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
    What are Nolasco and his agent desperate about? He's got his money, and he's not even pitching for his next contract like Pelfrey last spring.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    You think an agent would say this stuff, and speculate like that, without the full blessing of his client? The agent doesn't even hide behind the term "we" here, like he is inserting his own desires, he specifically says "Ricky has made it clear to me..."
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Looking closer, Quentin doesn't rank particularly high for spring AB so far, and it doesn't appear that he has taken playing time away from anyone, so I wouldn't read too much into it, yet. If it's later this month and he climbs into our top 10 for spring AB, like Kubel and Bartlett did in 2014, then we might have a problem. That's often a precursor to an opening day roster spot.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think anyone is evaluating based only on spring training results so far. We're speculating on possibilities and likelihoods, the whole darn point of a fan site. Do you expect us to suspend such comments for a month? I think it's fair to say that Buxton could go to AAA, opening the door for Sweeney to make the team. Given how early it is, the last week probably hasn't moved the needle a whole lot in Sweeney's favor, but it certainly hasn't hurt him either.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting. Sounds like Mike Pelfrey from last spring all over again.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    I'd be curious how much the "Twins Community Fund" actually directly dings the Twins profits. It's nice that they help fundraise and organize, but I'd suspect it's barely a drop in the bucket from the Twins bottom line.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    No outside drinks are allowed at Target Field, except sealed plastic water bottles (or sealed juice/milk containers for kids). I would love a change in that policy, as I enjoy a soda with my salty snacks but I hate the ballpark soda prices. (You can visit a booth to sign up as a "designated driver" and get a free soda coupon, though.) But food is allowed. I've brought in sub sandwiches, Korean takeout, etc., as well as candy and peanuts for snacks.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    I know it's one of my "pet issues", but it could be tied into their lack of accommodation of families at the ballpark, compared to the rest of the league. The Twins might view their target market as largely childless adults with disposable income, more than other teams. If that's the case, there's less need to cater to families or to customers more focused on "value." And I can't say that decision is wrong, from a financial perspective, even if I don't like it personally.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Quentin can get that opportunity at AAA. He can't opt out until June 1st. I'm not sure what good there is in giving him priority in March.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't know about that. A good number of our past roster choices deemed "reliable, professional, consistent" players haven't lasted the season. It sure seems like TR and company perhaps overestimate veteran's abilities to be "reliable, professional, consistent" players at times.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    No 5 man bench. That would mean only a 6 man bullpen, which is almost unheard of these days. Hence why most posters are predicting just two of the guys from this article make the team.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    If the odds are very low that he makes the team, isn't it a little pointless to invest a lot of spring training at bats in him?
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Nolasco will not have trade value this spring. I can't emphasize that enough. His last two years have been so bad, and teams are generally loath to make bigger trade additions in March and the early season months. They have their own in-house alternatives they would want to try before giving up an interesting prospect or taking on salary in a suspect like Nolasco.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    That wasn't really the suggestion, though. It was about Nolasco's performance this spring. A 3.00 ERA this spring doesn't give much benefit to the Twins. And it's not really about rooting for someone to fail, or not wanting him to do well. It's really just a wish for some finality around a player who probably doesn't have much of a future here. And that finality could come in two different ways, a dominant performance (unlikely) or a poor performance that closes the book (more likely). The worst and most likely outcome is a middling performance. Plenty of guys have been in this zone for the Twins over the years, although Nolasco is owed more money than most of those guys which probably lowers his acceptable "middling" performance threshold in the eyes of the club (although at the same time, at least he's not in any danger of an undeserved extension!).
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Well, keep in mind that timeline match was 2 years ago for Hicks. Since then, he had a nice half-season repeating AA, a mediocre AAA debut, then a pretty darn awful season at AAA last year (68 wRC+, notably worse than even Turner's suspect 2015 line at AA). Still, if his defense is good, he's not a bad guy to stash at AAA right now, but there's probably a reason he went unclaimed by ~16 teams in November, despite existing in a universe where Drew Butera gets offered arbitration and Chris Herrmann nets a prospect in trade.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Not quite. Hicks finished his first AA season right around his 24th birthday, and Turner finished his a few months before his 24th birthday. So Turner 2016 is a pretty good timeline match for Hicks 2014.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Morneau told Berardino back in November that he wasn't interested in retiring yet, although you never know what demands veteran players have to make it worth their while to return (salary, position, city): https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/662339519492915200
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    I think Utley's deal might be the greater outlier, surprised he got a guaranteed $7 mil. I think those second tier free agents need to think more about taking the qualifying offer. Especially a guy like Desmond coming off a down year.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    "What the heck is Fangraphs?" I understand it is a series of tubes...
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    I suspect the trade interest in Gonsalves may have been due more to him being in a class of prospect that is often tradeable, rather than a sign of him being a really great prospect. In other words, teams probably felt they had zero chance to acquire anyone higher on this list. I remember the Mets gave up a prospect sometimes compared to Gonsalves for Tyler Clippard at the deadline last year, so if the Twins talked relief trade then and through the winter, I suspect Gonsalves name came up. Not that I have anything against Gonsalves, mind you.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    To be fair, we did also sign Rich Harden that offseason. Although his timeline was always pretty sketchy, he was hardly a substitute for a more immediate Kazmir type signing.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    How would it double the subscriber base by adding a few games very few people could watch live? And I think this is already happening, to some degree. Fox Sports North doesn't televise every game, and invariably most of the games they skip are weekday afternoon home games. When that happens, I believe you can then stream the other team's broadcast without blackouts in the Twins market. (Unless you are also in the other team's market, I suppose...) They're already working on a more meaningful way to address blackouts: starting soon, you will be able to stream in-market games without blackouts if you authenticate with a cable/satellite account that subscribes to the channel. This was supposed to be in place for Fox networks in 2016, and rolling out to all teams by 2017, but I haven't heard any more details. EDIT: Also, if your interest isn't limited to the local team, MLB offers a "free game of the day" every day, and on weekdays it seems like it is often a day game.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Never under-estimate the blind spots of pro athletes and their agents. Or anyone, for that matter.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    I know, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Just thought it was interesting.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't know about that. We've actually seen some pretty ridiculous numbers at Rochester in recent years (Plouffe, Parmelee, and Colabello), enough to intrigue but I don't think most observers went insane in hype (to the tune of the #33 MLB wRC+ projection at Fangraphs).
×
×
  • Create New...