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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    If there's one thing good about the article, it gives a bit of a market overview -- both supply and demand. For example. seeing Odorizzi to Milwaukee makes you realize, there are other mid-market teams who would probably like him in his expected price range.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I think the unstated presumption would be Sano to 1B, Arraez to 3B, and non-tender Cron. But I agree, and generally, predicting a sudden position switch seems a little beyond what the scope of the article should be. Seems more likely they'd retain Cron at 1B and keep Polanco at short until Lewis is ready.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Miley was an interesting pick-up for the Astros, but he was awful in September and they're apparently going with bullpen games in the postseason instead of using him as a 4th starter (and not even using him as a lefty or long reliever out of the pen either).
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Given that he actually added up the extra time between pitches and the difference *in those alone* was 25 minutes, I'm guessing it's at least 50% of the difference, if not more. If you can find a link to that Twitter discussion, I'd love to read it. I just searched Brisbee's, SB Nation's, and McCovey Chronicle's tweets and I couldn't come up with anything.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Technically that was a 1989 Reds play. Although it may also be relevant in the context of the Justin Verlander play from last night:
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Technically, Pujols has a full no-trade too! So he'd have to agree to the indignity of being a salary dump.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    FWIW, even after arbitration, the Angels are already getting out from about $20 mil this winter, due to expiring contracts from players who were basically already gone/replaced (Harvey, Cahill, Allen). Potentially an additional $27 mil expiring before 2021 too (although some of that is Simmons, who will require replacing). So it's not an imperative to shed Pujols just to spend more money in 2020-2021. And given they knew Ohtani wasn't going to pitch in 2019, it's likely they already weren't spending at their limit in 2019. So they don't necessarily need to remain completely "spending neutral" with 2019 either.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, the Angels problem hasn't really been spending, at least not lately. They've just been buying all of the wrong modestly-priced guys (Harvey, Cozart, etc.), and largely failing at drafting and developing. (With a sprinkle of injury decimation at times too.) If anything, they've probably been a bit too conservative in their spending, for their market, and should have gone big on another guy like Corbin, at least. They still should be able to absorb a deal like Pujols and compete.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    No Osuna yet. Regardless of fan reception, I kinda want Washington to tag him for some runs, so they can crow "I'm SO ******* glad they got Osuna!" after the series.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, evidence suggests that the biggest recent jump seems to be time between pitches, rather than commercial breaks: https://www.sbnation.com/a/mlb-2017-season-preview/game-length
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    It was probably still a mistake, but it's worth noting that Tucker (the runner on 2nd) was tagging on the play. (Which itself was probably a mistake too!) So even with the ball staying in play and falling for a hit, Springer may not have expected to get past second anyway, because Tucker was likely only advancing to third. Of course, it not only fell for a hit, it was misplayed off the wall (which seems to happen a lot in that park?) and Springer should have been prepared for that possibility too.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Unfamiliar with the light show, at first I thought there was some kind of power issue in Houston! I guess perhaps there was a power issue, as Suzuki/Eaton/Taylor out-homered the Astros last night...
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Nope! No Dozier yet. Asdrubal Cabrera has played every inning at 2B -- and came through big with that 2-run single off Pressly last night. I expect we'll see Dozier as a pinch-hitter now, as the series moves to Washington (no DH).
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    To be fair, Pressly did get outs in critical situations to help the Astros win games 4 and 6 of the ALCS. And prior to last night, his two bad postseason games were fairly inconsequential -- the first he allowed 2 runs when the Astros were up 6 and still won by 4. The second, he allowed 2 runs when they were already down by 3 and thus lost by 5. But yeah, overall, he's getting hit pretty badly right now.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Ineffective and possibly hurt? More evidence that Pressly was meant to play for the Twins in the 2019 postseason!
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    FWIW, the Baseball Trade Values website calls it a major overpay by the Twins. But if you drop Pujols, it's accepted. https://www.baseballtradevalues.com/trade-simulator/ Of course, this is a trade of extremes that probably break the formula a bit!
