Twins sign Morneau, Cuddyer to multiyear deals

jtd9046 · 01-29-2008, 12:31 AM

Radke was a much better pitcher than Silva. Not saying Radke was great but he was better than Silva. Radke would keep the team in the game in most of his starts. Silva does from time to time but he also gets blown out quite a bit as well.

Radke's career batting avg against is a full 25 points better than Silva. He also averaged another 10 pitches per game than Silva which is huge for a bullpen. You also have to take into consideration that Radke played on some pretty awful teams at the beginning of his career as they finished in the bottom two of the division his first six seasons. Silva has been on some pretty competitive clubs.

Iastfan112 · 01-29-2008, 01:33 AM

Originally Posted by jtd9046

Radke was a much better pitcher than Silva. Not saying Radke was great but he was better than Silva. Radke would keep the team in the game in most of his starts. Silva does from time to time but he also gets blown out quite a bit as well.

Radke's career batting avg against is a full 25 points better than Silva. He also averaged another 10 pitches per game than Silva which is huge for a bullpen. You also have to take into consideration that Radke played on some pretty awful teams at the beginning of his career as they finished in the bottom two of the division his first six seasons. Silva has been on some pretty competitive clubs.

To refute your points it all goes to the different natures of the pitchers, Silva is a sinkerball(and thus groundball pitcher) whereas Radke was a flyball. With Radke's approach you had fewer hits in general and slightly higher strike out totals but the hits were more frequently 2bs or hr's. Silva allows a higher avg. but the hits are more likely to be singles that sneak through the infield. That being said Radke is a somewhat better pitcher overall, but not by a huge margin.

I question your use of "keeps it close" as I'm pretty sure theres no good way to verify that. The different quality of teams makes little difference unless your talking defense which was also good under Tom Kelly, it was the offense that suffered and the only statistic that suffered there is wins which is pretty meaningless, doesn't show a pitchers talents just what sort of offense they have behind them, similar to RBI's being pretty pointless as well.

Ficklone02 · 01-29-2008, 04:28 AM

Originally Posted by Iastfan112

To refute your points it all goes to the different natures of the pitchers, Silva is a sinkerball(and thus groundball pitcher) whereas Radke was a flyball. With Radke's approach you had fewer hits in general and slightly higher strike out totals but the hits were more frequently 2bs or hr's. Silva allows a higher avg. but the hits are more likely to be singles that sneak through the infield. That being said Radke is a somewhat better pitcher overall, but not by a huge margin.

I question your use of "keeps it close" as I'm pretty sure theres no good way to verify that. The different quality of teams makes little difference unless your talking defense which was also good under Tom Kelly, it was the offense that suffered and the only statistic that suffered there is wins which is pretty meaningless, doesn't show a pitchers talents just what sort of offense they have behind them, similar to RBI's being pretty pointless as well.

If the Twins were in the playoffs in both guys primes, you knew that Radke was your #1 guy, and Silva was #3 at best. 'Nuff said.

Iastfan112 · 01-29-2008, 04:31 AM

Originally Posted by Ficklone02

If the Twins were in the playoffs in both guys primes, you knew that Radke was your #1 guy, and Silva was #3 at best. 'Nuff said.

Radke was only a number 1 because of a lack of a better option, Silva was appropriate in his spot and Radke was a very typical 2 once Santana had matured and taken on the role of "ace" around 2003.

Ficklone02 · 01-29-2008, 04:36 AM

Semantics...Brad got us to the playoffs as the #1 guy. I think the main point here is that Radke was a more consistent, reliable guy. Silva would pitch really well, and then dissappear and be terrible for a while.

kurimski · 01-29-2008, 07:05 AM

Actually his "bad" era was 2nd best for full time starter and 3rd best if you count Garza, and for a team that had the 4th best pitching staff in the AL(would have been better if the Twins had thrown out the garbage of Ponson and Ortiz earlier). If your going to call Silva not good you'd have the make that assertion about former Twin Brad Radke as well.

