Comments on: Hints of a New Twins Paradigm?

By: lisatwink

lisatwink — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 07:07:09 +0000

A common rumor long before he admitted it a year or two ago, or whatever it was, was that the Twins had dumped David Ortiz due to strong suspicion of steroid use. It sure would have been nice to have a bat like that in the lineup, but I’ve gotta respect that position, too, if that rumor is true. They didn’t want that in the clubhouse. (And I don’t like to see that wearing Kirby’s number in homage, now that it’s out there.)

By: Jim Crikket

Jim Crikket — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 22:14:33 +0000

I guess if every decision a GM makes is judged based on: (a) subjective criteria of one person’s view of that decision, AND (b) with perfect 20-20 hindsight, then it’s pretty easy to find fault with anyone.

And I think you need to employ a pretty low standard for “mid level free agent” to include the likes of Tony Batista and virtually every other name on that list.

During his first term as GM, Ryan was limited to sifting through virtual dregs of free agency after any team with a nickel to spend had their shot. You can choose not to acknowledge that and prefer to simply criticize everything, of course. That’s pretty easy to do.

By: thrylos98

thrylos98 — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:59:12 +0000

“I, for one, am willing to admit that it’s not only possible, but likely, that Ryan is smarter than we are. ”

Two words: David Ortiz

(and now 2 more, unfortunately: Kevin Slowey)

Ryan has made way more bad decisions than good and for every Johan Santana there were about 2 David Ortiz. They Twins would have actually had a pretty killer bullpen last season, for example, if Ryan did not get rid of the likes of Grant Balfour, Peter Moylan, Evan Meek and Randy Choate…

By: thrylos98

thrylos98 — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 21:53:15 +0000

“giving Terry Ryan the freedom he never had before to throw money at mid-level free agents, could make a front office change its philosophy and do some silly things, too.”

Terry Ryan practically made a living throwing money at mid-level free agents, unless we forgot the likes of:

Rondell White, Tony Batista, Ruben Sierra, Terry Muhlolland, Jim Deshaies, Kevin Maas, Roberto Kelly, Bob Tewksbury, Greg Swindell, Otis Nixon, Mike Morgan, Butch Huskey, Bobby Ayala, Michael Jackson, Juan Castro, Dennys Reyes , Jeff Cirillo, Sidney Ponson. Ramon Ortiz.

Exactly the same MO, just different times.

By: frightwig

frightwig — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 20:59:34 +0000

Some supplemental picks the Twins didn’t get in those years:

2004
J.P. Howell, Gio Gonzalez, Huston Street

2005
Travis Buck, Luke Hochevar (DNS), Clay Buchholz, Jed Lowrie

2006
Chris Coghlan, Joba Chamberlain, Chris Perez

2007
Clayton Mortensen, Brett Cecil, Tommy Hunter, Cory Luebke

2008
Lance Lynn, Wade Miley

2009
Rex Brothers

2010
Chance Ruffin

That’s limited to players who have reached the majors, already, as I don’t feel like sifting through the minor league stats of every supplemental pick to judge which ones still look like decent prospects. But, I’m sure we’ll see a few more sandwich guys from 2008-10 come up and make a mark in the near future. Some good players have been taken in that round in recent years. The Twins have just failed to get any of them.

The truth is, the Twins drafts have been below-average for several years. If anyone doubts it, check out the chart in this article: http://www.letsgotribe.com/2011/12/2/2603851/are-the-indians-getting-better-at-drafting-players

A club that depends a lot on the draft to stock the big league roster really has not been good at drafting many quality prospects for quite some time. And, who knows, maybe it has started to affect the way that the front office braintrust thinks about building the roster.

Then again, having a $100 million budget, giving Terry Ryan the freedom he never had before to throw money at mid-level free agents, could make a front office change its philosophy and do some silly things, too.

By: TT

TT — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 17:37:24 +0000

“The didn’t often re-sign their own Type A or Type B free agents. They LOVED high draft picks.”

Perhaps that is the wrong conclusion. Instead they just didn’t want to spend the money. Afterall, a 30+ draft pick is not all that high. Most of those guys never play in the big leagues. The new rules are not going to make much difference, most guys taken that low will still never play in the big leagues.

Here are the supplemental picks for the Twins in the last decade:

2004:
Matt Fox(35),
Jay Rainville(39)
2005:
Hank Sanchez (39)
2008:
Shooter Hunt (31)
2009:
Matt Bashore (46)
2011:
Travis Harrison(50),
Hudson Boyd(55)

No one is going to lose any sleep over those guys – except people who over-value draft choices and think those last three are destined to be stars. That isn’t to say they won’t be, its just not very likely.

” By draft day, we’ll know what the compensation pick would have been like, and by this time next year we’ll know if it all worked out.”

Well, no we won’t. No more than the Twins winning the division in 2010 settled the value of the Capps for Ramos trade. Because, no matter who is drafted, they won’t be ready for the big leagues for several years in the unlikely event they get there at all. And the folks who think closers are overvalued, will think Capps is overvalued even if he never blows a save.