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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    I could go with either he or Rhys Hoskins, but yeah, as fun as free agency can be, getting either of them would be all I want this year. Presuming pitching is acquired via trade like it is every other off season.
  2. nicksaviking
    And likely the Marlins. If nothing else, mutually beneficial trades build open and willing relationships. Julien, Lewis and Polanco are all plus offensive players, but one will be riding pine every game. You don't trade Polanco because he's useless, you trade him because you can swap out production that's only sitting on the bench for equity that can help on the field somewhere else more regularly.
  3. nicksaviking
    For sure, and that's because we assume a one year deal means a very short leash. But 332 plate appearances before you move on? That's a lot of bad baseball if you can't commit to pulling the plug.
  4. nicksaviking
    They still have 20M or so to spend even if they don't trade most of the veterans, they could afford either. The clear positional needs are 1B, CF and front line SP. The clear offensive teams need are increased OBP and decreased strikeouts. I don't see much help with that in the free agent CF class. Unless they're going to surprise us and break the bank for a top starting pitcher, 1B seems to be the best place to put the money. I mean if they need to pick up a CF later, you can probably get a less-hyped Kike Hernandez or Aaron Hicks later for dirt cheap; they'd likely come at near league minimum or on a MiLB deal while providing similar results. They don't need and shouldn't get a half dozen free agents this year, barring trades, the offensive side of the roster is nearly set. Get one good one and get zero Gallo/Vazquez types this year. The internal options end up being better almost every single time.
  5. nicksaviking
    I too am exceedingly concerned about the strikeouts with this team, but in Alonso's case, that's only due to volume. He only struck out in 23% of his plate appearances last year, and that's in line with his career averages. He'd actually be an asset in the fight against swings and misses. But still, I don't see the Mets trading him. He should be a long term asset for a team that hopes to contend in the next couple of years.
  6. nicksaviking
    Gordon also sees the fewest pitches per plate appearances on the team. Something we now know runs opposite of current team goals.
  7. nicksaviking
    Yeah, crazy how bad he’s been. And I wanted nothing to do with Stroud, mostly because OSU QB’s have about as good of a track record as Ford Pintos.
  8. nicksaviking
    One year of Burns would be a tough sell for me too. I’d think of this strategy more so for Peralta or one of the Mariners or Marlins pitchers. Those teams take a bit of a rotation downgrade, but get a noticeable and necessary offensive/prospect-potential upgrade. Seems like a good trade off all around.
  9. nicksaviking
    Yeah, they'd need to get one of the free agents to make this work. But I've been thinking about this too lately. If the Twins want to trade for a top of the rotation arm, but don't want to part with Lee or Jenkins (I'm willing BTW), including Ober or Ryan as pieces may work as an alternate.
  10. nicksaviking
    I'm up for trading for any of Seattle's starters. But Castillo would need to be up for the trade too: https://www.sportsnet.ca/mlb/article/report-mariners-sign-luis-castillo-to-five-year-108m-contract-extension/
  11. nicksaviking
    Too bad about Enlow, that was a long run of quasi-prospectiveness*. Looked like he'd found new life in Wichita, but St. Paul didn't go very well. If he doesn't re-sign here, I'm thinking another team is going to put him in the pen, get good results, and make the Twins wish they'd done so first. *Yeah, I coined that just now, feel free to use it
  12. nicksaviking
    I don't think a year of Kepler and Kirilloff are nearly enough to get Soto. Alonso would be great to have, but didn't the Mets already say they won't be trading him? He has a good eye at the plate and power, those tend to be two age-resistant skills, I'd expect the Mets to eventually sign him long term.
  13. nicksaviking
    I don't know enough about Lee other than the stats we can see, and it's hard to interpret KBO stats. MLBTR says it's iffy he stays at CF, but that tends to be something others argue more strongly for. I assume you mean Teoscar Herandez. I'd be Ok with him if the team wasn't already struggling with strikeouts, but with how this team is built, I think he'd just be compounding the clubs greatest struggle. 31% K rate and he led the NL in strikeouts last year, I just can't pull that trigger.
  14. nicksaviking
    For now at least. Baseball trends all over the place. There may come a day where a Bomba Squad II rules the game. But even with their failures, it's good to see the front office continually adjust instead of pounding away with a single philosophy they are familiar with.
  15. nicksaviking
    Yeah, seems like they have. He was drafted in 2020, which of course was on the heels of the Bomba Squad success. Rosario and Soularie weren't exactly high contact guys either. Since then, the 2021 draft was pitchers, catchers and infielders (CES later moved to the OF) in their top ten picks. 2022 was exclusively pitchers and contact oriented infielders in the top ten. Last year seemed to be high OBP hitters and of course more pitchers. Since 2020, really only CES and Winkour were guys with swing and miss concerns and they were 3rd and 4th round picks. And despite the strikeouts, those two have shown quite a bit of promise.
  16. nicksaviking
    If the Twins don't sign one of the very few bats I'd like, I guess I could roll the dice with Giolito, but ONLY if they also trade for a Sonny Gray replacement. Have to aim higher than this. As much as I would have liked Hendricks a year ago, I'd pass. There's no telling how he'll return from TJ surgery and he'll be 36 when he does. Seems more like a luxury gamble than a calculated one. No interest in Anderson. His slugging percentage has fallen off of a cliff since 2021. He just looks like a slap hitter now, and not a very good one.
