The Twins certainly could have given the Rangers a run for their money last night, save for one person: Brad Radke. Radke, along with Carlos Silva and Kyle Lohse, has so far been among the leagues worst starting pitchers, if not the worst. If you forget about Radke's solid performance against Kansas City last week, he is 2-4 with a 9.19 ERA, not to mention that ugly .349 opponent's batting average. As for Silva, without his good start against KC, he'd be 1-4 with a 10.32 ERA. And Lohse is 1-3 with a 9.71. To put things in a different way, the Twins as a club are hitting .256/.313/.378 as a club. Opponents are hitting .311/.351/.506 with 44 HRs and 170 RBI. That's generally not conducive to a lot of winning.
If last night's start proved anything, its that if the Twins want to win, they need to do something about their starting pitching. Four runs may have been enough to beat the Rangers, if only a different man was on the mound. Radke's line -- 5 IP, 11 hits allowed, 6 earned runs, three walks, and one measly strikeout -- was simply awful. Even if Radke is a "veteran" who signed for less money and clearly a fan favorite, he needs to be called into question. The Twins need to considering trading or reassigning all three of these guys. I would rather almost anyone else was starting. Even with a rotation of Santana-Liriano-Baker-Guerrier-Bonser, I'd be more comfortable. At least there would be an apparent effort to get better.
The point is, its getting into May and the Twins are 13-19. Something needs to be done. Its getting ridiculous and we can't expect this lineup to go out and win every game, even if they are showing signs of life and starting to take better at-bats. If that kind of play results in nothing, the likeliness is that the Twins batters will just resort to old habits.
Everytime I see Radke, Silva, or Lohse's name before a game, I get nervous. Its almost never a good feeling. The good news is that change may be on the way. The MLB.com Twins reporter, Kelly Thesier, noted in her mailbag that "the patience with Lohse also seems to be wearing thin, especially after two bad starts in a row against the Tigers. Carlos Silva showed promise, finding his sinker again in his last start, and Brad Radke has the proven track record as a 12-year veteran, so I think if Liriano is going to ease into the rotation it will likely be in Lohse's spot." I, of course, still think Radke may need to be moved and I am not yet sold that Silva is "back," since it was only KC. But I'd love to see Liriano take Lohse's spot. I think just about all Twins fans would love that.
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
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5 comments:
To me, the logical thing to do is trade Radke. While he hasn't been any worse than Silva or Lohse, they are younger and have more potential to improve. Also, this is supposedly Radke's last year, so he will be gone next year and we will get nothing for him.
I realize there are two problems with trading Radke: 1) you need his permission and 2) will anyone want him. I suspect, though, that those aren't insurmountable problems. While Radke has said that he wants to retire as a Twin, it would seem that the chance to go elsewhere for one last shot at the World Series might be attractive. Also, even though he's not pitching well, as desperate as teams get for pitching, it would seem that someone would look at his prior record and believe they could straighten him out.
I know the Twins feel loyalty to Radke, but I don't think you can allow loyalty to one player to override loyalty to the team. Even if Radke starts pitching better, it's unlikely to mean anything for the Twins this year, and next year he'll be gone anyway. It's time to build for the future. If we can get anything worth having for Radke, we should do it.
I wouldn't be opposed to trading Radke, but I don't see it happening. I think the biggest thing you mentioned is loyalty. Remember that Brad signed for less to stay with the Twins, and he's pitched here for his whole career and meant a lot to this franchise. Now, granted, the well-being of the team is more important than loyalty to a single player, but I really don't believe Radke would bring back much in a trade. He's old, and a lot of teams would probably assume he's simply out of gas. Plus, it is pretty widely known that he plans to retire after this season. So is a competing team really going to give up anything of much value in order to acquire a pitcher with a 7.70 ERA for half a season? I doubt it. I'm much more supportive of the idea of shipping off Silva or Lohse in a package deal.
I agree with Nick. A packaged deal of Lohse, Silva, and maybe Batista (what the hell, I can dream can't I?) for some middle-infield or power prospects would be great to me. We have Liriano ready to go right now and Boof Bonser doing great in Triple-A. Bonser can take one spot on the roster and the Twins can call up Pat Neshek for bullpen help. He is striking out a ton of guys at Triple-A.
I like the trades - "Deadwood" for "Good Players!!!!!!!!"
Seriously, though - Radke isn't going anywhere this year. Either he starts pitching better & the Twins don't want to let him go or he continues to pitch poorly and he stays in Minnesota because no one will offer anything of value in return.
Lohse is the one who should go.
I think we are going to see a lot of changes and not just with the pitching staff. The lineup on Tuesday night showed that changes are coming.
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