Otto von Ballpark

I think you are being a bit too critical of a few sentences given at the end of a postgame interview in response to a specific question about losing Rodney. For all we know, if there had been a follow-up question about the team's poor record through 4 months, Ervin might have acknowledged how the players contributed. That wouldn't really invalidate his previous response, though. It's still a tough situation. Especially for Ervin, he didn't even get to play until late July -- I wouldn't be surprised if, as a competitor, he imagined his absence contributed to us falling behind Cleveland, and his return could help us catch them. That's probably misguided given his current stuff, but is understandable given the pro athlete's mindset. For better or worse, these guys generally don't get where they are by admitting long odds or dwelling on their failures. Back to Tom's implications, I don't think Ervin got unprofessional here at all, given the context.

They would be worse off if they were even considering removing him from the 40-man before the 2019 season. Making a waiver claim is much easier for teams than satisfying the requirements of a Rule 5 selection -- near 100% chance that we'd lose Stewart if we tried to put him through waivers. Not sure of his Rule 5 odds, they have probably improved since last winter, but they are probably still less than that (both selection odds and the odds they wouldn't return him at some point).

And while Stewart will take Rodney's 40-man spot, he will need someone else's 25-man spot to start Sunday. I'd still guess it will be Duffey going back down.

Well, that is sort of dictating the terms of the decision. If you are willing to move on from Morrison, that would open up a couple more starts a week, without taking away from Cave. And with the other DH games and Mauer's days off at 1B, that could support ample opportunity for Austin too.

Not at all. No way they should DFA him before giving him an extended shot at converting to relief, at least. Stewart should stay on the 40-man into 2019, no matter how he performs late this season in MLB. And the Twins appear to have 40-man roster room to keep him this winter.

The only time a 40-man addition could really be considered a "tryout" for protection is if the player would otherwise be eligible for minor league free agency. That's not Stewart, he wouldn't have been eligible for that until after 2019. The only way this move makes sense is if we are committed to keeping him on the 40-man into the 2019 season.

I didn't hear that as Ervin passing the buck on this game. He addressed this game at the start of the video. Here, he was asked specifically about losing Rodney, and he was answering in general about the difficulty and frustration of the whole situation. And it's tough. The front office DID give up, even if you think it was the right decision, even if you think the players are ultimately to blame for putting themselves in that position. The front office still had to pull the trigger, and I don't think that can just be ignored, or we can expect everyone -- especially players -- to have gotten past that in just 2 weeks. It was a difficult and complex situation. The front office even felt it necessary to address the situation in a letter to season ticket holders. I am not sure how they have addressed it to the team behind closed doors, but that is probably informing Ervin's reaction here too. I am sure it has been tough for the front office -- heck, it's been a mildly tough situation for some of us fans -- and I imagine it's even tougher as players who are ultimately closest to its immediate ramifications. I may not agree with Ervin, but I'm not going to criticize him for expressing his frustration in this way, in this context. Likewise, I'm not jumping down the throat of the front office either (even if I attempt Airplane! and Spinal Tap jokes at their expense ). I think there is still room for different feelings in this conversation, especially as moves are still happening (like Rodney).

"Hey guys, meet your new teammate, (same as your old teammate), Matty Belisle! Good luck, we're all counting on you." Edit to add: just trying to make an "Airplane!" joke.

Correct. They could let Stewart start Sunday (say that 3 times fast ), then send him back down and recall him Sep. 1st and he wouldn't burn an option this year (that would only be 19 days on optional assignment, Aug. 13-31). Of course, they may keep him up longer, but whatever they do, they probably won't burn an option at this point.

Watching it for what? He's already below the super 2 cutoff. Unless they plan to hold him in the minors a bunch next year (like until mid-June), there is nothing more to be gained by holding him back now.

Well, the lateness is part of the problem with the Belisle move. (Not Belisle specifically, but the late effort trying to shake up the season a bit.) Too little, and too late? Actually I think adding Belisle may have just been an early sign we were preparing to punt, and adding another cheap vet reliever so we could deal others. In which case... that was too early to give up. I liked the Romero promotion, but that plus cutting Hughes was kind of the plan since spring training. Or at least, Romero took it because Mejia was hurt at the time. It wasn't really a proactive effort to shake things up. And as you mention, as our season was moving toward irrelevance, we demoted Romero... then we demoted Mejia... and then we had Aaron Slegers starting for some reason... weird season.

