FTLOSBW - Where are they now file - Nathan, Kubel, Cuddy, Silva
Yes, this is thru 6 games in the 2012 season - RTS can update us at the All-Star break.
Joe is struggling (he's lost 2 games all by himself) but coming to town against the Twins I'm sure he is going to kill us, chalk it up. That's $7M we didn't spend this year (2 years, $14.5M)
Jason is providing the same log jam in left as he did in Minnesota - his field play is weak but his bat is needed in the lineup. He is a .271 career hitter so it'll work out for him but thru today he's hitting .200. That's $7.5M we didn't spend this year. (2 years, $16M)
Cuddy is hitting .400. He had 3 doubles in a 17-6 rout of the Gigantes. He goes to hitting in the ozone layer of Colorado which, lets be honest, Larry Walker made a name for himself doing. That's $10.5 million the Twins opted out of. (3 years, $31.5M)
Carlos no longer plays beisbol.
Note: I'm not submitting this with any sense of schadenfreude either, believe me. I'm just trying to ride the 1 game winning streak of the Twinkies and take a break from music and technology posts.
10 Comments:
Just some thoughts and my facts may be off.
Wouldn't it be nice to have JJ Hardy at short right now? Hasn't the middle infield been an issue long enough? We finally had a decent SS, not great but better than anything we currently have, and we trade him, yet a guy like Alexi Casilla seems to get an infinite amount of chances to prove himself.
Weren't the Twins offered Ian Kennedy and some other Yankees for Sanatana? I believe they turned down the deal because they wanted Phil Hughes and Kennedy. There is the missing Ace right there.
No need to sign Nathan. No need for a high priced closer when you aren't going to compete. This team will not compete until the rotation is shored up.
Kruk had a good quote about Willingham. "He is going to make a difference in the pennant race. Not for the Twins, but for someone." Too true.
Remember last year when everyone was hurt and all the AAA guys were on the roster? I think they are all on the roster again, only no one is hurt.
They may be able to finish second in the central but it is only because it is the central.
Trickle down effect of the Johan Santana deal:
We deal Santana and get Phil Humber, Kevin Mulvey, Deolos Guerra and Carlos Gomez. Ian Kenndey staright up would have been a better deal.
We trade Gomez for Hardy.
We trade Hardy and Brendan Harris for Brett Jacobson and Phil Hoey.
Not quite the Chuck Knoblauch or Frank Viola trades.
April 13, 2012 at 8:32 AM
I've never wrung my hands all that much no the Santana deal. We have to remember, we weren't just trading a superstar with nothing more to it. We were trading a guy with but one year on a contract who was obviously going to command too much for us to keep him, so we were severely hamstrung. IIRC, Kennedy was seen as high potential but a lot of risk he wouldn't reach it, and Hughes was clearly the better thought of prospect by the commentariat. We didn't get much out of the players we received, true. I think the inability to develop Gomez was the killer, followed by giving up on Hardy too quickly.
Anyway, the Garza deal was infinitely worse, is the point I'm trying to make.
That's a great line from Kruk. We should just trade Willingham and his 1.400 OPS now and maximize value! He's due for a nasty regression to the mean (career OPS is .841). Then again, how nice is it to have a righthanded stick that can jack it out more than once every 25 hanging curveballs like Cuddy (career OPS .796)?
It's also nice to have a guy who can hit some sacrifice flies when necessary. The Twins had 25 (20 fucking 5!!!) sf's TOTAL last season. First of all, that's atrocious. You only move a guy over or in on a sac fly once a week? With a plethora of lefties who could hit for power, two righties who loved to hit lazy flies to mid-deep-RF every other at-bat, and a bunch of team speed. No wonder you came one Jim Thome game-ending homer from losing a hundred games. Secondly, Willingham had 8 sac flies all by himself last year.
Can we just let Duensing be a starter and work on his craft now that Baker's gone for season? He's just such a waste in the bullpen.
April 13, 2012 at 11:15 AM
There has to be a list somewhere of Twins worst trades, heck, we've probably got that compiled in our posts.
Santana was a killer. Remember, this also made everyone panic at the thought of not getting anything for Mauer if the Twins traded him when the day came and probably why he got the contract he did.
Beisbol is fun when your team wins. For 24 hours, it's fun.
Kruk is kinda right.
On our rotation - I saw some thing on HBO sports about this velocity training program featuring A's pitcher Steve Delabar (if you haven't seen it, google it) where not only did he return from baseball oblivion a couple years ago when he fractured his right elbow and had a plate and 9 screws put in to today where he is now starting for the A's. His method was this arm training program that helped him rebuild strength after his accident. He was planning to become an instructor of the technique but found himself regaining arm strength. Where he once was throwing in the high 80's, he was now in the mid 90's. After never getting higher than AA he was brought into the A's organization again last year (leaving his substitute teaching job) and working all the way through the minors in one Summer to get a "W" against the Yankees (I think). HBO reported that EVERYONE who has used this his arm strengthening technique put 2-3 miles on their fastball. Everyone. Little girls. If FTLOSBW owned the Twins I would have this fucking pitching training in place NOW. Right? Holy fuck, people. Everyone in our rotation could use at least 2-3 mph. I love Pavano but he hasn't cracked 90 this year. So frustrating.
Phew, sorry for the rant.
MCA - gut-punching stat on sac flies. Here's another - that was Mauer's SECOND HOME RUN EVER in TF. EVER.
April 13, 2012 at 1:15 PM
The 25 sac flys is amazing. Adam Jones had 12 all by himself.
So the Twins are pretty much were I/we expected them to be, 2-7 four games behind the Tigers. Casilla is hitting sub .200. The starters have no wins among them. Jeff Gray has both W's. Too early to talk Jeff Gray for Cy Young? Don't give me that but he is a middle reliever crap either. Willingham has exceeded expectations. His 4 home runs are more than the rest of the team.
April 16, 2012 at 11:41 AM
Oh, NOW you can beat the fucking Yankees? Thanks, that's great.
April 17, 2012 at 9:33 AM
^^^Perfect comment.
April 17, 2012 at 11:32 AM
Three thoughts:
1. Maybe we should revisit our discussion on Morneau. I'm loving seeing him crushing homers, and I feel really happy for him.
2. Followup to my prior comment - we might take 3 of a 4 game series tonight in Yankee Stadium. Excuse me if I'm finding it hard to get truly excited about that.
3. Josh Willingham is apparently nicknamed "Hammer" by his teammates, but in my humble opinion "Yes Pig" is infinitely better and we need to help spread it.
April 19, 2012 at 4:14 PM
Call me slow, I don't get the Yes Pig. Please explain.
April 20, 2012 at 8:19 AM
Willing. Ham.
April 20, 2012 at 10:02 AM
Ahhhhh...I don't do well trying to figure out vanity plates either.
April 20, 2012 at 10:49 AM
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