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Comments on: Stranded at the intersection of buyer and seller, Twins stay put Baseball news, insight and analysis from Aaron Gleeman Fri, 01 May 2026 05:19:27 +0000 hourly 1 By: mike wants wins #comment-7173 Tue, 02 Aug 2011 17:29:08 +0000 Today’s fangraph’s chat rip on the Twins: {Comment From KateKate: ] I can’t believe Slowey wasn’t traded. How many STARTS does he get in MLB ROS? Tuesday August 2, 2011 12:45 Kate 12:46 Jack Moore: Zero. Because Gardenhire/Smith are completely insane. ]]> By: mike wants wins #comment-7169 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 21:24:29 +0000 Jonah Keri was not complimentary of Bill Smith in the fangraphs chat today… ]]> By: BR #comment-7168 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:50:49 +0000 I have a hard time understanding how they managed not to trade Slowey. They don’t like him and aren’t using him. Yet he is young and has had success at the major league level. Other teams were reportedly interested, as they should have been. But they couldn’t get back, say, a decent middle reliever for him? Odd. Unless he falls off a cliff and/or gets hurt again, they’ll offer arb to Kubel. He’s likely to get a multi-year offer anyway, so they’d at least get the picks by offering arb. But he’s also fairly cheap, so the worse case scenario is that he accepts and they pay him $7M or so for a year. He can always DH and be a #5 OF, so there isn’t much downside. Just letting him walk would be throwing away value. ]]> By: ML #comment-7167 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 20:31:51 +0000 Maybe the players weren’t there in trades for Young, Cuddy, etc… They will get draft picks if some of their pending free agents sign elsewhere, no? They’ll offer arbitration to come of them, I’d sssume. I still think they could have dealt Cuddyer and then resigned him in the off season if they wanted him back so badly. ]]> By: Pedro Munoz #comment-7166 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:17:23 +0000 Hunter’s defense has also slipped, which is why he now plays right field instead of center. That Hunter contract was one of the dumbest ever. I don’t know if Blackburn will just turn it around. Last year it took a trip to the minors. In his last seven starts, he has an ERA of over 8 and a WHIP over 2. He does have streaks when he pitches well, but when combined with the brutal Blackburn, he’s just not a good pitcher. ]]> By: mazeville #comment-7165 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 17:18:40 +0000 I think people on this site should give Smith a break for once, at least on the rumored Span deal. Based on reports, the Twins wanted a lot more than just Storen for Span, so saying that Smith was stupid to consider that trade is shortsighted. The Twins wanted Storen, Lombardozzi and someone else for Span. I CERTAINLY wouldn’t trade Storen for Span straight up, but I’d definitely pull the trigger if the Nats offered Storen and Lombo. Lombo’s numbers in the minors are pretty consistent, and solid. And Storen is young. Add a decent third piece and you’d have a package far better than the bag of bolts the Twins got for Santana. Revere is no Span, but it’s not as if the Twins lack outfield depth. That said, I think the Twins should have sold and built up their farm system or reloaded for next year. They didn’t, because of the flawed belief that they are contenders. Perhaps I should be grateful they didn’t give up prospects for a rent-a-player, but I still want to see a better 2012 team and think that selling would have been the better option. That said, ]]> By: mrgerbik03 #comment-7164 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:56:18 +0000 “Minnesota Twins, whose eagerness to fill their bullpen at the expense of their lineup is so antiquated, so backward, so very silly that the idea they almost did it twice in a row makes GM Bill Smith look like he’s in over his head. Turns out his insistence on the inclusion of Storen torpedoed the deal, which, funny enough, makes the Twins winners.” From Yahoo… The Twins blew it at the deadline from the get go…considering themselves buyers. 