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

News

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospects Ranking

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

Minnesota Twins Free Agent & Trade Rumors, Notes, & Tidbits

Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Pick Tracker

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Tracker: Picks & Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Obviously I am not suggesting investing internationally or on domestic FAs at the expense of the draft. But from day 1, TR could have signed anybody he wanted and still got Buxton, for example. And our future draft positions would have been significantly worse only if we had significantly more success at the MLB level, which would have been a good problem to have, in my opinion. Fortunately, the new draft and non-Cuban/Asian international slotting and spending caps, in place since June-July 2012, have limited this weakness of TR. (Although by the same token, it also limits our ability to quickly improve by these methods, for a GM who is willing to take advantage.) May have been the only reason we landed Buxton. Still would like to see him spend more/smarter where he can, though. No reason the 2015 Twins have to operate or rebuild exactly like the 2005 or 1995 Twins.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    There are a few Cuban players who could have had an impact already. A few international guys signed before the new spending caps went into effect July 2012 too. All indications suggest the Twins didn't make any efforts in these areas. Not to mention MLB FAs, where the Twins efforts were half-hearted until this past offseason (and I'd argue they were still fairly half-hearted, given Nolasco's history and season). I get that rebuilding takes time, but with TR's demonstrated baseball acumen and Target Field's resources, there is no reason it automatically has to be a 5+ year process, done almost entirely through the amateur draft.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    I am pretty ambivalent about changing managers or GMs (or even coaches). I wouldn't mind keeping the current group, if they showed some evidence that they aren't as insulated / "country club" as they've been in the past. (Or continued showing such evidence, if you believe last winter's FA signings were a step in the right direction -- despite his contract, Nolasco is looking more and more like a traditional conservative TR move -- innings eater, low upside, friendly agent, etc.). Changing coaches/manager/GM is one obvious way for the owners to demonstrate this, but I'd rather just see the incumbent group expand their horizons a bit. TR and his scouts obviously have plenty of baseball smarts: let's see them applied more (and more aggressively) to Cuba, Asia, domestic free agency, etc., and at least try to rebuild in less than 5 years. And Gardy and Anderson can obviously helm a solid team/staff too (although the playoff record gives me pause) -- no immediate need to replace them either, in my opinion.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    In regards to the Vikings and Wolves: both teams had an extended streak of early/disappointing playoff exits, then quickly got rid of their head coaches once their regular-season success dried up (Denny Green in 2001, Flip Saunders in ~2004). That would suggest Gardy should already be gone; on the other hand, neither of those coaching changes helped those franchises...
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Pretty sure you can get into any Twins game for about $2 these days (not to mention nearby cheap/free parking options). It would be interesting to see what would happen to ticket prices on the secondary market, though, if such a promotion was offered!
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Is this still true? I feel like they might be coasting in this regard too. The "Get to Know 'Em" campaign was fun back in the day, but it doesn't feel like they've had a particularly notable ad campaign or promotion since then. Might be part of the tone-deafness -- like they still expect the team to sell itself like it was the 2002-2010 team (as hinted at in Dave St. Peter's response to Olbermann), and the stadium to sell itself like 2010 every year. Great article, by the way!
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    We've been hearing variations of this for the last few years, though. "Player X is likely to regress some, sure, but Player Y is likely to improve too." Problem is, Player X has often regressed more than we like, and Player Y's improvement doesn't always materialize. It doesn't help that the "game changers" are always prospects 1-2 years away. I like this year's mix better too, but it's probably misleading to say that the Twins have only one major need to address this offseason. If that's the approach, they are unlikely to see significant improvement in 2015, which suggests they have more holes than that (even if we don't know all of them yet!).
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Me too. Obviously he's much younger and is still a good prospect, but he still has yet to dominate AA hitters, which is a big achievement gap from Meyer.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    I would be shocked if Berrios made the Twins out of spring training. Actually, I would be surprised if he even opened in AAA. I think he gets another couple months at AA first.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Bernier already has 85 days MLB service, most of it from 2013 with the Twins.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    I would guess AA again for Berrios (Liriano path).
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Oliveros gives me a Jim Hoey vibe. Minor league flamethrower, missed age 25 season, assigned to AA past when his age would suggest... although to be fair, Hoey's control really took a nosedive after that missed season, while Oliveros has thus far maintained his career rates. Could help him in a MLB transition. Glad we are giving him a look. (And would have had nothing against giving Hoey a look -- as a waiver claim or minor league free agent, NOT a trade centerpiece... arg...)
