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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    You are right — the loophole does not exist as I had stated above. Here is the full clause again for restoring a DFA’d player: “ 6. A player can be Designated for Assignment and then subsequently returned to the club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) and optioned to the minors as long as the player is not replaced on the club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) by another player after the player is Designated for Assignment.” “And optioned to the minors” is the clause that Vargas fails to satisfy, as he is out of options like you said. So even though Vargas hasn’t been replaced on the 40-man yet, he can’t be restored to the Twins roster at this point either.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    That’s what DFA is — “roster limbo”. Vargas doesn’t have to “be” anywhere during this time, and he continues getting MLB service time until the DFA is resolved.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Here is the rule as I understand it: “ 6. A player can be Designated for Assignment and then subsequently returned to the club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) and optioned to the minors as long as the player is not replaced on the club's MLB Reserve List (40-man roster) by another player after the player is Designated for Assignment.” https://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3535 In this case, you might be right — while Donaldson took Vargas’ active roster spot (meaning, his 25-man / 28-man roster spot), nobody took his Reserve List (40-man) spot yet. (At least they Twins roster page has 41 names on it, and two of those — Bailey and Gordon — presumably don’t count right now.) Not sure though — seems like a loophole that could be easily exploited/abused, to just keep DFA’ing an out of options player with the expectation that another player could go on the IL within a week and you could keep the DFA’d player. (Especially with the 28-man roster and 10-day IL, it would be fairly easily to pick pitchers at the back of your staff to rotate through phantom IL stints, as necessary.) But maybe we can get away with it once? Edit: I lack reading comprehension, apparently! The above-quoted rule only applies if the player has minor league options remaining — Vargas obviously doesn’t. So there is no way to restore a DFA’d, out of options player to the roster (at least not without going through waivers and then re-selecting his contract).
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    And if we don’t call up Rooker for that role, the real Brian Buchanan is only 47 years old!
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Wouldn’t burn an option until he spent 20 days on optional assignment — so we could send him out and call him back after 10 days if we wanted.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Good point. Or the original plan was yesterday, but they already had a minor setback.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm guessing he's scheduled to go full-speed today in a full simulated game, or some other test that he hasn't yet achieved in rehab, and if all goes well with that, they will activate him tomorrow. That way, if there are any issues today, they can work on it and still activate him later in the week if possible. If they activated him today, and he had any issues, then he'd be taking up a roster spot while being unavailable the next few days, or they'd have to restart his IL clock again and he couldn't return for another 10 days.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    That list doesn’t reflect IL status. Bailey is on the 45-day IL so he doesn’t count against the 40, and I suspect Gordon is on the COVID list so he likewise doesn’t count either. Interestingly, they don’t list restricted list guys Pineda and Romero anywhere either.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Did you see more than just this one camera angle? If not, I don't see how you can think that is "pretty clear". What exactly would Molina have gained by doing this? He moved his hand to his glove before the tag, and had plenty of time to do so again after the tag (with his back to the camera, in this video). It was a quick transfer but nowhere near impossible, especially for a skilled professional player like Molina (who handles baseballs on every pitch). I'm also guessing that he has normal human hands and can't completely obscure a baseball in his palm. If he faked it, not only would the baserunner and third base ump have probably been able to see the ball in his hand during the tag, but the first base or second base ump would have likely seen it, plus replay cameras.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Cleveland's return: - Hedges has been iffy at the plate, but the fact that he plays behind the plate could give them a viable alternative to Perez - Quantrill looks like he's been an effective reliever this season, and might be able to give Cleveland some innings even if he doesn't move back to starting (he was still a SP last year, and was a top-100 prospect 2 years ago) - Naylor looks like Greg Allen's replacement in the outfield - Arias was a top 100 prospect at MLB.com but only FV 40+ at Fangraphs. Was in A-ball last year, a free-swinging SS. Aggressive placement on SD's 60-player pool? - Cantillo is a lefty starter with great number in A-ball -- also an aggressive move to have this guy on the 60-player pool, but maybe he could ascend quickly (in relief?) - Miller was a college draftee, infielder, solid minor league numbers so far, reached AA last year at age 22 -- potential Lindor replacement? - PTBNL Waldron was another college draftee and looks like he could be a fast-rising reliever, but he's not in the Padres' 60-player pool so he can't help anybody this season
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    Wow! "The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reports that the final deal will send Clevinger, outfielder Greg Allen and a player to be named later to the Padres in exchange for Naylor, Quantrill, Arias, catcher Austin Hedges, minor league left-hander Joey Cantillo and minor league infielder Owen Miller. Bleacher Report’s Scott Miller adds that the PTBNL is likely to be minor league reliever Matt Waldron." https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2020/08/indians-trade-mike-clevinger-padres.html
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    I think you have to take team reports with a grain of salt, no? Do they ever really say a guy isn't doing well or even just meeting expectations? Especially with a high-profile guy like Lewis, they probably feel compelled to say something encouraging about him. Also, if Lewis is really doing well relative to other prospects at the alternate site, maybe that says more about the other prospects than about Lewis's immediate MLB readiness. I notice you mentioned Donaldson returning, but not Buxton. Are you expecting him to be out for the year? I know it's a little hard to count on Buxton for much, but with Donaldson, Buxton, and Marwin, the need for an average-ish RHB who can play some CF and a little infield seems significantly diminished (or at least much narrow -- maybe you don't need the versatility, and a straight OF or IF will suffice.)
