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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    On the Buxton-Correa front, the Astros are promoting one of their 2012 over-slot draft signings Lance McCullers Jr to MLB, direct from AA (after a shaky season at high-A last year): http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/05/astros-to-promote-lance-mccullers-jr.html
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I wouldn't worry too much about the AAA CF "spot". Hicks and Rosario were sharing it just fine. Eric Farris and Wilkin Ramirez are both starting in Rochester right now, so yeah, they've got room for two more outfielders. (And Daniel Ortiz in a 4th OF role there, if necessary, wouldn't be a travesty either.)
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Are the Astros wrong to promote Correa to AAA? Or is it just a case that he's dominating AA so much, and they're not quite ready to promote him to MLB, that they might as well move him to AAA? I could see Buxton being in that position (or perhaps more likely, having a good but not quite otherworldly AA line, and the team wants to see how quickly he adapts to a new level/team before giving him the MLB call). And of course as we are having this discussion, Buxton is 0-for-14 since his leadoff HR Monday...
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Average ages, according to B-Ref 2015 Batters: 28.9 1991 Batters: 29.1 2015 Pitchers: 29.2 1991 Pitchers: 28.6 I will second your endorsement of a 15 game winning streak, however. I'd even settle for 14 games.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Milone is no stranger to dominating AAA, especially the IL. In 2011, he posted a 9.4 K/9 vs 1.0 BB/9 for a 2.28 FIP there. Does suggest he should be healthy, and could be a decent back of the rotation option again, though.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Agreed. Just throwing names out there. Hopefully you are right about the mid June thing. Should they send him up to AAA like Correa soon?
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    I tend to agree. Just like they don't like to mess with their opening day roster for a month or two, I think they don't like to mess with a winning club midseason. Although if Hicks indeed stays and Schafer is shipped out, that is a good sign -- not sure it would apply to Buxton skipping a level, though, especially if there isn't another Schafer-level performer to replace. But between Arcia, Vargas, Hunter, and the DH spot (not to mention Hicks), none of whom offer a great all-around game yet, it shouldn't be too hard to fit Buxton in.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Santana doesn't necessarily push out our 5th best starter, if that starter is named Nolasco. (And Santana may not be better than everyone else either, he had a 94 ERA+ last season and might be rusty from his layoff?)
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    I wouldn't dump him, but Arcia is currently on track to get a multi-million salary as soon as this offseason. I actually doubt you could get a big haul of prospects for him right now -- his MLB performance to date looks a lot like Dayan Viciedo. 30 HR potential isn't all that desirable in that kind of a package (low AVG/OBP, bad corner defense), no matter the age/salary. He's going to have to perform to keep his job this summer.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Good point. Correa is also about 9 months younger. (Holy cow, just noticed Correa had 24 XBH including 7 HR in 29 games at AA! That's even better than any calendar month from Bryant, albeit a couple more of Bryant's went over the fence.) Addison Russell is another guy from that draft (#11 overall), only a month younger than Buxton, missed time last year but got most of his PA at AA, so he was able to start 2015 at AAA and quickly ascend to MLB.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    I've seen lists of teams and the number of times they've employed the shift before. Is that data available (and updated) anywhere publicly for the 2015 season?
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    The sentiment is good, though. It will be nice to at least have the pieces to field a solid defensive outfield (even if we chose to keep starting an infielder in LF).
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Definitely not a champion of change. I think the whole organization needed those multiple 90-loss seasons to change though -- and Molitor is probably in that group too. Put him in charge of a pre-2011 Twins team and he probably does (or resists) most of the same stuff. In any case, sorry to veer off-topic... it's definitely a trend for the Twins, and a fun one to watch.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks for the research and great quotes as usual, Parker! (I first read "shifty" as a similar-sounding word without the letter "f". I think that was a frequent thread title around here the past few seasons. ) (Also, the fact that the Twins dramatically increased their shifting last year suggests that Gardenhire wasn't quite as resistant to change as he is often portrayed, even if it wasn't his idea. Nice to see it ramp up further under Molitor, and hopefully we will be ahead of the curve on the next development.)
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not sure where this idea comes from, that corner outfielders are all so powerful and a dominant offensive force. In 2014, MLB RFers averaged a .142 ISO and a .715 OPS, and LFers .147 and .720. Hicks has a career .172 ISO and .850 OPS at AA, and .159 and .814 at AAA, totaling over 1000 PAs at the two levels. Will he be a star corner OF, offensively? Likely not, but it is still well within the range of possibility that he could be at least close to an average one. Fourth/platoon outfielder in a talented outfield is also not a bad thing. The Twins teams from 2001-2004 usually had 4 outfielders with roughly league average or better OPS+ (not to mention 1987 and 1991 outside of Gladden -- including your namesake, Gene Larkin).
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Perhaps related to Buxton and the Twins: the Astros promoted Carlos Correa to AAA today.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Carlos Correa was promoted to AAA by the Astros today.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Agreed, and Pelfrey 2014 seemed like a pretty egregious example. But I think many other such cases like Nolasco are more after-the-fact justifications for poor performance than actual injuries (or at least, actual injuries above and beyond the normal conditions of a professional athlete).
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Still very early, no? Each only has a 2 appearance scoreless streak right now.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Pelfrey was frustrating before his injury and before he ever came to the Twins, alternating 80 and 110 ERA+ seasons for the Mets. That is basically ping-ponging between the run prevention of Kevin Correia and Matt Garza, and Pelf did that for 4+ seasons there. Hopefully we are finally getting a season of the "good" Pelf!
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think anyone has suggested cutting Robinson. Robinson could certainly remain as a 4th OF for now, and perhaps continue in that role indefinitely. Neither one needs to start to be further evaluated (and even contribute) in that role, though.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    I think given the inconsistency on display during Hicks' entire pro career, I think this is very fair. He can be good at times, perhaps good enough to be our CF the rest of this season, but he will likely continue to be streaky, so I wouldn't want to count on him as a regular in a corner spot or at the top of the order again. At least not until we have another couple seasons worth of data on him.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Agreed. But counting on Schafer when you are holding Hicks to such a high standard is also a really poor way to assemble a ballclub.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    See my last just-submitted post. Hicks isn't going to significantly change over the next 2-4 weeks, over the past 4 weeks, or even over the 2 months combined. Thinking otherwise reminds me of the old saw about trying to change your husband once you are married to him...
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Agreed, and I think people are holding Hicks to too high of a standard. Mental gaffes and career-long inconsistency don't just go away with a little extra seasoning. It was important to finally get him a good start in 2015, and not repeat the Aprils of 2013-2014, but he's not going to become a completely different person/player in the next 2-4 weeks (just as he hasn't in the past 4 weeks). He's a talented but streaky player, age 25, with 5 more seasons of team control (the first 2 at serf wages), and he's finally on a hot streak again. He is infinitely more worthy of playing in MLB next to Torii Hunter and under Paul Molitor right now than Jordan Schafer.
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