6 games back in a weak division. We would be lucky to win a playoff game, no chance on a series. There were some good chances to trade Cuddyer, but the Twins held on to him for sentimental value. Just moronic. At least there will be someone doing card tricks in the club house as this team fumbles its way through the season. As dumb as Bill Smith was for wanting to give up Span for Storen, we can take solace in the fact that Washington’s GM was even less smart for not jumping on that deal. ]]> By: mike wants wins #comment-7162 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:20:39 +0000 adjacent, agreed, they should dump pavano if they can. But I don’t see that as likely, hence my proposal. Blackburn just isn’t a good pitcher. He has stretches where he is good, but he’s just not good. Slowey has been, and always will be, a better pitcher than Blackburn, probably then Duensing, and right now than Pavano. Their stubbornness with guys with college educations is a bizarre string of coincidence that is hurting them. ]]> By: JB (the original) #comment-7161 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:19:39 +0000 Oh, and the Angels are on the hook for another $18M for Torii next year as well… ]]> By: JB (the original) #comment-7160 Mon, 01 Aug 2011 16:18:26 +0000 I was just rummaging through my head and was wondering how two guys were doing this year: Player A: 43 R, 13 HR, 51 RBI, 3 SB, .232 AVG, .307 OBP Player B: 55 R, 16 HR, 55 RBI, 8 SB, .298 AVG, .379 OBP Player “A” is Torii Hunter-at $18M, Player “B”, is Michael Cuddyer-at $10.5M (yes, I realize this doesn’t take defense into consideration, but for as much as we consider Cuddy overpaid, we could be doing worse…. ]]>


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Comments on: Twins trade Delmon Young to Tigers for Cole Nelson and PTBNL Baseball news, insight and analysis from Aaron Gleeman Fri, 01 May 2026 05:19:27 +0000 hourly 1 By: Gendo comment-page-2/#comment-7402 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:23:43 +0000 I just want you to love me, Elton. ]]> By: Elton comment-page-2/#comment-7401 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 18:30:58 +0000 I think more accurately, there’s a couple of self-aggrandizing windbags on here who enjoy hearing themselves talk about sabrmetrics. Someone hit the gong, this discussion is over. ]]> By: Pedro Munoz comment-page-2/#comment-7399 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 15:30:18 +0000 I re-read all of Gendo’s comments and I’m not sure where the pompous jerk part comes in. Contrary to your claim, Elton, the posters disagreeing with Gendo are not making valid points. They are mostly spouting nonsense. This is my favorite bit in the post by Citizen: “Your words do not constitute facts. Cannot, in fact, constitute facts. It would be impossible to prove lineup protection does, or does not, exist, because there can be no test of the alternative. You can only know what a player hits with, or without, protection, and cannot know what would have happened had the opposite situation occured under the same circumstances.” Wow. Just wow. Everyone who read that paragraph is now dumber for doing so. I also enjoyed the part where Elton mocks Gendo’s link by pointing out that it was someone else’s work. Does that mean that I can’t argue, for example, the theory of gravity because someone else came up with it? An iffy argument is not one like Gendos’ – which was supported by the study he linked to – but the ones by those he disagrees with, which seemingly were pulled out of their asses. I think Gendo has been more than patient given what he has had to respond to. While everyone reading this site is “somewhat familiar” with sabermetrics, its pretty clear that a number of people don’t understand them at all. ]]> By: Elton comment-page-2/#comment-7396 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 08:38:05 +0000 Gendo You might have more success getting people to consider your ideas if you weren’t writing like a pompous condescending jerk. None of your ideas are that novel. Anyone reading this site is at least somewhat familiar with sabrmetrics. You seem to fancy yourself as some brilliant baseball analyst. So far the only thing we’ve seen are some pretty iffy arguments and a link to someone else’s work you pasted. The posters disagreeing with you are making some valid points. You may be as well, buy they’re getting lost because of the smug nature if your posts. Seems like youre itching for a fight or just out to try to impress peoe It aint working. Let’s have some discussion thats productive, theres enough trolls out there already. ]]> By: Gendo comment-page-2/#comment-7395 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 04:35:14 +0000 Hi citizen: You’re conflating concepts here. I never said anything