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Otto von Ballpark

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Everything posted by Otto von Ballpark

  1. Otto von Ballpark
    This was Hunter's first time as a free agent after his public comments on homosexuality and recent political endorsement. Also, for grandstanding, Berardino has been pretty quiet about eliciting a name-calling response. That response is mentioned nowhere in the PiPress, and I don't think Berardino's even directly mentioned it on Twitter.
  2. Otto von Ballpark
    Berardino didn't ask about Hunter's views, really. He asked if some recent public statements by Hunter affected his market as a free agent. A simple "no" from Hunter could have sufficed as an answer. Berardino didn't press at all when it was clear Hunter didn't want to discuss the topic. I don't think it's really Berardino's fault if Hunter didn't really listen to the question and/or viewed it as an attack that required a name-calling response.
  3. Otto von Ballpark
    Actually, since Torii signed with Detroit in Nov. 2012, this is the first time he's been a free agent since his original public statements on homosexuality too (Dec. 2012), in addition to the more recent political ad. So it's not that "far out" of a question (even if it would be pretty hard to separate any effect from the more general effect of being 39 years old at this point). Berardino specifically made the question about the effects on Hunter's contract, NOT about his views themselves, and didn't follow-up or press the issue at all. And if Berardino was seeking attention, he certainly hasn't made a big deal out of Hunter's reaction -- that didn't even make the PiPress story.
  4. Otto von Ballpark
    On the subject of other teams rumored for Hunter's services, it is interesting that Seattle and Texas (and Kansas City, whom I heard mentioned) were among the worst offenses in the league in 2014, and Baltimore was losing both a starting OF and a DH in free agency (KC is losing guys at those two spots too). The Twins had the least compelling reason, from a performance standpoint, to sign a 39 year old, ~110 OPS+ corner OF.
  5. Otto von Ballpark
    Mauer probably gets his number retired. He meets multiple criteria -- serious HOF consideration and local boy. The other key criteria would be postseason success (which helped Hrbek). I don't think the 2002-2010 group has any other candidate that meets even one of those criteria, much less multiple. Santana probably closest, then Hunter -- both will get votes for the HOF but not serious consideration, so they probably would have needed longer tenures with the Twins (and/or helped us to better postseason results) to push them over that threshold. Same with Radke. They can all go in the Twins Hall of Fame, though, plus assorted other notables of the era. Guardado's induction suggests a fairly low bar for that honor. Invoking any reference to contraction does not paint the Twins in a positive light, in my mind.
  6. Otto von Ballpark
    If he's on a fan ballot, he probably goes in right now. Otherwise, it took Radke until his 3rd year of retirement, Guardado his 4th. And both of them had longer Twins tenures than Hunter (Hunter should pass Guardado this year, although he is very unlikely to equal Radke's 12 full seasons with the club). I'd guess they might wait a little bit to push Hunter, for optimal marketing.
  7. Otto von Ballpark
    When they announce that Hunter is taking over RF, that significantly reduces the likely possibilities that can happen between now and March. It's basically either Arcia to LF, AAA, or traded.
  8. Otto von Ballpark
    Does referencing the issue in a political ad (with your own voice, no less) a month ago constitute "not continuing to talk about it"? I think he was mostly quiet about it after that Dec. 2012 article, but it was pretty silly to jump back in the ring with it right as he was entering free agency again. Especially in a race that wasn't particularly close -- Hunter's endorsed Arkansas governor won re-election by a greater margin than Al Franken did in Minnesota, and Franken's race was considered to be very uncompetitive.
  9. Otto von Ballpark
    Is this use of the word "prick" acceptable in public? Just curious. (I feel bad just typing it.) I think the link between Hunter's politics and his market/contract is probably nonexistent, so it was a poor basis for the question. But to his credit, Berardino did not ask any kind of follow-up after Hunter obviously did not like the original question, and he didn't even officially report on Hunter's "prick" comments. Hunter actually addressed the question acceptably too. It was only after the topic was apparently dropped that these comments came. I'd say Hunter had the unprofessional lapse here. I wonder what would have happened if Hunter signed with the Twins in 2012? He would have just missed the constitutional ban on the Minnesota ballot in November 2012, but the LA Times article quoting his opinions on homosexuality was published in late December 2012, and he would have been around and playing every day while the Minnesota legislature approved gay marriage the following summer. Even though Hunter would have been far more useful to the Twins in 2013-2014 than now, it's probably for the better he didn't play here then!