Silva doesn't even belong in the same paragraph as Radke ever. Radke did so many great things for the Twins franchise. If he would have left the Twins for the Yankees or Red Sox when he had the chance during free agency he would have been a top 5 pitcher in the A.L. easily. That fact that you used Radke in the same paragraph Ponson, Ortiz, and Silva is terrible. I hope Chuck Norris comes to your house and takes care of you! haha...and yes i'm being sarcastic but Radke was a great pitcher with a ton of heart. Just take his last season in the pros for an example.

jdoggivjc · 01-29-2008, 08:28 AM

The QC Times reported today that they expect Cuddyer to move to CF if their prospects don't pan out this season (unfortunately it was in the hard copy of the sports section and not online). Anyone think this might take advantage more of his athletic abilities and that cannon of an arm that he has?

Ficklone02 · 01-29-2008, 08:32 AM

My first thoughts are that he is not fast enough to cover that much ground......I don't know, I guess we will find out if it happens.

Iastfan112 · 01-29-2008, 07:10 PM

Originally Posted by kurimski

Silva doesn't even belong in the same paragraph as Radke ever. Radke did so many great things for the Twins franchise. If he would have left the Twins for the Yankees or Red Sox when he had the chance during free agency he would have been a top 5 pitcher in the A.L. easily. That fact that you used Radke in the same paragraph Ponson, Ortiz, and Silva is terrible. I hope Chuck Norris comes to your house and takes care of you! haha...and yes i'm being sarcastic but Radke was a great pitcher with a ton of heart. Just take his last season in the pros for an example.

Yes Radke did a lot of great things for the franchise and as a player I hold him in much higher regard but statistically they werent that dissimilar, I respect Radke for sticking around(and for his gutsy last season) but going to New York or Boston would not have magically made his era go lower. I really think Radke gets overrated by fans because he was the becon of hope throughout the 90's, I like him a ton to and he was my favorite player to watch growing up but a career 4.2 era isnt anything special.

Iastfan112 · 01-29-2008, 07:16 PM

Originally Posted by jdoggivjc

The QC Times reported today that they expect Cuddyer to move to CF if their prospects don't pan out this season (unfortunately it was in the hard copy of the sports section and not online). Anyone think this might take advantage more of his athletic abilities and that cannon of an arm that he has?

I really don't think Cuddyer can cover the ground there, for range in RF he's very average and in CF that becomes a whole lot bigger deal, if it wasnt for his cannon arm Cuddyer would be a very average RF.
What I expect will happen is that either Pridie, Denard Span, or Gomez(if the Santana deal gets done) gets the start out there. Pridie has to be the odds on favorite for this year at least as the Twins seem to absolutely love him and have for several years and is the most ready of the 3. Span looked alright in the minors last year but is probably nothing more than a 4th outfielder at the major league level(could grow into something more but I'm doubtful). Gomez needs a bit more seasoning as well but depending on if he improves his plate discipline at AAA could see him take over in the middle of the year.

jdoggivjc · 01-30-2008, 09:25 AM

Originally Posted by Iastfan112

Yes Radke did a lot of great things for the franchise and as a player I hold him in much higher regard but statistically they werent that dissimilar, I respect Radke for sticking around(and for his gutsy last season) but going to New York or Boston would not have magically made his era go lower. I really think Radke gets overrated by fans because he was the becon of hope throughout the 90's, I like him a ton to and he was my favorite player to watch growing up but a career 4.2 era isnt anything special.

I think the thing that Twins fans most appreciated about him was the pain that he pitched through in the last couple years of his career. It was something like he had a torn labrum or cartilage or something like that, and I think it was for more than one season. The guy could have had it surgically repaired earlier, but yet that would have put him out for a season and he loved pitching too much. I can't imagine having to go out there and pitch every 4-5 days in that kind of pain.