  17. nicksaviking
    I liked the idea of trading with Milwaukee more when I thought they were going to try to do the semi-rebuild. Where they'd trade a stud pitcher in exchange for young players who could help them now and in the future along with a veteran that plays a position of need that could help them still compete this year, like Kepler or Polanco. But if they're not going that route, I'd hit up the Marlins first because they'd also be a fit. I'm still interested in the Brewers pitchers though, even at the gut wrenching asking prices.
  18. nicksaviking
    There's only a couple of offensive free agents I like, so if they don't get them, I guess I don't much care if they sign Kiermaier. However, the Twins are only in the position of sniffing free agent CFs because their presumptive CF is injury prone, and we're talking about a new guy who's regularly on the IL for long stretches. He's rarely good offensively, so I think when it's all said and done, if you're putting up Kiermaier vs. the in-house possibilities of Castro, Martin, Buxton, Kiersey or even Lewis, it's more likely than not that experimenting with the in-house options will yield the better results overall. But like I said, if they aren't going to get one of the few guys I like, go ahead and sign him. As long as he's back to a rotational player when one of the in-house options start to get unjustly crunched. I don't want to see this team pulling another Joey Gallo move and waste months trying to justify the signing of another fairly non-descript free agent.
  19. nicksaviking
    Pretty sure the idea would be to put him at 1B. I don't see any free agent CFs I want to hand a full-time starting job, and the pitchers who'd be willing to meet this club's demand of a two, maybe three year max deal I almost certainly won't want as Gray's replacement. So the only spots I'd look to make an impact in free agency, really would be 1B or corner OF. My requirements would be someone who has a track record of consistent above average offense and someone who is not a strikeout liability. Outside of the not-happening Cody Bellinger, Turner and Rhys Hoskins are really the only ones who meet what I want. I could go with Lourdes Gurriel, but I am disappointed in his on base skills. He doesn't strike out a ton and doesn't take a lot of pitches, so I suppose if he gets indoctrinated into the new Twins hitting approach, maybe he'd get on base more and still not have a strikeout issue. I'm going to put a mental pin in that one and think on that more. There's just not that much that excites me in free agency this year.
  20. nicksaviking
    I just don't want the rotation to be a downgrade from last year. Yamamoto would be great though unlikely. Montgomery could be close to a push. Rodriguez and Wacha seem more like the Ober/Ryan/Paddock camp than they do Gray, so I don't want them. Despite your Correa optimism, and even if the payroll was 180M, I still think the years it would take to get Blake Snell would be a non-starter with this front office, especially since he's so inconsistent year-to-year. I also think his high BB% doesn't mesh with the makeup of the rotation and despite his talent, the club wouldn't have a ton of interest. Nola has been inconsistent, but healthy, I could see the club having more interest in him, but still, I think the years it would take to get him will be a turn off. All that said, Montgomery or the return of Gray seem like the ONLY real options to meet what the FO wants in a pitcher, AND to keep the rotation status quo from last year. As both pitchers will have lots of suitors, it just seems unlikely, and the front office would go back to the avenue where they've had better success, that being trading for starters. Four out of six is a pretty solid rate as far as these things go. Another young and controllable pitcher, and I'd pay a lot for a good one. Getting a young stud in his early to mid 20s would be better than signing any free agent arm outside of Yamamoto, even if you give up equity to get him.
  21. nicksaviking
    I think we're looking at the wrong position here. They've never given a big multi year contract to a starting pitcher, I can't imagine they'll do that now. Odorizzi, Maeda, Paddock, Gray, Mahle, Lopez. They trade for one pretty much every single year, and out side of Gray, they tend to be on their first contracts and dirt cheap. We probably should assume that's the game plan again this year. Going with that thought, they don't have roster room for too many offensive free agents. Larnach is probably expendable, but after that, you only have room when you start moving Farmer, Polanco and Kepler. So while there will be less budget overall, there will be more budget per free agent need than usual.
  22. nicksaviking
    He struck out 33.5% of his at bats and had a .278 on base percentage. By just about any measure, he was just as bad as Joey Gallo offensively.
  23. nicksaviking
    They do need a big bat for the middle of the lineup. The Nelson Cruz and Jim Thome route has worked in the past. Turner isn't exactly the slugger those two were but he's still a good hitter. J.D. Martinez would probably fit that mold better, but he won't work since the team won't know about Buxton's health yet; DH likely needs to be reserved for now.
  24. nicksaviking
    No need to rehash? Because you won't try to reconcile your desire to cling to the ghosts of the fading vets AND wanting multiple big ticket free agents? You can't have both and it's not about payroll, there just isn't roster space. Larnach gets bumped, but there's no other reasonable offensive players to shuffle off other than the three guys at the end of their productive careers. You can sign ONE big ticket free agent, or let the past go and sign multiple. Your prerogative, but whichever path you go, the payroll will accommodate within reason.
  25. nicksaviking
    Yeah I think he’s likely a top Twins target based on their current offensive strategy. He takes as many pitches as anyone in the league, yet unlike the much of the team, his strikeout rate is only 24%. If they trade for pitching as they typically do, he’d probably be the only free agent of note I’d care to chase.
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