Article: Twins To Sign RHP Kevin Correia

[drivlikejehu]

I wonder how to rank this compared to the Blackburn and Joe Mays contracts. Definitely one of TR's worst moves, maybe even the worst when you take context into account.

[Shane Wahl]

His line looks similar to Carl Pavano's, just not as durable and gives up more walks. Nothing to get too excited for, but it's at least somebody so I can't complain.

 

Yes you can complain. The Twins already have pitchers who could equal what Correia is going to do. One is a guy they are paying $5.5 million to and the others are league minimum guys.

[LastOnePicked]

Wow. Well, on the plus side, this might be another piece of the puzzle that gets us a new manager in 2014. Maybe even a new GM.

[lee_the_twins_fan]

First people complain that Terry Ryan isn't doing anything. Now in the past 12 days he's traded two CF, acquired five pitchers (three through trade, one Rule 5 draft and now a FA). Yeah Correia isn't one of the top pitchers available. But he's durable, and he's better than most of the pitchers we had last year. You have to start somewhere.*

We still have two more spots in the rotation to fill, barring injury, and I'm still counting on TR to come through with a #1 starter.*

[twinsfaninsaudi]

I called it!! Even predicted the two year deal. I need to find the forum thread.

[Chance]

So, can Deduno, DeVries, Walters, or Blackburn not give us a sub 4.5 era? At no addition cost? Over spend on Jackson or marcum to get them here!!! I bet 5 million more than we would have offered them for the next 2 season could have landed one of them. Worthless! I hope for the best I would love to write an apology letter to TR midseason when his era is around 4 but I doubt it.

 

Comparing him to Guthrie is ridiculous. Guthrie had/has some potential to throw together a nice season.

[B Richard]

Can this really be happening...what's wrong with letting some of the scrubs we ran out last year fill Correia's spot at a far less expensive cost? 5M/year in addition to some of our offers out to guys like marcum/jackson/others might have made the difference and actually allowed us to sign someone who won't end up Blackburning at the bare minimum. I hope this is some kind of joke

 

On another note: how did Correia end up making the AS game in 2011? Kevin Correia Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com

 

That's almost as funny as us tossing him a multi-year deal

[twinsfaninsaudi]

I'm the kind of jerk who likes this signing.

[AllhopeisgoneMNTWINS]

Wow. Well, on the plus side, this might be another piece of the puzzle that gets us a new manager in 2014. Maybe even a new GM.

 

 

I hope youre right......this is absolutely one of the worst signings of the offseason by any team. What was the difference between Deduno, Walters and De Vries last year to this bum?

[Shane Wahl]

First people complain that Terry Ryan isn't doing anything. Now in the past 12 days he's traded two CF, acquired five pitchers (three through trade, one Rule 5 draft and now a FA). Yeah Correia isn't one of the top pitchers available. But he's durable, and he's better than most of the pitchers we had last year. You have to start somewhere.*

We still have two more spots in the rotation to fill, barring injury, and I'm still counting on TR to come through with a #1 starter.*

 

How many false things can one say in a post? Durable? How? Check how many seasons he's thrown 200 innings? 0. How about 175? 1. Etc. And he isn't all that better than at least 5 other pitchers at AAAA right now, including Blackburn.

[beckmt]

This may get back to the earlier TR comments about not being able to give money away. The decent pitchers want to pitch for a winner. That leaves guys like this and worse or doing nothing. Twins have to try, but I am not wild about this signing. Hope it turns out decent a can be filpped at the Trade Deadline for prospects.

[TonyWiseau]

Tweeted by Parker: Last 3 years: Correia 4.66 xFIP, 13.9% K%, 1.23 HR/9. Guthrie 4.66 xFIP, 13.7% K%, 1.22 HR/9.

 

xFIP doesn't tell the story with Correia. He's gotten brutalized on FBs for three years (14.8, 12.6, and 12 HR/FB% from 10-12, respectively) while pitching in Petco and PNC. That's a stat xFIP normalizes, but with the track record Correia's shown, count me skeptical on the notion it's something out of his control. At least Guthrie has a damn excuse pitching in Coors and Camden.

