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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    It happened -- White Sox are planning to release Brett Lawrie and pay him just one-sixth of his $3.5 mil salary in termination pay: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2017/03/whitesox-release-brett-lawrie.html
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    To be fair, Biagini in particular and Bowman were pretty good last year, in much higher leverage than Pressly and Graham were used in their rookie seasons. Hey -- Deolis Guerra stuck as a Rule 5 pick last year too! He had a little success too, again in higher leverage than Pressly or Graham. But yeah, Rule 5 is pretty slim pickings. I don't have a problem with Haley, although I do understand the concern that maybe we could have gambled on someone a little more exciting with the top pick.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    How valuable is this role when Ryan Vogelsong could also fill it? Or JR Graham himself, who would have had the added benefit of being optionable -- meaning you could swap him out for a fresh arm after a long outing or period of heavy use? Given that, it is not even clear that a Rule 5 guy is particularly good for this role -- if you have to use him for 3 innings one day, he is basically unavailable the next day, while a normal young pitcher without Rule 5 restrictions could be swapped out for a fresh arm.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    No prob. You were right that he did sit against some, but most of those overlapped with his injuries. I would guess that Molitor and Mauer have yet to have "the talk" about platoons. Too bad it's not like 5th grade, where they take the right handed hitters and left handed hitters into different rooms and show them a video that explains it all.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Other teams also bring in some younger bounce back guys, change of scenery former prospects, etc. It's a little weird that there are rumblings that the Twins have basically lined up 4 low-upside old guys (Belisle, Breslow, Gimenez, and Vogelsong) to all grab roster spots this spring.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    He did start against a few lefties during that time -- dating to the all-star break, he faced Matt Boyd, Eduardo Rodriguez, Blake Snell, Jose Quintana. He was also sitting more frequently beginning in August due to his quad issue. When he sat 3 straight games in late August, that wasn't a platoon thing, it was an injury thing. Later, Mauer sat for 16 of the season's last 20 games overall -- I'm not sure if it's particularly meaningful that he sat for 8 LH SP during that stretch. I think the transition has maybe begun, but I don't know that it has advanced to the point suggested by your comment.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Arbitration guys getting cut during spring training is incredibly rare, not just for the Twins but all around the league. The only one I can recall, for any team, was Emilio Bonifacio of the Royals in 2014 (and he was actually cut before spring training, in early February). And it makes sense -- if you have any doubts about a player at arbitration salary, you nontender them and try to bring them back at a lower price. It makes no sense for clubs to go to arbitration, guarantee termination pay, and tie up a roster spot all winter if there's a chance they might cut the guy before opening day (and zero chance at that point of retaining the player's services at a lower price). Generally I enjoy discussing baseball contract minutia, but perhaps it's a bit irresponsible if it gives people false hope about cutting Hector Santiago.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    But sending J.J. Berrios back down to AAA would be dyn-o-mite!
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    I'd be pretty surprised if they paid Santiago $8 mil to open the season in the bullpen. He hasn't opened a season in the pen since 2013, his first full MLB season.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Sano's elbow problem was diagnosed in October 2013 too, and he didn't have surgery until March 2014.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    On the Vogelsong topic, it does look like he made the Pirates as a reliever/spot starter out of spring training last year, so I guess there is hope he doesn't immediately claim a rotation spot. When he got hit in the face on May 23rd, it was only his second start of the year. He did come back to start exclusively down the stretch, though. But even if he begins in the pen, I think the team will be tempted to switch him and May at the first sign of trouble, or move Vogelsong into the first in-season rotation vacancy rather than Berrios.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't endorse it, but Vogelsong making the team has been my prediction for awhile. And I am worried about how that may affect May and Berrios -- are they going to get a real shot/leash in the early going?
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Tom: did there appear to be any kind of bag or outside food/beverage policy? I know Vikings games are super-restrictive in that regard, but I am guessing college baseball games are not?
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    And I don't think any of those sections are even open for these games! Maybe they are still waiting to file out after a monster truck show?
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    By elite, I mean elite prospect. That would be a pretty huge jump from where he is now. Still possible, but hard to project.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    330, 400, 305
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Also, for those that don't like the normal $11 cost of adult admission, next weekend is the DQ Classic and you can get 4 tickets for $20 with this voucher: https://www.mygophersports.com/ArticleMedia/Files/Baseball2017DQClassic4-PackVoucher.pdf And if you know any U of M faculty/staff, March 5 they can get 2 free tickets: https://www.mygophersports.com/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=faculty-staff&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks for the report! What were concessions like? It will be my first trip to the stadium too.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    That's fair, although there were pitchers with comparable K rates over that smaller sample: http://www.fangraphs.com/minorleaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=pit&lg=10&qual=40&type=1&season=2016&team=0&players=0&sort=8,d Again, not to take anything away from Romero. He is a fine prospect, and I have no quibble with his Twins rank here. But I get the impression that some here want to consider him elite, based on that relative Twins rank, his ERA, etc.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    He was pretty good in 2016, but the K rate wasn't super impressive. He also pitched in some very pitcher friendly environments -- the HR rate in these leagues is significantly lower than that of MLB, which is why it seems like every Twins pitching prospect has a magical ability to severely limit HR these days! Not to take anything away from Romero, he's a good prospect, but he's not an elite prospect. I think the national rankings reflect that pretty well.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    I agree. Randy Rosario was moved to the bullpen at the beginning of August 2016. I don't know if it was a temporary innings limit thing or what, but his stats were thoroughly middling up to that point in the FSL (league-average run prevention, well below league average K rate). But his K rate immediately jumped in the pen (26 K's in 15.1 IP). Keaton Steele posted the same middling numbers while being 2.5 years older than Rosario and right-handed. I'm not sure why anyone would want to move him up the ladder as a starter either.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Romero must have been one of the last transactions under the Bill Smith regime. His MILB.com bio says he officially signed on Nov. 4, 2011, and Smith was dismissed on Nov. 7.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Here is a schedule of other college and high school baseball games at US Bank Stadium: https://www.usbankstadium.com/events/us-bank-stadium-baseball-games Says admission is $5. I wonder if there is a discount for kids? Concessions open? Might be a nice cheap activity for the family on a cold day...
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Seth, you are correct! https://www.mygophersports.com/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=baseball-single-game-tickets&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    This came up in the Stewart discussion too, but Gonsalves also pitched in some very pitcher friendly environments last year.
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