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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    And it might be a little awkward to hang around to watch "The Bachelor" with his "exes."
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    No one disputes the math behind it. It's just an impractical application of it. "Chris Gimenez was cut and signed 2 times this offseason" is about as meaningful as saying "Trevor Plouffe went on and off the DL 6 times in 2016."
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Since he was DFA'd on Feb. 3, the team will have to announce they are doing something with him on or before Feb. 13, I guess.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    So Twins minor league signing Chris Gimenez has been "signed and cut" 2 times this offseason? No, he was cut once, and signed once. There's absolutely no benefit to presenting a combined total of those two transactions except for exaggeration. Sure, refusing a minor league assignment is a form of being "cut", but it is super-common in baseball. The presence of such transactions on the record of a marginal player is not at all indicative of "character or substance abuse issues". Stubbs is basically a slightly better version of Darin Mastroianni right now, and his record of transactions reflects that.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Which was odd, because two teams failed to sneak Breslow through waivers the previous season (2008). Although I probably wouldn't have been opposed to that gamble if the other end of the deal had been more promising -- but instead the Twins called up Sean Henn, who had a career MLB ERA of 7.56 at the time, and was not meaningfully different than Breslow in terms of age/service time either. It wasn't worth the risk of losing Breslow just to take a MLB look at Henn.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Also, this isn't true. He was cut once by the Rockies in 2015, and once by the Braves in 2016. He elected to be released by the Rangers twice rather than accept a minor league assignment, in March 2016 and again in August of 2016. And those were smart moves on his part, as he returned to MLB quickly thereafter both times. Absolutely nothing to see here except a marginal player hanging on at the fringes of 25-man rosters.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    "Very good numbers"? Stubbs had 6 MLB PA in the 3 months before being waived. And it's worth noting that the Rangers didn't simply release Stubbs, rather he rejected an assignment to AAA. (Likewise the first time the Rangers released him, in March, it was because Stubbs exercised an opt-out in his contract.)
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Normally, this would be a forgettable depth signing, but it sounds like an interesting project. Here's a good article on Breslow from the Boston Herald that details his new arm slot: http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/red_sox/2017/01/ex_red_sox_reliever_craig_breslow_crunches_data_emerges_with_new_pitch Should produce some interesting analysis on Twins Daily, if nothing else!
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Could just be AAA depth -- he's spent time in the minors each of the past 2 seasons.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    According to this, it is essentially always by team record, with league only as a tiebreaker, except for trade (August) waivers: http://www.thecubreporter.com/book/export/html/3525 And another link: http://www.purplerow.com/2009/2/19/762532/mlb-transactions-part-thre
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    For what it's worth, we're not talking huge differences here. The difference between a team ranking 19th and 23rd in a batting isn't that big of a deal. If that's an example of park factors overstating something, then park factors aren't a big problem. Although the future of park factors could be a lot cooler: https://baseballwithr.wordpress.com/2016/10/03/improving-park-factors-through-statcast-data/
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Looking at it further -- if you ignore pitcher batting, the Twins were 22nd in offensive runs at Fangraphs. This includes batting (23rd) and baserunning (8th) and park adjustments: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=np&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=6&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=6,d By raw OPS for non-ptichers, the Twins were tied for 19th: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=np&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=1&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=9,d 8th in the AL in OPS, but down to 11th in wRC+ or batting runs, so we must be getting dinged for park factors?
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    It appears you are using just overall WAR for batting, so this isn't quite correct. Fielding is already part of a batter's overall WAR. If you sort by Offensive runs (the "Off" column at Fangraphs) -- that has the Twins at 17th: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=bat&lg=all&qual=0&type=8&season=2016&month=0&season1=2016&ind=0&team=0,ts&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=18,d Of course, that puts the whole "positional adjustment" in the Defense column, which probably isn't right when NL teams have pitchers batting instead of DHs. NL teams have 15-20 more runs for positional adjustment than AL teams. Adding those in, that would push two NL teams ahead of us, so perhaps more accurately we could be considered 19th in "batting". So I think batting was still our (relative) "highlight" of 2016.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Yeah. These moves may be more about seizing an opportunity to painlessly clear roster space rather than immediately adding talent. Heck, we just passed on Ehire Adrianza on waivers a week ago (after the Giants DFA'd him and the Brewers claimed him).
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    You are correct. Designated For Assignment means he is off the 40-man roster immediately, but they still have 10 days to actually "assign" him. Since waivers takes 3 days, that means they have 7 days before they have to begin the waiver process if they want to go that route. I suspect they talked about potential trades first, so the 3 day waiver clock likely hasn't started yet.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Technically, "designated for assignment" does not mean Park is on waivers yet, although that is likely where he is headed.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I think most teams, most offseasons have a lot of 40-man roster activity of this caliber though (Schafer, Dean, Albers, Beresford, etc.). I don't think it's particularly meaningful. The non-tender of Plouffe was not surprising -- he wasn't going to be worth his arbitration award this winter. We'll see what happens with Park, but I still suspect he was DFA'd because he was most likely to clear waivers, not necessarily as part of a philosophical change. Signing Castro is still the only really notable move (and maybe by extension the minor league deal for Chris Gimenez).
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Not sure if you're aware, but MLB teams did try to pry Eric Thames out of Korea this winter. He signed for 3 years, $16 mil plus a 4th year player option at $7.5 mil with Milwaukee. I generally agree though that Park is unlikely to be claimed.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    I get what you mean, but I am pretty sure money did dictate this move. Park's salary makes him less likely to be claimed than any of our other DFA candidates.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    For a guy with Park's record, or lack thereof, even that modest commitment is fairly steep. Heck, they don't even know his health status, much less whether he can hit.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    No fear. $10 mil is too much for a "flier" on a guy like Park, especially for TB or KC.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Park is not getting claimed. 30 year old 1B/DH with an 83 OPS+ and nagging injuries as a rookie last year, still guaranteed almost $10 mil (albeit over 3 years).
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    You might want to check what Napoli fetched in trade in August 2015. Or what Chris Carter fetched for the Brewers last summer. The trade market for these guys will be roughly the same as their FA market now. You might get lucky if someone will take them off your hands for free.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    He should clear waivers, so it's basically like having a 41 man roster at this point. They'll just have to find someone to drop or DL to add him back when the season starts, or when they recall him if they give him some AAA time.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Given that Belisle is 36 years old and hasn't been a high leverage reliever since 2013, I am not sure he has "a long high leverage career in front of him" anymore either.
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