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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Maybe Mauer can finally go to Florida State, and they can face each other!
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I think minor league wRC+ only considers league, not park, which would muddy the waters further.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Well, the league OPS was 11 points higher. Ballpark might have added some too? 28 points of OPS is well within the range of those factors, or just normal variation. I guess I wouldn't call it microscopic, but I wouldn't point to it as evidence of definitive improvement either.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Sure, like any business would do. I wouldn't call the current state of affairs "alarming" as you did, but to each his own. I'll drop this aside.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    "Baseball is dying" predictions are about as old as the sport itself. I am sure the sport and business will continue evolving like everything does, but no, I don't believe it is in any kind of "sky is falling" mode as you have described.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    I highly doubt that it would be treated like a shot clock or play clock. It has no effect on the viewer, it is just an impartial reminder to the players about following the rulebook-defined pace. I'd wager that within a month or two, it wouldn't even have any effect on the players, they would already be trained to follow that pace again, just as they have done for the rest of their baseball careers (high school, college, minors). There is no purely "natural" solution to this problem. You can't do any umpire-based solutions -- umpires will fail to enforce them effectively, just like the pace-of-game initiatives from a couple years ago, and just like umpires already liberally allow time to be called, just because they want to avoid conflict. And I don't necessarily blame them. But that means you need something external and objective that they will follow just like the players, hence the clock. Just installing an external, objective clock to remind players of the already defined rulebook pace is the most "natural", effective solution you will find. It doesn't really add or change any rules. Do you know there's already a between-innings clock in MLB? At least, I have seen it at Target Field. Doesn't really have much effect, because between innings time isn't the root problem, but it just exists in the ballpark, the umpires and players follow it, and the fans ignore it. There's also a pitch clock in the minors that is treated similarly.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    I posted a time-of-game study in the other thread, but it seems relevant here too. http://twinsdaily.com/topic/28420-article-players’-union-rejects-pace-of-play-proposals/?p=707515
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Boshers claimed by Houston -- maybe they'll have an extra championship ring made for him? https://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2018/01/astros-claim-buddy-boshers-waivers-twins.html
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, the pitch clock might be the least intrusive / most "natural" way to do it. No changes in rules or definitions, no subjective rulings to argue or be ignored, just a mostly invisible, objective clock to train players to keep their routines within the rulebook definitions (what is that, 12 seconds with bases empty? 20 seconds with runners on?). I don't think anyone has much noticed the pitch clock already in effect at minor league games.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Wasn't that just among people that listed baseball as the "favorite" sport? Which doesn't really matter, if millions of younger, non-white people are making the trek to the ballpark every year as a social thing, or out of interest for their second or third favorite sport (something they wouldn't have done, or couldn't afford to do, just a couple generations ago, when baseball was the primary "favorite" of a larger share of people). I'm still not really convinced baseball is taking the matter all that seriously yet. Could be posturing or a bargaining chip with players; could be for show like the toothless initiative from a couple years ago. The length of game and pace of play stuff has just gotten kind of ridiculous, particularly in the postseason, with enough publicity that MLB has had to address it somehow.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    More on this -- on average, there are only about two mid-inning pitching change per game these days (1 per team), virtually no change since about 1990 or so. Even back in the 1970's, it was regularly topping 1.6 per game (0.8 per team). http://www.baseballthinkfactory.org/newsstand/discussion/tangotiger_blog_are_there_more_mid-inning_relief_changes_these_days Nothing that would remotely explain the explosion in average time of game.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Here is some evidence to the contrary: https://www.sbnation.com/a/mlb-2017-season-preview/game-length They compared video of very similar games from 1984 and 2014. The conclusion:
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    I read that as "pro bowling" the filibuster. Sending it to Orlando a week before the Super Bowl? Or some kind of "Kingpin" reference?
