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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Pretty much has to be Curtiss, right? 40-man is full, and Moya, Busenitz, and Slegers are still ineligible for recall. Mejia is hurt, Enns has struggled this year, and I'm guessing they wouldn't promote Romero for pen duty yet.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks, I saw he was hurt but missed the DL news.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't know, Enns was already a fringe guy and could be dropped from the 40-man when Ervin returns, or Trevor May. And now Enns is scuffling. I wouldn't be surprised if they are looking to replace him soon (and the replacement could be David Hale).
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not so sure. By hit probability (exit velocity + launch angle), the first batter's ground ball was .273. Maybe not a good outcome when the pitcher is ahead 0-2 in the count? The second batter's hit probability was .259, on a 1-1 count. Both of those batters have above-average speed too, so maybe those generic probabilities are low? Maybe the defense could have done better too, but we know there is a cost to balls in play, especially when they're not pop-ups. And of course, Sanchez's hit probability was .825, with a 1.616 wOBA. With that outcome, I don't know if you can defend that as a particularly good pitch, especially with the count again favoring the pitcher at 0-1. An effective modern MLB pitcher should be expected to miss bats (especially to finish at-bats) and get some pop-ups. He's not alone among Twins who failed yesterday, but Rodney certainly failed at those objectives.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting. Is it known whom he is replacing?
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Hey, at least he was famous for awhile in Mark McGwire's locker.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Would he? Isn't that basically Grossman-level production?
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    With Slegers called up, I could see them optioning Duffey when Buxton is ready to be activated.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Hmmm... the power of persuasion? Maybe the next TD article should be, "It's Time for Free Beer at Target Field."
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting Rule 5 note: the Braves took Dan Winkler in the Rule 5 draft in December 2014 (for reference, the same year we took JR Graham). But Winkler spent so much time on the disabled list, he didn't satisfy the "90 days active" requirement to remove Rule 5 restrictions until just this month (April 2018). Even with just over 90 days active, he already has 3+ years of major league service time, thanks to disabled list stints. And he's performing well so far for the Braves. (Credit them for persistence too -- while they were able to put him on the 60-day DL during the past few seasons, they had to give him a 40-man roster spot each of the last 4 offseasons.)
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Worth noting that Nick Anderson was born in Minnesota, graduated high school in Minnesota, went to college in North Dakota, was drafted by the Brewers, cut by the Brewers, then signed by the Twins out of indy ball. Almost an identical path to Caleb Thielbar (who went to college in the other Dakota ). Anderson is old, but this is just his 3rd season in affiliated ball. I have no idea about the scouting on him, but he might be more interesting than Kinley at this point.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Definitely. I'm not saying Rooker is ABW, but in my judgement he's a little closer now than he was at the end of last season. (And in fairness, the original poster said he was "rapidly becoming a non prospect" rather than he was already a non prospect. I too think that's a little strong, but I think some concern is valid.) A player can struggle while still showing progress or a good approach. Trout's rookie season is a great example of that -- only a 87 wRC+ (although that's basically Buxton's production the last two seasons), but Trout showed good power and very reasonable K/BB rates. The biggest negative was a .247 BABIP, which you'd expect to correct itself. All that around his 20th birthday, and in MLB. Rooker's problem, although it's still a small sample, is that he has really shown nothing this year. Could just be a slump -- he started slow in Ft. Myers last year too -- but that zero walks thing is just weird, and it's hard to explain. Makes me wonder what is going on there, and if this guy is going to have the capacity to make the necessary adjustments to be a plus hitter at higher levels.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    (Actually, Trout's first 80 PA in MLB were pretty good -- 120 wRC+, and that was held down by a .222 BABIP. Good ISO and K%, and even a decent BB%.) K and BB rates stabilize faster than other stats, so I think it's fair to have some concern about Rooker. Yeah, he's been rushed a bit from the draft a year ago to AA now, but he hit well in high-A last year and he's 23 years old, so you would think he'd be able to at least show a solid approach in AA, even if the other results weren't quite there yet. 68 PA, 0 walks, 24 K is a bit of a concern. He certainly has time to right the ship, but the longer this continues, he does seem to be trending toward Adam Brett Walker status...
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Morrison has certainly struggled, but the thinking behind his acquisition wasn't bad. Unlike Kinley, who was suspect from the get-go. I suppose in all their talks with the Rays, they could have added Corey Dickerson instead of LoMo? Wasn't quite as good as Morrison at the plate last year, but a bit more consistent track record plus the ability to play outfield.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    They are not related. Here is a newspaper article from a few years ago, the writer dances around the question for effect, but no, they aren't related:https://www.pressherald.com/2014/05/14/steve_solloway__joe_cronin_lives_with_joe_cronin_/
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I am not giving them too much serious flak at this point, but it was a curious decision at the time, and it has become even more curious since.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually I misspoke -- counting Anibal Sanchez (who was on the 40-man roster), it was 8 additions, although by that point Pineda was on the 60-day DL. I'd guess they may have expected at least 1 or maybe 2 of their 7-8 acquistions to take a non-guaranteed deal, which changes the roster analysis.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Well, they were both RH relievers on the fringe of the roster. I think they are directly comparable without much abstraction. I too did not believe the Twins would cut Kinley before he threw a spring training pitch -- but then again, I didn't expect them to add 7 MLB players on guaranteed contracts this winter either. I might have re-evaluated the Rule 5 commitment at that point.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Pretty sure the Twins spot the Yankees a few runs before the start of each game, right? At least mentally.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Busenitz has already been optioned, per the team's transactions page: http://m.mlb.com/min/roster/transactions/ No corresponding move announced yet, but it is almost certainly Tyler Duffey as he didn't pitch yesterday for Rochester. (Curtiss pitched 2 innings.)
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    They could have DFA'd Kinley at that point instead, though, to keep Chargois.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Well, there was the marked rise in strikeouts, even before the concussion. I don't doubt the concussion was a factor, but it could have been compounded by the rising K's (and limiting his potential futuree adjustments). Has it been reported that the symptoms have cleared? I wonder if he's just learned to manage/adjust to them better over time too.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    FWIW, I don't think the Twins actually carried a third catcher all that much. I remember looking at it, and it was primarily at the beginning of 2005 and 2009, when Mauer was coming off injury. (And when September rosters expanded, of course.) The Twins of that era just rarely spent anything on external upgrades. They had room in the rotation and went with Ramon Ortiz, Sidney Ponson, and Livan Hernandez. They had room at DH and went with Rondell White (twice!). They didn't even make modest additions on the level of Pavano, Cabrera, Crede, Rauch, etc. until TR stepped aside and they got close to Target Field opening. Keep in mind, Mauer was the most obvious lifetime Twin ever, and they didn't even manage to sign him to any kind of long-term contract until after he won a batting title, and didn't manage to buy more than 1 FA year until after he won a MVP. That's major frugality/conservatism, right there. I could see the argument that they valued having DHs who could contribute at other positions, but that leads to Shannon Stewart, Rondell White, and later Jason Kubel. Or going back further, Matt LeCroy, and dumping Ortiz with Mientkiewicz at 1B and Morneau in the wings. I don't think having Mauer at catcher had much to do with that preference.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think that's right. Mauer didn't even play 20 games at DH until 2009. We could have signed Thome after 2002, or dealt for him after 2005, but I think we were just too frugal/conservative to invest in external solutions at the position until at least 2008 or so, when TR stepped down and Target Field was on the horizon. And by then we had Kubel.
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