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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, he didn't. He just had one disaster game last April (5 runs allowed). 12 appearance, only 1 blown lead, and 5 holds last April too. This year, he seems a bit more thoroughly mediocre, especially considering his usage (his average game-entering leverage index in Cleveland is .30 this year, basically the same as Tyler Kinley here). Although I guess MLB Trade Rumors says his velocity and swinging strike rate are the same. https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/05/indians-designate-matt-belisle.html I know not to rely on spring training stats either, but Belisle had a .423 batting average against the spring, 22 hits allowed in 11.1 IP. Far worse than his 2017 spring with the Twins, or basically any previous spring of his career. (As a non-roster invitee fighting for a spot, no less. Sort of a miracle he made the team.)
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    No! We were fortunate to survive with him last year, and it looks like he's even worse now.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Not to mention his own chant! Maybe they promoted him to be a calming influence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kK5AohCMX0U
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think that's necessarily a "power pen" in the context of 2018. That bullpen K/9 rate is only 14th in MLB this year, and it's artificially inflated by the number of hits we've allowed. Our bullpen K% is only 22nd in MLB.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    I think it's pretty close to unthinkable to expect a similar impact from ANY pitcher. Especially one like Romero making his MLB debut after only 4 good but not dominant games at AAA. (Keep in mind, Liriano had 14 incredible starts at AAA in 2005, plus a 6 game September callup to MLB to get his feet wet, plus his early season bullpen work in 2006.)
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    I was talking about absolute reliever usage relative to league, rather than our team's relative reliever vs starter inning distribution.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not sure why you'd say that. At the same age as Wade is now, Grossman already had almost 300 PA in MLB with a 95 OPS+, and would go on to log another 400 more at 91 OPS+ before his next birthday. That's pretty close to the 101 OPS+ that Grossman put up last year (and that Fangraphs is projecting for the rest of his 2018 season). Why is it unreasonable to think Wade could be in the same range at the same age? Wade has had a better wRC+ than Grossman at every level of the minors so far, and Wade has also struck out notably less than Grossman in the minors too, which makes his performance less dependent on BABIP. Grossman was a high school draftee, but that advantage was mostly neutralized when he had to repeat A-ball for a full season. At the time of their AA debuts, Grossman and Wade were less than a year apart in age. Wade will require a 40-man roster spot this upcoming offseason too, so it's not like we'd be rushing him from that perspective either. I guess calling him up before August makes it more likely that he could use an option this year, but even worst-case scenario, he wouldn't run out of options until his age 27 season, a year later than Grossman did (Grossman burned his first option at age 23).
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    1. Twins relievers have the 8th fewest innings pitched in MLB so far this season. Mostly a function of having the fewest games played, but even on a per-game basis, we are within 1 out of MLB average relief innings per game (MLB average is 3.2 IP, Twins at 4 IP). I'd guess we've used more total relievers than average too, so the workload has been spread out a bit. Here are the IP ranks of individual Twins relievers: 14. Pressly 37. Reed 92. Hildenberger 156. Rogers 185. Duke 204. Rodney 240. Duffey 248. Moya 265. Busenitz 275. Kinley 282. Magill 2. Grossman started 75% of the time for the Twins in 2016 in 2017. He has only started 56% of the games in 2018 so far. I don't think over-exposure is the cause of his 2018 struggles. Adrianza has indeed started more in 2018, but he's only 2 starts ahead of his 2017 rate so far. LaMarre has only started 6 games all year. It's not like previous Twins teams haven't seen marginal guys get similar playing time (don't forget, the 2017 team had Danny Santana to open the season, later had mediocre performances from rookies Garver and Granite, and even had Adrianza start 9 games in the outfield). 3. Castro and Morrison are definitely under-performing, but Dozier and Rosario are within 10% of their career OPS+ figures. On the pitching side, Lynn and Rogers are really the only regulars who are under-performing expectations.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Yeah, that is a weird one. Wade had a 135 wRC+ at AA last year -- and they're making him repeat the level? At age 24?
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Probably because Robbie Grossman is a starting outfielder for us right now? We don't exactly have much depth there.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    And today, Hale re-signed with the Yankees on a minor league deal: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/05/yankees-sign-david-hale.html
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    What's Enns going to do? He's behind the current 5 starters, plus Mejia, plus possibly Gonsalves, plus Ervin Santana and Trevor May hopefully in the not too distant future. They are both probably DFA fodder, but Magill is perhaps a little more useful at the present moment.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Yup. Pretty sure Enns was going to be waived by the Yankees shortly thereafter anyway.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Rule 5 trades like that are pretty rare, I think. I don't think Kinley is worth enough for the Twins to offer much, but he's also useful enough as a non-40-man depth piece for the Marlins not to give him away either.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    A negative impact is a type of impact. Seriously, Petit might be useful, if we had someone to pinch hit for Adrianza.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Retroactive to April 28!
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I hope not, that would be a 162 game suspension!
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting question, hadn't thought of that angle. Considering the new company would keep the T-Mobile name, headquarters, and CEO, I would guess at this point that most of their long-running promos and sponsorships would continue, and that Sprint users would have opportunities to move under the T-Mobile umbrella (if not be compelled to do so). Then again, maybe the combined company would change their focus/strategy. In any case, even if they get approval, I don't think the merger would be consummated until mid-2019, so the next MLB season will likely not be affected. Maybe 2020? And approval isn't a sure thing either: https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/what-are-chances-t-mobile-sprint-merger-getting-approved-analysts-weigh
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    FWIW, I think most modern starts fall in the 90-100 pitch count range, as opposed to past generations where starters were more often pulled with lower pitch counts when they didn't have it on a particular day. So it does seem like Molitor went against the grain a bit, in this one.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Well, I don't have a lot of confidence in Buxton turning our season around while he is playing through that pain either.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Duffey has already been optioned, for Curtiss. Magill is out of options, and could elect free agency if we tried to pass him through waivers and outright him (having been outrighted previously in his career).
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Wow, that is exciting!
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    You do realize those guys (Buxton, Santana, Polanco) aren't coming back for at least a month or two, right? I mean, I'm not freaking out or writing off the season or anything. But we're not turning anything around with the help of Buxton, Santana, or Polanco until May 30, at least. Hence why "it's only April 30" and "Buxton, Santana, and Polanco will return" are somewhat imcompatible reassurances.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    But those 3 things aren't going to be fixed for at least another month or two, which sort of invalidates the "it's only April 30" reassurance...
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting. Hale has less than 3 years service time, and he has never been outrighted before. I wonder how he was able to reject the outright assignment? https://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3530
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