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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Definitely true, to a degree. Which is why I think "money talks" frequently for FA offers. At some point, though, I think some pragmatism can creep into the decision-making process, especially as the money drops from player-level compensation. Again, not as a primary factor, but a contributing one (of many).
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    No, not as a primary factor. But there are a lot of factors that go into a decision like this, and his odds of actually landing the job might have been one. We talk all the time about GMs and coaches showing interest in other jobs to try to get a better raise/extension -- but maybe he thought enough interest had already been signaled to the Twins for him to forego the actual interview and work on the extension. Who knows? I'm sure it's more complicated than that, just like the hypothetical decision to interview would have also more complicated than "it's my hometown team." I was just throwing out one thing that hadn't been mentioned here yet. (Bloom is a few years ahead of Falvey's career trajectory, and probably has more appeal for his AL East accomplishments at this point -- and by adding Bloom, the Red Sox simultaneously subtract from their direct competitor Rays -- another contributing but not primary factor.)
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    It's also possible that Falvey suspected there was no way he'd get the job over Bloom at this point.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    We heard that for years about the Rays and Chris Archer too, and it took them awhile to sell. I think both Paddack and Snell are good enough, and both teams are in an aggressive enough position, that I don't think those financials make too much difference. Neither is likely available for less than a king's ransom right now.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    At some point, if you're too generous in grading "potential", it's not so meaningful. Graterol has promise, but he isn't quite Mackenzie Gore either, and it sure looks like Graterol is going to be limited to 140 IP max in 2020, which restricts his immediate utility to the Twins a bit. That said, I don't advocate trading him with reckless abandon either. But he's not untouchable.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Yeah, I was just pointing out the adjustment. Personally I don't think I'd mind an effectively expanded zone, within reason.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Boston needs SP too. I don't think they'd throw in cash with Price unless they got some good prospects / cheap talent in return.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    A report from the Arizona Fall League about robo-umps: "MLB’s top prospects deal with good, bad of ‘robot’ umpires" https://apnews.com/2972799c8928483c92156c182909625b One of the growing pains appears to be strike calls on pitches that no human has ever called a strike before (breaking pitches that barely clip some low or high point of the three-dimensional zone). But I think this AFL test signals some serious interest from MLB. I think it's only a matter of time now, and I'm not opposed.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Scherzer winning was certainly the hope of many, but I think it would have taken a shutout -- those Nats bats are ice cold right now. The Astros are a great opponent, but the Nats seem to be in "Twins postseason" mode the last few games, where basically nothing is going right for them.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think it would have ultimately mattered, but yeah, that wasn't a fun sequence. From what I can tell, MLB seems pretty serious about robo-umps (testing in the Arizona Fall League right now), so I expect we will see them in MLB once the kinks are ironed out.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    I've searched, and there's been basically zero reporting on Trea Turner having a lasting groin injury since that foul ball (except some Twitter jokes). He still has the finger injury, although he's had that all year. No other Nationals injury has apparently registered a media report either, except Suzuki and of course now Scherzer. I'm sure some guys aren't 100% at this point in the season -- on both teams -- but there's really no "injuries could be costing the Nationals the title" narrative until the Scherzer news (and the team was clearly sliding before that point anyway).
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Sunday, Oct. 27 7:07 pm CST Astros at Nationals (World Series Game 5, series tied 2-2) TV: FOX (free!)
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not seeing how injuries and depth could be costing them a title? Their only injuries are Suzuki and now Scherzer. They've just been awful with RISP the last 2 games, and their starting pitching hasn't been too hot in those games either. It happens.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting article from Jeff Passan at ESPN, with some background details about the Astros poor responses: https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/27926780/the-houston-astros-front-office-missteps-began-long-brandon-taubman-comments
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting lineup note: the Nationals are sitting Howie Kendrick (season 142 OPS+, .746 OPS this postseason) in favor of Asdrubal Cabrera (season 97 OPS+, .433 OPS this postseason). Looks like Cabrera has some good career numbers vs Greinke -- .432/.512/.568, 1.079 OPS, and only 2 K's in 44 PA. By comparison, Kendrick is only .250/.250/.350, .600 OPS in 20 PA vs Greinke. Should be interesting to watch!
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Friday, Oct. 25 7:07 pm CST Astros at Nationals (World Series Game 3, Nats lead 2-0) TV: FOX (free!) Pitching matchup: Zack Greinke vs Anibal Sanchez
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Sure enough, Grossman ranked 1st in UZR/150 among qualified AL outfielders who primarily played LF. And his other metrics (DRS and TZ) seem comparable too. https://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=of&stats=fld&lg=al&qual=y&type=1&season=2019&month=0&season1=2019&ind=0&team=0&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&startdate=2019-01-01&enddate=2019-12-31&sort=25,d
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Maybe it just means Grossman's fielding looked like it was attempted while he wore an *actual* glove made of gold?
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    But there's probably millions of dollars more in "loose change" in the Yankee couches.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    On that Verlander gaffe, Yu Darvish had a pretty cool response: https://mlb.nbcsports.com/2019/10/24/yu-darvish-waits-over-a-year-to-taunt-justin-verlander/
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    The poster was actually making the Twins losing streak look worse, not trying to excuse it or make it look better.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't know about SI, but MLBTR predicted Marwin Gonzalez and Nelson Cruz both signing with the Twins last winter. Most of their other predictions didn't come to fruition, but it's pretty darn hard to match up 50 FAs with 30 teams. They're more just an overview of the market than anything else -- I don't think anyone claims great results on the prediction side. Like here, you get an overview of the guys available, and see what other teams might be in the market for.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Update: Astros Fire Assistant GM Brandon Taubman https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/10/astros-fire-assistant-gm-brandon-taubman.html
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I'll add that Darvish was basically solid across his first 4 career postseason starts. The Astros figured out he was tipping pitches and picked him apart in his last 2. Presumably he's corrected that since, like countless others have done before him. The Astros did the same to Tyler Glasnow in the playoffs this year, but I'd love to have him going forward too!
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Darvish really turned things around at midseason this year. Second half 2019, he was basically among the elite SP performers in all of MLB. In the context of the post to which you were responding, about who would have been our top starters entering the 2019 postseason, it makes sense to say Darvish would have been there.
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