about run production. If a player hits *after* other players who get on base a lot of course they’re going to get more RBIs just by virtue of more opportunities. That has nothing to do with the concept of protection which has to do with a given player hitting *before* a feared hitter. The theory is that because the pitcher doesn’t want to pitch to that feared hitter he won’t nibble around our protected batter and will give him better pitches to hit. This has not been able to be proved statistically. RBIs would have nothing to do with this. You’d want to look at a stat like wOBA. Your Albert Pujols example is, since we’re continuing this trend, a straw man. You are defeating a point I never made. I’m not sure if that’s intentional or if you’re just misunderstanding me. As for the corked bat issue I would encourage you to read The Physics of Baseball and to check out additional studies like this one: As for the comments I made on baseball players and their kooky beliefs that was of course silly, but all I was saying is them being baseball players does not give them the authority to say things are true just by virtue of that authority. Certainly not in a sport with the wealth of data like baseball has. And for the last point of course you can’t prove lineup protection doesn’t exist. You can’t prove a negative. However it would be accurate to say there is no statistical evidence to prove it exists, so we discount it. It’s like I can’t *prove* there’s no God but that’s silly, we all know there’s no God. ]]> By: citizen comment-page-2/#comment-7394 Fri, 19 Aug 2011 03:58:21 +0000 “In the debate game we call that logical fallacy an argument from authority, Houston.” An authority. I guess that’s a label you’ve never been accused of, eh? “Baseball players think all kinds of dumb things. As an example basically every ballplayer you talk to will tell you corking the bat adds power. That’s been proven conclusively false. Corking the bat lowers the natural frequency of the bat and reduces the amount of energy that can be transferred from bat to ball.” Oh really? “Baseball players think that wearing magical copper bracelets will align the ions in their blood stream and make them healthier.” In the debate game we call that logical fallacy a non sequitur, gendo. Some statgeeks were magical copper bracelets too, but I think we should examine what they have to say, rather than dismiss them based on a copper bracelet. “The fact is that if protection was a real phenomenon there would be a spike in the stats to show it. There isn’t which means it is a statistically negligible factor.” Your words do not constitute facts. Cannot, in fact, constitute facts. It would be impossible to prove lineup protection does, or does not, exist, because there can be no test of the alternative. You can only know what a player hits with, or without, protection, and cannot know what would have happened had the opposite situation occured under the same circumstances. “The only thing the lineup around you can impact is RBIs which is part of why RBIs are a dumb stat.” You have, indeed, just contradicted yourself. If lineup construction affects RBIs, then it has to, by definition, affect the number of runs scored. Or are you claiming that if a team had the pitcher hit in Albert Pujols spot, and vice versa, that St Louis would score exactly the same number of runs? You sir, are a pompous jerk. What’s worse, you are a pompous jerk who doesn’t even know enough to argue intelligently. ]]> By: Gendo comment-page-2/#comment-7393 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 22:00:56 +0000 Now you’ve moved onto ad hominem. You’re not good at this. 🙁 ]]> By: Pedro Munoz comment-page-2/#comment-7392 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 20:51:28 +0000 “In the spirit of preserving the high quality content of this site, I’ll refrain from further posts” Thank god. We can only stand so much asshattery on one thread. ]]> By: Houston Jimenez comment-page-2/#comment-7391 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 18:58:25 +0000 That was hilarious. You made my day, thanks. In the spirit of preserving the high quality content of this site, I’ll refrain from further posts, since you clearly have baseball figured out to a degree that not even the players themselves do. And here I was, lil’ ol me, thinking MLB players knew more about the game than some self-aggrandizing know it all on a blog showing off that he likes advanced stats. I hope one day you can share