Jump to content
Twins Daily
  • Create Account

Otto von Ballpark

Old-Timey Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    20,669

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    74

 Content Type 

Profiles

Minnesota Twins News, Rumors & Analysis

Minnesota Twins Videos

2026 Minnesota Twins Top Prospect Rankings

2022 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Minnesota Twins Trade & Free Agent Rumors

Minnesota Twins Fan Guides & Resources

2023 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

The Minnesota Twins Players Project

2024 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2025 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

2026 Minnesota Twins Draft Picks & Signing Bonuses

Forums

Blogs

Events

Store

Downloads

Gallery

Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually the Orioles gave Walker most of his 40-man roster time this past winter. The Brewers only had him for a couple weeks, and the Braves had him for less than a week before they outrighted him. The Orioles let him rest on their 40-man roster for most of December and January.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think "shortage of AAA filler" was among the Twins pressing needs. Except perhaps that some of their AAA filler has been on the MLB roster recently... Also, Wilk took the open 40-man spot that could have conceivably gone to a AAA call-up, like Hildenberger (doing well at AAA, will require a 40-man spot this winter anyway) or even Turley. And LHP Melotakis is approaching his 26th birthday, using his second of 3 option years, and he still hasn't sniffed AAA. Burdi hasn't touched AAA yet either and, like Hildenberger, will need a 40-man spot this upcoming winter. Same for Bard, Curtiss, Van Steensel.... there are plenty of options for "corresponding moves" without spending 40-man (and 25-man!) roster spots on AAA filler.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    And signed on Wednesday by the Baltimore Orioles to a minor league deal. The quest continues!
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    DJ Baxendale (a RHP) AAA career vs LHB: 0.89 WHIP, 32.9% K%, 4.3% BB% (admittedly in relief, but same sample size as Wilk's 2016 vs LHB, ~70 PA)
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Adam Wilk AAA career vs LHB: 1.07 WHIP, 18.5% K%, 2.7% BB% AAA career vs RHB: 1.37 WHP, 18.1% K%, 5.1% BB%
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Remember Sean Gilmartin? 2014 vs LHB: 0.77 WHIP, 31.4% K%, 2.6% BB% (in a sample over twice as large as Wilk's 2016 vs LHB) Remember Tommy Milone? AAA career vs LHB: 0.79 WHIP, 29.2% K%, 2.2% BB% (in a sample over 3 times as large as Wilk's 2016 vs LHB)
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Why would we ignore Wilk's MLB numbers in this exercise? Presumably we didn't claim him to be a LOOGY in Rochester. MLB career vs LHB: 2.11 WHIP, 10.4% K%, 10.4% BB%, and .845 OPS And while it's a small sample (48 PA), it's still equal to 70% of his 2016 AAA vs LHB sample. Also, why would we ignore PCL numbers, if we're looking at K rates and relative platoon effectiveness? K rates are relatively comparable between the PCL and the IL, and even if the overall numbers are worse due to offensive environment, he should still be better vs LHB relative to RHB. 2017 vs RHB: 1.24 WHIP (.795 OPS), 24.4% K%, 6.1% BB% vs LHB: 1.68 WHIP (1.011 OPS), 15.5% K%, 0% BB% 2015 vs RHB: 1.67 WHIP (.859 OPS), 15.8% K%, 7.3% BB% vs LHB: 1.32 WHIP (.768 OPS), 17.2% K%, 2.5% BB% Heck, even his stats vs LHB in the IL haven't been consistently great. 2016 was the only dominant year (also the smallest sample, only 69 PA). In 2014, he gave up a decent but not dominant .647 OPS vs LHB, and it was similar in 2012 too (and virtually identical vs RHB that year).
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    My prediction is that Wilk's playing career will end in the near future, but he will go on to a distinguished career in radio, prompting some station or stadium to dedicate "Adam Wilk's Booth" in his honor.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Uh, Wimmers has already cleared waivers once last fall. I am sure he'd clear again, although I have no interest in seeing him on the roster at this time. Wheeler has cleared in the past too. I'd guess some of the other AAA arms would fall into that category too and clear without much trouble. If the best defense of these guys is "they will be able to clear waivers when we inevitably want to remove them from the roster" -- that's not a good defense. Especially not of stockpiling guys like that.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    So what does Berrios represent, in this analogy? That extra tank of gas in the trunk that we refuse to use on principle, so we can always have a spare? What does Duffey represent? That extra tank we already poured completely into our weedwacker, and now we're just too scared to try siphoning it out? (Perhaps we should have invested in an electric edge trimmer this past winter? It's not like we could have expected no weeds to grow in the bullpen this summer...)
