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nicksaviking

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Everything posted by nicksaviking

  1. nicksaviking
    Are you suggesting the plan from the onset of the signing wasn't for Nolasco to end up in the pen?
  2. nicksaviking
    Winter leagues are fun to follow and can provide some benefits, but I don't want my star players there. Sorry if my desire for localized baby sitting borders on paranoia, but a lot is riding on these guys making healthy, safe and sane decisions. Maybe I'm just a jerk, but I'm never sure if those in charge of these young men are most concerned about their MLB careers. Better the DR than Venezuela though I guess.
  3. nicksaviking
    I don't know if it will get better or not, but he's kind of worked himself off of my radar. The Twins have future options for utility guys so Santana, even if he picks up his offensive game, doesn't seem like a long-term fit to me. I'm all for letting him keep his, um, "versatility" and roll the dice that his bat picks back up. A young guy who can hit and can be squeezed into both SS and CF has got to be attractive to another team or two. Like catcher, it seems to me that anyone that can put an SS behind their name gets bonus points, even if the SS is written in pencil.
  4. nicksaviking
    Worst case is that Shields comes here, is ineffective but still gets two years in the rotation, trumping the prospects due to his contract/name. Nolasco has already worn out any overriding allowances that come with his contract/name and will likely not be a roadblock for the younger talent.
  5. nicksaviking
    Nope, but Shawn Kelley is now gone as well; the quality options are dwindling quite fast.
  6. nicksaviking
    I agree, however the relief market in 2016 seems to be playing out similarly to the starter market in 2013 when Ryan exhasberatedly said on MLB network that the Twins were trying to upgrade the rotation but they couldn't get anyone to bite. At the beginning of that offseason he also said upgrading the rotation was the top priority. They seemed to over compensate in money and years for swingman Kevin Correia that year after watching starters of all skill levels get far more than expected. All I'm saying, is if the Twins can't do better than whoever the 2016 BP version of Kevin Correia is, go with the kids. I don't want a vet just because he's a vet.
  7. nicksaviking
    The problem with this swap as I see it, is Shields would be guaranteed a rotation spot, Nolasco likely not. So the question really is not is Shields an upgrade to Nolasco, it's is Shields an upgrade over May, Duffey or Berrios? At this point? Likely yes. By mid season? Tough call. In three years? I have no desire to see a 35-year-old in the rotation.
  8. nicksaviking
    The pen clearly needs to be fixed, and I'm sure Ryan was forthright when he said fixing it was a top priority. However I also wouldn't be surprised if Ryan is currently surprised and frustrated by the sudden cost in dollars, years and prospects bullpen help is going for currently. I would bet the front office didn't expect the free agent/trade market to play out this wildly. The market is already pretty picked through, I am beginning to become significantly concerned that the Twins will end up over compensating and getting a third or fourth tier reliever who will do little to fix the deficient strikeout problem, but give up prospects or committed years well beyond reason for such a pitcher. I want a serious BP overhaul, but if the Twins can't get a couple of the remaining few true upgrades, I'd just as well prefer to see the fireballing minor leaguers get the job regardless of spring training performance. However with that the fear is that the Twins traditional comfort level for pitchers has always been based on experince, and we'll still see guys like Fien in high leverage situations even if a strikeout artist like Chargois, Burdi or Meyer are also in the pen.
  9. nicksaviking
    I'd rather sign Chris Young to a cheap 1-2 year deal. The 4th OF really is only needed to hit lefties and Young does that well.
  10. nicksaviking
    With the recent losses of Scherzer and Price (and in all but name Verlander) count me thrilled that the Tigers are now building around mid-to-low strikeout contact arms Norris and Zimmerman. This new look Detroit rotation looks pretty unthreatening to me.
  11. nicksaviking
    Good write up. I certainly didn't need convincing that this team needs to get and stay young. I hope those in charge of putting the rotation together keep it in mind too.
  12. nicksaviking
    AL teams should have had priority over the NL teams when it came to claiming Pinto.
  13. nicksaviking
    I think I would have protected Michael, Jones and Pinto over O'Rourke, Dean and Landa, but if the Twins needed to rely on any of these guys in the next two years, something went wrong. I agree that Jorge likely doesn't get claimed as a low 90's starter in A ball isn't too attractive on paper, but I think some team could fix that if they're ambitious and have a roster spot to kill. This guy has the weakest delivery I've seen outside of a knuckleballer. The guy basically has a high leg kick and plants it right back where he picked it up from. He doesn't step to the plate at all, he throws with all shoulder and looks like he's trying to step on an egg without crushing it. I'd love to see what he does if he didn't throw like a dead-ball era pitcher playing catch with a toddler in the back yard.
  14. nicksaviking
    Agreed, Duffey is a guy who we didn't see coming, but when we see his stuff, it's easy to see that we should have paid more attention. I'm not sure that we actually need to see Dean pitch to know that a 89 MPH fastball an a sub 5.0 K/9 is an extreme long shot.