your thoughts with some big leaguers and see how they react. I’d pay 10 bucks to see that. I”m out, good luck. ]]> By: Gendo comment-page-2/#comment-7383 Thu, 18 Aug 2011 08:01:49 +0000 In the debate game we call that logical fallacy an argument from authority, Houston. Baseball players think all kinds of dumb things. As an example basically every ballplayer you talk to will tell you corking the bat adds power. That’s been proven conclusively false. Corking the bat lowers the natural frequency of the bat and reduces the amount of energy that can be transferred from bat to ball. Baseball players think that wearing magical copper bracelets will align the ions in their blood stream and make them healthier. The fact is that if protection was a real phenomenon there would be a spike in the stats to show it. There isn’t which means it is a statistically negligible factor. The only thing the lineup around you can impact is RBIs which is part of why RBIs are a dumb stat. ]]>


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Comments on: “Gleeman and The Geek” #18: Winter Meetings Baseball news, insight and analysis from Aaron Gleeman Fri, 01 May 2026 05:19:27 +0000 hourly 1 By: Chris #comment-9052 Thu, 08 Dec 2011 19:03:49 +0000 “I’m not opposed to the idea of Matt Capps in a vacuum.” ~Aaron I bet John would love seeing Matt Capps in a vacuum, too. ]]> By: Terry Doyle #comment-9048 Thu, 08 Dec 2011 15:43:11 +0000 Your buerle. About me : ]]> By: Shane #comment-9041 Thu, 08 Dec 2011 05:24:57 +0000 I will be interested to see what you guys think (IF Cuddyer is signed by the Twins for 3 years) will happen to the likes of Joe Benson, Rene Tosoni, Ben Revere, Evan Bigley, etc. Signing Cuddyer to a 3-year deal is stupid, but if they do it, maybe these prospects play for trade value this year to enable some sort of move to improve the Twins starting pitching (Benson in particular). ]]> By: Ted #comment-9040 Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:25:43 +0000 How about Beltran as a Cuddyer replacement? Just read that the Giants will no re sign him and that the market for his services appears thin. He might be at the point in his career where a one year deal for $8 million would be attractive. ]]> By: Jeff O #comment-9039 Thu, 08 Dec 2011 01:03:02 +0000 @jama I have my doubts Cuddyer could repeat the season he just had. And he’ll be another year older by the time free agency rolls around next year. No chance he accepts arbitration. ]]> By: Jeff #comment-9035 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:21:40 +0000 Why does John think 3 years 25M a good deal for Cuddyer if Willingham is more or less equivalent, more or less the same price, and we don’t lose the picks? For a team that didn’t suck salty donkey nuts last year and doesn’t have a pessimistic future, maybe I’d sacrifice the picks for the “clubhouse guy” all the fans like, but right now losing those picks doesn’t look too good… ]]> By: jama #comment-9034 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 23:16:06 +0000 If all Cuddyer is getting offered is a 3 year $24 million deal is there a chance he just accepts arbitration and takes the $12-$13 million he’d likely get for one year and go from there? ]]> By: Jeff O #comment-9030 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:17:48 +0000 Since when did you adopt a Boston accent?? Great podcast though! ]]> By: doofus #comment-9028 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:04:49 +0000 I don’t think Slowey was a jerk personally. Just a jerk about his situation. He paid the consequences for it and all have moved on, case closed. In reference to you podcast last night regarding the Murphy inquiry. I am wondering if the Twins might look to trade a CF if the have a back up CF. of note the Astros are willing to pay 1/2 of Myers salary for a prospect. That’s a 200 inning pitcher for 5 million with an option for 10 million if he’s any good. Myers for Revere as Houston has traded their speedy CF last year we could even through in Butera to even it out….That’s a deal waiting to happen. ]]> By: Curt #comment-9027 Wed, 07 Dec 2011 16:54:36 +0000 Agree with Aaron on Slowey-bashing. Tactics the same with, among others, Blyleven and Carew in the 70’s. Media parrots team-party-line and gullible fans eat it up. Not saying Slowey is Gandhi… I’ll bet 23 of 25 guys on any team are jerks… but he is just one of 23 jerks. Once the media starts bad-mouthing him he becomes a bigger jerk (to them). Go figure. ]]>


