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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    I like the idea of the question a lot but I can already see the response... "There are a lot of kids we like in the draft and time will tell blah blah blah". Ryan isn't going to tip his hand in next year's draft. On the other hand, if you make the question more about last year's draft and the implied philosophy change that went behind it, I think it would provide a more substantive answer. Agreed, I'm only on board with Ryan staying because of this percieved change in philosophy on pitching. I'd also like to know which of the 2012 pitching class will get a chance to start in 2013.
  2. nicksaviking
    I'm sure Buxton will succeed for this club, but I find it interesting that Sickles states that there were plenty of skeptics before the draft. It seemed to me that among the experts, there was little to no skepticism written about him at the time, and any Twins fan who said Buxton was no more of a sure thing than any of the college pitchers got roasted by the rest of the Twins community who pointed to the "consensus" reports about him being the best player available.
  3. nicksaviking
    Why exactly isn't Paul Molitor a fit for the coaching staff? He was shot down as a candidate about two seconds after he said he was interested.
  4. nicksaviking
    This is completely untrue. The Twins were not willing to pay Santana.[/quote Be thankful that he was traded. I am almost certain his contract calls for $25M this season. Twins scouts had a read that Santana would be an average pitcher by the middle end of his contract. That has turned out to happen because of injuries, he has missed chucks of time the last 2 - 3 years. Trade was terrible, but that was another issue. Boston would have been a much better trade partner. Twins need to find pitchers for 1 or 2 years with an option, maybe 3 for the younger ones as it will be that long before Twins minor league starters are ready. More hope in that a trade can be made to bring in decent major league ready pitching. Santana has been hurt and the long-term contract for the then 29-year-old was not a good deal for the Mets. However, that only helps to overshadow the fact that Terry Ryan probably should have looked to extend his left-handed 25-year-old Cy Young winner for more than 4 years in the first place back in the 2004 off-season.
  5. nicksaviking
    You'd like to limit his innings at Rochester so he is able to pitch deeper into the season at the MLB level, but if his innings are limited at AAA, how is anyone going to be able to determine if a promotion is warrented? Of course if he's killing it at AAA, the fans are going to demand a callup while the front office is trying to figure out how best to play the Super 2 game with him.
  6. nicksaviking
    True...but I think most of us have the glass half empty opinion that Sano will get moved there or 1B and Rosario will not make a successful transition and end up in the OF as well. My fingers are as crossed as they can be that both are able to stay where they currently are. Speaking of infield, are we ever going to see a decent SS in the bigs or even a Prospect above highA ball who is a shortstop? I am much too cynical at times, but I'm not a glass-half-empty guy on this subject. Sano has question marks because of his size, but he has steadily been improving and it's not like he's dwarfing Scott Rolen. Rosario on the other hand I have little doubt about. In all of his videos, he looks to be a tremendous athlete. His body type and athleticism actually give me hopes he could be an elite defender some day.
  7. nicksaviking
    I think the fact that both have improved defensively while working the the instructors at Ft. Myers may indicate that moving them to where these skilled instructors were back in July probably would have been beneficial to their development.
  8. nicksaviking
    Losing Mauer's contract isn't going to help this team. Terry Ryan isn't suddenly going to be OK with signing top pitchers to 4-5 year deals just because Mauer's money is off the books. He'll still angle for his ulcer-free 1 year deals, which obvioulsy doesn't not bring top talent to town. Also, as a poster above briefly mentioned, if Mauer's salary comes off the books, the payroll will decrease. No way will there be an additional $23 million to play with. Mauer is an asset beyond the diamond and his salary is reflective of the multiple revenue streams he brings to the team. If Mauer is gone, those revenue streams are also gone and the front office will be ordered to take it out of the payroll.
