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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    Gray is a bad fit because four-seamers aren't naturally supposed to create groundballs but he is or the team is making him throw them almost exclusively low in the zone surely in an attempt to limit HR. They've been getting crushed with an ISO on his four-seamer of .234 this year, likely because the pitch location is so predictable. He's pitching like a sinkerballer without a sinkerball.
  2. nicksaviking
    I don't know how Gibson wouldn't be considered a clear upgrade. If the Twins were in a pennant race no one here would swap out Gibson for Gray. If the Twins decided today to dump Kohl Stewart or if the team had decided to not pick up Gibson's 2017 option it would/would have been met by Twins fans with a collective yawn, meanwhile fans of the other 29 teams would all be begging for their team to pick up the former prospect sure that their team could fix him. As for the organization's point of view, it has to be as clear to them as it does everyone else that Jon Gray's repertoire is just an awful fit for Colorado. His stuff isn't made to induce groundballs but that's what they've been trying to do, mostly in vain.
  3. nicksaviking
    It could be, but like a lot of former top prospects he kind of looks like a guy where the home team is starting to view greener pastures. His career trajectory now in his fourth season actually looks a lot like Kyle Gibson at the same point: 1st year - Struggle 2nd year - Struggle 3rd year - Yay he turned the corner! 4th year - Nope I guess not ________________________ 5th year - Let's trade him for a washed up Troy Tulowitzki Fans from outside of the organization probably still place more value on his former prospect status and draft position while those who watch the Rockies are likely more frustrated by the inconsistency. And it's not like he ever dominated the minors either.
  4. nicksaviking
    He's not actually throwing less sinkers, he's just throwing them less with 2 strikes and less often to left-handed batters.
  5. nicksaviking
    Well he approved a record payroll this year and then they saved 8M by dumping Hughes for a draft pick. That move would look a heck of a lot better if it was cancelled out by doing something similar.
  6. nicksaviking
    I don't know about the Rockies trading for MI, but Gray looks like a guy who needs to get out of Colorado. He doesn't throw a sinker which is basically required at Coors Field but now days is frowned upon everywhere else. It looks like he peppers the lower part of the zone with his four-seamer regularly. With his big fastball he looks like a guy who could probably get a lot done pitching up in the zone more often; which is pretty much a cardinal sin in Colorado. His splits away from Coors aren't great but I'd be willing to take a chance that it is due to him using the same pitch strategies both home and away. Speaking of former prospects, though I wouldn't target him specifically, I'd also be curious to see if Jeff Hoffman could be fixed. It looks like he may now be starting the transition to a relief pitcher. I like those starters-turned-relievers a full year after they start the transition, that's when you seem to find the studs who resurrect their careers in a new role.
  7. nicksaviking
    I don't have a personal ranking, but if I were to list the prospects that make me hopeful for the future, Thorpe would be in my top 5.
  8. nicksaviking
    The team is looking at a 45M payroll next year. I think it's going to be pretty difficult to take on a new contract that's going to end up being a burden.
  9. nicksaviking
    Most said it was a reach and maybe he was picked to help sign the HS'ers picked later in the top 10. But there might be something to this. Bat first catchers with sketchy defensive skills might be one of the more under appreciated players in the draft. Catchers who appear that they will later have to move positions seem to get more demerits than a shortstop who'll have to move over to 3B or a CF who has to get kicked to LF one day. Mike Napoli, Joey Votto, Neil Walker, Yonder Alozno, Josh Donaldson, Wil Myers, Matt Adams, Kyle Schwarber and Paul Dejong were all drafted as catchers. Based on the team's other picks, it looks to me that they were picking the best bats, not the best bats for a particular position; catcher probably wasn't an exception. The team's strategy might be to just find the best hitters and if things don't fit defensively they'll take care of that with trades or free agents, which is basically what happens anyway since pegging a player's defensive capabilities pre-draft doesn't tend to be all that accurate anyway.
  10. nicksaviking
    I don't put a ton of stock into pre-draft defensive evaluations. You'd think the players' defensive skills would be fairly easy to peg, but for some reason they're often off by a wide margin. I'm reserving judgment on Jeffers defensive capabilities until after a full season in Cedar Rapids.
  11. nicksaviking
    I thought people were interested in Jax because his situation was a bit of an oddity. I didn't think he profiled to be much more than a swing man at best. I just remember he didn't have great strikeout numbers despite coming from a rather weak conference. What is it about this guy everyone likes?
  12. nicksaviking
    It was originally listed as 13.8? That just so happens to be what Jordan Balazovic is posting. An Easter Egg for #25 perhaps?
  13. nicksaviking
    We all get how this works, trades are an unpredictable endeavor. However, this team should be moving at least a half dozen players this summer most of which will bring back returns ranges from "OK, I can live with that" to "Not another Cash Considerations or a PTBNL!!!". Gibson's the only one with potential to increase his value to something substantial. Unless they do nothing they should be flooded with more organizational filler than they can handle. They wouldn't be risking much to roll the dice that Gibson doesn't blow out his arm in the next three months.
