twins/mlb

Letting Santana go has to be one of the biggest blunders for the Twins. They're willing to pay 23 million a year for a singles hitting catcher but can't open the checkbook for a pitcher like Santana? The Twins are developing a reputation of signing the has beens, could be's and maybe's.

so team-oriented, so humble...and so Big market rich... Twins offered Santana a three year deal that would have made him one of the highest paid pitchers...Santana wanted more years then three and also to play in a Big Market...So Twins were forced to trade Johan or watch him walk at seasons end...Looking back the twins should have kept him for the that whole season and let him walk...

Fooled me Jim I thought you would give the credit to Rick Anderson for sure. My apology sir.

So Johan throws at 89 now. Sounds like a perfect fit for "pitch to contact" Twins. But congrats to Johan for the no hitter especially with the reduced velocity.

Velocity isn't everything just like power isn't. Nuiances of baseball. Look at one of the greatest control pitchers ever, the professor, Greg Maddux. Not a lot of power but boy could he pitch. And this pitching to contact philosophy. Where does it come from on here? Not the Twins if you'd listen to them talk. Especially Andy. Where do you guys get this stuff? And punch and judy or slap hitting? Looks like Joe has enough power to hit it out of Cleveland Stadium, like he did tonight. Where do you guys come up with this crap?

Cuellar also taught Liriano his change-up and helped refine his slider. Now the question is: Why is Cuellar not with the Twins and Rick Anderson...well...anywhere but here???

Great. This will get all the people who have heard of Bobby Cuellar wondering why he isn't the Twins' pitching coach. Well, it's because if you look at Cuellar's body of work it's clear that Santana succeeded because of his talent. Coaches don't take nothing and make something. Cuellar MANAGED Manship, Mijares, Swarzak and Rob Delaney. He coached Bonser, Baker, Blackburn, J.D. Durbin, Willie Eyre and Dave Gassner. Some of those names are guys that get ripped here, and the rest were never good enough to get ripped here. As for Santana, the Twins have 55 wins from Scott Baker in the past five seasons he pitched. Cost? About $9 million. The Mets have 43 wins from Santana? Cost? $101 million. Or $151,000 per inning. If you think Mauer is expensive relative to his contribution, Santana has been REALLY expensive. Anyone griping about the ROI on Mauer yet wondering why the Twins let Santana go have argued against themselves, and lost.

boneheaded trade by the twinks. got nothing in return for a multiple cy young winner in his prime. even worse than letting Ortiz go for nothing.

frank123 are you blind? The Twins have acted like they think a freeswinger is akin to cancer. Where are the power pitchers in their organization. Their entire approach is based on finesse hitting and pitching. You'd have have to be an idiot not to notice. Gardenhire might be sending signals to management that he wants something different. He praised Willingham's plate approach the other day, seemingly embracing strikeouts as necessary for the gamewinning homeruns.

Let's see the ramifications of the 134 no-hit pitches this season. Santana's career high is 125, and he was 28. Pre-surgery. That season when he threw 125, Santana threw a ton of games with more than 100 pitches, and was in the 115s often. That season was the start of his decline under both Willie Randolph and Jerry Manuel. Santana excceeded 110 pitches 12 times under mean ol' Gardy in Santana's final three seasons in Minnesota. Santana matched that total in his first season in New York, once topping 110 in three straight games. Since 2008, he's never worked 200 innings a season. The Twins never overworked a very young Santana the way the Mets have overworked the older model.