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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    I was at the game, and there was booing. It was a fairly sparse crowd to begin with, though, with many folks tied up in line for dollar hot dogs.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I am tempted to get tickets already for our potential record-setting game #22 in two weeks.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    To be fair, Kepler is supposed to be a contact hitter, although he sure wasn't today (and probably shouldn't be expected to, immediately upon jumping from AA).
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Wow, that would be a difficult task. Here's more on the group that arranged it, "The Exodus Road": https://theexodusroad.com
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    On Rogers: "He will be in uniform for Wednesday night’s game against the Chicago White Sox." http://www.twincities.com/2016/04/13/twins-glen-perkins-to-dl-taylor-rogers-up-from-rochester/
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    What bugs me most is how the Twins brain trust still decided to count on him heavily in their offseason planning -- how many times have we heard "a bullpen led by Perkins, Jepsen, and May is pretty good"? Perkins was and remains a pretty big question mark (and Jepsen and May aren't without their question marks either).
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    That's a cool way to look at it, thanks! I knew I was wrong somehow...
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Sort of. His average was low and he was striking out a lot, but he did connect on a few HR early last season, giving him a respectable ISO throughout. 7 games of no XBH, plus low average, plus not drawing an unholy amount of walks is rather unusual for Sano, although he probably did it last September in MLB too...
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    While an 0-7 start certainly isn't a good thing, I don't think the "no 0-7 team has ever made the playoffs" fact is particularly meaningful. You could probably find no playoff teams who had a 7 game losing streak from precisely June 1-8 too, which is basically the same bit of trivia as a 7 game losing streak from April 4-11. Mind you, their odds are obviously reduced, I just don't think that factoid represents it accurately.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    When every other hitter on the team seems to have the same problems "honing the strike zone" for the past few years, that suggests perhaps there isn't a resource on this club that is able to help them.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    The "work" Bruno did? Those guys succeeded last year on their natural talent, in spite of the strikeouts (and in Rosario's case, the lack of walks). Dozier and Escobar would be better examples of possible Bruno success stories. But if he can't help Sano, Buxton, etc. fulfill some more of their potential as hitters, perhaps he's not a good coach. Again, I wouldn't fire him right now, but his Twins resume, with the persistant big K numbers across the board, isn't looking that strong at the moment.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    And here's a direct link to the SD/MD chart image posted above, if you want to sort it, change teams/years, etc: http://www.fangraphs.com/leaders.aspx?pos=all&stats=rel&lg=all&qual=0&type=3&season=2015&month=0&season1=2015&ind=0&team=8&rost=0&age=0&filter=&players=0&sort=14,d
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Bautista is a quick learner! Slid directly at the bag, and grabbed hold of the bag so as not to slide past it. Well done.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Sure, but unless you immediately need the 40-man roster spot for his replacement (which probably isn't the case), you might as well keep him in the org at the moment. This bullpen looks like it could have a few other weak spots, might as well keep your options open.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not arguing for a Bruno firing -- but doesn't Bruno have a hand in all of those poor K rates, save for Murphy's and Park's?
