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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Why would we ignore Wilk's MLB numbers in this exercise? Presumably we didn't claim him to be a LOOGY in Rochester. MLB career vs LHB: 2.11 WHIP, 10.4% K%, 10.4% BB%, and .845 OPS And while it's a small sample (48 PA), it's still equal to 70% of his 2016 AAA vs LHB sample. Also, why would we ignore PCL numbers, if we're looking at K rates and relative platoon effectiveness? K rates are relatively comparable between the PCL and the IL, and even if the overall numbers are worse due to offensive environment, he should still be better vs LHB relative to RHB. 2017 vs RHB: 1.24 WHIP (.795 OPS), 24.4% K%, 6.1% BB% vs LHB: 1.68 WHIP (1.011 OPS), 15.5% K%, 0% BB% 2015 vs RHB: 1.67 WHIP (.859 OPS), 15.8% K%, 7.3% BB% vs LHB: 1.32 WHIP (.768 OPS), 17.2% K%, 2.5% BB% Heck, even his stats vs LHB in the IL haven't been consistently great. 2016 was the only dominant year (also the smallest sample, only 69 PA). In 2014, he gave up a decent but not dominant .647 OPS vs LHB, and it was similar in 2012 too (and virtually identical vs RHB that year).
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    My prediction is that Wilk's playing career will end in the near future, but he will go on to a distinguished career in radio, prompting some station or stadium to dedicate "Adam Wilk's Booth" in his honor.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Uh, Wimmers has already cleared waivers once last fall. I am sure he'd clear again, although I have no interest in seeing him on the roster at this time. Wheeler has cleared in the past too. I'd guess some of the other AAA arms would fall into that category too and clear without much trouble. If the best defense of these guys is "they will be able to clear waivers when we inevitably want to remove them from the roster" -- that's not a good defense. Especially not of stockpiling guys like that.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    So what does Berrios represent, in this analogy? That extra tank of gas in the trunk that we refuse to use on principle, so we can always have a spare? What does Duffey represent? That extra tank we already poured completely into our weedwacker, and now we're just too scared to try siphoning it out? (Perhaps we should have invested in an electric edge trimmer this past winter? It's not like we could have expected no weeds to grow in the bullpen this summer...)
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    It wouldn't even have to be about Berrios, though. What do you think as a player when a Rule 5 pick makes the team and has a game like last Sunday? Or when you turn to a starter like Tepesch last Saturday, despite no recent injuries on the staff? I've seen it speculated that the team would be energized by the new FO turning over guys like Tonkin, but if they are turning them into guys like Tepesch and Wilk, I think their would be some doubts.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Didn't Gilmartin have some nice splits vs AAA LHB? How about Milone? Why not sign Wilk in the offseason, if that's the case?
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Doesn't the rain out and bullpen assignment make the Wilk acquisition even worse? Why not use Rucinski again, the guy we picked up in the offseason and have been working with for months? Wilk is also out of options, just like Tepesch, so he reduces our flexibility further ...
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Then why do it? Sounds like you are committing considerable resources elsewhere (with some discount), and it's not at all clear that 2B will be an area of need for us in 2019 and beyond (or whether Dozier, at age 32+, will be able to capably fill that need).
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    There's no need for a "stop gap" here. Nobody is hurt. Gibson was just demoted with full knowledge that he would be down for 10 days and probably more. Berrios and Mejia don't have some sort of magic switch that will get flipped in their next few AAA appearances. This is a deliberate plan to use lousy pitchers in games that matter, for no discernable gain...
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    I think it almost goes without saying, but this is definitely an "old front office" style move... What kind of plan is in place here, when with only 1 starter injury (Trevor May), 40% of the rotation in mid-May is Nick Tepesch and Adam Wilk? And we're only a game out of first place...
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    What happened to, "it's going to be either Mejia or Berrios"?
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    "One of these things is not like the other..." Dozier is 5 days shy of his 30th birthday. Unless you know something beyond the public statements he has made (about how important it was that his contract didn't buy out any free agent years), I don't see how extending Dozier is going to be a good deal right now. Especially not when you're extending Polanco too and your top prospect is Nick Gordon. They can always bid on him after 2018 under the right circumstances.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    I think the idea is, remove Pressly and call up one of Melotakis, Burdi, or Hildenberger to fill in for him. Maybe just to get their feet wet, maybe to claim a spot going forward, Jose Mijares style. Or leave Pressly alone and option Drew Rucinski, that's fine too. But it would be nice to see something done, more than simply cutting Tonkin and replacing him with AAA filler.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    The problem with saying, extend Buxton NOW before he pulls too far out of his slump, or "we should have extended Sano last year", is that players and agents know the ebbs and flows of player performance too. Guys generally aren't going to sign super-team-friendly deals at low points of performance. That said, I do hope the new front office is keeping an open dialog with realistic expectations in these situations, something I was not confident the old front office was doing.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Don't forget that minor league seasons are shorter. In 7 pro seasons to date, Sano has played "full" seasons in 5 of them. He's only been on a disabled list twice: June 2016 (hamstring strain during the RF experiment), and his 2014 TJ season. 29 starts in a row to begin 2017 too. There are reasons to question some of the bigger mega-contract proposals we've seen on this thread, but durability doesn't seem to be one of them. Especially now that we're committed to him at 3B/1B/DH.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Buxton's at-bats are definitely must-see TV now. Every base hit is a potential extra base hit!
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    They did wait until after he had won a batting title. That probably gave Mauer enough leverage to force a shorter deal.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    The mistake with Mauer was his first contract was too short and/or too late. Sounds like you might be advocating the same mistake with Sano...
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Well, we may already be at the injury point. 22 walks in 24 innings is pretty alarming.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Sano turns 24 in two days (May 11). This is his age-24 season. If he signed a 6 year extension that took effect immediately (so 2017 was year 1), he wouldn't be a FA until his age-30 season. If it took effect next year, he wouldn't be a FA until his age-31 season. If you added a team option year, that would push it back another year too.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    I would guess that waivers pertain to the player. But, once a player is outrighted and then re-added to the roster, waivers would have to be secured again to outright him a second time anyway. (Which makes sense, otherwise teams could freely and repeatedly add and drop certain players from the 40-man roster.) The way that waivers remain in effect for a longer period is if you secure outright waivers, but don't actually do anything with them. So a team could secure waivers on a player today, but leave him on their roster, and they would be free to outright him (once) any time between now and the end of this waiver period (which runs roughly May 1st through August 31st). http://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3530
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    But, Stewart is eligible for Rule 5 this winter. So if you move him to the pen this season and he shows promise, you might have to use a 40-man spot just to keep him around for 2018. Might be better to let him continue starting this season, and try a bullpen conversion next spring? Force other teams to draft "blind" this winter, so to speak? Just a consideration.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    In 2017. People seem to ignore he was epically bad to start 2016 too. I suspect even when he's finally "established", he might just be a streaky hitter (which isn't necessarily bad, but probably caps his offensive ceiling a bit).
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Park is still on the DL at AAA. With Vargas and Grossman doing well, I don't see an opening for him in MLB either. Guessing it's a bit premature to think about holding a 40-man spot open for him, they will need a 25-man spot for him too and I'm guessing that will only come if there is an injury. I suspect the next 40-man addition would be a relief pitcher, like Baxendale, Hildenberger, Turley, etc. Or even Chapman.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    True -- but it worries me because this front office has thus far shown a tendency to clog the roster with these types of pitchers. And they've got an open 40-man spot to play with now...
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