nicksaviking

I like seeing young hard(er) throwing Rule V guys more than the AAAA soft tossing camp invite guys who make the team based on not being terrible for 9 spring training innings like Josh Roenike and Blaine Boyer. The Twins somehow seem to find these kinds of pitcher just as difficult to remove from the 25-man.

Rosario's BABIP is high, but Santana's was still 50 points higher last year. Also, Santana likley wouldn't have been as poor this year had his LD% not dropped from 26% to 20%. Speaking of which, Rosario's LD% in 2015 is also only 20% and that just seems low to me, watching him play and his swing I would have guessed a much higher percentage. Perhaps one of our minor league guru's can shed some light, but wasn't he considered a linedrive hitter in the minors? Personally, I'd expect that to improve. All that said, I don't like his lack of on base skills. If there's a logjam in the corner outfield and a team is calling the Twins looking to trade, it might be Rosario who I may be most willing to move.

I thought Johnny Damon was going to be a lock to get it after being less than 300 hits away coming off his age 37 season in which he still had a .743 OPS. He wanted stupid money though the following year and didn't catch on until after the season started. He was rusty, and it was over. For Ichiro, it seems like getting to 3000 is his goal. And while it doesn't seem that teams actually do sign players just for the milestone publicity, Ichiro might be different. I don't know if his Japanese fan base is just as rabid as in his hayday, I suspect it is much, much less, but I'll bet his country starts paying a lot of attention when he approaches the goal. Some team is going to buy into that. Should be the Mariners.

No kidding, this is a guy who has a career .675 minor league OPS. By all accounts he looked like a poor man's Pedro Florimon.

I like to go back and check some of my old takes from past threads, I get way too proud of myself sometimes when I see that I was spot on. Regarding the Liriano trade, I was dead wrong. nicksaviking, on 29 Jul 2012 - 5:30 PM, said: Is no one concerned that both of these non-prospects are now forced to take a 40-man roster spot? If any more moves are made and the Twins need to clear more roster space, now they have to lose another player just to keep thses two bums? There are a lot of expendable players on the 40-man, but if I had to decide who was the most expendable based on how they have faired in the minros and what thier ceiling is, Escobar would be the first guy I'd get rid of. This trade made no sense on so many levels. Escobar is already in his second option year, next year is his last. So in 2014, the Twins will be putting him on waivers already when they need to replace him for someone who can hit. Even if there were no better packages, and even if the Pohlad's told Ryan that in no way shape or form can Liriano be offered a qualifying offer (doubtful) Ryan's biggest mistake is clogging the already messed up 40-man instead of asking for younger developmental players. Escobar is a quality player and seems to do best with full-time duty. Had he been starting from the get-go, not only might we not have been asking for a SS upgrade all year, we might have been happy that this team had an above average one. This guy can hit when he gets regular at bats and those 35 doubles last year do not look like a fluke.

While I agree that Stewart's lake of strikeouts preclude him from being a decent prospect, for the sake of objectivity I'll disagree with two points. 1. If he has the possibility of being a backend starter, as you mentioned for his ceiling, I don't think we could call him a bust, that's still a usable ball player. 2. Nothing is literally 100% certain. I've also made the same point about being unable to find a guy with such sorry strikeout numbers that ended up missing bats at the majors, but that's a hard stat to sort and it doesn't mean there isn't a comp somewhere. Also, we can't be 100% certain that the Twins aren't taking some unorthodoxed approach with this guy. There is a possibility they are asking Stewart to shelve the slider in two strike counts and insist he use the sinker, a pitch that rarely generates strikeouts.

I'm all for trading Plouffe this winter. Just not for a reliever.

But unless the Twins are trying to get an elite closer, three years of an above average 3B is going to be worth a lot more than a reliever. Plouffe won't be a free agent until 2018.

Nice first post, welcome aboard.

We say that now, but are they any different than Edwin Jackson? This time next year when Nolasco's deal is down to a year and change, I'm guessing there will be plenty of thought going into DFA'ing him if he still has a 5+ ERA and no other team will come near him. And this time in 2017 there would be no doubt he'd be DFA'd under these same circumstances.

