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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Again, the context of this thread is that MLB owners are lobbying for a legal exemption from being challenged on their low (sub-minimum wage?) minor league pay. You may think MLB players are greedy too, but they are not doing that.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Of course, if the Twins were actually putting forth a competent 5th starter instead of Phil Hughes, our opening day starter would also be lined up to start the first game in Puerto Rico...
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Home opener tickets are special (and expensive). Teams can't reschedule those games for later in the season, they pretty much have to be the next day (and not as a doubleheader). It does seem unusual that the Twins are participating in 3 home openers this season...
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    I know much was made of Aybar coming off a 74 wRC+ last year (and basically the last 3 years). It should be noted that Featherston has a career 30 wRC+ in MLB, and Petit is coming off a 74 wRC+ last year at AAA (and he's nearly the same age as Aybar). Adam Rosales just got released, after I referenced his 2013 waiver wire escapades in another thread. Although I might be open to a more creative solution than any of these, especially if the Sano absence wasn't too long.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    There is no such rule, but it's not exactly practical to do as you describe either. Vargas is out of options, so they'd need a free 40-man AND 25-man roster spot to claim him. So you'd effectively be playing one short at the MLB level to do this sort of thing, which is certainly a greater cost than whatever benefit you hope to derive from Vargas in AAA. Possible in the offseason and spring training, but not so much during the regular season. Adam Rosales, August 2013 is about the most extreme example you will see: https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/r/rosalad01.shtml
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    The Twins have controlled Vargas for 8 and a half years already, during which time they've given him ~2 years of MLB service time. You really think it's unfair to the Twins to not be able to control him for another year in the minors on top of that?
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Note that the Reds carried 3 catchers for much of last season, including Stuart Turner for 89 PA spread over 5 months. They could perhaps be considering a pinch hitter in that role instead. Or, they could just be looking for a AAA first baseman. Those players generally aren't hard to find in free agency, but it's probably harder to convince the good ones to join the Cincinnati org and be stuck behind Votto. That said, they can't send Vargas to AAA without him clearing waivers first. So he would soon be freely available to other clubs again, and there are apparently 24 other teams who still could put in a claim for him.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    So he'd be better off if he was off of the 25/40 man rosters, in the minor leagues, with lower pay and benefits, with no incentive for the Twins to add him back to the roster quickly, and no chance to hit waivers again until the Twins add him back?
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Those are both home openers too (for Pittsburgh and Minnesota, respectively).
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Mark DeRosa?
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    I think the concern is more, who is available? Aybar was no great shakes but I have no idea who they'd call up in the infield right now.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    So you think they need a contingency plan, on the roster, in case 2 out of a specific subset of 4 players get hurt/ejected in the same game? Seems about as likely as needing the emergency catcher.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    If you make it harder to claim him, though, you just make it more likely that Vargas gets outrighted off the 40-man roster to the minors, with a lower salary, worse benefits, further from the majors, etc. It's a trade-off -- the potential to send him outright to AAA later actually inflates Vargas's current value a bit, so teams are more willing to give him extra MLB time/money/benefits right now. Just a few weeks on a MLB regular season roster is probably more valuable than letting him choose what AAA club to play for. (Although he could get that choice in the not too distant future too -- he will likely be able to declare free agency in the next year or two if he doesn't stick on an MLB roster.)
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    The only waiver priority that prioritizes league over record is August trade waivers. Makes sense, because those claims are generally about blocking trades to competitors in your own league. All other waivers -- outright or release, all year round -- ignore league (except as a tiebreaker for teams with the same record). https://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3525 And until the end of April, last year's standings are used. Starting in May, 2018 standings will be used. But league is still only a tiebreaker, in either case.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Lynn does have options remaining (all 3, technically). But I think the 10 day clock might start on opening day, which would make this difficult. The Orioles and Cobb are apparently going to do this, but he signed later and might make multiple starts in the minors, which would cover the 10 days.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm virtually certain that salary forfeited by suspension doesn't go anywhere. If you think about it, it is very different from a fine -- that is money that has to go somewhere (and no one wants it to go to the team, because that would create an incentive for teams to fine players). Forefeited salary, on the other hand, is just the team's money that doesn't go anywhere. The player doesn't have to return a check or send the check along to somewhere else -- he just doesn't receive a check, it is never written.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Tying it all back together, Phil Hughes BABIP allowed: 2014: .324 2015: .304 2016: .323 2017: .333
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    No problem with that here. If a business can't sustain itself while paying its enployees minimum wage, it makes sense that it should be reconfigured. Fewer minor league teams could mean more attention for actual amateur teams, town ball teams, etc. Although I wonder if the Northwoods League shouldn't have to pay too? Those owners are profiting on the backs of amateurs and silly NCAA rules.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    The percentage is much higher in the minors: http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/7779279/percentage-foreign-major-league-baseball-players-rises
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Vargas is from Puerto Rico, he wasn't an "international free agent." He was eligible for the US draft, but just went undrafted. And I never meant to imply that international amateurs can't get signing bonuses, but just like the draft, the bottom guys don't make nearly as much as the top guys. Kepler was the international equivalent of a 1st round pick. And your excuse about draft rounds 10-40 being "college guys having fun for a year" doesn't apply to their international equivalents -- the Twins aren't doling out $100k bonuses to 40+ international guys every year. Plenty of international guys get a token bonus of a couple thousand (which they have to split with their buscones, which is a whole other issue).
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Yup. Sorry, that was more directed to readers who might try this experiment at home.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    95% seems high. Remember, 50% of minor leaguers don't even come through the draft, they are international signings. And they are most definitely not colleges graduates "doing it for a single season of fun and novelty" (although even they don't deserve less than minimum wage for that season of employment).
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    The owners are the ones lobbying for the legal exemption to pay players less than minimum wage, which I thought was the subject of this thread. MLB players aren't doing that.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Even if the problem is distribution, the issue here is that owners want to cement, in law, a distribution that allows them to pay less than minimum wage. That's not on the players. That's kind of apples and oranges. Movie star salaries have gone up a lot more than the salaries of bit players too. Doesn't mean it's right for movie studios to pay bit players less than minimum wage, or that the stars are to blame for the studios seeking legal permission to do that.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks for sharing the info! As someone who works a boring 9-5 job, I've long been interested in what the tax forms might look like for non-famous athletes/entertainers.
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