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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Here's how the Red Wings web site currently lists their probable upcoming starters: Wednesday: Gee Thursday: Heston Friday: Melville Saturday: Hurlbut Sunday: Slegers Although with the insertion of Turley and Gee into their rotation, most everybody is working on extra rest. So basically anybody after Turley and Gee could make the start Saturday. There's also Tracy and PIno too, although both have been pretty bad in Rochester so far. Heston has been pretty bad too. My reservation with Slegers and possibly even Hurlbut is that the team probably wouldn't want to remove them from the 40-man roster right away, so they could clog it for a little while without contributing much. And we only have one more doubleheader on the schedule (August 21). Although maybe Slegers could dial it up a bit as another pen option? Melville might currently be the "best" available option that we wouldn't be too afraid to DFA soon after. He had a cup of coffee with the Reds last year too, if they are looking for experience (they seemed to value that in picking up and deploying Tepesch, Wilk, and Heston -- although see how those turned out...).
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    To be fair, the way Turley's first 3 MLB starts went, I'm not sure we'd notice a difference on short rest. If Gee throws just a couple innings tonight, in preparation for Saturday, that would be poor planning -- in that case, we should have sent him down a few days ago for a proper start, or even skipped calling him up last week. He wasn't *that* critical of a reinforcement at that time (especially if we finally came to our senses and cut Breslow).
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Love the Big Audio Dynamite reference!
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    I think Hildenberger and Busenitz have already met the Breslow standard -- any lingering doubt about them being unable to replicate Breslow's recent results is almost certainly outweighed by both of them being optionable. Boshers too. So they can be rotated for a fresh arm as needed. This is only going to get more important as Hughes returns and we try to roster Haley again, without any SP upgrades on the immediate horizon (and more doubleheaders). And again I dispute your assertion that Belisle has the ability to pitch effectively in the highest leverage situations, but give up multiple runs on a regular basis otherwise. His outings may have followed this general pattern so far in 2017, but that does not prove this specious ability exists. Relying on it to continue is a bad bet. If they want to keep Belisle in the Breslow mop-up role for a bit, that's fine, but again I'd be ready to drop him for a fresh optionable arm as needed. Maybe Reed or Curtiss or even Romero for a look before the trade deadline.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Santiago could be available Saturday, but then Sunday it would be Mejia's turn on short rest. So you would still need another starter Sunday (and then you wouldn't get the benefit of the 26th man). Basically, you can't start the same 5 guys on normal rest through a doubleheader without any days off on the schedule.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    I totally get the argument that one bad game can torpedo a reliever's ERA for while. But Belisle has had multiple bad games, evenly spaced through the season. Capable MLB relievers don't just give up multiple runs in close games every other week. And they certainly aren't capable of "pitching to the score" by only giving up runs when we're already behind. We should consider ourselves lucky that it hasn't burned us more up to this point and move on. I'm not sure Belisle and Molitor can keep up this jujitsu for much longer.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Sorry for the analogy, it was just a joke. Was navigating around some neighborhood kids today (didn't hit any, for the record!). Belisle has in fact blown 3 leads this year, in his 32 appearances. And he has given up a run in ~30% of his appearances. And he has a 6.99 ERA. Jason Grilli just got DFA'd, with a 6.97 ERA, 2 blown saves in 26 appearances, having allowed runs in ~30% of his appearances. I don't expect perfection, but the fact that he is still on the team is rather unusual given his performance, much less being run out in high leverage situations still, no matter how you slice it.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Yeah, I guess they could DFA Gee and start Heston or Hurlbut or someone like that on Saturday.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Bullock was a non-40 man guy, 23 years old, just K'd 14 per 9 in his AA debut. A bit different than Melotakis, but maybe not too far. Pre-DFA / 90 mph report, of course. Jake Reed, maybe? Not that I would offer him, of course, but he is not on the 40-man and is a bit younger than Melotakis.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Dillon Gee.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    I won't quote it or embed it, but here's another option. (Warning: mild crudity)
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    If we do it on Taco Tuesday, we may be able to get even more!
