Article: Terry Ryan: Twins Will Chase "Pretty Darn Good" Pitcher

[John Bonnes]

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?1113-Terry-Ryan-Twins-Will-Chase-Pretty-Darn-Good-Pitcher

[Ultima Ratio]

Thin?!?! Good lord almighty.

[Guest USAFChief]

Is there a bit more substance in the rest of the interview than the "answers" Ryan provided in this sample?

 

We learned nothing from these quotes.

[killertwinsfan]

Avoid Loshe like the plauge. His only 2 good years were in the N.L. and they were supported by very low BABIP and HR rate, doubtfull he can maintain that

[johnnydakota]

so?who gives a rats A** what curly chases he to old and to cheap to catch any decent #1 or #2 pitcher

but with waddlin ronnys need to carry 3 catchers , maybe its time to bring the PRICK back ,and sign aj to a 2 year contract ?

1 thing this team has lacked is a vocal leader a prick and straight forward im gonna kill you leader... a j isnt well like by foe but is well recieved by his teamates, his balls in your face, old school play is some thing the twins have lacked for a very long time ...

with justin all but shoved out the door why not sign aj to replace morneaus lefthanded power and then you can rotate the 3 catchers between home 1st and dh

[greengoblinrulz]

Id like to know why he thinks Pedro Florimon is a starting SS in the majors when the other 31 teams passed on a free shot at him

[mgraves]

Id like to know why he thinks Pedro Florimon is a starting SS in the majors when the other 31 teams passed on a free shot at him

 

Florimon was a waiver pickup. Unless he fell all the way through waivers, then the Twins had first crack at him last winter, so he would not have had to be passed on by the other 29 teams.

[SenatorsGuy]

so?who gives a rats A** what curly chases he to old and to cheap to catch any decent #1 or #2 pitcher

but with waddlin ronnys need to carry 3 catchers , maybe its time to bring the PRICK back ,and sign aj to a 2 year contract ?

1 thing this team has lacked is a vocal leader a prick and straight forward im gonna kill you leader... a j isnt well like by foe but is well recieved by his teamates, his balls in your face, old school play is some thing the twins have lacked for a very long time ...

with justin all but shoved out the door why not sign aj to replace morneaus lefthanded power and then you can rotate the 3 catchers between home 1st and dh

 

 

There is nothing the matter with being negative on the Twins FA history or Ryan's methods - and it certainly is fine to be a fan of AJ. But you do yourself a deservice when you say things like AJ has been well received by his teammates. You simply haven't been paying attention.

[Fire Dan Gladden]

so?who gives a rats A** what curly chases he to old and to cheap to catch any decent #1 or #2 pitcher

but with waddlin ronnys need to carry 3 catchers , maybe its time to bring the PRICK back ,and sign aj to a 2 year contract ?

1 thing this team has lacked is a vocal leader a prick and straight forward im gonna kill you leader... a j isnt well like by foe but is well recieved by his teamates, his balls in your face, old school play is some thing the twins have lacked for a very long time ...

with justin all but shoved out the door why not sign aj to replace morneaus lefthanded power and then you can rotate the 3 catchers between home 1st and dh

 

 

There is nothing the matter with being negative on the Twins FA history or Ryan's methods - and it certainly is fine to be a fan of AJ. But you do yourself a deservice when you say things like AJ has been well received by his teammates. You simply haven't been paying attention.

 

Unless I have missed something recently, everything I have read about AJ is that his teammates love him, and everybody else hates him. He plays agressive and borderline cheap, he never gets hurt, he protects hisn pitchers and teammates, and he is consistantly productive. I would welcomwe him back to this team in a heartbeat if it wasn'y for the fact there isn't a spot for him on the roster (he needs to play almost every day, he is not a good fit for Butera's spot)

[Twins Twerp]

I'm glad TwinsDaily doesn't push the offseason handbook on it's users

[nick5253]

I'm glad TwinsDaily doesn't push the offseason handbook on it's users

 

Offseason Handbook? That sounds interesting. Where might I get one of those? I've heard nothing about it and I haven't seen any annoying banner ads all over Twins Daily.

[JB_Iowa]

Since Terry Ryan never tips his hand at anything, the contents of this excerpt aren't surprising .... but then, I wouldn't expect him to say anything meaningful in the entire interview.

 

Great for the speculation game but everyone will just have to wait and see what he does before learning anything definitive.

[Boom Boom]

TR keeps saying the pitching market is "thin", but it looks like one of the thickest I've seen in the past several years.

