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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    He also barely even touched on the fact that Thibs has known Butler was screaming for a trade for the last three months and plugged his ears. Butler may be the bad guy here, but Thibs needs to be held accountable for knowing nothing about a guy who he was publicly painting as the team's savior and then letting everyone continue to believe he was still the savior long after Thibs knew better.
  2. nicksaviking
    I think the league got lucky, I think the current state of affairs has more to do with the advertisers. Nike, Coke and McDonalds have made the NBA players big time and advertisers haven't looked back since they started it all by milking Jordan. Who knows where the NBA popularity and marketing power would be at now if the league hadn't had such a transcendent player like MJ. NBA players took a backseat to the NFL and MLB in the marketing pecking order before he showed up.
  3. nicksaviking
    I'd take Greinke, but he's still got a limited no-trade clause and I think he desperately wanted out of KC and Milwaukee so Minnesota may be on the list if his distaste was for the Midwest. From my understanding typical NT clauses allow the player to pick new teams each year, so if the Twins do want him, they may want to stay out of any and all rumors until he makes his selections for his list and cross their fingers they don't make the cut. I've said before that I'd like to keep 1B open for platooning as a quasi-2nd DH spot. But Goldschmidt? Yes please, I'll do that plan instead. I don't know if AZ is going the rebuild route, but if they are, I'd rather acquire Nick Ahmed as a 1-2 year stop-gap SS than any of the free agents. Also, I'd have interest in former Diamondback and current free agent AJ Pollock. The Twins have the outfield depth to cover the 40 games he's going to miss due to injury. He's pretty dang good when he's healthy.
  4. nicksaviking
    I agree, no nickle and diming the free agents. I'd rather have quality over quantity and if they can't get that in free agency then they need to get it via trade. I don't like Keuchel and his sinker and low strikeout rates, I don't trust those guys' skill sets when they age nor do I trust it translating to a new team. This team shouldn't be looking at sinkerballers with this infield defense anyway. Speaking of sinkers, I was interested in Corbin despite fairly high sinker use but looking at him more I also have concerns about his low velocity and the fact that he threw a slider on 40% of his pitches last year. That was always supposed to be the pitch that would ruin your arm. If that's been debunked I could be talked into him, if an extreme slider use is still a concern I would leave him alone. I'm still all about spending most of the FA money on relievers. Cream of the crop guys, there are lots available.
  5. nicksaviking
    Only two teams had payrolls under 75M last year. The Twins won't find themselves that low. And Ricky Nolasco, Jason Castro and Ervin Santana laughed all the way to the bank when they signed their deals with the Twins.
  6. nicksaviking
    I don't want a no-bat SS tied up for four years or so. I'm OK improving the infield defense if it's a guy that will be gone or moved once a better option emerges though. Iglesias and Galvis probably have enough bat to be a stop-gap regular but if it's more than two years I'd pass. Otherwise maybe I go for a Hecheverria, Jordy Mercer or Alcides Escobar and stick them at SS regularly when groundball pitchers like Gibson or Stewart start but if a flyball pitcher is on the mound like Berrios I go with the defensive downgrade to get the better bat in the lineup. I'd also be interested in a trade. If the Yankees do chase Machado they're going to have too many infielders. Do they move Gregorious?
  7. nicksaviking
    According to Wikipedia Meullens also runs a baseball academy in Curacao. Not sure if that's still true as the citation is old and the link is now broken, but that's a plus in my book. That sounds like someone who proactively looks to work with young baseball players. Also he speaks five languages, including Japanese (he played over there for awhile).
  8. nicksaviking
    I'd just like to start with a guy who matches the philosophy of the new front office. Even if their philosophy turns out to be an incorrect view, I can't help but think things will still run smoother if everyone is on the same page. Molitor didn't have to be at fault for anything, but as evidenced by his dismissal, he as a square peg for their round hole. I wouldn't have wanted to keep trying to make that work.
  9. nicksaviking
    I'm not sure that it's a coincidence that the two guys who are in broadcasting are said to have drawn interest from the Twins. Maybe the Twins are interested, or maybe these two just want to get their name out there and have the connections to do so. I'll buy the Twins interest in those two when I read that they're sitting down for an actual interview.
  10. nicksaviking
    I'd be in favor, but there's probably at least a half dozen teams that can or would top that. The Yankees being chief among them. Here's the most depressing line from the most depressing article I've read today: "Mere dollar figures might not do justice to how much room the Yankees have to spend this winter, so let’s put it another way: New York could sign Patrick Corbin, Clayton Kershaw, and Manny Machado and still end up spending the same amount on payroll and taxes as they did in the 2015 and -16 seasons." https://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/the-yankees-have-a-lot-of-payroll-to-use/ But the good news is the Yankees are loaded in the bullpen so a team like the Twins may not have to compete against them for that particular area of the game.
  11. nicksaviking
    That does look like trouble defensively. I might still be interested, I really want a big RH bat to work the left field seats like Dozier and Willingham used to. Iglesias is a popular name I see. I don't want him around for four years though either, his bat is just so weak. Would Freddy Galvis come aboard for two years? SS isn't an all-glove position anymore, one of these years I'm going to want someone (through trade, free agency or development) for the long term; someone who isn't going to be an offensive liability and I don't think a four year deal to a stop-gap guy is my cup of tea.
  12. nicksaviking
    Oh yeah, he needs to go either way. I'm not sure if being incompetent is worse than being underhanded and complicit but both are fireable offenses in my book.
  13. nicksaviking
    They are the best league at marketing, it should be a lot easier than the other sports though. There's only five players per team playing at one time which means there's fewer people who have to share the spot light and it also means there are fewer players to share the giant revenue pot with. Also, no helmets, no caps and their uniforms are more inline with modern fashions. It's easier to recognize faces and identify and project onto these players.