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Herrmann could easily be safe for 2015. The Twins currently have nothing notable at catcher at either AA or AAA, outside of Herrmann and Pinto (not to mention nothing of note as MLB backup). Heck, not much for AAA outfielders either, at least not to open 2015. Bernier, Rule 5? You are aware of his age?
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Minor correction: Thompson was already called up a couple days ago. Also, Romero (or Guerra, or whomever) not being on the 40-man should not be an issue at this point, given the names of the non-callups you list. Florimon is a lock to be removed from the 40-man after the season anyway, no reason he could not be removed now. Pino as well, in light of his injury. Cola and Johnson probably too, even though they technically still have options for 2015, they are not the age/quality of players you generally want to protect on the 40-man for multiple offseasons (both were already protected last winter, and provided little benefit in 2014 -- unlikely that repeats itself). None of those guys should have any trade value in the next 2 months either, so there is no real benefit to waiting to cut them... although aybe we're hoping to sell them to South Korea again...
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Won't all those guys become (minor league) free agents at the end of season anyway, if they are not on the 40-man? I think Oliveros, Romero, and Guerra were all (minor league) free agents last offseason, and simply re-signed with the Twins (they all have 6+ years of minor league service). At this point, a month of MLB service and salary might be good incentive for them to sign back here (if we want them back), even if they are taken back off the 40-man roster.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, last year at this time, Mauer was largely considered a "set" option at catcher, just temporarily shelved. At that time, plenty of people here also thought Florimon was an asset going forward at SS. And lots of people here also said we shouldn't bother getting a new OF for 2014, because we had guys in the corners and our CF of the future would be up by midseason (perhaps he was, just not the guy people were referring to ). Last year at this time, people were also probably asking, how can we improve on ~105 OPS+ at 1B? Sounds like this year too. The rotation outlook was indeed worse -- god bless Phil Hughes! -- and I like our position player mix better now, but there are some similarities.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Methinks you picked the wrong team to be a fan of! Or perhaps more accurately, the team picked the wrong fan.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    I actually wouldn't mind that, I suppose, if Pinto was actually playing a lot of catcher in AAA and could honestly expect to assume a good share of MLB catching duties in the near future. Does not appear to have been the case this year...
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Yup. Dealing Pinto would drop our 2015 catcher depth to 2011 levels (with an older/worse projected MLB starter, to boot), and we all remember how that went.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    I wouldn't advocate Pinto to DH, Mauer to LF, Vargas to 1B full time, but I think it is perfectly acceptable for 50 games a season or whatever, until/unless we get a better LF option.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    That is true, but the gains/losses from defense at 1B are pretty minor. I think the positional/roster flexibilty gains more than cancel it out if you're only doing it 60 games a season or so.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Of course, most of that improvement so far was a BABIP spike in his 3rd season repeating high-A, at an above league average age too. Seems to be off to a good BABIP start at AA, though. Could Michael be another Beresford? Is he considered a legit defender at SS/2B?
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    I find it interesting that Arcia is actually younger than Vargas, by about 9 months.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Seems like you're trying to have it both ways -- saying TR didn't sign better guys because of the poor FA market, but then also saying he is limited in his signings by our payroll / media market. I won't dispute that the 2012-2013 FA SP market was fairly thin and that was a factor, but again, there's plenty of evidence that the Twins would have wound up with a similar haul from a better market too, just based on how they prefer to operate, which I feel is a greater factor.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    As much as Target Field revenue is a factor, you can't simply disregard TR's and the franchise's previous actions either. As much as they could be more active in FA now with more revenue, they have an abundant history of conservatism, not just in the FA market either. Also, last offseason TR guaranteed $86.75 million... but over 10 player seasons, covering the next 4 calendar years. That's still pretty modest, given the average salary for a MLB player is almost $4 million and that's obviously held down by pre-arb guys. Looked at in total, he basically signed 3 FAs at average FA prices. And two of them have looked terrible so far... so if your position is that he was biding his time through the previous two offseasons, waiting for perfect time to strike in FA, that reflects fairly poorly on his GM acumen. Again, I think it is more charitable to TR to assume he adjusted his FA budget/mindset after 2013, rather than he just previously didn't think any FA pitchers could deliver the value of 2014 Nolasco and Pelfrey.
×
×
  • Create New...