Twins best pitcher first week of the year!! 

Great thread title!

He pitched a damn fine game, I'm hoping that trade pans out well.  I thought it was great value at the time and Milone is plenty young enough to be a factor for this team going forward.  He'll never be an ace or anything, but a solid arm is always nice to have.

I have confidence he can be a solid mediocre MLB arm.

 

PS Mediocre is MUCH better than bad or AAAA...

Edited April 14, 201511 yr by goulik

 

I have confidence he can be a solid mediocre MLB arm.

PS Mediocre is MUCH better than bad or AAAA...

 

Mediocre MLB is something a lot of people undervalue

 

Mediocre MLB is something a lot of people undervalue

I appreciate you saying that, and I also like the way you phrased it. Teams are seldom made of less than 50% mediocre players, even the best ones. 

 

I appreciate you saying that, and I also like the way you phrased it. Teams are seldom made of less than 50% mediocre players, even the best ones. 

The problem the Twins have with the roster decisions coming out of spring training is too many guys who are mediocre going on awful and not enough who are mediocre going on pretty good.

I would add that I think Mayday could be consistently mediocre for a couple of years, if healthy. 

Didn't see much of the game, but it looks like Milone battled all the way with less than his best stuff.  His worst inning was the first, as it was with his first start against the Pale Hose.  The sum of two starts is two wins, 13 innings.  I'll take that for Sam Fuld. 

Through a week and a half, I nominate Trevor May

 

I saw Sam MayDay Malone pitch at Met Stadium once in about 1978 or 9. He pitched one and a third scoreless in relief of Bob Stanley. Hosken Powell hit a fly ball to the warning track. After that, Malone bought a bar in Boston I think

 

Mediocre MLB is something a lot of people undervalue

It is what you build a team around.

Getting it done. 2-0

 

Getting it done. 2-0

And with a 2.08 ERA. That can't mask any ups and downs, can it?

 

It is what you build a team around.

Exactly. You build a team using as many above-par players as you can accumulate, then fill in the rest with as many mediocre players as you can accumulate. If there are no more above-par, or mediocre players to fill in the gaps, then you do your best. I don't understand all of the criticism of this year's roster so far. If there were significantly better options, the Twins would have pursued them.

 

If there were more players that were above-par and cost-effectively available, anyone would sign them. They don't exist. Right now there are high-upside guys in the minors who aren't ready (or if they are, there is currently no available spot for them, ie. Pinto), who's clock will start ticking as soon as they are brought North. If guys are struggling with aspects of their game in the minors, then from a business standpoint, there's no legitimate reason to call them up. Hence, you fill the ML roster with mediocrity until a legitimate building block is ready to take over. There are no other options. 

Exactly. You build a team using as many above-par players as you can accumulate, then fill in the rest with as many mediocre players as you can accumulate. If there are no more above-par, or mediocre players to fill in the gaps, then you do your best. I don't understand all of the criticism of this year's roster so far. If there were significantly better options, the Twins would have pursued them.

 

If there were more players that were above-par and cost-effectively available, anyone would sign them. They don't exist. Right now there are high-upside guys in the minors who aren't ready (or if they are, there is currently no available spot for them, ie. Pinto), who's clock will start ticking as soon as they are brought North. If guys are struggling with aspects of their game in the minors, then from a business standpoint, there's no legitimate reason to call them up. Hence, you fill the ML roster with mediocrity until a legitimate building block is ready to take over. There are no other options.

 

No other options?

 

No GM was able to upgrade the talent on the big league roster this past offseason? Every GM is reduced to filling out his roster with mediocrity waiting for legitimate building blocks?

 

Nonconcur.

 

No other options?

No GM was able to upgrade the talent on the big league roster this past offseason? Every GM is reduced to filling out his roster with mediocrity waiting for legitimate building blocks?

Nonconcur.

I get what you are saying but just like last year with Hughes, Nolasco, Pelfrey and Suzuki, signing Santana and Hunter was not doing nothing.      Unfortunately Nolasco has given us nothing and Santana will give us nothing for a while.   I am fine that they are not going heavier into free agency.   I hate paying huge long term contracts for the great years players have had in the past for other teams.  Not every team has legitimate building blocks.   The Twins certainly didn't 4 years ago.

I get what you are saying but just like last year with Hughes, Nolasco, Pelfrey and Suzuki, signing Santana and Hunter was not doing nothing.      Unfortunately Nolasco has given us nothing and Santana will give us nothing for a while.   I am fine that they are not going heavier into free agency.   I hate paying huge long term contracts for the great years players have had in the past for other teams.  Not every team has legitimate building blocks.   The Twins certainly didn't 4 years ago.

If The Chief says nonconcur is a word, (even though my spell check says it's not), then I respectfully nonconcur! There are six examples listed above, of which one, Hughes, did well and one, Suzuki, did well enough just long enough to get an extension. Pelfrey should be forced to the bullpen, but we don't have the guts to do it. Our 39 year old signee is still adjusting to where we have placed the Target field infield, and Nolasco should have been taking that compound instead of Santana. We would not have missed him on the 80 day list at all!

My "nonconcur" was for the statement that "you fill a ML roster with mediocrity until a legitimate building block comes along. There are no other options."

 

I think there are other options.

GM's must take risks.Unfortunately, Ryan's 2 biggest risks (Nolasco & Santana) have been losers. The Milone trade wasn't a risky one and despite last year, he will prove to be a long term asset. Last year, Suzuki said that when he was with the A's Milone had excellent control.  We can only hope that Ryan will make other decisions as good as the Milone trade in the future. 

 

My "nonconcur" was for the statement that "you fill a ML roster with mediocrity until a legitimate building block comes along. There are no other options."

I think there are other options.

 

Sure, other options exist. You trade away mediocrity for different mediocrity, or you can spend a lot of money and potentially get hosed. All of this not considering many high-impact players in the prime of their careers aren't likely to choose to come here if given other (potentially higher-paying, more competitive, warmer) options. Most legit building block players are not available on the open market either via free agency or trade- so you have to develop your own and hope to fill in the remainder with what's left. 

 

Very few free agent signings become worth the money, and sometimes the quantity of mediocre players it could take to acquire an above-par player just isn't worth. If you trade three mediocre players to acquire an above-average player you improve at one position and then have to fill 2 others with other mediocre players. It's a total balancing act and I acknowledge it can be frustrating. But I don't see many other viable options. 

 

 

Let's define mediocre...I see it as a term meaning somewhere around the middle or average. You have to have guys like that on a team. World series teams have average guys on their team. I will take an average pitcher out of Sam Fuld for Milone... that's a pretty good deal in my mind. Now when Santana is back, Meyers turns into an Ace and Hughes and Gibson fill out your starters... I'm OK with Milone as a fifth starter.