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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    And other teams strikeout numbers are likely on the rise as evidenced by the fact that nearly all of the leftover free agents, including higher profile guys like Lohse and Saunders, are low K guys. Other teams aren't chasing these kind of pitchers, and certainly not willing to over pay for them any longer for a reason. Again, I realized Saunders is a decent pitcher, I just don't like my favorite team continuing on this antiquated pitching approach.
  2. nicksaviking
    He's yet to meet the Twins infield defense.
  3. nicksaviking
    Not only is it realistic, it's nearly manditory. The consistant playoff contenders regularly field a rotation with 4 guys with a 7.0 K/9+. The Twins obviously were worst in the league last year with a K/9 of 5.90, .88 worse than the 29th team, the Indians. The Twins have thus far replaced Liriano with Correia, while the Indians replaced Derek Lowe with Trevor Bauer. If teams like the Indians improve just slightly to 7.00-7.10, while the Twins regress to the 5.50-5.60 range, it would be very possible the 29th worst team in this department would actually be closer to the best team in the league than they would be to the Twins. Unacceptable, this isn't 1980's baseball and Terry Ryan needs to understand making sure the ball reaches the catchers mitt is the best way to prevent runs. Don't take these statements out of context, Saunders is an upgrade to most of the dreck in the Twins rotation, but this clubs evaluation of pitching needs to change, I'd prefer it change now.
  4. nicksaviking
    And your forgetting Worley, or are you projecting him for TJ already? I agree, Correia for next year makes no sense, add Saunders into the mix and you better hope their 2013 performances are adaquate enough to move their contracts without having to eat most of it. To give him credit, Saunders has proven to be a very tradable commodity in the past.
  5. nicksaviking
    Only interested if the contract is clearly tradable. Obviously I like him more than Correia, but that's not saying much. Why the Twins are still willing to overpay for the pitch-to-contact types is puzzling considering they looked to have learned their lesson judging by who they picked in last year's draft and the arms they got in return for Span and Revere. I know the "give me power arms!" rant is getting old, but guys who have to rely on luck (or lack of bad luck, perhaps) should not make up more than 20% of your rotation.
  6. nicksaviking
    I hear you, I pile on as much as anyone and I can recognize we aren't giving him a fair chance. I think it's safe to say that any vitriol directed at Correia is misguided as we are actually just disappointed in the poor decision by the front office and not the man himself. Still if he proves us wrong and succeeds, Terry Ryan won't learn from this and it may encourage him to make similar signings in the future.
  7. nicksaviking
    Because it was more than a half dozen pitchers. I count 19 free agent pitchers, not including guys who had options picked up, that I prefer over Correia. That doesn't even count injury risk guys who have a glimmer of upside and would likely only require a minor league deal.
  8. nicksaviking
    I don't think Ripken's lack of mental health days was as much of a factor as was the fact that the Orioles had awful pitching in the late '80's through the mid '90's. They also didn't surround him with much offense after Eddie Murray left in 1988 until they signed Rafael Palmeiro in 1994 which is when they became playoff contenders again. They stopped being playoff contenders at about the time they bizarrely fired reigning manager of the year Davy Johnson after a 98 win season. Nice write up, I do enjoy these kind of unique articles.
  9. nicksaviking
    If that's the case, I want to give a shout out to Josh Willingham, Nice season buddy! Let's grab a beer sometime.
  10. nicksaviking
    I never knew about these contractual obligations but it makes sense. If you want your Rod Carew jersey signed, some d hole company is going to pay Carew to make sure you have to pay the company hundreds of dollars for it as opposed to you being able to get it at a fraction of the cost. Between this kind of weird stipulation, obscene ticket prices and the baseball card industry spurning children in favor of adult collectors, it's a wonder baseball can still recruit new fans.
  11. nicksaviking
    I wish the guy well, but the disdain for Blackburn can be laid at the feet of the front office and the managers on the field. Had the team not decided to give him a terrible contract, they would have not been trying to wedge him into the rotation the last two years and the fans wouldn't rue his previously forced inclusion on the 25-man roster. A similar thing happened with Nick Punto. The team kept trying to make Punto a starting infielder because he was getting paid like one. This drew the ire of fans who were tired of his offensive inabilities. Had Punto been slotted yearly into the utility role as he should have, fans would have loved the scrappy, hard working guy who came off the bench three times a week just like they did with Denny Hocking and Al Newman. Both guys got paid which should be medicine enough for the hate mail, but it was the teams stubborness in trying to save money by pounding a square peg into a round hole that is the reason for the angry fans.
