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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    I think most of the discomfort with Archer stems from the TOS surgery. It just seems to have a really low record of successful recovery. I'm willing to give him a test drive though.
  2. nicksaviking
    That's excellent. Leash growing by the minute.
  3. nicksaviking
    Anyone know what Archer's velocity was in his one start? Getting back to typical velocity in short order seems to be a pretty good tell tale sign if a guy is returning to form. In his handful of starts last year he was only sitting at about 92MPH, down from his typical 94-95. Just like with Bundy, if he doesn't get that velocity back, I don't like his chances. But at least with Archer, if it doesn't work out in the rotation, I'd be more than happy to give his +slider a shot in the pen.
  4. nicksaviking
    Well I'd give Archer a longer leash than Bundy since you'd think a guy coming back from inactiveness may need more time to get into the grove than a guy who's issue is that he can barely hit 90MPH any longer. But I don't give either a very long leash. Young guys get long leashes, aging vets get short leashes. It's never worked that way around here, but it should.
  5. nicksaviking
    The OP says that the Sonny Gray trade only makes sense if the Twins also add someone like Manaea. I guess my thought is that a Gray AND a Manaea trade only make sense if they get someone like Robbie Ray or Kevin Gausman. What does a rotation led by Gray and Manaea really get you? Almost certainly not a deep playoff run. This team is gearing up the young players to hopefully contend next year; this year will still be training wheels. I'm expecting watchable baseball, but realistically we need another year at least. Meaningful new pitchers need to have more years of control than Manaea.
  6. nicksaviking
    Not unless it's part of the new CBA. Celestino was called up directly from Wichita last year.
  7. nicksaviking
    I really hope there's no internal memorandum that Canterino, Wallner and Martin HAVE to go to AAA. If any or all of these guys are cruising in June, I'd like to see them leapfrog any AAA options if they look the part. I also could care less if they haven't had the perceived requisite IPs or ABs at the AA level either.
  8. nicksaviking
    Bundy was really only good for about 6 starts in 2020, otherwise he's been an overall pretty bad pitcher since his velocity left him in 2016-17. That said, I don't think it will be a long experiment if he's not pitching well; the front office now seems eager to get the young guys up. The worst thing that could happen right now is for Bundy and Archer to pitch in that gray area between poor and abysmal and the team waffles an extra month about replacing them. No ill will towards either player, but they won't be part of this team's future contention so I hope they're out of the rotation by May. Speaking of, for the last couple of years I thought Archer and his slider were destined to become a really good bullpen weapon someday....
  9. nicksaviking
    Not a popular opinion, I know, but I mostly want to get out from under him being our RF and if we can get something for him now as opposed to nothing a year from now, I'd pull the trigger. I only hesitate because he is a better than average option to back up Buxton. Otherwise I've seen enough from Kepler the last two years to roll with the young guys. He's wearing out his welcome similar to Eddie Rosario (just in different ways) but unlike Rosario the Twins can't decline arbitration on Kepler as his contract is guaranteed.
  10. nicksaviking
    I keep seeing the Kyle Garlick scenarios, but I don't get it. Honestly, I haven't followed spring training a ton so I might be missing something, but he has one hit all spring, didn't do anything special last year and doesn't have much of a track record. Why are people clamoring for him to make the 40 man? Seems like another reasonable AAA stash for emergency purposes.
  11. nicksaviking
    Most teams don't have a good backup CF, because there aren't enough to go around. But if the Twins need to replace Buxton, I'd much rather have someone who can hit over someone who has a decent glove but is a black hole in the lineup. I'm advocating for trading Kepler, but the ONLY reason I hesitate is because he's a better option as back up CF than anything else the Twins have. His bat is miles better than most backup CFs in the league.
  12. nicksaviking
    Interesting catcher shuffling days before opening day. But I could really care less who the 3rd catcher ends up being, I'm just really happy he's not on the 40-man. Emergency catcher 15 miles away in St. Paul is exactly how I want it.
  13. nicksaviking
    Smeltzer tops out at about 88 MPH, gives up a ton of contact and can't strike out his grandma. Due to small sample sizes it can appear that he's doing OK, but any GM worth their salt will understand the smoke and mirrors won't last very long.