  10. Otto von Ballpark
    Berardino's article simply called Deadspin a "national media outlet": http://www.twincities.com/twins/ci_27062911/torii-hunter-gay-marriage-views-not-factor-free Makes sense that he would cite a national media outlet, since at the time of this recent ad, Hunter lacked any team affiliation, for all intents and purposes.
  11. Otto von Ballpark
    I think I just read a TR quote that he's going to focus on pitching now. And so far he's been pretty forthright in these matters.
  12. Otto von Ballpark
    My Facebook feed is blowing up with positive reactions to the Hunter signing, so it appears we are in the minority.
  13. Otto von Ballpark
    I imagine that perhaps other offers were not forthcoming, as other teams waited for their own Plan A/B/etc. at the position, and the Twins made a big take-it-or-leave-it offer early like they did with Nolasco.
  14. Otto von Ballpark
    Berardino says the Twins won't offer Hunter more than $5 mil for 2016.
  15. Otto von Ballpark
    It's not a matter of disbelief -- it's that these kinds of statements are very common in pro sports. I am not sure they are particularly meaningful in the context of "mentorship" being a top priority for player acquisition. Hey, look -- Mike Trout likes Vernon Wells too! http://halohangout.com/2011/06/21/tuesday-twitter-stalking-mike-trout-and-vernon-wells-are-tweet-buddies/ (Wells is a free agent too, by the way!)
  16. Otto von Ballpark
    I'm not sure one or two routine misplays make a guy worst in the league in UZR. Also, many players can probably make a few outstanding plays to balance a couple botched routine ones. Hunter has probably done that for most of his career. If he started failing to do that the past 2 years, at ages 38 and 39, isn't that notable?
  17. Otto von Ballpark
    Most ballplayers are pretty complimentary to teammates in the media. Without more detail, I am not sure I want to read that much more than that into these comments about Hunter. For all we know, Torii recommended him a good barber in SoCal, or helped him set up a Roth IRA.
  18. Otto von Ballpark
    Sorry, I meant ~110 OPS+. Our whole lineup was basically that last year. Some might regress, true, but I don't think another hitter at that level with no upside and questionable defense was our top priority.
  19. Otto von Ballpark
    You don't even need metrics to think this is a bad idea, defensively. Dude is turning 40 next year. And while he has been a steady hitter, he's not a high upside one -- was this team's top priority really replacing Willingham's 110 OPS+? Didn't we have a lot of thse hitters last year?
  20. Otto von Ballpark
    I didn't mean it would fully deter them, but it takes some of the steam out of what is probably a marginal upgrade. Remember we had to twist arms to give away Morneau.
  21. Otto von Ballpark
    Also, I am not quite so confident that a July trade is a condition here. We did see it with Kendrys Morales, and some of the expiring contract vets recently, but Hunter could still be seen as one of "our guys" and I am not sure they ever plan to deal those types. Remember the dragged out process that was the Morneau trade? For that matter, it's not at all clear there will be a great trade market for Hunter -- 40 year old corner OF, questionable defense, solid slightly above average bat, making ~$2 mil a month -- that's not necessarily an easy sell.
  22. Otto von Ballpark
    Again, "better than Willingham, Colabello & Arcia" is not the threshold we should be using. That would be like aiming to improve the starting staff last year and just looking for someone "better than PJ Walters and Pedro Hernandez". And there are still other short-term options, Rios and Rasmus being the most prominent on the FA market.
  23. Otto von Ballpark
    Doogie sure beat Berardino on this one (and most of us).
  24. Otto von Ballpark
    That narrative doesn't really fit with Span's career path. He looked pretty marginal for 5 years here with Hunter.
  25. Otto von Ballpark
    is this true? Those deals last winter were on paper nonguaranteed fliers, although the fact that they were effectively guaranteed otherwise indeed made them much worse. But they still involved legitimately small amounts of money and only came later in FA after we already signed several pitchers.
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