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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    In the two recent articles detailing the Twins and their swing mechanics I think Denard Span too could be listed as influenced greatly by the old philosophy. He's got as quiet of a swing as anyone and while it certainly has worked for him considering his career success, he has next to no power despite having a 6' 00" 210 lb frame. I always wondered if he could have been a 5 tool guy had he ever used his lower half to swing. Of course it's possible he could have been a complete flop as well.
  2. nicksaviking
    I went on vacation after Thanksgiving and missed this masterpiece. Another gem Parker, thanks for the read and insight.
  3. nicksaviking
    There have been many of us who have said they should be using as many young guys in the pen and in the rotation as possible. It's been almost four years since I've been posting on this site, but I finally added a sig.
  4. nicksaviking
    I don't understand the question.
  5. nicksaviking
    It reminds me of someone having to decide if they should pay a big repair bill or just buy a new car because they never bothered to get an oil change.
  6. nicksaviking
    I don't see how another left handed OF fits into the mix. They need a righty to spell Rosario, Arcia and Kepler. I didn't realize he was a lefty previously as signing more left handed OF doesn't make a ton of sense.
  7. nicksaviking
    I believe May is a big upgrade over the current options in the pen, however that's only because the Twins at this time haven't taken one of the two most reasonable approaches: A ) give the job to the young hard throwers, and I don't mean mop-up/long man roles, I mean the late inning spots that generally require strikeouts. Burdi, Meyer, Reed, Chargois, Peterson, the odds are against all of those guys flaming out. Throw them in the water and see who floats. If the batters don't need to be finished products to be called up into prominent roles, neither should the pitchers, particularly seeing as they generally have shorter periods of effectiveness. B ) sign the requisite free agents that can do what May is able to do. I'm concerned about strikeouts all around, but it's not going to significantly improve if May is replacing a guy like Pressley or Tonkin, he has to be replacing a guy like Fien. Same with the rotation, if the young guys are the ones striking guys out, it shouldn't be the young guys replacing other young guys, it needs to be the vets to get the boot. Also, regarding the sunk cost discussion. I'm very concerned about Hughes. I think there's a good chance there was something affecting him last year, but if not and his FB velocity is going to be 90 MPH going forward, he's in a boatload of trouble, he already scrapped his slider and his curve isn't all that good. If his velocity doesn't come back I think he's going to get rocked again.
  8. nicksaviking
    I'm not usually against minor league signings but Sweeny, Benson and Mastroianni? That speaks pretty loudly that they aren't going to go get an actual MLB outfielder even though they really, really need one who can hit lefties since Rosario, Arcia and Kepler are in the mix. I just don't get it. Chris Young and Ryan Rayburn will be very affordable (though I guess not minor league contract cheap) and Raji Davis wasn't expensive. I've said several times recently that I thought the Twins didn't have money issues, but just didn't want more long term commitments at the moment. I'm wondering now though if Park's $12.5M negotiation fee did actually eat up every dime available this year.
  9. nicksaviking
    Right, he might be a Florida resident for some sort of tax purposes, the ethics of doing so can certainly be debated, but plenty of people with much, much less wealth own more than one property. Are we going to make 3M change their name to CIMM? (Caymen Islands Mining and Manufacturing) Edit: The more I think about it, I kind of like the idea of making tax dodging companies wear some sort of scarlet letter.
  10. nicksaviking
    Interestingly, he had reverse splits last year, he was not good against lefties but was pretty good against righties. He also used a cut fastball last year for the first time, and it seems to me the current trend is to use a slider or cut fastball against opposite handed batters.
  11. nicksaviking
    As far as minor league signings go, I like this one the best, and by a mile. He had an off year last year but the strikeouts were good and the control numbers don't look too terrible. Looking at Fangraphs it looks like he added a cutter last year, I wonder if that had anything to do with a change in his results. If he had been a free agent after his 2014 season, he might have been inline for one of these $5+ 2-3 year deal. That also kind of shows what a crap shoot it can be to rely on these free agent middle relievers. The guy isn't a free agent until 2018, if he reverts back to 2013-14 numbers, there's a good chance he'll be on the team until then.
  12. nicksaviking
    I'm not sure I agree about all the upgrades, but I do agree about the young players. But then they need to be played, not behind guys like Fein, Kintzler, Nolasco, Suzuki or even probably Mauer.
  13. nicksaviking
    I think this is actually what many people question. Do they actually have to play Mauer? Or is it possible for him to be a bench/role/platoon/90-100 games-per-year kind of player. Even if he is still one of the better hitters on the team, there are still at least two guys who can play first who at this point in their careers are better hitters. Maybe more than two.
  14. nicksaviking
    I don't want to see Sano in the OF, but I agree with your three points. I think the main point of the article you summed up there in the second to last line. He may be right, and he may be wrong, but he most likely is an objective outsider. When someone doesn't appear to have an agenda and they appear to have strong baseball knowledge, I tend to put credence in their opinion.
