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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Echoing Tomj14's post, I don't think housing is generally provided in the minors, except during spring training. They might get placed with host families, although that's often a volunteer service, not necessarily one that is paid for by the teams (and in fact, host families could even charge the players rent). Likewise, meal compensation is just for spring training and road trips. They're largely on their own, except for what they can scavenge in the clubhouse around game times.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Would you blame Tom Cruise if a movie studio/theater chain refused to pay minimum wage to its ushers? As a government/society, we should just mandate that all employees get at least minimum wage. If the top salaries in that industry come down as an indirect effect of that mandate, fine. But don't try to enshrine less than minimum wage as acceptable under law -- that's what is going on now, and that is 100% on the owners, NOT on MLB players.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    But the bonus money pool is set rather arbitrarily by the teams already, I'm not sure why that should be accepted as any kind of limit. Paying a minimum wage for the minor league filler guys would probably total less than the amount that top bonuses are already artificially suppressed.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think the concern here is about top 10 round draft picks. They probably make up maybe 15% of the minor league population? There are 30 rounds after that, and of course around 50% of minor leaguers are international guys not subject to the draft (and they probably have a similar breakdown as far as bonus disparity). I'm guessing a lot of those bonuses are of the token variety, like $1000.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Orioles sign Cobb for 4/60: https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/03/orioles-to-sign-alex-cobb.html
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    I think it's been 5-6 years since anyone has traded for a Rule 5 pick in that fashion (to remove Rule 5 restrictions and send them to the minors), so I don't think that is generally a goal.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    He can start, and then be his own mop-up guy too!
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    I would be very interested in that answer too. And I wonder what MLB would be offering (would they send B12 injections?).
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    "Hey, you got steroids in my supplements!" "Hey, YOU got supplements in my steroids!" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJLDF6qZUX0
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    You are correct. I was mistaken in the other thread. No service time is a new aspect of the rule that just took effect in December 2016. Although a full year service time is actually 172 days. I don't think it will affect his arbitration, because he will still be in the same "group" when he hits arbitration for the first time (after 2019, with 3 years service).
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    Tommy Johnson of Edina can just call up the club pro and ask if that kind of cake is on the approved list.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Great minds think alike!
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    You also have one more unstated assumption here -- that our number of unearned runs stays the same too. I notice Toronto is projected very close to the numbers you reference -- 5.01 runs per game, and a 4.24 ERA -- but they are only projected for 86 wins. The unearned run difference works out to 3-4 wins from your Twins model. https://www.fangraphs.com/depthcharts.aspx?position=Standings
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Note that the Twins over-performed Pythag by 2 wins next year, so you wouldn't necessarily add these wins to 85, you should add them to 83.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Why are we even talking about insurance in regards to Hughes? He's not disabled, he's actually pitching. I don't think there is any insurance policy that covers losing a few MPH off your fastball.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    The best amateurs already get paid. This is more about minor league roster filler. As a rough example, MLB probably doesn't care if minor league rosters are filled with the actual #600-1200 ranked players each draft, or just any 600 guys ranked #600-2000. Especially with increasing numbers of international minor leaguers.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I won't disagree that Polanco deserves the largest share of the blame here, but it's not an all-or-nothing situation. If the Twins don't provide common offseason training supplements to their players, they are exposing themselves to additional unnecessary risk. (It will never be 100% risk-free, of course, but I think the Twins could get a heck of a lot closer to minimizing risk than saying "have fun training in the Dominican! Call us if you have any questions!")
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    When Nolasco hit the DL for the first time with the Twins back in 2014, the existence and details of the team's insurance on his contract was almost immediately reported in the media: http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2014/07/08/twinsights-insurance-policy-covers-twins-against-extended-absence-for-ricky-nolasco/ We're entering year 4 of Hughes' physical ailments with the Twins, and I haven't seen any reporting about the existence of a team insurance policy on his contract, much less if and how it would apply. Occam's Razor suggests it doesn't exist or apply, particularly now in 2018.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    You yourself said contracts were insured for 2-3 year periods. That would have expired now for the Hughes extension. So even if he was insured at one point, he likely isn't any more, unless you believe the Twins went beyond industry standards for insurance. Also, what is the threshold for "high dollar contracts"? Hughes last year made $13.2 mil, which ranked no better than 87th in MLB per B-Ref. And that's due to backloading, he ranked no better than 131st at the beginning of his deal. It's not clear from your information that insurance is "universal" among that level of contract, especially with an injury history like that of Hughes (missed half of 2011 with shoulder issues, among other issues from his Yankee years) which could result in prohibitively high premiums. Here's an article that references a lack of insurance on Sandoval's contract, and also includes a telling example from Brandon Webb: https://sports.vice.com/en_us/article/4xzx83/why-is-mlb-still-without-league-wide-contract-insurance
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Depends on what the teams offer, in that regard. Honestly, it's such a minimal expense, they should be provided during the season, and the players should be given/shipped an offseason supply at the end of the season. If teams aren't doing that for million-dollar investments, they do bear some of the blame here. (Even with just a 1-2 WAR projection, the Twins are missing out on millions worth of production from Polanco's suspension.)
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    I was going by what the other poster referenced: "The policies generally run for no more than three years and are renewable with a physical." https://www.quora.com/How-much-do-MLB-teams-pay-to-insure-their-players I would guess that policies longer than 2-3 years, especially for pitchers, are cost prohibitive for teams, because they are extremely risky for insurance companies. You might be paying ~50% of the salary in premiums. Also from that link: "Most policies have preexisting condition clauses. If a player has a history of a particular kind of injury companies will not cover or it or the premium will be cost prohibitive. This is particularly noticeable with pitchers who have had ulnar collateral ligament replacement (Tommy John Surgery) or shoulder surgery." Darvish already had Tommy John surgery, so his insurance will likely cost more and have a more limited term/coverage. Back to Hughes, he never had surgery before his extension, but he missed the first half of the 2011 season with shoulder soreness. That could have been a preexisting condition affecting any insurance policy for him.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Not that I advocate it for Gordon, but for those curious, it appears the magic date this season would be April 12. From that date through the end of the season (Sep. 30) is only 171 days, 1 short of the 172 days required to constitute a full season of service time. That's 11 games missed, barring rainouts. (FWIW, those thinking of applying this to the pitching side, I think we first need a 5th starter on April 11.)
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Do the Twins and MLB offer free supplements to their players, even in the offseason? Honest question, I don't know.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Not in this case -- Polanco's salary is negligible. Any replacement would make at least the same, and if Aybar makes the team in his place, it will actually cost the team an extra $700k plus any incentives that Aybar might meet. The team is definitely getting some punishment here, although perhaps it should take on a little more -- maybe losing the 40-man roster spot during the suspension would be appropriate. Maybe any forfeited salary above the minimum could go to a central fund rather than back to the team. I agree that in theory, there are suspensions that would be more favorable to the team, although probably only a small subset of players who aren't worth their salaries and for whom the team can find viable replacements in the short term.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    If Hughes was insured for a 3 year interval when he signed his extension (December 2014), that would be expired by now. And I'm sure no insurer would offer a policy to cover him again, after multiple shoulder surgeries.
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