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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    He's got a 4.2 K/9 in high-A. (And only a 2.9 BB/9.) Even accounting for age and experience, how many guys have done that and gone on to become top of the rotation MLB starters? I was admittedly skeptical of the excuse last year that he was simply holding back on his best strikeout pitch, so needless to say, I find it even less persuasive in its second year as his results have gotten worse.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    FWIW, Hicks is getting a day off today.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Seeing where Arcia is right now, I am not sure if he is any closer to being a plus MLB contributor than most prospects, particularly in the outfield .
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    Dozier was a league average bat his second year, thanks to SLG. It appears Hicks has regressed in terms of SLG.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Not that much lower, sadly. Did anyone have much confidence when Hicks came to the plate with the bases loaded last night?
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    If the Brewers were close to contention, why would they trade Lucroy? At least, for anything less than a king's ransom?
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Maybe not. But I'd approach it as if Buxton might have to get sent down again. No sense reconfiguring the whole order before that. (Trout batted 7-8-9 in his first recall from AA, but leadoff when he came up for good after AAA.)
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    That was Trout's second recall to MLB. His first came from AA when he was hitting .324. Fangraphs graded his overall AA hitting at about a 155 wRC+ at that point (100 being league/park average), with 28-for-36 in SB over 75 games. Buxton is currently sporting a 135 wRC+ with 20-for-22 in SB over 57 games, and that includes his slow start to the season. I'd say he's very near Trout recall territory, even if like Trout he makes a return trip to the minors before sticking in the show.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    I can't speak for others, but I don't think that. It's why I'd actually like to see Buxton and Sano promoted to AAA already -- there are spots open there and they'd be incrementally closer to the bigs.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    True, although Boyer was a minor league invite, so zero guaranteed money and no guaranteed roster spot. We probably could have even negotiated to stash him in AAA for the first month like Guerrier, had we so desired. If you are simply looking to replace Swarzak or have a warm veteran body available for the bullpen, that's the route I'd prefer to go. (Although I probably would have paired with an upside attempt too -- Ryan Madson?)
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    I am pretty sure Torii isn't on a mission to get umpires to strictly conform to the exact rule book strike zone.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Then you could repeat your little counting exercise for virtually every umpire every night and get similar results. How meaningful is that?
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    If you look at midseason trade returns for comparable pitchers, I don't think you're going to like what you see. Actually, it seems most comparable guys don't even get dealt because the potential return is so minimal. Even if Pelfrey still somehow has a 2.28 ERA at the end of July, you're almost certainly better off riding whatever voodoo witchcraft is going on rather than trying to flip him for anything meaningful, given his history. (FWIW, he had a 2.23 season ERA on June 12, 2010 too, in more innings than he has in 2015.)
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    It's only a 10 team league, and they play most of their games within their 5 team division. (For example, they don't see Pensacola from the other division at all until the last week of July.) So, they've already played at least two series with each team in their division. (And a series is generally 5 games long, so you probably don't need multiple ones to make adjustments.)
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Yeah. There's already a good case that he shouldn't be playing every day, but there he is, just behind Dozier in the games started column. Easily on pace for career highs in games played and plate appearances in what is also easily his worst hitting season as a pro so far.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, changing the butts on the bench could be a sign of real improvement for this team. Getting Vargas back put Escobar/Nunez/Santana on the bench. Sano could do similarly if Vargas isn't up to par. Likewise, a Buxton call-up could make Hicks or Rosario the 4th OF -- that's actually way better, and way more useful, than Robinson in that role. Finding a hot hand in the setup reliever role would reduce our dependence on Boyer etc. More difficult is finding a catcher with Pinto struggling, but again, Suzuki as a backup would represent real progress for the lineup and the team's depth.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    I hear you. But from the get-go, Stauffer was in the Anthony Swarzak role. They gave him a chance to start in the spring, then immediately put him in the back of the pen for long relief (and mostly mop-up work). Even before performance and health became an issue, he was never a Burton type investment (potential setup man). Why the Twins felt the need to guarantee $2.2 mil (plus incentives!) for a Swarzak replacement is beyond me -- that's the spot on the roster where you stash the Rule 5 guy, or rotate/audition cheap young guys with options who can actually improve your bullpen, now and into the future.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    This kind of gets at it. Wanting a veteran or two in your bullpen mix is fine -- but the Twins guaranteed money and a spot to a couple low-upside veterans, who both happened to struggle, AND took a flyer on another... so now we're over two months into the season, still with an iffy bullpen overall, and virtually no further at identifying any new bullpen assets.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Fun, although their scoring might be a little too cut-and-dried for my taste. As I've noted elsewhere, that strike call last night was within the typical zone even if it wasn't in the technical zone. I wouldn't really give the umpire a full demerit on that one.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    I wasn't opposed, but I was seriously skeptical when I saw they had plans to start him. That's not something you do when you target a high-upside bullpen arm. And we didn't have much business adding another low-upside arm to our mix, even at that cost.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Yes and no. Nine 3+ inning games this season, out of 30 appearances, but spread out quite a bit -- basically two every month. His final two appearances in June totaled 10 innings, but in the month of May, he had 7 appearances, 10.1 innings, never topping 27 pitches.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    I am sure the young guys are on Torii's side of the issue, but I'm not sure if it was really a "getting fired up" moment. It was more complaining (something which I know well ) than a display of passion. As a fan, I appreciate these kind of memorable moments, especially in otherwise forgettable games, but they won't make me more likely to buy tickets either.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    But that's squeezing the pitcher, and it will just shift your frustration to the other side of the ball. I have no problem with a consistent zone, and last night's was, judging by the strike zone map: http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=6&day=10&year=2015&game=gid_2015_06_10_kcamlb_minmlb_1%2F&prevDate=0610
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    Have you looked at the umpire's strike zone map? http://www.brooksbaseball.net/pfxVB/zoneTrack.php?month=6&day=10&year=2015&game=gid_2015_06_10_kcamlb_minmlb_1%2F&prevDate=0610
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    What are you talking about? The umpire never moved forward. Torii walked straight back to the umpire and got in HIS face. The umpire kept retreating the whole time, until the other umpire came over to get Torii off the field and the umpire went around to return to his position. Looks pretty much textbook "how to deal with cranky players" to me. http://m.twins.mlb.com/min/video/v156644083/must-c-clips-torii-gets-tossed-after-arguing-strikes/ As to the Dozier strike, Gameday has it as legit. Almost identical to the third pitch of the at-bat, which Dozier ripped foul. Dozier ultimately grounded out on a much lower pitch. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/gameday/index.jsp?gid=2015_06_10_kcamlb_minmlb_1&mode=classic
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