  15. nicksaviking
    I truly am fine if the Twins don't do a whole lot in free agency and instead continue on with the original plan of rebuilding by relying on the young talent, filling the holes AFTER they see the spots that the young talent cannot cover. But that's not what the Twins are doing, they still appear to be giving the vets on the team top priority (Mauer, Plouffe, Hughes, Santana, Milone, Fein). By continuing to play these guys, the team is drawing out the rebuild as the vets blocking the youngsters are stopping us from getting reliable gauge on them. Or they can restock, and do the whole free agency bit. But they can't half *** both approaches like they are currently doing. One or the other, and if they absolutely have a desire to do both, do both WELL.
  16. nicksaviking
    It always seems to be pieces from outsiders who have no obvious ties and thus appear impartial that tend to open most eyes. If this was written by Jim Souhan, much of this would be looked at as more of the same whining. The last line is spot on, I really hope the right people within the organization either already understand these issues and are working to correct them, or read this and now have some doubts about the current direction.
  17. nicksaviking
    I'm not surprised, the last of the big time pitchers just signed in Johnny Cueto. The Twins may have to wait until they see which teams miss out on the likes of Leake, Gallardo, Chen and Kazmir. Of course there's also the distinct fear that the Twins still believe they need a token lefty in the rotation.
  18. nicksaviking
    I think it's been haunting them for a good three years now. That 2012 White Sox team looked an awful lot like the 2010 Twins team. Full of vets in their last few years of decent production with a few nice young players in the mix. Both teams probably over-achieved that year which lead to higher expectations than they should have had.
  19. nicksaviking
    Shoot. I was really hoping the safety precautions were going to be signing pitchers that could miss bats and thus fewer balls would be put in the stands. Come on, let's fix this problem at it's root!
  20. nicksaviking
    Anyone else feel a bit snakebit? Perhaps my perception is skewed but a year when the Twins have a dearth of relief pitchers and a spare 3B, the market for relief pitchers is about as rediculously seller friendly as it's ever been and 3Bs are about as buyer friendly as ever.
  21. nicksaviking
    And this makes me wonder how often the on-field staff makes choices that the front office wouldn't. I think the Twins pride themselves on not micro-managing, but we've seen young guys like Vargas, Arcia, Buxton, Kepler and Santana ride the bench instead of getting reps and there's no doubt that aside from May, it was the veterans who got the most high profile relief innings and first crack at the rotation. It's possible Ryan would handle the young players on the roster differently, but Gardenhire and Molitor felt more comfortable with the vets. Additionally, it's possible there may be times where we as fans want a young guy up but Ryan knows the coaching staff wouldn't give him the requisite playing time to make it worthwhile so the player remains in the minors. After all, early in the off season it was Ryan who said May would get a chance to start, meanwhile now it is reportedly Molitor who said he wants to see him in the pen. I respect the autonomy, but if there are any major philosophical differences I think that's a problem and in my opinion the youth/experience balance is a pretty major part of the game right now. Not that I'm trying to take Ryan off the hook or put Molitor on it, I have no clue how the dynamic actually works.
  22. nicksaviking
    Frazier's only under contract for two years, but I think the Sox did pretty good here. I know Thompson put up some big numbers last year after his call up, but in the minors, he was largely pedestrian, he hadn't even had a season with a .750 OPS since 2012 when he spent most of the year in A ball. I think the Dodgers got all of Joc Pederson's bad traits here with a much, much lower ceiling.
  23. nicksaviking
    Even with these numbers, doesn't that still put your assessment of May's current position and ceiling ahead of Hughes and Milone? My frustration is that I know the organization values youth because they are very loathe to trade prospects, as am I. However this only seems to be on paper as they do not commit to the youth. They need to see that youth is not a liability, it is gigantic advantage both in terms of physical abilities and the nature of their contracts, which make them so much easier to de-commit if they do not work out. The Twins appear to believe that experience is a much more important trait. Unfortunately because of this and the contracts that come with experience, they provide such a long leash to these guys. They really, really have to stop giving the vets priority over youth, it has to be the other way around if this team is going to turn the corner.
  24. nicksaviking
    I don't understand this argument though, because May isn't competing against #1s #2s and #3s for a rotation spot. I don't see how anyone could watch the games or look at the numbers and say that May was any worse than the third best starter for this team in 2015, and that's the negative view. A much stronger case could have been made that he was the best or second best. On a side note, I don't care if a guy was the 20th best starter for the team last year, the rotation needs some guys that can miss bats. I'd rather give Meyer a shot than Nolasco or Milone if we aren't planning to give the best guys the jobs.
  25. nicksaviking
    Waste of talent. What May did in the pen could have been replicated by a quality free agent if that's really what the team wants. You can't replicate May as a starter on the free agent market because more than any other position, a large part of a starting pitcher's value is derived from his age due to how fast pitchers tail off these days around 30. I understand that May in the pen is likely better than some of the other current starters in the pen, but I really don't see how anyone could argue that if the team was going to put their five best guys in the rotation May wouldn't be among them.
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