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Comments on: Twins Notes: Perkins’ extension, prospect hyperbole, and 1987 romance Baseball news, insight and analysis from Aaron Gleeman Fri, 01 May 2026 05:19:27 +0000 hourly 1 By: James B. #comment-34612 Sat, 26 Jan 2013 18:29:41 +0000 Poor Jason Pridie has joined the dark side ^^ ]]> By: Jamer #comment-10624 Thu, 15 Mar 2012 15:55:11 +0000 I didn’t know that Valentine and Gardenhire were friends. I know that Tom Kelly would go out of his way to avoid the guy. I guess this is just another case of lumping Gardenhire and Kelly into the same “mental envelope.” ]]> By: Art Tatem #comment-10618 Thu, 15 Mar 2012 04:02:31 +0000 Valentine was Nishioka’s manager for a long time and spent a decent amount of time pumping him up in media prior to his going to MLB. He’s also chums with Gardenhire. So if he saw it coming, he either didn’t think it was a big enough issue or kept it to himself for other reasons. ]]> By: Jamer #comment-10612 Wed, 14 Mar 2012 15:32:43 +0000 Those Tom Powers assessments of Dozier and Parmalee are a bit “pie-in-the-sky,” but come-on. . . Why are you parsing this guy’s words like they’re some sort of contract? It is just some spring-training BS meant to entertain readers. Imagine what the articles would be like without such fluff! Usually people roll their eyes at what Bobby Valentine says, but I am pretty sure that he is accurate with this Nishioka thing. Good observation after-the-fact, yet I still believe that it was made in a timely manner. ]]> By: Buddy Grant #comment-10603 Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:57:08 +0000 I guess Powers is just trying to incite some local excitement for a team that lost 99 games last year and has as many question marks going into the season than last years squad had. For the Parmelee article the focus on tape measure power (“waaayyy over the fence”, “those homers traveled a long way”, “his best attribute: the ability to hit the baseball a long way”, “Here’s a kid who can hit the ball a mile”) was a bit of a head scratcher. Chris Parmelee’s 4 MLB HR’s in 2011 traveled the following distances: 422 405 380 356 FWIW, Thome, Kubel, Cuddyer, Hughes, Plouffe, Valencia, & Tosoni all hit HR’s farther than Parmelee’s longest HR. ]]> By: Pedro Munoz #comment-10601 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 20:58:16 +0000 For shortstops, the average age is 23.6. ]]> By: Dustin #comment-10594 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 15:08:07 +0000 Pedro – I disagree with your conclusions. Dave – I totally agree with you about the annoying things that many baseball writers say. I’m primarily a Dodgers fan and am exposed to the crap of Plaschke and Simers way more than I would prefer. I just feel in this case that Aaron’s criticism was unnecessary and nitpicky. The effort would have been better used on something else. ]]> By: Pedro Munoz #comment-10593 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:46:48 +0000 Average age of MLB debut 2005-2009 (per Baseball Prospectus): 24.4. Sorry, but if he’s aleady on the wrong side of average, its not “breakneck” in any sense. ]]> By: Pedro Munoz #comment-10592 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:37:12 +0000 I thought Aaron was pretty gentle with Powers, who has no business being paid to write about sports. ]]> By: Dave #comment-10591 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 11:37:26 +0000 Dustin – I agree with Aaron’s criticism of the Powers article. I can’t stand it when baseball writers throw around terms like “next big thing” with no stats to back up there claim. Or, even worse, by cherry-picking one or two stats that support their case (like Parmalee’s 4 Sept homeruns) while ignoring a bunch of other contrary stats. The only part of this debate where I could agree with Powers is that perhaps Parmalee does have a power-hitter’s makeup. It sounds like he approaches the game like a power hitter and thinks like a power hitter. But, when I hear the phrase “true power hitter”, I think 30+ homeruns, which so far Parmalee has shown no evidence he can do. Maybe someday he will, but calling him a “true power hitter” without pointing out his anemic home run totals is absolutely misleading. It would not have been that hard to give a more complete (and accurate) picture of Parmalee – that he approaches the game like a power hitter (which you Dustin actually do better than Powers) but doesn’t yet have the stats to back it up. It’s possible to still be optimistic without ignoring the facts, and it’s different than being ignorant or delusional. Sometimes Aaron is a bit overly negative and pessimistic, but at least his writing is grounded in reality, and not full of unsubstantiated generalities and impressions. ]]>