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Eh, that only happened because we let them back into the game in the first place. We've beat the Cowboys in our last two playoff meetings too, but it doesn't exactly erase the sting of Drew Pearson or the Herschel Walker trade. Now, if the Twins could finally knock out the Yankees in the playoffs, THAT would be a successful year!
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Ultimately, but Keenum (and the offense not blocking for him) committed 2 turnovers (one a pick-6) before the Vikings defense allowed its second score. It snowballed from there, and we probably would have lost anyway, but that Keenum fumble really changed the game, I think. And a reminder that it's a game of inches -- the Eagles drive right before the Keenum fumble, the Vikings defense hit Foles just a second earlier and they force a fumble too. After the Keenum fumble, they contacted Foles a second before the long TD pass to Jeffry as well (on 3rd down at midfield, no less). Seems like both sides of the ball fell apart right about the same time.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Interestingly, that part of the description fit Green too entering the 15-1 season, and over a longer time frame.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I will say that my perception of these games has changed as I age. Even the '09 game didn't really rattle me -- I was just glad it was close and worth watching. So this one gets a little credit for most of the first half. Of course, I could see the flip side -- that the closer the game, the more disappointing the ultimate defeat. Although that might be splitting hairs when comparing a 31 point loss to a 41 point loss...
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Before the season, would you have said this was the "far" more talented team if you knew Keenum was going to be the QB? That 2000 team had a bad defense, but they also had an elite offense -- Culpepper, Smith, Moss, and Carter. Basically the same formula that almost took us to the Super Bowl just 2 years earlier, and 2000 was our 4th consecutive year with a playoff victory too. What has the current squad ever accomplished that would give you significantly greater hope than the 2000 one? The one and done playoff appearance 2 years ago? The regular season collapse last year? The near collapse last week vs New Orleans? In isolation, I could see one preferring the 2017 squad overall but I think it is closer once you consider that Keenum was playing above his head during the regular season. Then the championship games themselves -- down 14-0 after 2 minutes, that sucked. Compared to today, we were only down 14-7 with a 3rd and 5 on the Eagles 16 yard line with 3:30 left in the 2nd quarter. I guess I preferred watching the latter rather than the former (actually I was late to the former and joined the action down 14-0... ugh).
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Are you forgetting '01? 41-0. At least today's game was interesting until late in the 2nd quarter.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    I guess, but that just seems like a pretty marginal consideration compared to the Lewis/Reyes type headliner. If you're saying, "if Lewis is considered elite and we are ready to deal him, we are well-prepared to round out the package," I would agree. But the bigger hurdle by far is the Lewis part, not the rounding out. Not to mention that Lewis isn't MLB ready, which could hurt the top end of our offer compared to, say, the Cardinals.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Kepler only "plays right away" if the Rays also deal (or bench) one of Souza (3 years of control left), Dickerson (2), or Mallex Smith (5). And that's also considering DH, which would be a suboptimal position to address using Archer (and corner OF isn't much better).
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Could be, but that doesn't mean Tampa will give him up for a handful of modest prospects. It will mean they keep holding on to him.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Who cares? If some other club only has 5 of these guys, that's still not going to erase the demand for someone like Lewis or Reyes at the top of the deal. (And adding Gibson, Duffey, Busenitz, etc. is stretching this group far beyond its usefulness for an Archer trade discussion anyway. And every club has guys like that which it could afford to deal for Archer.)
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I think you are overrating the value Tampa might place on those guys. They might be interested in a couple as part of a package, but they aren't taking back four 40-man roster guys for Archer. So the fact that the Twins have 4 to offer isn't that significant. Looking at their roster, it's not even clear that they'd have a place for Kepler to play right now without unloading someone else. They'd probably have to block Adames or Arroyo to play Polanco. Pitchers are easier to fit in, but even after Archer and Cobb are gone, they have 4 SP holdovers from 2017 plus Honeywell.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    I am sure my assessment of the situation is 100% accurate. But seriously, could be that Lewis has already moved into elite territory in the eyes of the Rays.
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