[Mike Sixel]

The snarky comments about ads and the handbook are uncalled for. These guys put up this site, they can run it however they want. You know they have ads, you know they are selling their book. Yet you choose to come here. Why complain?

 

On topic, if this pitching market is thin, what would a thick one look like?

[Winston Smith]

The pitching market is probably thin because we are a last place team. Quality players like to win. Or if they can't win get paid really really well. After the last two years what pitcher would look at the Twins and say here is my chance to win it all?

 

My guess is that in order to get quality pitching they will have to over pay, history has shown that bad teams have had to over pay for any free agents. That makes most of these guys look less attractive because they cost much more than they are worth.

 

With half or more of the teams (15-20) looking for pitching and maybe 8-10 guys that are decent starters thin seems like a good word for what is out there.

[dabecka]

I'm glad TwinsDaily doesn't push the offseason handbook on it's users

 

I'm sorry, but why would Twins Daily crew be researching, generating unique content, editing, and publishing a e-book...then giving it away...for free.

 

Last time I checked, we lived in America.

[Winston Smith]

This is the crop of FA starters. Some others may have options declined or released or just wouldn't likely fit, rumored trouble makers or injured.

When nearly every team needs pitching this is a very thin list.

 

[TABLE]

2012 war based on 80+ innings

Erik Bedard (34)

1.3

Joe Blanton (32)

2.4

Kevin Correia (32)

.8

Ryan Dempster (36)

3.3

Zack Greinke (28)

5.1

Dan Haren (32)

1.8

Edwin Jackson (29)

2.7

Hiroki Kuroda (38)

3.9

Kyle Lohse (34)

3.6

Paul Maholm (31)

2.5

Shaun Marcum (31)

1.4

Brandon McCarthy (29)

1.8

Kevin Millwood (38)

2.0

Anibal Sanchez (29)

3.8

Ervin Santana (30)

-.9

Joe Saunders (32)

2.5

[/TABLE]

[John Bonnes]

No, it's not. Or at least not when you include those players whose options are going to be declined.

 

How one wants to evaluate how "deep" a market it is open to debate, but it seems to me the best way is by evaluating the dollars they're likely to draw. That would at least give a sense of whether the teams think this is a deep market.

 

And what we're going to see is that this is the deepest market, demanding the most dollars, as there has been in several years. I wrote about this a few weeks ago.

 

http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?1049-Deep-Starting-Pitching-Market-Is-A-Lucky-Break-For-Twins

 

There are as many as 11 pitchers who could garner a $20M offer from a team. In the first draft of TwinsCentric’s Offseason GM Handbook (which you’ll be able to order soon, I promise), I count six that are virtually locks to make that money There are five more that might, and each will almost certainly get at least $10 million guaranteed. That’s deeper than any class since 2006.

[Winston Smith]

No, it's not. Or at least not when you include those players whose options are going to be declined.

 

How one wants to evaluate how "deep" a market it is open to debate, but it seems to me the best way is by evaluating the dollars they're likely to draw. That would at least give a sense of whether the teams think this is a deep market.

 

And what we're going to see is that this is the deepest market, demanding the most dollars, as there has been in several years. I wrote about this a few weeks ago.

 

http://www.twinsdaily.com/content.php?1049-Deep-Starting-Pitching-Market-Is-A-Lucky-Break-For-Twins

 

There are as many as 11 pitchers who could garner a $20M offer from a team. In the first draft of TwinsCentric’s Offseason GM Handbook (which you’ll be able to order soon, I promise), I count six that are virtually locks to make that money There are five more that might, and each will almost certainly get at least $10 million guaranteed. That’s deeper than any class since 2006.

 

Isn't it a supply and demand thing? Nearly ever team needs pitching. When nearly every team needs pitching the demand is high. The number of "quality" available pitchers is finite so those pitchers will be in a higher demand and likely demand a higher cost. When Ryan says we need 3 pitchers and the market has maybe 15 or so pitchers that may be above replacement level and maybe 20 teams are looking to add pitchers that seems to make the demand much higher than the supply.

Of course in the past we've done the "trickle down" free agent signing pitchers that were left over after everyone else has picked the bones. Getting 2-3 starters out of whatever list you want to use will be very hard considering that we have maybe 25m to do it, imo.

What do we really have of value to trade for a starting pitcher of any quality? Span is the most likely, Willingham would leave a big hole in the lineup and nobody else has much value. Do you want to start shopping Sano or Hicks types? What teams need a center fielder and have excess pitching? List is very short, Rays, Mets, Braves and maybe the Reds? So can you get Shields from the Rays? Maybe Bailey from the Reds, or Niese from the Mets would that do it?