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Could we buy the Marlins? $92 million is probably more cash than Bush, Romney, or Jeter is putting up.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    The Twins did draft Cederoth, the author doesn't say anything about whether he is still here. And Melotakis is still in our org, although he is unlikely to help. I wouldn't hold it against the author for missing the hot news item that was the Melotakis DFA. Probably got lost in the media coverage of the Wimmers DFA and the Gee recall.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    The Blue Jays just DFA'd Jason Grilli and his 6.97 ERA. Grilli's plea that he hasn't allowed in run in ~70% of his appearances must have fallen on deaf ears. Belisle and his 6.99 ERA must be feeling the heat!
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Which was silly, because the front office had already replaced him by acquiring Jim Hoey!
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    The Red Sox have the leverage here. Even if the Twins DL him, Haley still needs to be active for ~48 more days to satisfy the requirement of 90, and he still can't be optioned this season in order to remove Rule 5 restrictions. So the Twins need to give him about 17 days of non-September roster time this year -- that's going to be tough for a club in contention with pen issues -- or be forced to stick him on the opening day roster again next season, which would affect our offseason signings, etc. If the Twins don't want him on theit roster anymore, I am sure the Red Sox would welcome him back as a non-40-man AAA starter who can't become a minor league free agent until after 2019 -- they have some rotation depth issues too. They probably don't want our fringe 40-man corner/relief guys in return -- they will probably get a chance at them on waivers soon enough anyway. And Wimmers is a minor league free agent after the season, etc. And before the Twins and Red Sox could even agree to such a deal, Haley would have to be off thr DL and clear waivers with the other 28 teams in MLB too (although he would still have Rule 5 restrictions attached). Long story short, there probably isn't a trade match there that both sides would like, which is probably why such Rule 5 trades are relatively rare. Last time, to get Diamond, we had to give up Billy Bullock, who eventually washed out but at the time he was a recent 2nd round, 23 year old, fast rising college relief prospect. I don't think we'd want to give that up now, for Haley!
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Of course, Hawkins started out great in the closer's role too. Converted his first 23 save opportunities, a MLB record (at least at the time).
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Still, the Twins haven't trusted him to do anything but short mop-up work.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    It should be noted that robbery occurred 4 days earlier. Not sure Castile was much of a suspect based on his proximity to the site anymore by that time.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    What kind of numbers has Dozier put up in the postseason, since you are willing to rely on those small samples? And the Dodgers have the 3rd best team non-pitcher wRC+ vs LHP in all of MLB this season: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=np&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2017&month=13&season1=2017&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=16,d Their poor performance in that mark in 2016 was partially related to RHB Turner having an off year split. Predictably that has corrected in 2017. They also have RHB Chris Taylor playing some 2B this year, and he has a 129 wRC+ overall, and 150 vs LHP. Utility guy Hernandez has a 179 vs LHP. Heck, even while being terrible overall, Forsythe has a 155 vs LHP this year. Dozier is at 158 in that mark.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks, sorry, I somehow misread. In any case, if you count extended spring from 2016, don't you have to count actual spring from 2017? It would be cool to get a range from the Twins, because as much as they will hem and haw about not having a hard limit, you know they have a fairly firm range.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    And the last one came against RHP Matt Barnes...
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I did say "so far". And it is still a two sided coin -- if their postseason 2B winds up being an average-ish Utley again, it's hardly clear that Dozier's current level of performance would have pushed them any further in regards to a wored championship. They never had the option to go back in time to get elite 2016 Dozier, no matter how many prospects they were willing to give up.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    But no one would give up much to plug him in at DH/1B, at least not at his current offensive level. Rather roll the dice on a bounceback, an internal option, someone like Vargas, or a cheap reclamation guy like Matt Adams was for Atlanta.
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