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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    He wasn't my choice either, he reminded me too much of the previous manager in that he seemed to prefer "old school" baseball. Who doesn't? But "old school" baseball isn't winning games these days. Still, if the organization thought enough about him to interview him, I'd hope they would wish to retain him more than Smith. If Mientkiewicz is disgruntled though, perhaps it's less that he didn't get the job Molitor won, but perhaps it's because he never got asked if he'd like the bench job after hearing that the Twins were shot down by a bunch of other candidtates for the position then gave it to retread Joe Vavra.
  2. nicksaviking
    Lacking fastball command and effective secondary pitches sounds exactly like the problem had by every pitcher in the Twins rotation not named Hughes last year.
  3. nicksaviking
    Another great article, this one from Nathanial Grow, regarding the struggles of MiLB players fighting a losing cause. MLB anti-trust protection seems to protect the teams from paying MiLB players even minimum wage, but the little guys fight back: http://www.fangraphs.com/blogs/minor-league-baseball-to-seek-congressional-protection-from-the-minimum-wage/#comment-4861513 According to my (generally wrong) math: If every MiLB player made the minimum of $7,200 per year, and federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour for 40 hours per week equals $15,080 per year, then with 160 teams and 25 players per team, that means to get every player up to federal minimum wage levels, the collective MLB teams would need to cover an additional $31,520,000 which of course is just over $1 million per team per year. And that’s assuming that every minor leaguer currently makes league minimum, which they don’t. Cheap freakin’ owners.
  4. nicksaviking
    Parmelee has acually been a better hitter against lefties, especially last year, so any kind of platoon with him would likely work in a counter-intuitive manner. I could see him in the NL, but really, there seems to be a lot of places he could land, with Baltimore, Tampa and Cleveland coming to mind. I would think if Toronto had interest in Chris Colabello, they might actually perfer Parmelee perhaps more.
  5. nicksaviking
    We don't know that any of them will be the answer, but we need to find out. This team still needs an ace to win, maybe two. The young guys are the only chance at getting one. We aren't going to find out if they can lead a rotation while pitching in AAA. Last year was a lost season, they should have had them up, even if they were raw, with flaws and on pitch limits. The bullpen was overused anyway, it wouldn't have made a difference. They can learn more at the MLB level about what it takes to be a MLB pitcher than they can in AAA. The longer we wait to find out on these guys, the longer it will take for the rebuild.
  6. nicksaviking
    John Heyman is now reporting that there are actually 2 vesting option seasons. The second is vested at $14 million if he pitchers 400 IP in the 2018-2019 seasons, so that would be the final year of his guaranteed contract and his first option year.
  7. nicksaviking
    Agreed. Knowing how to master only two pitches instead of three or four should really cut the learning curve down. Though for me, that only goes for guys who have minimal upside as starters anyway like Summers, Boyd or Melotakis. A guy like Cederoth who can still bring upper 90's velocity as a starter I'll give a longer leash to.
  8. nicksaviking
    Good Lord, did Keith Law take over Kiley's chat? Some of these guys really don't like the people who follow them. If you can't handle a fairly mild negative question, don't answer it, or don't host a chat altogether. I'm just fine reading you're unadulterated articles and assesments instead.
  9. nicksaviking
    I think the Twins will be much better than expected. But having a good record isn't the same as contending. This team isn't contending until it has an ace or two leading the rotation.
  10. nicksaviking
    I'll never understand anyone selling the farm for one year of a player. I'd never do that unless I had a window to negotiate an extension as well.
  11. nicksaviking
    I was too. I never liked that he never got consistant playing time. I'll probably always wonder if he would have been a different player had he gotten an everyday job and 500 AB's in a season. Too often he was given three games on and three games off, it never seemed like the best development opportunity. I was fine letting him struggle to see if anything would shake out, the team wasn't going anywhere anyway. Still, it's too late now. While in the past there seemed like opportunity to do this, I don't see that opportunity any more. Unless they want to give him a full time CF gig.
  12. nicksaviking
    I don't disagree, but the problem is that you still are going to need an ace to win and the Twins haven't and won't be buying an ace on the free agent market. If the only chance to win is to get an ace, and the only way to get an ace is to develop one yourself, it seems the Twins are actually delaying the possiblity of becoming relevant, even if signing capable vets would instinctively seem to do the opposite. I don't believe any amount of minor league seasoning is going to prepare the young arms for the MLB level, I think they need to struggle at the big leagues first no matter what. The longer it is put off, the longer I think it will take for the team to make a run.
