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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    I like having him around, but really only because every time his name gets brought up I get to point out that the Twins passed up on high upside HS arms Jesse Biddle, Zach Lee, Cam Bedrosian, Aaron Sanchez, Noah Syndergaard and Tijuan Walker to draft the safe college arm Alex Wimmers. I do this because I'm petty and like to call attention to the few times I was right.
  2. nicksaviking
    Especially after the team moved him to 3B where some power is generally expected. Hopefully he'll get SS to himself if Polanco stays at a different level, but even after Polanco moved up this year, he still split time at SS with Mejia. I can't see Goodrum sticking on a 25-man, though neither would have Kepler and he got a roster spot last year.
  3. nicksaviking
    Ha, I guess we're the opposite. I had written him off, mostly because I never wanted the Twins to draft him to begin with. However I was a bit encouraged that he seemed to get better as the year went on. He pitched better in AA than he did early in the year at Ft. Myers. He still makes me yawn but his increasing K% and substantially decreasing BB% and H% are pointing in the right direction. Not sue he'll ever get a chance to start again, so double yawn, but still, the NB peripheral stats look pretty good.
  4. nicksaviking
    I'm guessing if Dozier was asked to bunt instead of getting an extra RBI/HR/SB that was going to cost him $500K in a meaningless game, we'd be having this discussion. Not saying that both are the same or that both situations have the same merit. But Hughes was 5th in the league in fewest pitches per innings, yet he was only 40th in total pitches thrown despite being healthy all season. Hughes had 30 more innings in him had his total pitch count lined up with his position in pitches per innings. That's basically an extra inning every game that he got pulled early. There can be debate whether 240 innings is too much for a pitcher these days, but I don't think there is much debate that Gardenhire prefers his bullpen to the starters in the late innings. In fairness to Gardenhire, the bullpen has been better than his starters for the last half decade, still, he should recognize when he finally has a starter that is worth giving the opportunity to pitch into the 8th regularly and into the 9th once in a while.
  5. nicksaviking
    Good points. The thing that makes me hesitate however, is the belief that the Twins offered him a contract that included clauses and bonuses that due to the field managers questionable decision making, made it nearly impossible to reach. Surely neither agent or GM would have thought that a guy who was healthy all year and threw one of the best season's in Twins history wouldn't be able to meet what would be a totally obtainable goal for a similar pitcher for most other clubs. Failure to reach 210 innings lied more on Gardenhire than on Hughes.
  6. nicksaviking
    It kind of speaks to how cautious and quick to give the game over to the bullpen Gardenhire and company are. Hughes likely had the best season a pitcher has had around here since Johan Santana and he couldn't even get to 210 innings.
  7. nicksaviking
    Ha, I loved the article and loved the part about how Ryan had to go out and find a top 20 WAR pitcher to anchor the staff. Then I thought about it, did a quick Fangraphs check and realized they already have one. Who would have thought Phil Hughes is currently #3 in WAR this year?! He's 16th according to BBR. BBR and Fangraphs have different ways to calculate WAR, but that gap is much bigger than I'd expect.
  8. nicksaviking
    His contract isn't preventing the Twins from signing anyone. They are still well below a reasonable payroll. His contract can't just be torn up, in baseball salaries are guarenteed. I'm not sure what you are suggesting the Twins do with it. If you don't want it, understandably other clubs don't want it either.
  9. nicksaviking
    Yeah, we really need to examine the psychology around our word assoiation. For some reason when we here Latin manager, the first response is Ozzie Guillen. There are tons options aside from him.
  10. nicksaviking
    Meanwhile Detroit taxpayers were asked to pay for only 33% of the Tigers stadium and St. Louis had the tax payers pay for 12% of theirs. Doesn't quite look Kosher to me considering those clubs have also received revenue sharing in the past couple of years AND they present the fans with rosters and payrolls in line with a level of competitveness they expect from their players. But what would I know, I'm terrible at econ, stats and math in general.
  11. nicksaviking
    A Chris Young ceiling still seems deserving of a ranking. Any player that has a ceiling of a MLB player should have considerations for being ranked. Mejia's ceiling might be Nick Punto, that's still of worthy consideration.
  12. nicksaviking
    Hicks was pretty brutal the first couple months of the season but really turned it on in the second half. Perhaps someone should have been updating his AAP page more frequently
  13. nicksaviking
    Most bullpen arms are guys who stunk it up as starters. Some figure it out and make a nice career for themselves (Perkins) others fade away (Frankie Rodriquez). Perkins by the way only took one year to go from terrible starter to competent relief pitcher. 2010 is decieving as he was bad in 13 relief appearances at the MLB level, but he was actually still starting in Rochester nearly all year long (and he was awful). 2011 was his out of options year and in his first year of full time relief role, he was fantastic.
