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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    Rey being Luke's daughter would certainly seem to fit, but obvious twists aren't really in style these days, writers like to try to surprise everyone. Could she be related to Obi Wan somehow? It was his voice talking to her when she picked up the light saber, and there's the whole British accent bit too. I kind of liked that Kylo wasn't some bad*** and got beat down by a newbie, I think it was intended to work out that way. He looked all super-villiany wearing the mask but then as mentioned, looked like a petulant emo teenager once he removed it, at which point Rey commenced out mind-tricking him, his dad made him cry and he got out-dueled by someone who had never used a light saber before. He was basically shown as an imitator the whole first half of the move as he only wore a mask and had a voice-altering mechanism to copy Darth Vadar, he didn't actually need those things, it was all for show and there was nothing of substance underneath. As mentioned, Luke would wipe the floor with him, I'm guessing the real bad-guys are yet to be seen. Also, it was implied that Luke left after Kylo turned and wiped out Luke's Jedi-Ed class. I'm wondering if Luke left in exile like Yoda, thinking that the only way to get a true Jedi was if one came looking for him just as he did to Yoda.
  2. nicksaviking
    I hadn't heard of that transition from softball to baseball before. I want to ask if that's been done before by an Australian prospect but considering the Twins basically have had 90% of all Australian players in their system at one time or another, I'd think we would have heard of that by now if it was common.
  3. nicksaviking
    Good move for the Yankees. Get the guy for one year, a year in which 8 of their starters on offense will be over 32 and their best three players from last year all had unlikely resurgent seasons that tailed off at the end; those three players will be 36, 39 and 40 in 2016 and all three should be playing DH. Also, their rotation is average at best. Seems to me stocking the bullpen like that is something a team should do when they are primed to have the lead a lot. I don't think the Yankees will.
  4. nicksaviking
    Telling Nolasco that he is most likely destined for the pen might be a cleaver way of getting his agent to do all the legwork on a trade. It seems to me action is more likely to happen if it's the player who initiates the trade. The Twins then also don't have to act like they want to get rid of him, only that they are accommodating the player's wishes.
  5. nicksaviking
    "Dozier makes some tremendously athletic plays but some of this results from him not being able to get to balls that are near the edge of his range." This makes total sense to me just using the eyeball test last year. However I think Dozier actually got to most of these balls near the edge of his range, but one recurring image of Dozier for me last year is him getting to a ball but not making a throw. Either he couldn't make a clean transfer or most often, he had no chance of beating the base runner so he held onto the ball. I've always been a bit of a skeptic on some of the defensive metrics as I just find it hard to believe that they can account for the numerous un-thought of variables. They're definitely useful and I don't discount them, but can anyone tell me if any of them can differentiate between Dozier making a play at the edge of his range against Ryan Howard instead of Billy Hamilton?
  6. nicksaviking
    I still doubt anyone would have claimed him, if the Twins were really worried about losing him, it's time to put him out there. They can't keep treasuring their young arms but still defer to low ceiling vets because of experience. We should also keep in mind that the intent of the Rule Five is so teams can't "hide" prospects. It is to Melotakis' benefit if another team is going to put him on their 25-man after all. Had this news come out and the Twins hadn't protected him and the MLB players union gave a crap about minor leaguers, the Twins might have had some trouble.
  7. nicksaviking
    I'd much rather go back to only having access to the Twins (and Cubs and Braves) if it means my team can afford top contracts, they can't now, they once did. It might have been due to some collusion but whether it's the advent of mega contracts, free agency or a players strike, it's always the fans who get the shaft when players get their way, at least small market fans. And again, in an objective setting I'd side with players over owners.
  8. nicksaviking
    If you're asking if I think it's a coincidence that baseball became more "business" at the same time Scott Boras became a household name and mega contracts became common, no I don't, not one bit. If players weren't regularly getting $100M contracts, teams wouldn't be getting $500M tax payer funded stadiums or getting hundreds of millions from TV revenue. It was only the early 1990's when the Twins and Royals were handing out the biggest contracts in baseball.
