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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    It's got to be do or die time for Ryan. I believed that TR's and Gardy's fates should have been tied together so there couldn't be any second guessing about which part of the equation was most at fault, but I don't think there's any question that if the replacement can't get the job done, Ryan will need to take the fall.
  2. nicksaviking
    So we've talked about internal candidates. Who are the external ones? Even if they never get highly considered, there will be some to give the restructure some legitimacy. I'm guessing Mike Maddox if the Rangers don't sign him. Clearly the pitching is the biggest issue and is there a bigger name manager possibility with pitching background than Maddox? People keep bringing up the lack of Latin pressence, so perhaps Sandy Alomar Jr and Omar Vizquel? Vizquel in particular would move the needle.
  3. nicksaviking
    It sounds silly to say, but by keeping Gardenhire through the last four seasons, Ryan may have inhbited the managers future job possibilities. In 2010, after another post season flop, many people were asking for a new manager, had Gardy been fired then, he likely would have found a new gig with ease. Now four years later when progressive statistics, infield shifts and platoons are 10x more popular, Gardenhire looks that much more like a dinosaur. I hope he gets another job, but I think he and Kirk Gibson are going to be looked at as too old school.
  4. nicksaviking
    I say we wait to see if Tony La Russa interviews any of these guys for gigs in AZ, and if he does and offers them a position, than the Twins swoop in and retain the guy. I'm OK with using La Russa's expertise to do our dirty work. I do want wholesale change though, so I would be torn if La Russa saw something in one of our guys.
  5. nicksaviking
    I feel sick and remorseful even though this is half of what I was asking for. It's been a good run Gardy, thanks.
  6. nicksaviking
    Shields has been important to their uptick in wins, but it could be argued he's not even their best starter. Ventura has a better ERA+ and Duffy has a better WAR. Shields K numbers are continuing to drop while the number of hits he gives up is increasing. There's a great chance KC got Shields at the very end of his peak seasons and the bottom falls out starting next year. And we can't forget that Shields wasn't the only player the Royals got back. Wade Davis has been fantastic. Surely TB wishes he was closing games for them now. If KC decides they don't need both Davis and Holland, they will have a pretty outstanding trade piece to recoup some more prospects.
  7. nicksaviking
    I must have missed the part about Nolasco being the piece that brings over Matt Kemp. That would interest me a little, however surely the first Tweet that Kemp gets from a fan saying, "I want you back with LA!" Kemp will respond, "Me too!!!!!!!!!"
  8. nicksaviking
    I'd rather the Twins emulate the team from the other side of Missouri. Hire scourts who can identify young pitchers who have the potential to throw hard AND hit the strikezone and hire minor league pitching coaches who know what to do to get them to the majors. Use your free agency cash on mid to top tier offensive players to suppliment the talented young position players you already have. And do not waste your budget or roster spots on replacement level free agents. Give those spots to guys in AAA, they will not be significantly worse.
  9. nicksaviking
    I don't want Kemp moping around the clubhouse. He will mope if he's not playing CF and not getting on ESPN. He will not play CF regularly as he cannot handle the positoin any more and he won't get on ESPN playing in Minnesota. That being said, concern for Adam Walker who can't get on base in A ball should have zero considerations in off season moves.
  10. nicksaviking
    Of those pitchers, only Lee was demanding and got a large bonus. Winners got more than the rest of the HS arms.
  11. nicksaviking
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
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