Trading for or signing 3 solid starting pitchers this winter will be very hard.

[Teflon]

I'm putting together a deal to make a "Moneyball" sequel based on Terry Ryan and the Twins. One of my favorite scenes is when Ryan (Kurtwood Smith) tells Billy Smith (Joel Murray) to go sign the Greek God of Walks and Smith signs the Greek God of Balks by mistake.

 

 

P.S. Who is this pitcher Will Chase?

[ThePuck]

Thin?!?! Good lord almighty.

 

Telling us it's thin is a way to prepare us for what we end up with...cause, you know, 'we'll be competing with so many other teams also looking for pitching and it's just such a thin market, teams are gonna overpay...and we just can't see doing that.'

[Brock Beauchamp]

Is there a bit more substance in the rest of the interview than the "answers" Ryan provided in this sample?

 

We learned nothing from these quotes.

 

The interview is nine pages in length. There is plenty of content and answers in it, I assure you. Ryan was pretty frank at points and I think the interview is quite enlightening.

[twinsnorth49]

I'm glad TwinsDaily doesn't push the offseason handbook on it's users

 

I'm sorry, but why would Twins Daily crew be researching, generating unique content, editing, and publishing a e-book...then giving it away...for free.

 

Last time I checked, we lived in America.

 

I don't, but we still buy and sell e-books, despite being socialists.

[DaveW]

It's a pretty thin market, there are no true "aces" on the market this year, Greinke is as close as that gets I suppose, otherwise there are a few #2's (Marcum, Peavvy, Sanchez, Lohse??) and the rest arelow end #3's and solid #4's (Kuroda, Jackson,) though low end #3's and solid #4's would be a huge upgrade for us...

[TwinVike61]

P.S. Who is this pitcher Will Chase?

 

I don't know but we shouldn't go trading Willy Nilly for him.

[Mike Sixel]

Awesome post twinsnoeth49

[Jim Crikket]

I don't care what you call it, thin or deep, there aren't a ton of names on the list of FA starting pitchers that I'd get all excited about. So while there may be a deep market in terms of quantity of pitchers likely to get pretty good paydays, I'd sure like to see more legitimate top of the rotation arms on the list. I think the Twins rotation has been so bad that mediocrity looks really good by comparison. A discussion of any one of the pitchers on the list will come with a "yeah, but..." at the end.

 

I'm glad Ryan and his staff recognize the obvious... that their rotation is an abomination that must be fixed from outside the organization. Most of us recognized that fact at least a year ago and maybe if Ryan hadn't come so late to the party, he would have added real rotation help a year ago and the hole he now has to dig out of wouldn't be so deep.

[Riverbrian]

Thick or thin... We can't sign them all... Mr. Ryan... Pick your favorites and bid aggressive.

[ThePuck]

Does anyone remember what our starting rotation was supposed to be when we broke camp? Wasn't it, in no particular order, Pavano, Liriano, Marquis, Blackburn and Baker (who never pitched this season) How many of those guys, along with guys like Swarzak and Duensing, were Ryan's and how many were Smiths?

 

As we go into next season, we have one sure thing...Diamond. Is he Smith's or Ryan's?

[DAM DC Twins Fans]

This is the crop of FA starters. Some others may have options declined or released or just wouldn't likely fit, rumored trouble makers or injured.

When nearly every team needs pitching this is a very thin list.

 

[TABLE]

[/TD]

[TD]2012 war based on 80+ innings

Erik Bedard (34)

1.3

Joe Blanton (32)

2.4

Kevin Correia (32)

.8

Ryan Dempster (36)

3.3

Zack Greinke (28)

5.1

Dan Haren (32)

1.8

Edwin Jackson (29)

2.7

Hiroki Kuroda (38)

3.9

Kyle Lohse (34)

3.6

Paul Maholm (31)

2.5

Shaun Marcum (31)

1.4

Brandon McCarthy (29)

1.8

Kevin Millwood (38)

2.0

Anibal Sanchez (29)

3.8

Ervin Santana (30)

-.9

Joe Saunders (32)

2.5

[/TABLE]

 

I call this thin. The only ace on this list is Grienke--he wont come here and he is a borderline ace. The only number 2 are Sanchez and Haren. All of the rest are Pavano (of a couple of years ago) or Baker level. None are worth more than $30 million over 3 years. Avoid Lohse, Santana, McCarthy, Jackson, Millwood and Dempster like they have the plague. Maybe I would sign one of the others for $25million over 2 years and expect a mediocre number 3.