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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    "Giants Acquire Tyler Austin" https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/04/twins-trade-tyler-austin-giants.html We get back minor league outfielder Malique Ziegler -- he's still young, but doesn't look like much of a prospect at this point: https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=ziegle000mal https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=sa918507&position=OF
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    In terms of actual "shopping", there are limits to how much of that you can do with a fringe, out-of-options player. That said, I don't think there's any evidence to suggest the Twins haven't "shopped" Austin -- or at least, nothing to suggest they haven't been 100% open to inquiries about moving him (and teams didn't need the Twins calling to suggest that he could be available). I just don't think anyone has been in a rush to acquire him. At least the DFA deadline should prompt some interest, if there is any.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Perhaps Tyler Austin can attend!
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Polanco actually pinch hit and played an inning of shortstop anyway, and presumably he participated in all of the usual pregame activity, so I'm not sure how much rest he really got. Nothing near the rest he'll automatically get today and Thursday (off days).
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Is there something special about April 12th? We didn't wind up needing De Jong on Saturday, but the odds of needing him that day were almost certainly higher than the odds we'd find a path to playing time for Austin in the near future. Austin has been a walking DFA candidate for awhile now. That it finally happened on April 6, rather than April 12, or April 1st, doesn't seem all that important of a distinction.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Even if he clears waivers, Austin can declare free agency because he has previously been outrighted. And I suspect he wouldn't want to come back to Minnesota, given our 1B/DH options.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    If the game Friday had been postponed, Littell would have been eligible to come up Saturday as the 26th man.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    It's handy to have a "flex spot" on the 40-man, but hopefully they don't have to use it many times -- that would mean both the MLB club is desperate and the 40-man players in the minors are all hurt or performing poorly...
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    They needed both a 25-man AND a 40-man spot to add a guy for Saturday's game. They could have made an extra move, I suppose: option someone (I'd pick Harper before Garver), DFA someone already in the minors (Duffey?), then add De Jong.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't know about "superstar" but Astudillo's last year-plus in the minors suggest he could be an all-star type bat, especially at catcher. The addition of power to his game has been huge. A 123 wRC+ over the last 435 PA in AAA, and nothing seems particularly fluky (for him) about those batting lines anymore (if anything, his AAA BABIP last year was low, at .255, and thus wRC+ could have been even higher). He really needs to be starting every day now, either at C or 3B, and if he keeps it up, it will probably be worth making him the primary catcher and finding another solution at 3B.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    It was noted in the De Jong thread that today was only the 10th day of the MLB season. So all of the pitchers on the 40-man were ineligible to be recalled until tomorrow, unless there was an injury and someone went on the DL IL. And if they decided to drop Austin for a pitcher, that frees up a 40-man spot too, so they might as well use it on someone.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, no. It's not a 2% difference in K/9. K% is strikeouts divided by plate appearances. A 2% difference there will produce a larger difference in K/9. If De Jong had a league average K% in AAA last year, he would have had a 8.5 K/9, versus the 7.8 he posted. Not a huge difference, but still below average -- and that was his best K performance last year, the difference was larger at AA and MLB. And nothing else about his performance at any level stood out either. If his ERA was 2.50, or his BB% was microscopic, etc. -- I could see the argument that his K rate isn't a big deal. But he was just sort of blah in all phases. I didn't mean to imply that his K rate was specifically a problem, but he doesn't appear to have any plus asset, statistically.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    That's assuming we don't just start re-numbering years after this event. It could be year 0 AT (After Tortuga).
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    It's not an obsession with K's, but with a 3.66 ERA repeating AA/AAA last year, De Jong really needed strong peripherals to differentiate himself from a ton of other minor league pitchers. For the record, De Jong's K% was below league average last year, at every level he pitched. AA: 17.3%, versus a league mark of 20.9% AAA: 20.2%, versus 22.0% league MLB: 17.6%, versus 22.6% league Now, he may have talent/potential worth claiming, particularly with one option year left, but it's not necessarily evident in his stat lines to date.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    You could have said the same a year ago with Kennys Vargas too...
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Really? De Jong hasn't been that good either -- pretty mediocre K rates. There's a reason he was traded for 2 months of a mediocre reliever, and it follows that him going unclaimed wouldn't be all that surprising either.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    That's fair. I certainly wouldn't have put him out there in the rain last night, that's for sure! But with Buxton out, no DH, and in good weather, it's probably worth considering, to get him 2-3 guaranteed PA in a good lineup spot.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    It's not necessarily an either/or proposition. He could be poor out there, but not so bad that a few innings would be disastrous, and also wear down easily. Cruz's worst UZR/150 season was -8; -12 Rtot/yr, -13 Rdrs/yr. It's possible he could still perform close to that for a few innings on fresh legs, but the longer he is out there, the worse he gets -- and the risk could spill over to affect his bat and health.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Michael Reed just cleared waivers for the Giants and elected free agency -- but then re-signed with them on a minor league deal. (The Giants are probably a better opportunity for Reed than the Twins are for Austin, though.)
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Could be an age/health issue too. Maybe Cruz would wear down from too much OF play, but in short spurts (perhaps measured in innings rather than games), he could be passable. Looks like the Mariners gave him 4-5 starts in RF each of the last two seasons. Batting near the top of the lineup, he could get more PA than defensive chances -- and you would eventually sub him out depending on the game state. (Looks like he only played 1 complete game in the OF for the Mariners the last two years).
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Michael Reed update: he cleared waivers, elected free agency (because he had been out righted before)... and then re-signed with the Giants on a minor league deal anyway. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2019/04/giants-outright-michael-reed-free-agency.html
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Nah, they'll just move on to football and the Chiefs...
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Before we punted the season? There were opportunities quite early, when Castro got hurt and then Sano was sent down with Polanco still out. He had power to go with that .276 AVG at AAA too. I would have liked to see him get some regular MLB reps no later than June, when the team could have used a spark.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I think we wouldn't mind the Royals getting some wins versus Cleveland too, and maybe a few other clubs as well. That would boost the relative value of the Twins wins over the Royals.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Worth noting that Acuna only got a $100k signing bonus as an amateur, in addition to still being 2 years away from getting more than MLB minimum. He probably had more incentive to sign this deal than some others.
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