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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    With Mauer, there is also the no-trade protection. I wonder if teams pretty much pass on no-trade guys in August? Since they can block any trade or waiver assignment anyway. Not that Mauer would have much of a value case otherwise right now.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Absolutely. In Morrison's case, it gives you a team and a baseline for formulating a return -- you can say "his salary is X, do you want to pay it, or what minor leaguers do you think have equal or less value than that?"
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Good point. Obviously teams know when guys are (or have already been) on waivers, and I assume teams are notified when they win a claim, even if the waiving team can revoke it. But they probably have to deduce whether a guy cleared or another team won a claim.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    I hear Jack Goin may have taken the database with him. And due to the record payroll, the Pohlads suspended the raffle that was to accompany the emergency pitcher questionnaire, so perhaps employee participation was lower. First prize was supposed to be a mountain bike this year!
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Lewis should debut either in June (after the likely Super 2 arbitration cutoff, like Correa and Lindor) or mid-April (after the 7th year of control is guaranteed, like Kris Bryant). These dates are largely irrelevant for the vast majority of players, but Lewis looks elite and thus they carry some significance, especially as a position player. Yes, the service time may prove irrelevant like it has for Buxton and Sano, but you have to cover that base in advance. The only question now is how quickly he can get through AA and AAA and stay healthy. June 2019 is probably a little too fast -- but it would be exciting! April 2020 seems like a good bet now, assuming health, with a fallback of June 2020 or April 2021 if he is slowed by an injury in the meantime. If the Twins deviate from those dates, it would be nice if his call-up was accompanied by a contract extension, buying out his arb years and at least one FA year.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Berardino has the story here: https://www.twincities.com/2018/08/06/twins-exec-derek-falvey-tries-to-soothe-emotional-impact-on-fans-of-recent-sell-off/ I like this part: Yup, 12 -- they actually included Logan Forsythe in the count of "players who will contribute to our future". I guess the next 2 months are technically part of the future, but still -- it's like the movie Spinal Tap -- "12 is better than 11."
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    What if that someone is... Belisle himself? The Paradox of Matty B!
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Lewis is definitely exciting. Let's see... Correa debuted 3 years after being drafted. Of course, he missed half a year in the minors with injury. Was a few months older than Lewis when drafted. But also spent his draft year entirely in rookie ball, then had a full season at Class A. I wonder if Astros fans were upset about that? Could Lewis make it to MLB faster than that? The Super 2 arbitration cutoff in 2019 would be about 2 years after his draft. If we don't promote him then, maybe he gets the Kris Bryant treatment and gets called up 2 weeks into the 2020 season. That might have been the Correa path too, if not for his injury.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    All right, who is bumping old threads to the top of the forum again?
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    I think you are missing the context of my post. I was just pointing out costs to rostering Drake. By all means, if the AAA relievers are no good, they can cut them. That will hardly be a defense of the front office that stocked the roster full of them, though, and found no alternative but Belisle.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    *Before* July. When your biggest shake-up between April 1 and July 1 is signing Matt Belisle, it is almost a self-fulfilling prophecy that you will be selling at the deadline too. Absolutely we could have been sellers regardless, and no in-season move would have guaranteed a turnaround or contention, but there is a pretty compelling argument that the front office never really tried to change the course of a mediocre season. It can also be said they made successful deadline trades -- the two things are not mutually exclusive.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    That was his exact salary last year. It's not his salary for 2018. As I recall, there was only one contemporaneous news report of his signing this year that listed his salary, but I can't find it at the moment. Most just said "MLB contract". I think it was in the $700k-$1 mil range? Wasn't clear if that was prorated either. (Maybe it was the prorated part of $2.05 mil?) Edit: just saw your follow up post. No worries! Whatever it is, it is too much. Maybe we can get reimbursed by Cleveland?
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Nice self-fulfilling prophecy you've got there! Also, the concerns about selling came with additional concerns that the front office didn't do enough to change the course of the season between April and July.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Salary? That was Belisle's salary last year. But it is less than that in 2018, although still too high...
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    He's had games like this before, when we were still ostensibly in the race. I'll believe it when I see it.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    I hate to use the old Belisle argument, but Cimber has pitched in 6 games for Cleveland, and only given up runs in one of them. It was 3 runs, though, and he's really a sidearming right-handed specialist so that torpedoed his ERA (only 3.1 IP in those 6 games). He does have yet to record a strikeout with Cleveland, though. Still think he could be useful, I don't know if he was really a product of Petco.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Good luck. The only two August deals for international bonus money the last two years have involved players making about 10% of Morrison and Forsythe's current salaries. I think at best you might find another team willing to take on X% of that salary. It is possible that international money or lotto tickets don't even enter the conversation.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    My point was, you have to make decisions on them before those 2019 options. Rostering Drake is preventing you from gathering any more MLB info about those guys right now. Unless of course our mind is mostly made up to cut those guys when the season ends. But keep in mind another poster on this thread is suggesting that we couldn't claim Drake earlier, even if we liked him, because our 40-man was full -- even though it was full of guys apparently destined to be cut without another extended look in MLB...
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Always? Like Curtis Granderson last year? If the return is another AAA reliever...
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    I am not really disputing the usefulness of lotto tickets. What I was trying to say, I think you are overrating the number of August trades for Morrison/Forsythe types that even yield a lottery ticket like you describe. The vast majority are for PTBNL or cash, and if a player is ever named, it is often an org filler type. The days of snagging David Ortiz are gone. If that's your reason for rostering/playing a guy in August, it is probably a bad investment. Even extended starts for guys like Adrianza and Austin could be more valuable, in terms of planning your 2019 bench. And of course, the continued presence of Belisle is evidence the Twins are fully capable of rostering a veteran for no particular good reason.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Anderson wasn't a first round pick. Maybe you are thinking of Tyler Jay? He will be eligible for Rule 5 this winter too. Anderson was a 32nd round pick from Brainerd who initially had to go to indy ball. Stewart, his K rate increased in his 3rd year at AA, but just a tick above league average. It is back down to well below average at AAA. He's giving up more hits than ever, although he is still getting grounders. Seems like he would most likely be selected for conversion to relief duty, and in that case, I am not sure he is in all that different of a position from last year.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    LaMarre also appeared in the majors with the White Sox in July. But he is indeed back!
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    "No room on the Twins 40 man" while there is room for Belisle? Like there was room for LaMarre for half the season with Cave in AAA? Now Astudillo for no discernable purpose? Did the Twins have David Hale on their radar for awhile too? Drew Rucinski? Chris Heston? I am sure the Twins FO is aware of their existence but I think it is a bit of a reach to apply any special meaning to their interest in these players.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Well, Stewart went unselected last year, has much changed this year? He wasn't exactly an under the radar type. Anderson seems like a classic older marginal type. I think if anyone selects him, they will regret it (like Bard, Kinley, Jones, etc.).
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    They let Drake go by earlier this season, on the same day they recalled Duffey (May 31). This was also about 12 days before we re-signed Belisle (who in turn we also passed up less than a month earlier, when he first elected free agency from Cleveland). They let Johnny Field go by less than 2 weeks ago too.
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