Comments on: Kevin Correia and the 2013 Minnesota Twins

By: frightwig

frightwig — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 10:53:23 +0000

The big concern about Correia is that his K/9 has dropped the last couple seasons, but he’s compensated with an increased groundball rate (51.2% this year) and his xFIP in Pittsburgh was actually a bit lower than his 4.44 career mark. Comparing his career xFIP, or his marks in Pittsburgh, to Guthrie’s career 4.63 xFIP, I think there’s a good chance that they have similar results next year. Hopefully, the benefits of Target Field and the AL Central schedule particularly help Correia, and we have a back-end starter posting a 4.50 ERA for $5M–which would be an improvement on what the Twins have been getting from a lot of starters lately.

By: Eric Pleiss

Eric Pleiss — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:36:48 +0000

I don’t know if I’d compare him to Guthrie. Guthrie has had success in the AL previously and might have some upside. Correia is a guy that hasn’t been good since he left San Diego, has never pitched only in the NL, and has never hit 200 innings pitched (though he’s been close).
Like you, I expected Terry Ryan to sign at least one guy like this, but if he’s done acquiring talent for the winter, I’ll be awfully disappointed with 2013, despite the upgrades Ryan made to future teams.

By: frightwig

frightwig — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 21:07:12 +0000

It’s possible that he’s just a cheaper Jeremy Guthrie. No, I’m not excited about it, either, but I expected TR to sign a couple guys like this. It’s just weird that he gave Correia 2 years. Usually, the Twins like to save these kinds of baffling deals for scrappy utility infielders.