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Comments on: Twins follow Byron Buxton pick by loading up on hard-throwing pitchers Baseball news, insight and analysis from Aaron Gleeman Fri, 01 May 2026 05:19:27 +0000 hourly 1 By: Brian #comment-11826 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:24:18 +0000 Ill be interested to see if the twins sign 14th round florida state outfielder Jake Proctor. Reports are he has bigtime power but he may opt for his final year of college eligibility to improve him draft stock. An interesting article would be a pick by pick analysis of the likelihood these picks are signed into the fold. 2011 was not a good signing haul in comparison to past drafts and with the new budgetary rules implemented by the MLB getting talented players to sign is exceedingly important. I like the Adam Brett Walker and LJ Mazzili picks as potential impact bats. If Buxton turns into a home run and Sano continues his development tear he’s been on (big power numbers!!) the twins could have a great core coming up in several years. ]]> By: Scott #comment-11817 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:17:56 +0000 Maybe the Twins reached on Berrios and intend on offering him money at his ranking (rather than pick number) so they can give more money to Buxton. Given the new rules on slot signing they may need to do something to give a little more to their top pick. Re: Twins staff being able to teach the changeup. They had a perfect person to teach it to in Jim Hoey. 100 mph fastball with a changeup could have been devastating. Re: LaRussa experiment: at the bottom of this article ]]> By: by jiminy #comment-11815 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 16:00:03 +0000 I know they’re taking a lot of heat for drafting relievers instead of starters, and perhaps deservedly so. I’m just hoping against hope that they’re being sneaky smart, not stupid. One way of looking at it is an arm is an arm, and they might be picking up potential starters that were undervalued by their previous usage. Just as closers can be overvalued compared to other relievers based on their collection of meaningless saves–meaning that you can pick up undervalued relievers who just happen to have been used in the “wrong” innings–isn’t it possible there’s a similar Moneyball-type inefficiency to the market that could be exploited by picking up pitchers who arbitrarily have been used as relievers instead of starters, reducing their perceived value? Certainly there are some college pitchers who have been used as relievers for a reason. Some might not be good enough to start. But what if they are, and just haven’t been? What if they have two good pitches now, but could be taught a third? How many young pitchers have mastered a changeup before they enter pro ball? If the Twins think their coaching staff is especially good at teaching the changeup, which there is some evidence may be the case, why not pick up people with good velocity and control, but no changeup, and teach it to them? Velocity is the one thing you can’t teach (with control perhaps being a close second). But changeups can. Maybe one of these guys that looks one dimensional now will be a future Johan Santana. There was at least one guy they drafted who the scouting reports say shouldn’t start because his mechanics are a mess and he’d instantly get injured. But for the rest of them, who knows. Maybe the Twins are pulling a Billy Beane here. Not likely, I admit, but it’s possible. And if worse comes to worst, at least they should get a decent bullpen out of it. Or as the above discussion suggests, a full game’s worth of short stints. Incidentally, someone always gets credited with a win anyway, so there would be plenty of W’s to go around, and maybe even some saves. ]]> By: Brian #comment-11798 Thu, 07 Jun 2012 01:26:56 +0000 I’ve always enjoyed discussing alternative roster construction ideas like this, but since its never going to happen, how can one justify drafting so many relievers? I like going for power arms instead of the standard control types the Twins have preferred. But a reliever can only be so valuable (Mariano Rivera aside.) And relievers are the easiest position