I don't think "rust in April" is valid for Morrison, since he signed on February 25th. But I was checking out some expected wOBA stats in another thread, and sure enough Morrison is up there for 2018. So is Mauer, for what it's worth, but he has under-performed his xwOBA by 30+ points every year of the Statcast era (since 2015). Morrison was a similar under-performer for 2015-2016 too, although not as much as he has underperformed in 2018. https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/expected_statistics?type=batter&year=2018&position=&team=MIN&min=1

This is a fair point. A lot of people said they had a good offseason, but honestly, if they had done any less, I think it would have been a disappointing offseason: - We lost 2 relievers from an already suspect pen, so we signed 3 FA relievers (1 of whom was recently back from surgery) - We lost approximately one SP to attrition (we'll call it the Garcia/Colon spot), so we traded for Odorizzi - We had a pretty mediocre DH situation, so we signed Morrison - We lost another SP (Ervin) to injury at the beginning of spring training, so we signed Lynn If we had rolled into 2018 counting more on Duffey, Boshers, Hughes, or Vargas, I think that would have been bad. So really, these moves were kind of the minimum acceptable standard. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I don't think it necessarily deserves any special credit either. Whatever credit you want to give them for not making any really bad moves (like giving a 4/52 deal to Alex Cobb) could just as well be offset by a lack of credit for failing to make any great moves (like getting Gerrit Cole or Miles Mikolas).

Well, Gibson might be a realist. He's not entering FA until his age 32 season, and he might come with a draft pick penalty if we make him a qualifying offer. Given how the market played out last offseason, he might not have any real shot at "big money", and a more modest guarantee could be seen as acceptable (it's at least insurance for him in case of injury, which is always a concern for pitchers).

I get your thinking -- I generally liked the moves last winter, and the trade returns at the deadline -- but I think that glosses over the intervening 4 months. Would have liked to see more of an attempt to shake up the 2018 team, maybe in May/June, before resigning themselves to seller status. Belisle was an underwhelming attempt, to say the least.

The corresponding move for Austin hasn't been announced yet, but this guy was spotted entering Logan Morrison's suite at the team hotel:

Yes, Oakland is paying the full remaining salary, per Beradino:

You forgot his shot at pitcher! And for that, I envy you.

FWIW, Bard has had a pretty poor season at AAA. His K rate is way down. I have no idea what his "spin rate" is, though. Probably better off looking at Duffey or Busenitz again -- they're both basically the same age as Bard anyway, and have accomplished more this season (and through the pro careers).

Yup. As you previously alluded to, the Twins are 39-7 in Rodney's appearances this year, and 2 of those losses he entered when we were trailing already. He's blown 6 saves/leads, but we won 2 of those anyway. So even if he was 100% perfect in save opportunities, it would only net us 4 wins. He's only lost 1 game he entered as a tie too (and preserved 3 ties that became wins vs Cleveland). Interestingly, the only pitcher who is 100% perfect in save opportunities this year, with more than 3 opportunities, is Ken Giles -- who has a 6.29 ERA on the season in MLB (and 8.44 during a minor league assignment too). Every pitcher with more than 12 opportunities has at least 2 blown saves with the exception of Doolittle and Kela who each have 1.

That's a ridiculous suggestion. Garver should be the "opener".

I don't think the A's will be using him as closer.

Well, he doesn't "have" to be added to the 40-man. He will just be available for selection in the Rule 5 draft if we don't. But his profile and resume doesn't suggest he would be selected in Rule 5. If he's not selected in Rule 5, he won't be eligible for minor league free agency any earlier than the end of the 2021 season. So we should have plenty of time to evaluate him and work with him.

This is fair. And this return doesn't seem like the kind to make us change our mind about whether to keep him either. So that seems to suggest we were strongly thinking about moving him anyway.

Well, Helman is 22 years old, and he was a pretty solid hitter in college too. http://www.thebaseballcube.com/players/profile.asp?ID=213871