  9. nicksaviking
    All things being equal, we'd all probably cheer for the millionaires over the billionaires, but that fight isn't the end of the story. The billionaires are business men, it's not like they are going to lose money to to the millionaires and simply shrug their shoulders, they're going to make the fans and tax payers cover their losses. It's not a coincidence that new stadiums, ticket prices and TV demands skyrocketed corresponding to Scott Boras and the mega contracts for players in the mid to late 90's. The MLB players can complain all they want that the owners need to share revenues better, but they're lying if they don't acknowledge who is really footing the bill.
  10. nicksaviking
    Some of us have jobs to get to in the morning and some of us would like our kids to be able to enjoy a game. Games ending at 11 PM can hamper both of those fronts.
  11. nicksaviking
    The ill-fats Twins TV really has hurt this team. The Twins thinking they could demand ESPN prices form the cable and satellite providers when 21 hours of their broadcasting per day would have been watched by no one (24 hours during non-baseball months) was pretty foolish. When that failed and 90% of Twins fans were unable to watch the games, the team had to come crawling back to FSN and accept their substandard deal. Considering how much more money TV generates than the stadium does, the team probably should have put at least as much effort into getting a realistic lucrative TV deal as they did trying to get a new stadium.
  12. nicksaviking
    I like Terry Ryan, he seems like a good, honest man and he's done a ton for this organization. I also think Preller was fool hearty. But so what? What's wrong with trying something different if what you've been doing isn't working? Change isn't bad, in fact change is good; it is the key ingredient to innovation. Embrace new things and jump in with two feet, this is baseball not the ocean, you won't drown. I'm a sentimental guy, there's a huge part of me that likes hearing Dan Gladden on the radio even though he's not very good. Listening to him brings back good memories. I liked Gardy and having him around reminds me of the Twins reintroduction to relevance early this century. But sentimentality is the enemy of innovation and we have to give it up to evolve.
  13. nicksaviking
    Yes, I'd rather have the young guys, even if they struggle. There's a chance that Duffey/May in 2016 aren't as good as Santana/Hughes, but with another year of experience, something that the Twins seem to value above everything else, a 2016 Duffey/May full-time will lead to a better Duffey/May in 2017. Also, last I checked Phil Hughes fastball velocity plummeted to 90 mph. If that doesn't improve he's cooked, his breaking pitches aren't very special.
  14. nicksaviking
    TR has made some pretty great trades in the past; not recently though. A large part of the article was based on the idea that the Twins don't adapt well. Ryan's previous trades of Knoblauch and AJ, (and Dave Hollins and Roberto Kelly) showed that Ryan knew how to value prospects at a time when veteran players were extremely highly valued. The Twins might have been ahead of the curve at that time, but the rest of the league soon adjusted and teams don't give up their top prospects for average to above average MLB veterans any longer. I think the article is a little harsh in that Ryan has adjusted some things. The drafts show that the team does want power arms and power bats (though strangely their free agency moves say the opposite about the power arms), he did finally decide to give a free agent starting pitcher more than 1 year, and they have hired Jack Goin. However all these philosophy changes did occur long after most other clubs adopted them, in fact they may be getting lapped on the power bats/high strikeout theory as it now seems the prevailing thought is high contact/high walks. It just seems that the front offices MO is to play things safe and see if new baseball philosophies first work for other teams, and if they show enough success, then they will adopt them as well. I think the organization needs someone who is willing to lead the pack even if it sometimes leads to mistakes.
  15. nicksaviking
    Let's show this comp to Nolasco and see if we can't get him to retire mid-contract.
  16. nicksaviking
    I would much rather have a rotation of Gibson, May, Duffey, Berrios and one superior free agent pitcher to Santana/Hughes/Nolasco.
  17. nicksaviking
    Within the damning statement, I think the key part is that the Twins didn't "time the development of key players to sync up with the availability of resources to augment those players and make the most of their best years." And I agree that this is probably the biggest issue. The Twins could have done the Nolasco/Hughes/Santana type contacts 3-4 year ago when they were terrible, had no prospects to block and needed something to bridge the gap until the prospects were ready. Now they've timed their free agency moves too early and don't have the roster spots and it appears budget to get the kind of free agent upgrades that would be more compatible with the young core.