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    It wouldn't even have to be about Berrios, though. What do you think as a player when a Rule 5 pick makes the team and has a game like last Sunday? Or when you turn to a starter like Tepesch last Saturday, despite no recent injuries on the staff? I've seen it speculated that the team would be energized by the new FO turning over guys like Tonkin, but if they are turning them into guys like Tepesch and Wilk, I think their would be some doubts.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Radke's shoulder was taped on at that point, they had already dumped Lohse, Silva was having an awful year, etc. At the very least, they should have picked up a backend guy. And then there was the offense, where Jason Tyner was a playoff starting DH, and Rondell White in LF.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Didn't Gilmartin have some nice splits vs AAA LHB? How about Milone? Why not sign Wilk in the offseason, if that's the case?
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Doesn't the rain out and bullpen assignment make the Wilk acquisition even worse? Why not use Rucinski again, the guy we picked up in the offseason and have been working with for months? Wilk is also out of options, just like Tepesch, so he reduces our flexibility further ...
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Twins GM finding our starting pitcher for Saturday
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    But, you can't always "wait and see" if you have to make decisions about these players. And of course, "want" in this context is relative to other options too. In any case, from a fan perspective, Aaron Hicks has continued to be interesting after leaving the Twins, and should continue to be interesting for the foreseeable future, regardless of performance.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Levi, I wasn't saying that Hicks was necessarily a 110 wRC+ player right now. The 110 figure was based off your own hypothetical of Hicks hitting his pre-2017 career marks the rest of the season. You seemed to say that you still wouldn't want such a player because of the inconsistency. I was merely saying I think you are over-valuing the consistency component -- a 110 wRC+ CF would still be plenty valuable, if Hicks can manage it. With Hicks' specific history, maybe that's only a 90-100 projected / "true talent" wRC+, which is not an unreasonable projection after 2015 and again today. July 2015 stands out less for Hicks now, after April/May 2017. His first half 2016 was bad, but it was .220 BABIP bad. I know if anyone could repeat that, it's probably our guy Hicks, but I'm not necessarily going to predict it. I'll also grudgingly acknowledge a "Yankee mojo" boost that seems to be in effect across their roster this year. Still a lot of baseball left to be played, should be interesting either way.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Then why do it? Sounds like you are committing considerable resources elsewhere (with some discount), and it's not at all clear that 2B will be an area of need for us in 2019 and beyond (or whether Dozier, at age 32+, will be able to capably fill that need).
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    There's no need for a "stop gap" here. Nobody is hurt. Gibson was just demoted with full knowledge that he would be down for 10 days and probably more. Berrios and Mejia don't have some sort of magic switch that will get flipped in their next few AAA appearances. This is a deliberate plan to use lousy pitchers in games that matter, for no discernable gain...
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    I think it almost goes without saying, but this is definitely an "old front office" style move... What kind of plan is in place here, when with only 1 starter injury (Trevor May), 40% of the rotation in mid-May is Nick Tepesch and Adam Wilk? And we're only a game out of first place...
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    What happened to, "it's going to be either Mejia or Berrios"?
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not ignoring context. Just noting that a 100-110 wRC+ centerfielder is a decent value player in MLB. Feel free to ding him for inconsistency, but it's not going to mean he is totally devoid of ability/value.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    It's worth noting that shape of Hicks' suckiness has changed over time too. When he first came up in 2013, his big issue was strikeouts. That continued into 2014, as he also developed an inability to drive the ball his second year. But starting in 2015, he's been pretty solid in the K, BB, and ISO departments. He won't be a high-BABIP guy going forward, but he's probably not a low-BABIP guy like 2016 either. I think a league-average bat projection for the next few years is pretty reasonable.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    FWIW, the hypothetical was actually .646, not .600. Teams generally don't have their choice of what kind of 110 wRC+ centerfielders they want.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Jharel Cotton kills lefties? .811 OPS against LHB this year. Gave up a HR to Rosario in that game, and one to noted left-handed slugger Ben Revere (!) last night. Cotton "killed lefties" last year in 2016, mostly in AAA. The rest of his pro career has shown a pretty even split. If I was trying to eke out an edge, it might be an avenue worth exploring. But not someone I'd be looking to protect Kepler from.
×
×
  • Create New...