What's wrong with an *ing trade? Looks like Plouffe left in one. If Plouffe goes, I'd really hope it was to improve upon those 8 and 9 hitters, he certainly has more value than getting bullpen help.

I fail to see much difference in signing Nolasco, Santana and extending Hughes than in signing Sandoval, Rameriz and extending Porcello. I would have a little interest if I thought he was brining an analytical approach with him, but it almost looks like he has been working to undo Theo Epstein's shrine to Bill James that he built the previous decade. At this point I'd look at anyone from an organization that has a history of being able to beat the Yankees. Equipment managers included.

And with the PED era in the rearview mirror (knock on wood) teams realized the foolishness in giving these monster contracts to players in their mid-30s.

I don't think so, good one.

Jose Tabata and Starlin Castro. Again, just off the top of my head though. Still, I'd rather crap out on a deal like this to a youngster than a veteran. I'd guess the Cubs have a better chance of moving Castro and his ugly contract than the Twins do of moving Hughes, Santana or Mauer. (Not to praise the Cubs, they found it just as difficult to move Edwin Jackson)

In the 1st? Where they drawing the lineup out of a hat? Unless the Rochester lineup is so stacked that Vargas has to bat at the bottom of the order, this seems like a highly unusual lineup construction.

To be fair to those who wanted to A ) a get better relief upgrade(s) or B ) give up a lesser prospect, there is plenty of substanative comparables in the form of Tommy Hunter, Tyler Clippard, Jon Papelbon, Mark Lowe and Jonathan Broxton. Whether the comparason to the reliever or his counterpart compensation is used wisely is dependant on the poster I guess, but due to the numerous information sources available on the internet these days there is plenty of data for a layman who puts even minimal effort into some research to make an informed opinion.

Jedd Gyorko, Dontrelle Willis and the Twins very own Joe Mays come to mind. I'd do the deal, though I'd feel a lot more comfortable with the risk if the team wasn't already on the hook for Santana, Hughes, Nolasco, Suzuki and Mauer for what seems like an eternity. Fortunately if Sano were to bust, he should still have options for the duration of most of those contracts. Do Sano, do Buxton, Berrios, May, Rosario, Hicks or whoever else looks like a good gamble in the next couple years, just no more long term deals to vets.

It's not the money, it's the roster spots. I don't care about signings, I care that the best players for now and/or the future won't or perhaps already haven't gotten on to the field because of these long term deals. If Hughes or Santana pitched as poorly as they have and had Pelfrey's contract they'd already be in the pen, traded or DFA'd.

I originally wanted to roll with the youngsters, that's what I wanted. Ryan went out and bogged down the roster with unmovable bloated contracts to vets. I truely hope Ryan does want to move forward with youngsters, he still gets a D in my book for handicapping the process with tons of aging and declining vets. It's another reason I say he's indecisive. He wants a team full of experince, yet also doesn't want to trade away the prospects. He seems to struggle commiting to one path or the other. You could combine the youth and experience, but not very well if most of your experience is on long term deals.

The handsome soda, Chris Colabello

I haven't seen anyone mention what Hicks' injury is? I didn't see the game, what's going on with him? Also, Daniel Norris is way overrated from my view. A 91 MPH fastball and a mere 2.59 K/BB rate in the minors? That's the kind of stuff that tends to get results in the minors that major leaguers just laugh at. Toronto knew what they were doing.

Aside from May's botched BP experience, I think Pressly was by far the 2nd best option in the pen this year. Edit: I feel confident enough after looking at the stats that I will strike this part from my statement.

I'm sure they do. However I also feel they may be too far into the forest to see the trees as well. I think the front office views the gulf between the unproven players and the veterans as much larger than it actually is. I mean the guys in the minors would have to pitch to historically bad levels to be much worse than what the current bullpen is doing.

I'm not sure why it should be assumed that anyone who wants a new GM hates Ryan. I also don't believe that people who want to see Mauer replaced hate Mauer. Subjectivity needs to be removed from most business decision, heck personal ones too. If your favorite band is Judas Priest it's OK for you to still acknowledge that the Beatles are the most important band ever.