  15. nicksaviking
    I'm in the minority, but I agree about Michael. I really did not like the draft pick, and certainly he hasn't lived up to his draft status, but this guy has been getting on base the past two years. He can take a walk and doesn't strikeout much. He doesn't look overly special but he also doesn't look a whole lot different than Brian Dozier at the age of 24. I think a utility guy who can get on base gets selected and I can still see him being useful to the Twins. Also good point on Achter, Darnell and O'Rourke, are these guys with minimal MLB experience really more valuable than the guys behind them with no experience but a much higher ceiling? I like Tonkin's MiLB strikeout numbers and 94 MPH fastball enough to keep him though. Also agree on Harrison. I'm not giving up on him, but as far as I can recall, the only players who have been successfully hidden on rosters despite the need for more MiLB seasoning have been relief pitchers and batters who can play a premium defensive position. No one's going to keep a corner OF on the roster who can't hit yet. Even if he did get selected, so many guys are blocking him at the moment that we'd be destined to play the Rule V game with him the next two years too.
  16. nicksaviking
    I don't mean to demean Dean at all, simply he has a half dozen guys to jump over to ever be considered for the rotation and he has always had very poor strikeout numbers which should mean he isn't suited for the pen at all. He's got nowhere to go with the Twins, I really do hope he gets a shot with a team that thinks they could use him.
  17. nicksaviking
    I think the Twins should concern themselves most with number 3. Don't worry about trying not to lose a guy, only worry about losing a guy you actually want. To that end, let Dean go. Unless this team is reverting back to the Albers/De Vries days, there is no reasonable place for Dean on this team, if another team thinks they could use him, good for them and good for Dean, that's what this draft is designed for anyway, so teams can't hoard players they'll never use even if another team would.
  18. nicksaviking
    Good list. One of my top concerns, maybe my top concern was the step back, or at least lack of development from all the hard throwing relief pitchers who were previously thought to be on the fast track to the majors. It couldn't get more disappointing for the 2014 draft class with Burdi, Reed and Curtis all disappointing after strong 2014 seasons. Add Zach Jones to the mix and it's easy to see why many people thought the MLB bullpen should have easily been able to be fixed internally last year. Despite all the attention paid to relief arms in the draft lately, only two guys (out of 18!) pitched in relief in 2015 and were drafted by the team this decade. They were Ryan O'rourke picked in round 10 and AJ Achter in round 46 in 2010. Oof.
  19. nicksaviking
    Darnell and Dean are soft-tossing lefties, I don't think they can even hit 90 MPH. They may be able to increase their velocity as a reliever, but they're still going to be your traditional junkballer that possibly could miss bats in AAA but usually can't get batters to do the same at the MLB level. Look at Tommy Milone who was mowing down batters in AAA yet doesn't miss many bats at the MLB level. If the options were sparse and the team was in the gutter, sure, you might as well give it a shot, but we can be relatively confident in the types of pitchers these guys are and they are not late-inning relievers, which is what this team needs. This team doesn't need more middle relief options, the whole pen is full of those guys already; Fien, Pressly, Tonken, Graham. There are better options both internal and external that should be vetted first.
  20. nicksaviking
    I'd give Rogers a shot as a LOOGY, I have no problem there. If we're talking about fixing the bullpen though, I'm talking about getting the shut down guys for end of the game. I'm all for throwing Meyer, Burdi, Chargois, Reed, Cole Johnson and Zach Jones into the water and seeing who floats. Sounds like a great idea to me actually. If the club isn't willing to take that gamble however, I'd prefer free agents who can miss bats over the Deans, Darnells and Milones who should only be used as long-man/swing-man/mop-up duty.
  21. nicksaviking
    None of those guys can strike anyone out though, and I think that's pretty imperative for a guy in the pen. At least it's been the biggest weakness of the recent relievers this team has assembled.
  22. nicksaviking
    I do too. No offense to Blaine Boyer, but these are the kinds of gambles the team should be making. The odds of him figuring it out might not be high, but if he does, the results will not be boring. He's the kind of guy who will almost certainly only be either a bust, or have late inning abilities, this isn't long-man/swing-man/mop-up-duty kind of material.
  23. nicksaviking
    Affeldt, Adams, Burnett, Broxton and League all performed poorly. Fujikawa was an unknown international signing who was a real crap shoot going in. It looks like from this list it's about 50/50 that it works out (45/65 if Fujikawa is weighted the same). The one thing that seems to be common though, is that the busts have either been injured or were not good strikeout pitchers. Meanwhile, Grilli, Peralta, Choate, Soria and Gorzlanny all seem to be able to manage at least a 8.0K/9.
  24. nicksaviking
    For a month until Buxton and/or Kepler come up? Big deal. And Robinson is a free agent. Reports of the Twins interest in bringing him back probably will need to be re-evaluated now that the OF situation is back to uncertainty. With how aggressive Ryan has been the offseason, I highly doubt he's going to look at Shane Robinson and think, yeah, I'll settle for that guy in November.
  25. nicksaviking
    I wonder about the timing the the Hicks and Herrmann trades now. The Twins almost certainly knew they were getting Murphy when they traded Herrmann yesterday, hindsight makes it pretty easy to deduce that the Twins didn't first get rid of their back up catcher and THEN go searching for a new catcher. So why was this one announced last? It seems that either the Twins didn't want AZ to know that Chris Herrmann was about to become expendable, or the Yankees gave the Twins a take-it-or-leave-it offer and told Ryan he could think on it. I also wonder if Ryan asked for Gary Sanchez and was told no, or if Ryan actually valued Murphy's MLB experience (or some other factor) more and he was the preferred target?
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