  14. nicksaviking
    I agree with him in that I'm disappointed that this could happen. I might not be as confident in a couple of Reusse's claims though. Butler certainly has an ego problem, I'm not sure that means he couldn't work with other star players though. It's possible that his ego became bruised due to being out of the spotlight in the smaller market Minneapolis, that's always the narrative that we hear regarding free agents in all professional sports anyway. Maybe he'll be another Carmello Anthony, but perhaps if there's still enough cameras on him he can still share the stage with another star player. Also, while it's unlikely I wouldn't rule out Thibs being completely out of the loop in this charade. Even if he does have a passion for coaching, I doubt he's looking forward to coaching this franchise the next three years. That would be an awfully awkward job. And while Reusse is likely right, that he'd be blacklisted from coaching if he helped set this up, he probably wouldn't be if he wasn't caught, which he hasn't been.
  15. nicksaviking
    I like the quantity, but I don't like the quality. I'd really like to find some trades to make Berrios the #2 or (pipedream) #3. I know starting pitchers are largely being devalued these days but until I see the Twins beat Houston, Cleveland, Boston or NY to get to the ALCS with not one pitcher in their rotation that is on the same level as those teams, I'm going to struggle to believe they can do it. Also, May has looked good in the pen, but he's got + velocity, four pitches and a good build; he looks like the kind of starters that Falvey was hailed as having had a hand in discovering in Cleveland. That he's had some set backs and taken awhile to find his footing is only another similarity. I also wouldn't be surprised if Odorizzi gets to continue through spring training fighting for one of the rotation spots but the actual idea is for him to wind up in the pen.
  16. nicksaviking
    Unless they find themselves a real thumper at 1B who's going to be a no-doubt difference maker I'd rather play matchups at 1B and rotate Austin, Sano, Garver and Kepler there. It would be nice if the team made a move right away for a defensively flexible player, say Marwin Gonsalez, so they can make later moves that maybe aren't so driven by specific positions.
  17. nicksaviking
    Um, if somehow this carousel comes back around and Butler stays, can we still get rid of Thibs?
  18. nicksaviking
    Since he isn't good on defense, he has no power and his only strong baseball skill is working a count I'd be pretty confident that the team could non-tender Grossman and sign him back in February for $1M or even a MiLB deal if for some reason they get an inkling. If on the off chance another team actually wants to sign Grossman for a larger deal sooner, well that doesn't seem like a loss that couldn't be overcome.
  19. nicksaviking
    When my wife says that stuff to me the steam coming out of my ears fogs up the windows and I too become a poor driver due to visibility issues.
  20. nicksaviking
    I was out until 3 AM many nights when I visited Germany. I only remember one guy at the clubs who was out of control drunk and getting into trouble and that was me.
  21. nicksaviking
    Yeah, so far it seems we're real big on veteran role model types. If that's a thing we're still doing with the new manager McCutchen would be a great addition considering that he's actually a capable player as well. With his reliable on base skills I'd plug him right into the leadoff spot and feel better about starting off the game than I would be with one of the young guys who we're still only projecting. He'd show all the young guys how to use the entire field as well.
  22. nicksaviking
    I'm ready to go hog wild on free agent relievers, there seem to be nearly two dozen that could be back-end guys but I don't know that I have anyone specific that I really want. I want strikeouts and I'd like walks limited. I used to say I wanted velocity but really that's only for the strikeouts, however I think we saw with Reed this year that it's a really thin line. Who else are people looking for? There's only a handful of bats and starters that interest me so I think I'd prefer to try to swing some trades for those spots but I know others will have different opinions. I'm guessing Patrick Corbin will be a popular name. I just looked at him a bit closer and didn't realize he only throws 90-92, I thought he'd throw harder. I'm also not a fan of his high sinker usage, but I am a fan of his obscenely high slider usage. I like me some slider. Where are we at medically these days with high slider usage? It seems to me that it used to be assumed that overuse of the slider was a red flag for future injuries. Is that still a common philosophy or have we moved away from that. Josh Donaldson? I know he's another popular choice, that could be fun. Anyway, just thought people could start tossing out their favorite targets.
  23. nicksaviking
    Additionally, I don't think it's fair to paint everyone as on a specific side. Are posters not allowed to objectively look at each situation differently or are they confined to one general platform and have to vote down party lines? For the record here were my votes on the aforementioned players (to the best of my recollection): Verlander - Yes (but I didn't believe he'd come to the Twins), Tulowitski - No, Lucory - No, Darvish - Yes, Ellsbury - No, Gray - No.
  24. nicksaviking
    Terry Ryan was clearly gun-shy about trading prospects, we have nearly two decades of evidence to support that. But is the new guy stuck with his labels, because unless he does I don't think we've had enough time to make any patterns.
  25. nicksaviking
    I guess what I was getting at is that had the Twins been the Brewers and swung a deal for Yelich last year, I would have been disappointed because I'd have preferred they'd used that equity to get deGrom or Syndergaard instead. They could stack up against Sale, Verlander, Kluber and Severino. I wasn't a fan of Yelich, he always seemed like an under-achiever and didn't have enough power for a corner bat. Clearly I was wrong there. If my team doesn't have a competitive rotation I wouldn't curl up and cry, I'd demand my GM look harder. However, to prove the difficulty of that: I don't think anyone was against a trade deadline move for Verlander two years ago, 90% of the board just said it couldn't be done because he made it pretty clear that he wouldn't waive his no trade clause to come here considering the vastly superior and WS favorite Astros were barely able to convince him to go there.
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