  18. nicksaviking
    I'd also guess that back when the super-stars did turn into managers, most still needed an actual job after playing baseball, and if baseball was all that they knew, being a manager was likely more in their wheelhouse than say becoming a meteorologist. The super-stars of recent vintage got paid well enough that a life-after-baseball job isn't likely a necessity. Which also points to the fact that any super-star player that did make a ton of money while playing but wants to continue in the profession, is probably mostly doing it for the love of the game, which obviously should be a pretty big requirement. Of course they could be interested simply because they're bored I guess. I'd hope any functional GM could weed those guys out.
  19. nicksaviking
    I was trying to figure it out if each of the individual series are basically going to be an origin story kind of thing and then if it will only be the Defenders going forward. From everything I've read though, Netflix is going to play it by ear depending on how successful the individual series' are. Daredevil already got Season 2, from how good it was and how much positive pub it's gotten, I'd guess Jessica Jones gets another stand alone season as well. So the Defenders might just be an interlude, kind of like how Marvel is still doing individual stories AND Avengers movies.
  20. nicksaviking
    I'd also guess that catcher is a unique position in that every level wants experienced catchers handling the developmental pitchers. He could be down there not because he needs to be held back but simply because he's good at calling games and a 19-year-old catcher may not be.
  21. nicksaviking
    I really feel that watching the documentary Bull Durham may be beneficial here, at least this part: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeVca9MwDX8 His favorite players are Ken Griffey Jr and Mike Cameron? It seems a little funny as they were traded for each other. I like the BB/K numbers. The real test for those figures will be full season ball, though probably at least a level higher than the Midwest League. Promising start though and if he can limit the strikeouts while finding ways to get on base, he'd certainly be a revelation for the Twins. Edit: I removed the video and only copied the link as I can't recall if there are any naughty words uttered in that scene, I'd listen myself but I don't have my headphones at work.
  22. nicksaviking
    I think the Twins thought last year too, every year probably, however they didn't pay attention to the national trend, including what was happening on their own roster. The performances of the players corresponded nearly identical to their age. The younger players are just better these days, what they lack in seasoning, they more than make up for in speed, strength, reflex and velocity. There are plenty of bullpen options not named May that should be given spots on the 25-man, and May should bump one of the vets from the rotation. I don't think there is one thing more over-valued by this organization than experience at this time.
  23. nicksaviking
    Americans can be stupid, but they're just not that stupid. I'm not at all concerned with what the polls say because I'm pretty certain that when polled on who they would rather have in the White House, Clinton or Trump, most conservatives are still going to say Trump, and perhaps the many anti-Trump conservatives posting here could help us out. They just aren't going to be able to bring themselves to tie their name to the Democrat. But I think largely these folks will not end up going out to vote, or if they do, they'll write in a different name. When the anti-Trump conservatives (which is a large portion of the party) are ultimately asked at the voting booth "Who will you vote for, Clinton or Trump," the final answer will be neither. Meanwhile Democratic leaning voters are going to be more compelled than ever to turn out to the polls, plenty staunchly in support of Clinton, but more than anything just to keep the sideshow from winning.
  24. nicksaviking
    Joe was always known as a world class hitter and student of the art, I think that's what makes his decline so painful. In most analysis' of Joe's issues, a large part of his struggles are credited to pitchers throwing to him differently (down and away) and fielders shifting on him. So naturally one thinks that if Joe is such a hitting guru, why isn't he adjusting to these new approaches? Were we wrong to think Joe had an elite mind for hitting? Is he stubbornly refusing to change his old swing and approach at the plate? Is his physical decline just too much to overcome with adjustments? Were his concussions too damaging? Is he just unlucky? If he turns it around there will be rejoice, praise and analysis and there's a very good chance we will find out what the issue(s) was. If he doesn't, we probably never will. We know Tony O's decline was caused be his damaged knees, Kirby's career was cut short due to Glaucoma. If we never know what happened with Mauer, the debate caused by speculation is going to hurt his legacy I fear.
  25. nicksaviking
    I agree that May could easily pitch well enough to prove he should be in the rotation, perhaps even lead it, but a problem as I see it is how pitchers are used in spring training. Often starters pitch in later innings and relievers start games, if May is pitching well and Molitor is set on putting him in the pen, Molitor is just going to say, "see how well he's pitching in relief? We can't take him out now."
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