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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Not only that, but the Twins don't need an emergency catcher. They need actual catchers they can aggressively pinch hit for if they come up with men on base (particularly on Suzuki's off days).
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Arcia would 100% get claimed on waivers. Thompson and Wheeler are likely to clear (and unlikely to be missed in any case, neither is likely to be useful in September and both would probably be dropped from the 40-man after the season anyway.)
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    And Rochester is all but eliminated too. 5 GB with 8 to play.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Yeah, I am not sure what the point is having Berrios start again at AAA on Aug. 31 if you should be calling him up Sep. 1. This would keep him on regular rest to start Saturday... but that's Ervin's start. And Sunday woukd be Duffey again, who is starting Tuesday. Presumably having Berrios or Duffey available in the pen Sep. 1-3 would be useful?
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    You might be right, though -- I found this reference to the Angels purchasing his contract on September 15, which means placing on the 40-man roster: http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/los-angeles-angels-team-transactions?year=2002&type=38 Really confusing to have the direct Angels quote above saying otherwise, though!
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't know your source, but here is mine that says K-Rod was already on the 40-man: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=neyer_rob&id=1449436 Relevant quote from Angels front office member: "Francisco was eligible because on August 31 he was on the 40-man roster." Remember, postseason roster rules used to be much more restrictive. It was your 25-man as of Sep. 1st, unless you got into DL shenanigans like K-Rod.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Nope. That used to be the rule, but no longer. Postseason rosters can be assembled from scratch at the start of each series, choosing from all players on the 40-man or DL (and possibly the organization) as of midnight tonight. So today's 25 man roster doesn't really mean anything for the postseason.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Wikd card game in New York could exorcise some demons.... or it could just exercise them.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Berrios doesn't have to be added this winter. So if they want to shut him down, they may keep him off the 40-man until 2016. I hope not, though.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Given their leads, both the Yankees and Blue Jays should be able to rest their ace (whoever that may be, in NY's case) for the wild card game (or division series game 1, if they win their division). So yeah, Toronto will run out Price, and NY would pick Tanaka? 2-0 against us in 2014. They could also go with Eovaldi, 2-0 against us in 2015, or Severino who has been pretty good so far. (Probably not Pineda, barring injury, although Pineda or Severino might be their backup starter for that game.) Guess that is better than Price, but still not easy!
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    According to this, the Twins can construct their postseason roster (which can be different for each series) from every player on the 40-man or DL as of midnight August 31st: http://www.foxsports.com/mlb/just-a-bit-outside/baseball-joe/blog/more-players-to-choose-from-for-postseason-roster-090114 It doesn't matter what our 25-man active roster is today or tomorrow, the postseason rosters are basically created anew from the 40-man and DL. So no shenanigans or special permissions would be required to use players other than Graham, Nolasco, Pressly, etc. (Or Santana) Not clear how flexible the commissioner's office is willing to be with players not on the 40-man by the midnight deadline tonight. Would be an interesting question to ask someone in the know.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Yes. Although the commissioner's office permission is apparently only required now if you add players to the 40-man roster after August 31st. So we wouldn't even need that permission if we just added Berrios (and dropped someone else, or 60-day DL'ed Graham) before midnight tonight.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Finnegan is the only precedent I've found, and Kansas City literally could *not* add him to the 40-man on the night of the deadline due to that ongoing suspended game (and it appears he was added immediately after its conclusion the following day). That's not a good precedent to use for adding Berrios after the deadline. The Twins would not have any excuse to present to the commissioner's office. And what exactly would be the benefit of waiting? Getting to see yet another Berrios start at Rochester? Keeping Aaron Thompson or Jason Wheeler on the 40-man for a few extra days?
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    And we still have 7 more against the Indians, including 4 in Cleveland...
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Sabathia is out, right? You'd be looking at Tanaka-Severino-Pineda-Eovaldi, which isn't necessarily easy. (We did score a bit off Pineda in July, but that was right before his DL stint. I know he shut us down as a rookie for Seattle a few years ago.)
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't think so. See my post above. A player must satisfy the requirements of his DL assignment before being eligible for replacement. So I think they could leave Graham on the 15-day DL and use a postseason injury replacement, but they couldn't also move him to the 60-day DL and free up a 40-man spot because Graham will not have spent 60 days on the DL until late October.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Interesting info, thanks. This isn't quite true. A player must fully serve his DL time before being eligible for postseason roster injury replacement. A player going on the 60-day DL in late August, such as Mariot above or potentially Graham for the Twins, could be replaced on the 40-man but not give us a "flex spot" for postseason replacement. Finnegan appears to have been added on Sep. 1st last year, although it may have been partially due to a suspended game from August 31: http://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/k-zone/article1340533.html I have seen some mention of injury replacements requiring permission from the league, which perhaps wouldn't be automatic for guys not on the 40-man as of August 31st? Finnegan is the only non-40-man as of August 31st example I have found, and as I mentioned he was added Sep. 1st after the completion of a suspended August 31st game. If Berrios was added later, it might be within the rules but it may also be unprecedented. The most famous case, K Rod, was indeed added to the 40-man roster on August 31, 2002, although he wasn't recalled until mid-September. So this rule change appears to be new.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks, makes some sense. But I'm not sure that Berrios should really be in that Sano/Buxton "untouchable" class, where you don't even consider dealing him. He seems like he's a step down from "elite" prospect, a guy you have to consider trading for the right fit. And given our organizational catchers, Swihart *could* be as close to the "right fit" as the Twins could find right now. Although it's hard to say, Berrios' stat line certainly suggests he's kicked it up a notch at AAA this season, would be nice to have some MLB data on him by now...
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Seems right, but this is incorrect. Santana's ineligibility applies to any tiebreaker games too, according to Berardino: Sources: http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2015/05/20/twinsights-ervin-santanas-penalty-includes-postseason-ban/ http://blogs.twincities.com/twins/2015/07/04/twinsights-ervin-santana-has-no-regrets-after-80-game-drug-suspension/
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    For those opposed, what is it that you don't like about Swihart? He looks pretty solid, a 23 year old switch hitter with zero question about sticking at the position, 6 more seasons of control, consensus preseason top 20 prospect with a 117 wRC+ after his first month in MLB this year (92 overall). Out of 30 catchers with 220+ PA this season at Fangraphs, Swihart ranks #14 in wRC+, right around Lucroy and Norris. High BABIP? Red Sox hype? Valid concerns, but Swihart looks like he will be a MLB catching asset for awhile, you'd have to at least consider it, no?
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Pinto hasn't played catcher since June 9th, and I'm not sure they want him to yet this season. (His bat has yet to heat up either, dating back before his DL stint too) Obviously if it's just for emergency purposes, it probably doesn't matter, but given our catching options, I think this team could afford a non-emergency 3rd catcher under expanded rosters, simply so they could be aggressive with pinch-hitting. Basically, when Suzuki gets an off day, you could pinch hit for Herrmann in a key spot in the 5th inning and then insert Fryer, keep Suzuki rested and leave open the possibility of pinch-hitting for Fryer later in the game too if necessary.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Part of the Angels' bad month has been a slumping Trout, and we all know he is fully capable of turning it around. Their infield is a mess right now but otherwise their roster seems OK.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    You mean "on the 40 man roster" by Sep. 1st, which is an important distinction for Berrios.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Yeah, I am not criticizing that decision of the past week-plus. The context of the comment was playing time going forward, after Hicks returns.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    I know May was warming a couple innings earlier, but did he have to rush to get ready again in the 9th? Altuve is a good hitter, though.
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