Comments on: JC’s Twins Offseason Blueprint: Zack Fever

By: Help Wanted: Professional Hitter | Knuckleballs

Help Wanted: Professional Hitter | Knuckleballs — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 14:36:17 +0000

[...] in November when many of us posted our off-season “blueprint“… our suggestions for what the Twins should try to accomplish over the winter… I [...]

By: (Over)reactions to JJ Hardy Trade | Knuckleballs

(Over)reactions to JJ Hardy Trade | Knuckleballs — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 07:24:00 +0000

[...] It appears that I can pretty much forget all about my off-season “blueprint”. Not only is it virtually impossible that the Twins would be able to get my preferred [...]

By: Is There a Magic Wand(y) Out There? | Knuckleballs

Is There a Magic Wand(y) Out There? | Knuckleballs — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 13:42:06 +0000

[...] also understand that my Zack Greinke wish is not going to come true. In fact, given that the Royals would clearly demand from the Twins a [...]

By: Steve Johnson

Steve Johnson — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 12:38:12 +0000

The problem with your Grienke proposal is that it’s simply preposterous from Kansas City’s standpoint. You’re offering only one player with any sort of upside, and two back of the rotation guys? It’s simply not remotely realistic. I mean, it’s like a few years ago when I wandered into some RedSox forum where everybody thought that if you threw enough C+ prospects at the Twins, they’d somehow end up giving up Joe Mauer.

If you’re serious about landing Zienke, your final offer to the Royals is going to have to look a lot like this:
Pick Two:
1) Aarron Hicks
2) Miguel Sano
3) Kyle Gibson

Pick another Two
1) Billy Bullock
2) Ben Revere
3) Brian Duensing
4) Liam Hendriks
5) Angel Morales
6) Oswaldo Arcia
7) Adrian Salcedo

Also, what excatly would Jessie Crain’s motivation be to sign a contract laden with save-oriented incentives if he’s not guaranteed the closer’s job?

By: James

James — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:22:03 +0000

I have no idea what an RSS feed is. LOL

By: CapitalBabs

CapitalBabs — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 20:00:00 +0000

I will ponder that for a bit – as a person who actually reads EVERYTHING that comes through my twitter feed, I actually despise retweets of old posts without a specific reason to do so. They clutter up my feed with information I already have.

But, my personal feelings aside, I’ll put some thought into whether it would be of use to retweet posts after their intitial offering.

Have you tried subscribing to the RSS feed instead of just relying on twitter?

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:44:44 +0000

No offseason news? Of course there is!! I leave the technical stuff like the twittering, etc., to Babs. I’m too old to understand that stuff (or at least that’s the excuse I use to keep from having to learn it).

As for Melky Cabrera, he throws lefty but he switch hits. That’s one of the things I liked about him as a 4th OF. It provides versatility not otherwise there, not only in the OF, but also in the event Thome can’t be re-signed. In that case, the Twins could go after lefty or righty hitting bench/DH additions.

As for Gibson, I understand the Twins might prefer to have him starting in Rochester over sitting in the pen in Minnesota, BUT… since Nolan Ryan doesn’t run the Twins, you have to figure they’re going to be watching his innings closely. By starting the season in the pen, he’ll not only be available to step in to the rotation when needed, but will also not be using up (one could even say wasting) precious innings in Rochester. We don’t want to see him do well and then in September have everyone worried that he’s been overused.

By: James

James — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:30:28 +0000

oh, I do have a suggestion for the site during the offseason. If someone makes a post, its goes to Twitter. But it would be helpful if it gets twittered 12 hours later or the next day as a reminder that there is a post up for reading/commenting. In the offseason, I dont usually check out that many baseball blogs because there really is no news. I stumbled across this because I was looking back at some old twitter stuff

By: James

James — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 19:28:03 +0000

I guess I dont see Duensing as more of a 5th man in the rotation. However, I think he could be a stellar bullpen guy. If the Twins lose both Crain and Guerrier I could see him being as that 7th inning guy. It would also open up a rotation spot for Gibson/Manship/cheap free agent
so my pitchers would looks like: Lirano-Baker-Pavano-Blackburn-Gibson/Manship/Cheap Free agent. Pen of Nathan-Capps-Duensing-Mijares-Neshek-Burnett/Manship/cheap free agent guy

Or if a trade for Grienke happens (again I say its a 0% chance): Grienke-Liriano-Baker-Blackburn-Manship/Gibson/Cheap free agent guy. Pen of Nathan-Capps-Mijares-Neshek-Burnett/Manship/2 Cheap free agent guys/acquired in trade guy

I think Gibson is either the 5th starting spot at the start of the year or starts the season in Rochester. No bullpen for him. I also think if there is a trade for Grienke, there will be no Pavano. I think there is no Glen Perkins next year (although I have been thinking that for the last 2 offseasons LOL)

I do have a quibble with your offense, you have Melky as a 4th OF. I dont think the Twins would get a guy like that because he is left handed. The Twins need right handed bats (especially if Thome comes back). Listening to an interview Bill Smith gave on Election Day, its sounded like he really liked what Repko did so I wouldnt be shocked if he came back and was the 4th OF again. Or Ben Revere takes over that spot (but again he is LH), but both are cheaper than signed Melky

oh gosh, this turned long. LOL sorry bout that. But you and I have said it many times, its going to be an interesting offseason

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:52:17 +0000

James, giving up Duensing would leave the Twins with just Liriano as a lefty SP and that would concern me, especially since the best starting pitcher coming up in the organization, Kyle Gibson, is right-handed, as well. I guess there’s always Glen Perkins (gulp). I think Liriano, Duensing and Gibson could form a solid core of starting pitchers for several years to come (and if Greinke is added and can be signed to a reasonable extension, that’s even better). Most of the rest of the Twins’ pitching staff and pitching prospects are, as far as I’m concerned, placeholders and potential trade bait.