Otto von Ballpark
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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark
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Oh, it could be an advantage to the Twins and other cold weather teams. But that would be another reason why other teams wouldn't want to do it. Warm weather teams don't want an outsized share of April home dates every year, because they don't draw as well as summer dates. But home field advantage is a real thing, and there's a competitive disadvantage to opening a series or a season with too many road games. (And on the flip side, warm weather teams would probably be concerned about massive road trips in September too, when they are worn down and trying to compete for postseason spots.)
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This is a good illustration of why you should use K% instead of K/9. By K/9 in 2017, his rate only dropped by 0.2 in the second half, or 2 strikeouts over those 74.1 innings. But because he gave up more hits and walks (meaning, more batters faced without recording outs/innings, thus not increasing the denominator of K/9), his K% dropped by 2.2, or 7 strikeouts over those 74.1 innings. Likewise, K/9 overstates his strikeout gains in the 2nd half of 2018. By K/9 he had 10 extra strikeouts, but by K% he had only 3.5. In 2019 so far, it's closer because his WHIPs are closer. By K/9 he's gained 7.7 extra strikeouts, while by K% it's 6.7. -
As long as Germany doesn't bomb Pearl Harbor, we should be okay!
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I don't know about that -- I kind of like multi-inning outings from a reliever when possible, as opposed to a series of relievers on shorter stints where one of them could be throwing poorly that day. I'd say we could still use Rogers for multiple innings, but to do so judiciously -- probably no more doing that with 3 run leads, certainly no more using him the next day, etc.
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- taylor rogers
- sergio romo
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I wouldn't be surprised if O'Rourke was part of our 40 man roster in September as a strict LOOGY, but AAA needs reinforcements right now too, especially with how the MLB club has been cycling through their AAA options. Fortunately for us, it looks like Rochester will not qualify for the postseason, and their regular season ends Sep. 2, so that up-and-down cycle should end soon.
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The Red Sox pen pitched quite a bit yesterday too -- a very short start from Cashner (1.2 innings) and their game went 10 innings as well.
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What if it's not Wells vs one of those prospects, though? What if it is Wells vs Stewart? Or Wells vs Astudillo? Or Wells vs Trevor May's last arbitration year? Due to his surgery recovery, Wells could also be stashed on the 60-day DL as early as February. So it's possible he could even temporarily hold a spot that eventually goes to a late free agent signing. (Of course, the 60-day DL and resulting rehab assignment also makes him easier to stash as a Rule 5 pick too.)
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Cruz news:
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Fangraphs weighs in: "Martín Pérez’s Cutter is No Longer Cutting It" https://blogs.fangraphs.com/martin-perezs-cutter-is-no-longer-cutting-it/
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First weekend of April, usually. That's why the Twins requested to open at home in March this year. And that's only Saturday night and Monday night. Might affect a few Saturday games, but I suspect most will be day games. MLB season game 2 attendance/viewership probably sees a substantial drop from the opener anyway.
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Probably to boost midweek attendance. Weekend games generally do well enough on their own, regardless of opponent.
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Sure, and I didn't mean to imply otherwise. And you already can see how stadiums deal with this. Many Target Field concessions are closed in the early weeks of the season, anticipating lower demand. But teams have to split a significant chunk of concession revenue with their food vendor company too. The fact remains that the biggest and most reliable/stable sources of team revenue are largely unaffected by an extra week of games in March: TV revenue, suite revenue, season/premium tickets. As much as we'd prefer to see teams starting later, there just isn't much of a financial incentive for teams to pursue that anymore.
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Actually still 2.5 ahead of the Rays. But yeah, the Rays and A's are two pretty good teams themselves and could/should put up a fight. Although Fangraphs only pegs the Rays finishing with 93 wins, and the A's with 90. (Twins projected for 97 right now.)
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I'd guess the primary tangible reason behind any attendance decline is the reduced frequency of new ballpark openings. Those provide a huge boost. From 1989-2012, MLB opened 24 new parks -- an average of 1 per season. Now, the Braves have the only new park in the last 7 seasons. The "new ballpark" shine has worn off in many places around the league. And even if any of the decline could possibly be attributed to weather, that would predominantly affect walk-up sales in the regular seating areas -- the least profitable/reliable ones. Season tickets and suites would be largely unaffected.
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That would be interesting. It would have needed to happen in the 1980s at the latest, though, before the explosion in TV contracts and suite/premium ticket revenue.
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The players wanted the extra off days -- so they were agreed to, and now mandated by, the collective bargaining agreement in 2016. I guess ownership could have resisted that, but I don't think they care, as long as they get the postseason completed before November. Frankly, ownership might prefer the current set up -- they don't lose that much at the gate by starting a week earlier, and it gives them a bit more flexibility to postpone early season games if necessary.
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I wouldn't assume he's K-Rod or Chapman either, but if he's hitting 101 MPH right now, I'd be more confident in him than Romero who topped out at 98.
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No team wants to open with 2-3-4 weeks on the road, not for one single year, much less every year. And by the time you're opening with 1-2 weeks on the road, it really doesn't make a difference. Your chance of cold and snow in Minneapolis isn't meaningfully different between March 28th or April 5th or even April 12th. We've had snow-outs around April 15-16 before too.
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Seattle has a roof. I'm not sure what lesson you want MLB to learn. There's no way to make this schedule if they can't open in any climate as "cold" as Oakland. They can't open in the same handful of cities every single year. And no one really wants the postseason to stretch into November anymore, which is why they're doing March starts.
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Tyler Wells just had TJ surgery in May, so there's really nothing to hear about his recovery until next spring at the earliest. He is Rule 5 eligible this winter, though, so we'll hear about him in November when that 40-man roster decision is due. I suspect we may have to protect him.
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Coincidentally a baserunning mistake too -- just before the Fox HR, Knoblauch made the last out of the 8th inning at third too, with Mack and Puckett due up. (And Eric Fox with the outfield assist.)
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Seriously, silver lining for that game (and series) -- we hit Brad Hand really well, both times we faced him. Cleveland has a good pen, but I don't think they're going to feel too comfortable about it in any close games with us.
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Isn't that what we said to them in the 9th inning, though? Our third base coach just got a little too excited about saying it, I suppose!
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No one was saying that in October 2003. Romero had just been battered to the tune of a .929 OPS vs RHB that season, on his way to a 5.00 ERA, and Rincon turned in a pedestrian 3.68 ERA with 4.0 BB/9 and only 6.6 K/9 in average leverage use, in his best MLB season to date. 2002 Romero was great, as was 2004 Rincon, but Gardy turning to them in that spot in 2003 would have been like TK going with Smithson or Portugal over Straker in the 1987 postseason.
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Where's a Jack Morris when you need him!
Otto von Ballpark replied to weneedjackmorris's topic in Minnesota Twins Talk
Obviously we'd all take the 36 year old Jack Morris performance in our current rotation. But unless your time machine is super-precise, and you can guarantee the rigors of the time travel process would not alter Jack's performance from that year, you've got a good chance of getting the 33-35 year old or 37+ year old performances of Jack Morris instead, which would be no improvement on the current starters, and quite possibly a significant downgrade.
