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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    I was definitely more excited entering this season than any year since 2011 at least, and that still remains. Primarily due to the additions of Santana, Vargas, and May to the base of Dozier, Plouffe, and Gibson.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    I think Bernier previously got a call-up over Deibinson Romero, who was similarly a much younger but long-time Twins farmhand who elected to stay in Rochester for several seasons. Maybe they prefer to reward the outside minor league free agents that come here (like Yohan Pino too), rather than the minor league free agents who simply stay here? Romero finally left the Twins this winter, for a minor league deal with the Pirates, and is off to a good start for their AAA club (.302 AVG, 4 HR). Still probably isn't likely to see MLB with them.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    True. But it means Beresford has basically been free to seek a better opportunity for 3 years now. He's probably more likely to be claimed than Bernier, but their chances of that happening in May 2015 are probably 2% and 1%, respectively. I doubt it was a factor in this decision.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    No doubt Colabello was fun to watch hit and is still fun to root for, but even in April 2014 he generally wasn't pulling the ball or hitting it over the fence, which are not signs of sustainable success for a player with his profile. What's his MLB upside with good health? 100 OPS+? Garrett Jones lite? Still rooting for him, obviously. I see he is currently listed as the #1 LF on the Blue Jays MLB.com depth chart. Assuming that is accurate, it could be interesting...
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Bernier is almost 10 years older, but yeah, even his limited 2015 numbers don't suggest a precipitous fall-off yet. Even at that age, he's still likely to have more pop than Beresford and draws more walks (albeit with a more strikeouts too). I would have rather seen someone else entirely. I think there are enough opportunities for playing time on this roster that we don't need to carry a likely "he's just the 25th man" guy even for a couple weeks.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    Gardy deserves some blame, but not all. He almost certainly had an irrational love for Bartlett in April 2014, but TR assembled the Hicks/Mastroianni/Presley group that offseason (and Hicks/Mastroianni/Thomas the previous offseason) and presumably gave his OK to cutting Presley when we did. Sam Fuld was fully available to TR to sign that offseason too (he didn't sign with Oakland until Feb. 2014). Molitor seems similarly eager to use infielders in the outfield this year, even 4 healthy outfielders available. And Gardy's SP staffs were much worse, and with less available depth, from 2012-2014 than what Molitor has now. That's going to affect bullpen construction. Finally, Gardy's "3 catcher preference" is way overblown, I think. Looking back over rosters and lineups, it appears 3 catcher rosters were very rare to the Twins outside of 2011-2013 when Mauer effectively became a part-time catcher (and earlier instances were almost always around Mauer injury/recovery situations, or September roster expansions). To summarize in a word: context. Give Molitor the outfields, pitching staffs, and catching situations that TR assembled for Gardy and I doubt you would see a whole lot of difference in resource management. At least, nothing in Molitor's limited sample of 2015 decisions suggests otherwise, so far.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    Pelfrey's multiple Twins contracts reminded me a bit of Nick Blackburn -- Oklahoma born favorite of Gardenhire (although Pelfrey moved from OK at a young age -- he was also born on an air force base, like Gardy). Both decent MLB pitchers for awhile, but I suspect the Twins were more willing to seek/sign these guys and give larger guarantees than other teams. (Not sure I remember why this is in Eddie Rosario thread, a move I generally endorse assuming he starts playing.)
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Correction: Beresford has been a minor league free agent each of the last THREE winters (after 2012, 2013, and 2014). He has re-signed with the Twins each time. He would not get claimed on waivers.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Beresford has been a 6-year minor league free agent each of the past two winters. If someone wanted to give him a 40-man roster spot, he probably would have signed with such a team. As Seth alluded to, Beresford probably deserves an "organizational soldier" award as much or more than Bernier, who has already received two previous call-ups by the Twins.
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    They targeted Hunter, the oldest non-Ichiro free agent position player according to B-Ref, almost immediately after the season ended, and made him one of the earliest signings of the offseason. I don't know if TR was directly thinking about marketing, but it's pretty clear he favored and pursued the player most familiar to the organization and to the fans. (Same with hiring Molitor.)
