Mackey: Twins lineup doing well without Span

[Mike Sixel]

Ah, sorry, I forgot that word was in there. Has any MLB team ever signed their top 2 pitchers, and had them been good enough to take them anyplace meaningful, in one offseason?

[Thrylos]

According to an article written by souhan he said that. Has any MLB team signed their top two pitchers in one free agent year, ever?

 

Actually, according to Souhan, Ryan said the "Elite FA Pitching Market is thin"

 

Yeah. I would have to agree with Ryan. Actually non-existent. So you got to trade Span (and Morneau and maybe prospects) to fix the rotation. And unless the rotation is fixed the Twins will not content so they will be wasting Morneau's last season and Span's high value.

[kab21]

According to an article written by souhan he said that. Has any MLB team signed their top two pitchers in one free agent year, ever?

 

Actually, according to Souhan, Ryan said the "Elite FA Pitching Market is thin"

 

Yeah. I would have to agree with Ryan. Actually non-existent. So you got to trade Span (and Morneau and maybe prospects) to fix the rotation. And unless the rotation is fixed the Twins will not content so they will be wasting Morneau's last season and Span's high value.

 

You're not going to fix the rotation by trading Morneau and Span. neither of these players have significant trade value because of the injuries they have had the past couple of seasons. The only thing you gain with trading these two now is the ability to later complain that they sold low.

[Shane Wahl]

PA may be a jock sniffer, but his brown nosing ways get the players to open up to him. You'd learn more about Span and his attitudes toward the club and trade situations listening to him and PA's show once weekly than you'll learn from Souhan's 2nd or 3rd hand gossip.

 

Someone above mentioned that Hick's is actually Span's eventual replacement, thus we should not be compraing the merits of Revere's defense over Span's. I think it goes further than that, as offensively Hicks also may be a more projectable replacement. He is a very strong OBP guy, as Span was during his best years. If Hicks' AA numbers translate at all to the MLB level, I would think his high OBP would cause the manager to put him ahead of Revere in the lineup.

 

Boom. This is exactly correct. Hicks is Span's replacement (and upgrade *crosses fingers*).

[Shane Wahl]

Ah, sorry, I forgot that word was in there. Has any MLB team ever signed their top 2 pitchers, and had them been good enough to take them anyplace meaningful, in one offseason?

 

Point taken. I am going to hope that it happened with Schilling and RJ. What did the Phillies do with regard to Oswalt and Lee? The first would satisfy both conditions . . . if true. The second weren't THE top, more like the 2 and the 4 and of course they didn't win.

 

I am not saying that they even need a 1 and a 2, but more like a 1 and a 3 or 4. I do believe that there may be some arbitration-year guys with good seasons that could be swapped with Morneau and each side throwing in some other minor pieces, if the Twins don't sign two pitchers.

[kab21]

After ColbyLewis had TJ and McCarthy nearly died the FA market is down to 4 total pitchers (I think) that I would consider #1-3 MLB starters. Greinke, Marcum, Sanchez and Jackson. I would consider it very difficult to sign half of the good starters in the market in one offseason considering that nearly every team needs pitching.

[Oxtung]

Maybe I should just stop, we have last year, and years prior to show his philosophy. I see no evidence it has changed. Why should I think it has changed in your opinion?

 

I'm not claiming Ryan's opinion has changed. I am claiming that the circumstances have changed. Right now there is a combination of factors TR has never had to face in his career as GM. He has quite a bit of money available (or could with a trade), he has virtually no contracts for his pitching staff, he has a staff that has been terrible, and he has little help coming from the minors in the next 3 years or so.

 

Given these circumstances there is at least some reason to think he might sign a decent FA pitcher. At a minimum there is enough uncertainty to forgo drawing any firm conclusions on what Ryan will or will not do.