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I think both say no? The Angels would probably be better off just eating the Pujols money, keeping Trout, and signing Cole or Rendon (no guarantee they get either, much less both). Buxton still has potential but is pretty unreliable and Lewis/Kirilloff are still gambles too (especially right away for 2020, which is when Cole and Rendon would have maximum impact). And if the Twins were willing to take on $450 mil in future salaries this offseason, they're probably better off just making aggressive offers to Cole or Rendon themselves. And if they are willing to trade Lewis and Kirilloff, they could probably get cheaper talent.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    I mean, if you really break it down, rooting for any sports team is kinda silly. If you're neutral, I'm not sure George Springer is any more worthy of support than Doolittle or any number of Nats players. (If anything, Osuna himself could tip the scales towards the Nats.) And of course, the Nats were a big underdog, which always attracts some neutral rooters. Mostly I just wanted a long series for entertainment purposes, regardless of who won, but now I'm all-in on the Nationals. I've got some Astros family too, and their baseball interest has pretty much shut down the last two days -- it's not behavior a lot of folks want to be associated with. Imagine if the Twins front office acted like this on Oct. 1st. Maybe we wouldn't root for the Yankees, but losing to them sure as heck wouldn't sting so much. (On that note, maybe the Twins FO should be bigger jerks! )
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Has that happened? So far, we've got a non-apology apology from Taubman ("I'm sorry if anyone was offended"), and a whole lot of weirdness from Luhnow: "What we really don't know is the intent behind the inappropriate comments he made. We may never know that because the person who said them and the people who heard them at least up to this point have different perspectives" https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/10/23/jeff-luhnow-brandon-taubman-domestic-violence-outburst-reporters Then there's the whole initial Astros statement, which made the not-insignificant claim that the SI article was a "fabrication." That hasn't been addressed at all.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    You mean like this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2b8R6P7WBU
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    And on time of game -- I would love shorter games, and a quicker pace. But it's worth remembering the average time of game was still 2:30 as far back as 1954. Yes, it's jumped by 20-30 minutes since the 1980s, and I'd prefer to roll that back -- but there has really never been a time when the average time of game would make frequent game viewership meaningfully more palatable. (Unless perhaps you want to get rid of stadium lighting and night games! )
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    If you stop and think about it, baseball is a really, really weird sport, compared to most others. 9 players have to take turns at bat for each team. The defense controls the ball! And it's played basically every day, for 6 months. By it's very nature, it's largely anti-superstar, anti-spectacle. I think there's an expectation that it should achieve those things, equal to other sports, just because it did long ago, back when it was basically the only organized game on the block, and was well-suited to the media (or lack thereof) available at the time. But really, we just need to re-calibrate our expectations.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    I think Washington has a "National" following. (Pun intended!) I think your first paragraph is right -- and mostly nullifies the concern on your second paragraph. Which is the point of the source article here. National ratings really don't matter much. As long as local interest is strong, the sport is healthy, and enough of that local interest seems to carry over to the postseason to keep it viable for TV deals and such.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I love the idea of fewer blackouts, and shorter games / better pace, but again, I think it's a personal preference, and its importance to the "health & future of the sport" gets overrated. Very few people have ever devoted their attention to a lot of baseball games on TV. When your audience is primarily "following", and always has been -- checking scores, going to a handful of games at the ballpark, watching highlights, checking in here and there in a pennant race and the postseason -- there isn't much you can do with a 162 game broadcast schedule and two-and-a-half hour (minimum) game times that is going to move the needle much. That's not to say MLB should do nothing, of course, but they are doing little things -- games on Facebook / YouTube, the Twins moved some start times up to 6:40, etc. As far as encouraging youth, it's a crowded field for kid's activities. All the major sports are probably losing some kids to soccer, lacrosse, etc. I think that's more because of a changing world than any specific problem with MLB's strategies, especially relative to other pro sports leagues.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Nothing changes overnight anyway, and in the long view, it's not going to make one lick of difference if Taubman is forced to leave the Astros and go back to Wall Street. Frankly I don't really care what happens to him, at this point. The backstory and the Astros pathetic response has been a big bright clue that it's not just about one bad actor who needs sensitivity training. I'm glad they didn't have a better PR strategy here because they've exposed a deeper problem.
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