Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

nicksaviking

Community Moderator
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    25,138

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    126

 Content Type 

Profiles

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    I'm not saying it's a quick fix, but I can't believe creating your own ace(s) organically is only based on luck. I don't think buying one is easy though either. Forget about the ramifications of sticking a fourth 30+ year old pitcher in the rotation, how could the Twins convince Greinke to pass up the Dodgers, Yankees, Angels, Red Sox or Cubs and come to Minnesota? The Twins would have to pay a lot more money, or worse, more years. Teams not in big markets have to make their own, otherwise they'll have to be satisfied with calling middle of the road starters like Nolasco, Hughes or Santana an ace and live with it. I'd consider a trade however if the Mets could be convinced to part with one of their aces.
  2. nicksaviking
    I think you need an ace or five, but I don't think you chase them. The team simply has to start making their own. If they continually fail at this task that most other teams have not failed at nearly as often, wholesale changes need to be made. Developing strikeout generating horses is one of the biggest keys to this whole game. I also think we're getting awfully close to trying to buy our way out of a rebuild, which is going to really hurt a sustained run of success.
  3. nicksaviking
    I think he's taking lessons from 6' 10" Chris Young.
  4. nicksaviking
    I think Michael is almost certainly going to make the big leagues even if only because of the fact that he was a 1st round pick. Only three college players drafted ahead of him have yet to hit the majors and two of those almost certainly would have by now if not for injury. As a utility infielder with good on-base skills and the pedigree of a 1st round pick, there's a pretty good chance he'll get picked in the Rule V. If the Twins protect him and put him on the 40-man, they almost certainly will give him a call at some point.
  5. nicksaviking
    I wish I knew more about mechanics, most of my knowledge is anecdotal and rehashing what I have heard smarter people say. But if it is something the Twins are doing, I'd have to think it's the reduced stride to the plate; the typical Twins stride certainly appears to be pretty minimal. IF (still just speculation) the Twins coach the stride out of pitchers I wonder what the reason is. Is it believed to improve control? Do they believe it keeps pitchers healthier? Or is it simply a more effective way of limiting the leads of base runners? And again, I don't think a reduced velocity or strikeout rate is the intention of the club, if there is a causation related to a Twins philosophy, it is almost surely just a side effect not the actual objective.
  6. nicksaviking
    I agree they did, but I'm not holding it against them anymore as I think they changed, at least when it comes to the draft. But I am curious, Ryan has said many times that Deron Johnson and the scouts are really the ones who run the draft, and lately they have been getting harder throwing guys (the results can be a different topic of discussion) yet in free agency, the Twins still seem to favor the control guys. It also seems that many guys who were drafted with high 90's heat or projections for high 90's heat have now fallen to low to mid-90's guys. I don't think this is entirely unique to the Twins, and some of that could be due to age, as pitchers seem to lose velocity pretty early into their careers these days, but I wonder if there is any kind of disconnect between what the scouting department covets in a pitcher and what those that develop them ultimately want to see from them. To clarify, I don't mean to ask if those who are developing pitchers want to get rid of strikeouts for PTC because I don't think they do, I more wonder if a strong focus on mechanics or asking guys not to throw max effort may impact college or projected velocity compared to what we see in the minors. Or maybe I'm just mus-remembering pre-draft velocity reports entirely.
  7. nicksaviking
    I'd prefer the higher velocity, as noted several times including in Seth's OP, it allows for a larger margin of error. However, watching games, it seems to me most pitchers get their strikeouts on breaking balls. Kyle Gibson has fine velocity, but he relies on his sinker quite a bit, and sinkerball pitchers don't tend to get a lot of strikeouts. Funny thing is that Fangraphs rates Gibson's slider and changeup as easily his best pitches, it would be nice to see him whip those out more in two strike counts and see if the results change.
  8. nicksaviking
    I agree that the Twins philosophy on over-emphasizing control was a huge issue, however I think that changed after the 2010 draft. Hudson Boyd was a high schooler who was supposed to have an electric arm, same with Stewart and Berrios has all kinds of ceiling. I was never more disappointed in the draft as when the Twins picked Wimmers over a half dozen HS arms with tons of upside, but they've drafted 3 HS arms in the 1st round since and even if the philosophy hasn't paid off, they have been going after high velocity/strikeout guys in the past several drafts. Now whether or not they know what they're doing with the high velocity arms is a different story. Their ability to scout and develop pitchers surely is fair game.
  9. nicksaviking
    It's not the velocity that is missing from the Twins rotation, it's the strikeouts. Too often I tie the two together, and while there is a strong correlation with velocity and strikeouts, there are high velocity guys who don't miss bats and low velocity of guys who do. So I'm fine refraining from asking this team to sign high velocity guys, just so long as they start getting high strikeout guys.
  10. nicksaviking
    Not sure there was much retro there. I certainly spect'd at the time.
  11. nicksaviking
    I wonder why they didn't go to Cotts if they needed a lefty.
  12. nicksaviking
    Seems like a peculiar pitching change. I thought Santana was in a groove and simply gave up a lucky lob shot.
  13. nicksaviking
    I saw that video once but had to quickly turn off the TV when my wife walked in the room.
  14. nicksaviking
    I think I would have left him in until his arm popped off instead of going to Boyer and Fien in the sixth. And that's coming from a guy who has had no faith in Pelfrey all year.
  15. nicksaviking
    Is there a less sarcastic reason? Tell me it wasn't due to over confidence in the pen.
  16. nicksaviking
    I e been preoccupied, why did Pelfrey only go five?
  17. nicksaviking
    When he was on early in the year, he seemed to have an ornery but confident demeanor on the mound. Lately he's been ornery but has seemed more frustrated than confident. That kind of tells me he doesn't yet trust himself. I'll trust him again once he starts trusting himself. I'm guessing that will come once he shakes off the rust, locates his fastball better and resumes his previous steady usage of his slider which had always been 25-30% of the time. It'll happen, just not quite yet.
  18. nicksaviking
    Son of a gun. I'll take it.
  19. nicksaviking
    Argh. Twins bullpen + runners in scoring position = soon to be riots on Twins Daily.
  20. nicksaviking
    With only two starts left, there should be no cause to limit Santan's pitch count.
  21. nicksaviking
    Still no.
  22. nicksaviking
    I wonder if Jeff Manship has ever struck out the side before?
  23. nicksaviking
    Maybe he's auditioning for Danny Santana's full-time LH pinch hitting gig?
  24. nicksaviking
    Yup. If called up as things stand now, he'd never see a strike.
  25. nicksaviking
    I probably wouldn't put Beresford ahead of Walker, but I'd still rank Walker about where Jeremy did. I mean look at those numbers. It seems nearly impossible for a guy to have a 30-1 HR advantage over another player and still barely have a 100 point OPS advantage. I guess another way to look at it is, how does the league HR leader three years running only have a .807 OPS?!?! He should be getting pitched around nearly every at bat.
×
×
  • Create New...