  14. nicksaviking
    In my view this team needs to be taking more high-reward type risks. I mean if Gibson can bring back a pretty dang good haul now I'm fine with a July deal, but if we're talking about a Stephen Gonsalves type return, eh, I don't think your risking much by waiting. 90% of the board was fine passing on Jose De Leon when Dozier was peaking as well. But again, I'm only trading Gibson assuming this team isn't going to be a legit contending next year. My first preference is they make the changes needed to do so.
  15. nicksaviking
    I agree, but I wouldn't be surprised if other teams tried to place his value using his spotty history. If so, I'd hang on to him and look to move him in the offseason after a full year of proving his worth (fingers crossed) or hang on to him if they are ready for a managerial overhaul in 2019 and another stab at contention.
  16. nicksaviking
    Most of these guys all have frustratingly low trade value, but this is a bonanza compared to the absolute dearth of tradable assets in Gardenhire's final years when one could only find a Justin Morneau sapped of nearly all utility as a firstbaseman or a clearly lost and flailing Francisco Liriano to move. We're not finding franchise altering trade pieces to shop, but the fact that there are 7 listed players plus an "others" section shows that the teams Gardenhire was losing with were much more devoid of talent than the one that Molitor is losing with.
  17. nicksaviking
    I like the improvements from the starting pitchers, specifically the strikeout numbers. Anyone involved with that accomplishment gets kudos from me. I'm not much impressed with anything else. What puzzles me is why they've clearly tried to increase the velocity and strikeouts with the starters but continue to go out of their way to avoid that with the bullpen additions. Also, I really don't like this Falvine stuff, these are two different people and I don't think they really had more than a casual relationship prior to their hirings. I don't know, and I'm not sure if anyone as a fan knows, what responsibilities each have, but we should. If Levine isn't getting the job done, he should go. In my opinion he should be on a short leash if he's doing most of the traditional GM duties. These aren't the Wonder Twins, one isn't required for the other to be effective.
  18. nicksaviking
    How can the Royals possibly be 11 games worse than the Twins?
  19. nicksaviking
    I'd change my mind and think 2019 is a possible contention year if the team gets a new manager. My disillusionment with Molitor and his utter lack of personality has me biased against believing this team has any shot at winning it all with him in charge.
  20. nicksaviking
    I was never a Gibson believer until two off seasons ago when I thought the new front office would fix his poor sinker/high contact approach. It took longer than it should have to fix but it looks like he's finally there. But he's waaaaay too old to extend and this team's a complete mess. If you can trade one and a half years of control of Gibson for top end prospects I do it. I don't think this team goes anywhere under Molitor and I doubt he gets canned after this year with two more years in his contract.
  21. nicksaviking
    It only looks that way because Buxton, Sano, Kepler and Garver have all taken gigantic steps back in their development. I think that falls under the perview of the manager.
  22. nicksaviking
    A ) I want a manger who can lead young players, not a manager who can lead veteran players who are then expected to lead the young players. B ) I want a manager who will minimize the players' brain farts on defense, on the base-paths and in the batter's box. Some are always to be expected, but holy cow, the degree in which we see miscues can only be due to a team-wide lack of focus. C ) I want an innovative manager. I don't want someone who has to be taught ideas that were new a decade ago and who will maybe take them under consideration. I want someone who may have a brand new idea or two of his own that the baseball world has never seen. D ) I want a manager with energy that I, yes me specifically, can feed off of as well as the players. Perhaps some managers put on an emotionless face and monotone speech ONLY when doing interviews but it seems unlikely that a completely opposite demeanor is presented when working with the players. E ) Sorry, the unfair one: I want a manager with NO pre-existing ties to the team. If he's not getting the job done, I want a quick decision to replace him. If he maybe-kind of-possibly isn't getting the job done, I want there to be the possibility of hiring the newly available hot-shot manager who's getting everyone excited. I don't want there to be fence-straddling due to a prior history of loyalty which had absolutely nothing to do with managing a baseball team.
  23. nicksaviking
    I agree that the front office did way more this off season than anyone's done for this club before. However, Lynn, Reed, Morrison and even the trade of Odorizzi were all considered bargains. They waited things out which is OK, but got these guys only after other teams took a look and passed. Likely due to Lynn's over-reliance on fastballs, Reed's diminishing velocity and Morrison's anomaly of a season in 2017. All were great pick ups considering the contracts and the past results, but it's not like they went out and got any true difference makers, and that was clear even before anyone faltered.
  24. nicksaviking
    If they dump more salary by giving away draft picks there's going to be riots here. Probably led by me actually.
  25. nicksaviking
    Add North Dakota to the list. And they don't even have to be good. But I'm sure they are.
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