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Are those players expected to debut in MLB next season? Looking at the Fangraphs and MLB.com top 100 prospect lists, the only Phillies and Reds to not be in their 60-player pools are each team's respective top 2020 draftees. 4 out of 6 Yankees from those two prospect lists are not in their 60 player pool, but none of those 4 have even played in a full-season minor league yet (and all 4 are position players). * Note that if you are looking at the initial 60-man lists from late June, some guys were added to the list later, like the Reds' Hunter Greene.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Sure, but with a guy like Lewis, you don't really know if he's one of your best players right now. Even the best talent evaluators are going to have pretty low odds of predicting Lewis's MLB success over the next month. And the cost is: - you have to give him playing time in a pennant race, just to find out if he's ready (less margin for error) - accelerated service time (1 month this year equals 3 months next year) - keeping someone else off the 40-man roster now and through this winter (Lewis doesn't have to be added until December 2021) - likely burning one of Lewis' option years in 2021 None of those costs are great enough to keep a good player down, but again, you don't know if Lewis will be a good MLB player over the next month. If he has a 10% chance of that, is that worth the costs above? And unless Lewis has truly flipped the superstar switch right now -- before his MLB debut -- how good do you expect him to be in his first month of MLB action? ~100 OPS+ type, ~0.3 WAR? Is that worth the cost? Isn't that basically Marwin Gonzalez, or what Cave, Adrianza, and Vargas did just last year? Can you realign your defense to keep Marwin in the lineup when Donaldson and Buxton come back? If we really need to add that kind of guy right now, can we find him on the trade market for reasonable cost?
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Sure, in general, players and coaches should pay attention. I'm not disputing that. I'm saying, in this specific instance, we have no real evidence that the player or coach didn't pay attention. There was likely no reaction because everyone involved saw it was a proper tag. Just because a single TV broadcast camera angle suggests the possibility of an improper tag doesn't mean an improper tag happened or that players and coaches should be expected to act on that possibility, regardless of what they themselves see on the field.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Mod note: let’s keep this discussion to on-field baseball. There are still other threads if you feel the need to expand about off-field, non-baseball topics.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    But by the time they get a museum, it is usually too late to acquire them affordably! I haven’t seen any trade chatter about Kikuchi, but maybe it’s just assumed that every Mariners player is available all the time. On the other hand, the Mariners payroll is already pretty low, so they may not feel as much pressure to dump salary anymore. Here is a Rays blogger who was targeting him, at least, with some info on his pitch usage and results in 2019-2020: https://www.draysbay.com/2020/8/28/21404691/rays-pitcher-trade-targets-seattle-arizona-cincinnati-detroit
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    First of all, Duran is in the 60 player pool; Balazovic isn’t. Secondly, players not in the pool can be traded — they just can’t be officially named until after the season. There have been a few PTBNL trades around the league already — probably none so far will be at the level of Balazovic, but it is technically possible to move him.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    I was just looking at the playoff question from a technical perspective. Yes, we should strive for better than backing into the playoffs, and absolutely we should aim for advancement.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Cruz willingly played 4 years in Seattle. His coping mechanisms are probably even better than his bat!
  21. Otto von Ballpark
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    I have to admit, I hadn’t studied how comparable prospects are being placed in 60-man pools — that does sound interesting, thanks for sharing. Maybe the Twins were just over-confident about their starting depth? Berrios, Odorizzi, Maeda, Bailey, Hill, Dobnak, Smeltzer, Pineda soon — in a 60-game season, maybe they figured they wouldn’t need additional SP and didn’t want to put Duran or Balazovic in relief yet. Of course, with SP injuries and doubleheaders, there have been plenty of opportunities to reassess and give Duran a start and put Balazovic in the 60-man pool. Hopefully all is well with Balazovic and his family in regards to COVID-19. If he still lives in Canada, that would make it especially tricky — he wouldn’t necessarily be able to travel home freely if the need arose.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    How meaningful is “best hitter in minor league practice / scrimmages”? He had a 97 wRC+ in high-A last year, followed by an 88 at AA. He’s almost certainly going to struggle in his initial exposure to MLB, especially after such a long layoff from real game action. They should be able to trade for better players than Cave or Vargas, if that is all you want.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I guess we’re both right on Balazovic — he technically did reach AA last year, but just for a single postseason game. I don’t think the Duran thing is “kid gloves” related to age or innings. It’s just he ended 2019 in a spot that wouldn’t normally warrant jumping immediately into a MLB rotation, and due to 2020 weirdness, he hasn’t had a chance to develop any further this year. He would be more likely to find success in the MLB pen this year, but we have less need there and maybe they don’t want him moving away from a starting regimen at this point in his career.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Obviously getting swept at home and running the losing streak to 8 would be very, very bad, but to miss the playoffs it looks like we’d have to finish behind Detroit and despite the last two days results, that is still hard to imagine — they’ve still got a negative run differential and hardly seem ready to make that leap. We’re still 3.5 ahead of Detroit too so we can’t fall behind them in the next 3 days. We’re also getting Pineda and could still swing a trade, while I don’t see the Tigers getting any reinforcements.
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