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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    The main head-scratcher regarding the Liriano situation was the use of his slider. It has clearly always been his best pitch and it was abundantly clear that Liriano had his good seasons when he had high slider usage and poor seasons when he didn't. It was also clear the Twins thought the pitch would lead to injury, yet it was the ultra-conservative Pirates who gave him a multi-year deal AND increased his slider percentage.
  2. nicksaviking
    His salary would matter if the Twins were in a payroll crunch. They are not. It's his production and positional inflexibility that are the real concerns here.
  3. nicksaviking
    I don't see how the MLB is covering up anything the announcers are saying. The punishment for getting caught using PEDs is spelled out pretty clearly. I'm not sure what you think the Union should do, not only did they agree to the punishment, but there was huge support from clean ballplayers to crack down on the cheaters. It sucks for the Twins, but there is nothing to argue here.
  4. nicksaviking
    I think we're making assumptions on this one. From my 20 years experience with a bad back, you never can tell when it's going to give you issues. Mine would lock up on me and put me out of commission even when I was a highly trained athlete back when I was a teenager. It's possible he's out of shape, but last year his issue was a forearm strain which doesn't seem like it would have much to do with conditioning. If I were to make an assumption, it would be that he's 32 and on the backside of his career. Age tends to rob pitchers of their most needed physical attributes before it does the hitters.
  5. nicksaviking
    I would also not lump anyone who criticizes his pay with those concerned about the roster crunch his full-time 1B inflexiblity creates.
  6. nicksaviking
    Positive pieces from folks generally seen as pessimists tend to ring more authentic.
  7. nicksaviking
    Me too. No sure there's a lot of hard throwers available this year though. Shawn Kelley misses bats but doesn't throw too hard, maybe he'd be worth a look. Jon Broxton might have turned the corner too.
  8. nicksaviking
    In terms of the Twins winning games down the stretch, Cleveland's pitching staff is frightening. They're young though, hopefully they are wearing down. I'm most worried about the Angels series. They always seem to be the West Coast version of the Yankees for the Twins.
  9. nicksaviking
    If I had to have one guy with an attitude problem for my team, it would be an angry and ornery reliever. Also, we probably could have said the same things about Perkins about five years ago, he was just fortunanate enough not to break his thumb during his tantrum. As mentioned, Perkins is the closer and that's unlikely to change, however that's going to hamper matters in getting meaningful bullpen upgrades. It would be great to get the next Wade Davis, but that's going to be a guessing game. I'd have to think the guys you would have the most confidence in would be those who profile as a closer.
  10. nicksaviking
    I agree, and most managers wouldn't. Just throwing that out there in case the Twins wanted to think slightly outside the box. And to be fair, those that argue that your best relief pitcher should be used in the highest leverage situation often use hindsight to make their points. No one can actually predict that the bottom of the ninth WON'T be the highest leverage half inning, particularly since the odds are that it will.
  11. nicksaviking
    Or Perkins could be removed from the 9th. Or the Twins could stray from the fixed closer docterine.
  12. nicksaviking
    Hmmm, I'm guessing those folks had a couple other names in mind.
  13. nicksaviking
    This may end up being a problem where the answer simply is that there is no good solution and we have to suck it up and live with it. We're talking about a position in which we are jealous of the Royals, who's All Star catcher can't even manage a .290 OBP the past two seasons. And this is a guy that is often cited as the best catcher in the AL, all while posting sub .700 OPS. Only 9 Catchers have a WAR over 2.0 and that's despite the position being given the highest positional adjustment based on difficulty. The position is a black hole in today's game. Basically there are two types of teams, those that have Buster Posey and those that don't. I want an upgrade, but I'm not going to stress about it this offseason as 20 some other teams likely also want an upgrade, and half of the ones who don't, should.
  14. nicksaviking
    The Twins would probably have to throw in more. Maybe Gibson? I don't think it would be wise though. A 30-year-old catcher with concussion issues? I think I've seen that movie before.