  9. nicksaviking
    Bob Tewksbury got a 2 year deal, but that's it. I too am a cynic as the arguement that Ryan never had any money to work with seems pretty thin. There was always money when it came to extending the legacy guys. Why there was money for the Miltons, Mays', Blackburns and Bakers of this world but none for pitchers proven else where shows this front office is not nearly open-minded enough when it comes to other teams pitchers. Also, Ryan took over in 1994 when the team still had plenty of offensive talent to compete and MLB payrolls weren't out of control. He was signing washed up vets like Tewksbury, Jim Deshaies, Mike Morgan, Greg Swindell and Sean Bergman back in the 1990's too.
  10. nicksaviking
    Not the worst idea in the world, but I'd be more for it if I knew he was still servicable and could easily bring back a descent prospect come July. I don't know that I like a 2 year deal, mostly because this team is already wishy-washy when it comes to deciding to rebuild. I don't know that I like the idea of letting this team get older when they proabably should be in development mode. They are already playing Press Your Luck with guys on the wrong side of 30 with questionable injury history. I'd hate to see the crap storm that would hit if three or four of Youk, Willingham, Morneau, Mauer or Doumit go down in 2013.
  11. nicksaviking
    The National's have very few holes to fill this off-season, thus they should have money to throw around for a 4th starter. My money's on him re-signing unless Boras tries to talk him out of it and wait until February which would likely tank his demand for a 2nd year in a row.
  12. nicksaviking
    I wouldn't mind; he'd be no worse than the junk-bin pitchers the Twins continually sign most off-seasons, but I think the front office would be stupid to consider it. If they want to show they are moving in a new (winning) direction, they probably should try to show the fans different faces instead of the guys assiciated with the recent losing. This stratagy would proabably also include cutting ties with the likes of Baker, Pavano, Capps, Butera and Casilla. However, the Twins have had a hard time quitting the scholarship program, so this off season I'll be most interested to see if Terry Ryan has the stomach to end the Old Boys Club approach.
  13. nicksaviking
    Sounds like the A's. They won with pitching as do most winning clubs. Get a legit MI? Fine, but help is on the way at other positions. This team has an awful track record when it comes to developing their own pitchers. Thats where free agency dollars need to be focused.
  14. nicksaviking
    The Twins obvioulsy seemed fine with the idea of paying Nishioka and Carroll about that sum combined. Another Twins philosophy I hope gets phased out. Obviously the Twins were well on their way to writing Nishioka's salary as a loss, but too often they prefer to pay multiple replacement level players a small sum instead of paying a larger amount for a better player and filling the other roster spot with a AAA player/free agent willing to play for league minimum or near league minimum. J.J. Hardy and Scott Diamond are a better use of funds then say Jamey Carroll and Jason Marquis.
  15. nicksaviking
    Soooooo.... the fans vote and the panel of HOFer's will "lend their expertise" in case the fans get it wrong? Oh how I value awards and honors dictated by they guy who never played baseball but votes as often as he possibly can while sitting in his mom's basement in New Jersey.
  16. nicksaviking
    When Hardy was being moved, one of the rumored points of contention was that Gardy and Vavra were frustrated that Hardy resisted hitting to all fields and Hardy was equally frustrated that they wanted him to do so. Later Hardy seemed to try to come off of the dispute by saying he learned a few things from the Twins batting philosophy. I counter that Hardy was right the whole time as demonstrated by Josh Willingham and Trevor Plouffe. The Twins finally understood that power in Target Field is going to come from right handed hitters who yank the ball over the left field wall. The Twins were two years late in subscribing to this theory; had they not been stubborn, Hardy may have been more comfortable at the plate and produced as was expected of him and the Twins may have decided to keep him, or at the very least, they could have gotten a better deal in return for him.
  17. nicksaviking
    The top batters are similarly first round picks and I acknowledged so, but my theory is that top position players are far less important that top pitchers. As I mentioned, on a daily basis, a team can make up for the lack of production from a super-star batter by having other quality players make up for the lost runs; you cannot do that with a starting pitcher. A good reliever can stop the bleeding, but he cannot get back those runs your league average starting pitchers contiunally give up.