to fill on the cheap on the free agent market. ]]> By: jokin #comment-11794 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:40:14 +0000 “When I was younger, Tom Kelly used to be on the radio every week with Sid. Every once in a while, people would call in with wild suggestions and TK would just go nuts. I would love to be in the room when the new billionaire owner tells Gardy and Terry Ryan that they are now going to implement the new plan of pitching only relievers. I think it would blow their mind, and their reaction would probably not be much different than TK’s derision and eye rolling. With that being said, I would love to see the Twins try it.” I actually called in one Sunday morning back in the 90s to specifically address this issue. This was when Randy Johnson was coming back from the DL and was being used in middle relief. Johnson, of course was dominant in that role, including against the Twins. I made my case to Kelly: on a pitching poor team, why wouldn’t a team (at the time) like the Mariners use their best player and future HOFer in the high-leverage, middle-inning lock down the win (3-4 ininngs situations, say 5-6 times per two weeks, virtually assuring wins in almost 35-45% your games? This instead of having your best pitcher only being involved in 20% of your potential wins. To my surprise, Kelly thought it was a great idea, but it would get nixed by the agents and upper management who would both never agree to try it out, both sides would have too much to lose. ]]> By: Matt #3 #comment-11791 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 22:08:41 +0000 Rob, I’ve thought about that too, so you would rely mostly on homegrown relievers that are still cheap. When they get to free agency, they can walk. Only agents can screw this up by telling their HS or college guy to not sign with the Twins. But for the right guys, fireballing middle relievers, the Twins (or whatever team does this) would be a great fit for the beginning of their careers. Then they can move on to the big closer $ somewhere else after they’ve made a name for themselves. ]]> By: Rob S #comment-11789 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:35:41 +0000 I like these ideas about non-traditional rosters like all-relievers, but I’m wondering if you would run into real-world problems signing guys up for that. Think about the pitchers who turned down offers from the Rockies because they didn’t want Coors Field tainting their statistics, and thus their ability to sign large contracts later in their careers (and their HoF chances, I guess). Would the Twins run into difficulty convincing the most talented guys in that pack of relievers that there will be no consistent wins and saves for their agents to brag about when negotiating their next contract? ]]> By: birdwatcher #comment-11788 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 21:31:31 +0000 eye roll… Just kidding. ]]> By: Tom W #comment-11785 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 20:18:46 +0000 When I was younger, Tom Kelly used to be on the radio every week with Sid. Every once in a while, people would call in with wild suggestions and TK would just go nuts. I would love to be in the room when the new billionaire owner tells Gardy and Terry Ryan that they are now going to implement the new plan of pitching only relievers. I think it would blow their mind, and their reaction would probably not be much different than TK’s derision and eye rolling. With that being said, I would love to see the Twins try it. ]]> By: Matt #3 #comment-11783 Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:56:41 +0000 All of those ideas are something I’d be on board with. My original thought is to just limit each pitcher to approximately one inning. You could carry a staff of 12 Jesse Crain/Glen Perkins clones (but younger and cheaper). If 8-9 guys pitch each game, they can certainly use a majority of those guys again the next day. After a guy has pitched maybe 2-3 games in a row, then he gets a day off. But with 12 pitchers on staff, it shouldn’t be a problem to get these guys the rest they need – especially considering they are only throwing 15-20 pitches per game. If a game does get out of hand one way or another, I’d lean towards burning those innings with a Drew Butera clone. No need to waste pitching roster space when you’re already wasting space with a 3rd catcher. Make that 3rd catcher serve another purpose. ]]>

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