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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Oh, I am very familiar with the alternatives. Just thought I'd share my family's experience, and I found it interesting that a perk, seemingly intended to encourage keeping the cable/satellite and regional sports network cord intact, has been largely cannibalized by those very same cable/satellite and regional sports network companies. The old system can't end soon enough for me.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I actually like Reusse, and I don't really mind most of the content of this column, even if I disagree with it. But that specific accusation felt out of line, given its timing and weak evidence.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    That can all be written without the specific accusation of promise-breaking. Have you read the posts here? That Sano breaks his word, etc.? Completely unnecessary to write the article you claim he wanted to write. Imagine if Kent Hrbek had been moved to the outfield over the winter of 1982-1983, somehow I doubt Reusse would have augmented this article with a flimsy accusation about missing a few optional offseason workouts... especially if Hrbek had, like Sano, fully accepted the move, already put in the work to reach MLB as a third baseman, while also putting in the work to successfully recover from elbow surgery. And been willing to play winter ball throughout.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    I wouldn't expect it. But if he had encouragement from the Twins, I would expect him to remain silent on that point, which he didn't. If I was Sano, I wouldn't dignify the accusation with a response.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    For the Twins, one of the biggest was Mike Lamb. Signed to a two-year deal, then he was cut with one year and one month to go, while still owed ~$3.5 mil on the deal. That eclipses Marquis, who was cut with only 4 months and ~$2 mil left on his deal. I've seen Blackburn mentioned elsewhere, but the Twins never actually released him. They outrighted him to the minors with one year and one month and $5.5 mil remaining on his deal, but with just under 5 years service time, he had no right to refuse the assignment and remained Twins property until his deal was complete. So even if he is cut as late as mid-August of 2017, Nolasco might still be the Twins biggest salary cut ever.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Edwin Jackson is the obvious comp. Very similar contract with the Cubs, two bad years (although generally more healthy than Nolasco), then with 2/26 remaining, he got stuck in a mop-up role at the beginning of last year, and then released halfway through the season with 1.5 years left. I think Nolasco has a bit better chance to bounce back to at least his career average 90 ERA+, due to the injuries and the fact the Twins will give him more opportunity than the Cubs gave Jackson. Not sure if that's a good thing yet, though...
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    There is very little evidence to suggest it happened that way. Reusse's sources appear to be second-hand, at best, and even he has since stated on Twitter that the column was written with "no encouragement" from the Twins. Which probably wouldn't be the case if Sano was actually lying or breaking promises to the team. And the whole thing happened nearly two months ago. Why is Reusse only bringing it up now? Maybe because when it actually happened, it was nothing like his characterization, and he only now needs it to support an attention-grabbing column near opening day? I know Reusse has asserted on his radio show that Sano is broke because his family and friends have mooched off of him, but it appears he has left that accusation out of newsprint so far. Given the timing and "evidence" he presented here, he probably should have done the same with this accusation, before he inspired various TD posters to label Sano as a serial breaker of promises.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Which player took up axe-grinding as an off season hobby?
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Nice find! Just confirmed through my family's Charter account too.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    I believe May still has an option. He was optioned at the beginning of 2015, but was recalled right away, and if you spend less than 20 days on optional assignment, you don't burn the option year.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    4 HR this spring for Suzuki, a new career high: http://m.mlb.com/player/435559/kurt-suzuki?year=2016&stats=career-s-hitting-mlb He did bat .341 with an .850 OPS last spring, though, so there is some precedent for a good spring performance not carrying over... and .200 with a .481 OPS in the spring of his career year 2014, so who knows...
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    And not only that -- but the Twins tend to target pitchers for their health, reducing the likelihood of injury. If a couple of our opening day veterans were injury fliers, that would be a different story.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Wasn't that the argument for Pelfrey last year? And how much did he help us? He was league average, we went 14-16 in his starts, and we actually skipped his turn in September rather than trust him in a pennant race.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    I think Fien has an option too.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Definitely good tips. I've found my Chromecast to be quite useful. Native casting is awesome, like the cast icon on YouTube or in the MLB.TV app, where it simply tells the Chromecast to play the video directly. Great quality, and you can even turn your computer or phone off at that point and it will still stream -- it's basically just a remote control at that point. Unfortunately, if the app doesn't support native casting, like Fox Sports Go doesn't, you're stuck casting the Chrome tab or your phone screen. That means Chrome is actually encoding a new video of the tab or your phone screen, which is itself trying to decode the original video stream, and quality is dependent on the processing power of your PC or your phone.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Any game you can watch on MLB.TV, you can watch on whatever device supports the app. It's only Fox Sports Go that has weird restrictions based on your cable/satellite provider. As to the "Follow Your Team" feature, the team you designate for "following" has to be an out-of-market team. And like you said, it will require an authenticated cable/satellite subscription with your local RSN. For example, if you are a Red Sox fan living in Minnesota, you have cable/satellite that includes Fox Sports North, and you subscribe to MLB.TV Premium, you won't get blacked out from watching on MLB.TV when the Red Sox visit Minnesota. Of course, you could just watch them on Fox Sports North at that point, so it's mainly just preserving your normal MLB.TV access across different devices. Pretty limited in scope. By 2017, MLB.TV plans to support in-market streaming for cable/satellite subscribers. Hopefully like the Fox plan this year without the weird restrictions.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I think it's fair to suggest they already knew the market for Plouffe.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    They also only brought in O'Rourke to face an average of AA level competition. He has performed well, but I don't think they really gave him a shot.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting. What games were blocked?
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Yes. There will be some opportunities due to injuries, doubleheaders, etc., but not necessarily the long-term openings that folks seem to assume (i.e. "Duffey up around May 10th, Berrios around June 10th"). It's most problematic in the rotation. If Nolasco stays around career averages (90 ERA+), he could easily last most if not all of the season. And he's the guy with the shortest leash. They have demoted Milone before, but never to the bullpen. In the bullpen, Tonkin is out of options, and I am somewhat surprised that they didn't waive him this spring, so they could do it in-season. Technically Fien and Pressly still have options, but I don't see them getting demoted. I think Abad is pretty safe as a veteran lefty if he's around his career average 105 ERA+ too (the "Duensing effect"). Of course, given the team we brought into spring training, and how they performed, this was probably the team I would have taken north too. I just want to see a quick hook with some of these guys -- league/career average shouldn't be enough to keep a spot for too long.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Yes, indeed MLB.TV does. I've used it, and it works quite nicely. But Fox Sports Go, sadly, doesn't, and that seems to be the only source for in-market Twins streaming for 2016 (at least for my family). Not really, depending on how you want to do it. If you want further assistance, feel free to message me.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Obviously it depends a bit on the shape of the performance, but I have a hard time thinking they'd release Nolasco right from the rotation. He'd still likely do a stint as a long reliever like Edwin Jackson did, at least until his replacement established himself and we didn't need him for depth anymore. If another player got injured around the same time, we wouldn't even have to drop anyone from the roster for him. That said, I don't think Nolasco is likely to pitch that poorly.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Not so fast on Jones. The Brewers are putting him on the DL. They still have plenty of time to evaluate him.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think there really is a right time to slip someone through. There are always enough teams looking to snag a player, even if only to put him through waivers themselves a few weeks later. Tonkin should be able to collect MLB paychecks from someone for the next month or two, at least.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    This is about what I predicted from the start, but I really thought they might waive Tonkin to add Kintzler, but I am grateful they didn't. I guess they could still pick up another veteran cast-off this week, but I'd be rather surprised.
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