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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    May was activated and optioned on June 7, per his MLB page: http://www.milb.com/player/index.jsp?player_id=543507#/career/R/pitching/2018/ALL
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    How so? Nobody gave him a MLB offer a month ago. Or this past winter.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Thinking about this further, this is really a stretch. Duffey is 27 years old and has extensive AAA/MLB experience. Busenitz has less MLB inexperience, but still 35 innings, and he turns 28 in August. Both are only a year younger than Magill. These guys are DFA candidates no later than this offseason, no reason to let them percolate endlessly at AAA anymore just to shield them from some MLB mop-up/bench time.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Was there any indication that Belisle wouldn't have been available to us in July, if needed? The whole league passed on him just a month ago. Did his most recent AAA outing (5 hits and 4 runs in 2/3 of an inning) really attract new MLB suitors? Or did we have to give him a MLB spot to convince him not to retire?
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    If you're selling midseason, you don't need veteran replacements. You should be auditioning younger arms for 2019 at that point.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Not only did we not re-sign him (despite needing a lot of relievers), Belisle failed to get a MLB contract this past winter. And cleared waivers a month ago and spent a week at home before accepting a minor league assignment with Cleveland.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Good catch. 3 innings on June 5 (doubleheader day). Seems unlikely they are signing Belisle to take that role...
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    No reason in modern MLB to have a reliever go a week between outings, there are plenty of relief innings to around. Especially in the Twins pen, it's not like we have 3-4 shutdown options at the top who need to soak up all the innings. I just don't see the point in investing innings in a guy at this point unless you think he can help you later in the season in a more important role.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Why not use a younger pitcher with options for that role, maybe capable of throwing multiple innings too?
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, the batters do sometimes change in the late innings in low leverage. Pinch hitting for regulars just to give them a rest, letting pitchers bat for themselves (Belisle was in the NL). And approach definitely changes too. And Belisle didn't even have the peripherals to support those numbers. His FIP wasn't bad but it was basically a full run higher than his ERA those 2 years. He wasn't necessarily bad, but it's a bit of a stretch to call those years "elite" for him. If they were in any way "elite", he wouldn't have been on a 1 year, $2 mil deal with the Twins.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    Comparing the Belisle signing to the Arrieta trade? Arrieta was just 27, a former top 100 prospect who had only been with 1 organization. Also, he was still a starting pitcher, and he still had an option left.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Elite mop-up work? Belisle's average game-entering leverage index in 2016 was .83, about the same as Tonkin, Boshers, and O'Rourke that year.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    To be fair, I think this particular commissioner is willing to admit any problem and consider any remedy for it. Just seems ingrained in his public persona.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Vargas actually only cleared waivers once, and the next time, he will be able to opt for free agency instead of taking the outright assignment to AAA. Of course, he's still not hitting at AAA either...
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    The player under discussion was Dozier, although admittedly he'd be a rental too.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Meh, Petit isn't playing anyway. And if Mauer comes back, he's going to be taking 1B/DH at-bats, which is going to push us to play Sano at third pretty much exclusively, rendering Petit even less necessary.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I didn't mean that the Twins won't have other positions to upgrade. I just think the relative upgrade of Realmuto at catcher might be greater than the relative upgrade of any other single position. So I disagree with Brian's argument of, "let's save our prospects to upgrade at another position instead". I'm disappointed with Sano and Buxton, but I don't think there's any way you replace them before opening day 2019. We've got plenty of cash to address the other needs you mention, if we want. But I don't see how cash is going to help much at catcher.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Of course there is a price for Realmuto that is too high, but I'd be curious what that is. Let's use an earlier poster's research as a baseline: So Gordon, Gonsalves, Rooker, and Rortvedt for Realmuto. (Or Gordon, Gonsalves, Javier, and Garver for Realmuto.) What do you all think? Yea or nay? If there was any such thing as a Marlins fan, I would be curious of their perspective too. I'm sure they might rather get an elite prospect, but looking around, I'm not sure one would be forthcoming. I could see them waiting until the deadline but eventually accepting this offer.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Question marks, sure, but Buxton is your best bet in CF right now. He's not getting replaced before 2019. Same for Sano, really, although it might not be at 3B. 3 of the guys you mention replacing just signed here on fairly cheap 1 year deals. I think those positions are easier to address in free agency. (And we may have enough pitchers to not worry too much about further external replacements, especially considering we have team options on Santana and Rodney.) And we're flush with cash after the season. We can easily re-sign Dozier and/or Escobar if we want too. What is your plan for 2019 at catcher? Here are the potential free agents: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2016/12/2018-19-mlb-free-agents.html Drew Butera (35) Robinson Chirinos (35) — $2.375MM club option with a $100K buyout A.J. Ellis (38) Tyler Flowers (33) Yasmani Grandal (30) Nick Hundley (35) Jonathan Lucroy (33) Martin Maldonado (32) Jeff Mathis (36) Brian McCann (35) — $15MM club/player option Devin Mesoraco (31) Miguel Montero (35) Wilson Ramos (31) Rene Rivera (35) Kurt Suzuki (35) Matt Wieters (33) Note this also suggests the Dodgers, Astros, Nationals, Braves, etc. could be looking for catchers too, so there would be competition.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    True. Don't even need a roster spot immediately. In a few days, if we are ready to activate Mauer, we could probably drop Petit. Probably don't have to touch Cave/LaMarre/Grossman until Polanco comes back, or Buxton, or if we want to add a 13th pitcher again.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Shouldn't we be looking at the relative improvement? Looks like the Twins catchers are about replacement level. If Realmuto comes in and posts a prorated 3-4 WAR over a 120 game season, that's still a 3-4 win improvement per season. If the Twins had another long-term hole to fill that could yield a similar relative improvement, I'd be all ears, but I don't see one. The other spots seem covered (or at least have the best potential to be covered) from within.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    To be fair, in both of those deals the catchers were packaged with very good relievers (Lucroy plus Jeremy Jeffress, and Avila plus Justin Wilson). Of course, the Marlins might try to do the same. Or just ask the equivalent price, since Realmuto is younger with more team control than the aforementioned catchers were.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    I hear Astudillo doesn't have much of a defensive rep. Also, his offensive game is largely predicated on not striking out, which is very intriguing but raises questions about how it translates to the bigs. Not sure if you can really swap him for Garver at this point, or if it would cause too much inconsistency to pair him with Garver...
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Wade is 24, but yeah. Earliest they could run out of options on him is age 27. Can't become a free agent until age 31.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    No option, but with his salary and limitations, there is a decent chance Grossman would clear waivers and could be outrighted to AAA.
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