Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Otto von Ballpark

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    20,669

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    74

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    "Making the team" doesn't necessarily mean much. The Red Sox called up Haley as a mop-up pitcher for 18 days last summer, then cut him after the season. He's now pitching for the Samsung Lions in Korea. Does that information really validate the Twins selecting him in Rule 5 in any way? If Kinley succeeds, that could be a more interesting case, but of course whatever credit you want to give the Twins for selecting him would likely be offset by us cutting him. Not to mention, if these cases represent "impressive scouting", then you'd also have to consider it "unimpressive scouting" when we've let guys go, like Bard, Anderson, etc.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    You can check out some of the past articles about him: Twins 2018 Minor League Relief Pitcher of the Year http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/minnesota-twins-minor-leagues/twins-2018-minor-league-relief-pitcher-of-the-year-r7223 Get To Know: Twins LHP Prospect Andrew Vasquez http://twinsdaily.com/_/minnesota-twins-news/minnesota-twins-minor-leagues/get-to-know-twins-lhp-prospect-andrew-vasquez-r6153
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks for the report! I was just thinking about a trip over there, sounds like quite the experience.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Sure. But that doesn't mean he used to be a "one tool" player, as you implied. He might be one now (hit tool), although he did manage 1.9 bWAR / 1.5 fWAR last year while playing in the outfield.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think Denard Span was a "one tool" player. He still has a fine hit tool (112 wRC+ last year).
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Basically, he broke the formula. An incredibly high K rate, low BB rate, and low HR rate will do that. Burdi had a good spring for Pittsburgh too: 9.1 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 3 BB, 13 K. Although he was generally deployed against lower-level competition (6.1 "OppQual" at B-Ref).
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks for the update! I kind of forgot about Nick Anderson. For what it's worth, he had a solid spring training for the Marlins too - 8 IP, 5 H, 3 R, 0 BB, 10 K. (OppQual of 7.6 at B-Ref too, so he wasn't just facing scrubs -- Parker and Rogers had virtually the same OppQual this spring.)
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Another former Twins reliever, John Curtiss, is off to a rough start with the Angels AAA club: through 2 appearances, 1.2 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 5 BB, 2 K.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    In fairness to Meyer, he didn't actually pitch for the Angels in spring training, as he was still recovering from surgery. I think he's still in extended spring training? He has yet to be assigned to a minor league club in 2019. Of course, there's a decent chance he may be perpetually "recovering from surgery" from now until the end of his playing career...
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    The game risked was with Pineda on the mound, on Saturday afternoon, after a bunch of relievers were used on Friday night. That's the game for which we called up De Jong. And an injury insurance player is not necessarily more valuable than 1 game in the short term (i.e. your reference to April 12). And over the long term, the cost of the roster spot will put more than just a single game at risk.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    Garver could have been optioned, or we could have carried Astudillo as one of 3 catchers instead of locking in a roster spot for mop-up men in Kinley/Hughes/Belisle.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Among pitchers, I just read about Jon Lester's 0-for-66 streak, which is apparently the longest hitless streak to start a career. Although no article seems to mention what pitcher might have had a longer streak mid-career...
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not sure most of the complaints are based on actual robbery, but rather perceived robbery...
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Sure, Wilson caught him 14 times. But Garver and Astudillo caught him 13 times last year too. And in 2017, when I believe Castro was healthy the whole season, he only caught him 15 out of 26 times, a lower rate than he caught the rest of the staff. I think Castro's spot is safe for now, but it's not because he's inextricably tied to Berrios.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Someone else caught Jose pretty much all of last season...
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Japan! Chiba Lotte Marines. You can follow his stats at B-Ref. .865 OPS and 1 HR through 9 games: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=vargas001ken
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Unfortunately OPS+ is a rate stat. In terms of counting stats, Davis is at -0.5 fWAR already, so he's on pace for -9.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Baltimore didn't have a chance to claim him, since he was traded before we had to put him on waivers.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks for sharing. That pre-injury 2018 line was a super small sample of course (86 PA), but a few of the underlying peripherals certainly weren't unsustainable: 12.8 BB%, 23.3 K%, .333 BABIP. He hasn't sustained anything close to that .246 ISO yet, of course. FWIW, it looks like he had a similar cooling off in 2017, without injury. His 2017 OPS by month: June: 1.001 July: .665 (further split into .754 first half of the month, .592 second half) August: .539 Not that I necessarily buy that monthly splits are all that indicative of much... Edit to add: also, this information would have been more encouraging if we had acquired him in the offseason. I don't like to appeal to authority, but I'm guessing the Giants wouldn't have traded him for Tyler Austin (to play outfield?) if Ziegler showed anything like that 2018 pre-injury line in camp this spring.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Personally, I don't mind the imperfections of human umpires, but I'm starting to endorse robo-umps, in the hopes that it would reduce the "we wuz robbed!" fan commentary.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually more than that. $92 mil in salary for 2019-2022. That includes deferred money (they'll be paying him until 2037) -- with the deferral discount, MLB estimated the present-day value at about 92% when the contract was signed, or $84 mil remaining. Plus they still own him deferred money from 2016-2018 too -- that's another $18 mil.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Non-pitchers. I'm not sure who holds the record among pitchers...
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    ...or Sano. (He's got an option year left.)
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I wonder if the signing of Marwin and continued emergence of Astudillo played a role too -- there didn't even seem to be any bench at-bats for Austin here either.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    I was trying to be charitable! To be fair, despite being drafted in 2016 (2.5 seasons ago), Ziegler's only played the equivalent of about 1 full season above rookie league ball -- the Giants started him late in 2017, and he missed about half of 2018 due to injury. And while he hasn't excelled yet, he's held his own where he's played so far -- he's posted a wRC+ of 101 and 104 in his two stops above the rookie leagues. Last year's position player ages among guys who only played at high-A in the Twins org: 23, 24, 23, 24, 25, 21, 22, 23, 22, 21 Ziegler wouldn't be consider old among that group, playing there in his age-22 season. (Although yes, he does turn 23 in September.) Still, the total combination isn't much of a prospect.
×
×
  • Create New...