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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    He's literally had 2 starts since he came off the DL, one in AAA on a pitch count and his MLB debut. I get that people want to re-affirm their opinions of the Dozier non-trade, but there really isn't much new here. Yeah, he missed a couple months with injury which isn't good, but even that's not conclusive yet either.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not sure Haley is worth trading anything of value for, but I'm also not sure the Red Sox have any incentive to trade him for virtually nothing. They'd probably find him useful as a fairly effective non-40-man AAA starter, and I think they could renew his contract in that role through the 2019 season (assuming no one else takes him in Rule 5 again).
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    It should be noted that the front office's job is not just limited to signing MLB free agents in the offseason and advancing obvious top prospects through the system. They also have an obligation to try finding and developing contributors from other sources, like Hildenberger, etc. The odds of success are lower there, but teams can and do receive contributions from those types of players. And if it is the front office's judgement that the Twins AA and AAA pitchers really, truly are unworthy of basically any kind of trial or even advancement toward possible MLB contribution in 2017 -- doesn't that just make their offseason bullpen strategy even worse? And I'm not giving them a pass because of injuries -- Burdi wasn't very good in 2015 and missed much of 2016, Jake Reed was awful in 2015 and mediocre in 2016, Jay was ostensibly still a starter who had some lower minors speed bumps in 2016, Chargois was iffy in his MLB debut and had a pretty spotty pre-2016 track record, etc. Not to say you'd give up on those guys, but counting on them as your sole means of bullpen reinforcement in early 2017 is pretty foolish.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    In defense of De Leon's debut, he wasn't promoted for performance -- the Rays used their scheduled Monday starter in the long game in Minnesota on Sunday, so they needed another starter quickly. And De Leon was rested and on the 40-man roster. But, he missed most of spring training, and just recently made his 2017 AAA debut after his rehab assignment.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    It should be noted that Breslow has appeared almost exclusively in low-leverage situations. I'm not sure his statistical success in those situations is all that meaningful.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    All I know is Duffey was starting all spring, and did fairly well, and he was the last cut from the rotation at the end of spring training, and at that time the team said they still considered him a starter going forward despite the bullpen assignment. If their plan all along was to have him "leading the bullpen" they've had a funny way of showing it (Molitor's usage of him).
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Belisle, Pressly, and Breslow aren't coming into the game today. Probably not for several days -- I know they haven't been afraid to park Pressly for long stretches already this season (he only appeared twice between May 7 and May 24, for example). If those guys aren't going to pitch, and you want fresh arms, I don't see the point in waiting.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Not true. The team has evidently thought Randy Rosario and Mason Melotakis were "of note" enough to protect for multiple years on the 40-man, and both are healthy and doing well right now. Felix Jorge is another one in that group who could perhaps benefit from some bullpen work. Not to mention other names like Hildenberger, who may have lower odds of success than higher rated prospects but those odds are not zero. If the names in my first paragraph are not actionable right now for whatever reason, it is almost certainly a better investment of available MLB innings/spots (which we know exist) to look at the best of the second group, rather than throw away more innings on Wilk, Rucinski, Boshers, Haley, Wheeler, etc.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Duffey, Rogers, and Kintzler will all have a day of rest. Plus Wheeler. Hopefully a new pitcher too... Randy Rosario, maybe?
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Or, they inherited a roster without any viable catchers to open 2017 in MLB? Plenty of evidence that they like Castro and Gimenez but let's be careful not to overstate it!
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually 4 seasons after this one. 2016 was Sano's first full MLB season. 2017 is currently his second.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    He was pretty good as a starter this spring and was the last cut from the rotation, when they said they still saw him as a starter going forward, and he has performed well since then including some improvements that could easily transfer back to starting (i.e. pitching from the edge of the rubber). He hasn't really failed in "plenty of chances" previously. Only 2016, when he pretty much never got a break (pen or minors) after he began struggling at the MLB level -- hard to interpret that as multiple chances.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Another thing, if we have another doubleheader, a starter gets nicked up, or we need an emergency extra innings appearance, etc., we will be dipping into the Tepesch/Wheeler well. I'd rather be giving Duffey the rotation chance he has earned now, and hold Gibson in reserve as a 6th starter option.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Also worth noting not much has changed in the MLB bullpen picture since spring training. Chargois got hurt, but he was pretty bad in spring training anyway. Hard to see how circumstances could have changed enough to make Duffey indispensable in the pen, but not even an option to aid a clearly weak rotation spot .
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Santiago is already scheduled for Wednesday. Berrios is Tuesday. Sunday was Santiago's throw day anyway, presumably.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Why would Wheeler get the start tomorrow? It is Berrios' turn, and he even has an extra day of rest since his last start. In any case, Palka looks like a worse bench option than Vargas right now.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    If we've got a 40-man roster spot to burn (which we apparently do), and having a stretched out starter is super important, I would have rather seen Gibson optioned for temporary relief help, then that reliever optioned and Turley added to take Gibson's next turn Friday. I get not releasing Gibson because he could bounce back, but keeping him in the MLB rotation right now while optionable is highly suspect. He is not only hurting the team through his starts, but his roster presence between starts is weakening the bench or bullpen too.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    I wasn't expecting greatness, but these are uninspiring choices. Basically two low-upside mop-up men. At least one of these spots should have been dedicated toward trying someone with the upside/stuff to potentially help at the top of the pen soon. Randy Rosario hasn't pitched since Thursday, is averaging 2-3 innings per appearance, and is already on the 40-man.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting that we hear so much about "trusting the process" but the process gets thrown out the window when discussing not only Duffey (who was considered one of our top 5-6 starters just 2 months ago), but also Gibson, whose current performance level was deemed harmful to the club earlier this month, but now it's apparently totally OK just because Hughes went on the DL. By any rational interpretation of "trusting the process", Gibson should still be working in AAA to earn a trip back to Minnesota, while Duffey would have already earned his second chance in the MLB rotation.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    He threw 30 pitches the previous game. Although he had been used pretty sparingly lately prior to that, so he probably could have been a 1-2 inning option ahead of waving the white flag with Haley.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    If you are willing to run a 13 man staff and the last 2 spots are pretty fungible/interchangeable, there is no reason you can't stretch out Duffy in MLB. Molitor has even had plenty of opportunity to start pushing him beyond 2 innings in his last 3 relief outings prior to Sunday's emergency appearance, if he had wanted to start that process already, but it could still be done on the fly. If your pen gets taxed during the week, you can swap out one or two of those arms before Duffey's start so you have plenty of backup / long relief. In a perfect world, obviously you don't like to stretch out a guy to start in MLB, but when you currently have Bad Kyle taking the hill every 5th day, you are obviously not in a perfect world. Relative to the status quo, there is little or no disadvantage from stretching out Duffey at the MLB level right now.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    They didn't need 13 pitchers today, they just wanted 2 fresh arms. Optioning Gibson instead of Vargas would have accomplished the same thing. Depending on how the pen was used this week, they could swap out one of those arms again before Duffey's turn in the rotation, or option Vargas at that time if they wanted.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    They "don't have anybody else" only if they have abandoned the idea of Duffey ever being a starter again in just the last 2 months. Otherwise, they have a reasonably promising candidate to take Gibson's spot.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Gibson absolutely could have been sent down, with Duffey taking his rotation spot. The stretching out could have already begun, but in any case it could fairly easily be accomplished going forward with an 8-man bullpen (especially if the last 1-2 guys in that pen can be easily swapped with replacements as needed, which seems to be the case).
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    This is correct, although the DFA period is now only 7 days, rather than 10, under the new CBA.
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