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Casey Fien still has an option remaining, so you wouldn't have to "cut" him.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Not only that, but then we asked Suzuki to sacrifice, giving up one of our 9 outs remaining to advance the non-tying run from first to second.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Huh? First of all, according to Brooks Baseball, your "robo-ump" would have only corrected one pitch from Hirschbeck: the fourth pitch to Colon. On a 3-0 pitch. Whoop de doo. Given how May clearly missed with the first 3 pitches, and almost missed with the 4th pitch, odds are pretty good he would have walked Colon on a hypothetical 5th pitch too (or missed the other way and gave Colon a meatball to hit). You will probably even get that level of error on borderline calls from your robo-ump too -- any defined strike zone will have a border, and two pitches on that border identical to the human eye will probably be a fraction of an inch apart and called differently by the robo-ump. Maybe May's pitch would have been on that border, or close enough to that border that it was really out of the realm of May's control anyway (assuming that pitchers don't have THAT precise level of control). I'll be the first to admit that umpires aren't perfect, but damn this is nitpicking. Do you think Cubs fans have a valid case for blaming Bartman for their 2003 loss? Yeah, he messed up one play a bit, but the Cubs did the rest to blow a 3 run lead and then lose the next game too. That's kind of where May was at yesterday -- maybe he didn't get an assist from the ump on one pitch, but he made a TON of mistakes around that, before and after. I really dislike athletes and fans who complain about the ump after a game like that.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Rasmus was fully in the equation. He chose to slide... where exactly? Nowhere near second base, in clear violation of the rule. http://m.mlb.com/video/topic/63817564/v579743383/houmil-call-confirmed-brewers-dp-ends-game/?game_pk=446915 If you give umpires enough discretion about applying this rule to allow the Rasmus slide to stand, because the infielder didn't throw or because Rasmus was trying to avoid contact on the base or some other excuse, you will see more attempted Utley slides because guys will think they can get away with it just like Rasmus did. So that kind of discretion isn't in the rule for a very practical reason. This isn't that difficult. It's not the baserunner's job to avoid contact, and the baserunner will not be punished just because he makes contact. It's the baserunner's job to slide at the base and stay on the base, just like force plays at third or returning to tag a base on a caught fly. Just like it's not the umpire's job to judge intent, it's not the baserunner's job to try guessing where the fielder will or will not be. Slide at the base, and stay on the base, and you will be fine. There hasn't been one call yet that suggests that isn't true.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    May fell behind the batter 3-0. I don't think you really have much right to complain when your borderline 4th pitch, at best on the very edge of the strike zone, is called a ball in that situation. May has no one but himself to blame for giving himself no margin for error in that AB. It's like a batter who swings wildly out of the zone to go down 0-2, then takes a borderline pitch for a called third strike -- no right to complain. And according to Brooks Baseball, that was May's only strike pitch yesterday that was called a ball, so you may want to rethink your further complaints too: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/pfx.php?s_type=3&sp_type=1&year=2016&month=4&day=10&pitchSel=543507&game=gid_2016_04_10_minmlb_kcamlb_1/&prevGame=gid_2016_04_10_minmlb_kcamlb_1/&pnf=&prevDate=410&batterX=0
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    The strikeout thing is more than just a slump, though. It's been an issue throughout Bruno's tenure.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Et tu, Bruno?
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Not sure if serious, but: - your numbers are incorrect (looking at wrong column? Clippard has 53 saves, and only 38 blown saves) - total games pitched obviously doesn't indicate opportunities for blown saves (some pitchers are brought in tied or trailing more often, or leading by more than 3 runs, in which case it is impossible to blow a save) -- fortunately B-Ref keeps track of "SVSit" which is any save situation the pitcher enters - setup man numbers should include holds (where a lead was preserved in a save situation, even if they pitcher didn't finish the game to get the save) http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/j/jepseke01-pitch.shtml#pitching_reliever::none http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/c/clippty01-pitch.shtml#pitching_reliever::none Using those numbers, we see that both pitchers have roughly the same percentage of (holds + saves) divided by save situations. Jepsen is about 4% higher, but he's also about 11% lower in rate of opportunity (save situations divided by total relief games), so it's basically a wash. By WAR, which factors in leverage and opportunity, Clippard has 6 of his last 7 seasons at 1.2 WAR or greater -- really a pretty incredible run of quality setup pitching. Jepsen has met that mark (or even come close) only twice in his career. I don't think there is a great Clippard over Jepsen argument, but there is a fantastic Clippard (or other affordable reliever) PLUS Jepsen argument, which would reduce our reliance on Jepsen.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    1987 AL K/9 (pitchers): 5.99 1991 AL: 5.72 2016 AL: 9.13
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    If they are under-valued in the draft, why would it be good for the Twins to be spending decent value (2nd through 4th round picks) on them? That would be like saying OBP was undervalued in the Moneyball era -- and then going out and spending big or drafting high for OBP players. If it was undervalued, you should have been able to get it cheaper. That said, I don't think the Royals success tells us much about RP in the draft specifically. In fact, outside of drafting Holland in the 10th round in 2007, they haven't really relied on drafting relievers at all. After bullpens, if the next key to MLB success is revealed to be undervalued platoon players, that still doesn't mean it's a good idea to draft undervalued platoon players in the top rounds of the draft.
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