[Top Gun]

This serves pohlad right. who would want to come and pitch for that cheap bastard, the players and agents know. We all know want a crook Ryan is, I think Gardy has had enough, the fans will speak out!

[Erock]

Don't like it, but I'm curious to see what Brett Myers is going to be signed for. If he signs for something similar I'm going to be upset. He has the ability to strikeout batters and slide in to the pen if he's struggling or someone is dominating AAA. If Correia struggles he's just going to be a road block or a sunk cost and if he does decently is it going to be that much better than what DeVries could accomplish over a season?

[chagen]

seth articles are always amusing to read first off Kevin is a terrible pitcher. Second off the Twins will not trade him at the deadline because no team wants him for another year. He is signed for 2 years.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Is Kevin Correia actually Jason Marquis? I'm looking through their stat lines and they're basically the exact same guy.

 

What on earth is Ryan thinking?

[ThePuck]

Well, let's see. Best season was 4 seasons ago. Doesn't strike anybody out (even in the NL). Carries a WHIP around 1.390. Pitches to contact.

 

Perfect

[zenser]

Oh boy! Our big FA signing! I can't wait to pack up the family and go to Target Field and spend a lot of money to see Kevin Correia pitch!

[zenser]

I guess Terry Ryan could give some money away.

[ThePuck]

First people complain that Terry Ryan isn't doing anything. Now in the past 12 days he's traded two CF, acquired five pitchers (three through trade, one Rule 5 draft and now a FA). Yeah Correia isn't one of the top pitchers available. But he's durable, and he's better than most of the pitchers we had last year. You have to start somewhere.*

We still have two more spots in the rotation to fill, barring injury, and I'm still counting on TR to come through with a #1 starter.*

 

-He had a 4.20 ERA in the NL...less than 90Ks in the NL...a WHIP of almost 1.300 in the NL. We have pitchers like him already.

-The rule 5 pickup...you give him props for picking that guy up?

-And how in God's name do you see Ryan picking up a #1 starter?

[whydidnt]

The most disappointing thing about this isn't the signing/player itself. It's that it shows that Ryan still doesn't "get it" when it comes to acquiring pitchers. I was hoping that recent moves to acquire guys like Meyers, May, Worley, and the draft picks meant he understood that the traditional W-L and ERA stats were not the best to base decisions on. Yet, here he is out there paying a premium for a guy that only looks okay if you just look at his W-L record.

 

There really isn't any reason to believe Correia is going to be any better than a handful of guys the Twins already have on their roster at or close to the league minimum. I just don't get investing 2 years at 5 million each in a guy like this. Goes back to what a lot have been saying over the last year, it's not that Twins don't spend enough, it's that they don't spend wisely.

[ashbury]

On the plus side, we have 20 million dollars to spend. Put 7 million/yr towards Youkilis and 13 million/yr towards Jackson/Marcum.

 

If the MLB trade rumors site is to be believed, Youkilis Seriously Considering Yankees: MLB Rumors - MLBTradeRumors.com, Youk has a $12M offer in hand from the Yankees. Minnesota's paltry revenue stream from funding Target Field pales in comparison to what drives this market.

[panolo]

Is Kevin Correia actually Jason Marquis? I'm looking through their stat lines and they're basically the exact same guy.

 

What on earth is Ryan thinking?

 

No he isn't. He doesn't piss and moan about defensive alignment and fielders missing balls. He doesn't throw a tantrum on the mound when he doesn't get a call. Guy hasn't even threw a pitch for us and he is crucified.

 

I will take anything over Blackburn at this point. Target Field is great unless you get to watch a game Blackie "battles his tail off".

[whydidnt]

No he isn't. He doesn't piss and moan about defensive alignment and fielders missing balls. He doesn't throw a tantrum on the mound when he doesn't get a call. Guy hasn't even threw a pitch for us and he is crucified.