  14. nicksaviking
    I'm just fine with him going to the pen, assuming he earns a spot in spring training. There are plenty of non-30-year-olds who I'd rather see all things being equal. If we look at him as a movable asset, and not a piece to compete, it's a little more palatable. As a starter, we know what he is at his best, which is next to no trade value. Others are right though, there is a chance he will thrive in the bullpen. If he can figure things out by keeping runners off base and get a K/9 above 8.0 other teams will want him. It's unlikely, but not unheard of.
  15. nicksaviking
    Maybe not, but considering they only had four 90 loss seasons combined tells me either they were better at raising a sinking ship or would not have gotten the same leash that Gardenhire has gotten.
  16. nicksaviking
    It would have been less of a crapshoot had the team regularly filled the holes in the rotation and the lineup at the deadline like most of the other contenders were doing.
  17. nicksaviking
    There is some defensive hope here, but long term, heck short term ideally, I don't think any of us actually want Plouffe, Nunez, Escobar or Schafer in the starting lineup, and we don't want Santana in CF. The guys we hope will replace them seem to all be worse defenders with the exception of CF.
  18. nicksaviking
    I agree they won't be able to, I'm not arguing that they can or should get these pitchers this offseason, I'm just arguing that they won't be relevant until they do. Hopefully enough of the young arms come up, can average 8.0 K/9 and keep runners off the bases. But if they can't they will need to get those players through free agency or trade and as unlikely as this front office is to target those types of arms, it's still a more reasonable way to build a winning team than it is to get contact heavy pitchers with steller defenders who also happen to be able to hit.
  19. nicksaviking
    What about finding good OF, a good 3B, SS, 2B, 1B and C? Because if we're going for plus defense to accomodate the pitch-to-contact arms, I'm not willing to sacrafice the offense. It would see to me that getting 8 solid defenders that also can hit would be quite difficult.
  20. nicksaviking
    Very true, but logistically speaking, it should be easier to replace the five players that make up the rotation than it is to replace the 8 players behind them. It seems to me it's like the difference between treating a disease versus actually curing it.
  21. nicksaviking
    The solution is clear and you touched on it at the end. A strikeout takes all chance and randomness off the table and leaves no question as to the outcome of the at bat, unlike a ball put in play. The inexcusable disregard for strikeout pitchers at the MLB level and all the problems that become entangled in the archaic pitching philosophy they prefer is the biggest reason this team isn't winning.
  22. nicksaviking
    It's not that they aren't good candidates, it's that they still are just branches from the same tree. This organization needs new stratagy and that's unlikely by promoting from within. They've done a lot right, but it's not working now. I want guys in here who believe that strikeouts are the best option for getting outs, that walks are NOT as bad or worse than giving up a hit, that Bill James is largely correct and that platoons can come in handy. Let's try those philosophies for a change.
  23. nicksaviking
    I didn't want him fired for it, but I didn't like the double standard. This was the same organization that was at the same time benching and publicly chastising Miguel Sano for show boating a HR. Mientkiewicz got suspended, but there didn't seem to be any kind of front office frustration to what amounted to be a simliar display of immaturity. I do kind of like the fire he displays, but I'm getting tired of the old boys club. I think Mientkiewicz, Molitor and Glynn could all be fine managers, but I think a fresh perspective is in order once every 25 years or so. New blood in the front office and new blood on the field please. Not pointing any fingers, just saying it's time to start again.
  24. nicksaviking
    It's very possible, however by not calling him up now, it almost certainly will not be possible that he will start the season in the rotation even if he happened to be one of the top five starters. This time last year most Twins scribes assumed he would be up this past June. Now we're looking at a year delay and he did nothing to warrant one. We're talking about a guy who people worry is an injury risk and we're wasting his age 24 and a possibly a good chunk of his age 25 season in the minors. It makes no sense, and it does the game of baseball a disservice keeping a promising player like him in the minors.
  25. nicksaviking
    That's not a particularly exciting list. Unless Meyer gets called up, I don't think there's any non 40-man players that project to be around more than a year or so. If the Twins don't call up Meyer now, they are going to put themselves in the position to be tempted to not call him up until late June 2015 regardless of performance. If we're hoping he will be effective next year, he needs to be up now even if it's two months too late. Nothing is certain, but if we use Gibson and May as templates, our young pitching hopefulls need some time to get their feet wet and kill the butterflies.
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