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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    The only thing Detroit has right now that Minnesota doesn't is rose colored glasses. The Twins won the division the past two years and last year they tanked, so the perception is they are down. Compounding that is our very recent outrage over the Buxton and Berrios situation. Detroit has been bad for half a decade; it just SEEMS like the rebuild should be over. But what do they have? One young pitcher in Casey Mize who doesn't have swing-and-miss stuff? The other young starters they are hopeful about haven't done anything and the offense has developed pretty much nothing to get excited about. The Twins lineup is significantly better than Detroit's. It's not like the fans started to come back either. The Twins were 19th in attendance last year, Detroit was 23rd.
  2. nicksaviking
    Can’t imagine you get too many top prospects for a guy who you want to pay less AAV than Ricky Nolasco.
  3. nicksaviking
    At what? I've never built a baseball team on a needlessly low payroll and then accepted pats on the back for winning and being thrifty about it. Again, these teams are 100% not making winning their top priority if they aren't demanding revenue sharing like the other sports do. There are way more small and mid market teams than large market teams. They could make it happen if they wanted to. Maybe they'll consider it if after they all get their free stadiums.
  4. nicksaviking
    Honestly, ownership of TB and Oakland should be ashamed of themselves. Those teams (sometimes) win DESPITE their payroll behavior, not because of it. The ownership of those clubs is absolutely not committed to winning except on very specific terms. And if they want to cry poor and STILL demonstrate how they truly want to win, then they need to come out and vocally and publicly demand revenue sharing akin to the other major sports, instead of tying one hand behind their backs and telling their tax payers "We could win it all in ten years if you just give us free stadiums and tax breaks!"
  5. nicksaviking
    If Berrios and his durability aren't worth a long term deal, then clearly no pitchers are. As a Twins fan, this is disappointing. We aren't winning a WS without a bunch of top end arm talent and now we know the only way that's happening is if they somehow develop a bunch of their own all at once, even though they've only developed one in the last 20 years. As a baseball fan, it's BS. I don't like Scott Boras, but this would be a good time for him to call out the Twins for depriving players a chance at a fair deal. Berrios is lucky, he's still only 27. Nearly all the arms this team is counting on in the pipeline are going to be pushing 30 before they can break loose from the Twins.
  6. nicksaviking
    Glad to know the defense was surprisingly decent. I'd much rather work on the offense and the pitching in the offseason.
  7. nicksaviking
    No one pitches 200 innings anymore. For starters, teams are more concerned with the quality of innings than the quantity.
  8. nicksaviking
    Yup, agreed. They've both made over 250M in their careers. I don't know either of them, so it's possible they could want to chase the top dollar, but these kinds of players seem to either chose to chase a championship or a fairly specific list of cities. I'd think Scherzer and Greinke would fall into the same category as well. If they were open to coming here, I'd be interested in either though.
  9. nicksaviking
    So former managers should be excluded from the Bench Coach job? Because it would seem to me that most anyone let go as a manager, probably didn't live up to expectations. Seems like a great hire to me. The Twins struggled last year despite just about everything being the same as the prior two years. One thing that was different was that the Twins didn't have a bench coach. No idea how, why or if that impacted the team, but hiring another former manager to share some of Baldelli's responsibilities seems like a solid move.
  10. nicksaviking
    12 starts seems a bit rash to break out the indignation at the thought that just MAYBE it's a little early to write him off? Your initial over-the-top reaction, not the gist, is what got people questioning your take.
  11. nicksaviking
    The picks were poor, but I'm not going to ding them too badly for 2013 and 2015. Tim Anderson, Aaron Judge and Walker Buehler weren't on anyone's radars as top 10 picks. Benintendi would have been better than Jay obviously and I recall some around here wanted him, but he's been average at best and we'd still resenting that he didn't turn out to be a better player. 2014 is different though. Lots of people had Nola going to the Twins and some around here wanted Turner. Turner had all the helium heading into the college season too, but for some reason he started getting knocked down because of concerns with his ability to make contact? That was dumb and in hindsight, perhaps it was intentional sabotage by other teams hoping he'd fall.
  12. nicksaviking
    I like the OBP aspect that Canha brings to the club. He does seem to have a lot of helium right now though so his value might be inflated. Tommy Pham is a pretty similar player offensively, you could probably do him quite a bit cheaper in both years and salary. Not that I have a strong opinion either way, I've never been terribly thrilled with signing this caliber of free agents.
  13. nicksaviking
    I'm on board with shaking things up as it's getting pretty stale around here, but I don't think that lineup looks terribly fearsome. Kirilloff may be the best option for the cleanup spot, but I think that speaks more to the make up of the team than it does to his production. If the Twins are going to splurge on a SS, Baez is the last one I'd want. If we're signing a guy with a legit shot at leading the league in strikeouts, I'd rather have Story who at least has a track record of getting on base. Baez's inability to work a count and draw walks is going to wear out his welcome quicker than you can say Eddie Rosario. I also don't like the idea of pairing the high strikeout/low OBP Baez at the top of the order with Arraez, who will only ever be on first base. Polanco will never see at bats with runners in scoring position.
  14. nicksaviking
    The entire league is a 5 inning guy now. Again, there were only four pitchers who threw 200 innings last year. The reason pitchers aren't going deeper into games isn't because they can't hold up, they aren't going deeper into games because of organizational prerogative. If innings pitched is a thing you're interested in, it seems odd to ding the guy who's increasing his workload while the rest of the pitchers in the league are decreasing their workloads.
