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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    In response to the question regarding a .500 record or trading for vets for 'specs, I think there's no debate. Fans are already on the ledge, a .500 record isn't going to appease anyone, might as well try to reload with some near MLB ready arms that actually have some upside and a K/9 rate north of 7.5. Won't happen though. The front office is pretty stubborn, they hold onto hot players, wait for their stock to cool then let Gardy declare them to the league as a clubhouse cancer. If TR was wise, he'd tell Gardy his next negative comment about his potential doghouse trade chips (Valencia? Revere? Liriano? Baker?) will be his last. The organization can give Gardy slack for poor play now, but only if he plays ball and stops denigrating anyone the team might like to move. Other clubs praise their players before trying to move them. It's a no-brainer business move, however, Gardy instead has helped to torpedo Young, Slowey, Hardy, Bartlet and Lohse's trade values, it can't happen again.
  2. nicksaviking
    That would be such a boost for the organization if Hicks' power is finally coming around. Everyone has been saying he has such a great eye at the plate for his development level. High contact rate plus strong pitch selection plus above average power equals worth the wait.
  3. nicksaviking
    Considering in over 50 seasons the Twins have drafted and developed two ace quality pitchers, Bert Blyleven and Frank Viola, yes there is a history of shying away from power arms (and neither were power arms, Bert had the world's best curve and Frankie the best change up previous to Greg Maddox). However, there is evidence that the team has acknowledged this flaw. The team used two high picks on high upside/high bust arms Hudson Boyd and Madison Boer last year. In years past, they both would have been told to head to the pen as soon as the contract was signed. Now they are both being counted on to start despite one of them having been an accomplished collegiate closer. Of course a skeptic would ask why did the club go after Jason Marquis instead of Edwin Jackson to fill out this year's rotation if both only required a one year deal.
  4. nicksaviking
    Hunter didn't want to leave, he wanted the Twins to open contract negotiations but they would not so he tried to force the issue by taking his appeal to the public. Grow up people, most of our favorite players will wear another uniform at somepoint. It's business, generally it's the fans who can't accept the situation who get their feelings hurt. Killebrew, Blyleven and Carew all ended their careers in other cities but we still remember them as Twins. Sometimes we need to change our perspective, no one has betrayed you. If players made decisions so as not to upset fans, they'd be playing for free.
  5. nicksaviking
    How about this team just gets some extra-base power so we can discuss 1st to home speed?
  6. nicksaviking
    Right, but Carroll is old, Casilla is brittle and the weather is cold. Those factors combined could lead to an early promotion due to a pulled hamstring.
  7. nicksaviking
    Anyone who thinks Mauer's overly large contract is prohibiting the club from signing a similarly large contract for another accomplished player is not being reasonable. If the Twins had somehow lost Mauer, the team payroll would be exactly $23 million less than it is right now. That money is auxillary and a completely independent listing in the budget as a revenue producing asset. The Twins would never make the same deal with another teams superstar. This front office would never have offered Fielder, Pujols, Sabathia or anyone not from the organization a long term contract no matter how much room is in the teams payroll.
  8. nicksaviking
    Absolutely right. The strange thing is, this is totally contrary to Twins baseball. There is a reason Plouffe and Hughes no longer play short. I'm not sure why the same pricipal doesn't apply to the outfield. Regardless, Doumit is not part of the long term plan. Hopefully Plouffe gets enough time out there to see if he is. Having a backup catcher/late inning pinch hitter of Doumit's caliber is not a bad option in my book.
  9. nicksaviking
    Good luck finding Twins/Orioles highlights on Sportscenter. If it isn't NY, Boston, LA or Miami, they just don't care. Pavano and Arrieta could have had dueling perfect games into the 10th and it still wouldn't lead Sportscenter if the Yankees played that day.
  10. nicksaviking
    Is it strange that I think Liriano's WHIP is too low but at the same time his BB/9 is too high? Take Liriano out of the rotation and those WHIP and K/9 numbers for the starters are horrifying. I think Capps numbers are a little optomistic, mostly because the fans are going to have a short leash with him and you can't have your closer getting booed every time he steps out on the field. Looks like a pretty fair assesment though. You have to hope Morneau, Valencia and Parmelee can produce more, but those stats are a safer bet than our wishes and dreams.
  11. nicksaviking
    There has to be something wrong with him. Baker has 9.5 million reasons to show the club that he would be a good investment.
  12. nicksaviking
    The background score was a bit more Tarantino or 70's porn, but the casting was spot on. Sa-weet. The cut-off Zubaz were a nice touch.
  13. nicksaviking
    The higher levels are finally getting an influx of talent but once again, Beloit is where the excitement is. The Twins have a habit of keeping players at low A an entire year regardless of their play. I wonder if any of the top guys will get a chance of advancement. I kind of thought Boer had a chance to start at Ft. Myers. He was an accomplished college reliever, those are the guys who often profile for the fast track.
