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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    Both of them just pitched two days ago. The hypothetical playoffs start TODAY, remember? So it's Gibson vs. Eovaldi. For Game 2 tomorrow, do we use JR Graham or Pelfrey on short rest?
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I don't know about that. Last year, they gave him the full 20 days rehab at Rochester, then optioned him for an extra 10 days , thus giving him 30 days at AAA but retaining another option to use on him in 2015 if they so desired. This year, they only gave him a week of rehab, then optioned him so that his remaining AAA time would put him further away from arbitration eligibility. It looks like they had a plan to manipulate his service time if he hadn't yet established a breakout performance level.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    But if it only a surplus because we are stuck with an underperforming and untradeable vet at 1B, that's not as good of a problem.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    If the playoffs began today... the season would have ended far too early.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Here is a cite on 140 days for 2015: http://www.mlbtraderumors.com/2015/04/projected-super-two-cutoff-5.html That said, I doubt they are concerned with Vargas' service time yet. But I think it was a strong factor in the Arcia move -- not in terms of cost savings, but guaranteeing that 2016 is basically another free evaluative season for us or a potential trade partner. ( And reducing Arcia's leverage should he look deserving of a multi year contract soon. )
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    That struck me as an odd juxtaposition too. I also don't like the general attitude that certain opinions are invalid simply because the experiences behind them aren't identical to yours. I see that attitude used to justify a lot of unjustifiable things far too often, not that TR is employing it for those ends here. But I feel like he would make similar defensive statements even if the Twins record matched the underlying stats, or if the opinion was from a local scribe or a fan here who indeed had watched the team a lot, so how meaningful are these statements, really? And what's wrong with being humble? If a national writer says the Twins are all luck and are likely to be the worst in the league going forward, obviously disagree with that, but say that there are certainly areas where we need to improve to stay on top -- after all, that is simply what much of the recent stat analysis is saying. Then say we feel like we are addressing them and already seeing evidence of improvement. All that said, I am enjoying the ride and discussing all facets of it. Just not necessarily the "us vs the haters" type mentality on display here.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Well, his improved control was pretty constant from the beginning of the 2014 AAA season, and he still had to make some big adjustments when he came to MLB. We'll never know either way, but I think he would have been just fine if his 2014 call-up had come a month or two earlier.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Molitor was a DH but not really a "DH type". He didn't move to primary DH/1B until age 34.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Even if he's only on optional assignment for 10 days, this could prevent him from reaching "Super 2" arbitration status the coming winter. So it's a fairly significant move, in that it gives us another "free" season to evaluate him (or offers such a season to a potential trade partner).
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    "It's just the 25th man on the roster" has now been upgraded to "it's just one spot in the lineup"?
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    This is a misuse of defensive metrics. Tulo has been solidly above average by both metrics in the past, no reason to throw that out for a 2 month sample. Still wouldn't endorse a trade, though.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Did he learn the deke move from Hunter? Torii does it quite frequently, I think.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    Again, I don't think that is particularly likely. Arcia has 850 MLB PA at or above that level of production, it wasn't some small sample fluke.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Start plunkin', boys!
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    There is the problem. It is not a lack of context, it is a matter of opinion. I doubt that Cameron is unaware that Vargas/Pinto/Arcia exist, it is just that he doubts they will major contributors in the near future. An opinion shared by many on this board and probably in the Twins front office. And Cameron hardly guarantees their doom, his own site gave us a 25% chance of postseason play even with the worst rest of season projected record in the league. ( And do not mistake the bad projection for a prediction )
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    So you think Cameron has an ax to grind with the Twins. That's why he mentioned multiple players no longer on the team -- oh wait, he only mentioned one (Schafer). That's he failed to mention the recent contributions of guys we've called up -- wait, Hicks is the only one, and he has a 71 OPS+, about the same as Schafer's career mark. That's why he endorsed a trade for Mike Leake -- wait, he didn't do that, he was just asked to speculate which pitchers could be realistic targets for the Twins. That's why he failed to recognized the abundant riches that are about to unfold in our DH spot. That's why he can't possibly see the impact that Meyer is going to have very soon on our bullpen. I think it's pretty clear you have a far bigger ax to grind with "objective national writers", so I will bow out of this conversation now.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Tonkin has to go down at the 26th man today, right? I was speculating about Pressly going down to make room for Milone tomorrow.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    I've granted you Ervin Santana. It's not clear whether Meyer is on the fast-track to the MLB pen, but even if he was, there is more than hole or regression candidate for him to fill. And we just demoted one of those 3 DH's just two weeks ago in favor of Eduardo Nunez, another potential DH is a 26 year old with a .729 OPS at AAA this season, and the third already has 850 MLB PA where he has looked more like Dayan Viciedo than a starting fixture in this league. Sorry, criticizing Cameron about these points sounds like homerism on the level of Cameron's own "Mariners #6 organization" gaffe.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    We'll see. Pressly has been coming in to closer games now, but so did Tonkin last week.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    Joaquim Soria at the deadline last year fetched a guy comparable in some ways to Berrios (Jake Thompson, SP, 2nd round pick 2012, BA's #48 prospect for this year) and another guy comparable to Reed/Burdi (Corey Knebel, RP, 2013 comp pick, minor league 12.4 K/9, plus he had already reached MLB with a small sample 11.4 K/9 for Detroit). And Soria is no Aroldis Chapman. You're not getting him in return for failing prospects or possible MLB mediocrities.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    You keep dwelling on the 5th starter thing, when I think Cameron should get a pass if he simply did not remember the Ervin Santana situation (who wasn't mentioned at all). If Santana wasn't coming back in July, SP depth instantly becomes much more of a concern. The names he mentioned (i.e. Mike Leake) were actually speculation on guys he thought TR might be able to acquire, NOT guys he was endorsing. And he was VERY clear that acquiring a pitcher was pointless if they didn't acquire a starting bat (or multiple bats) to go with it. And the utility suggestion was very off-hand, but looking at our awful SS situation right now, getting another guy for the stretch run that could potentially start there and not embarrass us might not be crazy -- shades of Orlando Cabrera 2009.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    The only guy he mentioned that's not getting at-bats anymore was Schafer, whose at-bats have gone to Hicks (71 OPS+). Hicks is also the only notable guy that's been called up recently. And I don't think there are any impact guys on the horizon for call-ups soon on either side of the ball (Arcia hopefully activated soon, but he has yet to look like an impact player in MLB, particular if we still play him in the field regularly). I don't think we can count on any of the AA guys coming up soon, much less having a major impact out of the gate.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Pressly first out of the pen today with a 4 run deficit in the 5th inning. A sign that they want to use him before they send him down?
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    6th best, but yeah, that was funny. I'm all for mocking Cameron, but I don't think he's terribly ignorant or off base here at all.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Listen to the podcast if you want to gauge his tone, but that wasn't it. I guess even my transcription has trouble capturing that. It was pretty clear he was packaging SP and a starting OF and/or DH as our chief needs, but he may have forgotten about Ervin Santana (who wasn't mentioned in the interview). The utility infielder inclusion was brief and prefaced with a "maybe" -- not an unreasonable brainstorm idea if you see Danny Santana going back to AAA and they might want another option capable of starting at SS (Nunez probably isn't). Think prime Nick Punto or Jamey Carroll, guys who often surface on contending teams.
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