  14. nicksaviking
    They tried to trade Paddock to the Mets. Not sure if I care too much for him but I’d be interested in Lamet. Weathers if the Twins want to spice it up a bit.
  15. nicksaviking
    They have some young pitching which would pique my interest.
  16. nicksaviking
    I'm really excited for Ryan on opening day, but this is a huge game. Maybe I'm going to get a little hyperbolic, but this seems pretty important. The front office is basically putting their entire plan for rotation building front and center for everyone to critique on day one. They once again refused to sign quality free agent starters because this was their goal; a rotation filled with talented controllable and affordable arms. They have to know that despite this only being one game, judgments, even if irrational, are going to be handed out. If Ryan does well, hopefully it will give the rest of the team and some of the fans (it'll never be all of the fans) confidence that these young guys are the best option over the aging low cost vets. If Ryan does well, hopefully it will give the front office no pause in brining up the rest of the prospects, and if Ryan does well, hopefully it will give those prospects the confidence and competitive spur they need to take the mound at the MLB level and succeed. That's three levels of "If Ryan does well, hopefully" if you're counting.
  17. nicksaviking
    I regularly expressed then dealt with my disappointment prior to the lock out. There was nothing reasonable to do afterwards to fix the rotation. If they get more pieces now, it needs to come at the expense of Bundy and Archer. This economical approach to the rotation will never work unless it's mostly made up of internal top end starters. This was clearly the bed the team was trying to make too, so screwing around with the rookies has to stop. The young guys get long leashes, the Bundys/Archers/Haaps/Shoemakers/Perezs get the short leashes. Very, very short leashes.
  18. nicksaviking
    I guess I don't really care where they're at as long as nothing is holding them back from being called up to the majors if either are raking at their current level. Celestino got called called up from AA over Keon Broxton and Jimmy Kerrigan in AAA last year. But maybe they think Lewis needs the push at AAA and Martin needs a chip on his shoulder at AA? Or maybe it's because Lewis is already on the 40-man so he'll likely get the first look if there's an emergency need, and the emergency players now play down the road in St. Paul.
  19. nicksaviking
    Yeah, he's definitely someone who may greatly benefit from that rule. But lately, I've been more concerned with Kepler's inability to shift balls over the fence.
  20. nicksaviking
    He can't hit for power though. If I had to choose between the two prospects, I'd still tie my horse to Lewis because his ceiling tends to be the type of player harder to replace in free agency. Martin's skillset appears to be Luis Arraez with a handful more HR. Plus, I don't think this front office would have many qualms about calling up a competent hitter from AA. They've done it with incompetent hitters.
  21. nicksaviking
    Miranda should have stuck. He’s one of the team’s best shots at the new rookie opening day lineup draft pick compensation bonuses. And as far as roster construction goes, he + Urshala + Arraez + Kirilloff would have meant the rest of the roster could have been really, really flexible
  22. nicksaviking
    Yeah, in an era where teams purposefully play "bullpen games", intentionally give their best players a day off once a week to rest and run a utility player out to pitch the 9th to save the bullpen, is taking the 2% chance that one of your catchers will get injured therefore losing the DH for a couple of at bats in ONE GAME, really all that big of a deal? Third catcher should stay in St. Paul until needed. Always. It's doubtful that Godoy is even a significantly better hitter than the Twins best hitting pitcher anyway.
  23. nicksaviking
    The bench would look a lot better (and a lot more versatile) if Miranda was giving a shot at winning the 3B job and both Arraez and Urshala were regularly used bench assets.
  24. nicksaviking
    I like this move better if he's taking a spot from Bundy, but I really don't like both in the rotation. This team is never going to afford top end pitching on the free agent market. If they want to get over the hump, they have to develop their own and I don't want to keep kicking the can down the road and pushing that hump further and further back. They should really be finding a way to get Ryan, Winder, Balazovic, Duran, Woods-Richardson, Strotman and Henriquez at least 50 - 100 IP this year at the majors.
  25. nicksaviking
    Depends on what you mean by contention. For a Wild Card? Sure. For a World Series? No way. But they weren’t contending for a WS even if they got an A’s pitcher.
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