  18. nicksaviking
    BPA is a subjective phrase people like to throw around when they feel safer picking a bat. It should probably be changed to BBA; best batter available. Of the top 10 pitchers this year in WAR, 5 were 1st round draft picks and 3 were highly sought after international free agents, while 2 were drafted outside of the first round. In 2011, 8 of the top ten were 1st rounders while 2 were outside of the first round. The offensive WAR leaders simlarly are made up of 1st round picks, but we see top offensive teams miss the playoffs all the time while strong rotations rarely miss out. Missing out on a top outfielder can be overcome with postive contributions from the other postions on a daily basis. Your team can still make up for the runs lost from not drafting the All-Star centerfielder by getting solid contributions from players in other positions, but if your starting pitcher stinks, there's no rectifying the situation as the runs he gave up are already on the board and damage he's done is uncorrectable. Pitching is obviously more of a risk, but much, much more important.
  19. nicksaviking
    I really have no problem with the promotions in themselves, they are well deserved, I'm just irked this whole process. Terry Ryan took a half measure by getting rid of the least culpable coaches while retaining the two guys at the head of the table. Ryan should have gotten rid of everyone or no one. If the Twins crash and burn in 2013 and Gardy, Anderson AND Ryan get the axe, a new GM from outside the orgainzation is going to cut ties with everyone, making Brunansky, Glynn, Cuellar and whoever else lame duck coaches next year even though there will be ardent supporters for them. If they stay within the orgzanization, which is about a 90% certainty, more legacy Twins employees get the jobs despite the fact their assistance was not enough to preserve the job of their predecessors. It all just seems like a long con to ensure hiring out of house is as difficult and messy as possible thus ensuring the need to keep the current front office intact.
  20. nicksaviking
    Alas, John Matuszak is dead and burried since 1989. Though that could be another explanation for the post.
  21. nicksaviking
    Pretty sure he was being sarcastic seeing as he referrenced the managers imaginary WAR. Anyway, I thought it was humorous.
  22. nicksaviking
    Anyone hopeing Gardy and his staff would eventually be replaced by people outside the organization by bringing in new blood and new ideas has got to be disappointed. These promotions certainly seem to be an indicator that the Twins are still only going to promote from within Twins Territory. St. Peter and Ryan need to go if 2013 does not pan out.
  23. nicksaviking
    Shocking, the field leaders, Gardenhire and Anderson along with the front office leaders, Ryan, Rantz and Krivsky decide to fire their underlings. This is a cop out on a grand scale, it is simply a last ditch effort to keep as much of the old boys club together as possible. There had to be some scapegoats so obviously it had to be the firstbase coach and the guy who answers the phone in the bullpen. Shame on Stelmaszek and White for failing to identify and cultivate capable pitchers to complete a major league rotation. I've been disappointed in decisions Ryan has made in the past in regards to free agents and missing out on trades, but my feeling now is disgust. Had the entire coaching staff been let go, or any combination pf coaches including Anderson been let go, the mass firing would have seem like a step in a new direction. Rick Anderson has been a great Twin and it sounds like even a finer human being, but fair or not, this club's failure comes under his pervue, he needed to go to make this look like anything more than the farce it is.
  24. nicksaviking
    Which is the problem with today's internet media. Everyone reads the same reports and it influences the next guy's ranking/opinion. I wonder how many minor league "experts" actually watch video of these guys let alone see them in person? I'll bet plenty of the guru's have no more first hand knowledge then the rest of the rubes on the internet; they check out stat lines and other people's rankings to form their opinions. To be clear, I'm not calling out Jim Callis, but trying to show why rankings and projections are so similar among the different analysts.
  25. nicksaviking
    So can we assume Cuellar will be more involved in grooming pitchers than Stelly? I don't think he should be wasted baby-sitting the guys in the pen instead of teaching the guys one step away from the MLB rotation. If he's going to be used essentially as co-pitching coach with Anderson, I think it's a great idea. I proposed earlier the Twins should have two hitting coaches to provide enough time to breaking down tape and refining the hitting approaches of the many young hitters. The same would be a good idea with the pitchers.
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