  12. nicksaviking
    And since 1998, the Twins have had a higher payroll than Detroit only 4 times. That speaks more about Detroit's past incompetence at putting together a winning team than it does the team's willingness to spend money to improve the product.
  13. nicksaviking
    An ulterior motive to making large profits? For shame, this is a business, there should be no imperative to winning a title at obscene profit's expense. The Twins had a elderly owner in the same situation a few years back. All he did was leverage the threat of losing the Twins into a new stadium. He also only needed to pay $125 million for his $545 million ballpark while Illitch pitched in $185 million to his $300 million ballpark.
  14. nicksaviking
    You would think the Twins would get the message, but it seems to work the oposite way. Last year, fans were fewer meaning revenue decreased which in turn seems to be decreasing payroll. Detroit spends money to put a good product on the field to prove to their fans they are commited to giving them a winning team which in turn increases fan demand. The Twins on the other hand seem to demand fans prove their loyalty to the team in the form of spending money at the stadium (or flat out demanding a stadium) before they'll financially invest in a winning product on the field.
  15. nicksaviking
    If the Twins are going to sacrafice a draft pick, or make a big splash for a free agent pitcher, it better the hell not be another pitch-to-contact, defense-reliant, soft-tosser who's career looked to be over just two seasons ago.
  16. nicksaviking
    But you could also likely get the same amount of below average innings from Derek Lowe, Kevin Millwod, Carl Pavano or even Livan Hernandez at a fraction of the cost of Correia. So isn't then paying Correia "spending money just to spend money"?
  17. nicksaviking
    I guess I don't get the "Don't spend money just to spend money" arguement. The premise then is that the Twins don't want to spent the extra $2-7 million per year on a pitcher better than Correia because the team results would be next to negligible. Why did they then spend that $10 million on Correia at all? Isn't that "spending money just to spend money" seeing as they could have gotten rotation filler for league minimum or $1 million at a later date? (and likely just as effective, but that's a different arguement) The we don't want to "spend money just to spend money" line of logic holds no water. There's probably more to it, but it would seem to me there are only two explanations. One is that the Pohlad's have capped payroll at $80 million and Ryan had few options, OR Ryan misguidedly thinks Correia is as good of a pitcher as the other free agent arms and he got a bargain on him. I truely hope it's the first option.
  18. nicksaviking
    I think the animosity was probably overblown seeing as Gardy gets along with most hard working players, and Hardy seems to be that kind of guy but the hitting philosophies of the two (or maybe just Vavra) certainly didn't mesh. The Twins wanted Hardy to hit to all fields while Hardy wanted to get around on everything and drive them to LF. What sucks was, only a year later the Twins must have realized Hardy's preference was the correct one for right-handed hitters at Target Field because they let Willingham and Plouffe have a go at Hardy's approach.
  19. nicksaviking
    I'd hope a lot of you guys are going, it's open tryouts for the last three spots in the rotation right? It's about quantity this year not quality remember. Start yor long tossing now guys.
  20. nicksaviking
    Sid's long dead. I'm sure that article was from 2006.
  21. nicksaviking
    People probably wouldn't be as disappointed with the production as much as they'd be disappointed in the loss of value. If he regresses, this forum is going to blow up with people* upset the Twins didn't trade him at his peak value, which may not be as much as we like to think. *Full disclosure: I could be one of them.
  22. nicksaviking
    Blanton, McCarthy and Myers all got two year deals and they are better pitchers than Correia. I also don't see how a three year deal is risky any longer considering the Twins have shown they can function with a $100M+ payroll but now will operate at $80M- over the next half decade at least. The only risk would be taking a 25-man roster spot, though if Ryan isn't concerned with Correia taking a spot over the next two years (who is highly likely to be a bust and waste a roster spot) why would 3-4 years for a superior pitcher concern him? Injuries shouldn't be a concern, they can be put on the DL and that roster spot opens back up.
  23. nicksaviking
    If the Twins have one of only a few GM's who couldn't either reasonably predict the free agent market or adapt to it on the fly, they need to get a new one. Ryan's done a lot of good for this orgainzation, but I don't think he's an elite GM any longer. It's probably not true, but I half fear that Ryan actually believes that Correia and Pelfrey are on par with the other mid-tier pitchers and he got a bargain signing them. That lack of judgment would actually be more concerning than his inactivity.
  24. nicksaviking
    There were nearly 2 dozen starting pitchers better than Kevin Correia and Mike Pelfrey the Twins could have made offers to.
  25. nicksaviking
    Exactly. Because even if the Twins made better offers to free agents but were spurned (however unlikely) it's on Ryan and the front office to find out why and remedy the issues these free agents have with the organization.
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