  13. nicksaviking
    Meyer and May were/are almost certainly going to be eaten alive as rookies no matter when they got called up, just like Gibson did. I would have rather they had taken their lumps in 2014 with the hopes that they became accustomed to MLB compitition in 2015 rather than 2016. Now they may take their lumps in 2016 and we have to hope they are competent in 2017. May and Meyer will not be blocked if Gibson and/or the #5 guy don't perform well. Nolasco, Santana and Hughes will not get benched no matter how May and Meyer perform. Seems silly to hope for injuries, and significant ones at that. Spot starts due to a couple of missed starts won't do them much good.
  14. nicksaviking
    I'll hold off on credit until we see a decision. Of course that also means holding off on criticism. There does seem to be a pretty clear cut right answer though, if Steil were to keep Smith at the expense of Mientkiewicz, there would be plenty of room for criticism and we might conclude that Steil's relationships might have been an instance of being too far into the forest to see the trees. Either way, looks like this team is going to have to find a second man who can stomach to manage a team in Tennessee, looks like it's not a popular place. Does Ray Smith get consideration after winning Manager of the Year in the Appy League again? After all his decades of work with E'ton, perhaps he's not moving, but if the job stays in-state, maybe?
  15. nicksaviking
    Considering how much they love Twins players, isn't Chris Parmelee a lock for Baltimore? I know I've seen a couple of Chris Davis comparisons on this site before.
  16. nicksaviking
    Well the probelm with this is that the Twins aren't a contending team. The longer the team puts off the development of the prospects, the longer the rebuild will take Also, May and Meyer aren't being rushed, they're 25 and have had plenty of minor league seasoning.
  17. nicksaviking
    Need to pay for better a better medical team?
  18. nicksaviking
    Yes but Ryan interviewing Mientkiewicz and not Smith should imply some kind of pecking order at least in the eyes of Ryan. If Steil goes the other way, Ryan could over rule him should he want to. If Ryan thinks Doug is more valuable, he should use his veto regardless if he would prefer it to be Steil's call.
  19. nicksaviking
    Doug got an interview for the big gig, Smith did not. There would be a pretty big disconnect if Smith were to get first choice of assignment. Ryan saying the decision wasn't his, but Steil's may imply there is a disconnect and Ryan doesn't want to be involved in the tough decision.
  20. nicksaviking
    Agreed with above. Should be a pitcher and Thompson is at the bottom of my list too.
  21. nicksaviking
    I wouldn't have guessed it, but Cole Hamels has over 200 more IP on his arm than Lester does. That's what I prefer to consider over age for what it's worth.
  22. nicksaviking
    Luke Gregorson says the runner up for his services was an AL club with an established closer. He chose the Astros as he'd likely have a chance to close. http://blog.chron.com/ultimateastros/2014/12/12/gregersons-quick-deal-follows-market-right-behind-millers/ Could have been the Twins. In fact, considering the Twins are the Illuminati of baseball and Gregorson wouldn't divulge the secret club, how could there even be any doubt that it was the Twins? There are very few established closers in the AL also.
  23. nicksaviking
    I remember researching that two years ago when Willingham was the Twins largest free agent signing and it was the lowest largest free agent signing for any team. (There has to be a better way to phrase that!) 4/55 has moved them up though. They are definately ahead of the Padres, who I believe gave Carlos Quinten their largest contract and the Pirates who set their record this year with Liriano. This is equal in dollars but fewer years than the Royals gave Gil Meche. I think Cleveland's 4/56 deal for Swisher is their largest, so that's only a million buck more. They're low on the list, but who did you want? I woud never give a 6-7 year deal for a starting pitcher. The free agent class this year is awful.
  24. nicksaviking
    I like it, it's no risk and if someone can help him harness his control he could be lights out. His control doesn't even need to be good, just not shockingly awful like it was in limited action last year. His BB are ugly but his H/9 is pretty good, sometimes outright great. In the past walks have seemed to bother the Twins more than hits but perhaps that was more of a Gardy/Anderson thing. If you strike guys out and don't give up hits, extra base hits in particular, walks don't usually do much harm except to your pitch count.
  25. nicksaviking
    LaTroy Hawkins announced that he is retiring following the season. Considering how long he's played, how many times he switched teams and the largely affordable contracts he signs, it's hard to believe he wasn't among a the players brought back for one of the Hay Day Reunion Tours.
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