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    It wouldn't even be the first time they did it with Arcia. He was sent back to AAA in both May and July 2013 and again briefly in May 2014 after his DL/rehab stint.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    Tuesday night, second row above the visitor's dugout (section 12, row 6, on TV every time a RHB comes up!), $32 after discount code: http://www.ticketkingonline.com/ResultsTicket.aspx?evtid=2412289 Champions Club, section 10, $90 after discount code too. (In case you haven't noticed, I am posting all of the tickets deals I wish I could take advantage of. )
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    If so, he's been doing a terrible job holding his place in LF
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    0-1 WAR is not average for a starting player. It's replacement level. (Which is still better than Colabello in the outfield ) Average is more like 2-3 WAR for a starting player. (Or you could use WAA, I suppose.) By that measure, Hunter was almost exactly average in 2013, replacement level in 2014, and hopefully back to average in 2015...?
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    Aoki and Chris Young (the outfielder) are two more OF who were available as free agents. (Also, Ichiro could have be a fun addition. ) I don't really mind signing Hunter, but I would have liked to target one of these other guys in addition to him. Rebuilding or not, Jordan Schafer should not have been penciled in for a starting MLB spot in 2015.
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    The April 2014 outfield was a mess, but they built a short-handed roster, and then had simultaneous extended injuries to both corner starters. The 2014 rotation was also somewhat short-handed even before Pelfrey's injury. Put Molitor in that situation and I think some of his decisions would frustrate you too. He made plenty of mistakes, but nothing in Gardy's record really suggests he would not have deployed Schafer, Robinson, Hunter, Arcia (plus Nunez and Escobar), and now Rosario exactly as Molitor has so far in 2015.
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Teams generally don't argue with potential hires over their worthiness. Veteran teams looking to put it all together and get to the big dance are going to hire a star manager (past examples like Larussa, Leyland, Francona) or a young untested guy who at least theoretically has a chance to become a star (Ausmus, Matheny, Matt Williams, etc.). I would be shocked if the Detroit Tigers hired Ron Gardenhire to manage in the next few years, or even Cleveland (not to mention the more notable large markets). I might be shocked if anyone hired him to manage without a stint as a coach or advisor or something.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    For the record, I didn't make any "fail" comments, just posted the numbers. I don't think those numbers, at those levels, contribute meaningfully to a decision to call him up to MLB.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    Trout was promoted about this time in 2012, BUT he had already appeared in MLB in 2011. As Brock said, his initial promotion was direct from AA on July 8.
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    I am not crazy about Hunter, and his bat is still useful, but I think some of the objection to him is the priority/exclusion the FO placed on his acquisition. He was one of the first signings of the offseason in all MLB, and we pretty much made no effort to add another potential starting-level OF after him (given the Robinson was/is a likely 4th outfielder).
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    The last section of this Rosario article seems to suggest it is generally not the manager's call, and that the Twins haven't really changed their attitude about waiting to DL guys: http://m.1500espn.com/pages/sportswire.php?sID=13742 I think Molitor might look better in this regard simply because the team has been much healthier, and somewhat better assembled (OF/rotation depth). On the latter point, I am sure Gardy didn't help at times, but I think increasing options and depth has been a natural progression for this team over the past couple years, not necessarily any special influence of Molitor. All of our current OF/SP depth except Hunter/Robinson was in place by the end of the 2014 season, and I see no reason to think that Hunter/Robinson would not have been signed if Gardy was still manager. Give Gardy four outfielders and 6 starters, with a few more in AAA, and I expect he manages those resources similarly in April 2015.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    I never said that Gardy was a bold, intrepid skipper. I am saying he's made similar lineup moves the past few seasons as Molitor has this month, especially considering the available options for each. I don't think either qualifies as a bold, intrepid skipper (yet), by this measure. And I guess 21 games was the wrong time period to use for Santana -- he actually was first bounced to 9th after 16 games, with a .203/.203/.237 line and 19 K's vs 0 BB in 59 PAs. (He briefly reappeared at leadoff for a pair of games later, one of which was a Dozier off-day.) Not as epically bad as Hicks start in 2013, granted, but with Dozier available, I suspect almost any manager makes that switch, including Gardy. EDIT TO ADD: Remember in April 2013, Dozier still sucked and had never batted leadoff before.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Thanks for the link. I was most intrigued by the last section of that article, under the heading "Taxi squad." It seems the Twins and TR consciously delay DL and call-up decisions as long as possible. (Ultimately only left us short-handed for one game this time.) That I don't agree with, especially when the players aren't that great anyway. Otherwise, the Rosario decision seems fine to me. I'd prefer to move on from Schafer too but Rosario over Hicks for 15 days is okay by me.
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    103 and 104 wRC+, according to Fangraphs. A hair above average.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    Example? Past or present. Just curious what you have in mind.
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