  15. nicksaviking
    Robbie Ray averaged over 6 IP a start last year. He lead the league in IP in fact. Only four pitchers threw 200 innings last year, all in the NL; I think the league has decided that quality is better than quantity.
  16. nicksaviking
    I thought Berrios made it pretty clear he didn't want an extension and he certainly wasn't going to take a discount.
  17. nicksaviking
    I'd go for Ray, the strikeouts are real and proven and it sounds like his delivery and approach changes are sustainable. Seems like he might even have room to grow. I'd be on board for rolling the dice on Syndergaard and Rodon also. I'm not sure about Gausman, I'm always hesitant about pitchers leaving SF. I'd probably sign him if they can't make the above guys work, but he seems just as likely as not to turn back into a pumpkin. Hard pass on Stroman, the Twins need an arm that can dominate. Good results, but he still needs his defenders to make most of his outs for him. He'd be a good #3 on a playoff team, but the Twins would pay him like an ace. Even if 2022 isn't the year to win a WS, it would still be a good idea to get a big time pitcher, since the idea would be that the guy would be at the front of the rotation for several years. Get a big arm now, trade for someone else exciting and play some professional baseball in 2022. Then do something bold the following year to get serious.
  18. nicksaviking
    I just don't see how anyone can expect this team to be an actual contender if Michael Pineda is the hypothetical game 1 or 2 starter in a playoff game. That would be just more of the same underdog situation this team has always put itself in come playoff time. And I don't think this team can acquire three other pitchers with more upside than him AND pay him 8-10M. The team you seem to be promoting does not sound like a contending team, which is fine, because again, my only issue is suggesting this team is a legit WS hopeful with Michael Pineda in the top half of the rotation.
  19. nicksaviking
    Completely agree about Pineda, you do know what he will give you, and it's overall decent pitching, but being safe is not how this team is going to go from 73 wins to 100 wins. The Twins lack high end pitching. The odds of the other three guys working out are obviously lower, but they are high velocity guys with upside. Even if slim, they have a chance to be a top of the rotation arm; Pineda basically has no chance at that. I've felt the most likely way to success is for this team is to take a step back and develop the young arms, so I'm not against playing it safe with Pineda. I just don't want to hear about them pretending to be "contenders" if they do. If they want to make a big, bold attempt at a quick turn-around, they need to sign arms who all have the potential to end up at the front of the rotation. Because they have none of those, and a contender would have three or four of those kinds of pitchers.
  20. nicksaviking
    I think they need to cut Pineda free. I think if they seriously want to make the playoffs Pineda can be no more then the #4. If they actually want to be a contender, he needs to be #5. But that $8M figure seems accurate if not too low, and that would almost certainly make him the Twins #2; #3 if they’re lucky. They need to stay away from that caliber free agent. Go all out for a top guy, cross their fingers and get a high ceiling bounce back guy like Syndergaard, Foltynewicz or Paxton, make a high ceiling trade and then do a low money crapshoot. If they want to play it safe and pay 8-10M for a safe but zero ceiling guy like Pineda to bridge the gap to put near the top of the rotation, fine, but then I don’t want to hear any phony baloney about ‘contending’ next year. Be upfront and call it a rebuild.
  21. nicksaviking
    I hope the Twins do get some solid relief free agents this off season, but whether they work out or not is maybe 50/50. For the most part these guys are terribly unreliable year to year; if they were reliable, they’d probably be starters. Anyway, I wouldn’t use last year’s numbers to make my decision on these guys. I’d evaluate velocity, pitch usage and other peripherals, but I wouldn’t trust these guys to repeat what they did in 2021 any more than I’d trust a burrito I bought at a gas station.
  22. nicksaviking
    He definitely wouldn't be the worst free agent they could sign. But there will be better fits so a reunion just seems like it would be for sentimentality sake. I'd probably be open to keeping the bench coach job warm for him when he's ready for his second career though.
  23. nicksaviking
    Time will tell for sure, but I always get the impression that when it comes to the shortstop position, most pundits and fans only see the players' defense as a pass/fail proposition. But it isn't black or white, there's plenty of scenarios where a below average defender is acceptable. I mean statistically, half of the starting shortstops in the league are going to be below average. No one wants Jorge Polanco as a starting shortstop, but the team did win 100 freakin' games with him at the position. It's not ideal but it's not like it's going to destroy the season. Obviously, aim for higher quality defense than Polanco, but I don't want the team to get so caught up in the defensive side of things that they don't regularly put the optimal offense into the lineup.
  24. nicksaviking
    Semien has been better than Baez each of the past three years. Much, much better. Semein has actually been the best SS in the league by fWAR since 2019, which includes his subpar 2020 campaign. Plus, Semien basically never misses a game.
  25. nicksaviking
    I honestly think the fit is pretty close to backwards from what is listed. Baez and Story strike out a heck of a lot. I'd sign them if the others are unavailable, but I'd be way more hesitant on those two. Heck, a month from now I might be completely against any kind of long term deal for Baez. He's definitely last on my wish list of this group; he's very inconsistent, likely because of the strikeout problem and his below average ability to get on base. His career .307 OBP seems destined to make a fanbase frustrated. Edit: No need to ponder it over for a month. I've talked myself out of wanting anything to do with a big contract for Baez.
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