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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Speaking of catchers, Bobby Wilson never got in a game for the Cubs. He was active for the last 3 games of the regular season, plus game 163 (but not the wild card game). I guess we won that trade! Although it's a shame that Chris Gimenez's streak came to end -- his teams had made the postseason in each of the last 3 years (2015-2017, although he was left off the roster in 2016).
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Got it! Almora's 11th inning sac bunt. Good play by Butera for sure.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Which play was that? I may have missed it, I went to bed as it went to extra innings.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    How Oregonian of you?
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    How Minnesotan of you!
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    I root against the Cubs these days, but Baez is pretty cool. Those swipe tags are great. Also on the Cubs, I love their catcher Willson Contreras throwing behind runners, and former KC Royal Terrance Gore as a pinch runner for the Cubs was fun to watch too. With the Cubs eliminated, hopefully some other players emerge to provide similar entertainment value this postseason. Otherwise, strikeout-heavy baseball can be pretty brutal for spectators without a strong rooting interest.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Agreed. Perhaps I should have instead quibbled with you calling Hendriks a "mediocre starter" -- that appears quite generous! Only a 69 ERA+ over parts of 4 seasons as a SP, never higher than 76. But to your general point, bad starter to average reliever is a good trade-off too.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    By comparison, the Yankees have 4 starting pitchers on their roster for this game. Severino will start, but they also have Tanaka, Happ, and former Twin Lance Lynn. (Although Lynn did make 2 appearances in long relief for the Yankees this year.) Tanaka has never appeared in a MLB game in relief. https://www.mlb.com/yankees/news/aaron-boone-previews-al-wild-card-game-roster/c-296903758
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    More on Oakland's pitching plan: not only are they starting a reliever in Hendriks, they have only 1 starter (Edwin Jackson) on their roster for this game: https://www.mlb.com/athletics/news/as-release-2018-al-wild-card-game-roster/c-296960116 Presumably Jackson is there in case it goes to extra innings. So it looks like it will be more like a bullpen game, rather than the more "traditional" opener followed by a starter that the Twins employed late in the season. Meaning we should expect to see former Twin Fernando Rodney at some point too, perhaps fairly early in the game.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, Hendriks has been a pretty mediocre reliever too. 104 ERA+ the last 3 years with Oakland, although his FIP has been better. Average leverage usage. He was even DFA'd, cleared waivers, and outrighted midseason this year by Oakland. But he came back to be an "opener" for September and was effective in that role, although not particularly dominant by modern reliever standards (only a 20.4% K rate for September).
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    Tonight (Wednesday Oct. 3), AL Wild Card Game Oakland Athletics at New York Yankees Time: 7:08 CST TV: TBS (and MLB.TV for international viewers?) Radio: ESPN or MLB At Bat New York is starting Luis Severino, same as last year's wild card game. Hat tip to TD user "old nurse" for the news about Oakland's starting pitcher (or "opener"), Liam Hendriks: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/24871988/oakland-start-liam-hendriks-wild-card-game
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Last night (Tuesday Oct. 2), the Rockies beat the Cubs in the NL wild card game. Former Twin Drew Butera came into the game on a double-switch in the 7th, and was almost a goat on a catcher's interference call which prolonged that inning for the Cubs, but he was bailed out. Former Twin Randy Rosario came on in the 8th and issued a leadoff walk to Butera, but baserunner Butera was later erased in a double play. After the walk, Butera went 0-for-2 before being lifted in a double-switch himself in the 12th, and his replacement at catcher, Tony Wolters, wound up singling in the eventual winning run in the 13th inning. Seems doubtful that Drew would make the Rockies NLDS roster.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    How about a postseason game thread? Any MLB postseason discussion can just go here.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    And Butera is in the game! 7th inning, as a defensive replacement in a double-switch.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    2002 ALDS, game 2? His next start was pretty good though (ALCS game 1).
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    They have some in the Pitch Type box: https://www.fangraphs.com/statss.aspx?playerid=740&position=P#pitchtype
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Drew Butera on the Rockies wild card game roster! They're carrying 3 catchers for this game.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Randy Rosario is one of 11 pitchers on the Cubs roster for the wild card game. (Kintzler, Garcia, and Duensing did not make the cut.)
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    That should be interesting!
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Again, if you swap the wild card games, it's arguably *worse* for the NL teams. Yes, they are playing a bunch of consecutive days now -- but the last 2-3 days (at least) have not been elimination games. The teams have been able to plan for the game the next day, just like they normally do. (The Dodgers held back Buehler from starting on Sunday, and the Cubs and Rockies clearly held back relievers once they were trailing yesterday.) And, the NL team that wins today, with their backs against the wall, will get a day of rest before starting their NLDS. Switching them, they would have gotten a day of rest after game 163 -- but they would lose the potential day of rest tomorrow before the NLDS. That sucks -- remember when the Twins had to play game 163 in 2009, then start their ALDS the following day? Also, the Yankees still would have had a day off before their wild card game -- and then 2 days off afterward before the ALDS. I'm not seeing the downside for them in that scenario, especially since they clinched a while ago and they were able to rest the last few games anyway.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Problem is, the postseason schedule is all set in advance. Looks like it was announced on August 2nd this year. And once it is set, it is not that simple to switch around. The two wild card games are broadcast by different networks, so switching their dates would have required network approval. And it wasn't even clear that they would need games 163 until Sunday, so it would have been very short notice. Plus the NLDS is scheduled to start on Thursday, and the ALDS on Friday -- switch the wild card games, and the NL wild card winner would lose their off day before the NLDS. I suspect that might be worse than losing the earlier off day to game 163, because the wild card game is an elimination game where you will exhaust your bullpen, while game 163 was not (this year, anyway). FWIW, it seems to rotate -- last year, the AL wild card game was on Tuesday, and the NL on Wednesday. Doesn't seem to be any Yankee favoritism here.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    On Twitter, I just clicked the share icon (the 3 dots connected with 2 lines), then selected "Copy link to Tweet". And simply pasting that link here in TD embeds the tweet, graphics included.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Although further complicating things: Turner then reached free agency as a Dodger, but re-signed with them for $64 mil. Same for Jansen, at $80 mil. Rich Hill was a rental trade who re-signed as a FA too, for $48 mil. Plus, as mentioned by others, this system seems to be counting Puig, Maeda, and Ryu, each of whom signed for $25-42 mil guaranteed and pretty much went straight to MLB, the same as, say, Jorge Polanco, who signed for $750k and took 7 years before starting in MLB.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    In addition to what Danchat said, I'm not sure this graphic means too much about the market. The team with the most free agents on its projected postseason roster is apparently Oakland -- but that's mostly guys like Edwin Jackson. One big FA signing by Boston or NY can easily dwarf 7 by Oakland, in terms of market impact.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Worth noting that the Yankees also have Ellsbury, who won't make the postseason roster due to injury. Also, here is a direct link to the tweet: https://twitter.com/MLBPipeline/status/1046786485238808576?s=20
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