 

I will take anything over Blackburn at this point. Target Field is great unless you get to watch a game Blackie "battles his tail off".

Well, we don't know if Correia bitches and moans, but we do know he's guaranteed 10 million over the next 2 years. As someone who sat through one of Marquis gawd-awful starts at Target field last year, I don't see anything in Correia's history to suggest the results are going to be much different, other than we are now on the hook for 2 years making it harder to cut bait if necessary. Seriously if you aren't even good enough to be the 5th starter on the Pirates, why are the Twins guaranteeing you 2 years salary? Who were they competing with?

[Riverbrian]

Is Kevin Correia actually Jason Marquis? I'm looking through their stat lines and they're basically the exact same guy.

 

What on earth is Ryan thinking?

 

Jeez Brock... Marquis strikes out more hitters than Correia does. Surely you can see that.

 

To everyone... These Marquis and Blackburn comparisons are a little over the top.

 

Blackburn gave up 81 runs in 2012... Correia gave up 80 and Marquis gave up 74 in 127.2 innings between Minnesota and San Diego.

 

Blackburn pitched 98.2 innings and Correia threw 171 innings. If posters want to cry Blackburn with this signing... Please don't ignore the 72.1 innings of shutout ball in comparison between the two... In Comparison... Thats quite the difference.

 

Comparing with Marquis... I find it hard to compare Marquis in Minnesota with Marquis in San Diego.

 

This mob will continue to mob... It's how it works... I get that and reading the responses has been fun.

[LoganJones]

There hasn't been any confirmation of this deal. I wonder what the hang up is.

[ericchri]

Like most, I think the second year is what I don't get. I think Correia can be a perfectly adequate pitcher for the Twins next year. And therein lies the problem. Adequate is the best you're going to get from Correia. There's nothing to look at to say, "he can be really good for us." Nothing. Why give two years to that?

 

That being said, if he can be adequate without having drastic swings game-to-game, I can live with this. More than anything else about our pitching lately was the unknown quality of pitching you were going to get in any given game. I can understand completely the notion that Deduno or DeVries or Walters or Hendricks can give you everything Correia could. They "could." They could also give you what the Twins got to start last year from Hendricks and Marquis and Blackburn. Even people who thought Marquis and Blackburn last season wouldn't be good weren't predicting that level of awful. We badly need to avoid that pathetic show of pitching that we started the season with last year. That was the most unbelievably putrid display of pitching for most of April that you could possibly have, and relying on Deduno, DeVries, Hendricks, Walters to avoid that is... I'm not even sure what to call it. Risky, but that's not exactly it. With Correia at least you can see that he's been a marginally successful Major League pitcher for 5 years or so. Those other guys? Less than half a season, with massive warning signs flashing over all of them.

 

I still hate this move, though.

[CDog]

2-years, $10 million for this bum. ... I think we all have to start thinking on another level like the Twins. Every single move they make is about saving money. Nothing more and nothing less.

 

I've seen this sentiment in other threads about the Correia signing also. Can someone explain how overpaying a guy by somewhere between 2 and 10 times is a sign of cheapness or an attempt to save money? Is paying $50,000 for a used Ford Focus a sign that I'm trying to save money?

[beckmt]

There are two points to be taken here:

1. Pitchers stats look better on winning teams, it is hard to sign good pitchers to play on lower ranking teams without significantly overpaying them.

2. Terry Ryan is looking to improve the Twins for the next 2 years until the (hopefully) next wave of good and great Twins players arrives. He does not seem to believe in the current crop of upper level Twins pitchers except as AAA starters to make Rochester compete for playoff spots. This reflects on prior management and also bad luck with a number of arm injuries.

[Mike Sixel]

Cdog, if you are racing in the Indy 500, yes, spending 50k on a bad car is cheap. The signing has to be in context of the Twins needs and the market. This signing is bad primarily for the length. If this is fixing the rotation, then it is cheap. If they now sign 2 legit pitchers, this isn't cheap, it is just likely a bad deal.