  15. nicksaviking
    Only 29? That's not exactly young for a catcher, his days behind the plate are likely numbered. I'd take him on a short term deal and only if he doesn't get a QO. He hasn't been all that good offensively this year and he wasn't very good in his last full year in 2013.
  16. nicksaviking
    Yeah, I'd look to move Gibson and he should have more value than Milone. He's young and conrolable, which is something the Twins should want, but the Twins are stuck with vets Santana, Hughes and Nolasco, and Gibson's profile as a high floor/low ceiling possible number 3 pitcher with good control but poor strikeouts is very similar to the vets. Need to make room for the guys with higher ceilings and Gibson would be the easiest to move and would probably bring back the most. Also, if Plouffe's value isn't as high as hoped, I'm all for packaging some minor leaguers, middle infielders and/or Milone with him. Gibson seems like he might be best packaged individually.
  17. nicksaviking
    The best thing about Nolasco is that's he's been so terrible the Twins should have no issues keeping him out of the rotation, hell, there's an off chance they could cut him next year. No chance that happens with Shields, so the team really wouldn't be replacing Nolasco with Shields, they'd be replacing Berrios, May or Duffy with Shields. Yeah at first blush it looks like a Shields Nolasco swap would upgrade the Twins. I don't think it does though if it actually costs a spot for a young power arm.
  18. nicksaviking
    I didn't like the trade because I didn't like Jepsen. Declining velocity on a 31-year-old is not a good look. It looks like since he came to Minnesota, he has dropped his 2-seamer and gone to his 4-seamer exclusively, meanwhile he's reduced the usage of his curveball and doubled the usage of his change-up. Maybe Allen in short order refocused his repetoir? Hope the results stick and the velocity doesn't drop much further.
  19. nicksaviking
    I'm more comfortable losing Plouffe as I think Eduardo Escobar is an everyday player, and in his time as a starter, perhaps even an offensive upgrade over Plouffe. As the team seems pretty intent on giving chances to the other young SS in the system (and rightly so, there are some intreguing options), I'm more than happy keeping 3B as a possibility for the underappreciated Escobar.
  20. nicksaviking
    Sorry, I didn't realize that was actually paraphasing a Ryan comment. I would agree, and would be a bit disheartened if that's what he's implying. It also doesn't bode well for any kind of quick ascent for Tyler Jay who is decidely slight.
  21. nicksaviking
    Yeah, these guys just seem to feel more relaxed and confident. Perhaps it's a cultural thing because Vargas and Arcia always seemed to give off the same vibe as well (OK, maybe confident, not so much relaxed for Arcia). Meanwhile Hicks, Buxton, Gibson, May and Meyer all seem(ed) much more anxious and much less confident, at least at first.
  22. nicksaviking
    I also don't like his very poor OBP for a guy who is supposed to bat in the middle of the order. I don't think that gets brought up enough.
  23. nicksaviking
    My preferrence is your first two sentances in the opposite order as I think three years of not playing 3B will probably doom Sano to DH for life. Maybe he should, but I'd like to find out if he can play the field, even at the expense of a usable player like Plouffe. The Twins haven't had an honest to goodness viable trade piece since Span and Revere left town. Though to be fair, I probably like speculating about trades more than the trades themselves. I put that on my resume too and it's probably the reason I still haven't landed a GM job.
  24. nicksaviking
    He's less hittable than Pelfrey and Hughes who keep getting passes, and that first part is pretty huge considering the Twins haven't had a starter with strikeout stuff in a long time. Also, May is 25 and was on the cusp of becoming the best starter on the team when he was demoted. For the most part, the other starters have already reached their peak potential and are well into their decline phase of their career.
  25. nicksaviking
    Ouch, just looked at his game logs. 7 for 45 in his last 15 games and no XBH in his last 16. I'd think the 14 BB to 7 K kind of points to the dip being flukey though.
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