their careers instead of being still in their mid-to-late 20s. I want a top end pitcher to go with Lopez then the back three in the rotation. Signing either of those Royals pitchers pretty much closes the book on that.
  20. nicksaviking
    I'm annoyed, but there were only three free agents I wanted. That was literally it. Otherwise I wanted them to go with the higher ceiling internal guys and trade for the Sonny Gray spot. I'm disappointed as well, but at the same time realize that my pickiness about only three of about 100 players available was also probably unreasonable. And to be clear, the players I wanted were not unreasonable, all were affordable. Just my tiny circle compared to the circle of overall free agents in the Venn diagram was too narrow to expect to get what I wanted. They better do that second part, that being trading for the Sonny Gray replacement. If they don't do that, I'm already writing this season off as a loss. And I'll rag on them all year if they don't.
  21. nicksaviking
    I doubt there's a poster on here who has said anything remotely like this that hasn't also been critical of the team. I've said these things AND have been very critical, Not being jealous of mid-to-low level free agents isn't some kind of brown nosing effort by any fan. You simply don't build a winning team by signing this caliber of player that blocks your higher ceiling internal options or instead of trading for players that will actually put you over the top. And I've said I'd prefer to win a World Series by making bold moves like the Royals did last decade then suffer a few years after. But these are not bold moves. These moves look exactly like the Twins upon Terry Ryan's return. They were half measure moves made to make it look like they were trying even though everyone who puts this to any kind of scrutiny can see this Royals team still has zero shot at a championship.
  22. nicksaviking
    Just like with DeSclafani, I have no interest in that type of free agent pitcher. And at least with DeSclafani, I don't think the Twins have closed the door on getting an arm I actually want. Had they given out those contracts, I'd be sure the door was closed. Looks an awful lot like the Ricky Nolasco, Phil Hughes, Kevin Correia era for the Twins; surprising paydays for a team not used to giving them out. However, while these arms may make you look more respectable through the regular season, they aren't nearly good enough to make you a contender. Those are treading water moves.
  23. nicksaviking
    Good for them with Witt, but the reason the Royals are spending so much money is because they have been terrible at developing good young players. There wasn't a free agent they signed that I wanted on this team. Just because the Royals can't build a roster via the farm and have to sign a half dozen bottom barrel free agents doesn't mean I wan the Twins to follow suit just to spend money.
  24. nicksaviking
    Looking at the aging players since 2010 (37 years old+) and it's not surprising that it's filled with HOFers: A few of these guys didn't have much of a drop off from their heydays. The rest that did have a drop off didn't have a sustained rebound period. None of these guys had sub .700 OPS seasons three years running, or even close to those numbers, and then went on to have more than one season of relevance. Lot's of one-off rebound seasons, but nothing longer than that; there were no extended renaissance eras for these guys. and Santana's rebound season seemed to be last year.
  25. nicksaviking
    https://theathletic.com/5250968/2024/02/05/rosenthal-zack-greinke-oakland-athletics-mlb/ Still looking for a shortstop, and have I got a deal for you!
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