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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Not sure the Adrianza claim can be described as "they went and got the guy they wanted" -- they actually passed on him a week before they claimed him, when Milwaukee was granted the original claim. Apparently they liked Adrianza, but not enough to DFA Park 3 days earlier to guarantee they could get him.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Rucinski has a mildly interesting career path. Signed by Cleveland (Falvey connection?) as an undrafted free agent out of college in 2011. Not a bad pro debut but they released him the following spring, after which he went into indy ball for 2 summers. Then signed by the Angels and wound up in MLB less than a year later. Rode the AAA-MLB shuttle for about a year and a half, then got DFA'd during the Angels 2015 wild card chase and elected free agency following the season. Minor league deal with the Cubs, spent all last year in AAA, then minor league deal with the Twins this year. Was pretty exclusively a starter in the minors from 2013-2016, hopefully the Twins don't have any designs about returning him to that role!
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    From the other thread: Thankfully, Drew Rucinski does have an option remaining, by virtue of spending all of 2016 in the minors and not on a 40-man roster. So he can be optioned in a week for a starter.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Interestingly Santana homered yesterday and went 2-for-4.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Thankfully, Drew Rucinski does have an option remaining, by virtue of spending all of 2016 in the minors and not on a 40-man roster. So he can be optioned in a week for a starter.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Calling up Berrios late in 2015 would not have burned a year of control, compared to what actually happened. He would be in the same state as he is now in that regard, except +30 days or whatever for service time (meaning we'd have to keep him down until August instead of July this year to get an extra year of control, assuming 2016 played out exactly the same). Also, he would not have exceeded any innings limit if they took a few steps to manage it that August. And while he may have failed in 2015 too, I would have rather taken that chance in a pennant race than turn to Graham and O'Rourke in key relief spots vs RHB. (Although it should be noted that Berrios remains untested in relief, it is unclear if he would have struggled in that role like he did in a starting role in 2016. In any case, it would have been fairly easy to gauge in a few low leverage outings to begin his career.)
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Meyer logged another poor start for the Angels last night. He had a poor one in AAA prior, but the Angels apparently needed an arm to fill in for Tyler Skaggs so back to MLB he came. Basically the same issues that plagued him in Minnesota: http://www.cbssports.com/fantasy/baseball/news/angels-alex-meyer-struggles-again-thursday/ With Skaggs and Richards out, it will be interesting to see if Meyer gets a long-term opportunity here, and what comes of it. The Angels are not brimming with options, but they are still in the contention mix.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    He would have to be down until basically July this year in order to get an extra year service time.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Can Boshers come back up, since his last option was due to a bereavement list move? He is the only healthy 40-man pitcher at AAA, other than starters Berrios and Mejia.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    I wonder if they will just call up a reliever for a few days, or maybe Adrianza, and put off the starter promotion.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    The idea that Berrios might be "one small tweak" from being an MLB starter, and that he can discover/refine this "one small tweak" with a couple more weeks dominating AAA, is exactly the problem here.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    I had no problem with Duffey to the pen to work on things. But if after a month of successfully working on those things, he wasn't going to be considered for a long-term rotation opening, and Berrios was likewise not going to be considered after another dominant month starting at AAA, we needed a different plan. At this point, the plan for a full-time rotation spot appears to be "let Mejia get his feet wet and then roster Nick Tepesch."
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    They've also talked a lot this spring about how they still see Duffey as a starter. But despite solid progress in his pitches, he's being passed over for Tepesch too.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Luis Severino is an interesting comparable. Similar age/profile/ranking. The Yankees called him up in 2015 when the Twins kept Berrios down, and he did pretty well even though he wasn't a finished product. (And the Yankees beat out the Twins for the wild card game.) Then Severino proceeded to pitch just about as bad as Berrios as a starter in MLB last year (8.50 ERA, 5.56 FIP). They worked with him in the MLB bullpen last year where he did much better, then returned him to the MLB rotation this spring and he's off to a good start. I know every player is different, but I sure like whatever they were doing over just letting a guy dominate AAA indefinitely.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Interestingly, some would say the same about Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    If they are still not getting whatever they want out of Berrios at AAA, after this many starts/ innings, isn't that an argument for a change, and against the status quo? Maybe throwing to Castro/Gimenez? Maybe a stint in the MLB bullpen?
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I doubt that Smith was given any authority over, or had any particular involvement with, the 2012 draft. He didn't even have a scouting background, I suspect Deron Johnson was mostly "in charge" of the draft under both Smith and TR. http://m.startribune.com/bill-smith-s-new-twins-title-assistant-to-the-president-and-gm/135730998/
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Smith had already been deposed by the Buxton/Berrios draft, although I guess he was responsible for our draft position.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Adrianza actually started his rehab assignment at high-A a few days before Rochester, April 21. So we will need to make a decision on him no later than May 11th.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Scheduling-wise, Keuchel was able to get 6 starts in April, and Santana only 5. And Keuchel threw more innings in his starts too, completing at least 7 innings each time out. Ervin had "only" gone 6 innings in 3 of his starts already, including one in which the bullpen coughed up a lead in the 7th. Not taking away anything from Ervin, he has been great. But I'd have to give the nod to Keuchel so far too.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Did they royally screw up by calling up Berrios last year then, wasting an option year and a half season of MLB service time?
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    It didn't seem so comical at the time, when we were using JR Graham and Ryan O'Rourke (vs RHP!) in key spots during a pennant race. And Berrios may have fared much better in a few short relief outings in 2015 than he eventually did starting in 2016. The Stasburg decision was obviously worse, but that doesn't mean the Twins decision was good.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    FWIW, Strasburg's issue was a shut down, not a call-up. He actually made his MLB debut quite quickly, almost exactly 12 months after being drafted. And he hasn't missed too much time since the shutdown, about 1-2 months each of the last two seasons.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    And one more spectacular month in AAA probably isn't the cure either. What feedback is Berrios going to get down there to figure out how to solve the problem? If Berrios wasn't going to get the call after this kind of month and a rotation opening, then why not Mejia again? Or Duffey? The MLB starting group has had just one real injury this spring -- Trevor May's -- and we're dipping down to Tepesch level filler in the first week of May already? Even if you accept that Berrios might not be ready to come back yet, it's hard not to think the front office is dropping the ball here somehow.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    A first-hand account from this incident: http://www.sportsonearth.com/article/227811194/adam-jones-fenway-park-racism-fans Sounds like the rest of the crown and the stadium staff had appropriate reactions.
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