  14. nicksaviking
    That is a terrific evaluation, and you're right, we do need to start looking to swap OF for SP help, but I'm not entirely sure Terry Ryan actually is the guy to do it. He is extremely conservative when it comes to trades. He was always more inclined to swap border line prospects for other teams usefull but not All-Star caliber players. Mark Reman for Todd Jones, Bobby Kielty for Shannon Stewart. Remember he stepped down when he was about to take all the heat for failing to trade Santana and Hunter mid-season. Hunter left for nothing and the Twins ended up finding very few trade partners for Santana since he only had one more year on his contract. Bill Smith was much more aggressive on the trade front, it just so happened he was terrible at it. Side note: I love the 6 for Marquis in his value to the rotation! I was never in favor of signing Nick Blackburn's carbon copy.
  15. nicksaviking
    Yeah, there's a reason. See if you can find it in his header from baseball-reference: Carlos Silva Carlos Silva Position: Pitcher Bats: Right, Throws: Right Height: 6' 4", Weight: 280 lb.
  16. nicksaviking
    I don't think he's that much of a downgrade to Marquis. It doesn't take a top 100 prospect to top Marquis' career 1.43 WHIP, 5.2 K/9 or 4.55 ERA. Marquis will probably give you more innings, but that's mostly on the organization seeing as they won't much care about the pitch count for a soft-tossinng journyman who they only have invested one season in, as opposed to playing it safe with the younger arm under team control for the next six or so years.
  17. nicksaviking
    I think it's safe to say that sentence has never been uttered before.
  18. nicksaviking
    Dumatrait is the kind of guy who may ask to be released from his minor league deal seeing as he has big league experience and could hope to catch on with another club. I kind of thought Hicks would be playing CF at New Britain. I really don't know much about their skill sets but I suppose it's possible Mastroianni and Dolenc don't have the arm for RF. Dolenc is a big guy though, you'd think he profile for it.
  19. nicksaviking
    I don't think there would be a contractual or logistics issue with recalling Nishioka, but I doubt he figured out his defensive maladies in only a week. You would have to think they would go with Dozier. I'm not convinced the team had actually already made up their mind that he was going to start in Rochester even before Casilla became questionable. Of all the offensive prospects who were assumed to not make the team, only Dozier and Parmelee still remain and Parmelee looks to be a near lock if Morneau is going to be the regular DH. The Twins normally send the prospects out with a couple weeks to go and focus on figuring out the bench while the young guys get regular playing time against fellow minor leaguers. The fact that he is still around when the club is normally evaluating the 3rd catcher and utility candidates tells me someone has been campaigning to give him a starting job all along.
  20. nicksaviking
    Good news for Parmelee lovers. Rizzotti looks like a younger version of Bates, maybe a little more power and similarly high K totals. I like getting these kind of ex prospect 1B though. You never know whey you'll stumble across another Michael Morse or Bryan Lahair.
  21. nicksaviking
    Sounds like the kind of book with Fabio on the cover. Probably would have won a Pulitzer.
  22. nicksaviking
    No doubt 3,000 is going to happen. He has stated this as a goal and barring injury he's four years away from it max, only three if can average 190 hits during that time. 42 is old but not for the ball players like him who keep themselves in excellent shape. Besides, even if his play tails off over the next couple years, a dozen teams will sign him simply for the bonus Japanese fanbase that still comes with him. Teams who value Asian TV revenues will probably continue to sign him as long as he wants to play. 3,000 will guarantee a first ballot. Over the last 20 years, guys who reach the big milestones (3k hits, 500 HR, 300 wins) and don't have steroid accusations nearly all get in first ballot. If Craig Biggio gets the nod his first time out, we will probably be able to etch that theory in stone.
  23. nicksaviking
    That looks pretty plausible. One thing I notice is that the line between New Britain and Rochester is becoming blurred. Obviously it's due to the fact that many positions have multiple players that are quite similar in skill level. There are probably ten names on this list that should be in Rochester, there just isn't any room for them. There are quite a few guys here that have recently made an appearance at the MLB level as well. Last year the Twins demonstrated that they weren't afraid to call guys up from AA, that could happen again with several of these arms, Florimon or Matroinanni.
  24. nicksaviking
    Todd Walker got to skip Low A, but that was almost 2 decades ago now. Doug Mientkiewicz also did it. Still, despite getting on the fast track, both were 25 before they nailed down the opening day job with the big league club.
  25. nicksaviking
    I guess if Nishioka is hitting there is good reason to keep him around. I retract my criticism. Still the real test is going to be if he can figure out how to play defense. That's going to be tough if Dozier gets the nod at SS and he's stuck at 2B.
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